June Event - Cukey-Scary [The Cucumber Festival]

[pumpkinhollow]

**Plain text version here.

CUKEY-SCARY

Come one, come all!

The long-awaited festival to enjoy vegetables and welcome in the summer months has finally arrived - and this time, completely uninhibited by curses!

Pumpkin Hollow's streets are bright and bustling, adorned with green ribbons, baskets of flowers, and freshly arranged shop stalls to market their goods to the festival-goers as they mill about the streets surrounding the Festival Green. Cheering crowds watch performers perched upon stages, jaunty music played by thoroughly energized bands fills the air, and the smell of freshly-cut cucumbers is carried on the breeze.

Welcome to the Cucumber Festival, a sorely-missed holiday held exclusively on Marrow Isle. It is a festival begun at the town's inception to encourage the newly-established farming community, which was rapidly embraced from then on. Many smaller-scale gardeners dedicate vast amounts of energy in joining farmers to make the festival possible, and this year is more abundant than ever, thanks to the efforts of the new arrivals taking up the farming mantles. The merriment sprawls all over the Festival Green, and even further into the town.

One question yet remains: where to begin?

Cucumber Celebrations Commence!

Copious Cucumber Cuisine

With the cucumber harvest more bountiful this year than it'd ever been, the booths have a wide assortment of offerings - cucumber chips, fried pickles, bowls of salad, breads with chunks of vegetable in them, fritters, among the wide tide of other culinary delights. If you can make it with a cucumber, these people have!

Almost as abundant as the attendees are, the stalls and booths set up with cucumber-centric meals are easily found. much of it is cheap, even free in many cases, and scattered with them are other booths peddling artisan goods.

Challenges of Chance and Cheer

As much as Hollowites enjoy their food, there's rarely an opportunity that they pass up to incorporate games or rides into festivities, and the Cucumber Festival has an extremely wide variety to offer!

The Whirling Wyvern is a ride that stands shortly behind a neat arrangement of picnic tables. Rope fences wind around the ride, giving it a safe distance from any bystanders, and the surrounding area is littered with flour bags, densely stuffed to offer padding.

Watching it even briefly makes it very clear why the padding is needed: the platform, raised about two feet off the ground in the middle, begins to spin its seated riders, rotating faster and faster until they topple, roll, and fall off the sides, into the padding below. People can often be heard nearby making bets with friends to see who can stay on the longest. (It's not a recommended ride for anyone who's been drinking!)

Bumpermobiles is another ride, operating on enchantment instead of electricity and a switch, that may look familiar to some of Pumpkin Hollow's residents from more modern times! Though they lack the distinctive roofed building in favor of a section of paved road closed off with wooden beams, the small carts of the bumpermobiles resemble automobiles of the current time, outfitted with wide-edges to brace the impact they'll inevitably have on one-another! Each one seats two, but are able to be driven on their own, if you'd prefer to focus your conversations on heckling your fellow driver.

Hot Air Balloons are set up not on the Green, but just outside of it, taking a spot just off to the side that's unoccupied by booths or frequent foot-traffic. Each ride carries a maximum of three, not counting the operator, and gives any rider an impressive view of marrow isle for thirty minutes.

The Carousel stands in the center of the Festival Green, chiming cheerful music from the pillar in the center. Horses are joined by the addition of shimmering unicorns, beaked pegasi, and colorfully painted pony-drawn carts (which are crafted to be seats, for those who cannot climb on one of the other mounts).

The Wheel of Chance is a vertical wheel, perched between artisan's booths, offering low-stake prizes for a small payment! 5 Brass allows you to spin the wheel, offering one of ten available prizes:

1. a cucumber, covered in batter and fried, on a stick.
2. a goldfish in a decorative bowl.
3. a pair of pants, with several varieties to choose from.
4. a deck of playing cards.
5. a fine leather-bound notebook.
6. a set of six shot glasses.
7. a bottle of wine.
8. a basket of assorted fruits.
9. a glass-blown animal native to Marrow Isle, palm-sized, in assorted species and colors.
10. 10 Brass. Double your money!

