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gooseberryhigh2017-12-17 09:45 am
goosemods) wrote in gooseberryhigh2017-12-17 09:45 am
Entry tags:
- ! ic/ooc,
- ariadne flint,
- austin mcnamara,
- cameron carney,
- chloe shepherd,
- dinah dixon,
- estella morales-tran,
- fern mufferaw,
- hieronymus lee,
- iliya krum,
- jefferson key,
- lilika ignacz,
- london holloway,
- micah st. clair,
- riley stamper,
- rosemary stoker,
- ruby oberholtzer,
- sylvester stoker,
- todd skynner,
- ursula de luca,
- webster knox
WINTER MASQUERADE
WINTER MASQUERADE
The privacy curtains are erected in the Atrium as soon as lunch ends, and it's all hands on deck as Event Committee get ready to transform the Atrium. Students having dinner are given only 30 minutes before they're ushered out past the privacy curtains again, so the cafeteria can be claimed for a "special surprise." At 7 PM sharp, the Atrium opens, and the Anonymity Charm activates.
House-elves will take cloaks and coats when students arrive, and usher them past festive red curtains into a light-filled carnival. Yards of colourful fabric drape out from the center of the ceiling and fall all the way down to the floor, creating the illusion of a circus big top. Blinking holiday lights cover the walls, twisted into familiar designs: candy canes, evergreens, dreidels, green and red candles, etc. At different corners stand four tall trees decorated in honour of the four houses: one in plum and gold with fuzzy bear decorations, one in olive and copper with glass trout, one in azure and white with feathery jays, and one in orange and black with felt foxes. A mystery gift exchange is taking place by the trees, so come claim your present!
The dance floor is outlined with twinkling lights that magically strobe along with the music. Cheer captain Madison Ives has organized a dance spectacle opener with the help of the other cheer captains, and student band The Heretics are set to perform tonight!
The refreshments tables lining one wall features fair foods such as bagged popcorn (mixed with green and red M&M's), hot pretzels, candy apples, funnel cakes, corn dogs, french fries, cotton candy, and endless varieties of fizzy soda. (A few special treats have been set aside for vegan students. Prospero recommends the falafel on a stick.) Communal tables and chairs have been adorned with red-and-white-striped fabric, to give them a candy cane circus feel.
Step through the doors into the cafeteria and you'll discover a stage has been set up with anonymous karaoke. Have you been too afraid to sing in front of your classmates? Now, if you perform badly, no one will know who you are, so get up there! This room is also popular for the carousel-themed photo op, where you and a masked stranger can pose in front of seasonally appropriate mounts in the shape of a reindeer, a polar bear, a two-seat swan with holly and red ribbon around its neck, and a plastic Santa Claus inviting you to sit in his lap. Only once you've stepped up to the carousel mounts will you see the sprig of mistletoe hanging overhead. Event Committee volunteer photographers will take your picture, to be publicly posted later so you can guess who was posing with you!
If you want a quiet moment, then the balcony is the place to go. The decorations out here are just as bright and glittery, but the little benches have comfortable red and green cushions, and there's bluebell flame lamps providing warmth and light on this chilly December night. From here, you can see the sleigh rides running just outside the lodge, within the sphere of the Anonymity Charm. These romantic magical sleighs seat up to three, and circle the lodge on a set track that takes you past trees also decorated with brilliant lights.
Staff is present and also wearing masks, but they aren't using the Anonymity Charm, to make it easier for students to get help if there's any trouble. Anyone who's using anonymity to harass others will be given only one (1) warning before they're ejected from the dance. The same applies to a handful of MACUSA agents, in identical black masks and black robes, but they appear more interested in patrolling the dance than talking to anyone.
Just before midnight, Mr. Oakes presents an awe-inspiring fireworks show right above the lake. You can walk outside for the full view, but the backdrops will be taken down so you also watch from the tall windows of the Atrium. The last fireworks light up the sky at the stroke of midnight, when the Anonymity Charm ends.
