TREE DECORATING PARTY

[goosemods]

TREE DECORATING PARTY

Bright and early in the morning, Outdoor Exploration and Equestrian Club have breakfast and pack up camp, so they can make it back in time for the annual Tree Decorating Party. Fir and pine trees are hitched to sleighs or the strongest horses, and the campers make good time through the forest, arriving back at school in the early afternoon.

At 6 PM, the whole school gathers in the huge, maze-like Gardens for the party. The winding paths have been swept free of snow, and the leafless trees and hedges have been dressed with magical lights. Dinner is set up on long tables in the courtyard at the center of the Gardens, and charmed lamps bathe the area with warmth, so students can enjoy an outdoor winter buffet featuring all kinds of holiday favourites. Vegan and kosher options are provided. Choir Club mounts the risers to sing carols for their classmates, and there's enthusiastic applause when Antonia Papadakis performs a stunning solo of Silent Night.

At 7 PM, tree decorating officially begins. The courtyard is the only safe area. At the north, east, south and west ends of the Gardens, four trees have been raised for the four houses. Scattered throughout the Gardens' maze-like paths are waterproof boxes containing various tree ornaments, and everyone is given the go-ahead to rush out and claim boxes for their house. Houses are allowed one hour to create the Best Christmas Tree in Gooseberry.

At 8 PM, the teachers will vote on a winning tree, and that house will be rewarded with bragging rights and a wizard cracker for every member of the house.

TREE DECORATING RULES

1. Anything goes for tree decorations, so long as no one gets hurt. Over the years, the "anything goes" rule has translated into students staging raids to steal ornaments from rival houses, but you are no longer allowed to destroy anything, after the calamitous Tree Decorating Party of 2008. (Mr. Elmasry could tell you stories, but he's afraid of giving you ideas.)


2. Prefects will be trusted to maintain order and judge what is or isn't an acceptable tree ornament. Staff is present in the courtyard, although ever since the disastrous Tree Decorating Party of 2010 when Ms. Rhee and Mr. Merrill got way too competitive, teachers are strictly forbidden from contributing or telling students what to do.


3. Anything that makes sense as a Christmas tree decoration can plausibly be found in the supply boxes, e.g. magical lights, tinsel of every colour, ornaments shaped like corgi dogs. With caveats: there won't be any electricity, and the boxes were filled by the teachers, so you're not going to find NSFW things either. However...


4. Students are permitted to bring or craft their own tree decorations. Please use your best judgment on what is actually practical for your character to bring to school with them.


5. Magical ladders are provided to help people reach the topmost branches of the trees. What does magical mean? It means ladders which are magically less likely to let you fall and break your neck. Please, children, don't die.


6. People who currently have detention will served it in the hours before dinner, so everyone can be present for Tree Decorating! The event isn't mandatory, but if you want an excuse for your character to take part, you can say their Head of House urged them to join.


7. How is the winner calculated? When a participating character posts to their house's tree, a mod will RNG a score between 1–50 for each character. A house’s score is the total score of all their participating members, and the highest house score wins. You have until Monday, December 12 at 11:59 PM MT to post to your house's tree and have your character be counted.

» Dinner: Everyone gathers in the garden courtyard for a delicious feast and a performance by Choir.

» South Tree: Ebonhide

» West Tree: Ribbonfin

» North Tree: Azurcrest

» East Tree: Coppertale

» Gardens: The winding paths of the Gardens create a maze, and boxes of Christmas ornaments have been hidden all over.

» Courtyard: In the center of the Gardens is the courtyard. During Tree Decorating, this is the only safe zone, i.e. no one can throw snowballs at you or steal your ornaments.

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

POINT TOTALS
EBONHIDE	RIBBONFIN	AZURCREST	COPPERTALE
516	547	468	521

Comments

[indiefolk]

"I don't know if I matter, but I'm definitely proud." Diego's smile brightens a little, imagining Isaiah solemnly putting up ornaments.

"So." Diego strums his guitar for dramatic effect. "Who's winning? Wait, let me guess. Anyone but Azurcrest?"

[icovington.insanejournal.com]

Isaiah chuckles and moves to sit on the piano bemch- his own sacred space- though he faces Diego rather than the instrument. "How did you know? Your housemates are...well, let's say you're not the most organized bunch."

[indiefolk]

Diego laughs softly at his tragically correct guess, then shrugs. Hopefully none of his friends are bent out of shape about it, but he doesn't think they will be. If things were going really bad, they'd just all give up and settle for cuddling and eating. Diego feels a brief pang of regret for turning that down, but...

"Most of us are just in it for fun," he explains. "How's Ribbonfin faring? Killing everyone with teamwork?"

[icovington.insanejournal.com]

"Something like that," Isaiah agrees with a wry little smile. "Though I think Coppertale will win on the end. We aren't aggressive enough to stand up to their raids."

He plays a few notes, not looking, and then the first few bars of the piece he's been working on obsessively for several years now. He's not really doing it consciously. It's a thing to do with his hands while he thinks. Then, "Do you want to talk about it?"

[indiefolk]

Diego sighs in defeat. He's never sure if he wants to talk about it, but he doesn't know many people steadier than Isaiah. The notes he plays are calming, and the music room is familiar and safe.

"There's this person I've got serious feelings for," he begins slowly. "But they're dating someone else. I already said I wasn't going to do anything about it, but sometimes I just don't feel up to watching them together. There's a limit to how long I can pretend I'm okay. I needed a break."

[icovington.insanejournal.com]

Isaiah listens to this without comment; in fact, he doesn't comment for at least a minute after Diego has finished speaking, just plays idly and thinks.

"That really sucks," he says finally, cracking a smile just to show Diego that he's mocking himself by using that language a little bit. "I'm sorry, Diego."

[indiefolk]

"Thanks." Diego smiles sadly and looks down at his fingers as he plucks out notes to match the ones Isaiah played moments earlier.

"He's happy, and that's what matters, right?" he sighs, speaking without thinking.

[icovington.insanejournal.com]

It takes a minute for Isaiah to get it, mostly because he's focused on the way Diego is matching his tune. It percolates, though, and when he does get it, his eyes flash up to the other boy's face, sharp and surprised.

"It matters," he says slowly, not wanting to make his friend uncomfortable by letting on. "But that doesn't mean you can't be sad, or take time outs when you need them."

[indiefolk]

"I guess so." Diego wants to be over it. He wants to be over it so badly. He can see how his emotions weigh on Cecil every time he lets the sadness get the better of him.

"I'm just so shit at hiding how I feel," he explains, emotions seeping into his voice just to prove the point. "It was get out of there, or spend all night making them feel awkward with all of my best broken hearted expressions."