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ph_memes2024-04-02 06:46 pm
TDM #5 - Paradesium [REPRINT]
[Find our plain text version here!] MOD NOTE: April's event for members will take place between April 12-25 and will impact the whole island. As such, any tags taking place here over that time will need to be back- or future-dated unless an alternative is discussed with a mod. Don't worry over the details of this too much--- time is soup, after all. Just something to be aware of. Thanks!
Pumpkin Hollow Gazette
4/2/24 | TDM #5 - Paradesium [REPRINT]
Content Warnings: individual CWs found per prompt in "Further Details"
Forecast: Very rainy! Chance of severe storms.
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 past March is 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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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?"
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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!
Ruby Rose | RWBY (V9 + CRAU) | Current Player/Character
oak & iron
There is a one-eyed young woman disassociating in the Oak & Iron. She's probably meant to be eating, there's certainly a half-full plate of food on the table in front of her, but right now all she's actually doing is staring into space. Her food is no doubt going cold. She may be unwittingly staring directly at someone with her surprisingly piercing silver gaze. The unnatural stillness may just be kind of concerning.
This is unfortunately a not-uncommon occurrence while Ruby is staying here at the inn.
making dolls
Now she has access to more tools, whilst the charity drive is ongoing Ruby occasionally takes some time to chill out by working on some simple dolls and figurines. She's not experienced with sewing, so she works with wood and takes advantage of all of her experience as a designer and engineer for far more complicated things than dolls to build them with proper ball-joints.
The work's delicate enough that she has little choice but to drag the part of herself that feels off-centre back into place and focus. It's satisfying. Working with her hands again is starting to feel better, with time and practice.
Maybe you find her whilst she's focused on carving, putting a doll together or testing their motion. Maybe you find her whilst she's taking a break with a half-finished doll in her lap. Or maybe you find her holding up a finished doll, smiling proudly, then furrowing her brow as she mumbles, "I've really got to solve the fact you're all being left naked..."
forest
Occasionally, Ruby can be found out in the forest. She only goes out into the shallowest areas, most of the time; she doesn't need to go deeper to do what she's out there to do, which is to get in touch with the plant life and get used to drawing on her Contracts.
It's... both easier and harder than it used to be. The plants here are real and alive and respond in a way that simply wasn't possible on the ship. But after the Ever After, the leaves, the tree...
Well. It's complicated.
Regardless, she practices. Manipulating the plant life around her, flowers and fungi and trees alike. Occasionally talking aloud to things.
Wildcard
Hit me.
making dolls
There's a doll at the end of the table that Ruby didn't make. It's there for a minute, and then it's gone. A little spooky, but maybe someone just left one in place? And picked it up when she wasn't looking? A few minutes later there's a small dress, sized close enough to fit. If Ruby has any experience with sewing she can probably tell it's been given a simple little patch to make it fit, actually.
This happens a couple more times before Vespertine is caught in the act. Vespertine can't look very bashful, but it can look friendly. It freezes momentarily, before giving a little smile, wave, and a gestured ||Hello?||
If she doesn't respond to the sign, it will say hello with its false voice too, though.
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These days Ruby's awareness of her surroundings is so hit and miss that it really is easy to write off the the disappearing doll and mysteriously appearing clothes as something someone is, for some reason or another, doing without her noticing. Or telling her. Or maybe they are telling her, and she's just that out of it. Really, it's entirely possible.
It's after the first couple times that she starts to pay more attention on purpose, though, and so as she's examining one of the dresses in comparison to a doll, she finally spots the culprit.
"Oh! Hi!" Not long ago what seems to be an ambulant doll would surprise her far more, even with all the unique people she's met since the ship, but after the Ever After... well, there was a whole acre full of living toys. Hard to be all that surprised after you played a game of chess against a child-sized porcelain doll. "This is your doing, huh?"
It does seem that she responds to the sign.
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||Yes, I saw your work and wanted to... well, help. I've made plenty of small dresses for myself and it isn't hard to modify them.|| Vespertine does a little curtsy, and holds out its hand to shake.
||I'm Vespertine, and I am delighted to meet you.|| On one level, this friendliness is a built in survival mechanism. 'Be friendly to the people who can put you back together' is still ingrained in its very being, even if it's unnecessary here. On another? The effort Ruby put into her dolls has Vespertine genuinely smiling.
