In grand tradition (okay, the grand three-year tradition that eventually ended up skipping last year, just roll with it), the Purim RP is back! It’s the latest Purim RP yet, and that’s saying something, considering last year’s almost happened seven weeks after Purim...this one, meanwhile, clocks in at about two and a half months past the actual holiday. With the completely different holiday of Shavuot (...Feast of Weeks, I think it gets called in English?) happening very soon (Saturday night/Sunday day, as well as Monday in most places).
If you're wondering, So what is this Purim thing, anyway? look no further! Or rather, please feel free, but here's a brief explanation to get you started!
Purim is a Jewish holiday which is celebrated in the spring. This year, it fell on March 1st (beginning the evening of February 28th--in the Jewish calendar, the day begins and ends at sunset, not midnight. This is why you get things like big Friday night dinners for Shabbat, instead of everything being on Saturday).
Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people living in Persia and Medea at the time of King Ahasuerus (who is generally identified with Xerxes I). Essentially, Ahasuerus fell out with his first wife, Vashti, and found a new one in Esther, a young Jewish woman. Upon the advice of her uncle-cousin (there's some debate) Mordechai, who raised her, she hid her religion. This eventually enabled her to defeat the plan of Haman, the king's adviser who decided to commit mass genocide of the Jewish population via a decree telling the rest of the citizens to get their murder on on a specific day. He got this day by going and having lots cast before him. That's where the name of the holiday comes from: ‘Purim’ literally means ‘lots.’ The Scroll of Esther, which tells the Purim story, ends with Mordechai and Esther instituting the holiday and its customs (and then a coda about Ahasuerus' new taxes and Mordechai's status as his new adviser--chapter ten is very short).
Why make an RP out of this holiday? Well, it lends itself very well to RPing. Purim parties are popular in the Real World, and traditions include dressing up--yes, all ages--eating a particular type of cookies called hamantaschen, and (optionally) drinking “until you can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai.” Singing is also frequent, as are ‘Purim spiels’ (little plays retelling the Purim story, often made into musicals, very often performed by kids). The less RP-fitting parts are giving charity, hearing the Scroll of Esther (aka ‘the Megillah’, which...means ‘scroll’) read in the evening and morning, and delivering little gifts of food and drink (often hamantaschen and grape juice as a standard, but they can get wild apparently) to friends and neighbors.
A quick note: costumes! Sounds a bit like Halloween, yes? Well, the tendency here is not generally towards scary or revealing costumes. Popular choices (especially for children) include characters from the Purim story, though pretty much everything else gets in there too. And yes, some people don’t dress up, or just wear a mask or headband or something odd and remarkable like a straw hat with challah on it (seen, to the best of my memory, on a beloved, aging Holocaust survivor)--but dressing up definitely doesn’t end around the teenage years.
At any rate: We’re back! And here we go...
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As ever, the rules/guidelines are as follows:
-Everyone is welcome. That means new agents, old agents, reluctant agents, enthusiastic agents, agents who wandered in by mistake…everyone. It also means minis, kids, and possibly pets. Free-To-Use Agents are also good.
-This is newbie-inclusive! While I know some newbies (often depending on just how new they are) have agents they’re thinking about, many other newbies don’t–and, well, this is Purim. It’s a party. Everyone should be able to come! So…everyone includes Boarders, with the condition that you’re incognito! Pretend to be your costumes, pretend to be newly-recruited agents, whatever you like–as long as you remember that the vast majority of PPC HQ’s inhabitants don’t know the Board exists (and would forget if they found out). Of course, this isn’t just for newbies; if you’re not a newbie and you really, really want to, write yourself in! The same rules apply, though. (This doesn't always happen, but you're certainly welcome to go for it!)
-A new reminder: please remember that the Constitution is in effect. If an author (not a character) expresses discomfort with something happening in an interaction with their character, please pay attention even if the thing in question doesn't bother you.
-On canon-compliance: this one is up to you. For my part, I take most of what my agents get up to in this RP as canon, to the point of working the occasional reference into various works in progress. Referencing relatively vague details that didn't make it to the RP but are headcanoned by the author(s) of the characters is probably also something I'll end up doing eventually--such as, "Did he really get so drunk he started dancing on the tables?" "Oh, he'd barely had anything. He just wanted to re-enact the Green Dragon scene, even though he came dressed as Frodo." "He did fall off, though, right?" "Yeah, right onto that one agent who came as the Lady Galadriel..." …Anyway, you can call this canon or not (or anything in between) for your agents as you wish! It’s entirely up to you.
