MAY POCKET PARTY

[peckishmods]

pocket's tv land party!

what's up?

Pocket is throwing a party tonight and you’re invited! There’s about an hour after dinner to get ready for the big event, and though curfew is tighter tonight than it has been in a long time, somehow attendees find their paths unobstructed. It’s a warm, wet night, but the path up to the waterfall caves is clear as ever.

In groups and pairs, students pass beneath the falls and into the caves beyond. Tonight they needn’t walk far. A thin electric hum meets their ears, the walls dimly illuminated by a pale flickering light. Just a few steps take them to the door to Pocket’s party: a single, large television that in bright candy technicolor beckons students to EXPERIENCE POCKET!VISION!

Students who step up to the screen will find it permeable, and passing through changes everything at once...

visuals!

volunteer slots!

On their way up the side of the hill, [CHARACTER A] finds a sign post discarded in some bushes. Hastily painted on the front is an approximation of Pouch’s face, circled with red and struck through with a single line. It looks like Pocket has decided not to disinvite her brother from her party.

pairings list!

• Claudia Vega
• STB #1: Howdy
• STB #2: Uriah
• 7MIH: Trudy

• Echo Ellerby
• STB #1: Tybalt
• STB #2: Gemma

• Felicity Deverill
• STB #1: Presley
• STB #2: Winter
• 7MIH: Kermit

• Gemma Zhao
• STB #1: Scarlett
• STB #2: Echo
• 7MIH: Willow

• Howdy Stoppelbein
• STB #1: Claudia
• STB #2: Trudy
• 7MIH: Uriah

• Kermit Creekmore
• STB #1: Wyatt
• STB #2: Tybalt
• 7MIH: Felicity

• Presley Mondragon
• STB #1: Felicity
• STB #2: Wyatt
• 7MIH: Winter

• Scarlett Hatfield
• STB #1: Gemma
• STB #2: Willow

• Trudy McGilliguddy
• STB #1: Winter
• STB #2: Howdy
• 7MIH: Claudia

• Tybalt Zettler
• STB #1: Echo
• STB #2: Kermit
• 7MIH: Wyatt

• Uriah Hatfield
• STB #1: Willow
• STB #2: Claudia
• 7MIH: Howdy

• Willow Quackenbush
• STB #1: Uriah
• STB #2: Scarlett
• 7MIH: Gemma

• Wyatt Webberley
• STB #1: Kermit
• STB #2: Presley
• 7MIH: Tybalt

how this works!

⬥ Welcome to Pocket’s party! Pocket always wants to hang out with the students of Peckenpaugh, and she uses her unusual magic to give them a fantastic new place to visit and play with her. This is Pocket’s domain, and she’ll block or (safely) eject anyone who is dangerously disruptive or threatens the safety or secrecy of her party.

⬥Pocket Parties are pretty much old hat for Peckenpaugh's students, provided you've been here for a year. What's not old hat is the party itself. Pocket's parties are always reliably wild and imaginative, bending the limits of magic and reality!

⬥Tonight’s party starts at 8PM and stretches on indistinctly. Before the party, every student on campus could hear Pocket asking them if they were coming. It seems she really wants everyone to attend! Usually, when you leave the party, it’s precisely at 11PM, but tonight things are going to get a little strange…

⬥It’s TV Land! Tonight’s party has some fun surprises for students:

• For the duration of the party, your wands have been transformed into television remotes. You can use your magical remote to punch in a number and change your look ⁠— or your friends’ looks! We’ve provided a list of “channels” below in the comments to give you outfit inspiration.


• There’s a live studio audience in just about every part of the party that will react to student’s actions with laughter, applause, soft gasps, cooing and even boos.


• Each area is bordered on one side by a giant television with a single dial and a set of large rabbit ears ⁠— not antenna, literal rabbit ears. Pocket’s still not 100% on muggle stuff.
  
  
  • Students can tune the knob or adjust the rabbit ears and jump through the television to proceed to a different part of the party.


• Each of the subheader locations at this party has a different small effect that may or may not complicate your character’s life. Be sure to read the descriptions for each to see what you’re working with!


• THE INFORMERCIAL GAME:
  
  • As part of the final party, you the player can opt your characters into The Infomercial Game.
  