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Ruby is very careful about how she accepts the handshake, but when she does there's a smile on her face too. "I guess when you're so small you have to be pretty resourceful, huh... uh, my name's Ruby. I'm delighted to meet you too, Vespertine."
Her own name still doesn't feel like it fits quite as snugly as it used to, but that's... it's complicated. She's still Ruby Rose. Even if at times she wishes she wasn't.
"And, well, thank you. I'm sure the kids wouldn't really mind them coming without clothes, but really it just seemed unfair to leave them like this."
Can you tell Ruby is still the kind of person who apologises to a plush if it falls out of her bed?
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As far as Vespertine is concerned, that makes her correct. "It would be! A well made doll should be clothed appropriately. And you put care into them." A small smile. "I could make custom dresses for them too, if you wanted?"
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Ruby tilts her head just a touch. "If it's not too much trouble, that might be nice? Give them their own unique flair. I bet both the dolls themselves and the kids would appreciate that."
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Oak & Iron
He hates to do it, but Jones touches her shoulder, braced for a bad reaction at the same time he speaks--he, unfortunately, knows all too well what that kind of disassociation is like when it's truly bad. Even superficially, it's a bit jarring to be dragged back before one is ready...
Based on the distance in those eyes when he found himself looking into them from across the room, he's fairly certain this isn't as superficial as he would hope for one who looks so young.
"If they've gone too cold, I'll get you a fresh plate. My treat." he quips--given that he's a resident, and gets his meals for free. "I'll even stay to chat if it helps keep you engaged enough to finish eating. Name's Jones...and if anyone understands the need for tethering to the present, I promise you: it's me."
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The worst of her reaction is, thankfully, confined to a startled jolt that jerks the shoulder in question away from the touch a full second before she's with it enough to look at the source. The eye not behind the eyepatch blinks at him numbly and the moment where she snaps back to herself enough to process it all is visible in the way her expression clears.
"—right. R-Right. Um." She shakes her head, ponytail almost whipping herself in the face, and grinds her palm against her eyelid until she's seeing static, then breathes and drops her hand again. Back to reality. "Ugh. They're probably too cold by now... but I don't..." Inhale, exhale. She should try to accept help, right? "...are you sure?"
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Pulling up a chair with that done, he smiles and waves off her concern.
“I’m certain. In all things save a few.” He assures her. “Rarely more than when it comes to keeping the kids fed. Bit of a thing with me, drives my staff mad back home. And, ah…a good meal is often good for what ails you.”
He raises an eyebrow at her, features soft with their silent question.
Something you want to get off your chest, young lady?
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There's a somewhat murmured but polite and genuine 'thank you', as she nudges her plate of cold food aside a little so it won't be in the way when the next comes.
"I'm 19," comes out reflexively, at the mention of kids; as if that really makes her any less painfully young, in the grand scheme of things. Especially to those most long-lived souls. "But um— it's just... it's just one of those days, I-I guess. Some days are— it's more difficult to stay tethered than others."
Tethered is another good word for the feeling she's lacking, in these moments. She's picking up all sorts of descriptors.
CW: mentions of alcoholism, VERY loose allusions to childhood mistreatment (unreliable narrator)
And she's been known to do the same for him. Her, Mels, Rory--even bloody Mickey.
"I may not look it, but I've been alive for over two hundred years." he admits quietly. "But I had those days long before I became immortal--it's hard to keep some things straight, the human brain isn't designed for this kind of long term memory retention, but I believe I was only about five years older than you when I became accustomed to those moments of disassociation. My mam did her best, but my tad was an alcoholic--not violent, not really, but he was...well, he still had ways of making life quite hard. Sometimes, the mind just--makes its own escape without asking for permission."
cw: reference to suicide and child neglect
"Disassociation..." she mumbles, turning the word over in her mouth like she's hearing it for the first time, because she is. There's a lot of things she doesn't know. Remnant's understanding and treatment of mental health can be... lacking, to say the least. "...it's— pretty new, for me. I think."
She used to be better at keeping on keeping on, but now... something's changed in a way she's not yet sure how to fix. Ever since drinking the tea, trying to erase herself, there's been a disconnect she can't quite settle.
