[Cukefest] June Event - Vegging Out!

[pumpkinhollow]

VEGGING OUT!

Come on out, the weather's vine!

Happy Summer, Pumpkin Hollow! May the blessings of Kora be ever at your shore and the summer sun bring Serranai’s gifts to life. The days are long and the nights are alive, and the cucumber harvest has arrived. That can only mean one thing--- it’s time for the annual cucumber festival!

2 years ago, in the year 16:53, the festival was cancelled due to all of the cucumbers being turned into turnips by a prankster witch who remains at large. As such, last year the Green King election from the bungled year was honored. But this year, Pumpkin Hollow has opened voting to its newer residents, and with an exciting turn-out! So join us for this beloved summer holiday, and enjoy cucumber-based delicacies, dance at a fancy ball, check out Pumpkin Hollow’s first-ever Pride parade, and honor our new Green King!

This event (ICly) is one week long, running from June 8th to June 14th. It is a brief reprieve from the spooky shenanigans of Pumpkin Hollow and is therefore horror free. Come get a slice of life--- and a few cucumbers too!

Gherkin this party started

Easy Being Green

The first day of the Cucumber Festival is always dedicated to the crowing of the Green King. Last year, this was Theodore “Teddy” Pennyburrow, the foxfolk man in charge of the island’s dormitory house for children without family. This year, it will be his honor to crown the new Green King.

Unlike the airy, floral affair that is Merrymeet, the Green King procession is rustic and raucous, taking place in the cobblestone streets under the fierce glow of the summer sun. Drums beat and cowbells jangle as the sidewalks crowd with cheering neighbors and the members of the Green Court are asked to strut their way to the town square, where each receives a green sash embroidered with vines.

Bringing up the rear are the two runners-up--- Father Mulcahy in third, and Radar O’Reilly in second. Each one is gifted with a pin for their sash (one bronze, one silver) with their names engraved and an enormous jar of artisanal pickles from Miann Farm in their choice of spiciness. Then, it’s time for the man of the hour to make his way forward.

A breeze whips up a fine cloak embroidered painstakingly with cucumber vines, a collar of cucumber leaves adorning his broad shoulders. He is all smiles, and what a winning smile it is. The town’s beloved baker, voted Handsome Offworlder of the Month by the Northwest Hollow Senior Ladies Knitter’s Club for three consecutive months! The man, the myth, the legend, with a name so nice you say it twice--- Max Maximum.

When he reaches Teddy, he has to bend down to receive his leafy golden crown and scepter, but he stands tall to face the crowd as their 16:55 Green King! Congratulations, Max!

From there, it’s time for the commencement party, which is held both inside and outside of the Oak & Iron. Loud and joyful music, dancing, and tons of great food are on the docket for tonight, along with a sacred ritual. It’s time to get the Green King pickled!

The rest of the Green Court is tasked with each buying Max a drink until he’s unable to continue (though Crichton is given permission to present Max with a glass of pickle juice if he chooses). It’s up to Max to earn the right to graduate from Green King to the coveted rank of Pickle King. How much can our fearless leader handle? Can he hold his liquor well enough to beat Archie Brenning’s record? The night is young--- let's find out!

Barrel of Laughs

Once the first day of the festival is out of the way, it’s all fun and games--- literally! There’s a ton of carnival games, tests of strength, cooking contests for pickle-related dishes, and even a contest for biggest cucumber. There’s also some rides, some magically powered and some kinetically powered, as well as “dragon rides” that allow townsfolk to ride on the back of a red, flying leviathan around the island! (It’s just Inspekta in an enormous dragon mask, but he’s hamming it up.)

As with last year, there will be a raffle--- this year hosted by Calloway’s Curios, and with a very interesting selection of items.

• Third prize is a Talking Water Companion. An apparatus worn on one's back that carries a substantial tank of water that it can expel for various uses. The nozzle also talks for some reason. Don't worry, it's friendly. Probably.
• Second prize is a Bicolor Teleportation Circle Cannon. Using one blue magical ring and one orange one, it can be used to designate the entry points of a makeshift teleportation circle, apparently by clinging to the celestial and otherworldly magic lingering on surfaces around town. Can only be used on flat surfaces with enough area to allow entry to an average-sized person standing upright. Use with caution.
• And first prize is a Triangle of True Sight. A teeny tiny triangular arcane construct worn on the ear. The wearer can use it to see monsters through solid surfaces and track their movements, spot otherwise hard to see tracks from animals and people, access a map of the island and receive guidance to specific locations, and translate languages---- including R'lyeah. It also includes a health monitor that can track your heart rate and count your steps. Fancy!
• The consolation prize, given to all players who do not win a major prize, is a Chatty Rectangle, which is a little red object with a panel that opens on the front, which can tell them factoids about the island's Pokemon residents. Calloway has a whole box of them. Please get rid of them. (More will be available for purchase after the festival ends as well.)

Tickets this year have a significant price hike, because of course they do. They are each going for a whopping 300 Brass. Despite Calloway’s protests, Town Hall has asked that the purchase be limited to 5 tickets per person still, in the interest of fairness. If you'd like to purchase any, please use the "RAFFLE TICKETS" thread below to do so!

