TELLING OF THE BEES FESTIVAL

[peckishmods]

the telling of the bees

what's up?

Sunny skies make an otherwise brisk late autumn day positively pleasant. The air is crisp and sweet, the smell of honey and baked goods mixing with the cold. Winter is coming, but it’s not quite here yet. Before it starts, it’s time for one last harvest hurrah as Elflock Falls celebrates its special relationship with the bees in its life. For the next three days the Telling of the Bees Festival is going on in town and Elflock Falls is decked out for the occasion. Lampposts are transfigured into bright shining beehives, large magimechanical bees bumble overhead cheerily, honeycomb patterns decorate storefronts and streets and the Riverwalk is dotted with all manner of stands, some simple, others magically enhanced, peddling snacks, handicrafts and other goods related to the autumn harvest. It’s a great time to pick up some handmade winter wear!

The Telling of the Bees Festival runs from Saturday to Monday, but the first day is by far the liveliest as it features both the meadery contest and the actual Telling of the Bees ritual. Peckenpaugh students can get discounts from food stands all weekend.

visuals!

volunteer slots!

Mr. Berzelius needs some help getting the Peckenpaugh hives ready for the celebration. Can't let the school's own bees feel left out of the celebration! He recruits 💯 [CHARACTER A] and 💯 [CHARACTER B] to do some decorating. They're tasked with decorating each hive with scarlet cloth and setting out a dessert of apple dumplings for the bees to enjoy. A good effort (a thread with 3 replies each) will earn each student 5 Points for their Houses while a damn fine job (6 replies each) will earn each student 10 Points. Good luck with those bees, guys! You have until the end of the month.

Valkyrie is just trying to be helpful when they noticed a knocked over trash can near the carousel, but they're surprised when an inordinately chubby raccoon pops out of it. The raccoon seems just as surprised to see Val, and gets tangled up on their feet trying to escape before it scampers off with just a mint tin and a paper plate, sticky with honey.

A few students make a game of trying to sneak samples during the mead contest:

• [CHARACTER D] and [CHARACTER E] can't get past the age line and wind up growing magnificent beards.
• 💯 Wyatt manages to get a sample, but their selection leaves them breathing actual fire for the next hour. It's not hard for Ms. Min to connect the dots when she spots them. They lose 5 Points for their House, but Ms. Min sends them off with a tums, too.

[CHARACTER G] spots Mr. Crockett arguing with Liquor Store Zed heatedly about ... fanfiction?

It's the last carousel ride of the night, and Lionel climbs aboard at the same time as all three Quackenbushes. The ride starts out fairly ordinary, but, predictably enough, goes downhill quick, and it starts spinning faster and faster and faster. It takes eight full minutes and four brave townsfolk to get the carousel to stop before it spins off into the stratosphere.

how this works!

⬥ The Telling of the Bees Festival is Elflock Falls’s late autumn harvest festival, the main draws of which are the traditional Telling of the Bees, various arts, handicrafts and tasty snacks being sold, and the annual meadery contest (but that’s for adults).

⬥ The Telling of the Bees Festival starts on Saturday morning and goes until Monday night. This IC/OOC focuses predominantly on Saturday, but feel free to thread multiple days by indicating which one in the subject line of your comment!

⬥ Saturday's Festival features include the actual Telling of the Bees around midday, as well as a Best Magical Mead of Elflock Falls contest. There are further county fair-styled food and craft contests throughout the weekend.

⬥ The Telling of the Bees is a tradition found throughout Europe and the United States wherein important life events are shared with the bees, who need to be included in such events or, it is said, they will despair and die or leave their hives. In Elflock Falls this tradition has taken on its own unique spin. The locals like to share how their years went, their secrets and their gossip all at once, once a year, with the magical bees of Elflock Falls.

⬥ Fill out the form under the Tell The Bees section and post it to that subheader to let us know what you told the bees. Bees are good secret keepers. :)

locations!

🍯 WHAT'S UP?: Did you get an apple dumpling with ice cream or without? Does the carousel look like a bit too much thrill for you? What’d you decide to wear when you told the bees your secrets, and did you pick up any new accessories from the local handicraft stands on the main street? Tell us all about your day!

