TDM #5 - Paradesium

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette March Issue

[Find our plain text version here!]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

3/8/24 | TDM #5 - Paradesium
Content Warnings: individual CWs found per prompt in "Further Details"
Forecast: Partly cloudy with a chance of rain

WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW!

By Yorick Aberdeen

Apparently the ferryman needed a bigger boat!

ACROSS TOWN - Since June of 16:53, a steady stream of new arrivals to our sleepy little town has flowed in by ferry, emerging from the fog. And it seems this trend is due to continue, as this March is due to be on record the highest number of new residents in a single month!

We are incredibly grateful for all of you coming to our home and filling it with life once more, even though the dangers of our local curse have significantly increased since all of you began arriving. This reporter isn’t complaining--- additional harm to my own person notwithstanding!

If you are a new arrival, please report to Town Hall at your leisure so that we can help you find work and permanent lodging. Or don’t! The Oak & Iron is happy to rent you a room for as long as you need. Best of luck to all of you, and as we say in Pumpkin Hollow, may your lanterns always be lit!

CHARITY DRIVE ENCOURAGES CULTURAL EXCHANGE

By Cecil Gershwin Palmer

One of the charming toys created during last year's Doll Picnic.

FESTIVAL GREEN - Preparations are underway for the upcoming annual Doll Picnic. A charity event sponsored by the Artisan’s Guild, this picnic is an Anwyllic tradition that was brought to the island and continued with love. The first Doll Picnic was organized by Dame Meredith Idlewild of the town of Glyn Rhuthun on Kora’s Haven, with the toys being donated to the local children’s hospital after a massive landslide engulfed a local school.

The Artisan’s Guild has baskets of material available for making dolls, including fabric, yarn, stuffing, buttons, and the like. However, tradition states that sourcing materials from the natural world (for example, acorn husks to use as buttons or deadwood to carve for doll arms and legs) results in the toys being blessed by Serrenai, who will watch over the children who play with them. The toys will be donated to local children after the picnic, including those who are ill or whose families can only afford necessities.

Newcomers are explicitly invited to join in the making of toys, and the resulting picnic. As a personal note: the locals have never heard of a teddy bear before. This reporter expects to see several, as we introduce our traditions to their traditions.

PLANTING SEASON BEGINS!

By Yorick Aberdeen

After a difficult winter, the appearance of spring's sprouts lifts our spirits.

NORTHWEST HOLLOW - The spring thaw is in full swing! That means it’s time for our local farmers to begin planting. Town Hall is offering a small reward to any of our newest arrivals who would be interested in assisting with planting season for farms less than a year old.

Anyone fresh off the boat interested in making 100 Brass should seek out Eddie and Angel Kasbrak, Arthur Morgan, Cèsar Salazar, Mairi Miann, Ylva Wolfsdottir, or Muriel and offer assistance with tilling and planting. We look forward to rewarding you for your contributions!

HOT SPRINGS OPEN FOR RELAXATION

By Yorick Aberdeen

Photograph provided by the Safety Board!

CRANE'S RIDGE - After a recent earthquake opened up a hot spring on the lower portion of Crane’s Ridge, a small portion of the Pumpkin Hollow Damage Claims Assessment Corps has been working to get the area cleaned up and safe for use by the general public.

Following its recent approval for compliance by the Safety Board, we are pleased to announce that Porter’s Spring is now available for public enjoyment! It can be accessed by taking the train to the North Station or by following the central trail out of Northwest Hollow, though the Safety Board does not recommend making this journey on foot due to its proximity to Lake Sal-Co-Penn. Enjoy!

STRANGE CAVERNS DISCOVERED BENEATH CRANE’S RIDGE

By Yorick Aberdeen

A small glimpse into this world beneath our own.

CRANE RIDGE - In addition to the hot springs, the earthquake can also be credited for a major cave-in in our Crane’s Ridge mines. A large tunnel was completely buried in rubble by the inexplicable natural occurrence. For the past several months, our mining team has been chipping away at the cave-in to try and regain access to the blocked tunnels in the lower area of the mountain.

