gooseberryhigh | PIONEER DAY PARTY

PIONEER DAY PARTY

Whether by Apparition or by portkey, those who decide to attend the Morales-Tran not-really-4th-of-July-but-close-enough party are greeted by desert heat and the smell of sage under the hot sun. There's one paved road leading into town, and a smaller dirt one that heads off into the distance, at the end of which is a large, one story ranch home. The only way that makes this technically a ranch and not a barely disguised mansion is the presence of horse stables.

The backyard is bustling with activity. The patio has been declared a safe zone, and remains largely untouched by the water fight. Diego warns everyone to be careful of cacti and snakes if they go too far into the surrounding wilderness, which is covered in scrubby plant life and red sand. Unfortunately, it didn't do Xavier Lewis much good, as they fall on a cactus during the party and spend the next hour with Reid Wainwright who plucks out all the spines with a little magic and some tweezers.

HOW THIS WORKS:

The party begins at 4:00 PM in Moab, Utah, which is a tiny town in the middle of a red rock desert. The Morales Ranch is located outside the town, and is fairly isolated. No one will be able to see you casting spells and being wizardy.

It's very hot and dry today: 101°F/33°C

Pioneer Day is technically tomorrow, but Sunday's a more convenient IC/OOC time!

Justifying that your character got an invitation even if they're not close to the Morales-Trans isn't hard. Diego and Essie are the primary party-throwers, and between the two of them and how many people they know, getting in isn't difficult. Anyone is welcome.

While their mothers are going to be out until late in the evening, this isn't a rager. Diego doesn't want to get in too much trouble, so there's no alcohol provided. He won't complain if you drink from a personal stash, though.

The house is more or less off limits to partying, but if you go in to find the bathroom you can tell that the Morales-Tran mothers are a) very rich, b) very artsy, c) just as obsessed with aesthetics as Diego is.

Diego and their house elf, Pilar, will be grilling dinner. If anyone wants to help, they may. If Pippa is in attendance, Diego will specifically make a vegan dish for her that he researched and fussed over ahead of time.

There will be fireworks and sparklers to enjoy after sunset.

Anyone who's a close friend of Estella, Diego or Mina is welcome to stay the night and either go have a sleepover indoors, or camp outside. Everyone else should start heading home around 11:00 PM

SQUIRT GUN FIGHT:
- Squirt guns and water balloons are provided, or you may bring your own as long as it's not magically modified. There's also a hose that you can fight opposing teams for control of.
- No magic! This is a fair fight, pardner.
- The ranch has no lawn. It's just soft red dirt, almost like sand. Within about 15 minutes this is becoming 70% water fight, 30% mud fight. Don't wash off in the pool, though. That's rude. Wait for someone to hose you off, or beg a Morales-Tran for a shower.
- Teams may consist of up to 5 people. You can discuss them in the OOC section, but I'm not assigning loners to teams.
- Reply to this header with the relevant form to get an RNG score. Each individual participant gets a score, and the team score is the total of all players on that team.
- The team with the highest score wins a map leading to a "treasure" somewhere in Gooseberry, and a set of silver sheriff's badges. If you win, dropbox Diego or another character Meggie plays when your team goes to look for the treasure Y2.
- If a team of all seniors wins, they can pass it down to the younger student(s) of their choice.
- You have until MONDAY at 11:59 PM to get in your rolls, then I'm crowning a winning team!

» SQUIRT GUN FIGHT: Before the unforgiving desert sun goes down, there's a water gun fight to "help" your friends escape the heat! There are squirt guns and water balloons lying around, and control of the hose is hotly contested. Considering that the Morales Ranch has no lawn and just a lot of fine red dirt... I hope you're all prepared to get very muddy.

Name:
Known teammates: This can be added to later!
How hard are they trying?:
Anything else?: Anyone they're targeting, their play style, if they try to mud wrestle, etc.

Name: Known teammates: This can be added to later! How hard are they trying?: Anything else?: Anyone they're targeting, their play style, if they try to mud wrestle, etc.

» The pool: A modestly sized pool decorated with desert plants and slabs of red rock. There's a connected hot tub and waterfall. It's designed for lounging about and enjoying the expanse of empty desert behind the house.

» hanging out: Go get some food, lounge around, play in the mud without joining the fight, and just enjoy the party! The patio has plenty of comfy seating in the shade, and you're safe from the water fight here.

» fireworks: After sunset, there's a magical fireworks display that's coincidentally mostly blue and purple. Everyone's also given sparklers to play with.

» overnight: Diego, Essie and Mina's mothers return at around 11:00 PM. Close friends of their children can stay overnight and have a sleepover indoors or camp outside, but everyone else needs to go home. Aren't your parents worried about you?

» OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & CONCERNS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's unbearably hot out, but that's just another afternoon down here at the ranch. Estella de Ville takes a good look at the gang she's assembled and nods with satisfaction. Maybe it had taken a ghost miner and a crazy trip through the woods, but an alliance had been forged between former enemies. And hey, maybe she didn't wholly trust them not to double cross her later, but here they were: Jeffy James, Black Jack Kowalski, Bash Cassidy, and Calamity Jade.

No time for dilly-dallyin'. "Let's get a wiggle on and show these greenhorns who the meanest group of varmints 'round these parts are," Essie drawls in her remarkably terrible accent as she sends a couple quick squirts of water into the air and then blows on the tip of her water-gun for effect.

