July Mini Event - Seaside Sway

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Community Bulletin

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It’s the end of July. Summer is peaking, hitting its stride. In the forest, frogs sing and fireflies dance through the night, and dragonflies go about their business in the sun. In town, farmers roll up their sleeves and young ladies swap out their many layers for breezy floral gowns. And on the beach, swimmers take to the sea for water at its warmest and young crabs climb up from the sun-drenched sand. Kora’s glory at its finest!

For about a week now, a flier has been up on the community bulletin board. :

Midsummer Beach Festival!

Join us on July 21st and 22nd for our annual beach bash!

Organized by the Temple of Sacred Roots in tandem with Town Hall, all townsfolk are invited to join in for seaside festivities in honor of the height of summer. Activities will include:

• Live music (Sign-ups for performers will be available at Empty Pockets Music Bar)
• Locally made strawberry wine from last summer’s strawberries
• Beach pit barbecues for lunch on both days
• A hot food banquet for dinner on the 21st
• A fish fry breakfast on the 22nd
• Paper lantern float
• Beach games
• Tents and bed rolls for beach camping

We look forward to seeing you there!

And, as promised, the festival opens up on the afternoon of July 21st, where the smell of barbecue rises up from Tawny Beach. Tables sit on wooden plinths to avoid sinking in the sand, bearing fresh summer fruit and drinks. Pork, fish, and lamb roast in a sand pit. Enchanted barrels covered in magic frost keep frozen treats like orange juice shaved ice and strawberry sorbet cold. A station for assembling little wood-and-paper floating lanterns can be seen off in the distance and Cormac and the Banshees are setting up for their opening set. Tents and bed rolls have been set up toward the Marina. Literally everything is decorated with thin golden coins on strands of twine, sea shells, and sea glass. In the center of it all, stones have been laid into the shape of a massive compass rose, whose center houses the makings of a bonfire.

Those who were here last year will recognize that this festival is much larger than last year’s, and was not preceded with desperate pleas from Town Hall for help providing food and decor. It speaks plainly to the health of the town now. Even with all that has been going on, the growing population and renewed sense of community and purpose have improved matters around the island considerably.

Near the tent area, a family of crabs (one red, one blue, and three purple) can be observed. The small purple ones are poking each other with sticks. The Limoncello has made port, and Royal and his crew are splitting helper duty with the staff of Town Hall, and are dancing and partying the rest of the time. All is as it should be. For once, there is no dangerous surprise lurking in the shadows.

So, what’s on your agenda? During the day, volleyball, swimming, and a game that involves throwing small fabric sacks of dry lentils into wooden hoops in the sand can be enjoyed, alongside a plethora of frozen treats. At night, food and wine and lemonade are served at the banquet tables and lively music plays on the temporary wooden stage for dancing by firelight. There is also the lantern float, which encourages participants to send a glowing lantern out on the water in honor of the lost and the distant, ending the first night in a moment of peaceful sobriety. You may also notice a charming stranger milling around, cozying up to Royal, and drinking after nightfall--- a woman with dark olive skin, raven hair that soaks up the firelight, and rum brown eyes who wears a billowing blue dress and (whenever she hasn’t placed it onto someone else’s head for fun) a wide-brimmed black hat.

Then, at night, camp on the beach under the stars or head home by additional lantern light. The festivities will continue until the following afternoon! Feel free to share your beach fit in the fashion show thread below, as well. Enjoy!

Comments

Elsie | NPC | OTA

[hereticofthewilds]

Crabs & Sand
"More to the left," Elsie tells one of the purple crabs, gesturing with her arm as if holding a knife and stabbing. "Like this!"

The girl is crouching down beside one of the tents, wearing a dress that seems to be stitched out of a plethora of materials, and wearing no shoes at all. Today, her hair is a deep ocean blue. It makes her skin look paler.

"Try again," she encourages the dueling crabs. "Harder!"

Should she be teaching them this?

Melancholoy Lights
Later on, in the evening, Elsie sits alone on the shoreline with a single lantern held out in front of her in both hands. She stares at it a moment as if enraged, but also grief-stricken. Then, she closes her eyes and drops the lantern into the sand. A wave laps up, rushing against her toes, before carrying the lantern away to sea. Elsie opens her eyes but she can hardly see the pinprick of candlelight through the tears welling up in them.

Very softly to herself, she whispers, "Mother, where are you?"

lights

[not_the_last]

A young woman with a lantern of her own is approaching, and comes to a startled stop when she sees Elsie sitting there.

"I -- I'm sorry," hastily, "I didn't see you."

[hereticofthewilds]

Elsie sniffles and looks up with glassy eyes. When she notices the lantern in Cassandra's hands, her lower lip trembles slightly.

"Who?"

[not_the_last]

"... Who is this for, do you mean?"

She isn't sure; the question could as easily be who are you.

[hereticofthewilds]

Still too choked up to speak, Elsie nods with practically her entire upper body, just in case the head isn't enough.

