World Tree MUSH

    The Evening Farmer's Market was a tradition started when electricity came to the eastern parts of the San Francisco Bay region, as a way to show off the electric lights and to beat the sweltering heat of the sun. In this day and age it had become a bit of a local gathering place for foodies looking for some of the more exotic foodstuffs that California's enormous agricultural industry could produce with the great variety of climates within the state.
    he decor was more upscale than the typical farmer's market this year, held inside the remains of some long dead mall that the city reclaimed for such events. There were permanent shops that sold various street foods, while others were miniature groceries by themselves. In between, along the pedestrian promenade, were smaller vendors hawking their wares on sturdy kiosks of metal and chipwood racks.
    "Wow, it smells *amazing* in here!" Aurelia says, grinning ear to ear as she looks over bins of durian, dragon fruit, and kiwi.

    Luke was pretty much just being a casual tourist, following Aurelia's invitation, he even tried to keep his pokemon in their pokeballs, to avoid causing worry or perhaps some panic, except Meowsey/Konya, since a tiny cream cat is unlikely to cause much of a scare. The trainer is distracted inspecting a nearby cart, following his friend's lead, "It does smell great, and looks very nice too, will have to get some to take home." he offers. 
    Meanwhile, at Luke's feet, the small cat starts to slip out of sight as it engages on one of its usual escapades to gather coins, or other tiny shiny things for its hoard. Last seen making the big wet kitty eyes at one of the stall attendants and its costumers, and when distracted, tried swiping a coin or two.

"Yes, it does! It's too early for pumpkins though!" Holly's a bit disappointed by that. She's in the wrong hemisphere for that. "Actually, celebrating Walpurgisnacht during the fall would be pretty neat! We should go to Australia for it! That way there'll be pumpkins too!" She suddenly has a new idea as Servis and Lavaux floating alongside her."

    Though she wasn't there a moment ago, Marceline pipes up in answer to Holly. "Ghosts get confused if you take them too far from where they kicked it. Sometimes where they're buried, I guess. I could take you to go ask a bunch but they'd probably try to huff your brains like pixie sticks. Exception, I guess, for the dead peeps that glom onto live peeps."

    She lifts the brim of her large sun hat, waggles her fingers in greeting and turns her attention to the repurposed mall. "Doesn't smell like mold and death. Pretty rad."

    She doesn't stick around, though, choosing instead to lift off and beat the crowd by just flying over it. Sure, she'll get looks. But is a flying 'teenager' with a stringed battle axe really that much of a standout anymore? Maybe those faded overalls and the black tee with moogle wings showing on the back are more noteworthy.

    Aurelia muches on some strawberries that look really pale, looking intent on trying to figure them out. "Oh! They're called pineberries because they taste like pineapple and strawberry." She offers one to Luke and Holly.
    There may not be pumpkins proper, but there's certainly related plants in the form of spaghetti squash and acorn squash. There are other gourds as well that are very similar to pumpkins.
    The PA system crackles a bit, interrupting the softly played muzak that was barely audible over the general hub-bub of the people in the market. It's a pretty clear message, spoken by a phlegmy shrill voice.
    "DEATH TO THE SALAD EATERS!"
    A hush falls over the farmer's market as people look around confusedly for the source. Nervous chuckles begin as the declaration is shouted again, and then gasps as the war cry was picked up by other voices with similar tones. From the little hidden places built into most places emerge beat-up, rotten, moldy plants made ambulatory by some unknown means. Leaves became limbs, and gashes became thorn-filled mouths.
    It was right about then that the crowd began to panic.

    Luke seems to be torn between looking for the kleptomaniac kitten and his friend, but decides, just swiping a coin or two won't do much damage, right?. He smiles and takes one fruit, even if usually he is not huge on those, tasting a couple. "Thank you!" he purchases some to bring back as well (and to share with his pokemon later). 
    The kitten takes the bizarre announcement as its chance to reach into the tip bowl and swipe some local coins, while the trainer looks around in confusion. "Death to what?" he asks, glancing around to look for the PA, "I guess someone has a sense of humor?". He waves to Holly, and a certain floating lady as well, so many familiar faces!.
    The grin fades as some.... bizarre produce begins to emerge, "Aurelia... are you seeing those?" he asks, even as he reaches for one of his pokeballs. "Meowsey, get back here!." he exclaims, pushing through the crowd closer to his cat, while the small pokemon hisses at the nearest of the rotten fruit and chucks a couple of random coins in its direction, good aim, but not much strength behind it at all.

"There are ghosts that snort brains? So they're the tangible kind? Or they just to huff brains and fail?" Holly can't help but to wonder that but Marceline flew off. She takes the offered pineberry and climbs on her broom after her.

