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

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[circuitree]

"I CAN'T FIND MY HAND," Cedar shouts across the entire carousel, despite the fact that their siblings are literally standing on either side of them. Whatever. What's important are the whereabouts of a candle made in the shape of Cedar's very own very cursed hand.

"You KNOW I'm not gonna be able to sleep without my HAND." They stumble into a seat as the carousel starts to move at a slow, downright pleasant pace.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

They can’t be talking about a real hand. There’s no way they’re talking about a real hand.

That’s what’s on loop in the head of the motionless wax statue that looks an awful lot like a terrified Lionel Lovelace.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[artistree]

"Last I saw it, you were using it to—" he tries to climb on a bee and fails. "—to eat ice cream."

In searching for a different bee, one a little less ornery, Hawthorne passes a frozen Lionel. He stops and stares, considering. "You didn't throw your hand in the trash, did you?" He shouts to Cedar.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

"I think I'd notice if you'd thrown it in the trash. I wouldn't let you just—" Willow follows Hawthorne's gaze, then smiles and bats her eyelashes. "Hi, Lionel!"

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[circuitree]

Cedar tries to follow their siblings and stumbles right into a pole. Sure, the carousel shuddered a little bit when they moved, but this one is mostly on Cedar.

"HAVE YOU SEEN MY HAND, LIONEL?" they shout instead, declining the opportunity to expand further.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

Lionel's exasperation boils over. "No I haven't seen your hand. Not unless you mean the two attached to your arms." He quickly falls silent again. But it's too late. His cool, what little he normally has, has already been lost. He curses himself.

"Maybe you should look elsewhere," he continues after a deep breath.

His heart is racing. But it's not the only thing that's sped up. So too has this ride. Which is... odd, Lionel thinks.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

"You're bothering him," Willow says, looking directly at Cedar, and then Hawthorne for good measure. She definitely isn't to blame here. She also hasn't noticed that the ride has sped up, attributing that to the earth-wobbling effects of the proximity of her heart's desire.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[artistree]

"Maybe you're bothering him," Hawthorne says to Willow. If the triplets had telepathy (and thank God they do not), they'd know was thinking Or maybe Lionel is lying about Cedar's hand.

It's getting hard to stay standing with the carousel behaving oddly, so he throws himself up on the bee next to Lionel, because it's something to cling to.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

Between the two of them, they're right -- they're all bothering him. But Lionel keeps that to himself, because he's loathe to open his mouth and agree with them. Seeing as none of them seem to be leaving -- Hawthorne in fact has gotten closer to him -- Lionel decides he will go. But as he stands, the ride lurches and he immediately sits back down and grabs the bees antennae.

"What have you three done?" he asks accusatorially. Though there is a tinge of fright to his voice. He respects them and their powers enough to fear them.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[circuitree]

Cedar squeaks and throws their arms around the pole that just injured them.

"I DIDN'T DO IT, I BROUGHT MY RABBIT'S FOOT!" they holler, frantically waving a small purple keychain-sized foot at the others. "I DON'T DESERVE TO BE CRUSHED BY BEE BUTTS."

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

"NO ONE IS GETTING CRUSHED!" Willow shouts, and it sounds more like a command than a statement. Don't you dare be crushed. Or bee crushed, as the case may... bee.

"There has to be a... a button or something. An emergency brake," Willow says. It seems like that kind of thing would be in the center, so she tries to make her way there, but the bees are bobbling up and down, bouncing her back and forth like a beach ball. "Are you going to help or what?!"

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

In the 1940s, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy conspired to take over the world. In response, the United States, the UK, China, and the Soviet Union joined forces to stop them. That's two democracies, an authoritarian military dictatorship, and a totalitarian communist state. An unlikely alliance. All of which is to say, sometimes parties with very different views need to team up against a common, worse enemy.

Lionel stands and offers Willow a stabilizing hand. "Come on. Let's turn this thing off."

Re: CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

Willow takes his hand with a happy little sigh. Her delight can't last long, though, or the centrifugal force will fling them right off the carousel. "Hawthorne!" she snaps, holding out her hand to him. It's time to baby chain.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[artistree]

"Is this such a good idea?" Hawthorne asks, staring pointedly at Lionel — a young man he has begun to believe must surely be cursed. Still, he takes his sister's hand, and then reaches out for Cedar. "I won't let you get bashed by any bee butts."

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[circuitree]

"IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A GOOD IDEA." Wherever they're going is 100% absolutely positively GOING to blow up, there are WAY too many extremely cursed individuals in this baby chain ALREADY.

But Cedar grabs Hawthorne's hand anyways, because if they're gonna die, Cedar better die along with them.

And Lionel might as well come along since he's totally their cousin and all.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

"THIS IS A PERFECTLY GOOD IDEA!" Willow shouts, as if sheer volume will make this true. Together, they're able to move through the aggressive bee butts, and when someone gets knocked down, as happens multiple times, the rest of the baby chain is able to pull them back up. "Almost there!" Willow says, definitely jinxing it.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

It's unclear if it's causation or correlation, but as soon as Willow says they're almost there, Lionel gets crunched by a particularly vengeful bee butt. He falls down and loses his grip on the baby chain. This is probably how he will die.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[artistree]

Hawthorne watches this happen, his expression wrinkled up in pain, sympathetic. "That was a good one," he says to his siblings. "Maybe we shouldn't let him die in vain."

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[pageantree]

"LIONEL!" Willow wails. For a moment she dithers, considering abandoning the baby chain and their mission to give Lionel CPR (specifically, mouth to mouth). Then she squares her shoulders, resolute. "C'mon. We'll honor his sacrifice."

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[lionellovelace]

Lionel realizes it might be in his best interest to just play dead. At worst, it'll mean he gets left alone. At best, it'll galvanize the Quackentrio into action.

He closes his eyes and hopes that if he does die, Zadie will know to burn all his stuff.

CAROUSEL: Lionel and the Quackenbush Trio

[circuitree]

"THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY CONVENIENT!" Cedar shouts, because now that Lionel is dead they probably don't need to worry about tact. "BUT DO WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING?"