TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [FINAL REPRINT]

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette: Spring Issue

We ask that all toplevels include the age of the character (or at least a rough estimate) for TDM posts, to ensure that players both old and new can quickly make informed decisions about how to interact with a given character. We also ask that if someone lists a prompt as having an age preference, that it be respected. This is specifically for TDMs unless otherwise stated. Thank you!

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

12/13/24 | TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [First Edition]
Spring Pokémon Types - Grass, Fairy, Ground, Bug, Normal

WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW

By Yorick Aberdeen

The crop for which the town is named.

Greetings, Hollowites, old and new! We are pleased to bring you yet another riveting issue of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette. Or perhaps this is your very first one?

For nearly two years now, the mysterious ferryman has brought new and interesting faces across seas and stars and dimensional planes to reach our fair island. Since then, our community has grown larger and infinitely more interesting--- and we’re glad you’re joining us! Just in time for the weather to be just lovely.

This time of year tends to be a bit lighter on town-wide events due to this being a vitally busy time for our local agriculture industry, but we urge you to get involved with planting season and spend some time in nature. Who knows? You might even catch sight of our goddess of Land and Spring if you spend enough time among plants! Just don’t look into the trees--- they look back.

We invite you, as with all those who came before you, to enjoy your stay at the Oak & Iron tavern inn while you settle in. Please stop by Town Hall to discuss opportunities for work and more permanent housing! All newcomers get 100 Brass in their pocket upon arrival as well, so we encourage you to take advantage of this as well. Reach out to your neighbors for help if you need it, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette whenever you need the local news!

SPRING WEATHER REPORT

By Phil Connors

The breeze will make your clothes smell great!

Start dusting those homes and beating those blankets! The days are getting longer, and with it, the winds are getting warmer. Spring is here! We’ll see some days that are still chilly and windy, but the more warm and temperate phases will get more common later in the season. We’re also entering the rainy period, meaning flowers are springing out of the ground and we’ll be seeing some very beautiful sunrises on misty mornings. Color is coming back to the isle, the frogs are in the rivers, and the insects and lambs are in the fields. It’s a good season to be outside.

Which means it’s also a good season to do laundry! Join us for our Community Laundry Day, where we all do our much-needed chores together and hang-dry our laundry in the warm and breezy weather! Join us on the green for some team washing. Water provided. Bring your own tubs, soap, and of course, clothes!

COMMUNITY EVENTS KEEP TOWN LIVELY ALL SPRING

By Timothy Stoker

The gazebo in town square, beside the festival green, is the place to be this season.

Legend has it that this time last year, a packed ferry arrived with a mass influx of offworlders, and an emergency potluck dinner was held to welcome the crowd. Now, this reporter wasn’t here just yet when that happened, but stories tell of a gathering of epic culinary proportions that heralded a new age of prosperity for Pumpkin Hollow. Sounds like something worth celebrating! Now that the weather has turned lovely once more (as elaborated on above by our own Phil Connors), the town has decided to celebrate the anniversary of the newly dubbed “Harbor Day” by revisiting that potluck idea. Drop by the Temple of Sacred Roots every other Friday from now until June to sample the cuisine of your new neighbors and local businesses. New residents need only bring themselves!

Also, in the spirit of spring cleaning, residents will also be selling or giving away their old items every weekend, weather permitting, in a series of mass yard sales. Some of our more modern residents supplied the term “yard crawl” for the event, which was deemed to be fitting. So come out on Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons to see what useful used items you can take off your neighbors’ hands! It’s a great way for new residents to decorate their new homes cheaply and get some new clothes.

And finally, on Wednesday evenings the Festival Green will be hosting “Swift Social” events (to be held in the Oak & Iron in the event of rain). A reimagining of last year’s popular charity speed dating event, this new Swift Social is expanded to include individuals seeking platonic relationships as well--- though that doesn’t mean romance is off the menu! The 10 Brass will be used to support the town’s medical community and the Autumn Leaves Dormitory House for Young Residents. So come out and make a friend or meet someone cute--- it’s for charity!

Fearsome Fae Antics Cause Town-Wide Trouble

By Melanie King

Up to no good, probably.

Things have been getting tricksy around town as, apparently, the fae population are staging the prank war to end all prank wars—or so local experts are telling us. If, like this reporter, you thought you were just having terrible luck with forgetting where you put things down or waking up with horrible bedhead, surprise! You've actually been caught in the crossfire of the fairies' games and may be entitled to financial compensation. (Not really. That's a joke.)

It looks like their antics are escalating significantly over time from harmless inconveniences to active dangers, so beware of any unusual sounds, behaviours or visual phenomenon you may encounter. Alluring or pleading voices from the woods, ghostly lights, critters acting oddly—if it's out of the ordinary, think twice. Or it might be the last time you think at all (at least, until tomorrow morning).