🍯 TELL THE BEES: Around midday, the Telling of the Bees begins. Participants head off the Riverwalk path to a clearing where decorated wooden hives have been set up. It’s tradition, to tell the bees about your year, or your secrets, or any good gossip you happened to hear. They may be all abuzz, but you don’t need to worry about them spilling your secrets.

🍯 ANONBEEMOUS MESSAGING: You don't have to limit your secrets to just the bees! Want to send a nice note to a friend? Wish someone well this coming winter? Spill your secret affections to a crush? What better way to do it than by magimechanical bee?! For the magical equivalent of $1US, you can send a simple note to someone via those great big artificed bees floating around the festival area. They'll happily deliver your note to whomever you wish.

🍯 SHOPS & STALLS: The main street of Elflock Falls downtown is packed with stands and stalls. Everything is intricately decorated and welcoming, some of them are so fantastically designed that they resemble actual cottages and all of them are hoping to get your business. Stop by support local artists and craftspeople and grab any variety of sweet autumn treats. The main draw is all the bee-based products, honey-based potions in cute beehive bottles, and beeswax candles in designs running from simple to "spooky", cosmetics and soaps. There's plenty of stalls full of art, artifice and other handicrafts, too. Simple magical knick-knacks, handmade clothes and accessories, and even expensive artisan brooms and wands are being peddled. Food-wise, honey, apples, pumpkin and the local paw paw fruit feature heavily in most offered dishes, from sweet ice creams and preserves to savory and spicy dishes like pumpkin curry. There are spots to grab traditional greasy fair food, as well, if you're not up for experimenting, and plenty of places to pop a squat and people watch. There are a few different people busking: a one man magical band, a person in a bee costume on stilts, two girls juggling to violin music played by a third.

🍯 CAROUSEL, GAMES & SHOWCASE: The end of Elflock Falls's main downtown drag is a small midway with simple games like bobbing for apples and balloon popping. There're also stands showing off winning crops and crafts, including the biggest pumpkin, best honey (won this year by Mr. Berzelius and Peckenpaugh's bees) and of course best locally brewed mead. The main draw, though, is the large magical carousel that runs all day and well into the evening. This truly impressive black-and-yellow beehive-shaped merry-go-round is a triple decker ride featuring free floating single-rider worker bees, fuzzy multi-rider bumble bees and slightly more private honeycomb-shaped seating for two. The middle level moves opposite the bottom and top, and it all lights up at night, making it as entertaining to watch as it is to ride.

🍯 RIVERWALK & HAYRIDE: Down along the riverwalk where autumn colors still burn bright and beautiful, a horse-pulled trailer filled with hay trundles along the path. Wool blankets and glass jars of handheld, non-burning flames are available to help fight the cold. Early in the evening the hayride is very popular with local kids. As the night wears on and the air gets chillier, the trailer empties out and it's not a bad place to snuggle up with someone sweet.

🍯 ELSEWHERE & EVENING: This spot is for any scenes that don't take place at the festival. Did your student skip to hang out under the pitch bleachers? Want to do a late evening scene with your dormmates turning in for the night? Here's your spot!

🍯 OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Comments

WHAT'S UP?

[peckishmods]

WHAT'S UP, Laszlo?

[notpoison]

Laszlo spends a lot of his time walking arm-in-arm with his mother. He seems content, but the first evening gives him some ideas. Their lives could be so much easier if it weren't for one little detail.

Aside from that, he's happy to spend time with friends. He enjoys looking at all the shops, but thinks the carousel looks dangerous. Someone with a little charisma could talk him into it, though.

TELL THE BEES

[peckishmods]

Got something you want to share with the bees? Use this form posted to this heading and tell them everything! It'll make you both feel better. :)

<b>NAME:</b> <B>WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES:</b> <b>ANYTHING ELSE?:</b> Bees like offerings of sweets and appreciate if you dolled yourself up for the occasion.