» Setting Up
» Before the Dance
» Beginning of the Dance
» Refreshments
» Mystery Gift Exchange
» Anonymous Karaoke
» Carousel Photos
» Balcony
» Sleigh Rides
» End of the Night
» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
House-elves will take cloaks and coats when students arrive, and usher them past festive red curtains into a light-filled carnival. Yards of colourful fabric drape out from the center of the ceiling and fall all the way down to the floor, creating the illusion of a circus big top. Blinking holiday lights cover the walls, twisted into familiar designs: candy canes, evergreens, dreidels, green and red candles, etc. At different corners stand four tall trees decorated in honour of the four houses: one in plum and gold with fuzzy bear decorations, one in olive and copper with glass trout, one in azure and white with feathery jays, and one in orange and black with felt foxes. A mystery gift exchange is taking place by the trees, so come claim your present!
The dance floor is outlined with twinkling lights that magically strobe along with the music. Cheer captain Madison Ives has organized a dance spectacle opener with the help of the other cheer captains, and student band The Heretics are set to perform tonight!
The refreshments tables lining one wall features fair foods such as bagged popcorn (mixed with green and red M&M's), hot pretzels, candy apples, funnel cakes, corn dogs, french fries, cotton candy, and endless varieties of fizzy soda. (A few special treats have been set aside for vegan students. Prospero recommends the falafel on a stick.) Communal tables and chairs have been adorned with red-and-white-striped fabric, to give them a candy cane circus feel.
Step through the doors into the cafeteria and you'll discover a stage has been set up with anonymous karaoke. Have you been too afraid to sing in front of your classmates? Now, if you perform badly, no one will know who you are, so get up there! This room is also popular for the carousel-themed photo op, where you and a masked stranger can pose in front of seasonally appropriate mounts in the shape of a reindeer, a polar bear, a two-seat swan with holly and red ribbon around its neck, and a plastic Santa Claus inviting you to sit in his lap. Only once you've stepped up to the carousel mounts will you see the sprig of mistletoe hanging overhead. Event Committee volunteer photographers will take your picture, to be publicly posted later so you can guess who was posing with you!
If you want a quiet moment, then the balcony is the place to go. The decorations out here are just as bright and glittery, but the little benches have comfortable red and green cushions, and there's bluebell flame lamps providing warmth and light on this chilly December night. From here, you can see the sleigh rides running just outside the lodge, within the sphere of the Anonymity Charm. These romantic magical sleighs seat up to three, and circle the lodge on a set track that takes you past trees also decorated with brilliant lights.
Staff is present and also wearing masks, but they aren't using the Anonymity Charm, to make it easier for students to get help if there's any trouble. Anyone who's using anonymity to harass others will be given only one (1) warning before they're ejected from the dance. The same applies to a handful of MACUSA agents, in identical black masks and black robes, but they appear more interested in patrolling the dance than talking to anyone.
Just before midnight, Mr. Oakes presents an awe-inspiring fireworks show right above the lake. You can walk outside for the full view, but the backdrops will be taken down so you also watch from the tall windows of the Atrium. The last fireworks light up the sky at the stroke of midnight, when the Anonymity Charm ends.
CLICK HERE FOR ANONYMITY CHARM RULES
- Decorating the Atrium begins around 3:15 PM, and the cafeteria is cleared at 6:30 PM.
- Cocktail dress code. That's party dresses and suits, but you won't be dinged for getting too fancy or dressing slightly more casually. No jeans or t-shirts, though!
- The dance starts at 7:00 PM, and runs until around 12:00 AM. These are also the hours of the Anonymity Charm: the charm activates just as the clock strikes 7:00 PM, and only within the confines of the lodge and the immediate surrounding area, and permanently deactivates at midnight. If students don't have a charmed mask of their own, a simple domino will be issued to them at the door.
- Anyone wearing a charmed mask becomes unrecognizable to those looking at them. You might have known a person by their voice, height, hair, skin, or lips, but now suddenly... you aren't certain. This could be anyone.
- This effectively means that you can't guess the identity of an individual by their physical traits. However, you might recognize them either from their speech patterns, or something they tell you. Also, the charm also doesn't affect your sense of touch, smell or taste. (But please don't lick anyone to figure out their identity.)
- It's easier to recognize people by their masks, but if you want your character to struggle with this as well, you may. (The same applies to clothing.) This means you might be at risk of losing track of your date if you come as a couple. This is up to individual players.
