If you less-than-three it so much, why don't you marry it?

That number on that new star appears to have stalled, after changing from a 3 to a <3. I imagine that Sorceress is trying to be clever or something, although I don't quite get it. It's a '1' at the moment, though, so just a few more hours to go.
Yesterday, this weird-ass place, the 'Spectral Pickle Factory' appeared in the Nearby Plains. I'd never seen it before, but I had heard about it, and it's where the Ghost Pickles on a Stick come from. I adventured there as much as I could, because apparently it never stays for very long, and I managed to get some ingredients for Spectral Pickles, which seem to be the most nutritious food in the land. I only have two ghost cucumbers, so I figure I'll make one Spectral Pickle and sell the rest of the ingredients at the Mall, make me some moolah. It did disappear, but I wondered what would happen if someone was INSIDE it when it disappeared. Would they disappear with it, would it disappear around them, it's something I would have liked to have seen.
Some people from Clan Otori cast some spells on me for no apparent reason. I'm not sure why, since you're supposed to pay them a minimal amount for the spells, but I didn't pay anything. Could be some sort of mistake. I am protected by three Saucespheres, have an newfound affinity for my hovering sombrero, and feel a lot like breaking into song. I'm a little confuzzled by it all.