In one of these tunnels, however, the team discovered a shocking surprise as the rubble was removed! Apparently, just beyond the mine walls, there has been an entrance to Hepogaia--- a subterranean nation running below our own fair country and many others. It seems that this particular portion of Hepogaian territory is also trapped within the barrier. Brief attempts at scouting by the Safety Board have noted a plethora of subterranean wildlife, both familiar and unfamiliar. This incredible new environment, hiding just out of sight beneath our island, is so full of wonder and splendor that it has earned a fitting name--- “Paradesium.”

A recent ecology study and expedition run by Pumpkin Hollow’s own Dr. Elias Coldwood has redirected their efforts to this new location, but those interested in exploring and scouting out this fantastical new discovery independently are encouraged to pack thoughtfully and travel in groups of two or more! Any information obtained during excursions into Paradesium would be appreciated by the Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety.

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Further Details...

Charity Drive

The Doll Picnic Charity Drive will run throughout the next two months during our TDM, and there will be an event later on involving posing the dolls for a picnic. Once a photo is taken, the children will be allowed to come picnic with their new toys and take them home after!

There is absolutely no way this could possibly go wrong. Absolutely no dollmakers will be jumpscared or attacked by possessed dolls. None at all. (Okay, maybe some of them. But it’s fine. It’s for a good cause.)

[Mod Note: you can just make a doll without it coming to life and trying to kick your ass, that part is optional. Also the dolls will be blessed at the picnic and rendered unable to attack children.]

Planting Season

Any brand-new characters will get 100B extra on their stipend if they submit an AC-length thread with one of the existing farmers on their first Activity Check! This will be available regardless of whether the character qualifies for normal bonuses, but can only be redeemed by those who app in.

For reference for new players, threads are considered AC-length if they are ten tags in length (meaning 5 of your own tags and 5 from your partner.)

Hot Springs

Porter’s Spring is a perfectly normal and safe hot spring! However, you can encounter any number of perils on your way there if you decide to travel on foot, allowing new players to revisit some of our earlier events.

Check out our bestiary (pending update to new format) for more information on creatures such as Brutoks, the River Walker, and the Pine Devil, or stumble on Lake Sal-Co-Penn for a nasty surprise! Brutoks may also steal personal items from spring-goers on occasion. Don’t chase after them alone unless you want to be turned into a tree!

The Tristitia

In addition to the creatures in the wild, in town after dark characters may also encounter the Tristitia, Pumpkin Hollow’s newest cryptid.

She is a wraith-like spirit which haunts the island. Wearing tattered black clothes and colored all in shades of gray, she appears as a woman who walks around weeping with a caved-in chest, covering her face with her hands. Harmless if given a wide berth, but if she is set off, she will take out her desire for empathy for her grief on her target. She does this by embracing them and drawing out their own grief and trauma, leaving the target catatonic before she fades away, temporarily assuaged.

Into Paradesium

Crystals, golden with light and raw magical energy, cast what looks like sunlight down into the cascading cave. For every foot lower that the ground curls down from the entrance, the trees stretch ever-higher, carrying the raucous cries of animals unlike the surface of Marrow Isle had ever heard.

A jungle, so lush with life, sprawls ahead of any brave enough to venture into it. But what is there to see?

For Paradesium specifically, the bestiary has received a significant update. Creatures featured in prompts have their links to the accounts by Dr. Coldwood and his team marked with stars for easy location.

Below are multiple prompts for some encounters to be had in the jungle, but feel free to create any of your own encounters with any of the creatures listed! If the descriptions are short, feel free to write the creatures' behaviors however makes sense.

Welcome to the Jungle

Swallowed by dense canopies and noise, the jungle is quick to swallow any who travel within it whole.

Eyes are quick to find you, however. Perching in the treetops are a variety of small wyverns in vibrant colors, heads tilting as they try to comprehend what you could be. They squawk, chatter, and some of the bolder ones draw closer - if you sit anything aside and leave it unattended for too long, some even bolder than that will pilfer it, taking the object into the trees to admire with its companions.