- Mr. Calderon-Boot has the power to take the charm away, though, so if you act in a truly horrendous manner or break a rule, you could still get caught. Not to mention that a lot of people will remember if the guy in the blue domino mask was being a total dick all night, and someone might later see it amongst your possessions.
- If you leave the dance, the charm deactivates until you return. If you remove your mask, the charm deactivates, but will reactivate once you put your mask back on. The effective area of the charm is the lodge and the area immediately surrounding the lodge, enough to cover the sleigh rides.
Gwen and Webster
"We have to start somewhere, right?" she offered, with a warm smile. The dance had just started but Gwen wished they didn't have the masks, so she could see his expression, or hear the inflection in his words. She had to go with just his words. "I feel like what I could come up with would be things anyone could know. I like bees," she teased, touching her mask a bit self-consciously. "I'm in Equestrian Club. Maybe...could you ask me? I'm curious what you would like to know. That could tell me about you too."
Gwen and Webster
"I do know that you like bees. And that you have a bunch of honey candy you're always looking to give away," he teases her lightly. "And I do know you're in Equestrian Club. And that your family has horses." He's formulating his question. "Alright, what's something you really like that the rest of your family doesn't like. No bees. No horses. Something that's uniquely you in your family."
Gwen and Webster
"Don't laugh," she warned, "because it seems so...ridiculously rustic of me, but I like carving little things out of wood. My dad, he's into artificing, and he just doesn't get it because it's not moving parts, not useful. But when I can't concentrate on what I am working with in Artificing class, or it's just not coming together like it should....it helps me focus, or relax. I tend to just leave the pieces around." It's a good thing that he can't see her face, Gwen reflected, because her skin felt hot with a blush. Why couldn't she have made something elegant or interesting up? "Alright, is it cheating if I ask you the same question?" she said, hurriedly, before she could go any further about her silly interest.
Gwen and Webster
He liked her answer and what it said about her, which makes coming up with his even more difficult. What should he say about himself? Webster's not entirely sure what Gwen knows about him or his family. "I like to do a lot of little no-maj projects, which I got from my dad. I love to travel and learn about different cultures, which comes from my mom" Webster scrunches his face in thought. "I'm really into music," he offers up. "Playing it. Listening to it. Writing it. That's different than the rest of my family. But that's kind of my thing here. That and that I'm Lilika's best friend. So, probably something you already knew. Actually..." he trails off.
"Okay, I know my answer," he says, wishing she'd asked a new question. "I recently started writing poetry." He doesn't want for a reaction before adding, "But I'm not sharing any of it. So, don't bother asking." He runs a hand through his hair, a nervous tick that rarely surfaced. "I wasn't the most... social... at Beauxbatons. So I got into reading a lot of Pablo Neruda. Which got me into writing Spanish poetry. It's not good, but something about writing in a new form, in a different language, it's helped me get out of my head some." He unconsciously runs his hand through his hair again.
Gwen and Webster
She was surprised anew to find that she didn't know much about him, either. They had at least a few classes together, and Gwen had prided herself of being friendly with everyone, so how had she missed so much? She guessed his father was a no-maj, although he could just be a wizard into no-maj things, and she was curious about where his mother came from if she instilled the love of travel in him. All of what he spoke about only made her want to ask more questions, crowding at the tip of her tongue.
At first, she didn't notice the nervous gesture, even as her face lit up at the revelation of what he liked. "Pablo Neruda? I have his book, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, although whenever I mention it to people who know who he is, I get the whole 'it's better in Spanish' and I can't read Spanish." She grinned, sheepish, before she realized the movement of his hand conveyed anxiety. "That's just like me and my carvings," she tried, to ease some of his nervousness, reaching out to rest her hand on his arm. "I can get stuck worrying about so much, and feel like I can't do anything right. Working with my hands like that, I can step back from what is weighing on me and just...enjoy what I am doing."
His simple words, not the most social, spoke of a lot unsaid. "Have you ever read W.S. Merwin?" she asked, to draw him out. She wouldn't press to see his work; his statement about that was clear. But she could share a little of what she liked. "He's my favorite. He was the poet laureate here in America only a few years ago. And I've met him. He's the sweetest person."
