MEGAN MARPLE brings a cooler and ice for people to chill their drinks. AMITA HAHAM brings a cake but forgets forks, and everyone has to eat with their fingers. Your choice if they go for some dark humor (e.g. a cake with activated charcoal, or the kind of cake a 7yo girl might typically choose) or something a little more neutral. EVA MARPLE is very against anyone bringing real candles and always brings a bunch of electric ones to pass around. VOLUNTEER FOUR brings real candles, because you can't have a candlelight vigil without them. VOLUNTEER FIVE starts a drinking game of their choice. VOLUNTEER SIX (open to multiple) brings an out of town guest and gets the cold shoulder from some natives. VOLUNTEER SEVEN tells a story about Alice that they swear happened, but VOLUNTEER EIGHT insists it's not true. VOLUNTEER NINE drinks too much and causes a scene. VOLUNTEER TEN doesn't bring any of their own food or drink, but mooches off anyone who will share. VOLUNTEER ELEVEN insists they should try to contact Alice's ghost tonight. VOLUNTEER TWELVE usually attends this event, but decides to stay home this year.
It started out small, with just a few of Alice's old friends gathering in the clearing in the forest. Wine coolers went into their mouths, and memories of Alice came out. The setting sun illuminated their faces, alive and older than Alice March would ever be. When the stories petered out, they fell into a moment of silence, each struggling to process their loss and how it had changed their lives forever.
The next year, there were more of them, and someone brought a cake -- it was, after all, a birthday party.
As the years passed, the celebration grew, with an unspoken rule that nobody told the grown ups. Of course, some grown ups did find out -- things never stayed secret for long in Fall City -- but the general understanding was that this gathering existed for those who had grown up with Alice. Some older kids are welcome, especially when Alice's cohort was underage and they needed help getting alcohol, but if you were old enough to attend the March Halloween party, you'll stick out like a sore thumb here.
Over time, certain traditions have formed at this strange combination of birthday party and memorial service, and the event has fallen into a comfortable cadence.
And tonight, on the night that would have been Alice March's 28th birthday, it was time for another year's gathering. With current events dredging up old memories and pains around the March fire, there's a certain tension in the air as sunset draws nearer and the first guests begin to arrive in the forest clearing.
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This event is generally BYOB and BYO food, but some people typically bring enough to share, and there's usually plenty to go around.
It's an informal gathering, so people can come and go as they please. The earliest guests usually show up a little before sunset, and everyone has usually left by midnight or a little after.