gooseberryhigh | ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY

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ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY

It's St. Patrick's Day, and everyone's Irish tonight!

Just like last year, the Grotto has been decorated with crude but brilliantly colored green sparkling charms, making the still-bare trees around the clearing light up with emerald and gold lights. The crowning achievement is a beautiful glowing rainbow that passes right over the fire. The "pot of gold" at the end of this particular rainbow is where an exceptionally generous accumulation of alcohol is being kept.

Heathcliff Lacey managed to get the Grotto to basically explode with mounds of bright green clovers. The clovers are soft and comfortable to lie on and enjoy a drink. [Character B] finds a four leafed one amongst the bunch!

Atop a stump rests the crown for the new King/Queen of St. Patrick's Day: a crown of silver laurels in the Roman style. Hopefully this won't be bad luck in the Hunger Games. It was created by Ennis Harper just for the occasion. At the end of the night, Casey Patterson, the previous king, is supposed to crown the new king.

There are bright green shamrock pins you can take from a basket by the fire. These indicate that your character agrees to the annual kissing competition. The pins track how many different people gave your character a smooch (hands and cheeks count), and at the end of the night, the person who got the most kisses can demand a kiss from any party guest! (Assuming OOC consent is given.)

As always, there's a movie being screened, and this time it's the questionable "horror"/"comedy", Leprechaun. It is, unfortunately, neither horrifying or funny, except in its abject failure to be either.

RULES

The party starts at 7:30, and runs until 10:00. The prefects are still strictly enforcing curfew.

It's warm out now! These terrible children can put fashion over function once again. (Anon was kind enough to intervene, and while there's snow on campus, it looks like May in the Grotto.)

Speaking of: you should consider wearing green, or you might get pinched.

The King/Queen of St. Patrick's Day will be announced Sunday at noon, Mountain Time. This will hopefully give everyone a chance to play, but will allow your characters to react to the winner in a timely fashion.

Tomorrow there will be a mini follow-up IC/OOC, popularly called the St. Patrick's Day Pity Party. It's tradition that the next day, everyone who drank too much gathers around the fields of Coppertale to recover and whine about their hangovers.

Regarding the Hunger Games: you may not kill anyone in the Grotto or along the secret trails leading to it.

If you signed your character up for either Spin The Bottle or Seven Minutes In Heaven, find their partners below:

Evangeline Bagman STB #1: Marie STB #2: Danny 7MIH: Georgie	Phineas Bones STB #1: Georgie STB #2: Avery	Jaime Castillo 7MIH: Kenzie/Ulysses	Liberty Chan STB #1: Carolina STB #2: Riley 7MIH: Ruby
Eileen Coffin STB #1: Riley STB #2: Madison	Juniper Crane STB #1: Salem STB #2: Chad 7MIH: Carolina	Avery Davenport STB #1: January STB #2: Phin 7MIH: Danny	Sofia Delgado STB #1: Madison STB #2: January
Dinah Dixon STB #1: Hazel STB #2: Pandora 7MIH: Chad	Carolina Foster-Hayes STB #1: Liberty STB #2: Archie 7MIH: Juniper	London Holloway STB #1: Tuesday STB #2: Salem 7MIH: Ana	Paris Holloway STB #1: Chad STB #2: Marie
Madison Ives STB #1: Sofia STB #2: Eileen 7MIH: January	January James STB #1: Avery STB #2: Sofia 7MIH: Madison	Hazel Keating STB #1: Dinah STB #2: Nisha 7MIH: Jonah	Pandora Lacey STB #1: Nisha STB #2: Dinah 7MIH: Grace
Nisha Lewis STB #1: Pandora STB #2: Hazel 7MIH: Archie	Georgiana Mills STB #1: Phin STB #2: Ruby 7MIH: Eve	Ophelia Noggins STB #1: Ruby STB #2: Grace 7MIH: Riley	Tuesday North STB #1: London STB #2: Ana 7MIH: Marie
Daniel Notoriano STB #1: Ana STB #2: Eve 7MIH: Avery	Ruby Oberholtzer STB #1: Ophelia STB #2: Georgie 7MIH: Liberty	Marie Patterson STB #1: Eve STB #2: Paris 7MIH: Tuesday	Jonah Pitchford STB #1: Grace STB #2: Karen 7MIH: Hazel
Mackenzie Prince 7MIH: Jaime/Ulysses Ulysses Quayle 7MIH: Jaime/Kenzie	Archimedes Rose STB #1: Karen STB #2: Carolina 7MIH: Nisha	Grace Sowerberry STB #1: Jonah STB #2: Ophelia 7MIH: Pandora	Riley Stamper STB #1: Eileen STB #2: Liberty 7MIH: Ophelia
Susana Velasquez STB #1: Danny STB #2: Tuesday 7MIH: London	Salem Wagonblast STB #1: Juniper STB #2: London 7MIH: Karen	Chad Winterbottom STB #1: Paris STB #2: Juniper 7MIH: Dinah	Karen Zabinsky STB #1: Archie STB #2: Jonah 7MIH: Salem