Gwen and Webster
"I've not read any Merwin," Webster admits. "I've been out of the country the last few years. You'll have to tell me where to start." He's excited about the prospect of reading new poetry, especially some that comes so highly recommended. There's a very specific feeling associated with thinking you'll get along with someone and then finding out you actually do. Like seeing a puzzle piece on the table, picking it off the table, and correctly placing it back down? Webster's not sure, but that's as good of a description as he can come up with right now.
"Alright," Webster says, building off the momentum of the moment, "I feel like it's now acceptable for us to dance." He takes Gwen by hand and with the other gestures towards the floor, are you interested? But before either of them can take a step, Webster turns back to her, suddenly serious. "Oh, there's something you should know..."
"...Neruda is sooo much better in Spanish."
He fights off a smile and gestures back to the dance floor.
Gwen and Webster
"I'd love to dance," she answered, glancing back to him with a cheeky smile. "If it's acceptable, that is. Can't be dancing with some stranger that I don't know."
Re: Gwen and Webster
It’ll have to wait until later, though. He gives Gwen’s hand a squeeze and moves towards the floor, excited to dance with his date.
“I’m glad we decided to go together! At the very least to cross it off our Gooseberry bucket list,” he calls in her direction, unsure if his words reach her ears amid the noise, but happy nevertheless to be with her among the crowd of dancers.
Gwen and Webster
"I'm glad, too!" she called back, pitching her voice a little differently to carry through the noise. "What made you want to ask me, though? I couldn't figure that out."
Gwen and Webster
But instead all that comes out when Webster opens his mouth is: "You couldn't figure it out??"
Webster throws the question back at her, trying to make it sound ridiculous. "Um, you're sweet and thoughtful and beautiful. Also, you're apparently one hell of a dancer! Do you like fishing for compliments? Because I can keep going." He gives her a big, genuine smile.
He just couldn't risk this moment. This really nice, very good, wonderful moment.
Gwen and Webster
"But thanks," she added, her smile sheepish underneath the edge of the mask. "I guess I can't believe we never really talked before! You should have come to Gooseberry sooner." On the heels of that thought, she asked, "Do you miss it? Beauxbatons? I hear so many nice things about it."
Gwen and Webster
"But it wasn't right for me."
He spins her back to his body and dips her playfully before breaking back apart. "I mean, I fit in there, but I couldn't really let loose. Or, I couldn't let myself let loose. Gooseberry seems better for that." He laughs at himself, "I mean, you would know better than me. Do you feel like you can be you? Have you found your people here?"
He looks at her and wishes they were done with the masks. "And, it's my fault we didn't talk before. I'll try to be better about it next semester," he says and means it.
Gwen and Webster
"I think I have found my people here." It was said a bit softly for the music around them, but she was close enough that she knew he could hear her. "I think I would be me no matter where I went, but here, it's not difficult to be me. The students in Ribbonfin...I trust them so much. They are like family." She'd said as much to all of them before, so this was no revelation. Gwen loved all of them. "My first year here, though....it was really hard. I felt like I didn't belong." Enough time had passed since then that the sting was gone, but she recalled how lost she felt. "And I struggled a lot. I'm glad that's all behind me."
She had to smile at the promise. "Isn't it on me, since I'm the oldtimer here and you're new? I should have been more involved."
Gwen and Webster
"I don't like imagining your first year being hard," he says softer. "It's difficult to imagine, too," he adds. He pauses for a moment. "As hard as it is, I'm learning to appreciate those tough times. Because if I haven't experienced lows, how could I appreciate the highs?" He's speaking generally, but the line could certainly apply to this moment.
It's a
verysilly, cliche thought nevertheless and Webster feels a bit self-conscious. Luckily just then an up-tempo number comes on."Oo! This is one of my favorites!" They separate and Webster breaks out his go-to moves and encourages Gwen to go wild, too.
Gwen and Webster
It would have been simple to protest it's easy now for me to imagine but that was too serious for a first dance, a fun night out. So she forgot about the past, and just enjoyed dancing with him. Turns out, a Ribbonfin could do wild pretty damn well.