  
  • If you’d like to play, title your thread with the words (IG). So, for example, “Adrian & Mary Grace (IG)” or “Winter (OPEN++) (IG)”
  
  
  • At any point during your thread, we may interrupt you with something like “Oops!” or “Oh no!” or “Watch out!”, and the next person to tag has to catastrophically mess up whatever it is they’re doing ⁠— just like a ridiculous infomercial.
  
  
  • We won’t hit any threads that haven’t opted in, so you can carry on normally, if you’d like without fear of being interrupted.
  
  
  • This is just a fun way to mix up scenes and add an additional prompt to whatever you’re doing.

locations!

⬦ WHAT'S UP: It's the last Pocket Party of the year! How're you feeling? What're your plans? Gonna sneak out and partake in a little breaking and entering later? What part of the party is your character going to spend the most time in? Let us know here!

⬦ CHANNEL FIVE: The Family Sitcom: There’s something strange about the look of this room ⁠— aside from the mid-century modern furniture, that is ⁠— light, delicate colors, almost pastels, contrast with heavy shadow, giving everything the look of a colorized photo. Otherwise, it seems like a standard 1950s living room, if one that is particularly spacious. A fire gently flickers in the marble hearth against the center wall. There are plenty of places to sit comfortably or stand and mingle while a jukebox plays peppy music from one side of the room. That studio audience is particularly attentive to your actions here and will react to most things you do. Additionally, this is a family show so if you curse, you’re getting bleeped!

⬦ COMMERCIAL BREAKS: Occasionally on your way to another part of the party, you may be intercepted by a commercial break! These rotating scenes can be just about anything: a surrealist car insurance commercial, a heart-string tugging feminism-baiting commercial about girls’ empowerment that turns out to be for gel shoe inserts, an alarmingly horny coffee commercial or even a political ad. You can run through these scenes as people move and peddle products around you, or hang out and cause some trouble. The one thing tying these strange liminal spaces together is that everything advertised is Pocket! brand.

⬦ CHANNEL THIRTY-SIX: The Anime Adventure: Everything here is hand drawn, bright colors and bold lines, even your peers look different: big, flowing hair in neon colors, gigantic sparkling eyes. No, you aren’t tripping balls (well, you might be, but this is unrelated) ⁠— it seems Pocket!Vision has an all anime channel. This Ghibli-esque field bears a passing resemblance to the meadows around Lake Peckenpaugh, though far more densely packed with flowers that sway attractively in the sweet summery breeze. A stream lazily winds through the area, and an idyllic cabin sits off to the side. Mostly, there’s a lot of room, a few strategically placed picnic blankets and plenty of cute mushrooms to look at. If you show up looking like the Rose of Versailles, a Saiyan from Planet Sadala or a student at U.A. High School, you may also find that there’s more than adequate space for some overwrought battles. Whenever you speak, English subtitles appear in front of you at chest level. And yes, they are annoying.

⬦ CHANNEL TWELVE: The Rom-Com: The sun is shining on this quaint little street where stone storefronts hug a rain-drenched sidewalk. Every once in a while, a sunshower dumps water on the students passing through this area, but there’s just enough space for two or three to shelter together under a narrow overhang. Everything on this little small town block is purpose built to cause meet cutes ⁠— busses are running ahead of schedule, cute dogs will lead you to someone else, and the chances of tripping and falling into a classmate are extremely, extremely high. The only real store is a bookshop-slash-coffee shop where students have gathered to play kissing games.

⬦ PARTY GAMES: The Meet-Cute Cafe: Students have moved comfortable chairs and ottomans into a loose circle in the middle of this bookstore-slash-cafe. Between smooches you can grab a cappuccino or disappear into the shelves. If you’re playing seven minutes in heaven, there’s an elaborate but tiny castle made from old books on one side of the shop where you can go for a bit of privacy.

⬦ CHANNEL SEVENTY-TWO: The Cooking Competition: Partygoers in search of snacks have their work cut out for them tonight, spilling out from the television barrier onto an arena where several kitchen work stations are set up. Harsh lights cast a somewhat unflattering glow on everything, and blind those on stage from seeing the faceless crowd surrounding them. Each workstation has a stove, a minifridge, a sink and a large basket of miscellaneous ingredients. Each time one item is taken from the basket, a new strange item appears in its place. So if you’re specifically hankering for strawberry ice cream, you may have to remove crabapples, scrapple, and a bag of squid chips first. Every once in a while, Pocket’s disembodied voice will announce a new secret ingredient, and once she’s called “Allez cuisine!” faceless commentators will narrate everything you do on stage.

