peckenpaugh | LEAP DAY FESTIVAL!

leap day festival

what's up? It’s Leap Day! In Elflock Falls, this holiday is huge, and the town is packed before lunch with Peckenpaugh alumni and Falls expatriates returning to the holler in observance of the day. On Leap Day, Fallers celebrate what came before, and prepare for what comes next. Half-remembered memories, words left unsaid, and plans for the future are the theme of the day, and it’s all accomplished with help from the fairies that guard this valley. What? You mean you’ve never heard of the holler’s guardian fairies? Hm. That’s weird.

Students may’ve seen the beginnings of decorations going up yesterday, but it seems like the town has changed overnight to accommodate this uniquely Appalachian holiday. Leap Day is a liminal time when spirits of the holler are welcomed into the human world and celebrated with feasts. Doorways, bridges, archways and just about anything that constitutes a passage is decorated today with boughs of maple and witch hazel flowers. Doors are left open and businesses and homes provide treats for the fey (and those masquerading as fey, today). It’s all about being respectful of fairies, but you may want to carry some iron with you, or you might find yourself carried off...

Down on the river, armed with bows and arrows, fairgoers can shoot those words they’ve left unsaid across the river. If your arrow makes it across, it’s time to speak what you’ve been holding in. If your arrow gets swept away in the Greentooth, well, maybe those are thoughts you should keep to yourself.

Late in the evening, the celebration ends around a bonfire, a ball for the fey. Fallers don animal masks to better blend in with the guardian fairies, drink and dance around the flames until midnight, when the liminal space closes and the fairies return to their realm.

visuals!

volunteer slots! Not long after arriving on the central green this morning, [CHARACTER A] spots famous Quodpotter Ray Mayo picking a mask from one of the trees. He shoots them a wink before slipping a fox’s face over his own, and is shortly joined by someone with a familiar energy wearing a squirrel mask.

Mask pickings are slim by the time Felicity makes it to the central green, having woken up late today. While most of the masks are quite charming, intricate and handmade, all they manage to nab is this weird rubber pigeon mask.

All day there are tours of Peckenpaugh campus for visitors. Before popping on a mask, Ms. Kwan elects Armani and Tony to lead a few tours together, and at least one of them is quite rowdy and full of ...freshmen for some reason. (💯 Thread this prompt with three replies each and earn 5 Points each for your houses 💯)

On a lark, Uriah and [CHARACTER F] decide to go on one of the tours, led by a woman in an elk mask who they think might be Healer Greatheart, but may also be Ms. Gunzenhauser. The tour goes well enough, showing off all the newer features, but then it diverts, and the elk guide leads them off the path in the Western Quarter, through woods they don’t recognize. “Ah, there it is! While I’m sure he’d love visitors, we don’t want to dally...” says the elk as they arrive at an old train car, reclaimed by nature. She pauses to leave a pile of colorful candy on a flat stone, then leads them back out, passing by the ruins of Peckenpaugh’s old stables before emerging on the Northern Quarter. The elk indicates the Falls, saying, “I’m sure you’ve all had good times there. I’d show you, but it’s rude to go poking around when no one’s home.” And with that, the strange tour concludes.

Lionel is 100% positive they've just spotted the elusive boy in the cool leather jacket wandering through town. They give chase and follow him right into Junebug's where he stops to talk to one of the Morgensterns, though it's hard to say which since they're all in masks. Upon closer inspection, that's not the boy in the leather jacket but a man in his 40s, blonde curls just starting to gray, and a face that looks strikingly like Mr. Qualls, but sullen.

how this works! ⬥ Welcome to Elflock Falls’s Leap Day Festival! For adults, festivities begin at dawn, prepping the town and campus. Kids are encouraged to sleep in a bit, but things are well bumping by 9AM and the celebrations go late into the night.

⬥ What about curfew? Well, there are teachers milling about keeping track of things, of course, but for today an odd sense of calm has settled over the holler. Time seems to move a little slower, and no matter what, you’re going to wind up back on campus safe and sound tonight.

⬥ There’s something strange about these masks: a mild anonymity charm is in place on each one that alters how you are perceived while wearing it. You may have seen your roommate pull on a pig mask, but now that you look at them, it’s not quite right, and you can’t be positive that’s actually your roommate.

⬥ Donning a mask is not required, but strongly encouraged. Whatever magic is at work also makes those not wearing masks harder to perceive. If you attend the festival maskless, you will find mask-wearing festival goers seem not to be able to see you, or do not take notice of you unless you’re trying very hard to get their attention.

⬥ That said, there are some unmasked adults keeping tabs on kids, watching for misbehavior. Not easily will you shoplift or nab a beer today.

