(catch-all) the storm & the st. paddy's day festival

[officialnotice]

CATCH-ALL: 16TH & 17TH

march 16

THE THUNDER ROLLS

The day starts off atmospherically heavy. The clouds are low, and the temperature is unusually warm, settling in the mid to high 50s (teens in Celsius). Townies are wandering around town in lightweight jackets and hoodies making small talk about the unusual weather, but for the most part they're pleased with the warmth, even if the clouds off in the distance look rather ominous. As the day goes on, the clouds creep closer and the residents seem more inclined to get a roof over their heads and stay there. The midmorning news predicts heavy rainfall by the late afternoon, but the savvier townsfolk say it’s going to be worse than that.

They’re not wrong. The sun drops low, and the winds start to pick up, howling through the trees, bringing with them nickel-size chunks of hail and torrential rains. The darker the night gets, the worse the storm hits Wayward Pines; by the time the sun has set, the sky is obscured with opaque, swirling clouds, the winds snapping trees in half, rattling the power lines, causing electricity to flicker and sometimes go out. The hail pings against the cars not safely parked inside garages, leaving the more exposed with significant damage to paint and windows, and anyone brave (or stupid) enough to step outside is instantly soaked to the skin in cold rain.

The most chilling thing of all isn’t the rain. Anyone trying to wait the weather out on Main Street will hear three wrenching cries coming from the woods, almost like the exact moment a person shreds their vocal cords in a scream. The townies claim not to hear anything unusual. It’s just the wind, they say, and they may be right. The sound as it shrieks through the trees and between buildings is similar enough to cast doubt, and combined with the rain even the most experienced camper would likely get lost trying to find it.

march 17

THERE’S WHISKEY IN THE JAR, OH

Whatever damage was caused by the previous night’s storm has mostly been cleared from Main Street by the early morning of St Patrick's Day. The streets are still a little wet, with plenty of puddles for the more adventurous children (and adults) to splash around in. The air is still a little chilly, but nothing a sweatshirt can’t fix. Nothing’s fully set up until about nine in the morning, but when it is, the St. Patty’s Day celebration gets under way. It’s small, more of a farmers' market or small festival than anything major. There’s food stalls and tables for eating, as well as a few booths where townsfolk are plying their crafts and non-food wares, as well as live music. The festivities during the daylight hours are pretty tame, a PG-rated good time for all.

When the sun sets, the party gets a little more rowdy. Someone busts out the booze and someone else busts out the Mardi Gras beads, and the music gets louder. While many food stalls are still open, the rest have shut down as the street fills with revelers, many of them holding cups half-filled with beer or something a little stronger. This part of the party isn’t for kids, and if anyone underage is spotted they'll quickly get escorted back home by the police — so try not to get caught, yes?

MOD NOTES

This is a catch-all for any and all threads pertaining to the storm (March 16th) and the St. Patrick's Day festival (March 17th)! Details on both of these happenings can be found in the March Newsletter.

PLEASE INCLUDE IN SUBJECT LINE: Character Name, which Day(s) your top-level takes place in, and Open or Closed, to help keep things a bit more organized. (For example: "Joe Biden | 16th & 17th | Open!")

Should you choose to participate in both mini-events, you're welcome to make separate top-level posts for each day or to combine them both into one.

If you have any questions regarding this event, feel free to ask them here.

Comments

[abetment]

[ Beads everywhere! All the pretty ladies should acquire some of their very own!! ...maybe, if they know how, right?! Katherine wanders by, catching the glint of envy in this woman's eyes. It draws her in, just enough. Stopping, tight black pants, green shirt and leather jacket on, she has a strand of beads looped twice around her neck. ] Hey! You look... [ her nose scrunches ] sorta familiar, but who doesn't in this town, right? [ She must have seen her while browsing, not yet buying, from the lingerie store.

Taking a drink, she toys a little with the ever so exquisite 'necklace' of beads. ] Some party. I didn't think this place knew how to loosen up.

[unweaving]

[ In general, Aranea pays a criminally low amount of attention to her customers. There's a memorability factor here though, due to this woman being a) exceptionally gorgeous, even in a town that seems to be made up of a models' union volleyball team, and b) someone who'd been looking at what Aranea can't help but think of as The Teddy of Brooding. Seems like it's a breach of client confidentiality to start mouthing off about what kind of underwear someone seems to be into in public, though, so she flashes a grin instead. ]

It's a start, right? Aranea.

[abetment]

[ So many would be offended, surprised, or have their faces fire up with a blush at forward comments like that. Katherine would have laughed about it, although can appreciate someone who has the sensibility to put on the face of decency in public. The smartest people do so, after all.

She smiles back, silently pinpointing where she remembered seeing the (also lovely, and she can admit that, even with her own vanity) Aranea. ] They could definitely do a lot better. [ A chuckle. ] Katherine. I wasn't sure if they held to a calender either but they must, what with all the green and the -- [ she tugs at the beads around her neck, trailing off, assuming the references will be known. ]

[unweaving]

I must've missed a memo somewhere. I mean, I can always get behind a party [ A Blatant Lie, but so far this party doesn't involve horrors or a coup, so it gets a pass ] but I have no clue about the green. Or the beads. It's some kind of tradition?

[abetment]

[ Katherine smiles until her head tilts, giving a faint look of question. She doesn't mind answering, though. ] Yeah, they're both meant to celebrate two different holidays. The green's for Saint Patrick's, St. Patty's, Day. Shamrocks, leprechauns, anything from...this country called Ireland. [ She's being so...helpful. Who is she even? She assumes since Aranea asked the question so bluntly, she isn't Earth-familiar? Because, she certainly looks capable, rather than having lived on some remote island. ] The beads, those are for something called Mardi Gras. It's a kind of festival. Lots of drinking, music...usually bigger than what they have here, but only because we have less people.

The beads? They get thrown to people in parades, but...there's also this tradition where people, usually guys, get women to lift their shirts as a payment to get beads. It's this whole...thing. [ A light roll of her eyes, shrugging. Earth, it's sure a PLACE all right... ] Any of that sound familiar? [ She wants to ask where Aranea may remember being from, if not Earth, but she can't because rules. ]

[unweaving]

You're shitting me.

[ It's amused rather than judgy, but seriously. Beads for tits. Whatever works, she guesses. The fact that everything Katherine's saying flows so easily bothers her a little, itching at doubts she's already having, but hey. She's not about to punish someone who's trying to help by unloading her worries on them. ]

Doesn't ring a bell, but I spent a lot of time away. Military, not jail. Thanks for the rundown.

[abetment]

[ Katherine reads the tone, brows rising, corners of her lips pursing in just so; she definitely isn't kidding about any of it, as they can both tell, head nodding faintly to the side. She's always been a speaker of what's on her mind and while she's careful to follow rules about not discussing her own past, she doesn't entirely register how off the confidence in her tone could sound.

Her brows lift again. ] There's plenty of meanings to spending time away too, isn't there? [ She ran for most of her life, always feeling separated from a life she could've had. Being away from it. Running, but never fully living. ] You're welcome. [ A beat. ] I didn't know we had any military here, but...I guess everywhere needs a little bit of that. [ As if they weren't yanked up from different worlds or anything. ]