Fiendish Floral Figures Take Root Around Town

By Yorick Aberdeen

How eerie!

Spring is a time of year characterized by new life and by fresh floral blooms. It’s said that the land is Serranai’s canvas, and flowers are her paint. There is no debating that watching the Spring goddess’s artistry come to life in her season of power is an activity beloved by all! However, the Department of Supernatural Affairs is currently investigating some strangely behaved plant life.

While sightings have been somewhat rare, locals have been reporting eerie structures made out of flowering vines or woven flower stems that take the shape of hollowed out humanoid silhouettes. The poses seem to indicate motion and appear capable of springing to life at any moment, but the strange figures never seem to actually move --- at least, not that anyone has actually seen. However, many have cited that upon looking away from the figures and looking back, they appear to be closer. Those who have had direct contact with these floral armatures of people are also reporting some kind of ongoing allergic reaction from the encounter. Symptoms include severe shortness of breath, unpleasant itching that feels like it is coming from beneath the skin, and intense bouts of emotion which vary from person to person.

The Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety is currently investigating long-term effects of contact with these beings and advises residents to avoid them. They seem highly resilient to fire, impact, and tearing, and while cutting with a sharp implement seems to have some success, it’s inadvisable to get close enough to the things to use such tools in the first place. Local alchemist Aeryn Sallek and local non-magical chemist Sally Boyle are currently working together to develop an herbicidal blend that is safe for human skin contact and potentially consumption to try and deal with the flowery menaces, which the Board of Safety has begun calling “Hanahilators”. But don’t let the name frighten you--- steering clear of these freaky floral followers should be a more than sufficient safety measure until the threat can be dealt with. Probably, anyway!

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Further Details...

Yard Crawl

Participate in the Yard Crawl as either a buyer, a seller, or both! When you take on a job in Pumpkin Hollow, you are supplied with permanent housing outside the Oak & Iron as part of your start-up kit, and most of them are full of old and worn furniture and clothes left behind when they were abandoned. Get rid of some of it or find something new at the Spring Yard Crawl! Plus, some of the native residents will also be selling or giving away their own old things.

Here’s how the Brass shakes out:

• Buyers can spend 50 Brass and get a haul of their choice of used or free clothing, furniture, or small decorative items. All of it will be of decent to low quality and relatively unremarkable design, so nothing extravagant. (Although a lone exciting knick knack could be considered passable!) Reminder that newcomers are given their first stipend of 100B upon arrival, so new characters are welcome to participate--- you’ll just need to mark that on your ledger if/when you app in. Ask for help if you have questions about this!


• Sellers can make 50B off of their participation but must make a toplevel. Only apped-in characters that are not Laggards can participate as a Seller.


• Those who are both buying and selling end up with a net zero of Brass, but all the aforementioned rules apply!


• Transactions related to the Yard Crawl can be applied to a character’s ledger three times --- once per month for the duration of this TDM!

Swift Social

Under the Swift Social toplevel posted from the mod account, join the fun by posting a starter with the provided code to create a profile card! Then comment on someone else’s starter with one of the following icebreaker questions to get started:

Which would be more surprising to see on your doorstep, a unicorn or a walrus?
If you could commit any crime with no consequences, what would it be?
If you were caught in a trap and the only way to escape from it with your life was to do something genuinely impressive, what would be your approach?
If you had to live on only one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
If you were held at knife point and instructed by your assailant that you must call someone on their sending stone, and if they do not answer, you die, who would you call?
Which would be most frightening to encounter in a dark alley: a ghost, an alien, or a horse?
If you could have any wish granted for you, no matter how big or small, what would it be? (Cannot ask for more wishes, that’s cheating!)
What’s a subject that you could confidently teach an hour-long class on with no preparation?
If you could instantly become an expert in any skill, what would you choose?
Make your own!

Be advised that you must post a comment with your profile card so that any Swift Social partners you have can reference it for your age and preferences.

Fae Pranks

It’s a fairy prank war! A few of the local fae courts are using Marrow Isle as their battle ground, since the demons made it trendy. They’re mostly out to prank each other--- but they’re also happy to practice their tricks on you! And fairies have some very odd ideas about boundaries when it comes to pranks. Here’s a few examples of some of the tricks you might encounter, ranging from silly to genuinely dangerous:

• A truly outrageous amounts of butterflies


• Sightings of Edwin the Headless Postman, a Dullahan (this is a played character that a mod will tag out with, please leave an OOC note if you’d like to opt out)


• Will-o-wisps that lead you in circles or into danger


• Fae dance parties that will have you dancing yourself to death!


