ph_memes | Pumpkin Hollow Pen-Pal Program

PUMPKIN HOLLOW'S PEN-PAL PROGRAM

Welcome to the Pumpkin Hollow Pen-Pal Program!

Letters have been something that has brought people across Concord closer together in spite of great distances. Being cut off from the greater world has not only left people lacking in outlets to write to friends and loved ones they may not have time to see every day, but left our local post office alarmingly dry of service.

That's where you can help!

By joining Marrow Isle's Pen-Pal Program, not only can you assist in revitalizing our postal service and help to keep our couriers on the move, but through our pen-pal lottery, you'll have the potential to write to an acquaintance, an old friend, or perhaps a new friend entirely! Participation in the lottery is entirely optional, of course, as you're always welcome to simply register and write to your current companions.

To participate, all you need to do is provide your mailing address via the form below, and the post office will provide you envelopes, paper, and ink, free of charge! We look forward to seeing new bonds formed through writing!

-Created with love by the Autumn Leaves Dormitory House, graciously hosted by the Marrow Isle Postal Service.

To sign up for a pen-pal, all you have to do is:

Create a toplevel for your character that will serve as their pen-pal inbox, filling out the form below! For addresses, you may either the specific address you picked from the reference sheet or just their neighborhood if you haven't picked one.
Reply to the Lottery comment to be entered into the lottery before the listed deadline. New lotteries to be assigned a new pen-pal will occur monthly, so feel free to sign up every month, just once, or as desired! (Be sure to have your toplevel comment inbox set up before pen-pals are assigned!)
If you do not want a randomly assigned partner, no worries! You can simply have one of your characters send a letter directly to another character's inbox.
When you are given your recipient, send them a starting letter in their inbox, and you will receive one from whoever was assigned yours! It will work like Secret Santa, resulting in two letter threads.
Letter threads can last as long as you want, but if you sign up again the following month, you'll get two more. Budget your energy appropriately!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To the inbox of Lt. Felix Gaeta, Age 28
115 Goldleaf Street, Apt. 1C
Downtown Hollow

The letter arrives in a crisp ivory envelope sealed with red wax. The imprint of a sun in the center has been painted gold.

Dear Felix,

Hello there! I do hope it is alright if I address you by your first name. We've not talked much yet, but I feel as though the act of becoming pen pals affords a bit of familiarity. But do correct me if you feel differently! Either way, I am pleased to be writing with you.

Traditionally, first letters in such chains are used to make personal introductions--- a custom I'm happy to uphold, as I would love to know more about you. My name is Neil, and I am the island's lone mental healthcare professional. I work as a therapist, both for regular talk therapy and some specialized sleep therapy, at West Dream Analytics. I have been here for just about 15 years, I believe. I am also the head of the Ocularum, an occult research group attempting to help deal with the barrier by attacking it from a perspective of magic and science.

In my free time, I enjoy practicing and teaching magic and assisting the uninformed with magical and metaphysical literacy. I also am fond of cooking, reading, herbalism, and playing the cello, though I seldom have the time for the last item on that list these days. Prior to coming to Pumpkin Hollow, I lived on the Grand Fairisle in a city called Providence, which is a large metropolitan area in the northern region of Braxtony. It is sometimes called the City of Brass, not for its wealth, but rather for its metal architecture and infrastructure which is based in a combination of clockwork machinery and arcane power. This innovative fusion of magic and machine was very unique to the area, and the reason why I became so enchanted (forgive the pun) with the practical uses of magic and science.

Anyway, now that I have sufficiently prattled about myself for a good long while, I shall seal up this letter and send it off to you! I eagerly await your reply, and with it, the chance to know more about one of my neighbors.

All my best,
Neil

The reply Neil receives isn't in anything so fancy, but simple as it might be, every part of it -- down to the handwriting -- is painstakingly neat.

DEAR ~~DR. WEST~~ NEIL,

(In the margins, Gaeta's drawn a small arrow toward the struck-out portion and scribbled, less precisely than the rest of the letter: SORRY -- HABIT!)

IT'S A PLEASURE TO EXCHANGE LETTERS WITH YOU AS WELL! I HOPED THE PENPAL PROGRAM WOULD DO EXACTLY THIS: HELP ME GET TO KNOW MORE OF MY NEIGHBORS WHEN I SOMETIMES HAVE A TENDENCY TO KEEP TO MYSELF. NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT PRATTLING TOO LONG. WHAT ELSE ARE INTRODUCTORY LETTERS FOR?

