Poppet Timeline
From Changeling Venue
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NOTE : This character is registered to the Atlanta Lost VSS, "In Media Res".
NOTE : Without express permission from the player, the information contained on and linked from this page is classified as OOC Knowledge.
Story Development Timeline for Holly Poppet, Baron Strega the Elder and Holly Carver
Information provided by Holly's player - Sharon Yarbrough, US2002022447
Pre-Arcadia
 April 1975 |
 January 1976 |
 December 1976 |
 October 1980 |
 May 1984 |
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The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter ...
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1975
21 Mar 1975: Robert and Jennifer Carver decide to go on a picnic dinner after work. Caught up in the romanticism of the fading light and the verdant wilderness around them, they make love on the bank of the river. /~ and in Faerie ~/ A minion of The Twilight King bears witness to the joining of these mortals, marking one of the offspring conceived as his Lord's tithe, due to the union occurring at the change of season and of day to night. The East Wind, en route to the North, dislodges an ungrateful willow seed from the wing of a sparrow.
02 May 1975: Six weeks (and two missed periods) after their picnic, Jennifer’s doctor confirms that she is, indeed, pregnant. Robert begins dreaming of their future sports star; Jennifer takes up baby quilt crochet.
28 Dec 1975: After a thirteen hour labor, Crystal Renee Carver is born at 7:34 am. Holly Christine Carver, a surprise to her parents and to the obstetrician, is delivered as the sun breaks the horizon at 7:41 am. The twins cry continually when awake, until an astute older nurse lays the sisters in the same bassinet. /~ and in Faerie ~/ The minion of The Twilight King whispers a fae blessing upon the Tweens child as soul slips into the body and becomes as one, allowing him to keep tabs on her as she grows older. The East Wind, returning home, puffs a bit of debris from off an ungrateful weeping sapling, allowing it rise to greet the glory of the sun’s approach.
1980
25 Aug 1980: Crystal and Holly enter kindergarten. Their teacher is amused that both their coloring pages nearly always come out with the same color scheme, even when they are seated apart from each other. Their teacher isn’t as amused at Crystal’s tantrum-backed insistence that her assigned seat be one from which she can see Holly’s seat. Holly takes to the written word like a duck to water, while Crystal is a finger-painting fiend. /~ and in Faerie ~/ The East Wind pauses from time to time in his work to hear stories brought to him in little snippets by the least of his minions. He finds that a part of his restless nature is quieted by the breeze-brought voice of the human child, and listens more and more often to the tales she reads when she and her twin are out at play.
1981
03 Jan 1981: After learning that one of her classmates only received one present for Christmas, Holly taped paper around the packages that she received from under the tree and put them in the little girl's cubby hole at school. The only present that Holly kept for herself was a ‘big girl” storybook from Santa. When the little girl’s mother arrived at their house that evening, bashfully thanking Jennifer for Holly’s generosity and seeking to return the gifts, Holly explained that she couldn’t take them back because that would make her an Indian-giver. After a tearful scene on all parts, it was decided that the little girl would keep the presents but that Holly, in return for being such a sweet friend, must come by to play with them and to share a story from her book.
21 Apr 1981: Jennifer, at Robert’s urging, enrolls the twins in t-ball. In response to his urging her “precious in pink” granddaughters into participation in a field sport, Robert’s mother gives Jennifer the money to also enroll them in ballet. She attends every game they are in, and every recital.
1983
17 Sep 1983: Crystal is invited to participate as an alternate on the Georgia Juniors All-state Softball Tournament. She has one at bat, hits a single to land a player on third, and has the honor of having been invited due to her talent even though she was, at eight years old, still two years away from play at that level.
1984
06 Feb 1984: Holly takes a nasty fall on the playground equipment and is sent to the ER. During the follow-up visit with her pediatrician, he notices an anomaly in her lab results. He asks Jennifer a series of questions and, growing more concerned as Holly’s wound doesn’t heal as it should, orders a battery of tests.
