HALLOWEEN DANCE

[finchmods]

HALLOWEEN DANCE

Students start to file into the gym as a siren plays over the loudspeaker. [Student Council Member A]'s voice gives a monotone command on repeat, asking everyone to stay calm and file into the gymnasium in an orderly fashion. Red lights flash on and off as everyone gets settled in front of the stage that's been erected on the south end. Venus Rosales gets in front of the crowd, with a banner hanging behind her that says "CONGRATULATIONS 2018 SURVIVORS!" She gives a speech to the students, playing the part of a government official. She welcomes the attendees to this new safe house. Good job surviving the zombie apocalypse!

As soon as the dance starts, [Character B] is startled when a freshman in a hockey mask wielding a chainsaw rushes them! It's quite a scene as they're chased across the dance floor. The music starts up (provided by student-band The Dolly Llamas for the first forty-five minutes and by a Student Council-approved playlist after that), the fog machines get to work, and it's time to party! Happy Halloween!

Besides dancing, the main attraction is a zombie and mutant filled haunted house! Its walls are made of plywood and prayers, so... don't bump into anything please. Freshmen haunt its corners, ready to jump out and scare you. A sign on the entrance reminds students to not touch (or punch) the actors, thanks! Student Council managed to get a fake chainsaw, which is probably the scariest thing in there. Sullivan Sinclair and Russell Reeve didn't enter the maze together, but ended up stuck in the same corner. With one another's help, they make it out alive!

The freshmen are really enjoying their roles as monsters, and they will not share the fake chainsaw. [Character E] tries and fails to steal it, but Slade Winchester actually gets along with the freshmen. This allows them to access the fake chainsaw. Time to terrorize some upperclassmen!

Near the end of the night, Selby Denman is scared so badly in the maze that they trip and crash into one of the delicate walls. The whole thing goes down like a bunch of dominos! Luckily, no one was hurt and the dance is almost over anyway.

HOW THIS WORKS

• The dance begins at 6pm and ends at 11pm, at which time all students must return to their dorms. Student Council arrives early and stays late to do set up and clean up.


• The gym in the athletics building is hosting the dance. It's been decorated to look like a post-apocalyptic safe house, with the refreshments labelled as rations, and fake emergency alarms on the walls. Signs around the gym display maps of where the zombie outbreak has spread, diagrams tracing the decline of humanity, and helpful survival tips!


• The windows have been covered with sheets depicting a city on fire, and the doors have been decorated with planks of wood to give the impression of being boarded shut. Unused doors are barricaded with spare chairs and tables.


• Fog machines have given the dance floor a moody, misty atmosphere.


• EMERGENCY FOOD RATIONS: There are vegan treats available alongside the regular candy and cupcakes (... and a somewhat neglected veggie tray). There's also sherbet punch, which is labelled "ZOMBIE VIRUS CURE". Dry ice leaves wisps of mist among the snacks.


• Some teachers are attending as chaperones, and they've even got costumes on! Ms. Voss and Ms. Hayward are dressed up as Velma and Daphne, respectively, from Scooby Doo, with Dakota in tow wearing a Scooby collar. Mr. Bhattacharya's got a large white beard and a hat, and is dressed as Walt Whitman (not just an old man, kids!!). Mr. Moreno has come dressed as Severus Snape. Maybe he's an even bigger dork than they realized... hopefully he won't take anything out on Liam Mr. Potter.


• COSTUME CONTEST:
  • A freshman with a Polaroid camera is running around the dance, snapping photos of anyone in a costume. Those photos end up on a board with a voting box below. Whose costume was the best?!
  
  
  • At the end of the night, the votes are tallied up, and the top three are...
  
  
  • Click to see the winners!

    3rd place: Hadlee Loxton & Selby Denman
    ($25 gift card to the ice cream parlor)
    
    2nd place: Zinnia Howe & Ulrich Roth
    ($50 gift card to the arcade)
    
    1st place: Pearl Kline
    ($100 gift card to a clothing boutique)

» Before the dance: Set up the dance floor and/or get your costumes ready! It's time for the first dance of the school year.

» The Dance Floor: A moody, knee-high cloud of mist flows across the dance floor, mostly hiding the basketball court below.

» Refreshments: A table covered in camo webbing is labelled EMERGENCY FOOD RATIONS, and offers a selection of candy, cupcakes and punch. Notable items are pre-wrapped Twinkies (because they last forever), and cookies that look like roaches (pretzel sticks for legs).