[not_the_last]

Cassandra swallows.

"My parents," she says. "And my two sisters, and three of my brothers."

[hereticofthewilds]

"So much family..." Elsie says with a mix of envy and sorrow.

What would it be like to have so many family members? What would it be like to lose so many, too? If losing only one mother hurts so much, how can anyone survive more?

"So much hurt. Sorry."

[not_the_last]

"It's been a long time," says Cassandra, very low. "I still miss them."

A pause.

"Who is yours for?" There's a strong urge to add if I may ask?, but the other girl asked first, with no such hesitation; it feels more appropriate to match her in this.

[hereticofthewilds]

"Mother," Elsie answer somberly, but with a small amount of hesitation. "I think..."

[not_the_last]

"... You think?"

Cassandra genuinely isn't sure if that's meant to qualify Mother or meant to introduce some new thought.

[hereticofthewilds]

"She might not be dead," Elsie clarifies.

[not_the_last]

"Oh." Startled, and then softer: "Oh. That's very hard. I'm sorry."

[hereticofthewilds]

Now it's Elsie who looks startled, jolting and staring up at Cassandra with eyes wide in wonderment.

Hard. Yes. Yes, it is. Harder, even, than when she believed her mother was gone to rest. The uncertainty of it now tears at Elsie from inside, like an animal trying to claw open her chest. Fear, anger, confusion, all these bitter emotions swirl inside and she knows not where to direct them.

There's wetness on her cheeks, suddenly. She touches her face in surprise. She's crying? But, why now?

"You... understand?"

[not_the_last]

"I ... think so."

She folds down onto the sand beside the other girl, sitting cross-legged and tucking her skirts with one absent hand. "I have one more brother, who isn't dead. But for a long time I thought he was, with all the others. And he thought I was. It was five years before he came back. But then ... he and his friends, after that, they were adventurers. They went out on dangerous missions, again and again. And ... it was harder, in some ways, not knowing if he'd be coming back."

[hereticofthewilds]

Elsie turns her big watery eyes on Cassandra with wonder. She... really does understand.

"Why didn't you go with him?"

[not_the_last]

"Adventuring? I couldn't." A somewhat unsteady smile. "They put me in charge, back home. I had to stay and help run things."

She runs her fingers through the sand. "We were the last of the ruling family, my brother and I. We couldn't both go."

[hereticofthewilds]

"Did you want to be in charge?" It sounds horrible to Elsie, but she knows some people do like it. She'd rather go adventuring herself.

Crabs & Sand

[bugreport]

Ginko is squatted down on his heels nearby, far enough away that hopefully his cigarette smoke won't bother the crabs, watching intently. This is way better entertainment than the beanbag game.

"Are they listening?" he asks conversationally, with a half smile that makes the question look more sarcastic than he might actually mean it.

:D

[hereticofthewilds]

"Not well," she answers brightly. "But they are young." Even teenage crabs don't like to listen, apparently.

The one red crab, Ody, the one with the knife, doesn't seem as amused. He's heading Ginko's way with his knife brandished.

[bugreport]

Ginko scrambles to his feet with startled clumsiness. He looks between the crab and the skewered fish he's currently holding, then tosses the latter to the former as a peace offering.

"You live out in the forest, right?" he asks Elsie, keeping one eye on Ody in case his bribe isn't sufficient and he needs to run for it. "I've heard people say you don't come into town much." There's a level of respect in his voice that isn't entirely overridden by crab-based nervousness. He's inclined to take most of what (admittedly little) he's heard about this girl with a grain of salt, but there's something about her that reminds him of the Watari - a feeling he's still, despite everything, inclined to associate with trust.

[hereticofthewilds]

The offering is gleefully accepted as Ody changes course to stick his unoccupied claw into the fish and start dragging it back to the gathering of juveniles. However, he never stops brandishing the knife.

"Yes. The forest is home. Safer in my tree." Safer from what she does not say. "You know my tree?"

[bugreport]

Ginko relaxes a little, sticking his hands back in his pockets, but he keeps his eye on the armed crab just in case.

"I think know where it is; I haven't been there yet. I wasn't sure if you'd be all right with that. Where I come from, similar places... are rarely safe for humans." He smiles a little wryly. Not that that usually keeps him from taking stupid risks. "Trying to be careful until I know where's safe out in the forest."

[hereticofthewilds]

"Visit," she tells him, maybe a little too loudly in her enthusiasm. "Elsie's tree is most safe place in forest. Friends welcome."

[bugreport]

That startles him into a smile. "I will, then," he says. "Thanks for the invitation. Anything I should know about getting there?"

[hereticofthewilds]

"You are welcome," she answers with another nod. "Stay away from the lake. The people you see there aren't real."

She is referring to Lake Sal-Co-Penn, a body of water with a bad habit of showing people their lost loved ones as a way of luring them to their deaths.