24 Feb 1984: Holly is diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
26 May 1984: Jennifer and Robert take a week off from work to vacation with the twins at St Simon’s Island on the Georgia coast. They are joined by both sets of grandparents and by Jennifer’s sister’s family, as the doctors believe that this is the last trip that Holly will be strong enough to make. Crystal, Holly and their cousin Emma spend their days playing in the sand or the shallow surf and their evenings giggling under a sheet fort and dreaming up stories of what they will be when they grow up.
13 Dec 1984: Holly and her family are treated to a night at the theatre by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Holly is stolen from this world at moonrise, just before the first snowflakes start to fall, and a faerie-willow-child is left in Holly's place.
Durance
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All changes,
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1984
13 Dec 1984: Holly is taken to The Eyrie of the East Wind and bound in service to the demon, Aldebaran.
1994
date unknown: The book in which Holly was kept is stolen by Tommy Blue. Tommy didn’t know that there was another changeling trapped inside the pages of the book. As Tommy's journey continued through the lands of Arcadia and (eventually) through the Hedge, Holly found herself wondering without respite through story after incoherent story.
1997
22 Mar 1997: Holly broke free of the Forest Primeval and landed in a gutter in a world she had forgotten.
Post-Arcadia
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Who am I?
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1997
22 Mar 1997: Holly is returned to this world on the night of Comet Hale-Bopp's closest approach. She found herself sitting in a gutter at the feet of Tommy Blue. Holly doesn't remember much about that first weekend out of the Hedge, but there hasn't been a weekend since (save for her time in an asylum later that year) that she hasn't found herself at some party or another.
Autumn 1997: Holly was taken to a showing of “Disney’s: The Lion King” at The Fabulous Fox Theatre. The puppet play cracked the tenuous hold she had on sanity. For the safety of herself and of the local freehold, Holly was placed into a mental institution. It was during her time in the asylum that she met Gilded. He helped Holly work through some Very Bad Things(TM) and is trusted by her for all that he did.
2002
Winter 2002: After time in a sanitarium and with the help of new friends such as Joss Whitney, who gave her a place to stay and a new name to call her own, and Aaron, who nurtured her embrace of the Spring Court, Holly began to stand on her own and interact once more with Changeling society.
2005
14 Apr 2005: A fierce and bloody battle leaves many of Holly's friends in the Ring of Roses Freehold dead, and her adored friend, the Spring King, quite overtaken with a case of the crazies. The dead are mourned, the king retired to a room with soft walls, and a new king crowned. Holly, Dane and Joss helped Kevin Grey, the fresh-outta-the-Hedge new Spring King, through the acceptance ceremony and made sure no one gave him reason for any mood other than joyful celebration. Later in the day, Holly aided Jocasta and Dax with a child that was being used to breed some sort of hedge demon. Dax cut the thorns free from his brain, then Holly soothed him into dreams and healed his wounds. She tapped his dreams for any hint of the entity responsible, then held him as he woke in a panicked lucid state to give the only clue his autistic mind could relay. He fell limp, dying in Holly's arms. She, and others, tried in vain to revive him. Gilded offered to take Holly with him and Jocasta when it was time to deal with the remains. Later that night, Holly did her best to drown the turmoil she felt over the child's death in toast after toast to the new Season.
17 Jun 2005: Holly offers to help Lowell Whitman learn things that will help him as a new pledge to the Spring Court. He accepts her offer and she plans several outings throughout the city. On the final outing on which she will agree to accompany him, Holly sought to teach him how to harvest the energy of emotions. She took him to a bank where a young couple that she knew was scheduled to see one of her clients about a first house loan for their soon-to-be family. He proved that he understood the theory when, after their loan had been approved and they were walking back to the parking deck next door, he robbed them - threatening the young wife and brutally punching the young husband. Then, when they begged mercy, he relented, even apologizing for trying to take their new house money and gave them back the check. Lowell later gloated to Holly that the rush from fear was more tangy than their heartfelt desire had been and thanked her for the lesson.