ARMANI TELLS THE BEES: Round I

[teratophilia]

NAME: Armani
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: SIGHHHHH. He REALLY shouldn't talk about FRIENDS like this but he HAS to get this off his chest to truly be able to OVERCOME it, you know, bees???

Laszlo is in love with Tybalt and he was FINE with it until he learned that Eddy is in love with Tybalt too!! And he felt SOOO jealous and he was SURE he very suddenly realized he was in love with Laszlo, but now that he's had some time to reflect he thinks he just hated the idea of Laszlo spending most of his time with another person. :'((

Ohhh... but speaking of TYBALT. Did you hear? Laszlo says that Tybalt told him he doesn't date. How sad is it to have to hear that from your crush??? If it was Armani, he doesn't think he could recover but Laszlo is SO strong to be able to keep it together in the face of heartbreak!!!

... He also maybe told Laszlo that Eddy likes Tybalt in the hopes that he'd give up his pursuit. It would HURT the FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE if they were BOTH pursuing Tybalt, you know??? But also he couldn't stand the thought of them together!!

SIGHHH..... Bees, you're such good listeners. :(

ANYTHING ELSE?: Armani googled what bees like to eat and has made them sugar syrup! He also dressed up fancy just for them in his overpriced Gucci bee sweater!

LASZLO TELLS THE BEES

[notpoison]

NAME: Laszlo Pataki
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: It's not a closely kept secret that his heart ACHES for Tybalt. As in there's physical pain. And he wants to vomit about it sometimes. Edgar also likes him and there was a moment where he was... displeased with the news. But. Bees. He promises he's not going to do anything about that. He already weighed the pros and cons. It's better this way. Tybalt won't live past 35 by his estimation.

On an unrelated note. (Bees. Listen. He already told you he's not going to do anything about that.) He's been doing research on committing a crime. Not now. But some day. It would just make his mother's life easier.

So maybe he should stay in contact with his father. Just a little bit. How do the bees feel about that? Is it a good idea?
ANYTHING ELSE?: He brought a bushel of fresh lavender for them.

TYBALT, UNFORTUNATELY, TELLS THE BEES

[princeofcat]

NAME: Tybalt
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Hey, bees.
He's heard some people can come back as you someday.
And he'd like to do that.
But Vi was right because he definitely isn't ready to come back as anything so good yet.
He thinks he's really hurt someone and doesn't know how to fix it, because he doesn't know what he did wrong in the first place. And talking doesn't feel right. Excusing himself from their life does. And it's probably easier for everyone.

But that's okay. He shouldn't complain.
He's doing okay. Compared to a lot of people, probably. He just wishes he knew what was going on. And how can he convince Laszlo he won't die?

[...] Hey, also, is he really just not good at Quidditch? Maybe he should quit and focus on Quodpot. Because he almost died a few games ago, and he hasn't won once. And next Quod match is at the school he effectively got kicked out of.
What if everyone finds out, and laughs at him?
And what if they say something about where he is now?
And what if he loses?
And what if next game is the one he really dies at?
He's only really good at sports.
He can't lose that, bees. He wouldn't have anything left.
Can they maybe consider letting him come to their hive after death after all?
He's gonna try to do better. Okay. Thanks.
ANYTHING ELSE?: He feels...more than stupid about this. He makes sure he is Completely Alone for this so pls assume NO ONE can overhear. Thank you. He brought a small bouquet of flowers for food? That's what they like, right?

ARMANI TELLS THE BEES: Round II

[teratophilia]

NAME: Armani
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES:
Did you know? There are these weird cicada shells kids keep finding. But when they show them to teachers, it's like they can't see them for what they are and sometimes they even freeze up without realizing. It's SO weird.

At the beginning of the year, Armani had a dream about the forest being destroyed and all that was left was a single maple tree. The Surly Stump was once the Magnanimous Maple so he thought MAYBE his dream was related to whatever happened to the stump. And the cicadas were strange so he thought he'd see how they reacted to the stump. And the cicada buzzed and buzzed when it was set on the stump! And the Muscheron thanked him for returning it to them!!

