ph_logs | Historical Society

Historical Society

Point of Contact: Dahlia Leeds
Meeting Spaces: Leeds Manor, Greymare Public Library

About.

Run by wealthy socialite and scholar Dahlia Leeds, the Pumpkin Hollow Historical society seeks to ensure the town's future by understanding its past. With frequent meetings to discuss useful and intriguing historical findings and exclusive access to Dahlia's archive, this is the place to be for inquisitive minds. A secular group, the Historical Society also maintains a respectful and neutral relationship with the church.

You can find fliers related to meetings on the bulletin boards located around the Greymare Public Library, a surprisingly austere stone building not far from town hall. A stroll past the bubbling decorative fountain and carefully-shaped topiaries will reveal said board hanging from the wall just beside the door. Look for the stamp of a death's head hawkmoth and you'll be sure to find a helpful advertisement indicating their robust meeting schedule.

Use this post to RP threads that take place at or in relation to the Pumpkin Hollow Historical Society! More details on the organization and its workings can be found under the drop-downs.

Membership.

Joining. You'll have to work very hard to convince the other members of the group you are trustworthy and not just here to mooch off of Dahlia or steal secrets for someone else's gain, and missing gatherings or questioning Dahlia's decisions are strictly prohibited.

Benefits. Dahlia's wealth and influence can be used to increase your financial stability, resources, and occasionally call in a favor to get out of a sticky situation. Dahlia's got your back! Additionally, you'll have access to more information.

Drawbacks. Members of this group die much more frequently under mysterious circumstances. They may also feel some impact from Dahlia's ongoing feud with Ocularum leader Neil West.

Philosophy.

The mistakes of the past are doomed to be repeated if they are forgotten. The Historical Society prides itself on researching, analyzing, and sharing the history of the town and surrounding island for the benefit of its modern residents. This includes and even prioritizes trying to understand the start of the island's curse. It is the hope of the Historical Society that discovering the origin of the curse will lead to uncovering the method by which it can become undone. In the meantime, their useful research on monsters and spirits is used to help locals combat the frequent paranormal problems they experience.

The Historical Society is decidedly secular, welcoming members regardless of religious beliefs. They do not require any sacrifices, offerings, or devotional acts--- only a dedication to learning and research. The one stipulation is that Dahlia maintains a fairly rigorous meeting schedule.

CODE BY MARWOOD

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So there's a fucking goblin in the library.

Jean's initial arrival from the Ferry was met with a burst of manic exploration, but the moment they saw 'library' on a building they marked out that spot on their mental map of the place. Once the sun starts setting, Jean gets inside and finds a place to call home, dragging a couple tables together near any encyclopedias they can identify and then getting books off the shelves.

If they're not disturbed, they'll fall asleep reading with a stack of books as a pillow. Jean reads fast, and they're hungry to Know Things. If any scratch paper and pencils are available, they've been taking in-depth notes in very small handwriting which is, the narrator is sad to report, essentially illegible to anyone else. It's not a code, Jean's handwriting is just shit.

The thought that this place might have, y'know, an owner, has not crossed Jean's over-active mind in the slightest.

Well, she's not the owner. It's public, so the town owns it. But she is the primary sponsor, a regular patron, a club host, and a member of the town council, so close enough.

She's come in early, right as it opens, to grab a book before work. That's when she stumbles into the sleeping newcomer as she enters the non-fiction section. For a moment, she can't think of what to say or do, but eventually she manages to muster one indignant word.

"Hey!"

Up in an instant. The motion is both fast and fluid; Jean rolls out from under the tables (snatching up the pencil as they go) and to their feet, placing themself between the new voice and the precious books with the sharpened stub of their writing instrument held up like a dagger.

Wait, that's. A civilian? Probably? Jean's wide eyes blink in both tiredness and suspicion. They might look more threatening and less like a confused and vaguely hostile owl if their shirt didn't have bits of their notes sticking to it.

"...Hey?" they venture back, warily.

Edited 2023-06-26 06:02 (UTC)

"...hello?"

Ianto can't help it: he's a tad uncomfortable. This...it's not like shoehorning his way into Torchwood Three. It felt more like every other job he'd ever had: the coffee shop, the Cardiff Museum, even his bloody hire at Canary Wharf.

God, what he wouldn't give for a proper suit. As it stands, he's used half his stipend on a simple, but at least slightly more professional looking suit of clothes in new shoes, trousers, a simple Oxford-adjacent shirt and a plain, but not terribly ill-fitting waistcoat.

So, barely dressed for the job he wants, hopeful but realistic, Ianto sticks his head into the door of the Greymare Public Library, where he was hoping to find the woman in charge, and after looking around with some interest, approaches someone who looks like they might be able to point him in the right direction.

It's not Torchwood--but bloody hell does it make him homesick as all get out. And Ianto could almost laugh at the very idea of being homesick for Cardiff if he wasn't quite possibly dead back home...if Jack wasn't quite possibly dead back home.

