peckenpaugh | HOMECOMING DANCE 2019!!

homecoming dance

what's up? It’s raining tonight, which would make an outdoor dance inconvenient if this weren’t a school for wizards. The Central Green is the site of tonight’s Homecoming Dance, and Student Council and Homecoming Committee made extra sure everything above was watertight. Any loitering students are kicked out of the area by mid-morning today so dance setup can begin. While decorative malfunctions and diva meltdowns from freshmen slightly complicate things, it all comes together in the end and things are ready to go with plenty of time left before the dance is set to start.

Cardboard walls painted with magical sci fi murals ⁠— animated scenes of aliens, robots, giant radioactive ants and other cosmic horrors ⁠— have been stuck up at all park entrances, filtering students in through Central Classrooms. Overhead, rain drops splatter against magic shielding. The cloudy sky is supplemented by black cloth canopies painted with glittering galaxies. CDs and other swag bag goodies float in the air just beneath, made to look like planets and comets against a starry sky. Throughout the Green there are robots and aliens crafted from cardboard and covered in googly eyes. The existing flagstone patios have been expanded with temporary wooden platforms for attendees to dance and mingle without getting their shoes dirty.

visuals!

volunteer slots! An extremely brave little Muscheron asks Armani for a dance. You'll probably have to hold them in the palm of your hand, Armani.

In honor of the newest interstellar visitor, Mr. Hobgood is dressed as a comet tonight. It's a great look but the tail is quite cumbersome, and [CHARACTER B] trips over it on the dance floor.

Willow Quackenbush discovers the pod people pods are big enough to climb into and crawls inside one intent on spooking any canoodling couples. Their plan goes awry though when they get stuck and need to be rescued by Lionel Lovelace.

how this works! ⬥ The dance starts at 7PM and goes until 10PM.

⬥ There's an RNG game — test your shooting skills and accuracy in a Men in Black style shooting gallery. We will roll up to three times.

⬥ Here is a playlist to dance and get abducted to for your listening pleasure.

locations! ⬦ BEFORE THE DANCE: The Central Green has been blocked off since this morning, and the first attendees aren’t allowed in until 7PM. What did you get up to before the dance? Were you helping to set up or perfecting your costume make up? Student Council and Homecoming Committee members definitely had a bit of a panic this afternoon trying to make sure everything was water tight. This is a great spot for dorm or house/year prep threads. Tell us what you were doing!

⬦ ENTRANCE: CRASHING STARSHIP: With the Central Green blocked off for the dance tonight, the only convenient way to get in is through Central Classrooms. The lobby of Peckenpaugh’s main academic building has been transformed. Students enter into a narrow starship hallway, gunmetal gray and lines with pipes and knobs, blinking buttons and flashing lights. Upon closer inspection, the whole thing is crafted from cardboard, CDs and office supplies painted or charmed to look like spaceship parts. Streams of foggy mist shoot from the pipes intermittently. Periodically, the walls shudder and a series of pre-recorded sound clips play: clanging sounds, explosions, faint screams, animalistic roaring, and every two minutes a freshman voice fills the narrow path to announce: “DECOMPRESSION IMMINENT. PLEASE PROCEED TO EVACUATION PODS.” There are three ways to go: left or right take you to the restrooms, straight leads you out into the Central Green and the dance proper. Right at the sliding door entrance, there are bins of bubble guns that look like ray guns.

⬦ RNG GAME: ALIEN SHOOTING GALLERY: Veer down the left hall once you enter central classrooms and the starship hall will lead you straight to one of the first floor club rooms, which has been made into a dark room shooting gallery made up to look like a harried city street in the midst of an alien invasion. Toy laser guns will track your score as you fight off Alien Overlord Doug Bobson and his minions (and try to avoid hitting civilians!).

⬦ DANCE FLOOR: ABDUCTION CENTRAL: Looking to dance? A large low wooden patio has been set up, painted green with crop circle-like patterns across the width of it. Fog spills out over the floor and an eclectic selection of danceable tunes thrum from all around. The dance floor is bathed in green lights, bordered by street signs warning of UFO ACTIVITY, E.T. CROSSING and ABDUCTION ZONEs. Overhead, little UFOs made from frisbees fly around. Some of them have tiny toy cows made from stress balls floating beneath them as though being abducted. All of them shine beams of light down on dancers.