"I think maybe my dad had trouble with something similar. When I was a kid. The... disassociation, I-I mean. But he was... he was okay, to us. Me and my sister." He just wasn't present mentally for long stretches of her early childhood. She's still not sure if she understands it better now or not. Even if she did, she's not sure how that's meant to make her feel about it.
Oak and Iron
Or, well, not new new, exactly, but newer than him, if only a little. He's seen her a few times doing... whatever it is she's doing now, and had left her to it out of a sense that sometimes a person just wants to be left alone with their thoughts. This time, though, he's starting to get worried.
"Hey," he says, gently, trying to get her attention but not wanting to startle her as he makes his way over to the other side of the table and gestures at the chair across from her. "You mind if I sit here?"
It's a busy enough night that there is need to double up on tables, so it's not weird that he's asking. But he does very much have ulterior motives in doing so.
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Ruby snaps back to reality like an elastic band against its anchor-point, abrupt and startling. She scrunches her eyes shut, and shakes her head, and then looks at the guy talking to her with a gaze that's still not completely with it, but is, at least, actually seeing him.
"Oh, uh— no, no I don't mind. Go ahead."
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It takes effort, not letting herself drift back outside her own skin, but she holds the pieces of herself together and starts picking at her food again. It's lukewarm at best, now, and that means it's going to be a sensory nightmare, but... now money is a concern again, she can almost hear Yang's voice in her head reminding her not to waste food.
So she eats it anyway, even if she cringes a little.
She's quiet at first, too. But even though small talk and introductions in general are something she considers herself horrible at, she eventually offers up, "Uh. I'm— Ruby."
Usually she manages to get through entire conversations before even introducing herself, so this is an outlier.
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"Leon," he says, nodding in greeting. "Good to meet you. You a local, or did you get here on the ferry like I did?"
It's intentional, the way he offers up that information first. Maybe it'll make her feel like they've got something in common, if she's a new arrival like he assumes - or at least like this is a conversation and not an interrogation, like he knows can sometimes happen when people are just trying to make sure you're okay.
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"I came in on the ferry too, yeah. It's been... a few weeks, I guess?" Her sense of time is a little off, thanks to everything, but it must be thereabouts. "If you've heard about a bunch of people who were on a cruise ship before ending up here, well, I'm one of them, heh."
If he hasn't heard about that... well, she guesses she'll have to explain what is otherwise a pretty weird statement when you've not gotten used to all this universe hopping. This is technically her third time.
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cw: reference to suicide
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forest
When it seems Ruby isn't quite as busy, because she wasn't wanting to spy so much as not interrupt, she calls down. "I hear there's some sort of pinecone monster out here."
Which means she's also just worried about leaving Ruby alone, especially as it approaches dark.
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Ruby only jumps a little when she finally realises Ava's there, turning so she can see her properly with her limited field of vision. (Maybe she should be asking about what kinds of enchantments River can offer for that...)
"Oh hey, Ava. Uh— pinecone monster? Really?" Beat. "Actually at this point I probably shouldn't be surprised..."
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"So maybe it's best not to be out alone."
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"Heh, I'm trying to picture a pinecone eating someone and it seems... pretty tricky."
It's an almost funny mental image, actually, though it probably shouldn't be given she absolutely believes it's possible. Even without realising Ava's probably talking about the Pine Devil thing.
"But, um, thanks. For worrying." She almost awkwardly adds 'if you are', but stops herself. Even she can't be reading into that statement more than necessary. "Though, if it helps, it's actually pretty tough to hurt me. I've got sort of a forcefield? And I can sort of... deconstruct myself, so I can run away super fast."
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"Hard for me not to worry," Ava admits. "Even if I have no doubts that you're more than capable of protecting yourself. But as silly as it sounds, I have no idea what the pinecone monster is capable of either." And she doesn't like underestimating things. She glances around, as if something might be watching.
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"No, no that— that makes sense."
Ruby looks thoughtful for a moment, then dissolves into a cloud of petals and a red streak that zips up to an adjacent tree branch. There, it reforms, with another final burst of petals, into Ruby, perched upon the branch.
"My scale for this stuff might be a little broken, heh. We used to play out in the forest around our house when we were kids. The area was mostly safe, but there was always a chance a Grimm would stray too close."
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