[HUB ISLAND | IT'S NOT HALLOW BUT I'M FEELING WEENIE]

[spellbindmods]

Who: All coven members
Where: Coven base camp, around the island
When: Day It's Not Halloween, What Do You Mean
Open/Closed: Open to (h)All(oween)

Tonight is a night like any other. There's no calendar with no holiday...but some tiny events seem to line up with a coincidental, theoretical holiday. A ▢ The hub island is quite large, which means there's still a lot of unexplored territories. Were you there when the pumpkins were discovered? Why were they discovered? Who is roaming around in the forest in the middle of the night like some wild animal in order to stumble upon these pumpkins??? All good questions, all with no answers. The important thing is that in the central part of the island, a fast growing gourd plant has taken over a lot of the trees in the area. The long, thick vines have choked out a lot of trees, with bumpy green pumpkin-type plants growing along them and hanging fatly from the trunks. Inside are fragrant seeds and a milk-like substance that's sweet. They're all very thick and squatty, making them good for soup. For carving? Well, you can try! B ▢ As a pre-celebratory gesture, Brie has brought out a festive little chest. If you happen to complete your Bonus AC, you're welcome to your customized dagger right now, complete with your name inscribed on the hilt. Everyone can take stuff from the chest, though. Inside are hundreds of pieces of candy -- some are pretty well preserved, but others have that weird ass grey separated stuff that happens to chocolate after a while. What kind of candy? If you can dream it, it's probably in there. Just only take a couple pieces or Brie might stab you. C ▢ ...Actually, she doesn't really have time to stab you. Brie is quietly taking people aside and showing people this little map she's found. Well, it appears to be a map. The outline on the paper is roughly the same shape and size as the island, scaled down, and it's covered in tiny red dots, scattered throughout the landscape. She's got a hunch that these dots mean something -- buried treasure. She's only one person, and there are tens of dots on this map. Her price for letting you in on this little venture is half of whatever you find...or at least access to it. She's digging up holes on her own...here's a shovel, go dig for yourself! D ▢ What can you find located in the group? Honestly, the item variety is wide and expansive. Most of the items are small tins, containing a piece of paper with a small story (more on this later, huhuhu), clipped photograph and little item -- these are up to your discretion! However, despite the island being absent of magic, these tins all seem to have an enchantment or hex placed upon them. The effects are varied. Some tins fill up with a black, inky tar-like substance that won't stop pouring out. Some tins act like vacuums and attempt to suck your arm into a black hole they contain. Others will emit a disgusting smell, begin screaming...and these are just a few of the weird wonders they contain. The verdict? These appear to be time capsules that are unhappy they were lifted from the ground too early! (OOC: The tins are the size of those Danish butter cookie tins we all use as sewing kits; you know what I mean.) E ▢ Some lucky coven members actually get something better than a broken toy. Others contain tons of cold coins, beautiful antiques (like compacts, compasses and pocket telescopes. Stuff like that)!. Are you lucky enough to dig up actual treasure? (OOC: Want to test your luck? See if your character finds an actually worthwhile find when you reply to this thread.) F ▢ Those with the cursed items will eventually find that midnight strikes and the carriage has become a pumpkin...well, sort of. At midnight, all of the cursed artifacts (not those nice shiny ones) become potatoes. That's good news in its own right -- potatoes are a food! But it's sort of disappoint and very starchy.

Comments

[allconsumed]

[Those are fair contributions, and Velvet nods despite looking a bit lost in thought. There's really not any sugar around, as far as she's aware, so there's been little opportunity for her to make desserts. With the right ingredients, cake wouldn't be too hard. Velvet has plenty of experience baking; this gourd juice could fill in for milk, if she thinned it out some, but she'd still need eggs, flour, butter – or at least proper substitutes.

Hm. She might have to wait until they travel to another world.]

I planned on trying to thin it. Cake would be… a project.

[Without asking whether Homura is done done, Velvet takes the bowl back and finishes it herself. A small, largely insignificant waste is still a waste, and it doesn't occur to her that Homura would have someone else in mind who might want to try it.]

Are you bad with sweets?

[antemeridian]

[ Well. Perhaps a more refined recipe would be better for Madoka to try later on, anyway...

Matter of factly: ] I was sick for much of my childhood. I wasn't allowed very many sweets then, out of concern that it would negatively impact my health.

[ Some of the more mundane impacts of certain congenital heart defects, it turns out. ]

By the time my condition improved, I hadn't much developed a taste for sweets. [ ... ] Ah. The same goes for any particularly salty foods.

[ So maybe she isn't the best choice per se for any would be gourmet taste testing. Food is fuel first and an indulgence later. ]

[allconsumed]

[Velvet frowns. That story has a familiar ring. She used to keep her sick little brother on a similar diet, and she knew he would have liked to indulge a bit more frequently – not that he often complained. No kid deserves to cope with a condition like that, though. It irritates Velvet just thinking about it.]

I'm glad you got better. At least it's worthwhile that you developed healthy eating habits. [Not much of a silver lining in her book, but hey.]

I'll whip you up something better another time, whenever you're in the mood. It looks like I might not get any more volunteers.

[Since it's getting late. And also because she scares people off, whoops.]

[antemeridian]

[ Homura only hums noncommittally and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear; she's glad she got better too, though it certainly wasn't by conventional medicine. So she refrains from commenting, instead addressing only the last part of what's said to her. ]

They might all be occupied with the treasure hunt still. [ ...For lack of anything better to call it, anyway. Her tone is very faintly wry; all that effort to figure out some way of making use of the useless tin of endless ooze, and it went and became a potato in the end.

Still, she sketches a bit of a polite bow of the head in response to what Velvet says. ]

It is kind of you to offer, but I would hate to impose on your generosity.

[allconsumed]

[It's not like it matters much if she doesn't get any more opinions. When it comes down to it, this cooking business is a way for her to kill time and offers little else. She's not here to make friends or act as a provider.

Well, what she can do is use it as a reward for people who are useful to her. Better that than threatening people into it, which used to be more of her M.O. The latter was more practical when she had limited time and opportunity to get her revenge. Here the circumstances are different.]

It's not generous. I'm offering you something in return for helping me, and cooking is something I enjoy anyway. Besides, it's not polite for you to refuse. You look thin, too.