2006
22 Jul 2006, Traitors and Dangerous Thoughts: It was Summer and her friend Gilded was king. Normally, there would have been contests of prowess and might but instead, thanks to the work over the last year of so many in the Freehold, Gilded had called for a roundtable trial. The Freehold's chatelaine had been discovered as the secret traitor, the one that was still working on Queen Rose's behalf, and had confessed to finding and using Rose's Fetch to access her secret Hollow and the dangerous magics hidden therein. Most troubling to Holly, as she spoke to him one on one, is that he was quite unapologetic about it all, even about having been the cause of eighteen deaths the previous year. As they talked, he accused all in the Freehold of being a traitor to their own kind for the actions taken against Rose, hinting at dire things from which only she, and her closest supporters, had been protecting them. Unable to make reason of his words, Holly went to speak with the captured Fetch. She found the woman confused about her role in all of this, and about the changes within that she had been feeling of late, but forthright with the answers that she was able to give. During the course of their conversation, she was able to extract from the woman a promise that she would give them the password to Rose’s secret diary if they would help her find it. That’s when Holly noticed the trail of rosebuds leading from the chairs to a doorway that hadn’t been there before. With her mention of that, several members of Fyörg went through the Hedge door to determine what was causing the flowers to appear there. Of those that remained, several spoke of the danger that the chatelaine and the Fetch were and that they should be destroyed for the safety of the Freehold. Holly lobbied against this – determined that the Fetch is just as much a living being as they were – and that there must be some way to keep everyone safe other than simply killing them – pledges, psychiatric rehabilitation, anything other than execution. Several of them argued against her attempt to save them. Touch, Autumn’s King, even pulled her to the side and, with her back to the wall and him looming uncomfortably close, twisted her words and hopes until protecting the captives was treacherous and that a collection of sticks and twigs must be an “it”, never a “she”. Gilded told Holly and Mia Jenkins that they needed a decision from Spring. With a flash of inspiration, the chatelaine’s earlier words clicking in Holly’s mind, “just because something sleeps doesn’t mean it’s dead”, she hit on the thought that there could be something in the captive’s dreams that might lead the Freehold to the root of the problem. Gilded gave her leave to try, so the captive Fetch was made to fall asleep and Holly entered her dreams. The Fetch had no dreams though, and Holly was shunted to a dreamscape of a creature that had been bound into rose vines under Queen Rose’s Hollow. She learned that the wolfish creature’s lifeforce was pledged to hold something at bay, that Rose had been paying blackmail to keep that same something from returning to this world, and that she was trying to become a True Fae. She returned to this world with the “confused little bonsai” and with Rocky carrying the diary. At that moment, the woman’s heart began to fail. Holly and Mia worked quickly to revive her, and then Holly reminded her of the promise she’d made. Rather than writing the word down as Holly had asked, the Fetch spoke it aloud. Without warning, the chatelaine popped like a soap bubble and nasty-thorned vines erupted from the diary and the bonsai and from the Fetch, growing quickly and seeming to turn the woman’s flesh into plant matter as it overtook her. As others battled the diary and the bonsai, Holly, in a desperate attempt to save the woman’s life, called upon the plant material to grow through an entire season, to wilt away and release her. The vines grew ever more lush and then began to decay as they went through the entire growth cycle in a matter of moments. When it was done, there remained only husks and dried out twigs. Holly was devastated at having unwittingly taken the life of the Fetch, much to the perverse satisfaction of several Autumn and Winter courtiers. Gilded called everyone to task for their not having acknowledged on their own that the chatelaine had broken his Pledge to the Freehold (the body having been found, desiccated and entangled in a rosebush in a nearby park, and retrieved by Lowell) then sat with Holly after it was over, talking her past the brunt of the guilt.