Edited (time for me to shove this in SOMEWHERE and um if more than 5 kiddos wanna roll with this gang that is COOL just no stacking scores past five :X also sorry you all have dumb names now) 2017-07-23 23:38 (UTC)

Calamity Jade tilts back her overly-large hat, hair hastily braided back and chin pointed at the mountains in the distance. She's usually a gun for hire, but today she's been bought by this alliance, just for today, by the power of friendship. Or Azurcrest, which is basically the same thing. "They'll think twice before they mess with the likes of us again. That's a promise."

(Her accent work needs help.)

Edited 2017-07-24 00:28 (UTC)

Squinting with the skill of Clint Eastwood, lollipop jutting out of his mouth like a cigarillo, Black Jack Kowalski regards his new posse with impassive fondness. This is a good crew - one with some staying power. He hopes it doesn't end like his last one. He tugs on the brim of his hat with one finger.

"Gonna run 'em into the hills," he agrees, speaking around the lollipop and sounding, mostly, more like he's from Atlanta than he normally does. Good effort.

Edited 2017-07-24 00:52 (UTC)

"Good, good. Now I'll let you in on a little secret," Essie says, leaning in conspiratorially. "I've been hearing rumors 'bout a map to a treasure. Something real good. Just gotta clear out the competition first."

Tugging on her belt, she squares her jaw and looks at the rest of her crew. "And don't none of you go gettin' any wild ideas. We're gonna go fivesies on this thing."

Edited 2017-07-24 01:32 (UTC)

Jeffy's mouth and eyes are perfect circles when Essie mentions a map to a treasure. Er, the, uh, hardened varmint Jeffy James' eyes are perfect circles. Hardened varmints can be super excited about treasure maps too, you guys.

"Why Miss de Ville, it's almost like you're sayin' you don't trust us," he says, the oversized cowboy hat he definitely bought at a Walmart in Texas while visiting his grandparents slipping down over his eyes. He's grinning. He's always grinning. "Always knew you was smart."

Edited 2017-07-24 01:39 (UTC)

"Can't make no promises, when there's treasure." That seems a little piratey in retrospect, but she commits to mixing genres and grins, impish. "But I'll get whoever needs to be got, meantime." Jade looks at the party at large, scrutinizing. "Who's our first victims?"

Strategy is important, even for cowboys, probably.

Bash feels like he can safely say that he ain't been running with Azurcrests long enough to front as anything other than a tender-footed city slicker. One accidental run in with some specters a month back isn't quite enough to make a fella feel secure in his position. Not when there's the ever-looming chance of a pistol to the back of the head for a smart mouth. He's always had a smart mouth problem.

(And, honestly, running with Azurcrests seems like the sort of thing your momma would warn you about in general.)

So he keeps his mouth firmly zipped, thank you kindly - just hooks his thumbs into his belt loops and waits for his instructions.

"I reckon this is a blood feud we're settlin'," Lucas pauses for dramatic effect, pointing his lollipop, not unaccusingly, at Essie. "Ain't it?"

He pops the candy back in his mouth and examines his squirt guy, musing, "Messy work. Treasure better be good."

"The bloodiest of feuds," Essie confirms with a crinkle of her nose. "Just can't seem to get rid of him no matter how hard I try. And you can bet he's got a crew of his own ridin' into town, so be on the look out. I hear they've got a couple'a giants with 'em."

She paces a moment before continuing, figuring this is when Micah would pop up and yell about needing to create tension.

"Now, we ain't the only ones who caught wind of this map, so don't trust nobody." She tips her hat and grins at their own giant. It was fair advice. "They'll be ridin' out from all parts with a treasure this good." Well, Essie's pretty sure anything Diego's calling treasure is going to involve booze because it's Diego, but that's not going to stop her. "Ready to ride?"

"Now you know I ain't never been afeared o' no giants." Jeffy is from New Jersey and somehow his use of Westernisms he's mostly only read in books just make him sound even more city. Every accent here is kind of a mess. Which is probably what makes it so fun.

Jeffy pulls his two squirt pistols from their holsters (the back pockets of his decidedly non-Western jeans, where they've been leaking water for the last five minutes) and holds them up on either side of his face, trying on his best Josey Wales scowl. It's not great. "That treasure'll be ours before you can even say fee-fi-fo-fum."

"Never met a giant I didn't wanna slay." Calamity Jade's voice gains a bloodthirsty drawl, which tries at threatening but gets lost when her Spanish-speaking accent threatens to come out instead. She slings her gun over her shoulder, eyes quickly training on the tallest opponent in sight. "Let's get us some treasure." She takes bold steps forward, to show that even if she'd been tied on some train tracks last adventure she was back and ready for blood.

Edited (No thanks random icon) 2017-07-24 16:10 (UTC)

Bash presses his gum against the backs of his teeth and blows, grins at the loud crackle of sound. He's riding this questionably strong and mostly silent train as long as he can manage to hitch himself to it. Probably ain't gonna be for too long - but a guy does what he can, yeah?

"Y'just point me in the right direction, Miss de Ville." He tips his head to the side, voice low - and if he slows the thick Brooklyn twang of it down a whole lot and loses track of a few more more g's than usual, it doesn't do horribly. "Whatever you're needin'."

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