RULES

Teen peer pressure (and player sadism) aside, no one is obligated to do anything they don't want to. Characters doing Seven Minutes In Heaven can spend the time just talking or staring awkwardly at each other, and characters playing Spin The Bottle can opt out of a kiss (although people will probably boo).

If characters get up to anything more racy than PG-13, please fade to black on that! This includes sexually explicit conversations. Many people track IC/OOC posts, so please have consideration for your fellow players. Talking about sex is fine (and part of the flavour of a teen game), but there's no need to get into detailed descriptions of anatomy or sex acts.

If you'd like to say two characters were partners in STB or 7MIH in addition to what's been rolled, go ahead! Obviously, get the permission of all involved characters first.

» Before the Party: The St. Patrick's Day celebration is always a big one, even compared to other Grotto parties! Prep your outfits, grab your friends, and maybe hold off on pregaming if you want to show the school how much alcohol you can consume in one sitting.

» Around the Fire: The large bonfire is warm and romantic. Pull up a log and grab a blanket, make some s'mores, or dance to the party music. There's a karaoke setup for anyone who feels bold enough to sing along. If you don't care for music, there's beer and soda in the ice chests, along with bins for empty bottles and cans. Don't litter. This isn't your home. Some bold students are even doing body shots as the temperature is continuing to rise, and lifting your shirt is no longer going to result in freezing to death.

» MOVIE SCREENING: LEPRECHAUN: Students sit around to watch the classically bad horror-comedy, Leprechaun. Micah will readily defend the quality of his choice.

» Drinking Competition: At the end of the night, the heartiest drinker will be named King or Queen of St. Patrick's Day. There's a crown on the line, and the winner will be carried back to their cabin by the remaining drunken survivors at the end of the night. (Yes, they'll probably be dropped at least once.) People who participated in the drinking games (and anyone else who wants to play along) are expected to refer to them as "Your Highness" for the next week and bow when they enter the room.

There are drinking games taking place all over the party, in addition to just regular old drinking without a game involved at all. Gooseberry's on the lookout for the heartiest drinker this year!

Start a thread for your character under this comment and fill out the form below to be part of the competition.

Each time you comment to your thread with the form, you will get a roll to add to your character's drinking score. You may request up to three rolls in one comment.

The goal is to get as close to 200 as you can without going over. After you go over 200, your character either passes out, vomits, or is simply too unwell to continue. They're effectively disqualified.

In the case of a tie at the end of the night, we'll roll a tiebreaker.

As your score increases, we'll inform you how drunk your character is becoming.

Special Austin Rule: Because Austin McNamara opted to take his Felix Felicis today, he'll get two saving graces. This means that if he's about to go over 200, the mods will reroll until he doesn't. We'll do this twice, and after that he's on his own.

There's an option to indicate your character has low alcohol tolerance. This means that every roll gets a +5 modifier. Your character will get drunker faster, but they're more likely to go over 200.

» Other Games:

Pinching: Did your character forget to wear green? If so, comment here, and other character may come along and give your character a pinch.

Kiss me, I'm (pretending to be) Irish: Those shamrock pins being offered around the fire? They're a cue that you're open to receiving random pecks from strangers. These are assumed to be cute platonic kisses, not mouth kisses. If your character is participating, comment here for drive by smooches. Your character's pin will then magically keep track of how many times they're kissed. The character that receives the most kisses by midnight can request a kiss from any party attendant! (You must receive OOC permission, and the type of kiss is chosen by the person your character selected. The winner will be announced at the same time as the king/queen, both IC and OOC, and the kiss will take place in front of the crowd of revellers.)