A Dill-ightful Array of Colors

For reasons some of you may be familiar with, Pumpkin Hollowites tend to be a bit dubious about the idea of parades. So when the idea of a Queer Pride parade was pitched to Town Hall, it was met with no small amount of side-eye from the locals. However, after a thorough explanation of the tradition and its significance, the event was approved wholeheartedly!

On the Wednesday of the festival week, the morning schedule features a parade of brightly colored horse-drawn floats, beautiful men wearing very little clothing, muscular women in heavy knight’s armor, androgynous people in fantastical clothing, and people of all genders clad in symbolic color palettes or different flavors of drag. It’s a splendid display that offworlders and locals enjoy, and the parade leads to the Greymare Library lawn, just off of the main area of the Cucumber Festival that is designated for Pride-specific booths and activities.

Gerry Keay will be hosting a repeat of his popular seminar, “Gay Shit 101”, and various speakers will also be asked to share speeches, performances, art, and poetry about their experience with sexuality and gender. Drag shows will be held on a small stage, the lady-knights will be sparring on a section of lawn for entertainment, and booths will be selling special craft pieces, clothing, and street food themed around the event. This festival will run alongside the main event from Wednesday to Friday, but will close on Saturday to allow the folks running it to attend the closing festivities of the Cucumber Festival.

Town Hall would like to extend a huge shout-out to Pinhole Printing and Binding, the Velvet, Ambrosia, and Silk brothel, and the Bizzyboys for helping to sponsor and organize the event! Pumpkin Hollow is excited to incorporate this celebration of identity and expression into their summer traditions going forward!

A Slice of the High Life

On Saturday, it comes time for the closing ceremonies. Many of the food and game booths are still open in the main area of the festival for the morning and early afternoon, but they close up early to prepare for one final event.

You see, Pumpkin Hollow’s last major celebration was for Merrymeet back in February. The normally delightful spring cotillion was interrupted by Efrain himself, preventing people from fully enjoying the party for the second year in a row. To make up for lost dancing time, this year’s closing celebration of the Cucumber Festival will feature an indoor-outdoor fancy dress party in Town Hall and in the plaza.

As before, if you would like a custom outfit for the occasion, you will need to foot the bill. However, if you aren’t able to pay for one, there will be 50B rentals available, with one catch---- everything that is available for this offer is in a shade of green, since the clothes made for this purpose are made of excess fabric from the festival decorations. Seems like Yorick, in a distracted state after his breakup from Mayor Poe, ordered double the amount needed, and Town Hall is very much hoping that the rentals will help make up for some of the lost budget.

As usual, there will be an impressive array of food (much of which will still be cucumber-based), plenty of music, and good times with friends! Perhaps a little interpersonal drama for later gossip as well? Time will tell! Let’s end the Cucumber Festival with a bang!

Speaking of bangs, once the party ends, there will be fireworks lit outside, so grab a seat on the Festival Green for a romantic evening or grab a complimentary potion of Deafen on your way home for a good night’s sleep. Happy Cukefest!

| CONTENT WARNINGS: alcohol use |

Comments

[not_a_traitor]

With wry humor, and no less kind:

"Well, last I checked, you take care of the dormitory too, if we're using that as a metric."

[lovethyneighb_or]

"But he's the one who runs the thing, I volunteer."

His grip tenses.

"And... and the opera, Gaeta? Don't--do not tell me anything about, about fairness, or deserving it. Not one thing. I've heard enough of that for years, and I'm sick to death of it."

[not_a_traitor]

"Okay," he says swiftly, and pulls away just enough to kiss Mulcahy's forehead, "okay, I won't. I promise."

But he'll think it. As far as Gaeta's concerned, Powell deserved everything he got; nothing Mulcahy says will sway him otherwise. If they're talking of something innate at the core of every person, then Powell's core was rotten. The universe is better off without him.

Gaeta is good at biting his tongue, though. So he does.

"But it was one incident," he goes on. "Once, while you were stuck in a pressure cooker of a situation, you broke, and you did something you didn't think you were capable of doing. You haven't done anything like it since. You've gone on to recapture the kindness you weren't allowed while you were on that frakking ship, or in the Village. Sometimes -- "

He falters for a split second. Finds his voice again.

"Sometimes that's harder than if you'd never broken in the first place. And I think a lot of people here understand that."

Gaeta certainly does.

[lovethyneighb_or]

The thing is, Mulcahy wouldn’t disagree with Powell getting what was coming, but whether or not he got what he deserved is not the point. The point is that it was not Mulcahy’s place. The point is that he lost control, and he murdered someone with his hands, unable to even think about what he was doing. He was beastly. Is.

Recapture, he mouths. It surely doesn’t feel that way.

…

He falls against Gaeta and wraps his arms around him, burying his face in the man’s shoulder, sighing voicelessly.

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta gathers him close; rests his chin atop Mulcahy's silvering hair, closing his eyes. He rubs one hand between the other man's shoulder blades, slow and soothing.

