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

[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."

[goodweather]

"Yeah, I hear that. Honestly, depending on the guy, you'd be lucky if that worked."

He snatches a cucumber pastry from a nearby stand that's giving them out for free, handing it off to Hawkeye. "Sounds like you've got some laundry about folks to air out. You're still running into those types in the Army?"

[notinflictthem]

"Hah-" Hawk gives a nod and raises the pastry in thanks, "I was, but if I keep complaining about Frank then one day he'll show up, and nobody wants that. I've never killed anyone, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Kind of a mood killer anyway, he takes a bite of the pastry and immediately circles back to the stand, calling to the person minding it-

"What is that- is there mint in this? Fresh mint and some lemon? Genius- I mean you think you know how many ways someone can prepare a cucumber but this is- and this pastry is fantastic- you've got a store in- alright, I'll come by, thanks- keep up the good work-" and pilfers one for Phil, circling back around to his side and handing it off to him.

"It's kinda like a danish but it's really refreshing, you have to try it. Anyway, you run into many clouds that are jerks in your line of work?"

[goodweather]

Phil takes a bite. "Ah, the fourth one I've had today. Delicious, thank you."

He's already paid his own compliments to the baker in full. Nice to see Hawkeye doing the same.

"I was the big jerk. The guy everybody hated and nobody wanted to work with, but somehow I was still charismatic enough on camera that they let me keep my job. Whatever was a dick move, name it, I did it--I yelled at interns, complained about my projects, belittled the cameramen." It still feels important to front that, for some reason. "It wasn't until more recently that I got my head screwed back on right. Or right enough to make friends for once, at least. Thank God for that. Even I'd had about enough of me."

[notinflictthem]

Hawk chuckles and gestures for Phil to give the pastry back, "why don't you point me at something you haven't tried, and we then can both have some without me boring your tastebuds?"

Hawk listens, feeling an odd shift in his gut.

"Yeah, replace cameramen with nurses and that's a dead ringer for Frank, just without the happy ending. I uh- I'm glad you got your head screwed on straight. It's no way to live. How'd you do it?"

[goodweather]

"Long story," he says as he hands it back to Hawk. "Long, long story, and not a fun one. The short version is I had to hit rock bottom and it took a whole town to teach me why and how to behave like a normal person, piece by piece. I'll give you the long version another time, ehn? Promise."

[notinflictthem]

Hawkeye thinks for a moment about leaving Frank at the bottom of a pit and seeing if it helps, but he is trying to do a better job of matching tone here.

"Ah, that's how it goes. Another time, somewhere less- y'know."

Crowded, public, so on. Hawk is just fully double-fisting pastries right now.

"How's your kid? They big on this sort of carnival thing?"

[goodweather]

Unfortunately, if Hawk really wanted to take matters into his own hands, and if Frank really needed to go through everything Phil did, Hawk wouldn't be able to live with himself afterwards. Few would. Ah, well.

"Not big on it exactly, but they'll come out to have fun. They've already menaced me with weird fried cucumber food twice. They're doing okay, just dealing with adjusting and with their food service industry job." And with being lonely. Not that they've mentioned it much, but it's not hard to gather the pieces.

[notinflictthem]

"Whuff. Never worked in food service, but I paid my way through pre-med doing housekeeping. Not a fun time- not because of the work, because of the guests. And the lousy pay. I hope they're having an easier time. It a stopgap or do they want to get into hospitality?"

Hawk turns a corner, glancing down the way at what's on offer.

"You tried the cucumber soda? The fondue cucumber? Whatever a blooming cucumber is?"

It's a blooming onion, but made out of a cucumber.

[goodweather]

Ah, the days you could pay through higher education with a single lower-income job. Housekeeping, huh?

"Not sure. I think they're figuring it out."

He follows Hawkeye's gaze, shielding his good eye from the sun as the other one shuts. "I don't think I've had the fondue cucumber. Is it just normal fondue?"

[notinflictthem]

"No idea, let's try some," he ushers Phil towards the queue, brow wrinkling a little at the squint.

"I've been meaning to ask- that eye giving you any trouble? I uh- I noticed the cataract. Migraines, light sensitivity, that sort of thing?"

[goodweather]

"Hm? Oh."

Hard to miss, isn't it?

"Yeah, it's, uh... yeah, you're right on the money. Deformed pupil, too. It's been like that for over a year now. Why?"

[notinflictthem]

"Just wondering if anyone's told you to get a patch on it yet. Trying to see through a cloudy eye puts you at risk for a lot of things- y'know, put you at greater risk for a fall, or mess with your ability to read. I mean- obviously you're getting around just fine, but I'm just wondering if the doctor that handled it knows something I don't know."

[goodweather]

Phil rubs at his neck a little awkwardly. He hadn't spoken with Tendi much, and she's... he hadn't seen her for a long time even before everything collapsed.