• Missing objects


• Mysteriously spoiled milk


• Your hair got braided or extra tangled while you were asleep


• Weird sounds in Prague Mill after dark. Is it haunted?


• Strange women crying in the forest or by the Bluffs, but when you approach them to try and help, you find yourself suddenly in life-threatening danger!


• Create your own! Have fun with it, get spooky or goofy as you see fit.

Floral Fiends [cw: body horror, death]

Loosely inspired by the Hanahaki disease and the film Annihilation, Hanahilators are uncanny figures made out of flowers that move when they are not being watched. If they catch you, they will grab you, but seemingly have no interest in harming you as they will relent as soon as they’ve touched you.

However, once you have pollen on you, the effects begin to take hold, and flowers begin growing within your body, first in your lungs and then pushing into the rest of you. These parasitic blooms feed off of your strong emotions and are influenced by the emotions which define you. (Feel free to use the Victorian flower language to determine what kinds of flowers you get!) Once strong enough, the vines begin feeding on your body, destroying it and leaving behind a brand new Hanahilator. But don’t worry, you’ll be back to your old self tomorrow, so enjoy the opportunity to explore the island as a ghost! Apped in characters should remember to fill out a Death Certificate! It’s a relatively rare encounter, so don’t worry about running into one if you don’t want to.

Pokémon

Each season, new types of Pokémon can be found in nature around the island! They cannot be captured as the technology does not exist on Marrow Isle, but they can be befriended and kept as pets. Since there is no PC, each person can have no more than six. You can befriend any Pokémon whose primary type matches the list at the top of the newspaper. (Eevee can be caught in any season.) Legendaries are off limits for obvious reasons, and mythicals can be encountered for fun but not kept! Evolutionary stones can be found in Paradesium, the magical subterranean jungle beneath the mountain to the North. Every type will be available at some point throughout the year, so if you don’t have access to your fave yet, check back next season!

Comments

[arrayerofrazors]

"Ain't my business to ask, chef. But if that's weight you're carrying...well, I won't be the first expert on killing in your life. I can listen."

[maximumcake]

"Oh. Uh..." he gives a breathy half-laugh. "That wasn't the first time I ever killed someone. And I've had to do it since, too. It's... not something I'll ever be proud of. I think the situation on the ship made that one feel, I don't know. Different." Because it wasn't in self-defense.

"It was so stupid, actually. We were visiting this world that was like a renaissance fair in perpetuity and we had a tournament. I didn't think I was going to win it. It was a free-for-all and I can fight but not better than everyone else. Every time I faced off with someone they turned away like they couldn't bring themselves to go up against me. So I... kind of won by default when it was down to just me and one other guy. I got a lucky shot in. Didn't feel like I deserved it."

[arrayerofrazors]

There is no immediate reply other than a thoughtful frown, the only sounds from Nyx being the stir and sizzle of cooking. But that crooked shadow is bent in thought, no longer even pretending to mimic her body, chin on its fist like a sculpture...

"It was a gift," she says softly. "Gifts aren't something you earn. They're...signs of sincerity. Talkin' about deserving it or not, that's an insult to the people who gave it to you, same as if a guest said they don't deserve your cooking. If you don't like your gift, fine enough. We give 'em in hope, not expectation."

[maximumcake]

Max cannot help but stare at her shadow in awe. It's fascinating. Distractingly so. So, she'll catch him lifting his head, startled by her words. They need a moment to penetrate, but it's very obvious once they have because tears come to his eyes and it has nothing to do with the onions.

"I... never thought of it that way." His voice is thick with emotions he can't swallow past. "I just thought... I don't know." He thought maybe they didn't find him worthy to face. Like they equated fighting him to fighting a child.

"I'm not helpless. But I didn't really want to hurt anyone. I still don't."

[arrayerofrazors]

"Ain't about helpless, chef. It's about what you become the more an' more an' more you fight for real. You trade something out, and it gets replaced, and that replacement is real hard to refund. That was their gift to you. Not having to make that trade again. Not needing to take the blade-poison into your hand and watch it turn from a tool of art into a tool of killing." She shrugs, an almost 'what can you do?' sort of gesture. "...Fillin' the shells here soon. Working on my own refund. That's how it goes."

[maximumcake]

"I know that now." It took a long time and a lot of talks, but he has come to accept it. Even if part of him wonders if he'd make a better partner to his beloveds if he had more poison and less sugar in him. Luckily, to dispel that foolish way of thinking, all he has to do is imagine how they'd weep to see him change in such a way.

"If there's anything more I can do to help you pay it back faster, you can always ask." He gets the sense that letting her cook might be the best thing he can do already, but it doesn't hurt to offer.

[arrayerofrazors]

"...This place get stuff from home sometimes?"