Reptilian hunters with bright, keen eyes, the Plommon, consider you with much of the same interest. This interest increases tenfold if you happen to feed them.

If the prying eyes are no bother, then the forest's bounty is ripe for tending and taking. Bananas hang off trees, colorful citrus fruits catch light on their waxy peels, and bulky cocoa beans are jostled by movement in the branches above them. Even the broad leaves of the plants prove extraordinarily useful, whether you're looking to come in and quickly leave, or intend to push further within.

Wherever you go, those curious eyes follow you. Perhaps even out of the cave, should your attempts to shoo an adventurous creature away. What an odd way to gain a new team member.

Down a Few Notches on the Food Chain

(CWs: Potential for death, gore, or animal death)

Unfortunately, not all can be pure bounty and new friends in a place like this.

With the cavern sprawling widely and massively, there are many significantly larger creatures in this space, and some seem to be keen to take up opportunity for new prey. As you explore, there's a new feeling of eyes upon you, and the silence that overtakes the surrounding trees spells nothing good to come.

Any one of the massive predators in the wood has you in it's sights.

Escape is difficult, but manageable, as is fighting back. Creatures can be challenged, and hides, bones, and other spoils can be claimed from them, should there be success! If not, this is a good opportunity for familiarization with the Death page.

The silkhide chimera specializes in persistence. The longer and further you go, the more exhausted you'll get. A break is an opportunity that it will be keen to take.

The greenstalker excels at ambushing and high-speed pursuit. At top speeds of 30MPH, your party will need strategy and skill on their side to keep this beast at bay. (Or, alternatively, a source of fire.)

The elephant raptor does neither of these - the beast's sheer length of reach does all it needs to. Water and mud soften the sounds of the gargantuan creature's approach. Stay alert, and be sure that you hear it before it's upon you.

Safe travels become more difficult to manage, the further in you go. Deep, rumbling snores tell you that there's a chance you're just getting to the greater threats this paradise has to offer...

Fragments of the Past

Through great distances traveled, this "uninhabited" cavern begins to show signs that may speak to that not having always been the case.

Ruins of homes, crumbled bricks and tiles, can be found at the deepest reaches of the cavern. These dilapidated buildings, though worn with time, tell a story: the people who left his place, one that could be identified as a stenholm to any familiar with dwarvish culture, did not leave it on good terms.

Essentials were clearly taken with them, as the ruins of this place lack tools or clothing. Valuables are still scattered throughout, however. Large objects with too much history to have been left behind by indifference dot the collapsing homes. Ritual circles still waft radiant energy from them.

In the remains of a temple, an altar stands, cracking with age and covered in plants as the cavern reclaims it. Old candle-stands have rusted with age, but still stand, undisturbed.

Just before the altar, folded onto its side (as best as one can be, when only pieces remain), lies a skeleton. The clothes are tattered remains of stained whites and dulled blues, and the wildlife have cleaned flesh from bones, but it's remained undisturbed by time.

There's a quiet sadness to this place that lingers, even with the people who inhabited it so long since lost.

Should you linger too long, however, there comes the distinct feeling of not being alone.

Clair de Lune

(CWs: Long-term isolation, extinction)

Golden eyes of a human face follow your every moment, and the moment you lock your gaze onto them, the face emerges from the darkness, partially covered by spilling dark hair.

What follows this face, however, is not a human face - but, rather, a feline body with sprawling, grey-flecked wings.

There's a long, tense silence, as it emerges fully. Standing easily at eight feet tall while on all fours, the size of this creature becomes more and more apparent as it emerges from the dark of the collapsed wind.

Unlike the other animals of the cavern, though, there seems to be an anxiousness to its look. The lion's chest rises and falls with short, nervous breaths.

And then, in a hushed, woman's voice, hoarse from disuse, it speaks.

"Who are you? Why have you come here?"