⬦ CHANNEL EIGHT: The Puppy Bowl: It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen: a little football field covered in soft pink carpet, strewn with catnip mice, rubber balls and tug-of-war toys. This channel is playing The Puppy Bowl, pitting kittens and puppies against each other in … well, hanging out in a well lit space and just being cute. Hang out and cuddle for a while.

⬦ END OF THE NIGHT: Something wicked this way comes.

⬦ OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Comments

WHAT'S UP?

[peckishmods]

WHAT'S UP, Claudia?

[nublada]

Claudia spends a long time outfit-surfing, flipping through each option and then back half a dozen times a piece. Hmmm. She does look good in the Fifties, but look at all these scarves and shawls! Ohhh, and what is this? A cowboy hat? This is absolutely darling, and Claudia looks so cute in it.

It takes a long time before Claudia's vanity allows her to choose just one, but she finally settles on rom com shawl extravaganza. Why does she have the sudden urge to throw her hair around as she belts a montage song into her hair curler??

WHAT'S UP, Felicity?

[bratsquatch]

Good luck catching Felicity in the same outfit twice. She bouncing around from channel to channel, outfit to outfit, trying to make the most of the last Pocket Party of the year. She DESPERATELY wants to talk to Wyatt in the subtitled room to see how Pocket's magic spells to/two/too your/you're there/their/they're.

WHAT'S UP, Lionel?

[lionellovelace]

Lionel is fascinated by Pocket's interpretation of television and is interested in either talking to her or simply exploring the space. Also, if I'm being honest, he probably gets into a fight with the disembodied audience voices who keep commenting on his behavior or booing or clapping. He... hates that.

CHANNEL FIVE: The Family Sitcom

[peckishmods]

Lionel & OPEN

[lionellovelace]

Seated on a comfortable sofa near the fire, Lionel takes in the space. How does Pocket know so much about American sitcoms? She's gotten the feel just right, as far as he can tell. Everything is cheated out toward the fourth wall. Picture frames with half-decent photoshopped couples. A room made to look like it belongs to a middle-class family but if you think about it, there's so way the average American could afford it. Huh. His eyes move from details to detail. Fascinating.

"HEY!" a disembodied voice from the darkness yells. "DO SOMETHING!"

"M-me?" Lionel asks, touching his chest and looking around.

CHANNEL FIVE: Chanel Vs The World Now on Nick at Nite (OPEN+! IG!)

[necrodanseuse]

The beautiful set isn't exactly one Chanel would pick on purpose, but she's three drinks in and this party isn't amusing to her anymore. She isn't sure if it's the loud interruptions, or the stupid sets, or just, oh, the fact that so many of her friends and brother are about to go themselves killed in a basement. She knows she should go with them, but Trudy's in charge of that stupid group. And there's nothing she can do to stop it. The feeling of so much floating just beyond her control is frustrating. To say the least. So she's separated from all her friends. Even (especially?) Chanel Addams needs a place sometimes, to dramatically fling herself across a couch and let out a frustrated half-scream.

This cues a laugh from the studio audience.

And then she realizes she's dressed in a bright sundress, hair immaculate but in a high bun. "Oh, you know what." She hisses. "FORK."

The laughtrack goes again, and Chanel sends up double blurred-out middle fingers. Somehow, despite all her worries, she's the one who landed in hell tonight.

COMMERCIAL BREAKS

[peckishmods]

CEDAR STUCK IN A QUACKENMERCIAL (OPEN, IG)

[circuitree]

"HELLO???"

Cedar isn't sure where they are. They've kinda been wandering for somewhere between twenty minutes and their entire life and all they can find is grass? Just so much grass? And—oh, they're covered in mud, but that's nothing new.

"PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE HERE??" they shout into nothingness. In the distance, they spot a building. A house maybe? Is this where the kissing games are?? Cedar doesn't want to play kissing games, but Willow usually does, and if they can find Willow then at least they can be stuck together.

They hurry toward the house, a patio and a sliding glass door quickly coming into focus. And then they hear something.

A voice.

"My kids love playing outside, but I wish they'd stop bringing so much inside."

