gooseberryhigh | COTILLION

COTILLION

After two weeks of etiquette and dance lessons, the 2014 National Wizarding Cotillion is finally here! After lunch, participating students gather dress bags and overnight bags and head out to New York City. They'll be staying at the historic Exalted Enchanter Hotel, which today is filled with rich debutantes from schools all over the country. Headmistress Bloom assures her students that they are just as good (if not better) than these kids, and tells them to hurry and get ready. In the lobby, Jefferson Key accidentally ends up deep in conversation with a dragon dung fertilizer tycoon, who is so impressed that they end up offering Jeffy a summer job.

Gooseberry's musicians are admitted early so they can set up and already be playing when presentations begin. The ensemble's musical pièce de résistance is a solo performed by Iliya Krum during dinner, which is so beautifully played that the giant ballroom briefly goes silent as everyone listens. Afterwards, attendants are seen congratulating Mrs. Bloom on the talent of her students. Guess who just won the music program more funding.

HOW THIS WORKS

Students will leave campus right after lunch, and will arrive at the hotel in time to get dressed for the dance, and there will be a 3 hour window where they can sneak off to see the city if they want to. Presentations start at 4:00 PM, dinner is at 5:00 PM, the dance is at 6:00 PM.

Dress Code: One person in black, one in white (or pastel). Clothes must be modest, so keep that cleavage covered. Dresses should be floor length, but tea length is acceptable. Suits should have jackets and ties, and a vest ideally but they won't kick you out if you don't.

For presentations, the pair will enter the ballroom together and link arms, bow or curtsy, and then walk down the length of the dance floor so that all the attendees can see them. Beforehand, couples are lined up outside of the ballroom and each given a notecard upon which they must write their full name, their school, where they come from, and noteworthy accomplishments or goals. This will be read aloud* for both members of a pair when they enter the ballroom. (*Unless it is offensive, trying too hard to be funny, or a flagrant lie. Subtle lies might pass.)
- Please fill out the following form and post it HERE to find out your character's High Society Approval Rating. If you score a 75% or higher, one of these intimidating patriarchs or matriarchs is going to feel you out for marrying their grandchild one day. You're going places, kid.
 
 Full Name:
 Their Date:
 Location: Where do they hail from?
 Accomplishments: You can cite special positions, academic success, good deeds, charity work or any other awards they've received in or out of school.
 Goals: What high and lofty professional goals does your character have?
 Mannerisms: How does your character hold themselves? Do they float through the room, or slip up their curtsy? Is their hair a little frizzy?
 Connections & Pedigree: Is your character well connected and/or well bred by the standards of high society?
 Anything else?:
 
 Full Name: Their Date: Location: Where do they hail from? Accomplishments: You can cite special positions, academic success, good deeds, charity work or any other awards they've received in or out of school. Goals: What high and lofty professional goals does your character have? Mannerisms: How does your character hold themselves? Do they float through the room, or slip up their curtsy? Is their hair a little frizzy? Connections & Pedigree: Is your character well connected and/or well bred by the standards of high society? Anything else?:

After that, everyone sits down for dinner, a five-course meal. Dates sit together, and the rubbing elbows begins. Pairs will be mixed with pairs from other schools. There are plenty of rich, judgemental adults to size up your characters from this point on. Afterwards, a constantly stocked refreshments table will be available for anyone who wants more canapés.

The first dance is a formal waltz with your date, and after that, everything loosens up a bit. Socializing will take up the majority of the evening, and the upper crust students can expect this to be when the matchmaking goes into high gear. Students may slip out early at this point without fear of repercussions.

Please read HERE for consequences for skipping or misbehaving at Cotillion.

While parents may attend, any cameos from graduates must only be in logs posted separately to the comm, and siblings shouldn't really be in attendance. Parents have to pay their own way into the event, and will be expected to behave appropriately. Honestly, we would prefer not to have to deal with a "wacky parents scandalize high society" plot, because it would be a burden on the mods to wrangle it, and it steals time and attention away from other storylines.

Much to Mr. Merrill's chagrin, no one's checking IDs when they hand out glasses of champagne and wine. On the sly, Mr. Calderon-Boot just warns no one to overdo it.

Students will be staying overnight at the Exalted Enchanter, a wizarding hotel in the vein of The Plaza. Very old, very elegant, and with free WiFi in the rooms and lobby. While you can choose your roommates, it's strictly girls only or boys only. No mixed gender rooms. Cotillion didn't account for Gaysberry very well.