(For any concerned about the wellbeing of the fish: the person operating the wheel assures the health of these goldfish, and that the bowls are simply for festival distribution. They do note, however, that you'll be on the hook, no pun intended, to provide the new home for the fish.)

The Cucumber Festival's Raffle is one of the most coveted opportunities to spend a small sum of brass and win one of the many prizes donated by the community, with all contributions going into community services and upkeep.

Each ticket costs 20 Brass, and each person may purchase up to 5 tickets. There will be three drawings total, granting a small prize, a medium prize, and a grand prize to each winner. One person cannot win more than one prize; if the same person draws a second prize after their first, it will be re-rolled.

To purchase a raffle ticket, please reply to the Pumpkin Hollow mod account comment with RAFFLE TICKETS as the title, also linked here, stating how many tickets your character will be buying. On JUNE 14TH, ticket purchasing will be closed, and the prizes will be rolled!

The prizes are as follows:

1. 1st (small): a telescope, with elegant engravings in the metal, donated by Elias Coldwood.
2. 2nd (medium): a set of two enchanted tea puppies, one glass and one metal, donated by Neil West.
3. 3rd (grand prize): a basket-hilt sword, well-weighted, masterfully crafted, and delightfully ornate, donated by Dahlia Leeds.

Contestants Convene for Competition

Of course, what's a festival without a little bit of friendly competition! Over the week of celebrations, the Cucumber Festival hosts the following activities for any and all participants interested in joining in the fun.

The Cucumber Growing Competition is a celebration of the farmers who made all this possible, as well as a flexing of gardening prowess. Each cucumber is measured in weight, length, and color! The prize for the best cucumber in show is simply a ribbon, but among the Pumpkin Hollow farmers, it's quite a statement to have. Career farmers, hobby gardeners, and onlookers alike gather to see the town's farmers' handiwork!

The Cooking Competition follows directly after the Cucumber Growing Competition. While the larger of the vegetables don't make for very good foods, sacrificing flavor for size, the rest of the entries are cut up and used for a variety of dishes. Chefs of all varieties are encouraged to participate to show their culinary prowess!

The Great Turnip Smash-Off is a cheeky jab at the prior year's failed festival. Wielding any tools they like, including but not limited to one's hands themselves, each contestant is allotted three minutes to destroy as many turnips as they possibly can. The prize for the cucumber festival's first annual turnip slayer is a small trophy for bragging rights!

The Water Walk is a fun sport for all ages! Lined up in rows with metal spoons full of water, the participants must walk carefully to the end of the "racetrack" to a small glass of water, with a line denoted on the side at the middle. The first person to fill their glass to or above that mark wins!

The Variety Show occurs throughout the week, offering the stage to many people of assorted talents. The first day is booked up for magicians (sleight of hand, specifically - mages are politely requested to refrain from participation), and on the following Monday, a "feat of strength" competition will showcase the might of those strongest in Pumpkin Hollow! The other days are yet to be filled, and several festival attendants are waiting with clipboards to accept submissions. Many newcomers have talents they've never seen before, so new submissions of the musical, magical, or other remarkable talent alike are not only welcome, but strongly encouraged!

Carnival Complications

Of course, not all things can go entirely peacefully in Pumpkin Hollow's festivities, and the Cucumber Festival has never been exempt from this. Though the prior years' incident was far more disruptive to the festival's celebrations, several things begin to crop up over the span of the week.

Capricious Crashers

As the festival goes on, it seems that some poltergeists have seen fit to invite themselves to the party. Two games are affected, with varying results.

The Whack-a-Mole Game, during the first night, becomes the first item to start experiencing a mild haunting. Though the specters only make themselves known when the participant is alone, there's a distinct feeling of guilt that comes with each smack, not unlike stepping on a cat's tail without realizing it. Instead of the triumphant jingle that the machine lets out when the game is complete, a stark silence settles in, as though the entire festival has frozen in time. Only then does a whisper, no louder than a breeze, brush past your ear.

