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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
He trails off and his words are just replaced with a smile. It feels a little silly how excited he is for them to be standing face-to-face without their masks on. It reminds him of missing someone for a long time and then finally getting to see them again. Which didn't make any sense. But somehow also did.
"I'm sorry I got pulled away earlier, but I'm glad I caught you. How was the rest of your night?"
Gwen and Webster
"It was...interesting?" she managed, with a wry, crooked smile. "I went ahead and tried to sleigh rides too, but my fellow rider was definitely out of sorts." She didn't mention Todd's name, since she considered what he told her as private, but she knew Webster would understand. "Some other students had been messing with him. So, it was more of a therapy session than a sleigh ride." It was clear that she didn't mind, just felt for him. Ribbonfin softie, through and through. "How was yours? You got snatched...I didn't know if I needed to come rescue you."
Gwen and Webster
Webster laughs at himself for thinking that. He's self-aware enough to see that he's taking everything she does and assigning it some larger, deeper significance. This was just one date. Not even a date. They were each others' dates.
"My ride was fine," Webster says, not particularly interested in elaborating. There isn't much really to say. Plus, he's here now and just wants to be in this moment. Their fellow classmates are starting to disperse and he can feel the night coming to a close. The fairy tales always end at midnight; the carriage turns back into a pumpkin, the gown into a simple dress. The evening's charms have worn off -- their faces and voices having returned -- yet the two of them are still together. He knows their night is now on borrowed time.
"Can I walk you back to your cabin?" Webster asks, offering his elbow for Gwen to take, hoping to extend the evening just a little longer.
Gwen and Webster
And for once, Gwen found herself wishing that the walk back was longer (when usually she was cursing it each time she had to trudge through the snow). The next day, she would be heading back to North Carolina, and up until then, she'd been excited about that. "Where do you go for the holidays?" she asked, as that fact rose up to remind her. "Do you have any special plans?"
Gwen and Webster
Webster has fallen into stride with Gwen. Even with the cold, they move casually, in no rush to get to their destination. The snow crunches under their boots. "The Spanish have this New Years Eve tradition where you're supposed to eat twelve grapes at midnight in order to have good luck. One at each stroke of the clock. It's fun. Assuming you like grapes."
There's a cool gust of wind, and Webster reflexively pulls his arm slightly closer to his body, bringing Gwen with it. "What about you? What are you doing?"
Gwen and Webster
She thought about the upcoming holiday, and again, just like so much this year, it reminded her that this was the last one at school. Silly, considering she never spent Christmas at school, and there was nothing preventing her from still seeing her friends, yet...the melancholy threatened again. To sidestep that, she continued, "We don't have anything interesting like that for New Year's. In Ireland, Saint Stephen's Day is kinda a deal, I suppose? It's the day after Christmas, and honestly, just an excuse to go over to your friend's places and eat more food." She laughed. "We're good for excuses. The whole town is pretty much closed all the way through New Year's. Just a bunch of people in my family going from house to house saying 'Merry Christmas' in Gaelic really loudly."
Gwen and Webster
He's been watching her as she talks. The way she gesticulates. The way her mouth moves. The way her laugh plays with her face. He tries to recall if it was all the same when they were wearing masks and is surprised to find that he can't remember. Is it because of the charm or because he wasn't paying close enough attention? He immediately tries to remember everything she's just said. North Carolina. Ireland. Saint Stephen's Day. Gaelic. A cousin named Carl-- Carl? No. Colin? [...] Quinn? Shit.
He doesn't want to forget.
"Teach me how to say 'Merry Christmas' in Gaelic," he asks her and then gives this moment every ounce of attention he has.
Gwen and Webster
It's fun, sharing a little bit of what makes her family special, here, she realized; and more so because Webster seemed genuinely interested. "OKay, now you have to try it, so I'll sound it out. Nollaig," and she said it like no-lig, "and then Shona," and this she said like ho-nuh, "and finally Duit." It was the trickiest of the three, pronounced ghwich. "Don't try and read it and then say it, because it totally does not match what it sounds like. Gaelic, I swear, was invented just to mess with people." She'd slowed, without realizing it, so she could concentrate on teaching him the words, slowly but surely.
