henhursthall | OSTARA MASQUERADE

ostara masquerade

what's up? It's just after 7:00 PM when all those who decided to attend the mysterious masquerade begin to hear traditional Celtic music coming from the stairwells. If they follow it, it leads them to the mysterious 5th floor, where an opened door has appeared. Walk through it, and they'll enter another world.

Party-goers immediately find themselves in a mossy forest, where the trees are decorated with tiny flowing lights and a small stream is all that parts them from a path that leads them to a beautiful party deep in the woods. As soon as the hop over the stream, their outfits change and they're suddenly wearing masks that completely disguise them. Their new outfits are reminiscent of old Celtic dress with a hint of the fantastical, from long gowns to tartan to doublets. Flowers are abundant, both in their hair and on their masks, which are shaped commonly like spring animals. Rabbits, deer, lambs, and (of course) chickens. With the mask on, no one can recognize them, even if they otherwise should be able to by their voice or appearance.

There are giant toadstools that serve as seating, or they can lie down on a patch of moss. Drinks, which are plentiful, are served in large acorns or as improbable dew drops that retain their surface tension despite their size. If they want a snack, there are two bowls of bottomless eggs. The white eggs are the richest, most luxurious soft boiled eggs they've ever tasted. The rainbow colored eggs are a candy shell full of chocolate.

Meanwhile, beautiful snowy white chickens wander through the clearing, unconcerned by the humans.

A ?man? who must be one of the residents is teaching people to make Ostara egg charms: blow out an egg, paint it with something that represents your desires, and then either hang it up if your wish it about a person, or bury it if your wish is about prosperity.

visuals!

how this works! ⬥ How the Anonymity Charm works: Someone wearing a charmed mask is unrecognizable to those looking at them. While it can't immediately be determined who they are from their appearance or their voice, maybe something from their speech patterns will tip your character off — or something they choose to tell them.

⬥ Characters will know intuitively when they're speaking with someone they're related to, but they won't know the nature of that relation. For example, Rose Weasley would know if she were talking to someone she's related to, but she wouldn't know if it was Hugo, Roxanne, or Albus.

⬥ The party begins a little after 7:00 PM, and will last until 3:00 AM. If your character doesn't leave the party on time, they'll fall asleep and reawaken in their bed.

⬥ When your character does exit the party, they're still wearing the fantasy costumes the magic put them in, and they still have their masks, although they no longer disguise the wearer. Hopefully they weren't too attached to the "sexy" outfit they arrived in.

locations! ⬦ WHAT'S UP?: What did your character arrive wearing, and what did the magic of the 5th floor dress them in instead? What's your character up to tonight in general?

⬦ THE TOADSTOOLS: A patch of gigantic toadstools for sitting on, and baskets full of eggs and strange drinks.

⬦ THE WOODS: The woods are quieter, more private.

⬦ EGG CHARMS: Does your character make an egg charm? What are they wishing for?

⬦ SPIN THE CHICKEN: One of these chickens seems keen on facilitating a strange sort of spin the bottle. Pick up the chicken, set the chicken down, and it will choose a (supposedly) random person somewhere in the circle.

⬦ LATE AT NIGHT: The lights all dim, and it seems to be time to head back to the real world. Or perhaps your character already has.

⬦ OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This boy thinks he's better than you. At least, that's the vibe he's giving off, on the corners of the event. Every time anyone comes near him, he recoils and you can swear you can see the comical details of the face he's pulling. In fact, when you lock eyes, there's an audible "Oh, no."

Edited 2021-03-20 17:54 (UTC)

Corrie doesn't know who he is. She's struggled with this whole event herself. A thoughtful person would make sure he's having a good time. Or maybe just leave him alone, like he clearly wants to be.

...but the urge to pester him is irresistible, and as soon as she hears that oh, no she shifts into Troll Mode and wafts over like a petal on a breeze.

"Why helloooo," she says. "Isn't it a wonderful evening?"

Edited (title, whoops) 2021-03-21 18:29 (UTC)

How...did he summon this person. Lysander stands very still, as though maybe it would make him invisible. He's not sure that won't happen. But it does not, so he exhales in defeat. "Not especially," he snaps, still not even attempting to turn and talk to his conversation partner.

Corrie's needed this. She feels more like herself than she has all night. "Don't you love the mystery? The adventure?" she says, wispily hypocritical. "The eggs?"

Maybe it's the fact that this person is so obviously antagonistic, but it's a little like something in Lysander snaps, and he's finally allowed to say what he really thinks of this party. Not that he wouldn't anyway, but extra.

Meaning, basically, he does turn, finally. " You know? No. We literally all consented to be kidnapped and now we're frolicking with rabbits among probably salmonella refreshments, so I could be having a better time, all in all."

"The eggs," Corrie says, delighted to have provoked a standoffish cat into engaging, "are traditional." She actually isn't sure this is true, but it's traditional for Easter and they're here so it's probably traditional for Ostara too. "And so are the rabbits. Do you have a problem with rabbits?" She tilts her head -- complete with hare mask -- at him, folding her arms in an attempt to conjure up disappointed authority figures, or like, whatever.

Rose, like Corrie, instinctively knows this person is eminently harassable. She doesn't even need to know that Corrie has already bothered him to know, on a spiritual level, that she needs to join in the dogpile.

She does a couple drive-bys just to appreciate the faces he makes before she finally approaches him for real. She hopes just a little bit that he thought she was going to walk right past without talking to him yet again before she turns around on her heel.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" she asks, as if this is a question anyone could possibly answer tonight.

It's not fair. He's been trying to mind his own business, as much as possible. He doesn't notice the person's glances for at least the first two times she passes, and makes a point to stare straight ahead while they're in eye range, only glancing back suspiciously after she's gone.

The time she actually speaks, though, he's off guard and had no excuse to not look at her. He doesn't even have time to think up anything quippy so he's stuck scoffing "Statistically probable" out loud.

In all the many different imagined scenarios of Neptune finally meeting his soulmate, the words 'oh, no' are never uttered. At least not so derisively. Because now he is considering a potential scenario where his soulmate says 'oh, no' as they lose hold of their egg and he heroically catches it at the last moment in very meet-cute fashion.

But the only eggs in the immediate vicinity are the chocolate ones that Neptune squirreled away in his doublet while he inadvertently participated in the egg eating contest. So, not a meet-cute situation. And that's oddly reassuring at this moment when he's lost count of how many eggs he's stress consumed.

"Catch," he warns a few seconds before tossing one of his chocolate eggs towards the boy.

Not only is it the middle of a weird fertility party in the middle of the weird woods, now some guy is throwing things at him. This guy would probably love to see him drop the egg; it's probably why he threw it in the first place. So it's purely out of spite and out of no talent at all that Lysander snatches it out of the air and turns with an annoyed huff. Let him laugh at that.

"And now what?"

Edited 2021-03-24 02:07 (UTC)

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