MY OWN PRATTLING: I'M ONE OF THE OUTSIDERS WHO ARRIVED ON MORTANNE'S FERRY APPROXIMATELY 5 MONTHS AGO, THOUGH I WASN'T ON THE CURSED CRUISE SHIP SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN FROM. IN FACT, EVEN ASIDE FROM THAT, I'M A LITTLE BIT OF AN ANOMALY. I'M NOT FROM EARTH, AND, BEFORE MY ARRIVAL ON MARROW ISLE, I HADN'T HAD A PERMANENT PLANETSIDE HOME FOR 7 YEARS. I SERVED AS A LIEUTENANT ABOARD A SPACEGOING MILITARY SHIP CALLED GALACTICA DURING THAT TIME. WITHOUT GOING INTO TOO MUCH DETAIL THAT WOULD MAKE THIS LETTER LESS LIGHTHEARTED THAN IT SHOULD BE, I -- AND THE REST OF MY CIVILIZATION -- WERE IN SEARCH OF A NEW HOME FOR 4 OF THOSE 7 YEARS. PRIOR TO MY MILITARY SERVICE, I LIVED IN RIVERSIDE JUNCTION ON PICON, ONE OF THE PLANETS OF THE 12 COLONIES OF KOBOL.

MOST OF MY STRENGTHS ARE IN MATHEMATICS, SPACE NAVIGATION, AND MILITARY TACTICS, THOUGH THAT'S MORE A FUNCTION OF MY SERVICE THAN ANYTHING. I HOPED TO STUDY GENETICS EVENTUALLY, BUT WOULD SETTLE FOR GENERAL SCIENCES (AND MAYBE MEDICINE/CHEMISTRY) NOWADAYS. FOR THE TIME BEING I'VE SCRATCHED MY RESEARCH ITCH BY WORKING AT THE LIBRARY -- WHICH IS WHY IT FEELS PARTICULARLY FORTUITOUS THAT WE MATCHED ON THIS PROGRAM.

YOU SEE, I WAS ONE OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE CULT SACRIFICE ABOUT A MONTH AND A HALF AGO. MAGIC, DEMONS, GODS, ETC. ARE FAR OUTSIDE MY WHEELHOUSE, BUT I'M COMMITTED TO FIGURING OUT WHAT HAPPENED, AND HOW IT MIGHT RELATE TO THE BARRIER SURROUNDING THE ISLAND. I'VE DONE SOME PERSONAL RESEARCH ALONGSIDE A FEW OF THE OTHER "SACRIFICEES," I GUESS, BUT I OFTEN DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START AS SOMEONE FROM A WORLD WITHOUT MAGIC OR THE SUPERNATURAL. YOU SEEM WELL POISED AS THE HEAD OF THE OCULARUM TO HELP ME WITH THAT -- AND IF THERE'S ANYTHING I CAN SHARE IN RETURN, I WOULD BE HAPPY TO DO SO.

IN ADDITION, I'D BE VERY INTERESTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW MAGIC AND SCIENCE MIGHT COMBINE. TO MY (ADMITTEDLY UNEDUCATED) VIEW, THEY SEEM LIKE POLAR OPPOSITES. SO PERHAPS IF I KNOW MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS OF MAGIC, LIKE THE ARCANE-POWERED MACHINERY IN PROVIDENCE, IT MIGHT START TO MAKE MORE SENSE TO ME!

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE. I VERY MUCH LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING MORE FROM YOU SOON.

REGARDS,
FELIX GAETA

Neil's next reply takes entirely too long.

Dear Felix,

Hello my friend! I am terribly sorry for the outrageous delay in my response. There have been a great many things happening as of late, and I do have a tendency to get buried in my work, both for my practice and for my personal studies. I'm pleased to report a significant uptick in clientele as of late! Being something of a town pariah due to a series of disagreements with the Leeds family, I'm afraid that before people began arriving from offworld, my business was struggling badly. I'm pleased to have more to do, both for my finances, and in the interest of more people seeking therapy.

Space travel, though! How fascinating! If you'd asked me a year ago if I ever dreamed such a thing could be possible, I would have called it a beautiful fantasy. To know that it was not only truth, but the life of those I could meet and speak with, is nothing short of miraculous. I do offer my condolences that the circumstances under which you took to the stars were so sordid, but I hope that during your time in space, you saw many incredible things that made the journey one worth taking. And I do hope our little planet finds you well! We've named it Concorde, and while we are yet unable to leave it, I've found it a lovely place to call home.

I did hear about the trip to the past that resulted in a recreation of a cult sacrifice. It sounds like quite the onerous affair, though I am sure you learned much. I was able to gain access to the religious text of the cult for a few days, but found myself unable to read the language. However, if you'd like to learn about the occult, demons, magic, or extradimensional entities in general, I would be delighted to share! In fact, I would love to invite you personally to our upcoming Ocularum meeting this weekend. We have much to discuss regarding the events of the Leeds Gala and I would be happy to get you up to date on that situation as well. If you'd be so kind as to drop by a little bit before the meeting, I would gladly put some lunch together and get you caught up on the basics! I'll also have plenty of reading for you to take home if you want it. You would be amazed by the ways in which science and magic overlap!

In any case, I do look forward to hearing from you again soon. Happy Fall!

Best,
Neil West

Within the letter there is a short Ocularum pamphlet that includes Neil's address and the time of the meeting. He has also scrawled his phone number onto it.

Pumpkin Hollow Pen-Pal Program

INBOX: Felix Gaeta

A letter from Dr. West

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