gooseberryhigh | PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

Working in collaboration, the Event Committee and the Crafting Club have arranged for an event this evening! After classes are over for the day, the atrium is cleared so the groups can do some setting up and it seems like there's a lot going on in there. Just what are these kids up to??? When the other students return, there are some drastic changes...

The atrium is now decorated for the season with artificial spiderwebs and floating black candles and other dark touches. In the center of the room, there now stands a large, gnarled, leafless tree crafted from paper mache and magic! It's quite spooky and atmospheric and, upon closer inspection, becomes even spookier because the contours of the bark suggest three strange faces and the branches will bend and creak and occasionally reach for a passerby, especially those on the second floor. When Susana Velasquez tries glibly talking to one of the faces, it responds in a deep, rasping voice like autumn leaves. Madison Ives, unprepared for this revelation, shrieks! But after it becomes clear that this was done by design, other students discover that the tree has stories and costume ideas and even little treats (or tricks!) to share. If one is brave enough to reach up and into the tree's small knothole, that is! Pumpkins are scattered around the base of the tree and the reason for that is readily apparent!

Around the tree, forming a loose daimond, there are four large tables dramatically draped in the colors of the four houses. On each, there's an assortment of pumpkin carving tools, sample patterns, and simple instructions which cover both safety tips and basic techniques. That's right: the Pumpkin Carving Contest is back! This year, though, students will be competing by house and year, so find your team and get to work! [Volunteer C] wants to do one spectacular pumpkin rather than a set of coordinated pumpkins or one normal-sized pumpkin with their teammates and uses Engorgio to make one of the pumpkins appropriately grandiose! Unfortunately...poor aim leads them to enlarge one of [Volunteer D]'s belongings on the first attempt instead. Oops? Hopefully [Volunteer C] knows the reverse spell too.

While the students work, they'll also have plenty of time to socialize, play, eat (cider and pumpkin spice cupcakes, along with vegan alternatives, are supplied), and get into the spirit!

HOW THIS WORKS: PUMPKIN CARVING!

The rules of the contest are:

All entries this year are on a team basis. Teams are divided by house and year. Teams may carve up to ten pumpkins.
Individuals within a team may carve whatever they like; however, points are being rewarded for a cohesive team presentation.
It is not required for everyone to carve a pumpkin, but they should be clearly participating in some other way to earn points for their team.
Teams will be given until 9:00PM to finish their creations and then it's time to clean up and vote!
Teams may not use magic for anything except lighting their pumpkins.
Mr. Hightower is supervising and reserves the right to tell teams if anything they're doing is too dangerous.
Gentle Ribbonfin-style trashtalk is allowed, but no sabotage!

The winning team will be determined by a combination of IC participation, RNG, and voting:

Teams that plan ICly will receive bonus points. Since this event is happening late in the day ICly and I am enjoying reading these conversations, these points will continue to be up for grabs through the end of today, Tuesday October 17. :)
Characters may comment on entries they are particularly fond of to vote for them and earn that team some bonus points.
A winner will be determined by 10:00PM EST on Wednesday October 18.
The winning team's entry will be displayed in the atrium alongside the Halloween Tree throughout the rest of the month.

HOW THIS WORKS: HALLOWEEN TREE!

By talking to the faces on the Halloween tree, characters can:

Trick-or-Treat! Say trick-or-treat to one fo the faces and the tree will give the character a treat (a piece of candy, a small toy, or some other pleasant trinket) or a trick! To get their prize, the character must reach into the tree's knothole. Only the tallest characters would be able to look into the knothole; most will just have to put their hand in and see what's there!
Character Name: Character Name Approach: Are you feeling lucky (punk)? How does your character approach the tree? Are they hoping for a trick or a treat? How do they reach into the knothole (or will they force someone else to do it for them)? Anything else?: Anything else!

Ask for Advice!: ...but only about costumes. A character that asks who they should be on Halloween will receive a recommendation from the tree. Don't expect it to be perfect, though. It is just a tree. The tree will not force the character to follow through on this recommendation, but a bet with another peer might!
Character Name: Character Name Approach: Taking advice from a tree, huh? Well okay! Does your character have any input before leaving this important decision in the barky hands of fate? Anything else?: Anything else!

Ask for a Story! One of the faces is a bit chatty and it's charmed to tell ~spooky stories~. But only after dark. So gather around, students of Gooseberry, and have a listen! Some of these stories are from Gooseberry's amateur authors (including Zachary Zheng and any members of the Event Committee or Crafting Club that would've contributed) as well as popular campfire tales and short stories. Feel free to take the lead and have the tree tell a spooky story for the characters to react to!

While the pumpkin carving contest will only be going on for one night, the Halloween tree will be up from now until the Halloween dance! Feel free to reference it as needed and desired for treats, tricks, and other shenanigans!

» Pumpkin Carving: Where characters can find their teams and get carving! That's what they're here for, isn't it?

» Halloween Tree: Characters can take a break from carving pumpkins to get tricks or treats or chat with a charmed tree!

» During the Party: Any other character interactions that take place during the event can go here!

» After the Party: Any characters hanging around after the event or walking back to camp together or the like? Put it here!

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Character Name: Ursula de Luca
Year & House: Big Fish
Did thier team plan ahead?: Oh boy did they.
What is their contribution?: Ursula is going to leave the execution of this particular hellscape to the creative visionaries, but she's definitely doing her part by prepping as many pumpkins as she can and trying really hard not to wrinkle up her nose every time her hand touches pumpkin guts.
How hard are they trying?: Look, she could be making a way more disgusted face if she wasn't trying this hard.
Anything else?: If ten cat butts win this, she is going to lose her mind.