⬥ This festival happens once every four years, and even then, it’s not talked about much until the date is nearly here, almost as though everyone forgets about it until it’s time to remember. Elflock Falls locals who have lived in the town for most of their life are probably passingly familiar with it, but anyone not born and raised here is probably going into this festival blind.

⬥ Fake Baby Parents will find that today their dolls are remarkably content. Not very fussy and easy to soothe. Don't leave them alone too long, though!

⬥ If you'd like to participate in the archery event, fill out the form below and post it to the "FIRE AN ARROW" sub-header.

locations! ⬦ WHAT'S UP?: The very air seems different today, and the mood is a strange mix of somber and celebratory. The Leap Day Festival starts early and goes late, spilling out of Elflock Falls proper and right onto Peckenpaugh campus. It’ll be a busy day today, with lots of unfamiliar faces milling about ⁠— Peckenpaugh alumni, folks who’ve left Elflock Falls. Many people are dressed in fine robes today, and even those who usually wear muggle-y fashions are decidedly more wizard-like in appearance. How did you spend the Leap Day Festival? What mask and robes did you wear?

⬦ FOREST OF MASKS: ON THE CENTRAL GREEN: Both the front and rear entrances to Central Classrooms have been thrown open, the large doorways decorated with witch hazel, maple branches and a banner that reads “WELCOME BACK!” Folks start showing up on the central green before light has even cracked over the eastern hills, and by the time students have started showing up the park is transformed. A heavy mist hangs over the area, which seems dim even at midday. Candles float throughout the clearing, casting much needed light to steer you through what feels today like a dense forest. Animal masks hang from budding trees by bits of colorful ribbon and yarn. Cats and cougars, bears and coyotes, deer and raccoons and groundhog faces all dangle from branches, free to be taken and worn by festival goers. It's almost eerie. The Muscheron stick close to the Surly Stump, watching the goings on with obvious glee. They seem to have made a game over guessing who will take which mask, and they cheer loudly when they're correct. Once you don a mask, you’re a fairy for the day. Grab one and participate in the fun!

⬦ WELCOMING FAIRIES: THE MAIN STREET DRAG: Dried maple tree boughs, maple seeds and clusters of witch hazel flowers hang above the doorways of every home and business in town today. In lieu of electrical lighting, flickering candles, oil lamps and lumos wisps have been employed to illuminate interiors. Dried maple seeds made to look like bugs are stuck to most surfaces or hung from doorways and lamp posts, as though in mid flight. All the stores are open, and despite the somewhat chilly weather, so are their front doors. Most have tables in the entryway featuring sweet snacks and warm drinks, free for visitors. The offerings are all homemade, and while bright colors seem to dominate, many are also decorated with emblems that resemble cicadas. Some, like the sweet breads offered at The Gastrognome, are shaped like cicadas, outright. Even Pompel & Swint are giving out treats to visiting fairies today.

⬦ AROUND CAMPUS & TOWN: The maple branches, seeds and leaves continue to dominate decor across town and on campus. Bridges, doorways and stairwells, in particular, are heavily decorated. There are tours across campus, and if you’re lucky enough to get on one led by an adult, you may find yourself taken to some strange hidden part of campus you’d only heard about in rumors. Back in town, Doc Potts is giving out bits of iron to protect you from the fairies — fishing sinkers, mostly, from the look of it. The River Walk is particularly lovely, with crocuses poking up out of the earth, and bits of green just starting to show on some trees.

⬦ THOUGHTS LEFT UNSAID: ON THE RIVER: Think of something you've always figured you'd take to the grave. Along the banks of the Greentooth River, in a clearing cordoned off by garlands of maple leaves, are wicker baskets filled with blunted arrows and cards, inviting festival attendees to write their thoughts and shoot them into the ether. Or just to the other side. Tradition dictates that if your arrow makes it across, it’s a sign that you should speak those words and not keep them to yourself. This is a popular spot for people to gather and chat quietly, as much as it is a place to participate in one of the festival’s strange traditions.

⬦ A FAIRY BALL: CITY HALL BONFIRE: The plaza outside city hall has been cleared for a massive bonfire. It’s warm and welcoming, plenty of space to mingle. All night there’s ample food and drink, plenty of song and dancing. Several masked citizens are handing out wreathes of maple leaves, and you get the impression more than one of those crown-peddlers may be a ghost, but that might just be the masks’ strange magic at work.

⬦ END OF THE NIGHT: No matter what time you think it is, you’ll arrive at your final destination by curfew. Take off that mask, pull off those robes and get ready for bed. Tomorrow, the day’s events will feel a bit like a dream, but for now they’re still fresh in your mind.

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LEAP DAY FESTIVAL!

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