The Bear and Barnacle

Have you a mother? Have you known one or been one? Tell us about them this month.

Since a couple of people asked -- you can ignore the situation of the current event in your topic post, or work it into your response, as you please. As always: fic, art, or conversations are equally welcome!

Just as reminders to all:

Participation in the event or response to the topics are entirely optional. All we ask is that you post SOMETHING once per month. Feel free to post an "Other" post if your character has nothing to say to the topic or if their participation in the event would result in mass bloodshed. *eyes Joker warily* :P

The events are intended to happen to those who wish to play them. But we're really not going to hold any character down and force a pot-laced brownie down their throats. As fun as it might be.

Also, we want your input on topics or events! Got something you're just dying to talk about? Something you want to see how others might handle? Leave a comment with some suggestions! Feel free to just spew forth. Want more porn? Want more pink flamingos invading Margate? Want to talk about grandparents? Ask for it! We are easy mods. So, so easy. :D

So, I was planning on inviting people to my belated sixth birthday- decided to stay older than Val... but I suppose that won't work any more as I woke up this morning more twenty-six than six. And before you go telling me that it's just my morphing that's bollocksed up, look in the mirror.

Hell, take a look at the miniature Iago here. *gestures at the young boy beside her with the disturbingly angelic golden curls* Sorry, mate. But you've turned pygmy on me.

Hopefully this gets sorted out before things become too much weirder. Doubtful, knowing Margate.

*glances back down at Iago* So, I can go get those extra piercings now that I'm over sixteen, right?


Alright everyone. This month is an age play event (kinkiness entirely optional). Your character must undergo a significant/dramatic age change, either forward or backward. Yes, the change must be physical. *eyes the immortal/near immortal crowd* They can retain their memories and such, but be constrained by a mentality suited to their new/temporary age.

The tag for this is, yeah we suck at originality of tags, age play.

As always participation in the event is optional! Feel free to make an Other post if neither event nor topic is suitable to your character or interesting.

The topic for the month of May is technology. Discuss the devices you know now, or what you knew before. Tell us how you use it, or how you avoid it.

Surprisingly, tag is "technology." And since Iago cannot be persuaded to separate business and personal posts, he wants to wish his beloved partner a tender happy birthday, and there is messily but lovingly made cake on the counter.

The sun rises, except that it doesn't.

Oh, yes, it does, the rushed evening edition of the newspaper assures everyone. If it hadn't, that would mean the planet had stopped, and inertia would provide that everything on the skin of the earth was torn away and flung shrieking into the darkness of the void. Judging by the continued existence of Margate, that has not happened. Yet there's no explanation for the darkness. All day, the sky is black, not even the stars present as they'd be in an eclipse, just a vast unsettling sphere of pure space. At night, the moon does not appear to rise either.

The strange thing is that the temperature doesn't change. It's just ... well, dark. The stores sell out of torches in record speed. Even their light seems a little less penetrating, weak against the pressing darkness. When the street lamps get turned back on, it helps some, but not as much as it should.

Blackness settled over Margate before anyone was awake to see, and now it blankets the town in alarming invisibility.

As usual, post to comm with character's reaction. The tag is "darkness". By the way, all -- if there's an event or topic you'd particularly like to see, feel free to drop us a line. Have fun!

This month's topic is the post!

What do you get in the post? Have you ever gotten anything really exciting? How does the post work where you're from? Americans, like Jack, call this the mail instead! *waves at Jack* What do you send? And to who!?

Ooooooo! You call all send me something here at the pub or at my house!


Sorry for delay. I've just gotten hp_april_fools up and going so my iJ time was eaten by that and the sudden death of my mentor. :(

The tag for this is "the post". You can talk about this in general or even more exciting, show us your character's mail/post for any given day, either from here in Margate or your character's past.

There’s been an unruly crowd in the pub of late, Ivonka thinks grimly.

With Iago vacationing she’s been managing the place herself in the evenings – she has a vested interest in keeping the business alive, since cooking here pays well and she can do more or less as she wishes. Ivonka worked out what was going on in Margate within a week of starting work at the Bear and Barnacle. Ivonka takes nothing from anyone. And Ivonka has decided the time has come to enact her twisted power over the pub.

She removes the tray of brownies from the oven to cool while she gets out dessert plates, enough for everyone in the restaurant. She’s baking in the back kitchen, and for a reason.

A few minutes later, she sets down a row of plates on the bar and takes up the chalk to write on the “Specials” board. FREE BROWNIES FOR ALL, she writes.