-------------------

The Sphinx is a new NPC available for characters to interact with, should they delve deep enough into the caverns to find the stenholm. She's wary of all the new faces, and tends to be somewhat flighty, but seems cautiously interested in what new humans being in Hepogaia have to offer. For the sort looking to understand this place, it's people, or intend to trade, she can be communed with.

To interact with her, comment on the TL provided from beastsofthehollow with her icon, and if the initial introduction isn't your speed, feel free to encounter her however you like!

Comments

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/CONCERNS

[pumpkinhollow]

Ask anything here!

The Sphinx | NPC

[beastsofthehollow]

A quiet, somber air lingers here. Do you have anything you need of the stenholm's last resident?

( Feel free to respond directly to her entry in one of the prompts above, or throw a wildcard at her! DM the journal or message me on Discord at socksmuggler to plot! )

Claire De Lune

[iwasjustsayinghello]

There's a reason the Doctor likes him, much to Jack's chagrin in moments like these: he's pretty sure he's never met a 'keep out' sign he couldn't resist ignoring, and this cave system is brimming with them.

The sacred space is a little surprising, and it has him on high alert when he turns at that familiar prickle of eyes moving over him in the dark...

...his first thought, of course, is that she's beautiful. The second is that she's so much like the Doctor it hurts in a way that few things can hurt him anymore.

"I mean you no harm." he answers her question quickly--and in a rare moment, he's grateful that he doesn't have his Webley with him. Raising both hands, he stays put but lets her see he's unarmed and not aggressive as he takes her in. She's big, but she's also delicate--the slope of those feline shoulders, the elegant sweep of her wings, and her features are as shining and soft as the inner light of those golden eyes.

"I'm an explorer--a protector." he continues. "I seek only knowledge, and I only meet violence with violence. Clearly, that's not you, and not just because you're so lovely."

There's a mischievous glint in his eye, but the compliment is genuine as he lowers his hands.

"You...remind me of someone. Someone very old...someone who's the very last of their kind."

Drelasa Veloth || Morrowind (OC) || Around Town OTA

[misbegottendreamer]

The robed, hooded figure moves slowly, deliberately, face concealed behind a polished gray death mask. With every ponderous step she takes, the ringing of bells accompanies her. She's clutching a slightly blood-stained newspaper in her heavily bandaged hands, and as soon as she catches the sound of nearby footsteps, she turns to face the source.

"Excuse me, sera... could I trouble you to read some excerpts from this? My eyes don't work as well as they once did."

Angel | OC | Existing Player (Farmer!)

[graveling]

Planting Season
Anyone who wants to gain that bonus money for helping out is absolutely welcome on Kasprak Farm. Angel's eager to greet them--though it may not look like it. Angel wears his face heavy, smiles hard-won, and he's also...y'know, neither breathing or blinking. And he's incredibly pallid, as well.

Still, he greets newcomers at the entrance to the farm with a mild little wave. "Hope you don't expect to keep those clothes clean today."


And Other Weeding
Angel can also be found at the Temple of Sacred Roots. This week, he's working on checking the hymnals for damage and figuring out which need repair and which need replaced. But anyone walking in will draw his attention. And he might draw theirs, in turn: there's a faint golden glow about him, especially where his hands are worn or have minor injuries from his farm work, like the light's seeping slowly out of the wound as it heals closed.

And also, he has a silver sleigh bell on a black ribbon pinned to his shirt, that jingles when he moves. That may draw attention, too.


Wildcard
Find me on discord at darkersolstice if you want to plot.

Bronwyn Thysania (they/them) || OC || technically new

[withthemooninoureyes]

Hidden among the lush trees of Paradesium, there is a figure. Tall, slender, pale with massive, mottled brown wings. A furred body and feathered antennae.

Those who have been around a while may recognize this as Bronwyn Thysania, a moth-like being who arrived in the winter time and was presumed to have vanished back onto the ferry, as many some new arrivals do. Upon closer inspection, it's not too hard to spot the makeshift treehouse they've constructed. Have they been down here this whole time...?

But to those unfamiliar, the enormous, dark-eyed creature might appear to belong here, in this strange place. Perhaps you might even mistake them for a monster.

