gooseberryhigh | BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY

BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY

BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY

Upon stepping into the Grotto, the first thing you might notice is that the once-crumbling building's been repaired. The roof has been remade with branches, and that one collapsed wall has been rebuilt with rough stones. The next thing you might notice is the heavy fog spreading over the grass, which can be traced back to two black cauldrons, one on either side of the stairs up to the stone house, which keep magically generating fog. Crimson red streamers have been strung through the still-green tree branches, and something about the way they've been charmed to shine in the fading light reminds you of dripping blood. After the sun's fully set, small matching lights appear in the trees: luminous blinking eyes, in red and purple and yellow and blue, that seem to watch you from above.

When the party's well underway, [Character A] sees a tall dark figure standing just beyond the treeline. When Victoria Powers goes to investigate, they realize it's just a hooded and black-robed dummy hanging from a tree branch. Goddammit, Micah.

By the bonfire, you'll find drinks: the ice chests have been Transfigured to resemble small black coffins, and are filled with smoking dry ice. Alcohol is widely available to anyone who wants it, and some thoughtful students also made sure there was plenty of water and soda. Nearby is a table covered with a blue silk tablecloth, behind which Micah St. Clair will periodically offer a game to any passersby: Mystery Shots, in which you shake a magic 8-ball and you'll get a different drink depending on your answer. (The shot can be very tasty, or very bad.) At 7:30 PM, a movie screening of The Blair Witch Project starts, projected onto a white sheet hanging from the trees.

RULES

If this is your first time at a Grotto party, welcome! Although the Grotto is forbidden in the school rules, you can assume your characters a) have heard about the party and b) make it past any adults who are walking the trails. Just be casual!

There are two routes to the Grotto: in the woods near Bear Trail, and in the woods near Ribbonfin campsite.

The party starts at 6:30 PM, and runs until 10 PM. The prefects are strictly enforcing curfew, and will start breaking things up at 9:30 PM.

If you signed your character up for either Spin The Bottle or Seven Minutes In Heaven, find their partners below:

Corrigan Bailey STB #1: Jeffy STB #2: Nisha 7MiH: Ariadne	Phineas Bones STB #1: Susana STB #2: Ennis 7MiH: Lachlan	Cameron Carney STB #1: Heathcliff STB #2: Charlotte 7MiH: Hazel	Jaime Castillo STB #1: Calvin STB #2: Todd 7MiH: Sofia
Avery Davenport STB #1: Yancey STB #2: Heathcliff 7MiH: Spencer	Sofia Delgado STB #1: Riley STB #2: Jade 7MiH: Jaime	Dinah Dixon STB #1: Quentin STB #2: Paris	Calvin Evercreech STB #1: Jaime STB #2: Lachlan 7MiH: Micah
Ariadne Flint STB #1: Webster STB #2: Jefferson 7MiH: Corrigan	Carolina Foster-Hayes STB #1: Concordia STB #2: Violet	Adeline Foster-Hayes STB #1: Heathcliff STB #2: Yancey 7MiH: Iliya	Lachlan Galbraith STB #1: Casey STB #2: Calvin 7MiH: Phineas
Ennis Harper STB #1: Hazel STB #2: Phineas 7MiH: Casey	London Holloway STB #1: Nisha STB #2: Micah	Paris Holloway STB #1: Cole STB #2: Dinah 7MiH: Concordia	Hazel Keating STB #1: Ennis STB #2: Spencer 7MiH: Cameron
Jefferson Key STB #1: Corrigan STB #2: Ariadne 7MiH: Essie	Concordia Knight STB #1: Carolina STB #2: Natalie 7MiH: Paris	Webster Knox STB #1: Ariadne STB #2: Susana 7MiH: Isabelle	Iliya Krum STB #1: Antonia STB #2: Spencer 7MiH: Addy
Heathcliff Lacey STB #1: Cameron STB #2: Addy STB #3: Avery 7MiH: Fern	Nisha Lewis STB #1: London STB #2: Corrigan 7MiH: Todd	Violet McGonagall STB #1: Tuesday STB #2: Carolina 7MiH: Quentin	Charlotte Meer STB #1: Isabelle STB #2: Cameron 7MiH: Antonia
Yancey Montgomery STB #1: Avery STB #2: Addy	Estella Morales-Tran 7MiH: Jeffy	Cole Moss STB #1: Paris STB #2: Paige 7MiH: Natalie	Fern Mufferaw STB #1: Paige STB #2: Casey 7MiH: Heathcliff
Tuesday North STB #1: Violet STB #2: Marie	Jade Otterwell STB #1: Victoria STB #2: Sofia 7MiH: Riley	Antonia Papadakis STB #1: Iliya STB #2: Riley 7MiH: Charlotte	Marie Patterson STB #1: Todd STB #2: Tuesday
Casey Patterson STB #1: Lachlan STB #2: Fern 7MiH: Ennis	Victoria Powers STB #1: Jade STB #2: Micah	Natalie Prince STB #1: Spencer STB #2: Concordia 7MiH: Cole	Paige Ripley STB #1: Fern STB #2: Cole
Isabelle Sargent STB #1: Charlotte STB #2: Quentin 7MiH: Webster	Todd Skynner STB #1: Marie STB #2: Jaime 7MiH #1: Nisha 7MiH #2: Susana	Micah St. Clair STB #1: London STB #2: Victoria 7MiH: Calvin	Riley Stamper STB #1: Sofia STB #2: Antonia 7MiH: Jade
Spencer Sweet STB #1: Natalie STB #2: Iliya STB #2: Hazel 7MiH: Avery	Susana Velasquez STB #1: Phineas STB #2: Webster 7MiH: Todd	Quentin Youngblood STB #1: Dinah STB #2: Isabelle 7MiH: Violet