They're so strange... Wyatt used his in bone throwing and it's like all the other pieces were repelled by it when they were thrown and the cicada always landed on one of the cardinal points. And something always lands on the bottom left no matter where the other pieces go!!! Isn't that SO weird??? He wonders what it MEANS???

He's not really sure what the cicadas are, but he really wants to get to the bottom of this!!

ANYTHING ELSE?: He brought them some funnel cake this time. Also he's not being super secretive about it like Round I so I'm open to someone overhearing if they want?

URIAH TELLS THE BEES

[negligently]

NAME: Uriah Hatfield
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: C'mon, bees, you don't want to hear his whole sob story. It's old news.

He's been sneaking around with Tybalt, though. How's that for gossip? Okay, that's kinda boring too. Well, boring to everyone here. Wouldn't be boring back home. Look, he just doesn't want to talk to some bees about the heavy stuff. It's not going to make any of it better.

He settles for singing the chorus and a couple verses of a new song he's working on, which he'd yet to show anyone else. It's a lot more informative about his feelings than anything else he's said. Uriah concludes that he thinks it's too melodramatic, and will probably scrap most of it.
ANYTHING ELSE?: He leaves a cup of lemonade, and his hair is looking especially rakish today.

CHANEL DOES NOT TELL THE BEES

[necrodanseuse]

NAME: Chanel
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: "I'm going to murder a man for you by the end of the day. You'd like that better than any stupid high school gossip, now wouldn't you? That's what I thought."
ANYTHING ELSE?: Not

Yet.

JUP TELLS THE BEES

[gasgiant]

NAME: Jupiter QuigBEE
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Buzz buzz buzz, so bees Jup isn't sure if you've heard, but Zippy lets a cat run the store an awful lot. And that seems kind of impractical, even if the cat was the mayor once. Cats don't really know how to count dragots and if she's being totes honest she's not sure how the Zippy Dip is staying in the black. Hey bees? Can you keep an eye on old Zip for her? Thanks.

Also and unrelated did y'all know that Mr. Berzelius and Ms. Altizer are probably meant 2 bee? I KNOW RIGHT? Juicy s h i t.

Oh? About Jupiter herself? Well, she supposes with the winter quidditch break, watching everyone play quodpot, she's missing the sport. Misses the mess. Misses the team. Misses all the strategy that kept her brain sharp through the cold months. Can't go back now, though. And anyway, she makes a great mascot.

ANYTHING ELSE?: Jupiter leaves a single, homemade honey-glazed donut for the bees.

VALKYRIE TELLS THE BEES

[sugarnspite]

NAME: Val
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: They won their first Quodpot game! It's sooooooo exciting! Everyone did amazing! It turns out maybe she didn't need Jupiter as much as she thought she did... but then why does she still miss having her around?

Ugh. Everything's perfect, why isn't she happy? Lionel's totally into her. So why hasn't she done anything about it? Ughhhhhh. She needs to do a lot of meditation.

And in fact, she does just that. Val sits on her knees, and evens out her breathing to meditate among the bees for several moments. Her gold hair glistens in the sun, and it's a sight to behind, because she's part-Veela and it's basically a free pass to look stunning any time she does something mildly #aesthetic.
ANYTHING ELSE?: Val dressed in gold, yellow and pink, and there's gold glitter on her cheeks. Flowers are woven into her hair. She took a few selfies because it's a good look.

Val leaves a sticky bun, a citrine crystal and some sage for the bees, and bowed deeply to the hive before leaving.

AUDREY TELLS THE BEES

[andpoke]

NAME: Audrey
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: She thinks there's a person or being kept captive above the library. She promised to help, and it bothers her that she can't keep that promise. Not yet.
She's tried to tell other people, but she's really not sure how to go on from here.
How can she get back?

Also. And in better news. The Rock lives in this town.
Did they know?
ANYTHING ELSE?: She brought a few apples and while it's not really dressing up, there's a few little bees added to her temp tattoo collection today.

EDDY TELLS THE BEES?

[quidditched]

NAME: Eddy Waxweiler
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: After a five minute silent standoff with the bees, Eddy concludes with "Yeah. Shit's been crazy." He does feel better.
ANYTHING ELSE?: Sorry bees. Mickey ain't sharing.