Gwen and Webster
"...no-lig...ho-nuh...glwick?" He knows he didn't stick the landing there. He can see it on her face, too. "-glwich? -ghwich?" Off Gwen's supportive reaction, Webster repeats it, "No-lig...ho-nuh...ghwich!" Once more, this time mimicking her hand waves, "Nallaig Shona Duit!"
He laughs, knowing how ridiculous he must sound. "Did any accent sneak through?" he asks, because people have accused him of speaking French like a Spanish person. "Did that sound like an American speaking Gaelic? A Spaniard speaking Gaelic? A Frenchman? Or... like a baby making sounds for the first time? A Gaelic baby," he adds, hopefully.
Over Gwen's shoulder Webster can see the soft lights of Ribbonfin. He looks back to her face, takes it in, then offers up his arm again to her.
Gwen and Webster
When he glances over her shoulder, she knows they are close to the cabins. Taking his arm again, she says, "So, what are you going to teach me? Fair warning, this is your chance to get back at me, because you really don't know if I've taught you the right words...not until you find someone who speaks Gaelic and go yell that at them." Her tone made it sound like a dare, and her cheeky smile just added to it.
Gwen and Webster
He looks back at Gwen, waiting patiently for her Spanish lesson. A little cloud of breath sneaks out of her mouth when she smiles, and the swirling thoughts in his head of what to teach her fade away. "Me dejas con la miel en los labios," he says gently. "That's your phrase." He repeats the words, more slowly this time and slightly over enunciated.
"Me dejas... con la miel... en los labios."
Gwen and Webster
"I'll try," she offered, liking the sound of the phrase. Just as he had, she said each part slowly, letting him coach her through it carefully until she felt like she had the cadence down. "Me dejas con....con la miel," going from one language to another was tricky, "en los labios? Like that?" Her smile had turned into a serious mien as she repeated it, a small furrow between her brows as she concentrated, but as she finished, the smile reappeared. "It sounds so pretty! Be honest, did I sound like a Gaelic baby speaking Spanish?" On the heels of a giggle, she added, "What does it mean?"
Gwen and Webster
"Me dejas con la miel en los labios..." he catches her eye as they walk, "the literal translation would be 'You leave me with honey on my lips.'" He looks forward again as he finishes, "But it means something like, you're depriving me of something just as I'm enjoying it. 'You leave me wanting more,' maybe." Webster comes to a stop outside Ribbonfin and turns back to Gwen. "I've had a really nice time. I'm really glad we did this." He's been so at ease and happy all night, as most recently evidenced by the audacious, honey-referencing romantic idiom he chose to teach her. What has gotten into him?
He leans forward, hesitates just the slightest bit, and then gives Gwen a small kiss on the cheek. He pulls back and fixes her with a soft smile.
"Nallaig Shona Duit," he says, probably incorrectly. "And I hope you have a very happy new year."
Gwen and Webster
Realizing what she'd responded, she said, quietly, "That....it means 'and the same to you' because...you said happy new year, and...it's reflex." Oh, God, she was babbling now. Talk about a Gaelic baby. But she'd taught him to say Merry Christmas and he went and taught her the most romantic thing she'd heard and now she was pretty sure she was going to melt the snow around her in a circle for how hot her face was. Biting her lower lip, hard, she added, "I'm glad, too. Thanks for asking me. It was wonderful." She forced herself to step back, towards the waiting door to the cabins. Move, Gwen, before you spontaneously combust, you silly thing. She reached the door, putting her hand on the handle, but turned back. "Hey, if you get tired of grapes, I'll be in London for New Year's. In Diagon Alley." She smiled. "Just in case."
Gwen and Webster
"Get home safe," he says. "To home home," he clarifies. "I know you've made it back to Ribbonfin safe." He shakes his head. You were doing so well! "Goodnight." He watches her disappear into her cabin, stands there a moment longer, then turns and begins the walk to Azurcrest, a noticeable bounce to his step.