So he spots someone, approaches them, and speaks softly as he smooths a hand over his waistcoat.

"Hello, yes--apologies, Ianto Jones. I was wondering if I might find a Miss Dahlia Leeds here by chance? I'm inquiring about possible opportunities within the Historical Society."

"What exactly do you think you're doing?! What is this mess?!" She let out an indignant huff. "If your room at the Oak & Iron isn't up to your standards, maybe you ought to take that up with Mayor Poe, hm?"

The librarian is more than happy to point Ianto in the direction of Dahlia, who was holed up in her usual reading nook in the Greymare Library. A blonde, with wavy locks draped over her face and shoulders as she had her nose buried deep in a book. A notebook sat on the arm of the sofa, and on the cushions beside her was an impressive stack of non-fiction books. She had assumed a rather comfortable position, curled up against the arm of the chair, her shoes kicked off onto the floor as if she was in her own home.

"She practically lives here after work," the librarian pointed out. "She's typically either in town hall or right in that spot."

"Mess??? I'm doing research!" Jean gestures to the encyclopedias which their player is going to have to ask questions about since they are, presumably, learning useful facts about this island from them. Presumably. "No one was guarding the library either - very large security risk, I'll have you know! Anyone could have taken the books!"

Beat.

"...I'm not gonna be enough staff to do that either, I have to sleep sometime..."

Spotting the woman the librarian indicates, Ianto finds himself struck by the picture she paints. She looks quite young, and quite comfortable, and for one painful moment he feels like he's back in the Hub in the dead of night, watching Toshiko with her PDA on the communal sofa and her pumps abandoned beneath her distant work station.

"Right--yes, thank you very much." Ianto replies to the librarian with a cordial smile, feeling a bit less ill at ease as he approaches the young woman. He finds himself behaving like he would with Tosh--heavier footfall so as not to startle, coming from the side rather than the front so she might catch him in her peripheral vision, reaching for the notebook to nudge it a little closer to her given its precarious placement on the arm of her seat.

"Miss Leeds, I presume?" he greets her softly. "Apologies for disturbing you--Ianto Jones. Might I trouble you for a few moments of your time?"

She did indeed catch him coming up to her, but she didn't pay him much mind until realizing he was definitely intending to speak to her, at which point she looked up and smiled.

"It's no trouble! Nice to meet you, Mr. Jones." Closing her book, Dahlia sat upright. He had her undivided attention. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, ehm--it's in regards to the Historical Society." he explains. Spying a nearby chair, he gestures for patience, walks over to snag it, and brings it over quietly to set in front of her seat so he can settle in and speak more comfortably.

"That is to say, I was rather hoping to inquire if there were positions available? While one does require a means of supporting oneself, I also feel that I could be of significant use. I have prior professional experience as an archivist, an analyst..."

He trails off, his polite smile turning more genuine with no small measure of pride.

"...and I'm not ashamed to admit, I make a damn good cup of coffee. Suffice to say, the general service to the community that a historical society can provide would interest me as a volunteer diversion, regardless--but if you have need of hired staff, I was essentially doing alarmingly similar work in my previous place of employment. Providing references will be, ah, 'difficult' to put it mildly, but if you care to test my qualifications I'd be pleased to submit to any evaluation you care to conduct."

Dahlia looked utterly bewildered, taking a moment to unpack all of that information, then pinched the bridge of her nose and scrunched up her face.

"Sweet Celestine, alright," she muttered. "Research. Great. That's what this place is for, certainly, but you can't just take over an entire area like this. It's a public library. Also, no one needs to guard the library full of free books. And also, just because it's public and the books are free does not mean you can sleep here. I know you're new, but you do have a room at the inn. I don't know how things worked where you're from, but in Pumpkin Hollow, inns are for sleeping, libraries are for reading."

Dahlia listened patiently for him to finish his pitch, her eyebrows gradually knitting as he spoke. When he concluded, she smiled apologetically. "Well... you sound perfectly qualified, and I have no doubt you'd be an asset, but unfortunately the Historical Society is more of a club than an established non-profit. Everyone involved is a volunteer. That said, I'd be more than happy to invite you to one of our meetings, but I don't have any sort of recompense to offer you. I'm sorry."

There are a lot of Correct Corporate Phrases that Jean wants to say right now and will not because in a situation like this 'per my last email' is an invitation to mortal combat. What. Do you mean. People don't just sleep where they work? This land might be under severe assault by whatever's producing all those plants and therefore underdeveloped but who's rolling in so much money and land that they sleep in a whole separate building from where they work? Literally who? Jean's old employer was a megacorp and they couldn't afford that shit, the dorms were on site, thank you very much.

Externally this is expressed with a look on their face somewhere between '404 not found' and the exact facial expression someone might make if they saw a different person pluck the moon out of the sky, bite it like a cookie, and then put it back.

"...How do you get the books back if they're free? Making books isn't free. Paper's not free."