Rolling a D3, the spirits haunting the whack-a-mole machine will tell you the following:

1. a secret that isn't yours to have about someone in town.
2. a piece of gossip, a shocking recent happening that may or may not be getting around in whispers.
3. a lie, carefully crafted to impact the way you see one of your fellow townsfolk.

(Mod Note: the information given is always going to be about someone nearby. When tagging into someone's top-level with the Whack-a-Mole Game who's got secrets or gossip, provide a piece of information about your character that the spirits might've said! Additionally, feel free to request a piece of information about an NPC, major or minor. For a lie, anything goes. Have fun with it!)

The Candle-Shooting Game is the next to become haunted, though the haunting is significantly more straightforward. In an act of simple mischief, the flame will occasionally withstand blasts from the water gun that should have surely snuffed it, or the flame will go out just as you line your shot up. These spirits are aiming to ruin this particular game, but not your night.

Cards and Consequences

On the outskirts of the festival, there is a strange building set up. Just a small shack, decorated with celestial trappings and a mysterious air. Above the door, a sign painted black with gold lettering says "HOUSE OF CARDS". Is it a funhouse? A fortune teller? No one's sure who set it up. Perhaps another effort of Captain Tuttle or something.

There is a sign on the double doors that make up the entrance, which reads, "Admission is free, but you must enter in pairs." And true to its word, the doors will not open unless two different people take each door's handle. Otherwise it is definitively locked.

So, choose a companion and go explore! What's the worst that could happen? All you have to do is open the door.

| CONTENT WARNINGS: mild manipulation, unreality, snakes, possible character death. |

Comments

Hawkeye Pierce | OTA

[notinflictthem]

My whole life's been a torid affair [meta]

Hawk drags himself out of bed for the festival. People have most certainly been checking in with him during his sabbatical of sleeping a lot and drinking and waiting to hear if someone’s got shrapnel in their bowels and need him. But there’s one big issue with this place. Without a constant stream of injured, he has no good reason to get up and out of this funk like he does back home.

Maybe this is a good enough reason. Hawk looks scruffy and weary as he schleps in. But hey, his spirits have always lifted quickly, this is no exception.

'Cause I've had too many bottles of gin

His nose leads him to the food stalls first. Mostly he’s had cucumbers in salads, but the strange preparations of it are a welcome novelty. He quickly becomes animated in his compliments to the cooks, offering “this is incredible” and “how’d you learn how to make this?”.

Bystanders won’t be allowed to be bystanders for much longer, as he grabs people to offer-
“Have you tried this?! Try some-“
Or
“Split this with me? I’ll pay.”

Marriage and babies were never for me

Hawk wins a little glass bird from the wheel, menaces some strangers on the bumper cars, and demands the carousel pegasus take him to the corner of 34th and right here. And if that’s not bad enough, later on he convinces the organizers to let him do a comedy routine. And a monologue from Richard III. And a song. And a second song. He has to get physically dragged off-stage, quipping about his encore as he goes. Hawk remembers how his father sighed in relief when he went into medicine and not the stage, but he’s still an incorrigable showboat who lives on people’s laughter. He can be found afterwards nursing his ego with good humour and offering autographs.

But neither is living in sin

He throws himself into the dancing like a man possessed, adding his own flourishes and flirting haphazardly with anyone he ends up partnered with. Come dance with him willingly. Or if you’re a wallflower, this lanky bastard will appear, holding a hand out with a-
“You get a better view of the dancing from the middle of it”
Or
“C’mon, dance with me- I’ll lead, all you have to do is look gorgeous”

Blame the man who sleeps in my bed

[wildcard, contact me here or via discord @ hyenapie]

never for me

[goodweather]

Phil hangs out of immediate sight from the stage. His hearing and vision is certainly more than enough to make up for the distance, and he's mostly away so that he doesn't kill Hawkeye's nice little performer's mood. He prattles like someone's wound him up with a key in his back and let him run. Huh, who'd have thought he'd have memorized Shakespeare.