[maximumcake]

"Sometimes, yeah. If it's food or small goods, you can trade with the Limoncello for it."

He pauses and peers at her like he's trying to read the back of her mind. "What are you hoping to get?"

[arrayerofrazors]

"..."

She's fighting with answering despite this whole topic being her own idea. Her shadow does what her mouth won't, gesturing in threatening warning at Max, like it's trying to scare off an animal...

"...I used to have the full run of Mister Roger's Neighborhood," Nyx murmurs at last. "And I watched an episode a night, often more. It helped a lot, and I haven't seen it since the ship."

[maximumcake]

Max won't pretend the motions of her shadow aren't concerning. He's starting to picture maybe weapons, maybe some kind of dangerous relic? Never in a million years would he have called...this.

He makes sound that's half laugh of surprise half sigh of relief, his face splitting into a charmed smile because that's really cute of her.

"Aww, that's why you like to namedrop him, isn't it?" His voice is warm with amusement, but it's the good-natured kind. "Hm. I don't think it's impossible, but we'd have to find it on film. We don't even have VHS or TV around here yet."

[arrayerofrazors]

"If I've gotta find a spacie and suck their dick to get a television, I can and I will. For better or worse I got the invitation an' I fall asleep during discussions about the ethics of technology."

Run Crichton, run, run my man your chastity is in danger -

[maximumcake]

"Uh..." For not liking Erin Peters, Nyx really is starting to remind Max of her in Special ways. It's terrifyingly nostalgic.

"I don't think it works that way. We're still only on rudimentary electricity. I have to crank everything around here by hand."

BY TRADITION

[arrayerofrazors]

"My crank technique gets a lot of compliments, it'll be fine."

XD

[maximumcake]

"You'll fit right in, then," he says with a bark of laughter that gets Crumpet to lift her head off her pillow in the other room.

"For the record, kitchen is a no-bang zone, even after hours. I might be on of the sluttiest men around town, not including Erik, but I do still try to run a clean kitchen. If anyone wants me in the other kind of kitchen they have to book with me at the Velvet, Ambrosia & Silk first."

[arrayerofrazors]

"No worries on that score. I can't even think about having sex in a kitchen without my grandmother's voice in my head cussing me out in Russian." She sighs, wistfully. "Shit sucks, the naked-with-an-apron look is like catnip for me but I can't put it in the proper context and that just kills the mood. I gotta like, read porn for that shit."

[maximumcake]

On the one hand, that's good hygiene practice but on the other... aww. Guess she wouldn't want to see his sexy apron, then. Shame.

"Are all grandmothers like that or was yours especially aggressive. I wouldn't know, I never had any."

[arrayerofrazors]

"Babushka was Russian, came to the States in the middle of the god damn Cold War, so, y'know." Nyx shrugs with a wistful little grin. "Is what it is. I certainly learned hospitality off her, be dead if I didn't. Treating a guest in a shamefully American fashion would haul her out the grave to beat my ass."

[maximumcake]

"I do, maybe more than you think." Dear god do not get Erik on that topic unless you want to hear nothing but complaints.

"But, wait a minute, what's so shameful about American hospitality?"

[arrayerofrazors]

Without the faintest hint of warning, Nyx is speaking in a flawless Moscow accent, her voice taking on the steel and the slight quaver of a very old, very strong-minded woman. "Little one, you listen to me, the people here in America are raised by demons! First they turn guests away at their door, and then they let guests leave unfed! There is not coffee made or civilized discussion unless it is a friend; my idiot son invites in the salesman and does not so much as ask after his health, or offer a drink for his sorrows! They say to the hungry man, my church has a dinner, as if their kitchen is a precious shrine! You will learn better, Victoria -"

The name is a slip.

Nyx tenses, and her left hand flexes, into a shape too much like a claw.

[maximumcake]

Wow, the switch is uncanny. But it brings on a chagrined kind of guilty grin. She's not wrong that some Americans are as described, but she must have never made it far enough south to run into real southern hospitality.

Max props his hands on his hips, "Now wait just a minute," his accent changes too, leaning into the twang, "I've never let a person leave my house unfed in my life, and neither did my dad. Maybe some of us have forgotten our manners but not the Lewis Family," hm, didn't he say his name was Max? Funny how that just keeps happening.

"Oh, sorry. Lewis used to be my last name before the change. You know how it is." He gives her a very pointed look. Her secret is safe with him if she wants it to be.

[arrayerofrazors]

Quietly, oh-so-quietly, in a soft voice filled with shame, she says, "...I was Number Fourty-Four. For a long time."

[maximumcake]

"It's okay," he answers in matching softness, "you don't have to be that anymore. You're my sous chef now."

She's got the job.