RULES

Teen peer pressure (and player sadism) aside, no one is obligated to do anything they don't want to. Characters doing Seven Minutes In Heaven can spend the time just talking or staring awkwardly at each other, and characters playing Spin The Bottle can opt out of a kiss (although people will probably boo).

If characters get up to anything more racy than PG-13, please fade to black on that! This includes sexually explicit conversations. Many people track IC/OOC posts, so please have consideration for your fellow players. Talking about sex is fine (and part of the flavour of a teen game), but there's no need to get into detailed descriptions of anatomy or sex acts.

If you'd like to say two characters were partners in STB or 7MIH in addition to what's been rolled, go ahead! Obviously, get the permission of all involved characters first.

» Before the Party: It's the first party after a long summer, so throw on your best clothes, prep your hair and makeup, and get ready to sneak out of your cabins. Be careful not to get caught by any teachers or MACUSA agents! Going into the forest isn't against the rules, but the Grotto is still a forbidden area.

» Around the Fire: The large bonfire is warm and romantic. Pull up a log and grab a blanket, make some s'mores, or dance to the party music. There's beer and soda in the coffin-shaped ice chests, along with bins for empty bottles and cans. Don't litter. This isn't your home. (One of the chests is filled with ICEE slush pouches in either blue or red. First dibs go to juniors, sorry!)

» Movie Screening: Not too far from the fire, a white sheet has been hung up between the trees, and blankets and pillows have strewn around the grass. Starting at 7:30 PM, there will be a screening of The Blair Witch Project. Bags of popcorn are also served.

» Truth or Shot: Around the bonfire, there's a circle of students serving up shots and asking personal questions. The rules are simple: tell the truth, or take a shot. Post your characters to this comment with their name in the header, and other characters will ask you uncomfortable questions.

» Mystery Shots: Micah's got a table set up with a short black curtain he can hide behind and mix drinks. His proposed game: ask a question, shake the Magic 8-Ball on the table and see what says. Depending on your result, he's got a different horror-themed shot for you to down!

» Inside the Building: This may be where the kissing games are taking place, but there's still some room to just snuggle and chat. It's warmer than outside, at least!

» Kissing Games:

Spin The Bottle: Everyone sits in a circle and takes turns spinning the bottle to find their partner. Anyone who squeezes in (or happens to be accidentally standing behind a gap in the circle) gets a shot at a kiss. People can leave and enter the game at any time. Participants will be encouraged by their drunken classmates to kiss on the mouth.

Seven Minutes in Heaven: "Heaven" is a narrow, closet-sized room adjacent to the main party, and is dark except for some cracks of light from the doorway. There's now a proper wooden door on the closet, and people will magically lock it behind you for 7 minutes. You can use your wand to get more light, but really, you two should be making out.

» By The Woods: The prefects won't be letting anyone wander in, but why would you want to anyway? Still, the treeline is a good place to go if you want a quiet moment away from the party.

» After the Party: Between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM, prefects will be clearing the party and guiding everyone home.

» OOC - Questions, comments & concerns!

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It's late into the evening when Jade sits by the fire, feeling like she'd run a marathon. And she had, really, between the movie and all of that kissing. And drinking. There had really only been a few drinks, but Jade's enough of a lightweight that the world seems softer, less sharp around the edges. She doesn't mind it as much as she would, if she was looking back on this moment while sober. That could come later.

For now, she's able to sit by the fire and keep a very neutral gaze. Anyone looking might suspect that she's plotting something, which is of course, exactly what she'd like them to think. In reality, she's just stolen someone else's s'more, and is nibbling it thoughtfully, until she sees Ari standing a little bit away. She smiles a little, because she'd lost track of her best friend at some point, and it's always a bit of a relief to find her again, and beckons her over. "A hero of the hour."

Jade says, smirking by way of greeting as soon as she deems Ari close enough. She'd still like a full rundown on the bear story.