And there are indeed free brownies.

Ivonka knows how to make them taste just as delicious as regular brownies, too.



You can never have too much illicit drug use. Tag for the month is "special brownies." Have fun.

The topic for March is UNDERWEAR!

I wanted it to be bananas but Iago said it couldn't be bananas because he's feeling old because it was his birthday yesterday and he's thirty now and apparently that means no bananas.

So it's pants. Or knickers. Or knickers and pants or boxers that are red like Iago's or white with red hearts on them. Or how about pants with bananas?! *sticks her tongue out at Iago then grins*


Knock yourselves out, lovelies. Interpret how you want. Do as you wish as long as there's some vague connection to underwear. *eyebrow waggle* The tag for this month is... you guessed it "underwear".

There are many strange customs in this world, and we, who belong to this and others, bring many strange customs with us -- yet this custom, I think, we can all share with equal ... fervor.

Bring us a song for our entertainment. They call it karaoke, I believe. Come! who's first?

First: Many apologies. Your fearless mod fails at keeping track of the date. (offers hands for caning)

Have your character sing a song (or play one, or just recite something, for those who can't/won't sing). Please provide a link as well -- YouTube clip, online mp3, download (which will Of Course be deleted after listening in accordance with international law disclaimer disclaimer blah), however you like to do it. Tag is "karaoke night." Have fun!

Show me the man who has nothing written in his heart he would never let another see, and I will show you a fiction. What are your secrets? Tell them or keep them this month.

Memory posts, lists, drunken confessions ... it's all good! Topic is open until the twenty-eighth. Tag is "secrets".

Two reminders: 1. The gift exchange will be closed in favor of a shiny new event on the fifteeth, so if, like a certain bartender's typist, you have three gifts to give and zero workable ideas, get crackin'. 2. If you observe the good old Characters in Play list, you will notice that we have begun a Pending Removal list for those who haven't spoken up in a long while. We're not kicking anyone to the curb yet, but consider this a gentle poke if any of these players are still watching.

Everyone has someone to give a present to now!

Due to much, MUCH insanity in the modly world (travel, illness, PhD exams, etc) and late sign-ups, the gift exchange has just gotten under way. If you signed your voices up, you should have received the name of your giftee just moments ago.

This event will be running through the end of January, so consider these New Year's gifts if you wish!

You are free to give anything and any way to your recipient. IF you wish to post a picture of a gift that's fine! You may leave it at their residence, bring it to them in person, mail it to them, etc. Just have fun! Be creative.

And our apologies to whoever is getting a gift from the Joker. :P

Have you an annoyance that seems yours alone? Some little rankling thing that makes your skin crawl and your eyelids twitch as nothing else does? Be annoyed by it, or tell us what the annoying thing is.

Tag for the month is "pet peeves". Have fun!

ETA: Er, right. I know what month it is.

This month's topic is MONSTERS!

What are monsters like where you're from? Have you met any? Fought any? Found any under your bed or in a closet? What's it mean to be a monster?


Responses to this topic, as usual, get posted to the community by your character. Please use the appropriate tags, including the new one of "monsterss". Posts can be memories or drawings or used to push along new plots in Margate for your character or simply be conversations with someone/everyone in the pub. Feel free to interpret the topics liberally. As long as the posts have something/anything to do with monsters or monstrosity, they're good to go!

The new topic for the month is Poetry!

Tell us your favourite poem or write one for us! Recite a sonnet or compose a silly limerick! Or tell us what you think about poetry in general!


Responses to this topic, as usual, get posted to the community by your character. Please use the appropriate tags, including the new one of "poetry". Posts can be memories or used to push along new plots in Margate for your character or simply be conversations with someone/everyone in the pub. As long as they have something to do with poetry, they're good to go!

You come home and you find that your house is clean. Utterly clean. 1950s-advert-housewife-on-speed clean. No white-gloved mother-in-law could find anything on your top shelf to frown about.

If you had a system of organization, it has been completely redone. If you didn't, now you do. If you have houseplants, they have been watered, misted and pruned. If you have pets, they are fluffy and freshly bathed, and if their fur is long enough, it has been daintily trimmed. If you had laundry to do, it is complete and the clothes are pressed, folded and smell faintly of pleasant herbs. If your closet was sorted by season, it is now ordered by color. If it was ordered by color, it is now sorted by season. Your bed has hospital corners. Your kitchen sparkles.

In short, your house is as clean and neat as a catalogue display. You didn't do it. And you are pretty damn sure that you left it locked.

