[INBOX] Pumpkin Hollow

[deaths_head]

[phone/call/text/smoke signals for Pumpkin Hollow. Requesting a charm, spell, or tonic? Just put the particular bit of magical help you're looking for in the subject of your comment! :D]

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[woocas]

Lucas can feel his insides shriveling. He might not be on the receiving end of that look this time around and he wants to keep it that way. He does manage to keep his smile in place, though. Just barely. Under that watchful gaze Lucas takes a breath and forces himself to relax again and wait.

"I'd like to hear your idea," Lucas says with puppy-like eagerness. Truth be told he didn't have much of an idea to begin with.

[deaths_head]

The Shade opens his mouth to explain...then closes it with a scowl.

"That's the thing 'bout my work. Hard to explain a gut feeling." he grumbles mildly. He thinks for a second, then glances at the bar.

"Hang on a tic..."

He stands, crossing over to the bar. After a moment of conversation, the barmaid behind the counter heads back into the kitchen, and after about two minutes returns with a sprig of rosemary, one of oregano, and one of parsley--all fresh.

Bringing them back to the table, the Shade takes his seat again and starts shredding the plants. He speaks as he works, breaking a couple branches off the rosemary sprig.

"Rosemary for remembrance--recall, memory."

He strips a few parsley leaves, and with deft fingers, ties the stems around the rosemary sprig.

"Parsley's connected to death. Sprung from the blood of Archemorus, forerunner of Death." The Shade's been mistaken for him before by that neopagan set...

The Shade rips off a couple of oregano leaves, using the flexible parsley stems to tie them on, wrapping the leaves around the rosemary and binding them with the parsley.

"Oregano for joy beyond the grave--ward 'round the home to keep away evil, bound to love."

Once he's done with his little arts and crafts project, he sets the decorated rosemary sprig between them on the table. He stares at it for a second, then lays a hand on it and shuts his eyes, falling silent.

When he starts to speak, just barely audible, the air around them cools just a little--not to freezing, but enough to be noticeable.

"Earth his pillow,
grass his shroud,
grant his rest though life be proud."

The temperature abruptly plummets, then returns to normal with a swiftness that leaves fine beads of condensation on the surface of the table. Opening his eyes, the Shade taps the tabletop beside the decorated branch.

"Take this home, give it some sun, let it dry out 'n die. Once it's gone crispy, crumble it up 'n keep it in whatever container you want--hell, maybe I can whittle ya something. Just don't let it leave your abode. Given the whole issue with death 'round these parts, long as this stays in your home? God forbid something should happen to you, oughta improve your odds of coming to in safety--and if I done it right, oughta improve your odds of coming to at home."

[woocas]

Lucas sits back, waiting patiently as the Shade goes to retrieve the required ingredients. The Medium has seen Dae make her concoctions for various ailments and though it's not based in death magic the concepts are similar enough to be familiar at least.

He sits up on Shade's return, watching intently, soaking it all in like a sponge.

The swift change of temperature takes him by surprise, breath catching hard in his throat. Lucas takes a few moments after to settle himself, nodding along to the given instructions. "Got it. Thanks, Joe...I tend to get myself into trouble so this should help."

And much like a puppy, Lucas cocks his head to one side, "You whittle?"

[deaths_head]

The Shade just nods at Lucas's thanks--and gets brought up short by the question. He hadn't even been fully aware of saying it...

"Uh--yeah." he replies with a nod. "I mean--when I was alive, the first time I mean, I was an undertaker by trade so woodworking's one of my specialties. Took to it like a duck to water, so...I been known to muck around with a little whittling when I wanna keep m' hands busy. Idle hands are the devil's playthings, as they say, but ain't nothin' truer for a death mage like me, I tell you what."

[woocas]

"Yeah, I bet!" he leans an elbow on the table, considering the charm and then the man who made it in a slightly different light now.

"It's good to have hobbies. Being here...I'm realizing I don't really have one that doesn't need electricity." That feels lame to even say, but true. No video games or phone games in Pumpkin Hollow!