2007
15 Jul 2007, Summer Festival in Rome GA: Any excuse to visit Hannah is a good excuse, and the excuse of a Festival is doubly so. Hannah had come down to the city for a night or two, then she and Holly made the return trip to Rome in time for the festival. It was good to see everyone again, and there were some new faces since the last time she’d visited. She and Hannah caught up with the other Spring Courtiers – Simon, and Will Siren, and Carver Thornbrooke from her own Freehold. Many of the changelings present decided to go visit the nearby Goblin Market while waiting for the festivities to begin. Holly chose to not go, preferring to stay behind – even though Hannah went – listening to a remarkably talented Blues Singer/Guitarist and talking with an Airtouched called Piper that had found her way free to this side of the Hedge that very morning. The talkative little thing made mention of the Keepers under which she had served. Holly didn’t tell her how lucky she was to have escaped the East Wind after so short a time there. Eventually, those that had gone returned from the Market and the Summer King finally arrived, giving everyone there an excellent excuse to raise a glass in toast, and the seasonal monarch announced that the tournament this year would be a traditional one. After a round of Not It, a slow one as so many of the Spring Courtiers were new to their season, Carver was chosen to draft the hastily-penned poem full of passion and life about the glory of Summer’s reign. When it came time to present the rushed works, a rousing coup of applause met Carver’s poem, and the Spring Court was declared the winner of the first contest. The second contest was announced and the Not Its came much more quickly, as it tested cunning and powers of deceit by requiring a return to the Market to steal a particular necklace from a particular merchant. Hannah, as the Spring’s chosen champion, did a remarkable job but failed to catch the win by returning to the King’s side a mere moment after her Winter friend. The third contest was announced and, though the laughing Not Its came within a heartbeat of each other, all the Spring Courtiers agreed with Holly’s suggestion to use their magics together to cast a dream most wondrous for the Summer King to judge. Holly asked his heart a question, then ran to her mates so they could work out how the King’s yearning for his beloved Ireland could be crafted into something satisfyingly real. Mallory Schadenfreude was lurking close enough that he heard Holly retell the King’s desire and, though the Spring’s gift was full of life and vivid experience, and Lowell’s gift from the Autumn court would have been a boon to the Summer King’s bar, Mallory’s interpretation of the efforts of the Spring Court was more flamboyant, though less heartfelt, in scope. Mallory was proclaimed the winner of the contest; Holly and Hannah didn’t call him out for his underhandedness. The final contest was one of stamina, as each Court was requested to put up a challenger for drinking the Summer King under the table with his own brew. The Spring Court worked in concert to help their little newly-inducted Piper see the others fall drunken and stuporous upon the floor. Holly went to Lowell and Nathaniel and Mickey, after it was clear there would be no rousing them otherwise, and healed them of the poisonous effect the alcohol was having on their bodies. The rest of the day was spent in celebration and fellowship, and ended with Hannah and Holly and a number of others exploring interesting places about town – but only after the sun had fully set.
20 Oct 2007, The Fallen Fair: Aaron caught Holly up in a huge hug as soon he saw that she'd made it to the Fair. She had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, like Tommy Blue and Solstice, and flirting with new ones, like Hawthorne and Tuck and Cosmo. It tugged at her heart when the convicted Loyalist was led throughout the Fair, begging in chains for help and pleading his innocence. Something inside told Holly he spoke truth, but whenever she stepped to go speak to him, she was stopped by others with closed minds and hearts proclaiming that they couldn't let her endanger herself by proximity to someone that so clearly worked for The Gentry. Then, to complicate matters further, the Autumn Queen of September's Children entered with her entourage - including Holly's cousin Emma on a chain. When there was a confirmed report of a Keeper en route, Holly, in desperation, went to the Queen to ask the whereabouts of her cousin. Receiving a non-answer, Holly made clear her intentions to keep her cousin safe, even if it meant taking her away from the haughty Harvest Queen. Holly was threatened and harassed by her Court for the remainder of the afternoon, as Aaron's freehold mates made it equally clear that they had Holly's back. The tension ended in a stalemate when Emma showed back up an hour later. Within minutes, Holly was called by her friend Hannah, whom needed help with two changelings made of glass that had - literally - just been spit out of the Hedge. Holly befriended them, in her simple, genuine way, making Aaron smile with leonine pride at her progress over the last few years. She spent the remainder of the day with the new pair, helping them to acclimate to this world, then made sure they were taken to the party at The Bad Penny to which she had been personally invited before the evacuation call was made and the bar was declared by Race as the default gathering place for the Fair refugees. She danced the night away, in the company of several of the Fair attendees, but most notably with Brand.