-Have fun! It is Purim, after all, and Purim is a time for celebration. So let’s celebrate!
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*Note: This Purim RP, while RL-wise taking place about two and a half months after March 1st, is in-universe happening at the appropriate time. (Boarders inside the RP can mention time-travel if you like, though.)
*Oh! Another note: I'm available for questions, especially about anything in this post that isn't clear enough. I'm all for cultural exchange! I'll be mostly offline over the weekend, though, so don't expect immediate answers from me.
*
And finally...the opener! Also in grand tradition :) Fun fact: the very first one was a multicolored textual invitation.
Let's journey now to RC Pie (that's 2.1459) and the disentanglers that inhabit it to start off the party! Or, in this case, setting out for the party...
“You're going as John Hart again?” Agen_t rolled zir eyes and put down the gun ze was cleaning.
“What's wrong with repeating a great costume?” Edgar Sullivan finished buckling his belt and reached for the katana that lay on the kitchen table. Well, what passed for their kitchen, anyway.
“It makes you seem boring.” Agent stretched and folded zir hands behind zir head. “Hints at a lack of creativity, in fact.”
Edgar shrugged. “It's a great costume, it looks good, and I like it. I don’t have any reason not to use it.” He adjusted the belt so that the sheathed katana wouldn’t bump his leg, and reached for something best described as a space pistol.
“You have a disguise generator,” Agent reminded him. “An RC full of items. A general store! Character replacements to loot—and don't tell me you don't do that. I know you. We've been partners for nearly four years.”
Edgar sighed. “I like this one. Anyway, if you’re so into creativity, where’s your costume?”
Agent shrugged. “I’m wearing it.”
Edgar eyed zir. “That’s just one of your old suits. Are you going as a SHIELD agent, or something? Because if so, I have something to say to you about creativity.”
Agent sighed and slid zir sunglasses down over zir blue eyes. “Don’t you see?” Ze spread zir arms wide and wiped most of the expression from zir face. “I’m a newly recruited bit character with practically no personality.”
Edgar rolled his eyes forcefully. “You’re going as a younger you.” Agent shrugged one shoulder very slightly, and Edgar nodded. “Right, yeah. That thing about creativity? Yours needs work.”
Agent shrugged again. “At least I haven’t used it as a costume before. And besides...it is a costume now.”
Relative silence fell, broken only by the shuffle of mini-Luggage feet in the background, until Edgar shook his head.
“Oh, no. You’re not getting me with the sap. I might be proud and pleased you’re all personed up now, but it’s not going to distract me from the fact that you’re a hypocrite.”
Agent shrugged. “It was worth a try, wasn’t it? Have you got everything put together now?”
“Just about,” Edgar said. He picked up the period coat that was one of the biggest parts of the costume, and shrugged into it. “There we go. Tell me you’re not bringing the gun.”
“Of course I’m not bringing the gun.” Agent pushed the pieces tidily together and wiped off zir hands, before unbuttoning zir suit jacket and pushing it aside to show a different gun in a generic holster. “I’m bringing this one. SHIELD standard issue.”
Edgar sighed. “Of course you are. Alright—let’s just go. The sooner we leave, the sooner Carrrot and Neinor and the rest can start making a mess.”
The shuffle of mini-Luggage feet stopped suspiciously. The two disentanglers exchanged glances.
“I plan to bring back a good supply of cookies this year,” Agent said casually. “I won’t be sharing them with anyone, or anything, that hasn’t been on good behavior since I left, though. I think that sounds reasonable.”
“Oh, very reasonable,” Edgar said. He grinned at the utter silence in the RC. “Come on—let’s go party. Maybe we’ll even bring back some of the little pita chip things this year...those are very good for sharing…”
“Extra chocolate hamantaschen,” Agent added. “Those always go quickly. We’d better hurry if we want some.”
“Good point.”
They left, grinning at each other once the door had closed behind them.
“Well, that went well.”
“There will be some kind of mess when we get back,” Agen_t said. Ze set off down the hallway, pushing zir sunglasses back up. “There always is.”
“You never know,” Edgar said, and followed his partner. “Maybe today will be the day…”