» Inside the Building: This may be where the kissing games are taking place, but there's still some room to just snuggle and chat. It's warmer than outside, at least!

» Kissing Games:

Spin The Bottle: Everyone sits in a circle and takes turns spinning the bottle to find their partner. Anyone who squeezes in (or happens to be accidentally standing behind a gap in the circle) gets a shot at a kiss. People can leave and enter the game at any time. Participants will be encouraged by their drunken classmates to kiss on the mouth.

Seven Minutes in Heaven: "Heaven" is a narrow, closet-sized room adjacent to the main party, and is dark except for some cracks of light from the doorway. There's now a proper wooden door on the closet, and people will magically lock it behind you for 7 minutes. You can use your wand to get more light, but really, you two should be making out.

» The Woods: The prefects probably won't let you wander too far in, but why would you want to anyway?

» After the Party: At midnight, prefects will be clearing the party and guiding everyone home. Don't walk back alone! Anyone left at 12:30 AM when the second wave of prefects hits the Grotto will be written up for punishment. As it's St. Patrick's day, the prefects might be anticipating more passed out classmates than normal.

» OOC - QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

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It's a bit into the party, and Hazel is already decently tipsy. There's a drinking competition after all, but, honestly, she mostly just wants a break from her self-imposed responsibility to care for her classmates. She also worries that not drinking, like she'd done at the last Grotto party, will just re-broadcast the fact that she's more scared than she was willing to admit publicly.

Apparently alcohol isn't enough to calm her protective nature, though, because even drunk she has a strong need to be on guard. It's with this sort of tense, ready-to-fight resolve that she's wandered to the border of the party. There's where she stands now, beer in hand, staring out into the woods. Nothing about her body language suggests she's considering entering them, at least.

Zach's pretty determined to stick to Liberty's side this St. Patrick's day, but his fellow prefect is neither a baby nor falling-down drunk (... yet), so he's happy to part ways with her for a bit while he takes a quick lap around the perimeter of the Grotto. In his experience, this particular party always gets pretty crazy, pretty fast, so he fully expects to see fledgling drunkies in need of some water or a bagel. Which, of course, he's a happy to provide!

He doesn't expect to see Hazel with her eyes locked on the tree line. She seem ... a little stressed — there's a stiff set to her shoulders that makes Zach chew his lip and wonder what it is she was looking for. Or worse, what is is she'd already seen. Oh man, today would be a REALLY bad day for a disaster.

"Hazel!" Zach calls as he walks up behind her, already waving in greeting even though she hasn't turned around yet. As he gets a little closer he adds, voice a little lower, "Did you... um, is there ... something out there?" He scans the woods as he talks, trying to spot the mystery for himself.

Hazel doesn't actually process that Zach has called her name before he's already by her side, but once she does she pulls her eyes away from the forest for a moment to look at him. She shakes her head, takes a drink, and turns her attention back to the trees. Though she's not sure whether or not she actually wants his company, for the moment she's not going to try to shoo her friend.

"No, but I'm... fuckin'... ready," Hazel replies slowly, almost indignant, though it's unclear if that sass is directed at Zach or whatever might be in the woods.

There's a moment where the Coppertale goes silent, but it's short-lived. "What're you up to? Just lookin' after people? You don't need to look after me."

Five minutes ago, Zach would have concurred — he doesn't need to look after Hazel. Now, he's not so sure. Congratulations!!! That was JUST ABOUT the MOST worrying combination of things you could SAY in this situation!!! Zach does a nervous little wiggle and swings his backpack from back to front so that he can unzip the main pocket. Maybe a bagel would help. He's got a whole bunch in here.

"I'm patrolling!" He replies, which is true. In typical Coppertale fashion, Hazel's earlier reply was a touch combative, and Zach, wanting to keep the party fun, doesn't intend to poke. So. There's a pause.

As usual, curiosity gets the best of him. "Ready for what?"

Despite her curiosity at the sound of a zipper, Hazel doesn't look over to the boy again; the woods need watching, and her companion is clearly busy with something. Zach's fidgeting has got her shifting her body weight back and forth some, though, and she's suddenly aware of how warm her face feels thanks to the alcohol. Maybe this is stupid. Maybe she doesn't need to be out here, staring at the tree line. Isn't she supposed to be relaxing? She was, earlier.

"For whatever wants to come out of the woods." As if this is normal and not ominous in the least. "You haven't seen anythin' tonight, right?? Still... all clear?"