» before the event: You'll have a few hours to get ready. Do you need all that time, or do you want to try sneaking into the city for a bit?

» presentations: Two by two, the wizard debutantes of the 2014 season are presented. Please complete the presentation form and post it here for a High Society Approval Rating.

» the dance: The debutantes will need to complete one highly choreographed group waltz before they're allowed to loosen up. But after that, it's unlimited access to the refreshments table!

» new york city: For any scenes taking place in the city, outside of the cotillion.

» the hotel: For any scenes taking place in the hotel, outside of the cotillion.

» OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & CONCERNS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yancey does not have a smart phone and his knowledge of the Internet is passing, at best. So he's kind of enthralled by Ennis' fancy gadget and he gawks at it while New York blows by.

They'd been good boys. Smiled and danced and schmoozed and ate a five course dinner. And, thank god, that was all over. And, now, with the Sims 4 still patching in their hotel room, the time has come to have an Adventure. Yancey pulls a napkin out of his pocket, gently unfolds it, and pops a bacon-wrapped water chestnut in his mouth. "You know, I love hoity-toity food," he says, chewing. "So the Internet is showing you exactly where we need to go, right?"

Ennis's smartphone makes him feel like a wizard among wizards. He adds flourish to his thumb flicks and swipes at the screen unnecessarily when he knows Yancey is watching.

The Cotillion wasn't as bad as he was anticipating. Fairly, he had no family members to impress and he wasn't an ideal match for anyone's daughter. People seemed far more interested in Yancey than him and for the most part, he was left alone to sip wine and covertly browse his phone when he thought nobody was looking.

"Mmn," he hums, pulling up a map of themed pubs nearby. "Oooh, there's a Marie Antoinette themed bar. Do you want to go there?" With more unnecessary flourish, he twirls his finger and then clicks the page to pull up photos of the interior for Yancey to see. "We can take the bus? It'll only be a minute."

Edited 2017-11-13 03:51 (UTC)

"Ennis," Yancey places a hand on his friend's shoulder, as though stunned, watching with wide-eyed glee as Ennis flips through pictures on his tiny muggle-magic device. "A baroque bar is even more opulent than a wizard Cotillion, you know?"

He stuffs his pilfered snacks back into his pocket, snickering. "We should go for sure. Just, keep escalating the fanciness of the night." He points at Ennis' phone, after a moment. "Want to see if anyone else wants to come with?"

"It looks fancy," he comments lightly, looking to Yancey. His smile widens in anticipation of what he's about to say next. "Hopefully we won't be too..." He giddily rocks onto the balls of his feet to deliver this sick pun: "-- baroque by the end of the night."

Ennis laughs at his own joke, which seems even funnier after he's downed few glasses of wine. Too good, too good.

Once the moment has passed, he warmly agrees with Yancey's suggestion and adds a new warded entry to his journal with thehot deets before snapping it shut and tucking it into his inner suit pocket.

"There! They have the address if they want to come? We should go reserve a table?" He begins walking toward the bus stop, eagerly waving for Yancey to follow him.

Edited 2017-11-13 22:12 (UTC)

Chloe feels awkward getting in a taxi in something that looks near enough to a wedding dress, but not nearly as awkward as staying at the party. Having been assured that she was there long enough, she'd made her Appearance, she bolted to hang out with the other big fishes. When she arrives, she sort of loiters near the door, not totally positive this is the place, and hoping that someone she knows will come along so they can walk in together.

Edited (I don't know what I did to the chronology here I'm sorry) 2017-11-14 02:31 (UTC)

Having returned inside long enough to find Chloe (and watch Rosy totter off to... somewhere...), Kurt still felt a little like a fish out of water—or a Ribbonfin out of Gooseberry—as he agreed to go... bar hopping? Well, whatever he wanted to do, he knew it wasn't in the ballroom. It might even be far from the ballroom.

"I, um, I–" He tries to smooth his hair. Tries. "S-should we– W-w-what if we get...?"

This is about to become the most illegal thing Kurt has ever done.

"I'm sure Ennis and Yancey are already inside?" she offers, not sounding very confident. "And my ID worked fine last year at the Gala. It should be okay now." She linked her arm in his. "We're all dressed up, we look very adult."

"We could come up with characters to play? It could be kind of like LARP," she offers.

COTILLION

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York

Yennis (& Other Big Fish) LARP Drink In New York