Welcome to our second event, and the beginning of the oddities of colliding universes! For this one, you will make a post to the community detailing your character's reaction. Have fun!

OHAYO GOZAIMASU MINNA-SAAAAAAN!

This is your very very friendly local chef speaking, and what you do not see on my head is what the ladies with the keyboards have assured me is an invisible modhat! But, ne, I went to the library and it doesn't look at all like the Mod fashion. I mean, with those sorts of hats, ne, not only could you see them, but if you looked in their direction you might even go blind!

What? Oh! Yes! ( I have a point! )

Remember, you can respond to topics in any way you like, including pic or photos, poems, flashback!stories, accounts of Margate life in various forms, conversation posts, YM logs, and just answering the question, and you'll be able to respond to event posts either in comments to the original post or with appropriately-tagged posts of your own detailing your characters responses to the insanity. Have fun, please, and if there are any questions, ask 'em! ^,^

This month's topic is jobs!

What do you want to be? What have you been? Have you had any really brilliant jobs? Or yucky ones? Do you have a job here in Margate or do you want one?


Responses to this topic, as usual, get posted to the community by your character. Please use the appropriate tags, including the new one of "jobs".

This month's topic is bedrooms! We want to know about them! What do you have? Or what do you want? What did you have?


Your characters should post to the community directly with the tags of "topic" and "bedrooms" along with your characterpost tag.

As with all the topics/events (unless we state otherwise in the mod post, like the Place Your Order Event), it is entirely up to you how your character responds. He or she can post a memory/fic to the comm, actually be in their room doing something, be trying to secure a bedroom, or simply tell someone else at the pub or the pub at large what it's like. As long as it involves bedrooms and you post it to the comm, it works!

Feel free to use these theme posts to set up a plot.

Characters/Setting
* Characters here can be from any fandom so long as it's fictional. You can play historical characters if they are rooted in a fictional universe (ie Charles Dickens from Doctor Who or Henry VIII from The Tudors).

* You can play up to four characters. Of these, you can have two characters from the same fandom, provided they have no significant interaction/relationship with one another canonically (ie, For HP, you cannot play Teddy and Harry, but you could play Quirrell and Teddy). Each character must be approved by the modding team, and our decision in part will be based on the activity of the player (ie, if we've not seen you or your James Bond in months, we will be less inclined to approve you to play further characters).

* Each incoming character will be from their own idiosyncratic universe, even if they are in the same fandom as another existing character. This will account for personal canon. If you want to have your incoming Jack Sparrow be from the same universe as the existing Elizabeth Swann, you must discuss that with the player of the pre-existing character (and get their consent).

* Don't be a Mary-Sue. We understand that some characters maybe be such in their original canon, but the point is give them life and interest. Make them human-- providing that they're human to begin with. Otherwise make them a realistic ghost or alien or whatever. Mary-Sues are annoying and ruin everyone's fun- unless we get an immortal one we can "kill" over and over. (Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear anyone? :D)

* The game is set in present-day Margate, Kent. Most of us have never been to Margate so Google is your friend but our Margate is a rather fictionalized setting- and not only with these crazies coming in and out. Familiarize yourself with the basic geography of the location and remember it is in England.


Monthly Posting
* Each month the pub owners/moderators will provide one Topic Post and one Event Post. For example, we might give a Topic Post about a singular issue such as "Siblings" or perhaps a quote or such- we may or may not provide further information/guidance on these. An Event Post may be Dora throwing her fancy dress party or "Margate is invaded by a plague of flying jellyfish". Topic Posts occur on the first of the month, Events on the fifteenth.

* Depending on the nature of the event or topic, threading/RPing can occur in response to the mod post OR as individual character posts to the community. We'll indicate in the original post if we'd prefer one or the other type of play on a given topic, just to make things saner.

* One of your characters should respond to either or both of these per month. In other words, if you are playing three characters, you can rotate months/posts between them. If you're crazy- feel free to post for everyone every month. We won't stop your fun.

* The game is set up to center around the Pub, but this is just a starting point/central location. Responses to the Topic or Event posts must be posted to the community but can take place outside of the pub! For example, if we ask about hobbies, you could either have your character tell someone next to them or the pub at large about painting model airplanes, do a post showing your character painting model airplanes in Margate, or write a "memory" of their previous experience of it. Art responses are also grand!

* If your character has nothing they can respond with to either the Topic or the Event post for the month, they can pay their monthly dues by providing the cook with a new recipe for the pub. This needs to be posted to the comm then tagged with "Recipe".

