Mingle - Emergency Potluck

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Community Bulletin

Main Nav | Permanent Bulletin | Calendar |

WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Comments

[skeletonkeay]

Gerry takes that as a cue to come interrogate. He flicks his cigarette aside and stomps it out with his boot.

Despite having integrated with the fashion of the location decently, he's still sporting an all-black wardrobe, and he has a series of handmade patches all over his waistcoat. As he gets closer, it's clear that they are primarily ridiculous phrases like "I EAT BOOKS" and "I saw Grifter's Bone and all I got was this lousy patch", along with various queer symbols.

"...You're new." The same look in her eye as Montauk and Herbert. Too wolfy to be a vampire. But it's best to make sure she talks anyway. "When'd you roll in?"

[hadnoright]

Her eyes flick idly over each patch she can see for a second at a time, quickly enough that it's hard to tell if she's really reading them. But her brow raises, subtly, at the words Grifter's Bone and she almost snorts as her gaze passes over the letters ACAB. Yeah. Alright.

"Just got here," she says, shrugging loosely. "Pretty much fresh off the boat."

She snorts to herself, like she's laughing at a joke only she's privy to.

[skeletonkeay]

He watches her face carefully. There's suspicion here that he's not sure how to put his finger on. She's trapped in this bubble, same as him. She took the same deal. She must've died. What's there to be suspicious of, then? How much trouble could she be?

But then again. Gerry's never cared much for Hunters. Less so now, for obvious reasons.

"Welcome to the team, then," he says flatly, offering a handshake. "Gerard Keay. And we got one more here from the Motherland." He jabs a thumb in Jon's direction, to where he's sitting with Neil. "One of those two poindexters in love over there. The one with the gray."

[hadnoright]

There's a beat where she just looks at the offered hand before she finally takes and shakes it, being perhaps surprisingly careful about the claws when she does.

"Daisy Tonner," she says, whilst at the same time she thinks Gerard Keay, have I heard that name...?

It's not a thought she gets to finish. Following the jerk of Gerard's thumb throws her off entirely, the tense, distant demeanour fractured by the way she straightens up like a dog watching you pick up a ball.

"That's— Jon's here?"

Oh, fucking hell. She should've noticed. How didn't she pick up his Eye stink faster?

[skeletonkeay]

"Oh, Jesus Christ. You know each other." That can't possibly bode well. Just look at her. If she's an enemy of his, Gerry's not fucking bailing him out again. That can be Zelda or Neil's problem. "Are you... friendly with him, or?"

[hadnoright]

"Um." Talk about a loaded question. But Daisy answers as best as she knows to, right now, barely taking her eyes off Jon across the way, "Yeah. Friendly enough. We... worked together. Sort of. It's complicated."

Like everything with the Institute is, really.

[skeletonkeay]

Gerry nods with sage understanding. "Magnus Institute."

[hadnoright]

Daisy sighs a long-suffering sigh. "Yeah. Magnus Institute. If you know it I'm sure you can imagine the couple of years we had. Had me doing Elias's dirty work for a while but things... changed. And it's been... a while, since I was back there."

She doesn't elaborate on that. Explaining her detour is somehow even more complicated than the Institute's bullshit.

[skeletonkeay]

"Mm. I was before Jon's time. Worked with Gertrude Robinson for a bit. Then I died, and ended up trapped in a book. I made a deal with Jon to be released in exchange for information on the Unknowing, and poof. Now I'm here. It's been... maybe six months?" He can't be fucked to count. "Despite the bullshit, it's probably been the best goddamn half-year of my life."

[hadnoright]

Trapped in a book... fuck, why does that ring a bell? Ugh, so much of home blurs together. She rubs at her temple, thoughtful wrinkle in her brow as she tries to think back.

"Gertrude. Right. The hardcore old biddy. Had fun with the explosives she left behind." Not often Daisy got to play around with plastic explosives. And, well, she wasn't one of the ones that got blown up by them. "Knew he'd got his information from somewhere, but— wait."

She clicks her fingers a few times. "Montauk and Herbet, they— said something about Jon stealing an— evil book?"

[skeletonkeay]

"Ah, that explains a lot." He hadn't known what Gertrude put in the storage locker, having been told "you'll see" with a wry smile when he asked. Explosives. No wonder she was so smug about it. That's hilarious.