» The Maze: Student Council and Shop have been working hard to transform one of the adjoining training rooms into a maze full of mutants, zombies, and maniacs with chainsaws! There's nothing scarier than freshmen.

» Costume Contest: Congratulations to the winners! Hopefully you'll enjoy your gift cards.

» After the dance: After a long night of dancing and running from fake chainsaws, it's time to call it a night. Students are send back to their dorms to wash up and go to sleep... hopefully.

» OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

Comments

BEFORE THE DANCE

[finchmods]

Dallas & Open

[dallaslevy]

Dallas isn't nervous about performing with the band tonight. Not exactly. But there's a certain awareness of his own inexperience compared to the others and with the situation in general that's making him feel a bit...less collected than usual. He drops to half-sit on one of the speakers now that the stage is set up and looks around the room at the other early-arrivers still flitting about and preparing. Maybe he should offer to help. Maybe he should just sit here. He considers, fiddling idly with his button glasses.

Moon Kids Decorate

[unironickylorenfan]

Leaning his hip against the wall, Liam pauses to prop one leg up and balance a large box of Halloween costume accessories on his knee. He shoves his hand in and pulls out a spooky rubber mask, which he stares at for a moment before handing off to a giddily bouncing freshman. "Here," he says as he gives her the mask, looking a little baffled. "Have fun?"

As the freshman runs off, Liam looks to Nora, a few paces off. "Is it safe to give freshmen the gift of anonymity?"

Moon Kids Decorate

[goodnightbunny]

Nora hunches her shoulders up and makes the pained expression of someone far too nice to want to voice a real concern. "It's probably no worse than letting them have a chainsaw," she offers, and her voice rises with characteristic uncertainty with each word. Even if it's not a real chainsaw and she knows each gawky pimpled face behind the masks, the whole haunted maze concept makes her horribly anxious. Not that she doesn't trust Neal and Venus's judgement..!!

Moon Kids Decorate

[unironickylorenfan]

"Well, I guess..." He struggles a bit with righting himself, the box nearly slipping out of his hands. This sort of low level awkward is Liam's bread and butter, and he hardly stammers - his voice barely cracks - as he clumsily nabs the thing before completely losing his grip on it. "Getting tormented by freshmen is no worse than fighting shadows I guess. Except you can't fight back."

He sets the box down on a nearby table and approaches Nora to see if she can use help. "I'm washing my hands of them once the dance starts. Someone else can run freshman interference." A pause. "You, too. No parenting the kids."

Moon Kids Decorate

[goodnightbunny]

Nora's on far less controversial streamer duty, because even after the apocalypse, there's always a place for streamers at a dance. They're just not usually made out of barricade tape. Of course, if Nora had her way, they'd all be surrounded by smiling pumpkins and Disney villains with "I'll Put a Spell on You" playing every 30 minutes, so it's really a good thing that no one had let Nora set the dance theme.

At the mention of not fighting freshmen, Nora's lips purse, thinking back to the not-so-distant thankfully-entirely-false rumors about Kodi murdering one of them. Her expression only becomes more unsettled when Liam prohibits her from parenting. "I mean," her voice ticks up as she prepares to argue, but instead she sighs. "Fine. No parenting tonight. You're all on your own." The last bit is said with a flourish of her arms.

Too bad she's going to end up violating that promise.

Moon Kids Decorate

[unironickylorenfan]

Liam picks up an unopened roll of Quarantine tape and picks at the seal, stoppering his grin by focusing on the surprisingly, obnoxiously tedious work of removing plastic wrap. "Good. I'm glad." He says. "You need to have some regular teen fun and not," he wiggles his fingers and laughs, "Big bad student council bully fun."

Moon Kids Decorate

[goodnightbunny]

Nora ducks her head in embarrassment. Regular teen fun at a school dance sounds like a little too much excitement for her. At least, her interpretation of it, because she's immediately imagining disappearing into a dark corner with a mysterious stranger when Liam is probably just talking about inhaling far more than the dentist recommended amount of sugar for the evening. "Oh. Maybe," she laughs awkwardly, then she smiles shyly and wiggles her fingers back at Liam, "Not as much fun as you're going to have, Mr. Big Date."

