Entries tagged with jo jones

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Prom 2023, Community Center, Friday Evening

This year's prom had an elegant black and white theme, and the Community Center was decked out with tasteful decorations that had all been covered in black and silver glitter. It was still fancy by at least some measures!

The food and punch were untainted (and unglittered) for the moment, and the dance floor was open for a fabulous time!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday [04/07].

Graham was a little bit late for work that day, due to clothing reasons. He wanted to head back to his room to see if his cloak and cap had been somehow magically transferred over there when he turned into a bandicoot in the first place, and was very relieved to find out that they had, indeed. He would have felt terrible if his mother needed to make him a whole new cloak and cap! But everything was back to normal, and he figured, since he was already at the dorms, he'd bring Triumph along with him to the store, since he didn't get to spend as much quality time with him while bandicooted, and this was a good way to make up for it.

And, surprising no one, especially after hearing about it from Summer during their broadcast, he was thrilled to check out the gelatinous cube plush, and he and Triumph spent a good deal of time between customers camped out in front of the counter with it, speculating on what would make for other good things to put in there.

A conversation that was mostly centered around just one, simple, innocent question: "What kind of jelly bean do you think a gelatinous cube would like the most?"

You'd be surprised, how many different branches of philosophical ponderings a question like that could inspire! And it was especially nice when Graham did, in fact, have a bag of jelly beans that had been waiting for him in his cloak all week, pretty much!

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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Three Minute Dates!- Caritas- Saturday before 8:15 pm

Love was in the air! Well, not really. That was later. But metaphorically, love, air, etc!

Caritas was decked out for Valentine's Day, with bunches of heart-shaped balloons in strategic places, copious amounts of pink and red confetti at the tables (a conversation starter!) and heart-shaped string lights above the bar and stage. And don't forget the glittery pink banner:

TONIGHT!
THREE MINUTE DATES
IT'S LITERALLY ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE

A few minutes before 8:00, Kitty took the stage. She was probably covered in glitter now. "Hello, everybody, and welcome to Three Minute Dates! If you've never done this before, the rules are simple. At 8:00 on the dot, we'll call your name along with one other person's. You'll get to know each other as well as you can in three minutes, and then the gong will sound and you'll get another name to meet. You'll do that for five rounds, and then if there's anyone you want to talk to more, you can meet up at the bar. Good luck, everybody!"

[~~Hold for OCD!~~ OCD is up! Your regular bar post will go up sometime Saturday for post-dates play!
The Bar | Round One | Round Two | Round Three | Round Four | Round Five | OOC]

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday [02/10].

The counter that day was cluttered with a wide variety of sheets and papers, charts and graphs, maps, dice, books, and a calculator.

It would, of course, be a fair guess to assume he was deeply entrenched in cooking up something truly epic and amazing for his tabletop group, but.....nope. You'd be wrong.

He was, instead, trying to figure out exactly what on Earth (quite literally!) he was going to do for his and Charlie's Valentine's Day date.

At least up until the point where Saffron decided that right in the middle of all his plotting and planning was exactly the spot she needed to plop down on, stretch out, and take a good long nap.

Which was annoying, at first, but, in retrospect, Graham would come to realize that the cat may very well have been doing him a huge favor after all.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday [01/27].

It might have been a little ambitious of him, but Graham had decided, rather than having to choose between what sounded like four impossible-to-choose-from stories, he would try to read all four of the epics that Mr. Kyōraku had assigned for their writing class, and, in a bid for his unbreaking optimism, had actually brought all four of them with him to work. Clearly, he wasn't expecting it to be a very busy day and had thought maybe, just maybe, he could manage to breeze through them all.

To his credit, he did love reading exciting tales and stories, which was promised in the name of epic poetry, and it wasn't so much the volume of the reading that was going to be his issue, but rather, the subject matter.

Because he could barely go a few pages into any of them without suddenly remarking to himself, "Oh! That's a good idea! I could use that for the campaign!" and detouring as he paused to write down that idea and try to extrapolate and ponder and plot on it in relation to the game, before realizing, several pages of notes later, that he was supposed to be reading.

(Well, technically, he was supposed to be working, buuuuut....)

Yeah, somehow, it seemed that he was not going to get to reading all four stories after all.

He'd be lucky if he managed to make it through just one.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday [01/13].

The wombats, sadly, seemed to have moved on, much to Graham's disappointment. Either that, or they were playing a very good game of hide-and-seek or just decided to take the day off. Thankfully, though, he had gone back to get Triumph to come to work with him that day, so he could conveniently just project his disappointment onto his mighty steed, giving him a rueful sort of smile and patting him consolingly on the head.

"It's okay, Triumph," he said. "I know you were excited to see those wombats, but it looks like it's just not in the cards for us today. Maybe next time, yeah, buddy?"

Triumph couldn't have actually cared less about the wombats, especially since it meant they would probably have demanded most of Graham's attention, but he was always willing to play along and let out a few sad and morose chirrups before just nudged his snout into Graham's hand for more pets. Pets that Graham was more than happy to provide before setting out to get to work for the day.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday [01/06].