WINTER TELL THE BEES

[damnnearkilledem]

NAME: Winter Carmichael
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Winter's dad doesn't take this event very seriously, so she takes it upon herself to give updates on the Carmichaels: mom's dating some new guy and it probably won't last. Dad's been making eyes at some of the locals, but if he's found someone he likes, Winter doesn't know it. Peony, her dad's owl, passed over the summer and it's been pretty rough since he's had her since he was in school. If the bees can see to it that Peony's resting easy, Winter would greatly appreciate it.

They killed the Druidic Arts program, in case the bees haven't noticed. Winter's still pretty torn up about that. But Herbology's pretty fine. Mr. Trullinger's cactus kitten, Zero Sugar Pepsi, won't leave Ms. Treetops alone, but Winter's pretty sure she likes the company. Oh! And also she's president of the magic club. The muggle magic club.

Winter does a card trick for the bees, just to show off that she deserves the position.

ANYTHING ELSE?: She leaves a bundle of wildflowers and a pretty rock atop one of the hives, and also a slice of vanilla honey cake.

MARY GRACE TELLS THE BEES

[crowhop]

NAME: Mary Grace O'Malley
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Mary Grace goes to great pains to make it look like she's just having a silly chat with the bees. Haha, bees, you're so funny, she doesn't have any secrets, but do you like her skirt? And just in case that's not enough...

Well, she doubts anyone cared to mention her dad's accident to them. He's fine... now. It's been like four or five months, and he was itching to get back in the air after, like, six weeks, so whatever, you don't need to worry bees. He knows what he's doing. Mom wouldn't let him go back next season if he didn't.

Siobhan is here. Doesn't sound like she's gotten detention or anything yet, and if that's a sign of what's to come for the rest of the O'Malleys then Mary Grace has some work to do. Erin's getting married in June and she seems to think Mary Grace should be wholly involved in planning it? Fuck off. What's she doing getting married at 19 anyway? (Ugh, but she has to help if she has any hope of making sure her bridesmaid dress makes her look better than the bride.)

She didn't, like, tell her family about Halloween, aside from mentioning that she'll make sure she's wearing pants next time she knocks on a mystery door. She should have told her dad, but she didn't want to worry him. It was whatever. It's not like she's worried about it. It was just an adventure, and everyone survived with nothing more than a cold, and Mary Grace continues to have literally everything under control.

ANYTHING ELSE?: She brings them a lemonade. It's got real sugar in it, and she didn't even let herself have that kind of luxury. She also has a super cute bee skirt that she's never going to wear when there's not a bee-centric festival going on.

POPPY TELLS THE BEES

[girlbeast]

NAME: Poppy
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Poppy's pretty sure that she has a crush on someone which means she'll probably have to beat them up or kill them or something. So that kind of sucks. Hopefully, it'll pass and they can still be friends and she won't have to intentionally murder someone.
ANYTHING ELSE?: She brought them multiple sweet treats from the vendors and a bale of fresh goldenrod. She dressed normally but wore matching belt and shoes.

BIJOU TELLS THE BEES

[wrencredible]

NAME: Bijou Pascal
WHAT DID YOU TELL THE BEES: Things are good! Really! She's trying so hard to impress Mr. Purcell and do everything he asks her to do. And maybe it's working? She still did terrible during Queenie G Says! though, so maybe she still has a lot to learn. Wren Credible made being an auror seem so easy?

She's not really looking forward to going home over break. Thanksgiving's supposed to be a family holiday, but they've never really done that. It's only her and her mom, really. In practice. And Rodrigo. There's a 99% chance there's a new Rodrigo. At least it's a short break and she can just hide in the family library.

Which? Did you know? There's an unpublished prequel to The Lepidopterite Auguries?! She saw it when she visited Beefy the Bigfoot! Apparently Beefy helped consult on the series too, but with a little more, uh, intimate knowledge. (That said, everyone says the series is so accurate, but Rex just wanted to play video games and didn't seem anything like the Seer-King. His butt is probably super flat because he sits all day??)