"I've thought about it, but I just--... there weren't really a lot of options before, and I'd been stuck with the same sixty or so people in the same place for a year back then. I hated the idea of drawing more attention to it. I still do, honestly. I'm not a fan of looking like a dollar store pirate, or, or some kind of Hollywood villain. With the patch and the suit and everything. It's just..."

He shakes his head. It sounds so stupid when he says it aloud, and yet.

"And every other option, like a bandanna or something, still sounds like it'll make me look like a clown. I don't know."

[notinflictthem]

Hawkeye winces a little sympathetically, rubs at his throat as he tries to find a gentle way to broach it.

"Look- I respect your intelligence too much to give you my usual version of this talk," which is a line he uses nearly every time he gives this talk in fact, "it's a big thing, right? And with the broadcasting and all it must make you worried about being able to get in front of the camera. I get all of that. But the human body- it's a fleshy miracle, yeah? Processes that boggle the mind all happening right under and behind our noses. And sometimes, for our own sake, we need to give those processes a little assistance in taking care of us."

Hawk pauses midway to acquire the cucumber fondue, handing Phil's over to him first. Each piece of cucumber has a little toothpick sticking out of it, and there's a generous smothering of cheese substance on all of them.

"You've gotta think about your quality of life. Everyone who starts on crutches or a cane or- hey, even glasses, all of it feels weird and goofy at first. But you can't look more handsome in pain than you can taking care of yourself. You don't have to make any decisions- I'm not giving you medical advice, just talking as a concerned citizen. Just... think about it, alright? There's no shame in giving yourself a little help."

cw very vague self harm reference

[goodweather]

The more Hawkeye talks, the more his gut twists. He's right, of course. Phil knew he was right before he even met the guy. He knew he was right the first time he realized it was his double vision that was giving him migraines. But it's one thing to think I should to yourself, and another thing to have someone else call you out on it, no matter how reasonable and gentle they're being, the shame of being caught in not making the smart decision. Not doing the right thing for yourself, because... just because. Because he cares so much about how he looks.

"I won't be able to be in front of the camera if I go home." There's no worry there, that's just fact. He's not fit for broadcast.

"Sure, yeah. I'll... I'll think about it." Phil fidgets with the toothpick in one of the little cubed 'cumbers. "Maybe a tailor will be able to come up with something that won't make me want to claw my face off."

[notinflictthem]

Yeah, of course this guy already knows. He can practically feel Phil's tail go between his legs- it's one thing to know you should do something and another to actually do it, especially when it's something embarrassing and not sensible. The guy's a scientist, of course he knows, he just can't.

"That's a pity- I think when the base material is this good, a patch shouldn't get in the way of you being on camera. I mean- I'd still have seen Bringing Up Baby a hundred times if Cary Grant only had one eye- or The Postman Always Rings Twice, if Lana Turner had one."

Hawk glances down at the cubed cucumbers and the still hot cheese substance on them, and makes a decision.

"And you look way better than both of-" he sticks a cube in his mouth, and immediately starts to hafsafahfhafshfa around the heat of the cheese, trying to toe a line between looking too put-upon and actually seeming to be in pain. Nothing makes you feel better than someone else embarrassing himself.

[goodweather]

His mouth tugs at the corners. He picks up one of his own cubecumbers, making sure to blow on it before he sticks it in his mouth.

When he's done chewing: "I'd probably get away with it if I had a glass eye, but I don't think it's a good idea to replace living tissue for vanity like that. Or, uh, I guess if I had a contact lens, assuming these claws don't follow me home, because I can't use those either if they do. But." He shrugs vaguely. "I don't know. It's up to execs."

[notinflictthem]

Well, it's not a laugh, but it's something.

"If you get home, then you'll have options for surgery too- back in my day they were making some ground on replacing the lens, who knows how advanced the surgery has gotten by your time. Course if you go back home with the wings you'll have to start telling people to be not afraid, and that might chew up your schedule."

He swallows the cucuber, pauses for a moment.

"Yeah, this isn't very good. I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but I don't think they should be let back in the kitchen."

[goodweather]

That last comment gets a little more of a kind-of-laugh out of him, mostly because he did have to masquerade as an angel once, and thankfully this has only had long-term consequences for one person that isn't himself.

"It's not just the cataract, though. I don't think we've gotten far enough to fix a pupil that's kind of vaguely shaped like Italy."

He spears another cumbercube anyway. "I'll eat yours if you won't. I'm in a snacking mood."

[notinflictthem]

"You never know, someone might make a breakthrough in your lifetime. Happens all the time, someone's always working on a condition or treatment- in the couple of years we've been at war, we went from having to amputate legs to being able to save them with an artery transplant."

He hands over his tray of cu(cumber)bes, and half-sings to the tune of Amore-

"And when the thing you use to see is shaped a little like Italy, that's traumatic iritis."

[goodweather]

He doesn't laugh. What he does do is grin, knit his brows, shut his eyes, and bow his head while his other hand goes up to his face and jets out a sigh.

"Jesus Christ."