09 Nov 2007, Apology to September's Clockwork Majesty: So Emma wouldn't suffer further repercussions of Bianca's anger, Holly drove to Auburn AL to make peace with the Harvest Queen of the Freehold of September's Children. She arrived during their ceremony for the month, so she begged permission to address the monarch and her court. Holly knelt before the other woman and offered an apology from the heart explaining how she had been afraid for Emma's safety since Emma couldn't be found when the Gentry were near to the Fallen Fair and how the Clockwork Majesty's entourage had seemed callous and uncaring where Emma's well-being was concerned. Holly thanked the Queen for the lesson she had been given and for the example Bianca set in reminding all who saw her Court of the fearsome beings that awaited them through the Hedge and offered Bianca a small emerald ring as a token of her sincerity. Her apology was well received, and Holly was invited to remain for the festivities. Later in the day they were joined by Lowell, who offered to help track a problem that had been plaguing them. Holly was asked to come along because of her prowess with Eternal Spring magics. Though hesitant to enter the Hedge once it became clear that it was where the trail led, Holly went with them. A portal was found that led to an arachnid nest, and the group decided to retreat and plan, rather than make an unprepared attack. The weekend ended with a promise from Holly to return for a visit and with assurances that she would aid them with her magics, should they have need.
01 Dec 2007, Triennial Goblin Market: It took more than a little coaxing for Joss Whitney to convince Holly to take the day and evening off and go with everyone else to The Triennial Goblin Market. Once there, and quite unusually for Holly, it was easy to forget that they were in the Hedge. There was so much to see among the vendor stalls and so many people that she wanted to meet. She had brought along with her a card for her friend, Zoe Edwards, and - as a way of politely cutting in on new groups - went around soliciting signatures and well-wishes for the "Missing You" card. She inadvertently helped Hannah make a grand production out of a simple riddle contest, bought three acorns in exchange for a bit of man-made ribbon and, generally, had a wonderful time bouncing from group to group meeting friends and making new acquaintances. As the day wore on, it became increasingly clear that there was something odd afoot, something having to do specifically with The Walking Man. She was a bit flustered when Ed Clerogen came up wanting to meet her because Mia Jenkins had told him that Holly ran whores, but Ed was friendly enough and seemed to understand that there was more to it - valuably more so - than the simple trading of cash for sex. Any doubt that Holly's day would end in "normalcy" was eradicated when Holly turned around from a conversation with Dane, Aaron, Gilded and Ed and found herself face-to-face with the ghost of Queen Rose's Fetch. The ghost was only obliged to answer truthfully a single question put to her by any individual, but lost valuable time as most new questioner wasted valuable time in asking for a clarification to the "question rules", and thus losing their single question. Holly sensed that the ghost had more to say than her obligation allowed, so she offered to work to give it what it wanted - life, real honest-to-God living breathing Life - if it would answer honestly any question put to it, regardless of asker. Holly and Gilded wrote frantically to capture the questions and answers on paper, learning more and more about the identity of The Walking Man and of his connection to Rose. When David Burke confirmed the conclusion that Holly and Gilded and Ed had reached, and it was asked who would step up and offer his name, Holly swallowed her fear and volunteered to do it if they would go with her to try to save her from a return to Arcadia in the event she failed. Her heart nearly stopped when his eyes leveled upon hers as she stepped back from whispering a name into the Titan's ear. She could feel her friends at her back as it spoke, in a deep forbidding tone, that she had neither won nor lost - the eyes of all nearby turning to her in surprised awe that anyone had successfully guessed one of his previous names. The Titan invited her to try again, but her courage faltered and she couldn't yet breathe the sounds of the second name she had written down. It was only later, after Gilded had purchased everyone's right to return home with "the coin well spent", that Holly was able to steel her nerve enough to try again. This time, the Titan's eyes narrowed dangerously as she gave one of its more recent names. Aaron and Gilded pulled her away from its gaze and its reach, knowing that they would be safer continuing research back on their own side of the Thorns now that they knew - thanks to David and Holly - that they were on the right path.