[iwasjustsayinghello]

...or mistake them for someone worth talking to.

Jack has to take a minute, because at first he's not sure what he's looking at. He's worried about a few different things, but once he can pin down bipedal, he can move on to sentient...and he can stop to appreciate the view.

Which isn't much, from way down here. Craning his head back, he squints into the branches, and finally...

"Y'know, it's hard for a guy to appreciate the beauty of nature when it's hidden in the trees!" he calls up with a laugh. "Unless you're avoiding visitors?..."

[freedomsuitsme]

The well-dressed gentleman scowls.

"I've grown accustomed to getting soil out of my belongings. The newspaper said I could inquire with César Salazar regarding assistance with planting. Do you know where I might find him?" Because César's name was the only one on that list that he recognized, and Maxwell is very slow to trust.

[fishcatholic]

Steeples my fingers. What would happen, and/or what would one find, if one tried to break into the cave on Tawny Beach?

Apollo | The Trials of Apollo (Percy Jackson/Riordanverse) | NEW CHARACTER | Will match style!

[divasmio]

Oak & Iron

Apollo is pleased to have his godly form back.

Most of it, at least. It was comfortable and familiar, but not quite right. His preferred shape had returned — An adult man with golden hair and a tanned, muscular body — but his immortality hadn't. Not that he'd tested that! After Caligula's yacht, Apollo had resolved to avoid stabbings of any kind, self-inflicted or otherwise. Still, he could somehow sense the threat of death in his flesh; If he were to be wounded, there would be consequences. The severity of those consequences, however, was still unclear.

As comfortable as the lanky, hormonal body of Lester Papadopoulos had started to feel, being an adult again was far preferable. For example, Lester would not have been able to sit at the bar and order alcohol.

He was not so foolish as to order wine at what was clearly a beer and liquor kind of establishment, and ordered himself a beer. Perhaps some other time he'll go for something harder, but in a new environment surrounded by strangers, Apollo wanted to keep his wits about him a little longer. Especially since he wasn't sure how much his body could handle just yet, what with its ambiguous immortality.

And so, he was a handsome and chiseled blond sitting alone at the bar, flashing his brilliant smile around to all who might make eye contact — Especially at attractive folks of any gender who catch his gaze.

-

Fragments of the Past

Apollo may be a sun god, but he is rather fond of caves. His favorite oracle operated out of one for thousands of years, after all. Even if his most pleasant memories of Delphi have been tainted by recent events, something about the mysterious atmosphere of caves remains very compelling.

The ghost town is certainly a sight to behold. His footsteps seem to echo throughout the whole town, as if sounding the alarm that a stranger has arrived.

Apollo has seen ruins before. His own beloved island of Delos is mostly ruins now, though he still finds comfort there. But there's something in the urgency in which inhabitants clearly left that leaves an ache in his heart, making the still, humid air feel heavy and melancholy.

When he reaches the temple in its ruined state, he feels that heartache sink into his gut. He wonders what kind of god this was for, and if anyone could still remember them. His thoughts wander back to Helios, how he'd been slowly stripped of everything as belief in him faded, as Apollo inadvertently supplanted him. Eventually he was nothing more than a memory whose only sparks of consciousness were suffering. Had this god faded, too? Was it a slow, torturous death as their believers dwindled? Or had it been a sudden end as their people were wiped out all at once?

To an outside observer, Apollo is simply standing in the temple's entranceway, looking absolutely devastated.

-

Wildcard

Hit me up on discord or plurk (thepreciousthing)if you wanna do something else!

[thelatechrisfreeman]

"Oh, hm? What..."

Chris tagged along to explore the area because, well, injuries happen. They peer at the figure for a moment, before their brain settles on a particular memory and --

"I recognize you! Hello!"

(Was the pizza so bad that they went into hiding? A silly thought, but one that pops up anyway.)