Zach waves a bagel in front of Hazel's face. It's the kind that comes from the grocery store in a six pack in a plastic bag. Nothing good. Don't get too excited.

"Nope! Nothing exciting on my end!" He answers. Zach's hand drifts up to Hazel's shoulders and hovers there for a second as he decides whether or not he ought to steer her back to the center of the party. Ultimately, he decides against it — though he does find himself asking, "... is... everything okay?"

Edited 2018-03-18 00:59 (UTC)

Though her initial reaction is to swat the bagel out of Zach's hand, Hazel stops herself from doing so and instead, somewhat reluctantly, takes it. She nods approval as the prefect informs her that things have been uneventful, taking a bite of her newly acquired food as she does so. If she notices his hand drift up at all, she doesn't mention it.

"...just can't shut it off, I guess." A part of her wants to ask him if he'd read her exchange with Ari when the wards had broken, but she doesn't actually want to know the answer. "So it's whatever. What about you? You, like, managing shit alright or whatever?"

Oh.

Zach chews his bottom lip again. Takes a deep breath and sighs. He looks a little like a puppet whose strings have been cut; Hazel's answer wasn't just concerning, it was also relatable. He knows what she means, and a wave of exhaustion rolls through him as he thinks about how hard it is, sometimes. To shut it off.

"It's been pretty quiet recently," he offers in answer to all Hazel's questions. His tone makes it clear he's trying for hope, although he knows it's not that reassuring when the anticipation is almost worse than the actual trauma. He looks up again and smiles as he speaks, trying to lift their moods back up with the corners of his mouth.

Maybe Hazel actually needed this bagel - as it hits her stomach she realizes how hungry she is, and she makes an effort to actually down the thing instead of just doing it for Zach's benefit. She's been so focused on trying to have fun or trying to keep an eye out that she's been forgetting to listen to her body's cues.

"...yeah, it has. I guess I meant, like, in general." A pause, a sip of beer. "Since Reece... chewed you out or whatevs. And you havin' t'stand outside while we did that stupid seance shit was probably stressful. And..." She looks to Zach, not buying his smile all that much even though she really wants to. "I don't know. There's just always some crap."

"It's okay!" Zach replies, although it's not 100% clear what he's referring to. All of it, maybe. "I'm just glad the seance didn't turn into something..." Bigger? Scarier? Worse? "... more dramatic than it was. My imagination was running out of control!"

He looks down, scuffs his feet a little. She's right; it was hard, standing outside. "I was so worried something would happen. But I guess we got a break!" Well. "Sort of."

They didn't learn much. Why was it that even their down time felt tense, sometimes?

"Like. Just. Everything is ok?" Hazel's expression shifts to something slightly sour, and she goes to finish off her beer before dropping the bottle to the ground. She'll pick it up before she leaves, and to try to make that obvious she nudges it a little closer to her with her foot as she thinks. Maybe it is all ok to Zach. Or, at least, maybe he's willing to pretend for now. Her eyes remain trained on her friend as she speaks again.

"The seance was stupid, and just put all sorts of stupid crap in our heads. Don't, you know, like, try to spin it positively. It's good nothing bad happened. But it was pointless."

Zach's eyes flick down to the bottle in the dirt, then back up to Hazel's face; he doesn't bug her about it. Everything is clearly not okay, at least, not with her, and he's not sure how much to let go and how much to pry. The eternal dilemma. He wants to ask her if there's something particular on her mind, or if she was just worn down by the endless feeling of something's-coming-nothing-good that sat heavy on so many of them these days, but... then he remembers Sam's accidentally-unwarded message and he swallows his words, afraid of being smothering.

But... then again... Zach wiggles, indecision manifesting as restlessness. When he does reply, the words come tumbling out of his mouth a little, like gumballs out of a machine. "I wish I knew what was coming. Or some way of... preparing... something. I feel so useless."

Oh no, he's only started talking about his concerns as a way of getting Hazel to open up and relate, but now he was getting dangerously close to burdening his friend instead of helping her. He really was an awful prefect.

Edited (reckless =/= restless) 2018-03-19 16:14 (UTC)

Zach's admission has Hazel frowning, but in a very different way than before; now there's concern written on her face, and a certain hint of softness. Maybe she shouldn't have put this on him, she thinks, unaware of any similar thoughts he's having. After a moment she reaches out for his hand to squeeze it lightly, an attempt at reassuring him. She figures for most people human contact at least helps a little bit.