"If nothing else," he whispers, "I promise it's not a trick. If you want to think we're all out of our frakking minds for nominating you -- " A gentle huff of laughter. "Sure. But it's real. That's the truth."

[lovethyneighb_or]

His hands grip the fabric of Gaeta's shirt.

"I still don't understand," he murmurs. "But. I'll trust you."

And he's just going to sit there for a while, trying to let the tension bleed out of him as he sits there in his beloved's arms. It's... kind of working.

...

"I threw the pin into a bush somewhere," he mutters, feeling terribly silly. "The Village had everyone wearing pins with numbers on them. It frightened me. I should probably go and find it."

[not_a_traitor]

It's a familiar place after so many shared nights. The only real difference is the daylight, and the sounds of the party not too far away. He holds Mulcahy and listens to him breathe; feels him slacken a little as some of the tension goes. The worst, as always, takes its time passing, but Gaeta -- as always -- stands sentry until it does.

When Mulcahy finally speaks, he cracks a tiny, rueful smile. "I was going to ask where it went," he says. He presses another brief kiss to Mulcahy's head. "It's a nice pin, but I don't blame you for tossing it."

Gods know Gaeta's done similarly irrational things when he's in the throes of his own panic attacks.

"I'll help you look for it. Whenever you're ready."

[lovethyneighb_or]

Oh, how Gaeta so dotes on him.

"Maybe later. After some time."

He still has to do quite a bit of nerve-soothing, after all. He doesn't expect to be able to think about picking it up again until he's much calmer than he is now. He'll keep his fingers crossed that he'll get there.

He leans up to grant a kiss of his own, on the cheek beneath the eye. "Thank you for this, Gaeta. I missed you."

[not_a_traitor]

His smile grows. "I've missed you, too."

As difficult as it can be with the world turned up to full volume again, Gaeta finds himself caught by the smallest, oddest things whenever the regrowing is done. The lushness of the island's forests; the sound of ocean waves; the bright wash of stars at night framing Concorde's triple moons. Hell, he once even watched a beetle crawl up a plant, thinking the whole time, Look at that. Life.

If he can look upon all of that with wonder -- awe -- again, then of course the bigger things will do the same. Mulcahy's smile. The soft lilt of his voice. The weight of him in his arms.

He missed it all terribly, he finds, after those months of not caring.

"It's... better, being fully here. Not always easier. But better." A soft exhale. "Missing out on the grief also meant missing out on everything good."

[lovethyneighb_or]

"The things that are worth it are hardly ever easy."

(Like this, a little. How difficult it's been these last few months. How even then he would not change a thing about Felix.)

"Well, I... I hope the celebration's been alright for you, aside from this little moment. I'd like to think this all is part of that 'everything good.' I did help put it together." He chuckles once, nudging Gaeta playfully.

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta laughs, brief but warm, and gives Mulcahy a soft squeeze. "And you did great. We couldn't ask for a better party." Straight-faced: "The Viper jocks always told me you know it's a good one when people start losing their shirts."

On cue, a particularly raucous shout goes up, and someone's shirt goes flying out of the crowd like a single tire wobbling away from a car wreck.

"...If they start losing more than that I'm probably out, though."

[lovethyneighb_or]

He touches his chin, a sort of grin on his face. "I'll go with you," he says conspiratorially. "Just because I helped plan it doesn't mean I've got to chaperone, too. I already do quite enough of that at the Dormitory."

[not_a_traitor]

He snickers. "Honestly, is there any real difference between a drunk adult and a sober teenager?"

[lovethyneighb_or]

"Yes--on occasion, the drunken adults will listen to you."

He inhales, then makes something like both a laugh and a sob, and dabs at his eyes. The fear is still slow to leave, and it is still unbelievable, the position he finds himself in. Voted for third of the finest men on the island, next to someone he loves. And he loves him back.

It is a miracle of God, nothing less. He has just got to figure out why on Earth he has it.

"I'm sorry. I just... well, I don't know what's happened. When did I get so lucky?"

[not_a_traitor]

Soft: "We were all overdue for a little good luck."

Love. Life. Community. Civilization. Add it all up, and it really does feel like a miracle sometimes, even to a mostly-atheist like Gaeta. He returns to rubbing Mulcahy's back, gentle and slow.

"I'm glad we found some. Sometimes I don't know how, either. But... I'm trying to get better at enjoying it while it's here."

Inevitably, he'll end up ruminating on its eventual end. Like so much else, though: he's trying.

[lovethyneighb_or]

"Don't be too discouraged if you ever find yourself forgetting. It's a skill that men spend decades trying to learn. Myself included."

And he smiles that very particular smile at Gaeta, sweet and soft. And he sniffs, blinking hard again, and stands.

"Walk with me?" he asks. "Just to work off the last of these nerves, and then we'll go back."

wrap?

[not_a_traitor]

Oh, that smile. What a relief to see; how it makes the roots of his heart tangle deeper, suffusing Gaeta with warmth, holding stubborn and fast against any desire to tear them loose. I won't lose this again.

"Of course." Softly. "Always."

He takes Mulcahy's hand once they're both on their feet, ready to walk beside him wherever they may go.