Character Name: Ennis Harper
Year & House: Big Fish
Did their team plan ahead?: God, yes.
What is their contribution?: The VISIONARY!! Ennis lightly sketches the scene of a war-torn Hellscape across three pumpkins. Ferdie, Kurt, Rosy, and Ursula are represented as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the first pumpkin as they overlook the gruesome scene atop a hill. Bodies are strewn across the ground and fighters pouring in from three sides clash in battle. On the third pumpkin, a fearsome serpent that looks similar to Goosey rises out of a body of water alongside a warship bearing the symbol of a trout on its sail.

He takes one pumpkin for himself to help start carving, but he'll rely on Yancey to carve out and scrape the more intricate details since the other boy has more experience.
How hard are they trying?: Very hard!! He wants to win!!
Anything else?: Ennis sits in pumpkin guts and is too FOCUSED to notice.

Edited (peer pressure) 2017-10-17 23:44 (UTC)

Character Name: Rosy Stoker
Year & House: Big Fish
Did thier team plan ahead?: They even practiced.
What is their contribution?: Rosy has dubbed herself project manager, and she's doing everything she can to keep things moving efficiently. Hey you, grab that pumpkin (no, not that lumpy one, THAT one, get it before that stupid freshman gets it DON'T MAKE HER FIGHT A BABY BEAR FOR IT), you start disemboweling, you two start the artistic process. Chop chop! Their legacy is at stake!! She's also the flow chart expert and chief nitpicker, and as the artists are working, she's here to make sure all the details are spot on and that it reads as a scene, with a story. We should probably make the progression of the apocalypse clearer, should Death have a scythe or is that too on the nose, there's no such thing as too much blood, slap some more on there.
How hard are they trying?: Rosy practices her nitpicking and extra as fuck project managing every day of her life, and this is dialed up to fucking 11.
Anything else?: You probably shouldn't let Rosy decide how much blood to put on there, but are you going to tell her no?

Ennis is too afraid to tell her no. HOW MUCH BLOOD, ROSY??? SHOULD THEY CUT THE HOLE TO THE PUMPKIN FROM THE BOTTOM AND HAVE IT OOZE OUT???

Do it on the middle one so it creates a big but manageable puddle. Let's not hurt anyone with our excessive blood!

Good thinking, or Ennis might sit in that too.

Character Name: Yancey Montgomery
Year & House: Big Fish
Did their team plan ahead?: SO much planning.
What is their contribution?: Yancey's got an x-acto knife and he is going to town carving and scraping fine details into the Four Horsemen pumpkins.
How hard are they trying?: Yancey is SUPER FOCUSED. They're going to WIN this through the power of METICULOUS PLANNING and FLOW CHARTS!
Anything else?: Yancey is just...an absolute mess after.

Taking a break from his own work to get some cider, Lachlan can't help but gape at the elaborate pumpkins the Ribbonfins are carving. With Ennis and Yancey and Chloe in the same group, he supposes he shouldn't be surprised but....still! And also, Yancey, you're covered in pumpkin guts. How did you even do that? He makes a face and shakes his head but smiles just the same.

If he gets caught looking at the group's work, he'll tell them how impressive it is and maybe offer Yancey a wet nap.

The wet nap has about the same effectiveness as writing "WASH ME" into the windshield of a filthy car, but the gesture is appreciated. And, hey, at least Yancey's face isn't caked in orange gore anymore. The mystery of how he managed it in the first place still stands. Regardless, thumbs up, Lachlan!

Character Name: Cole Moss
Year & House: Junior Ribbonfin
Did their team plan ahead?: Nope
What is their contribution?: Between Crafting Club and coordinating the creation of the Halloween tree, Cole is a little burned out on taking the lead and since nobody in his group reached out to him to plan, he arrives ready to do his own thing and get lost in it. Which he does. He handles picking out his pumpkin, cleaning it out, and all of the carving work. Having read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow this week in preparation for making the tree, his pumpkin is an obvious reference to that and it turns out predictably well.
How hard are they trying?: Cole is putting his all into his work and clearly enjoying himself. But, just like last year, he'd rather do it the way he wants to than do it fast and he doesn't finish on time. Whoops? He is a worthless team member.
Anything else?: Cole's happy as a clam today, guys~

Character Name: Chloe Shepherd
Year & House: Senior Ribbonfin
Did their team plan ahead?: Yes
What is their contribution?: Chloe is very artistic, and she's very into this activity! However, she will also cave to the stronger personalities in her house, so tell her what to do. They'll need to, or she'll go way over her allotted time on the little details.
How hard are they trying?: She's not super competitive, but she is artistic!

Character Name: Grace Sowerberry
Year & House: Sophomore Ribbonfin
Did their team plan ahead?: Nope! Though she and Rupert did come with something in mind after talking over lunch.
What is their contribution?: Grace does not want to clean out this pumpkin. Please don't make her. Apart from that, she's willing to draw the design on and do her best to carve (even though she's a wimp and it's hard). She also brought along some props for their very dapper pumpkin-man, including a bow tie, a top hat, and two stick arms. This fellow is ready for a night at the theatre!
How hard are they trying?: Moderately. Grace finds this a little silly but it's fun too. So maybe that's okay. For tonight.
Anything else?: She wants to bring him home. :(

Edited 2017-10-18 03:34 (UTC)

PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

RIBBONFIN

BIG FISH (Ursula)

BIG FISH (Ennis)

BIG FISH/Rosy

Re: BIG FISH/Rosy

BIG FISH/Rosy

Re: BIG FISH/Rosy

BIG FISH (Yancey)

Re: BIG FISH (Yancey)

Re: BIG FISH (Yancey)

Junior Fish / Cole

BIG FISH (Chloe)

Little Fish / Grace