⬦ SNACK BAR: ALIEN GARDEN: One side of the large flagstone patio near the Central Classrooms entrance has been made up to look like an elaborate alien garden complete with a bubbling stream of green punch that gathers into a basin on the table’s far side. Nab extraterrestrial themed sweets and finger foods from bowls and plates made to look like strange plants, flowers, rocks and hatched alien eggs. Opposite the snack bar there are a few sleek metal tables seating two to four easily.

⬦ THE SURLY STUMP: CLASSIFIED UFO CRASH SITE: The Surly Stump has been given a wide enclosure tonight to protect it from rambunctious teens, the space is made up to look like a cordoned off government investigation site. It gives the Muscheron a bit of a platform to observe the festivities, and they’ve gotten in on it, firing off occasional clouds of colorful pollen and spores. Not far off, most of a large UFO crash landing site has been built from paper mache and repurposed balloon letter frames. It’s great for a photo op, or just fooling around on.

⬦ THE PARK: ALIEN HATCHERY: If you're looking for a secluded spot, a short wander off the path will bring you through dense fog to a clearing filled with rows and rows of lightly glowing alien eggs and the occasional person-sized pod person pod. A few benches dot this eerily beautiful spot. A great place to give your date the creeps.

⬦ END OF THE NIGHT: The dance wraps up around 10PM and students can head back to their dorms for the night. After tear down of the dance, Ms. Gunzenhauser invites any interested Student Council or Homecoming Committee members to get a late night snack at Dez's, her treat.

⬦ OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cedar's hair is sticking out in every direction and there's soot smeared on their face. The soot is not part of the costume. In fact, it doesn't seem like Cedar even completely made it into their costume.

"The laser gun shocked me," they say, holding their hand up toward their siblings to show off a black scorchmark on the palm. "What about you guys?"

Cedar's not asking about their laser gun scores.

"Mine started smoking," Hawthorne exclaims, and when he opens his mouth, a bit of smoke pours out of there, too. Huh. His costume is still mostly in one piece, but it's not hard to stay on theme in a Hawaiian shirt. "And it didn't stop smoking." A pause. "I put it back so hopefully it works well for the next person." It will not.

Edited 2019-10-26 22:45 (UTC)

"I told you it was a bad idea," Willow announces. Which, technically that's true, but she hadn't actually encouraged any of them not to do it. She just wanted to be able to say I-told-you-so afterwards. "Mine was fine." That's a lie — there's a hole on the thigh of her holo dress.

"You shoulda seen me out there though, I was all PEW PEW PEW —" Cedar jumps to their feet, hands held out like a gun and swinging dangerously close to their siblings' faces. "I think even Mr. Berzelius was scared of me." Mr. Berzelius is scared of all of them. They taught him how to experience fear.

"Did you shock anyone else, though?" Hawthorne asks, leaning back just enough that Cedar's fingergunslinging only just grazes his nose. It's not completely clear whether Hawthorne is worried that someone else might've been injured, or hoping Cedar took someone out.

"Uhhhhhhhh."

The unspoken question is "do freshmen count as people?" This is probably Tree Talk.

"Does that count as extra points or minus points?" Willow asks.

"Depends on where they were shocked," Hawthorne decides after a moment of consideration. "Like a dart board of shocking."

"Lay out the scoring for me, Thorny."

"Feet, hands and head count for the most, since those are smaller and harder to hit," he replies, sounding as though he shouldn't even have to explain this part. "Shoulders and knees a little less. Torso the least." A pause, he reconsiders, "Unless you shock the navel. That's bulls-eye."

"Okay," she says, nodding as if this is totally reasonable. "How do you lose points, then?"

"If they tell their mom," Cedar answers, authoritatively.

"Oh that'll dock you big, overall," Hawthorne nods along with Cedar's assessment, sounding grave.

But then in the next moment, his attention is fixed on Willow. Suspicious. "Hey, how come you don't know this stuff?" He's not saying Willow is an impostor, but if SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT, he'd be open to the possibility.

Willow is nodding with understanding until suddenly, she's yelling. "'Cause we're making it up right now!" she shouts, shoving a finger into Hawthorne's chest.

"Pretty big talk for someone I MADE UP RIGHT NOW!" Cedar jumps to their feet to point a finger at Willow and promptly drops a cupcake on the ground. They don't notice. There are more important things at stake here.

Willow screws up her reddening face. "Shut up, you know I hate when you two pretend I'm imaginary!"

HOMECOMING DANCE 2019!!

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat

THE SURLY STUMP: Quackenbushes In Their Natural Habitat