 "I think you spoke too soon about the not smelling like mold and death." Servis can't help but to note as he floats next to Holly.

 "Anyone got some fungicide?" Lavaux suggests.

    So, in answer to Holly's questions as she retreats she simply waves! She'll get into that story eventually, probably. For now, time to explore! At least, until the callout over the mall's PA. "Uh..."

    She tucks her legs and sits criss-cross applesauce in the air, looking around and eventually spotting something, then lots of something screaming in unison. "Oh huh, it's a little veggie raid. Yo, dudes! Check it!"

    Rather unhelpfully, people begin to panic. Also unhelpfully, Marceline finds this hilarious.

    Aurelia uhs. "Yes, yes I'm seeing this. What were in those pineberries?!" Then an angry watermelon rolls up and chomps down on Aurelia's shoe, prompting the young woman to kick the thing off in a knee-jerk reaction. The mouthy melon makes a heavy wet splat sound as it hits a metal trash can and splatters everywhere in weird over-ripe plant gore.
    "Okay so it's real!" she says as she stomps on some rotten produce swarming around her feet. "Holy moly, why are people even panicking?! It's rotten produce, just *stomp on them*!" The frustration is evident in her voice as she starts doing just that.
    Amusingly, the ambulatory produce aren't very bright, as a coterie of collard greens are attempting to 'eat' Servis and Lavaux with the wet flaps of their leaves.
    Rows of corn line up and start pelting Marceline and the crowd with hard little kernels, like bizarre fully automatic BB guns. Meanwhile, some crowd members are getting fed up being menaced by the animated flora and pushing back by smacking, throwing, kicking, and stomping the bad batches of plants.

    Luke stops panicking as, while the cat is not apparently able to harm the things... they don't seem much of a threat either. "Wow... yeah, perhaps they just... aren't bright.". He blinks at the curious fruits and vegetables and reaches to kick at the closest one, borrowing a metal tray to use as a makeshift shield. "I almost feel bad for thinking about calling my pokemon." he muses. "Hey! plants, stop attacking or you will be squashed." he tries loudly. 
    His cat even pounces at one of the closest ones and begins scratching at it, apparently it picks a rotten apple or something similar, battle of the century. "We should be careful still, if there is something poisonous or whatnot around." he calls.

Holly watches the chaos unfold below and the ghosts simply move out of the way. They wweren't in much dangerous unless there are actual ghost peppers present. The witch thinks a moment before trying to think of a way to deal with the rioting vegetables below and points the lollipop shaped staff below. It glows with orange magic before dyed easter eggs start to fall onto the Farmer's Market. At least they were dyed with vingear so that might help a bit. If they actually manage to hit the vegetables that is.

    The ones that seem to be actually dangerous, not due to intelligence or durability, are the hot peppers. Jalapenos, habeneros, serranos, and the ilk are spewing nauseating goop laced with the stuff that makes them spicy and pepper spray sting; capsaicin. Little seeds accompany this clingy goop.
    Aurelia lets out a pained yelp as one of those effing peppers gets her in the eyes, saying some rude things about the peppers in the process.
    But mostly, people are fighting back against the bad produce with whatever they have at hand.
    "No~! Fight onward my children! Throw their bodies upon the compost heap of history! Fight, fight, fight against their feeble might!" Despite the exhortations of whomever is operating the PA, the vegetation is not winning.

Even Holly's not immune despite being above, speaking of those ghost peppers they seem to be attracted to the witch and throwing goop at her. The witch loses her balance on the broom and falls belows squishing several the vegetables in the process. It seems they weren't smart enough to know about accidental friendly fire.

    The small cat continues to try to try to destroy the singular, small fruit it pounced on, and Luke decides to leave it there, now focusing on the spicy creatures... those are nasty. Deciding any pity or attempt to 'have fun' or even vent on those is misguided, he simply grabs one of his pokeballs and calls Bewear. "destroy all those evil plants and fruits... the ones attacking the people, just be careful about the ones spitting those seeds, don't let them on your face... might want to smack them with this, rather than directly.". He points the pokemon to a nearby sign, that is simply uprooted and used as a makeshift weapon for turning the poor things into splatters.

    *EVENTUALLY*...
    The mall-turned-market is quiet now but for people cleaning up or retrieving their personal effects. The vicious veggies weren't terribly effective but they left an impressive mess with their carcasses. Those who had injuries, such as 'bites', scrapes, or pepper gooped, are being seen by paramedics. But mostly it's been an inconvenience with minor injuries.
    Aurelia sits on a bench, blinking through the eyedrops put into her eyes to help neutralize the nasty pepper glop. "I'm really glad nobody was seriously hurt by all that."