Pearl & Lucy

[opalescents]

Pearl's excited for tonight. Many, many of her friends have dates whose results she wants to see, but her mind isn't there yet. She doesn't have a date. She has a duet partner, though. Pearl wondered, at the beginning of the year, if it was wise for herself and Lucy to ever share a stage again, and if she should back off. From a musical standpoint, though, it would be a waste to not sing with Lucy. They sound so good together. It's walking straight into a nostalgia minefield, and Pearl had never been good about avoiding bombs.

So as soon as she sees Lucy, Pearl slips towards her,not exactly subtle. A giant burning earth costume doesn't really allow for that. Still, she looks shy, almost, when she smiles. The expression hardly works on her normally exuberant face. "How do your vocal cords feel??" She leans in, conspiratorial, like she's speaking in code.

Pearl & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Usually, when they practice, Lucy is safe and untouchable behind the body of her bass. The instrument makes her look twice as small as she is, but it makes her feel two times as imposing, lets her gaze at Pearl from the detached, artistic perspective she favors. They do sound good together. It's undeniable.

But today the bass is in its stand, waiting for the set, and Lucille is just Lucille, standing and watching in her replicant guise as other students prepare the event. When Pearl approaches her it feels inevitable -- she doesn't bother pretending she doesn't see her, doesn't even try to look "busy" with something else. Not that her ex is ever easy to ignore entirely, even when she isn't dressed like... global warming?

...And there's that unpractised, nearly shy little turn to her grin. Something about that makes Lucy feel suddenly, incredibly, like she doesn't want to get on stage at all.

"Functional," she responds simply, looking Pearl up and down again. "...You wear the inescapable crisis look well."

Pearl & Lucy

[opalescents]

Any gentle nervousness is wiped right off of Pearl's face at what is almost a compliment, from Lucy. It's good enough, and she'll take it. Her smile splits wide and she does a little twirl, unprompted. She really is proud of her brainwave. "I figure if we're going to die, I may as well celebrate the thing that's gonna kill us?" It's a very bad philosophy, but also very Pearl, and she won't apologize for it.

Then she pauses, trying to return the compliment. She doesn't Get Lucy's costume, but won't admit to that. She should really watch more movies. "You look good too." She can leave it at that. "But maybe I should've dressed for the song." She doesn't suggest we. Even Pearl knows the idea of a matching costume, even a band, with an ex-girlfriend is a very stupid thing indeed, and nothing she wants to do. Not really.

Pearl & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Celebrate the thing that's gonna kill us. Lucy likes that, and it shows in the momentary twitch of a smile. A very Pearl thing to say. The kind of thing she might have rewarded once by reaching out and looping their fingers together. But that was before. Now, she shrugs at the next suggestion.

"A witch? How cliché."

Nevermind that she dresses like one every day.

"But... you're way more creative than that, I guess."

That also sounds like praise. Lucille pushes her hair behind her ear, then glances down to study the finish of her nails. Black with sparkling spiderwebs. Without thinking about it, she says: "We don't have to do it, you know. It was just an idea."

Which would make all that practice pointless, but. She feels like being difficult.

Pearl & Lucy

[opalescents]

Pearl would have, before, been thrilled at the little twitch of a smile she'd coaxed out from Lucy. Today, she just echoes it. There's a lot of lines she doesn't want to cross, or touch, or come near at all.

"Oh. I'm much more creative than that." The grin's fortified anyway,but that's just due to the easy confidence Pearl gets from nowhere and thrives off even when she shouldn't. "But I'd sacrifice art for theme."

Her hand twitches, though, at Lucy's next statement. She shakes her head too quickly, steps in half an inch closer before she stops. "No. No, of course I want to." It's raw and sincere, and Pearl bites her lip to mask that. Emotionless and noncaring has never been something she can even pretend to project. "Don't...do you?"

Pearl & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Lucy is and isn't expecting a reaction like that one. But there are some things about Pearl that never change, even if other things do, and they happen to be the nicest things about her. It's infuriating because it deserves better than what amounts to idle posturing and games.

If tonight were closer to their break-up, Lucy would smile and say I do not, but it isn't, so she just worries her lip before nodding wordlessly in agreement. Then she smiles anyway. A nice smile.

Selby & Hadlee & Venus

[knockyouout]

Venus might be really good at makeup, but for all she can do a killer cat's eye eyeliner look, she's not actually that good at costume makeup. She's... fine at it. But she'd rather die than ask Zinnia for any kind of help. If she asked her she'd probably end up as like, zombie Robin Hood anyway.