"Me too. I mean." Hazel takes a deep breath, trying to summon up comforting words that are harder to come by when she's drunk and feeling like this. "We just gotta, like... make sure we're fast at hexes. And good at DADA. And strong. And... paying attention." It feels like last year they weren't paying attention at all. Or, at least, they weren't paying attention to the right things. Maybe they've already stumbled into that trap again.

Eyes stinging at that thought, the Coppertale hazards a glance back out to the tree line again. The feisty, self-assured part of her wants to promise that she's going to make sure everything will be ok. But that feels like such a laughable lie now that she can't get the words out. "Just... fuck. We just... have to do what we can."

Zach hugs her. Big hug. Right there. Sorry, they'll go back to talking in approximately ... ten seconds, but for right now: hugs. There's no escape.

Though a little surprised, Hazel doesn't fight the hug and even leans in to return the gesture after a hint of hesitation. Her acceptance of it, though, is incredibly brief. While it's definitely comforting, her eyes still sting, and she's afraid that hugging for much longer that a moment will just encourage her to let it out.

"I can't eat my bagel when we're hugging," she offers lamely, trying to inject some humor into her tone unsuccessfully.

Edited (the only hugging icon I have) 2018-03-20 01:00 (UTC)

Sy pukes on the roots of a tree and hates himself, and only one of these is a new thing. Why the shit does he do this to himself? He'd convinced himself to take it easy compared to last year, but he'd forgotten just how hard he went during last year's drinking competition. He's a fucking idiot.

He signs, leaning his head against the cool bark of the tree. "I swear to fuck, I'm never drinking again."

"Keep swearing, it'll work one of these days," Rosy says, arms crossed, leaning up against a nearby tree. Her bedside manner could probably use a little work, especially considering how recently she was in a similar state. God, don't these kids torture trees enough? Do they really need to throw up on them too? "Want some water, or you feel like remembering this lesson tomorrow?"

Sy laughs, slightly muffled as he reaches up with one hoodie sleeve (gross, but fuck off) to wipe his mouth. "Got practice tomorrow morning. Y'know that?" He turns to face his sister, but a little too quickly—his brain lurches in the too-small confines of his skull, and Sy is bent over again, to throw up on Rosy's shoes.

"I think 'm done," he mumbles. He... probably needs to burn this hoodie now.

Rosy is not generally a prissy person. Blood? Not a huge deal. Mud? She can handle it. Toss her in an algae-filled lake and she won't balk too much. But her brother throwing up on her shoes? The shoes she doesn't really want to admit cost, like, $400? When the tree seemed perfectly fine with being puked on?

Fuck this.

She jumps back with an incredibly uncool squeal and she can smell it on her shoes. Ugh. "Are you fucking kidding me, dude?" She kicks at the air, like that's going to clean off her shoes, and digs into her pocket for her wand. "Jesus Christ, you did that on purpose."

Ennis is completely shit-faced! and doesn't remember being handed this foam sword... He also doesn't know why he has it, but he knows exactly what he must do with it.

He points the tip of it toward the only other fucko here with a sword and addresses him in a soft, feminine voice he reserves for his LARP character: "So... it's... you!" Not the most eloquent of throwaway battle lines, but what can you do?

Edited (not actually IN the woods, but idk where else to put this) 2018-03-18 10:51 (UTC)

God, they're so drunk. And embarrassing. Avert your eyes, everyone. And cover your ears, too, because Yancey's being super loud.

"Ah! After years of searching, I've found you," he says in a bad accent that speaks to just how convincing his Pirelli is going to be. Yancey does some dramatic sword movements that are kind of close to being legitimate but also pretty wobbley. "Finally, we can settle this."

Ennis breaks character with an ugly giggle at Yancey's accent and delivers his next line with a stupid grin on his face: "Hemonga, guide my blade!" There's a dramatic handswipe over the foam sword that's supposed to represent some sort of blessing (???) before he gracelessly charges after Yancey.

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ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY

THE WOODS

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Hazel & Zach

Sylvester & Rosemary

Sylvester & Rosemary

Sylvester & Rosemary

Sylvester & Rosemary

Yennis (& Spectators?)

Yennis (& Spectators?)

Yennis (& Spectators?)