* Topics and events will range from mundane to extraordinary, serious to pure crack. Some will build on earlier plotlines, others will be completely out of the blue. Additionally, there will be a screened "ideas" post where players can suggest events or topics of their own. Warning: Some of these topics or events might be the 'brainchild' of Dora, the 5 year old adopted daughter of the pub owners.


Anal Retention
* You must use our standard Header Format of "Character: Topic/Event/Other: Summary/Title". For example, "Severus Snape: Event: Flying Jellyfish".

* Please use appropriate tags on your posts, including tags for any significant threads. Everyone has two set tags for their character: a "namepost" tag and a "namethread" tag. For each post, you will have a minimum of three tags: a name tag; a 'topic', 'event', or 'other' tag; then the specific tag we give for the month's post. So on Mr Darcy's response to the "Bananas" topic where he shags Sam Vimes, his player would theoretically include the following tags: "darcypost", "topic", "bananas", "darcythread", and "vimesthread".



Other Posts
* Moreover, we prefer all play to be shared on the community rather hidden/miss-able in personal journals. This will make life simpler and keep players sane. So, if your character Peter Pan is dating Princess Leia, feel free to do a post to the community for your RPing of that date. Simply use the Header Format of "Character: Other: Title/Summary" (Peter Pan: Other: Date Night with Leia).

* Posting links or fake cuts is to your character journal is fine. Just use the proper header and tags, or risk having the chef chase you around with chopsticks.

* These "Other" posts do not count for/as the monthly requirement.

* Please focus your play in the community. We understand that characters can be pains in the ass sometimes and will refuse to RP important things where others not involved could see. This is fine- but we ask that you not get carried away with RPing in F-locked posts. IMing is fine if you post the chatlogs to your journal with a link from the community. The comm is here for a reason- and we want to see tooooooo!


Interaction/RP

* In the case of these "Other" posts, simply indicate at the beginning in italics "Private" so people know whether or not you wish involvement of other characters. If a post is marked Private, do not crash it without invitation from the poster. This is why we have email, IM, and small text OOC comments.

* Posts taking place in public places (like the pub) will typically be treated as public. As such, threadcrashing is permitted within the boundaries of logic. If your character threadcrashes every conversation between Kara Starbuck and Maria Von Trapp, the ladies have every right to assume your character is a stalker.

* Players can choose to respond or ignore threadcrashing as they see fit. We remind you that interruptions are realistic and we encourage you to go with the flow of the game, but a small text acknowledgement and refusal of a threadcrash should not be given or received as insult.

* Do not godmod anyone other than our NPC, the man-eating she-wolf chef Ivonka. The one exception two exceptions to this are Dora and Val- by permission of their players, you may godmod them as out of the pub if having a 4 or 5 year old restricts your play in a particular post.

* Wankiness will not be tolerated and will result a boot in the ass. *shines pointy boots*


Any questions can be directed to one/all of the mods:
Dora's Player via preraphaelite1 at gmail dot com
Iago's Player via thegildedmagpie at gmail dot com

Incoming characters are encouraged to post their "arrival" to Margate (however it happens) to the community. Simply use the tag "arrival".

No duplicate characters permitted.

Blade of the Immortal:
Anotsu Kagehisa: shadowcrane

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Spike: bloodysoul

Cantarella
Cesare Borgia: il_valentino

The Dark Knight
The Joker: be_serious

Discworld:
Rincewind: rincewind
Susan Sto Helit: innerbabysitter

Fullmetal Alchemist:
Edward Elric: notabeansprout

Harry Potter:
Albus Dumbledore: knittingfate
Blaise Zabini: blaise_semedi
Lucius Malfoy: coldgreyangel
Minerva McGonagall: mcg
Nymphadora Tonks: seaside_nymph
Quirinus Quirrel: double_q
Rodolphus Lestrange: nex_colubra
Sirius Black: sm_black
Teddy Lupin: makethemproud
Victoire Weasley: slyveela

Lord of the Rings:
Faramir: in_his_stead

Saiyuki:
Jianyi Ni/Ukoku Sanzo: naughty_but_ni

Torchwood:
Capt. Jack Harkness (the original): down_in_glory
Capt Jack Harkness (Version 2.0): timeaftertime

Shakespearian Works:
Iago: iago

Sherlock Holmes:
Sherlock Holmes: moriartys_bane

Slayers:
Gaav: war_ensouled
Valgaav: make_it_new
Zelgadis Greyweir: mylifeishard


Pending Removal:
Mary Poppins
Capt. Etienne Navarre: navarre