07 Dec 2007, Return to the Freehold of September's Children: Richard Henry III, Summer King of September's Children, hosted an evening of stories. Each changeling was invited to share some anecdote about themselves. The catch was they had to speak for two minutes and no more, and there was no warning whom the King would choose to speak next. Holly was reminded of how much her cousin, Emma, cared for her and of the depth of the familial bond they shared after all this time and everything through which they've each been. Holly learned a little of what each of the others had been through - like the reason for Bianca's withdrawn manner and Mr Rime's chill reception for anyone not of his Freehold and how two men in nearly the same situation are willing to make their way from opposite angles, and shared with them a story of how she spent many of her days. Later in the evening, a few of the changelings went to see an old witch about the arachnids that plagued the Hedge near their Freehold. They came back with the news that she would help them, but that they must gather the components she would need for the ritual she would need to invoke. As discussion about the components took place, Holly was chilled by the direction the conversation took. They would consider killing innocent lives and destroying things most precious to give the witch the things she would need. Holly determined then and there to find a way to fulfill the requirements in a way that wouldn't risk their lives or their sanity. /~ The Next Day ~/ Holly took Emma to a theater in Montgomery to see The Golden Compass. Holly was drawn into the story and was relieved to find the tale wholly unfamiliar. She enjoyed watching Emma watch the story unfold, though she did her best to not think too hard on Emma's delight in the cruelty shown by Ms. Coulter's daemon. When the movie was over, they went to Red Robin for burgers, spent their time coloring mazes while waiting on their food, and giggled together over the fuss that their waitress made over the renowned pro-wrestler, Steele Kenku, at the table next to them.
31 Dec 2007, New Years Eve w/ Pierce Priestly (proxy): Holly had a wonderful time at the party. She spent the night chatting away with dear friends and meeting many new ones. Her party dress, a Michael Kors creation, was a gift from co-host, Mallory Schadenfreude
2008
13 Jan 2008, Winter in Atlanta (our Venue Go Live Game!): Cold days and colder nights, and everyone was in a grumpy mood. At least until Jocasta decided that too many people knew too many different pieces of puzzles they weren't sharing with anyone else. So she sat everyone down together and had them compare notes about the little boy that had been freed from the brain-vine and about Rose's motley and what Rose, herself, might have been up to. It turned out that all the research Holly had been doing over the last few months finally paid off in connecting the many parts of the disparate puzzles, and - in addition to Holly having stopped, without assistance, a spontaneous hollow from forming at the Botanical Garden (much to the apparent astonishment of the "practical-minded, no fluff" set) - helped to give them one of the first solid leads they'd had toward finding the next trail to go down. So a small group, including Holly, left to go find the key Rose had hidden away so the Freehold history book couldn't be opened. They went to a house and while Joseph Morgan kept the occupants of the house busy at the door, Clayton Townsend and Norman Zeller snuck in to take a look. By the time "the incident" was over, they'd all been able to confirm where the hidden room *wasn't*, so, at Gilded's asking, a smaller group took Holly back later that night to secure the box. She stole in through an unlocked basement window and, after locating the hidden room by brushing her fingertips through the walls, found a locked box on a shelf. Inside the box she saw the ring for which they'd been searching ... and stacks of cash. Once she was outside with the box, there was a hushed, though passionate, discussion about what to do with the cash. Several of those there felt that the cash was their's by right of finding. Others felt the money should be left with the family of the house, as they were poor and it seemed their due after having been used by Rose the way they had. The discussion (argument growing ever more loud) was ended by Holly requiring a promise from Cerica Vash and her motley mates that this family wouldn't go without if this money would help whatever trouble they were having.
20 Jan 2008, Winter Masque in the Fen of Brambles:
20-29 Jan 2008, Nursemaid to The Silhouette Guardians (proxy):
02 Feb 2008, Winter Masquerade Ball in the Freehold of Youthful Springs:
10 Feb 2008, The Feast of Ashes:
Due Credit
- NPC Keeper "The Twilight King" is used with the permission of fellow player, Christopher J. Williams (US2002021540)
- Post Arcadia quotation is from the song "Who Am I?", as written by Herbert Kretzmer for the theatrical production of Les Miserables.
- Pre Arcadia and Durance quotations are from the novelist, Anatole France.