Cedar pulls up short. Looks around. Up. Down. There is no one. The voice has no body. "ARE YOU GOING TO HELP—"

"Pocket! Brand detergent keeps my family looking their best—"

Cedar turns around, putting their back to the wall of the house. Oh no. No one in the Quackenbush family has been killed by a disembodied voice that loved laundry detergent before. They're gonna need a whole new book for this.

CHANNEL THIRTY-SIX: The Anime Adventure

[peckishmods]

Willow & Winter, a Ghibli Adventure

[pageantree]

Willow doesn't know too much about muggle animation in general, or what differentiates Japanese animation. She just liked the way the flowers looked over here. They're so colorful, and they away in waves from the fragrant wind. She even has a lovely dress, though it's got puffed sleeves and a frilly apron, far from her usual style. There's a Brook babbling nearby and Willow sets out to find it.

Of course, she's still a Quackenbush. She finds the water, alright - by tripping and landing in it face first.

CHANNEL TWELVE: The Rom-Com

[peckishmods]

Felicity Goes Prom Date Hunting (OPEN ++)

[bratsquatch]

Fifth? Sixth? Seventh? Eighth time is the charm? Felicity has lost track.

She takes a deep breath and marches in her heels towards the edge of the sidewalk. She rolls her ankle just as she reaches the road, closes her eyes, and prays that this time when she opens them, she's in the arms of some Prince Charming (and future prom date) who has saved her from a horrible fall.

PARTY GAMES: The Meet-Cute Cafe

[peckishmods]

💋 CLAUDIA 💋 - Howdy, Uriah, Trudy

[nublada]

Hair damp from the four sudden rainshowers that forced her to seek refuge in here, Claudia reapplies her lipstick before taking her seat in the kissing circle.

💋 KERMIE 💋 - Wyatt, Tybalt, Felicity

[maledictorian]

Kermie's about three wine pops deep at this point. What a lush. Come 'n' get it.

💋 FELICITY 💋 - Presley, Winter, Kermit

[bratsquatch]

Felicity sits crosslegged with a book resting in her lap. Kissing for Dummies. She swiped it off one of the shelves and is more than happy to share some of the pearls of wisdom found within.

💋 GEMMA 💋 - Scarlett, Echo, Willow

[sparkling_gem]

Gemma sprawls on a couch, taking up more space than necessary. She leans back and fidgets while waiting for the bottle to land on her. She is so ready for this.

💋 URIAH 💋 - Willow, Claudia, Howdy & Anyone

[negligently]

Uriah usually gets drunk at parties, but after catching a glimpse of Tybalt out of the corner of his eye, he decided to indulge a little extra. He's sprawled over several pillows on the ground, grinning lazily as the bottle spins 'round and 'round.

💋 WINTER 💋 - Trudy, Presley & Open

[damnnearkilledem]

She was trying to read this weird book in Bug Language when everyone sat in this circle and now she's afraid to be the first one to leave...

💋 TYBALT 💋 - Echo! Kermie! Wyatt! Just anyone!

[princeofcat]

This party is fun,and he's having fun. He's every bit as boisterous as normal, maybe more so. Kiss him.

CHANNEL SEVENTY-TWO: The Cooking Competition

[peckishmods]

BAD COOKING W/ CLAUDIA (OPEN++) (IG)

[nublada]

Claudia has never heard of a geoduck before. And when she sees one sitting on top of everything in her basket, she immediately wonders where the hell this side of Pocket has been all this time. Like, damn girl.

"I think I promised to wait until marriage before cooking one of these," she says, holding the crustacean by its shell. She pokes the tip experimentally. Hm. Uncomfortable.

CHANNEL EIGHT: The Puppy Bowl

[peckishmods]

Desmond Savage, Professional Jungle-Gym (OPEN ++)

[opsia]

Lying still among the tumbling piles of puppies, there is a bear.

Wait. No.

Correction: Lying still among the tumbling piles of puppies, there is a dog that's alarmingly close to the general size and shape of a bear. Potentially mistaken for a bear at first glance, maybe. But not actually a bear. Chin resting on its paws and eyes closed, it's seemingly oblivious to the kitten batting at its nose and the set of teeth tugging on one of its ears. The only sign of life is the slow, staccato thump of a heavy tail against the artificial turf of the stadium floor.