Luckily she does remember that Hadlee is dressing up as a skunk (and a Disney skunk, at that), so after she's otherwise ready to go she pokes her head around the Coins dormitory until she locates her and Selby.

"Hey," she says, barging into the room without being invited. "Can you put a fox nose on me? And, like, whiskers? Do foxes have whiskers?"

Selby & Hadlee & Venus

[selbydenman]

Fortunately, by the time Venus bursts into the room without warning, Selby and Hadlee are done with makeup, so startling the pair doesn't lead to any smeared mascara or poked eyeballs. Selby, who is trying to get his antlers evenly placed in his hair, jumps a little before he glances over with a smile. "Foxes have whiskers," he confirms helpfully, "But I think they're probably costume-optional."

While this is his first costume requiring animal makeup, they've practiced enough this week that he feels pretty confident about it now, so his answer to the question is almost immediate. "Either way, we can give you a hand!"

Selby & Hadlee & Venus

[trailerparkprincess]

"Venus!" Hadlee pretty much yells as the other girl arrives. Even though she was a bit startled herself, who cares?? She's just excited to see her friend, especially since she's asking for help - Hadlee loves helping.

"Ohhh you're going to be super cute - yeah, like Selbs said, we can definitely provide some foxing up!" She swivels a bit to look at her fellow Coin, fiddling with her tail as she does so. "No whiskers, it's going to distract from her cuteness."

Selby & Hadlee & Venus

[selbydenman]

Selby gives a thoughtful nod at this, one that suggests he's happy to trust Hadlee's expertise on the matter, and smiles, "No whiskers."

Selby & Hadlee & Venus

[knockyouout]

"I have to look super cute," Venus agrees as she plops down next to Hadlee. "I have a hot date."

Noah & Eli

[strikings]

Noah did his hair and makeup before Eli showed up, and his costume hangs from his bed. Victorian Gothic by way of overblown Halloween sensibilities, with a red velvet coat, black brocade vest, and black high-necked blouse. Now he's in his pants, shoes and undershirt as he forces Eli to sit very still in a chair while he finishes painting fake blood on the Derma Wax bite wounds on Eli's neck.

Eli's costume was obviously arranged for contrast: a loose white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, so flimsy it's nearly transparent; with fitted white pants and white boots. Eli had let Noah dust powder on his face and muss product through his hair, just to give him that extra sexy "barely awake half-drained victim" look. It suits him. If Noah hadn't worked so hard to make them look good, he might have asked Eli if he wouldn't rather be late.

"Okay, just sit still for a moment and let it dry," Noah says, as he sets down his brush and the bottle of fake blood. It's not Zinnia-quality, but he thinks he did well for his first try. Noah grins at Eli, showing off the vampire fang caps he'd already put on earlier. "You look rather delicious."

Noah & Eli

[pleaseloveme]

Every time Noah turns around, Eli starts to fuss with the shirt, adjusting it so it's slightly less revealing. It never quite works. Now, though, he sits perfectly still just as he's asked. He doesn't want to undo Noah's hard work, and he has worked pretty hard on this. Dressing up isn't a thing Eli usually does, but it's easier when all he has to do is sit there and let Noah work. His enthusiasm (and attention) is contagious.

He smiles at Noah's terrible joke-slash-come-on. "And you look dangerous. My friends are going to say this is— like, uh, a bad metaphor."

Noah & Eli

[strikings]

Noah's face lights up. "Oh, is that so? I do love being a bad influence. Now you have to share a few choice quotes, birdy. Who warned you off of me?"

He leans in, his thigh pressed against Eli's thigh, and carefully blows air on Eli's bloody neck. To help it dry faster, of course.

Noah & Eli

[pleaseloveme]

Eli laughs, normal at first, then next in a uncontrollable burst as Noah blows on his skin, damp with paint. "Not telling."

Noah & Eli

[strikings]

Noah grins to get a bright laugh out of the normally dour boy, and leans back so Eli can see his face again. "And you've ignored all the warnings. You do like to live dangerously, don't you, birdy?"

Noah & Eli

[pleaseloveme]

Eli kicks Noah's leg, too soft to hurt even a little. His heart is in throat. "I mean, yes? Sometimes. You can't actually corrupt me. But I like you."