César Salazar | Generator Rex | FARMER, OTA | COME GET YOUR MONEY

[pineapplesalmon]

Planting Season [César's farm]
César's farm is thankfully not too far off the trolley, and it's easy enough to find someone to point out how to get there. It's been recently upgraded with a small barn and a greenhouse attached to the farmhouse. A number of cows and a horse are roaming around in a fenced off field. César now has two employees helping him, a man and a woman.

The owner of the farm, César, dusts off his gardening gloves as he walks up with dirt on his face and clothes, hair still mostly in order. "Hello, I'm César Salazar. Here to get a tour or to help? Or something else?"

((OOC: Here's some choices for things to do that can come up during conversation:
LESS GROSS: planting seeds in the greenhouse, sowing seeds outside, cleaning up sticks and leaves around the garden, helping with a fence around part of the garden
MORE GROSS: Spreading compost around the berry bushes (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries), shoveling out some stalls in the barn
Have fun!))

WILDCARD
Poke me on discord at jennerally or on plurk at icelightning! Or just PM this journal. I may post a second TDM comment later... the farm just ate me.

[pumpkinhollow]

The cave is extremely complex and causes those who enter to lose track of time and become magically disoriented. There's a trick to getting through it--- Maybe Benoîte should ask the neighbors!

[abhorrently]

if one does let the illusadermis get touchy feely, are there any side effects?

[pumpkinhollow]

Yes! The feelers on the illusadermis are coated in a protective film which, for most things it could feasibly touch that are covered in coarse fur, bark, or other protective surfaces, doesn't pose much of an issue. For humans/humanoids/anything with bare skin, however, there's a mild neurotoxin that's able to get left behind and absorbed into the skin. Effects of this neurotoxin involve visual effects of things looking and feeling brighter than they are, a sense of weightlessness, and mild hallucinations of blurring colors/swaying scenery.

(Side note: this will be added into the bestiary entry, as there was a lack of hindsight that some people might want to touch this weird dog, oops!)

[abhorrently]

what can i say, she's cursed to put her hands on everything and the weird dog is part of it

thank you mods!

[yournewsidekick]

Nimona didn't have any idea how much she missed real, living, lush greenery until she peeked into the cave beneath Crane's Ridge. It makes her breath stop. The smell of it alone, after the weirdly sterile ocean that surrounded her for months -- she can't resist. She dives inside and down into the jungle, shifting into a bright pink bird as she falls.

Her wings snap open to carry her in and out of the treetops. She loops around a couple of wyverns, zips through a curtain of vines, plummets into another dive before soaring back up in a spiral around one of the trees. By the time she's halfway up its trunk, she's starting to laugh, bright and wild. It's like a fire finally igniting after hours in the harshest cold; eating a feast after starving for months. She's free. She's really free, and --

OH SHIT

Nimona yelps and banks a sharp left turn as she almost flies smack into Bronwyn's face.

Oak and Iron

[redlightgreenlight]

Perhaps the most attractive woman in the room also sits at a table by herself, sipping on a glass of wine while she reads a book. The powerful soul ordering a beer hasn't escaped her attention, but she keeps her eyes on the words. No matter how human he smells, the power of the soul is equal to hers at the very least. Valdis flips a page, glancing up for only a moment to catch a glimpse of the owner of said essence. Tall. Blond. Probably full of himself. She looks back down, prepared to completely ignore him.

TSA TSA TSA - Oak & Iron; also post series, so no accent

[pineapplesalmon]

After a long day at the farm and checking up on his chicks back at home before taking a shower, César stops in to get dinner. He's just... too tired to cook tonight.

When a newcomer smiles at him, he smiles back. "Are you new here?"

[i am here to licce the bugge]

[maskedstarbunny]

Running through trees is just a natural Viera trait, and Ryja has been... avoiding. The forests up above. But down here? Her eyes appreciate the dark, and the jungle of the underground feels good to move through. Ryja's natural glow makes her remarkably easy to track, and yet she's equally easy to lose track of, when she wants to be.

Nothing approaching her sisters in the village, but still enough to make most in Eorzea stare. Her talent pulls her forward, but doesn't tell her what she's looking for, so when her glow illuminates, quite suddenly, Bronwyn's face, she startles a little bit.