"Do you think sometime you could teach me to whittle?" He asks sheepishly. Something about Joe just felt familiar in the strangest way. Lucas can't put his finger on it but he figures it doesn't hurt to ask.

[deaths_head]

That gets a smirk out of the Shade. Kids in the modern age--probably from a time similar to Nieve. Not that the little troublemaker watches much TV or plays any of those high tech toys and games. Hell, the only time she fusses over power is if it gets in the way of her computer taking notes or her electric kettle brewing up the next cup of tea.

"I'll show you, yeah." he assures him. "Even show you a couple other ways to pass the time." Glancing around, his smirk grows into a warmer smile.

"Believe it or not, this place suits me just fine. The tech, the style--leans more European, but ain't so far off from the days when I grew up. Momma was Irish, Daddy came from Texas, I got raised in New Mexico. Barely twenty one when Queen Victoria kicked."

[woocas]

Back home Lucas hardly has the time, but here? More time than he's used to even while trying to detail everything he can about this place. Like Joe said, idle hands and all of that.

"Might be a good idea. Might even keep me out of trouble," Lucas snickers a bit. It probably won't, he's just as bad as Nieve honestly, but it's worth a shot!

"Wow, okay, uh! Queen Victoria was like the end of the 1800s right? Or right on 1900? What a time to be alive, though! Lots of things were already changing, huh?" If he has his history right that is. Or if the world Joe came from is anything like his own.

[deaths_head]

"Give the kid a prize." The Shade snickers with a nod, tapping the table for emphasis. "Got it in one, Victoria died in 1901. Forget when I found out, had a lot goin' on at the time. Rebuilding my home, gettin' my business back off the ground 'n such."

The Shade tips his head to regard Lucas thoughtfully. "Reckon you come from a world like mine, if not outright. What's the year when Mortanne took you, if you don't mind me askin'?"

[woocas]

"A medium has to know his history, I guess." Lucas grins. It's so weird but cool to be talking history with someone who lived through it and wasn't a ghost. A real nice change for sure!

"Sounds like they're pretty similar, if not the same? Do you have anything called IOPSA in your world?" Does he sound hopeful? Oh yes, but tempered by others answering in the negative. "Well...it was two thousand nine last I remember. So kind of a big gap there, yeah?"

[deaths_head]

"Not so much--currently the year of our Lord 2023 from 'bout where I sit." the Shade replies, absently scratching his beard. "As for the other...can't say I've heard of no IOPSA. Then again, I ain't too fussed with the workings of government--and that sounds like government if ever I heard such a thing--'less I got my eye on a soul for...well, 'less I got my eye on a soul."

After his conversation with Degas, he surmises discretion might be the better part of valor.

[woocas]

Lucas raises an eyebrow. 2023? Huh.

"Looking pretty spry for being over a hundred, what's your routine?" Lucas asks, half-seriously.

"IOPSA isn't really a government thing, it's an international series of offices with people who want to research the paranormal or help maintain the accords we made with supernatural beings. So, more an independent thing, really." It's just too bad that most people here don't seem to come from the same world. Bummer!

[deaths_head]

"Drink a lot. Pickled more 'n just my liver." the Shade deadpans evasively, tipping his head with far more interest in this IOPSA the kid's talking about.

"So magic 'n such--it's open knowledge where you're from? You got any yourself? Magic, or unnatural blood, I mean."

[woocas]

“Uh huh…” He’s not really buying that story, but there’s plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t fess up to being immortal or at least unnaturally long lived.

“It is, yeah. Not that everyone understands it, mind you, but it’s out there.” Not some weird secret that it seems to be in other worlds. At the question of magical blood, Lucas fidgets in his seat.

“I wouldn’t say either of those is true, but I am a Medium. Uh…I can talk to spirits and I have something called retrocogition, too. Seeing the past?” And the third thing but it’s a lot to dump on someone all at once.