peckenpaugh | NOVEMBER POCKET PARTY!

pocket's cloud 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 the sun’s well set by the time students start making their way to the shores of Lake Peckenpaugh. Like always, there is somehow, conveniently, not an adult in sight.⁠ Maybe it’s the rain, but whatever reason, that well-trodden damp dirt path up to Elflock Falls is unwatched and unblocked tonight. As with every party before, students in groups and pairs pass under the falls into a dark, wet cave.

A few paces in and that darkness gives way: damp turns dry, dark to light, and each student finds that they are soaring...

visuals!

volunteer slots! It's hard to resist the call. You know what I'm talking about. Aristotle knows what I'm talking about! They drop their journal off the side of a cloud and, surprisedpikachu.jpg, their possession is lost! Thankfully, tomorrow morning, the lost item is found by Kermit on the shores of Lake Peckenpaugh.

pairings list!

Aristotle Ahn
STB #1: Magnolia
STB #2: Armani
7MIH: Scarlett

Armani Addams
STB #1: Mary Grace
STB #2: Aristotle
7MIH: Laszlo

Chanel Addams
STB #1: Fiona
STB #2: Maisy
7MIH: Mary Grace

Constanza Wolff
STB #1: Zadie
STB #2: Kermit
7MIH: Magnolia

Elijah Rainwater
STB #1: Holland
STB #2: Uriah

Felicity Deverill
STB #1: Tybalt
STB #2: Holland
7MIH: Wyatt

Fiona Moon
STB #1: Chanel
STB #2: Jupiter
7MIH: Holland

Holland Graves
STB #1: Elijah
STB #2: Felicity
7MIH: Fiona

Jupiter Quigley
STB #1: Scarlett
STB #2: Fiona
7MIH: Willow

Kermit Creekmore
STB #1: Willow
STB #2: Constanza
7MIH: Maisy

Laszlo Pataki
STB #1: Poppy
STB #2: Zadie
7MIH: Armani

Lydia Dwyer
STB #1: Skip
STB #2: Uriah
7MIH: Tybalt

Magnolia d'Aguillon
STB #1: Aristotle
STB #2: Mary Grace
7MIH: Constanza

Maisy Morgenstern
STB #1: Wyatt
STB #2: Chanel
7MIH: Kermit

Mary Grace O'Malley
STB #1: Armani
STB #2: Magnolia
7MIH: Chanel

Poppy Kreitzer
STB #1: Laszlo
STB #2: Willow
7MIH: Uriah

Scarlett Hatfield
STB #1: Jupiter
STB #2: Skip
7MIH: Aristotle

Skip Rider
STB #1: Lydia
STB #2: Scarlett

Tybalt Zettler
STB #1: Felicity
STB #2: Wyatt
7MIH: Lydia

Uriah Hatfield
STB #1: Elijah
STB #2: Lydia
7MIH: Poppy

Willow Quackenbush
STB #1: Kermit
STB #2: Poppy
7MIH: Jupiter

Wyatt Webberley
STB #1: Maisy
STB #2: Tybalt
7MIH: Felicity

Zadie Lovelace
STB #1: Constanza
STB #2: Laszlo

how this works! ☁️ Welcome to the first Pocket Party of the year! Pocket always wants to hang out with the students of Peckenpaugh, and she uses her unusual magic to give them fantastic new places to 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 the 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!

☁️ The party starts at 8PM, and stretches on indistinctly. No matter when you leave, though, it’s always 11PM ⁠— Pocket abides by the weekend campus curfew. :) ⁠— and when you exit the party, you arrive at the Falls.

☁️ Each student arrives with a pair of functional wings on their back, gifted also with the knowledge of (roughly) how to use them. The wings can be anything your heart desires, so get creative or ask us to RNG for you in the "What's Up?" section. Feel free to say your kid isn’t quite getting the hang of the wings, if you want.

☁️ The fluffy white ground is mostly solid, though you might sink in in some places. More likely, you’ll bounce, and there’s a lot of spring to the clouds.

locations! ☁️ WHAT'S UP?: You are! Literally! Welcome to Pocket’s Cloud Party. You’ve been gifted a set of functional wings so you can get around the fluffy surroundings. Use this space to tell us what those flappers look like? What’d your student decide to wear to the first Pocket Party of the year? How do they feel about this (seemingly) sky high adventure? Under this heading, you can request a randomized pair of wings by adding ‘WING ME, PLEASE’ to the body of your comment and the mods will provide you with a pair of random wings for your character.

☁️ BEFORE THE PARTY: You've got a full day of classes and dinner before it's even time to start getting ready! Here's a spot for threads about your day, or for prepping for the party.

☁️ THE BRIGHT AND SUNNY: Students arrive in a bright and sunny field of fluffy clouds against a pink lemonade sky. The first thing most will notice is just how bouncy it all is, putting a literal spring in your step and launching you high if you build up enough momentum. A large central cloud mass provides plenty of room to romp and play, or sprawl out in the fluff, but the area is surrounded by smatterings of smaller puffs. Most are solid, some not. They range in bounciness from turbo trampoline to squishier than your favorite bean bag chair, accommodating anywhere from one to ten students. Balloons of all shapes and sizes float about the area. Some have little baskets of finger food like pretzels, pop corn and potato chips. Others need to be popped to discover what tasty treat is inside ⁠— salty or sweet, the snacks inside are a little bit random, but generally the higher up the balloon the more rewarding the prize. If this flying thing isn’t doing you right, you can get around by rainbow, too. Most of the larger clouds are connected by bright rainbow bridges that leave your feet leaving trails of bright color wherever you step.