"No apologies needed--I had suspected, but on occasion some organizations such as these do hire paid personnel so it was worth inquiring." he assured her with a smile. It was a long shot, but a good one.

"I will, however, accept the invitation to the meeting, and leave the offer on the table as a volunteer to do the same kind of work. Meeting could be a good networking opportunity." he continued. "That, and...well, it's what I do."

He glances over his shoulder thoughtfully.

"Perhaps the library's hiring...you wouldn't know of anyone around here offering a bit of coin for good academic legwork? I can get my hands dirty if I must, but truthfully? I belong with the books, always have."

That, and it was safer there. For others, if not for Ianto himself...

"Well, no, but--- there's a lending system. You bring the book back after you read it and only have to pay if you don't do that. ...You are familiar with the concept of a public library, aren't you? People donate books or the government allots money for them, and then anyone can come in and read or borrow them?" She paused. "Is the world you come from... alright? Are things just, you know, horrible there?"

"I wouldn't know what to compare it to!" Jean's back to cheerful here, we're entering Sensical Territory at last. "But aside from shelving and organizing and helping my Patron Librarian with research my job was to meet guests of the Library in mortal combat to prevent them from checking the books out. This sounds more convenient even if I can't figure out how you're turning a profit..."

Staff isn't free either.

"...Anyway!" Back on topic. "Are you sure you don't need some live-in staff? I've got experience! I won't get blood on the books! And it's..." Searching for words, searching for - "...familiar. The Library was better than my other job."

What a fascinating creature.

"I don't know if they're hiring. I work for town hall, so I know what kinds of work are on offer for the growth project. Those come with housing. The library would not."

With barely-restrained eagerness: "Is town hall where I'd inquire about working here at the library?"

Listen they have RESEARCH TO DO and if no one's sleeping here they're gonna, hell or high water.

"Maybe so! Although with your skill set, I've got half a mind to hire you myself. I could use a personal assistant," she teased, but was only half-joking. If he was interested...

Ianto smiled at that…but again, he’s reminded fleetingly of Toshiko as his gaze drifts to her cast off shoes, the notebook at her elbow…

“That…was a subset of my previous job.” He admits with a shrug. “And I wasn’t winding you up about my coffee.”

He winks—but he’s not joking. Not really.

After all, inserting himself into important places as the teaboy took him places before—could do again.

"I... yes, I suppose you could. Or at the front desk," Dahlia said, looking a bit overwhelmed. "Let it be said though, that it still wouldn't be appropriate to sleep here. Town Hall is providing proper housing to newcomers, and that means you. So no living in public buildings is permitted, or necessary. Am I clear?"

Dahlia chuckled. "I'm on the town council here," she explained. "And I'm the daughter of the original founders of the town, Jane and Japhet Leeds. Plus I run the Historical Society. So I'm exceptionally busy. In exchange for your assistance in keeping my affairs organized and good coffee, I'll gladly pay you the same rate as Town Hall, housing of a similar value as other starter packages, and access to my home library upon request. Does that sound fair?"

"Seems like a waste of floor space but you're very clear!" Dahlia, you're about to be subject to the patented Overenthusiastic Handshake if you don't do something about it and fast. "Name's Jean, new hire - erm, arrival - anyway! Name's Jean, trying to get my bearings here. Hence the encyclopedias! People woulda killed for these back home." Beat. "...Well actually they tried to but ha ha! Nothing doing for them."

Ianto blinked at that, the genuine surprise he felt visible on his face.

...well. That was certainly one way to get to the bottom of this place and what the hell was going on.

"If it...earns me any bonus points, I had no idea, and I do hope I haven't been too informal." he chuckled, nodding to show he was listening as she outlined the job.

Basically, it would be easier than managing Torchwood Three.

"You had me at 'home library,' and if you have any dealings with the local government? Please warn me in advance if I have to be cordial--I'm accustomed to bureaucracy, and it helps to know in advance where flattery, threats, and bribes need to be applied and how often." he assured her. "Which is my roundabout way of saying I'll happily accept the position. And, assuming that I'm starting immediately..."

Ianto rose from his chair, gathered her shoes to place them neatly on the floor where she could easily slide her feet back into them when she stood, moved to straighten the pile of books beside her that was exhibiting questionable structural integrity, then stood again and smoothed a hand over his simple waistcoat--the picture of efficient composure.

"Much better. Also, as I'm here, I can also return any books you're done with to the shelves. Save the librarian a little time on their feet." he offered with a grin. "Otherwise, just let me know what times you want me, and I'll leave you to your research. Unless, of course, you could use a hand--eidetic memory, blessing and a curse sometimes."

Dahlia let out a warm laugh. "So diligent! I made a good choice then." She perched her elbow on the arm of the couch and put her chin into her hand, regarding him with fond amusement. "You're dismissed for tonight, but I'll see you bright and early at Town Hall! We start at 9am."

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Historical Society

Moving In | Late June

Re: Moving In | Late June

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Inquiring Within | Greymare Library, Mid-June

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