(And fine, maybe he's been feeling off-kilter himself. The slowly building headache isn't helping.)

After he gets pulled offstage, he remains some ways away for a little bit before he comes around.

"Hey," he offers. "Nice work up there. Didn't even look like you broke a sweat."

[notinflictthem]

Hawk feels a jitter to his insides like a jeep hitting a pothole when Phil comes over. Of course it helps that he's still riding the high of a laughing crowd. All he has to do is not make a truly baffling pass at him again. Easy.

"Try playing a three-day gig to a room of mostly unconscious people while you're trying to stick their insides back inside them, that'll make you sweat," he jokes, "I could've handled Carnegie Hall if I had the material for it."

you look better with your clothes onNo, I'm funny in bed too no, c'mon. Surely it's not this hard for him to think of a regular topic of conversation. Why is he nervous?

"What do you think, figure I'll get a sponsor and an 8pm slot next year?"

[goodweather]

Phil’s head tilts at Hawkeye, not unkindly but certainly very keenly as he describes his M.O. in the O.R..

“If you don’t, they’re missing out.” He nudges Hawk. “Maybe you can critique my performance. I’m on the radio now, you heard me lately? No weather yet, but I’ve been co-hosting with Cecil.”

[notinflictthem]

"Critique? You should be giving me pointers- your delivery is perfect. You sound like you learned your letters doing ad reads."

The slightest moment of hesitation as he lops off the flirtiest comment, but Hawk eases into the rest of what he's saying like nothing happened.

"Now it's your turn to say something nice about my performance and or dazzling personality and or prospects in showbiz."

[goodweather]

Grinning, “Hey, good to know I’ve still got it even though I’ve been away so long. I didn’t do this job for 27 years for nothing.”

As they talk, Phil starts to move, tugging Hawk along to stroll with him.

“What can I say, doc? You heard the crowd. I’m afraid your tests all came back positive.” He lightly baps him on the shoulder. (Hey, looks like the bandage’s come off; there’s a slightly deformed starburst scar where the puncture had been, bright and fresh.)

[notinflictthem]

Sure, probably a better plan than standing around not moping at being kicked off-stage. Hawk laughs, says-

"I never get a reaction that good to a positive test result. If I'm unlucky I get punched. Twenty seven years, huh?" the thought passes his mind to ask how old he is, but evidently he's older than Hawk by a good way. Hawk could tell- it's in how settled he is, the quiet confidence.

"All at the same station? And just the weather the whole time?"

[goodweather]

"Nah, not all at the same station, I tended to move every couple of years before I settled. And, ehn--I wasn't always the face on the screen, but it was all meteorology, yeah. But they tell me I act like I've been doing it for a hundred years."

Haha, weird joke, anyway. Phil gives Hawk another look.

"You don't look that old yourself." Yes, he saw the grays, but it's about more than that. He's seen people gray in college. "How long were you working before you got drafted?"

[notinflictthem]

A weird joke that Hawk only dignifies with a small huffed laugh.

"Hah- that's the first time I've heard that," Hawk rubs at his throat, "let's see- only a couple of years, if you're not counting residency. Worked in ER at a hospital in Boston, taught me a lot. There's a thin line between being thorough and being a perfectionist, and if you don't work that out fast then you wind up with flat-lining patients. But uh- it was a good learning experience, I think every doctor should have to pull a couple of years in a hospital. At least so they aren't shocked by the world outside the patients they pick, eh?"

Not naming names but someone certainly comes to mind.

"Some people think they'll become a doctor and save the world and get rich and only ever operate on people from the ice cream social who get a splinter or an in-grown toenail. I think a little injection of reality would do some of them a lot of good."

But neither is living in sin

[blindwatchersees]

"Ah, Hawkeye, my good man. I've found my name, let's see if I've found my feet as well."