It had been so long since the group had been able to get together for a session, but now that things were back to normal and back on track for a new semester and hopefully not too many weird weekends or holidays mucking things up with his game, Graham was so ready to get into work, sit down with all his notes and books, and really crank out some good pre-planning for tonight. He was not only going to do that, but he was also going to make sure to work really hard at the store in a determination to be a good employee and really start this new year off on the right foot!

That had been the plan, anyway.

But someone had decided to make a nice new and captivating display of a whole bunch of new and shiny dice that had come in to greet Graham practically as soon as he walked through the door, and, well...

...let's just say that it was a damn good thing that there wasn't a lot of work to do in the store that day, and Graham had actually preplanned and storyboarded and mapped out most of his campaign for at least a good few weeks ahead already.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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Homecoming Carnival, The Park, Saturday

It was probably a good thing that most of the carnival was set up on Friday night, so when people woke up as kids, everything else adjusted too. The weather was perfect for playing outside - not that a little rain would stop anyone - and it was time to have fun!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday, 10/28.

Blame it on the (second) cape, but Graham was feeling inspired that day to root through all the games and books and pull out all the ones that features vampires and the like and set them up on a display with a lot of red-and-black color-themed sets of dice, which was pretty easy for him to do, since he'd already done as much when helping Guillermo pick out some dice for himself. So they had a lot of good options, and then he found himself pouring over some of the games he'd picked out and wondering which ones sounded the most interesting.

And wondering how one werewolf inspired game (well, kind of) managed to get in there.

Ooooh, now he wanted to do a werewolf display, too!

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday, 10/21.

Graham had been excited to see all the pumpkin work that Steph had been doing at the store, especially after getting to read about it on the radio, but when he finally came in, he found himself much more distracted by that sign declaring that Saffron was, in fact, cursed.

"....you know," Graham decided, as he looked down at Saffron, who was ignoring him as usual in favor of grooming and keeping herself clean and tidy, "that actually explains a lot."

So now, he felt, the real question was what kind of curse, because you couldn't even begin to start looking into what kind of spell you could use to break it if you didn't even know what kind it was, but he'd feel really bad, honestly, if he had the knowledge of a curse and didn't at least try to do something about it....

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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Magpie Emporium; Friday [10/07].

Well, one of his players (the tabaxi, in fact, which made this very funny, if you asked him) had turned into a cat, and they were about to go on a weeklong school trip, so Graham was busy working that day not on anything directly related to the store (there wasn't a whole lot else to do anyway! But if there was, he'd do it, quickly, just to get it out of the way to get back to his other work), but on maybe some lighter, fluff ideas and interactions to throw at the group today before they really got started with the next leg of the campaign.

Considering the long list that was compiling throughout the day, he was not going to have any trouble coming up with something.

Even with the slight distraction of Saffron occasionally yowling at him accusatorily because he was clearly not the small pink kitten she could prefer to be there right now, and why was he here instead, and why wasn't he doing anything to change that fact, huh?

Graham mostly just tossed her treats in the meantime, hoping that would, if not entirely win her over, at least give her something else to focus on.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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Parents' Weekend Family Festival, The Park, Saturday

The lovely fall weather was still hanging around today, creating the perfect setting for some outdoor activities to facilitate family bonding and give people a distraction from trying to answer awkward questions about exactly what this place was all about.

Enjoy some food, get creative with pumpkins, and maybe meet some new people!

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Parents Weekend Meet & Greet, Friday Afternoon

It was one of those insufferably nice seasonal afternoons, the type Fandom only broke out for major events: the temperature was charmingly brisk, the trees an autumnal red-and-yellow, and birds sang their merry fall songs in the trees - when they weren't tussling with the squirrels.

A glittery banner hung over the entrance to the park, drawing in all newcomers:

Welcome to Parents' Weekend 2022!

Welcome, friends, family, and other hangers-on! We're glad to see you! As far as you know!

[[ all PW guest applications have been accepted! ]]

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Caritas- Saturday before 8:15 pm

It was that time of year again! New people were here! New people to date, get to know, or perhaps make a mortal enemy of!

You never know.

Signs were hung up in front of the bar, both obviously, and easy to miss for anyone who might wander in and get signed up without their knowledge. Above the bar was a banner (in glitter):

TONIGHT!
THREE MINUTE DATES!
GOOD LUCK WBRURBODY

Your hostess wasn't gonna question it. And a few minutes before 8:00, she took the stage.

"Hello, everyone! And welcome to Three Minute Dates!" Kitty greeted them. "If you're new to this, the rules are simple. We call your name along with one other person. You talk to this person, get to know their likes, their loves, their dreams. After three minutes, a buzzer will sound-" Pause for the sound. "-and you'll hear your name paired with a different person. Et cetera. If there is anyone you'd like to talk to more, the bar will be open afterwards for drinks and conversation. Remember that any violence will get you transported into the pond, but also please don't attempt violence in order to flee, that is rude to the rest of your dates. Now I'm going to get off the stage. Have fun, and good luck..."

