TREE DECORATING PARTY

[goosemods]

TREE DECORATING PARTY

At 6 PM, the whole school gathers in the huge, maze-like Gardens for the party. The winding paths are swept free of snow, and the leafless trees and hedges are 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 Noel Finnigan-Thomas performs a stunning solo of "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

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 tall 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. (OOC: The winning house will also be awarded 2 points for every participating member, to be counted in the House Points Tally at the end of the month.)

TREE DECORATING RULES

• 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.)


• In particular, any fires will result in automatic detention, after the ruinous Tree Decorating Party of 2013.


• 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.


• 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...


• 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.


• Magical ladders are provided to help people reach the topmost branches of the trees. Safety charms make it unlikely for ladders to topple, but even so, all students should exercise caution!


• The event is not mandatory, but if you want an excuse for your character to take part, you can say their Head of House urged them to join.

HOW IS THE WINNER CALCULATED?

• Post the form to your character's house tree. They have the choice of helping their house, or sabotaging another house.
  • Helping your house includes decorating the tree, running into the Gardens to retrieve boxes of ornaments, or defending your tree from saboteurs.
  • Sabotaging another house includes stealing ornaments or boxes, adding inappropriate ornaments to another house's tree, or obstructing another house in some way.
  <b>Name:</b> <b>Are they HELPING their house, or SABOTAGING another house?:</b> <b>If they are sabotaging, which house are they targeting?:</b> You can pick only one house. <b>How are they participating?:</b> Describe what your character is doing in the Tree Decorating Party. <b>Anything else?:</b>


• Mods will RNG a score between 1–50 for each character. If you are helping, the number will be added to your house's score. If you are sabotaging, the number will be subtracted from one house of your choosing unless their score is already in the negatives, in which case it will be subtracted from your own house. Be careful! (You will not be penalized if your turn is the one that sends a house into the negatives.)


• All houses start with a base tree score of 50.


• You have until Tuesday, 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
165	136	148	106

Comments

Spencer & Open

[bitterlysweet]

Spencer sits on a bench and begins to pick glitter snowflakes and confetti out if his hair. Coppertale's getting a sound holiday beating, and Spencer's best efforts to undermine their neighbors have mostly resulted in him looking like he got into a fight in a craft store. His leather jacket trails a ragged cape of tinsel. It's a mess.

"Well, shit," he sighs aloud when he hears someone coming up behind him. "Don't worry, boss, my sabotaging days are over."

Spencer & Noel

[noelnoel]

"There's still time to work your way off the Naughty List," he teases as he approaches. Noel has a box of ornaments tucked under one arm and his Shiba sweater is pelted with snow from his retrieval mission in the garden. He's not too fond of the overly-competitive and destructive nature of this event, especially for Christmas, but he's being a good sport about it.

Noel plucks a tinsel garland off Spencer's back, trying his best to help unravel him. "Got a little something on you there. You get attacked by Santa's elves?"

Spencer & Noel

[bitterlysweet]

Spencer wrinkles his nose. "Put my mission before my own safety," he explains and shakes out his hair, shedding confetti. "There was an incident with some freshman and a box of tinsel that didn't go so hot for me. But hey, none of it ended up on the tree." That he seems proud about, at the very least, and demonstrates as much by throwing a handful of it around his shoulders like a scarf. It mostly serves to tangle him up more, but he wears it with confidence.

"Naughty list is where I belong anyway," he concedes pleasantly. "A good boy like you oughta steer clear."

Spencer & Noel

[noelnoel]

"War is hell," he states gruffly in an American accent. As soon as Spencer flips the tinsel over his shoulder, Noel loses his progress and gives up on trying to unravel it. Spencer seems pleased with it so he'll leave it be.

"A good boy like me isn't worried about a good boy like you," he tells him, reaching out to ruffle his festive-looking hair affectionately. "Here--" Noel pulls the box of ornaments out from beneath his arm and offers it to Spencer. "The forces will retaliate soon. You'll need this more than I do."

Spencer & Noel

[bitterlysweet]

Spencer laughs and weakly pantomimes shooing Noel's help away, but with no intention of actually stopping him. His hair's a wreck and he can't bring himself to care that much anymore. And suddenly, there's a box in his lap with twinkling ornaments. He smiles, lopsided.

"Thanks. Some of my housemates will really appreciate it. I mean, I do too," he adds. "But I ain't that good. Whole lot of ways to be bad without being mean."

Spencer & Noel

[noelnoel]

Noel tuts at the claim that Spencer ain't that good and shakes his head at the boy. His fingers find their way back to his hair and he picks through it like a monkey, pulling out the smaller pieces of confetti. Noel has very little concept of what's appropriate personal space.

"I know bad and you're not that," he says, blowing a glitter snowflake off the tip of his finger. "Naughty List material, definitely, but you're still a good boy." At least, that's what Noel believes but he could say the same of Ari or Calvin without a hint of irony.

Suddenly, his hands fall to the other boy's shoulders and he grips them as he looks down with wide-eyed terror. "Unless..." he whispers, voice trembling in what he hopes sounds more like fear and not barely restrained laughter, "You're the Lake Gooseberry Killer."