The Madgod practically bounces into a standing position, his eyes gleaming, his smile full and beguiling. Yes, this is where he wants to be right now, this is what he wants to be.

[notinflictthem]

"Your feet are easy, those are at the end of your legs, but finding your name is usually harder. Have you checked the inside of your undergarments?" he asks, holding a hand out for Sheo to take.

[blindwatchersees]

Sheo takes his hand, grinning.

"Wish I'd thought of that. Didn't even check my socks for the first initial. Do you ever think it's funny, how our laundry doesn't need any icebreakers to air out their names when we force them to mingle? Maybe we'd be a little more social if we were all made of cotton."

[notinflictthem]

"Hey, speak for yourself. I'm perfectly sociable, and I don't even need names to do it. What's yours, or should I keep calling you 'old bastard' in my head?"

[blindwatchersees]

He laughs heartily.

“I rather like Old Bastard. But considering how much effort I went through to get my identity back… Sheogorath’s the name.”

[notinflictthem]

"Sheogorath. I'm gonna call you Sheo."

It's just a bit mouthy is all.

"You know how to foxtrot?"

[blindwatchersees]

'Sheo.' Oh, the presumptiveness of this mortal! He loves it!

"Can I foxtrot? Why, I don’t just trot like a fox, I'm practically one myself!"

Sheo, no, you didn't do that questline, what are you doing?

He grins. "Shall we?"

[notinflictthem]

"You've got the silver part down, jury's out on the fox part," Hawk teases back, "and you'll need to show me, I don't."

So Hawk gets himself into position to follow.

'Cause I've had too many bottles of gin

[actuallyawolf]

"If you want to split it with me, then shouldn't I pay for it too?"

Ylva is perhaps a little bit deer-in-the-headlights, but not a lot. Mostly she's just... confused, clutching a large cucumber fritter in both hands while Hawkeye has her by the arm.

[notinflictthem]

"No," Hawkeye gently corrects, "I can't eat the whole thing, so my offer is that I pay for it so you help me eat it. I mean look at it- a cucumber dagwood dog? I don't even know what that is."

He gives her arm a little tug towards the stall, "or call it paying you back for helping me during the flood. Sound good?"

[actuallyawolf]

"Oh, I don't know what that is either."

She looks at him a moment, but follows. "I guess. You didn't really owe me anything for that, though. We can call it even if you want, but you didn't owe me."

[notinflictthem]

"That makes two of us, and what a pair we make- c'mon," he makes his way over and queues up, "call it even. Ylva, right? With the seal shape and everything. Good to see you again. You muddle through last month okay everything considered?"

[actuallyawolf]

"Yeah, I did okay. And Cindy -- that's my tree, the tree I dug my den under -- she's fine too. I was... worried about her."

Ylva rubs at her eyes, tired. "I hate the undead. I think the Hollow Men count as undead, anyway. Probably. Or at least they're close enough that it's all the things I hate about them."

cw reference to bug stuff a la the hollow men event

[notinflictthem]

"You named your-" well obviously, Hawk, she just used its name, "uh- I'm glad that she's alright. Floods are scary enough for people with legs, must be worse if you can't even run away."

The line moves up by one and Hawk does the little shuffle almost in place that you do when you're queuing.

"I'm not a big fan of them either. I've been checking myself over every other day for so much as a splinter- I mean, I didn't even know this sort of thing could happen, y'know? They don't exactly cover bug infestation and hive minds in med school."

[actuallyawolf]

Ylva gives him A Look.

"Of course I named her. Easier to talk about things with names, and if she already has one, I would never be able to say it. It wouldn't even be a sound, to start. So I call her Cindy."

Perfectly logical and reasonable, in her mind.

"Those bugs were... really wrong. If it helps, I haven't seen any like them since then."

[notinflictthem]

He raises both hands, "I asked a stupid question, that's on me."

"It does actually," and he means it, "I still might invest in a mosquito net, but I'm glad it's over with. You uh- you know a lot about bugs?"