Oh! Also! Bees! She's a hero! She rescued an ax from a very hungry tree for Mr. Youngblood and he gave her a bunch of junk in a toolbox as a thank you. And one of the things was a piece of paper in another language, but when Bijou dug into the translation, she found out it was about bees. And you're bees, so you'd probably like to hear it? But there's also a shopping list here, and she's going to skip reading that part if it's all right with you.
ANYTHING ELSE?: Oh, she looks very cute today, I promise, and wore some absurdly expensive bee earrings and brought the bees some lavender honey treats that she had mailed in and surely could have bought for less at the festival.

ANONBEEMOUS MESSAGING

[peckishmods]

It costs ~1USD to send a message via giant mechanical bee. These messages are anonymous unless the 'FROM' field is filled out. While bee buyers are assured of their anonymity, threatening or hostile messages will not be sent. Bees don't want to start drama, just hear about it.

Fill out the form below to send a message via bee. It will be delivered on honeycomb ribbon and makes a nice keepsake.

<b>TO:</b> message recipient <B>FROM:</b> customize this as you want, or leave it blank! <b>MESSAGE BODY:</b> what'd you say?

ANONBEEMOUS MESSAGING: FRED --> FREYA

[ohwormhole]

TO: Freya!!
FROM: Fred!!
MESSAGE BODY: Looooove you, cutie!! ♥ You are the bravest, smartest detective I've ever met!! Paramonos and Pallas could learn a thing or two from you!!

ANONBEEMOUS MESSAGING: KERMIE --> JUP

[maledictorian]

TO: Joopy Scoopy
FROM: Kermiest the Germiest
MESSAGE BODY: take me H O M E tonight i don't wanna L E T Y O U G O til you see the light

SHOPS & STALLS

[peckishmods]

Chanel and a Candle (To Enable All Spine Threads, Open++)

[necrodanseuse]

Chanel, resolutely as always non-charmed by sugar, small bugs or their secrets, made a beeline (haha) to the first thing truly Spooky item that she sees here. She's not always swayed by the quaint stylings of Elflock Falls, but this time. Oh this time. The candle maker is a true craftsperson. She cradles a spine candle in her hand like it's her child, and coo at it accordingly. "I want to give it a little pumpkin head and take it home." She says aloud, "This is perfect."

CAROUSEL, GAMES & SHOWCASE

[peckishmods]

CAROUSEL: Trash Tag Transgressions

[negligently]

Uriah ducks behind an oversized bee, avoiding the eyes of the workers and the guy who's hunting him. The dazzling lights of the carousel in the dark make him a little dizzy, or maybe it's something else. (It's something else. He knows what it is and he ignores it. He's not ready to call it quits.) It's gorgeous, though, and he wants to remember all the colors and noises for later. Inspiration to tuck away for later, and his racing heartbeat and giddy smile are part of it. So's Tybalt, who's just looked away from him.

Time to make a break for it.

Uriah makes a dash for the stairs, clambering up them even as the carousel continues to spin. It would have been much sneakier if he could resist laughing maniacally as he ascended them.

RIVERWALK & HAYRIDE

[peckishmods]

RIVERWALK: Two pale teens reading poetry

[tristfully]

Midday sun filters through the burnt orange and deep red leaves of the sugar maple overhead, mottling Viola’s pale face with dark shadows and bright light. She rests her shoulders against the maple’s trunk and ducks her head to keep the sun out of her eyes. Curtains of untamed hair—seemingly wind blown despite only the mildest breeze—fall around her face as she peers down at a handwritten journal. Her deliberately rough scratch scrawl fills the pages, though the words are not her own. “Close your eyes,” she instructs Tybalt and prepares to read.

ELSEWHERE & EVENING

[peckishmods]

OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[peckishmods]

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[damnnearkilledem]

b e e d a y b e e d a y

I got a little over invested in this IC/OOC 😭 and while I will be working on writing quidditch today, I would love to scene and backtag as I am able. All three of my kids are here and available for any sort of honey-related nonsense.

I need to send some anonbeemous messages