Emotionally, Ryja is a mess. Her reliance on her talent to stabilize her feelings is probably noticeable, and perhaps unhealthy. Lots of turmoil in her feelings, all visible to one who can see it, but hard to spot under her current, full mask.

She stops smoothly despite the start, dropping to a proper level to stand and wave to Bronwyn. "Hello? I was not sure anyone lived here, but I got a feeling, and had to check."

[beastsofthehollow]

Her wings stay splayed, and with her attention locked onto him, the angling towards him seems to almost come off as though she's trying to make herself larger. In a place of so many large predators, perhaps she's had to.

The compliment makes her face scrunch strangely, though, and the comments don't help.

She'd regarded him as an intruder, but now, if she was entirely honest with herself, she didn't have a single goddamn clue what to think.

"...What do you seek to know?" She asks, not remarking on the familiarity he feels, a bit formal and guarded. Her wings pull back, leaving her looking less defensive overall, but she stays perched on the altar. She looms over the skeleton beneath it.

Her lionesque tail flicks, only twice. She's skeptical, yet intrigued.

"I know a great deal about this place. Its people were my own, and when they left, I stayed to keep it from falling into unknown."

[iwasjustsayinghello]

Her admission only makes him ache more because it’s definitely a bigger reminder of the Doctor—but it also reminds him of the names and faces he works so hard to hold onto every single day.

The only things that are worth knowing—all of time and space, eternity in front of him, and that’s the thing he will take back to Cardiff with him if he ever gets the chance to go home again.

“Having found you? I would know your name.” He replies honestly. His gaze drops to the skeleton—how long had this person been dead? Did she know them? Remember their name?

Would he be able to hold on to everyone after a thousand years? A million?

“You’ve clearly been alone here a long time—I’ve spent my fair share of time in isolation. Clearly you care enough for the history of this place and the people who dwelt here to keep vigil over their caves and their memory…”

He looks up into her face again, and his own remembered grief leaves all of his nearly two hundred years of life etched in his eyes.

“I can’t die. I’m a fixed point in time and space, my continued existence is a fact. I keep hold of so many names and faces already so they’ll survive past their time…I’d like to do that for you, too.”

[redlightgreenlight]

Her ears flick back, then foward again, jaws parting to draw the scent of the sphinx over her tongue so she can taste it. The creature is old, though how old she cannot decide. The feelings...lonely...filled with an empty sadness, a nervousness, and the voice is of someone who has not spoken in far too long. She drops her head, making herself look smaller and less threatening. Difficult for a creature of her size and bulk, but her empathy senses that she and the sphinx may have some things in common.

I have come to see...and to learn.

Re: QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/CONCERNS

[lasthumanvoice]

If, say, someone had a barometer for sacredness, how would the temple in Fragments of the Past feel to them? Theoretically, I mean.

Mairi Miann | Dice Shame | Existing!

[listenforbirdsong]

-Planting Season-

Thank goodness! Some help around the farm. After Mairi and Ylva churned up all the soil magically, it should be a pretty simple matter to till and seed the soil, but it's a pretty big field. She has all kinds of seeds ready to go, and even made some apple cider.

If you've come out to Northwest Hollow looking for work, you'll see a blue-skinned woman with fins for ears, whose dark, curly, blue-gray hair is constantly at least a little bit wet (if not actively producing enough water to drip, depending upon her mood). Perhaps you know what a water genasi is. If not, you're about to.

-Hot Springs-

On one of the days that Mairi is not trying to get her fields planted, she decides to make her way out to the hot spring, catching an early train. Her hair is pinned back, and she's got a bag with her that resonates with delightful smells to anyone she's close enough to. She smiles politely to anyone who boards after she's seated. Maybe you'd like to sit with her?

-What Even is Jungle Magic-
[ Closed to César ]

With the assistance of a large and delightfully crooked walking stick, Mairi approaches the base of Crane's Ridge with César in tow. Having taken the train, the pair approach the entrance to the new location. "You excited to get started on the deep stuff?"