END OF THE NIGHT

[peckishmods]

STUDENTS ARRIVE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT

[peckishmods]

There's nothing strange about the way Pocket's Party ends tonight. At least, not at first. Each television portal tunes to a view of the cave, and students slowly make their way through, though each arrives back in the real world at the same time. It’s what’s there waiting that’s strange.

Nine of their peers and one party bug stand at the mouth of the cave, all looking a little worse for wear, maybe a bit disoriented.

Pocket materializes in front of her brother, springing up from the ground and clutching his face. Her expression shifts rapidly, anger, shock, fear, horror. “What did you do?”

“They’re still in there, Little Sister. They’re still—We can—I can fix—” Pouch gasps, nearly collapsing into Pocket’s arms once she has him.

“Your wing,” Pocket frets, gingerly touching the spot where one of Pouch’s iridescent wings has been ripped away. She lifts her gaze, first to him, then beyond the Falls. “What—Ohmigawd—”

The first students who wander close to the mouth of the cave and peer out at campus will see just what Pocket is gasping at: everything is covered in vines. Purple flowers bloom bright, sparkling in the silver moonlight. A suffocating blanket of weeds.

“He’s out,” Pocket says, her voice for a second very small. She turns to the gathering students, and the sight of them seems to steel her resolve. “You need to get back to your Houses. You’ll be safe there.” Pocket says. She releases her brother and walks to the entrance of the cave where, after a moment of concentration, she begins to glow. Pocket lifts her foot and brings it down, a single stomp that makes the very earth shake.

A carpet of green moss erupts from the spot, spilling out of the cave, down the path, ripping through vines and flowers, withering the weeds. Not all of them, but most, cast out by command of the holler, itself. From the mossy carpet, things begin to climb out: wisps of light, and muscheron, and … is that Bub?

Peckenpaugh’s groundskeeper steps up to Pocket and trills softly. She smiles but says nothing at all. “They’ll escort you. We need to...tell your guardians. And…” Pocket looks at her brother, and takes his hand when he offers it. “Try to stop this. Try to get them all back.”

The two of them disappear.

[STUDENTS ARE FREE TO MINGLE HERE FOR A WHILE LONGER, but Bub, the muscheron, and the will-o-wisps gathered will be escorting kids back to their dorms. Everyone will arrive at their homes safely, between midnight and 12:30AM. Staff is already waiting for each house, which is immaculately clear of any vines. More teachers will join students at their dorms as the night goes on.]

While the rest of the night may be restless, as dawn breaks on Saturday morning a sense of safety pervades. Though the day starts with a thin layer of frost over every leaf and blade of grass, it evaporates with the rise of the sun, and the mist that settles in the holler’s basin is warm. There are still weeds in parts of Peckenpaugh campus, and staff is busy all day with further removal, but it looks like the magimagicicada put a stop to the unchecked spread and killed a lot of the growth…for now.

OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[peckishmods]

Getting this set up early

OOC - THE TV GUIDE LISTING

[peckishmods]

Your wands have been turned into remotes for the night! New features include the ability to "change the channel" on your own look or the looks of your friends to change outfits and adjusting hue/saturation/contrast. Here's a channel listing to give you a few ideas for outfits and lewks:

TV CHANNEL LISTING

• Channel 3 - Saturday Morning Cartoons - Are you a hot fox robin hood?


• Channel 4 - The Evening News - Get your broadcast on.


• Channel 5 - The Family Sitcom - 1950s - 1960s styles.


• Channel 7 - SPORTS! But it's just ice skating - You look great in a leotard.


• Channel 8 - The Puppy Bowl - Thank god, no, you don't turn into a dog. But maybe a referee outfit would be cute.


• Channel 12 - The Rom-Com - A lot of scarves and shawls. Did you get a hairbrush? You're supposed to use it like a microphone.


• Channel 15 - Disney Channel Tween Show - It's what you'd normally wear but with 300% more perfect color coordination and 17 times more twee.


• Channel 17 - The CW - It's what you'd normally wear but with the contrast turned up by 500% and a blue filter overlaid on everything.


• Channel 20 - Westerns - Yee and haw


• Channel 36 - Anime - Who here WOULDN'T look good in a plug suit? Get in the Eva, Shinji.


• Channel 72 - Cooking Channel - What you'd normally wear but there's an apron.


• Channel 1870 - High Production Cost Period Piece - If you wanted to be a viking or Queen Elizabeth or whatever.

This is not comprehensive! Feel free to get creative!