She trailed off, not going to attempt to pronounce the word on that sign.

[~~Hold for so much OCD~~ OCD up! Date away!
The bar | Round One | Round Two | Round Three | Round Four | Round Five | OOC]

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The Magpie Emporium; Friday, 09/02.

Even though he knew by now that the fires that kept springing up were harmless, and not even really fire at all, it just looked like fire, Graham had to admit, a lot of those cardboard cutouts of various monsters looking amazingly more threatening and badass when wreathed in flames. You'd better believe Graham was quickly rewriting a few things for his session later on that would make good use of some nice atmospheric set dressing like this...if the island was going to give him some sweet special effects, he'd be remiss not to use them!

And, in the meantime, he was certainly going to go around the store and maybe do just a little bit of rearranging to feature anything he could find that was even remotely fire-related, and then putting together a sign that he thought was hilarious to advertise this sudden, unexpected FIRE SALE!

Get 'em while they're hot! the sign boasted. You couldn't ASH FOR A BETTER DEAL!

And, with that, Graham got to...well, mostly waiting around for work to come in, but, you know.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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The Perk | Monday Afternoon

Irene shouldn't have even left the flat, honestly.

It had started with the charming little coin purse that had practically fallen at her feet as soon as she'd set out towards the Perk -- blackmailer. Nothing she didn't already know, and she'd been here before, so she even knew what was happening.

On the course of her journey, she'd encountered a suitcase that read thief (of course), a duffel bag -- horrifying -- that proclaimed DEAD, and a neat little rolling pilot's case that bore an outsized LIAR.

None of this was especially groundbreaking. Try harder, Fandom.

It took until she was settling down at a table before the matched set fell around her. I, read a little hatbox, followed by AM on a makeup case, SHER said the handbag --

"Fuck, no." And all of that was getting shoved into a bin before the suitcase that wouldn't fit arrived, and was summarily shoved under her table. LOCKED.

[open, naturally!]

Fandom High 20 Year Reunion Mixer, Community Center, Saturday Evening

Fandom's reunion mixer was as tasteful as last night's party had been, even if it was twenty years later. And by 'tasteful', we meant 'full of retro 50s robot statues'. They were everywhere, hovering over the food, lurking by coat check, hidden behind the curtains in the dark curtains...

Be careful, folks. They were Out There.

[[ open to all! ]]

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Magpie Emporium; Friday [07/15].

Nervous? Graham wasn't nervous, don't be silly! What did he have to be nervous about? All this last minute pouring over materials and rearranging things to distract himself and, on occasion, just sort of standing there, wringing his hands while just sort of expecting (maybe hoping for?) the store to fall down around him or something, that was all totally normal! He definitely wasn't worried that no one would show up or that he was going to be really terrible at it or that he was in over his head or...

Graham stopped for a moment, closed his eyes, took in a deep breath. "It's just a game. It's supposed to be fun. As long as it's fun, then that's all that matters. You got this, Graham! You're going to do great."

The mantra worked....for a little while. And then he went right back to worrying about what if his dice were cursed? What if everyone hated it? What if the massive collection of notes he'd put together wasn't enough and he ran out of ideas? What if there weren't enough snacks?!?

Stop. Breathe. Self-encouragement. Crippling self-doubt and hand-wringing....Lather, rinse, repeat.

But he wasn't nervous! How dare...

The Magpie Emporium is open!

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KRAKEN DRILL!, EARLY Wednesday morning

In the middle of the night, the sirens went off.

Everyplace that had a siren ~~unless it was handwavily broken in case a player doesn't want to get involved~~ exploded into a cacophony of sound. It rang shrill, and loud, and it was nearly impossible to escape.

It rang again, louder.

And again.

And then the PA system kicked in."HELLO ISLAND. KRAKEN! KRAKEN! KRAKEN! PLEASE GO TO TOWN CENTER AT THE CROSS OF BLACK SWAN DRIVE AND UNICORN STREET, AWAY FROM THE SHORES, AND TIE YOURSELF TO THE NEAREST AVAILABLE OBJECT."

It repeated itself another handful of times. And then the whole thing started all over again.

At the center of Black Swan Drive and Unicorn Street, a variety of ropes and scarves and some handcuffs had been left for those who didn't bring their own.

Well. That was new.

[[ KRAKEN DRILL! Now with some OCD... ]]

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The park- Saturday morning

The park was the site of many a Jaina Solo wedding, so here we all were again! It'd been a couple years at least, okay?

The seats were set up for people to gather and watch on either side of the aisle, and flowers featured ge wily in the decor because someone's idea of weddings was more or less just "flowers," and Jaina and Kennedy were ready to commit to each other for the rest of their lives. (Despite already being married to other people.) (Details.)

It was a beautiful day and surely nothing would spoil it!