goosemods: (Outside - Lake.)
Gooseberry Mods ([personal profile] goosemods) wrote in [community profile] gooseberryhigh2017-12-17 09:45 am

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.

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.

» 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!
lachlangalbraith: (:| 07)

Addy & Lachlan

[personal profile] lachlangalbraith 2017-12-19 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
When Lachlan sees Addy waving at him, recognizing her by her dress and her mask and nothing else because of the anonymity charm, he turns toward her but hesitates to walk over. She seems happy. He can still feel stress and uncertainty making his chest tight and the beginnings of a headache throbbing behind his eyes. Should she really have to deal with him right now? Still. He can't just turn and walk away and, no matter how selfish it probably is, he'd like to go sit with her. He forces a smile as he waves back and goes to join her on the bench.

"...Hey." He almost says her name but catches himself. They're still playing anonymous, after all. "Whit like?" Okay, maybe not that anonymous.
addytives: (066)

Addy & Lachlan

[personal profile] addytives 2017-12-20 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
Addy is very happy. She's tracing the length of ribbon around her wrist, eyes darting around to see if she can find a girl with a glint of gold in her hair. But all that has to be put on hold for a minute. Lachlan looks unhappy. At best. She hates that she can't tell that for sure. At least he's certainly Scottish enough to be himself. "Hey yourself." She grins, trying to get a better look at his face. "This is like. Such a good dance. Tell me about the strangers you've charmed?"
Edited (double hey) 2017-12-20 00:40 (UTC)
lachlangalbraith: (:| 17)

Addy & Lachlan

[personal profile] lachlangalbraith 2017-12-21 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Lachlan suspects that attempting to tell Addy he's fine when he's not and that the evening has been uneventful when it hasn't been isn't going to get him far. But he tries anyway. He shrugs his narrow shoulders and maintains that not-quite-happy smile, "I'm usually more the charmee than the charmer. What about you?" Now that he's sitting beside her, he notices the ribbon around her wrist and now indicates to it as evidence of his point. Charming Addy Foster-Hayes has gone and won herself a token from an anonymous admirer. This makes him feel a bit more like actually smiling, at least.
addytives: (074)

Addy & Lachlan

[personal profile] addytives 2017-12-22 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
He's right. She isn't that stupid, as often as she plays it sometimes. Sure. She'd like to tell him all about Nia, and the girl on the dancefloor, and how she was sure they were the same person. How if they weren't, she isn't sure what she'll do, and how it's a possibility she's just realized she should've probably considered a little more closely. How she should by all rights be panicking, but she's calm. Too calm; she isn't used anymore to the way her chest is still and fluttering at mad intervals. She needs to pull herself together. Now isn't the time for any of that. Premature at best. She breathes, somehow, and stops toying with the ribbon long enough to smile a little sadly at her friend.

"Oh. This? It's just like. To remember a dance. What happened?"

She isn't stupid, and something did happen.
Edited (you don't deserve this feelings purge and i'm sorry) 2017-12-22 02:03 (UTC)
lachlangalbraith: (:( 06)

Addy & Lachlan

[personal profile] lachlangalbraith 2017-12-22 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Must've been a nice dance," Lachlan comments quietly and gently bumps her shoulder. The way she's looking at that ribbon, it seems like that. "You'll tell me about it at some point, right?" But he isn't going to push and he isn't going to make Addy push him either.

Sighing softly, he leans forward to rest his elbows against his knees and look out into the dark. His smile fades. "Yancey found me. You were right; he came over because I had his mask." Without thinking, he reaches up to touch it. Then, abruptly, he takes it off and the charm goes with it. His features become distinct again. His voice becomes his own again. "He was teasin' me about the mask and I got defensive. Because I didnae know I was talkin' to him. So he figured out it was me. And it just..."

He trails off, looking for the words to describe the rest of the conversation.