Gerry's face visibly sours, crumpling like a balled up scrap of paper, at the mention of the Father-Daughter Hunting Party. "Yeah. That'd be me."

cw reference to gore/violence

[hadnoright]

Daisy's face wrinkles back. "Christ. Every time you think you've heard it all with these things..."

Trapping people in a book is a new one on her. The ways the Fears manifest are as varied as they are horrific.

Her jaw works as she drags her tongue over her teeth, considering her words for a moment, before offering up. "...well. Montauk and Herbert aren't. A problem. Anymore. For what that's worth."

She may have never felt Julia's throat crumple and tear between her teeth first hand, but she knows she did it. And she heard what happened to Trevor.

[skeletonkeay]

Gerry takes a moment to process this before speaking again, quieter than before. "Good. Good riddance."

[hadnoright]

Hm. This sure turned into an oddly heavy moment with someone she doesn't know from Adam. Daisy sits awkwardly for a second, then clears her throat.

"So. Best six months of your life. Really? I mean. Not that I don't believe it, I guess." Fuck, she considered those 6 months in the Archives the most free she'd ever been until she got away from the looming presence of the Hunt entirely. Even the ship had its upsides, even if, well... most of those upsides have followed her here.

[skeletonkeay]

"If you knew my mother, or Gertrude, you'd understand. This is the first time since I was a kid that I've been able to get away from the constant stream of murders, human sacrifices, rituals, spooky monsters, and Fear-obsessed assholes." He rolls his eyes for emphasis.

"Now I run a book-binding shop." (Don't worry, the irony's not lost on him.) "It's mostly normal. I do my job, hang out with my boyfriend, and sometimes there's demons or whatever. Nothing I can't handle."

[hadnoright]

"Ha. Put it like that..." Yeah, alright. That's a weirdly reassuring assessment of this place, after the time she's had over the last few years. "Few demons is nothing compared to the— bullshit back home. And I am counting things like me in that bullshit."

She's aware of the kind of monster she is, after all.

[skeletonkeay]

"Same. I'm no Archivist, but I still know way too much for anyone's good. Not that it doesn't come in handy, but then again, so does the Hunt. 'S how they get ya." He smirks a little at his own joke. "How much've you heard about the curse?"

[hadnoright]

There's a huff of air that might be a laugh.

"Pretty much just what we get told turning up." She shrugs, loosely. "Haven't exactly had the chance to ask around. Plus I'm. Honestly pretty used to just waiting for whatever new bullshit there is to rear its ugly head on its own. And dealing with it then."

This strategy has mixed results.

[skeletonkeay]

Gerry gestures to himself. "Ask away."

[hadnoright]

Hm. Alright. Daisy's brow furrows with thought for a moment. Practical first.

"So no one stays dead. That's whatever. Actually pretty used to that, already." Years on the Serena Eterna will do that to you. "But does anything weird happen when people do die?"

[skeletonkeay]

"They turn into ghosts 'till dawn. Lets you talk to other ghosts. Or haunt your friends. Knock their dishware over, bang some cabinets, classic gaffs like that," Gerry jokes dryly. "But not much else, really, as far as I know."

[hadnoright]

"Huh. Better deal than the last place. Sometimes you'd wake up missing whole organs." Not something she ever personally dealt with, but it happened. "Do people actually die much? Sure, there's demons, but are they even killing regularly?"

[skeletonkeay]

Gerry considers this for a moment. "Mmm. Often enough, I guess. The mayor's assistant dies every other day, not always from paranormal things. Then there's the Pine Devil, which is some kind of cryptid that eats someone maybe once every few weeks. And someone got killed in an earthquake. And people kill each other sometimes. Some guy got murdered by a robot or something. Oh, what else..." He casts his eyes aside to think. "The train thing was kind of a disaster. Lots of people died in that one. It just kind of depends."

[hadnoright]

That note about the Pine Devil is going to feel suddenly more relevant later in her day, but for now it just gets filed away with the rest of it.

"That's about what I expected. Not every day, at least. Well. Except for that one guy. Apparently." Nothing has been as bad as that first cruise in terms of violence, thank god. She couldn't go back to that without there being consequences. "Does anyone have literally any idea what caused it all? The last place I was stuck it was designed that way. Obviously a curse is. Different."