☁️ THE STARRY NIGHT: Slide down the right rainbow and you’ll be deposited in what feels like a whole new world. Gone is the bright daylight of before, this field of fluff is beneath a starry night sky. The air is so clear, unobscured by pollution, you can see the Milky Way overhead. A meteor shower is on full display, and sometimes the falling stars, chased by bright sparkling tails, land in the fluff around the area. Usually these bright little lights simply disappear on impact, but some of them remain intact, star-shaped lights that illuminate the area, can be carried around or just admired. It’s warm here, and cozy, a good place to sprawl out and watch the show in the sky. The balloons floating in this area glow softly, and drop glow sticks when popped.

☁️ PARTY GAMES: Along the edges of the starry night, a soft and squishy circle of clouds have been arranged to look like pillows and cushions, a wine bottle with a picture of a cicada on the label in the middle. Don’t worry about getting left out because it’s damn near impossible to miss the circle, as just above it floats a bright red lip-shaped hot air balloon. When the ladder drops, up to two people can climb aboard, and the balloon will disembark and float through the air for exactly seven minutes before unceremoniously dumping the pair back in the middle of the circle. Hope you had fun!!

☁️ THE SKYWAY: Just off the central cloud area is the Skyway, an open stretch of air perfect for a bit of flying. A soft, sweet breeze blows through, and a variety of colorful hot air balloons bob lazily throughout the field of blue. Baskets have room for between two and five teen-sized humans, allowing for a bit of privacy. Also dotting the open stretches of sky are flying contraptions of various design, brooms, umbrellas, planes and other air vehicles. If you’re looking to float lazily instead of flapping yourself, you won’t want for options out here.

☁️ THE...CAFE?: On the edge of the Skyway is an impressively large zeppelin floating lazily around the perimeter of the party. It’s easy enough to land and head inside, where guests are greeted with a comfortable, warm little cafe. A few tables and comfortable chairs fill the room, and on the far side there’s a coffee bar tended by a be-aproned cat barista. Her black fur is spotted gold, and a pair of delicate fairy wings are folded closed against her back, but the real giveaway of her identity is the pair of raybans she’s wearing. Pock-cat the Barista will mix up just about anything you ask her for, though she might not get it quite right, and no matter what you request, she prepares it as though fixing you a fancy coffee drink. Come order a drink, grab a seat and watch the lovely sky scenery roll by.

☁️ END OF THE NIGHT: While the party seems to stretch on for several hours, only a few have elapsed by the time students pass from Pocket's cave back to campus, arriving on the rocks by the falls. Head back home and climb into bed. It's been a long night!

☁️ OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At first, Zadie doesn't know what Presley's doing when he approaches and leans over her, holding out the star. Smiling hesitantly and closing her eyes is more of a reflex than a decision until she feels the faint warmth on the tip of her nose. She hadn't expected that. She catches the star carefully in her hand before sitting up and turning to look at him. Does he not want it? After the effort he made to catch it? She doesn't get the chance to ask before he's presented her with a question, though.

"...Maybe a little?" she admits, thoughtlessly beginning to turn the little star over in her fingers, "These always get chaotic. Do you want to hide with me? Or are you having fun?" She hopes he is. He seems like he might be and that's fairly rare.

"Fun would be a definite overstatement," Presley declares, with expansive hand gestures to match. "But... I'm not not having fun, I suppose. How do we define fun, anyway? If in about thirty minutes, I determine that I've had my fill of this whole fluffy cloud dream experience, would that mean that I was not having fun?"

It's hard to tell if Presley honestly expects an answer. When he's in a mood like this, his thoughts feel like free-flowing liquid, and his mouth rambles without a quality filter. Which, dangerous. Those drinks were strong.

Maybe some rest would do him good. Presley accepts the implied invitation, and sits down next to Zadie.

This rambling response makes Zadie smile a little and she continues to turn the star over in her hands even as he sits down next to her. It's very pretty. "I'm not sure," she admits, looking his way a bit shyly just because the situation feels somehow foreign, "Lionel is the philosophical one and there's no objective metric for fun."

"It's never that easy, is it?" Presley rubs his forehead, wondering if he really has an oncoming headache or if he just wishes he did. Wouldn't this all be easier if he was having a bad time?

Presley sighs and leans forward to stretch his arm muscles. (Dancer habit.) "Why do you even bother to go to parties?" His tone is more curious than accusatory. "Think of how much more productive you'd be, if you just never felt the urge to socialize."

This seems to give Zadie pause. Not because she doesn't have an answer but because she's surprised that her answer isn't a given. "...For moments like this, I guess," she says and smiles at him with undisguised fondness, "To be with my friends. I think...even people like you and me burn out if all we are is productive. Probably."

That probably does trouble her at times. But not all that often anymore.

Nodding to indicate that this is her full answer on the matter, she looks at Presley and asks, "Why do you?"

NOVEMBER POCKET PARTY!

THE STARRY NIGHT: Zadie & Presley

THE STARRY NIGHT: Zadie & Presley

THE STARRY NIGHT: Zadie & Presley

THE STARRY NIGHT: Zadie & Presley

THE STARRY NIGHT: Zadie & Presley