Ari, meanwhile, is halfway between drunk and preemptively hungover. Or maybe she's just hopped up on adrenaline. It's impossible to say. But she feels like her teeth are buzzing, and a headache has started blooming towards the back of her skull. Her physical discomfort is enough that she's forgotten all of her social discomforts, though, so at least there's that.

She'd been milling around the campfire aimlessly, hesitant to leave a party destined to end at 9:30PM early, so she's relieved to see Jade waving her over.

"Who, me?" she asks as she sits down next to Jade. She's got a bottle of water that she's been meaning to drink herself, but she offers it to Jade instead. Eating a s'more without some kind of drink to wash it down is a special kind of torture, and she knows that Jade drank at least as much alcohol as she did (probably less Tabasco, though).

"Of course, you." She takes the water, and Jade's grateful. Maybe water's what she needs to clear her head.The longer the pleasant fog remains, the more she can tell it's going to morph into a headache soon. After a moment's consideration, she offers the uneaten half of the s'more to her friend, in case she's hungry. It seems like a logical trade.

"I heard you braved Micah, Jeffy, Charlotte, and a potential bear, for some alcohol. Were there wolves, too?" She's always a fan of embellishing a story, and smiles hopefully.

Edited 2017-09-10 02:22 (UTC)

Ari takes the half-finished s'more without complaint. Usually she wouldn't eat or even touch a half-finished anything, and she should really know better than to eat more sugar when her head is already pounding, but... she is kind of hungry, so she picks at the marshmallowy graham crackers as Jade drinks the water.

"No wolves," she says. "But there was indeed a bear. Maybe I owe Hieronymus an apology."

When she's done taking a drink, Jade places the water between them so it would be at Ari's disposal if needed. Usually she, too, would be a lot more cognizant of food and drink sharing than this, but it's the grotto, and it's Ari, and the combination of those two things somehow means it feels easier. Or maybe that's just the vodka slushie talking, too.

The bear story makes her perk up a little, eyes alight in what could be either worry or delight. With Jade, it's probably a mixture of both. "And you killed it single-handedly." She says, a statement of indisputable fact.

"If I had, we'd be excused from transfiguration next week," she says before licking some marshmallow fluff off her finger. S'mores are really her worst nightmare when it comes to food. She doesn't feel like handing it back to Jade is really an option after she's already pawned it off on her, though, so she eats the rest of it in as few bites as she can manage.

Really, the run-in with Ms. Rhee hadn't been all that terrifying after the initial shock of it. And the initial shock of it might not have been so bad if Hero hadn't tried to convince them all that they were going to die by bear in the first place. Ari knows what Ms. Rhee looks like as a bear; the Ebonhide cheer team rehearsed with her for weeks before their final game last year.

She'd be lying if she said there hadn't been a second in which she thought Jeffy might actually die, though. "Ms. Rhee has a wicked sense of humor," she adds through a mouthful of graham crackers and chocolate. Between talking with her mouth full and the borderline-indisputable use of slang, she's... definitely still drunk.

Jade will not hold this against her. And she's mostly very relieved that the heist had gone by without any major hitches. She probably won't ever admit that she was actually worried. They were fine, in the end.

"It was just Ms. Rhee?" Jade tries, in any case, to sound like she's relieved and not just a bit disappointed that she won't be getting any stories about Ari and company single-handedly wrestling a bear. "I mean. I'm glad it was just Ms. Rhee." She emphasizes. Jade is also still drunk. She does take a moment to consider the scenario. "I wonder if she just hangs around as a bear in the forest. I wish I'd gone."

These are two very separate thoughts, but she thinks them connected, somehow.

"Mhmm," Ari manages to hum out as she swallows the mouthful of s'more. And, actually, yes. She does need that water. This is the worst outdoor snack.

"We didn't get in any trouble," she says after she's successfully cleared her throat. "Charlotte ran off with the alcohol and so she thought we were just wandering about the woods for fun." Ari says this like it's a crazy supposition, despite the fact that she has traipsed around the woods at night with Micah for basically no reason... multiple times, including right now. "Besides that, you didn't miss much," she reassures her.

"Of course Charlotte ran off with the alcohol." And although it's ostensibly a good thing she did,as the party wouldn't have gone without it, Jade's voice gains something of a judging edge. She doesn't mind Charlotte Meer very much, and Jade shouldn't throw stones regarding loyalty of all things. But what's life without a little hypocrisy.

"I'm glad you didn't get in trouble, anyway." She nods, trying to make up for it. "Detention's so boring, and if you got it, I'd probably actually have to break you out. And that's just so risky."
She's back to playful now, even if that first hint of a headache is creeping in. A minor issue.

Edited 2017-09-11 00:21 (UTC)

"It was quite clever thinking on her part," Ariadne admits, something she hasn't so much as done to Charlie herself. But evidence that Charlie does have some common sense after all irritates her to no end. It only makes the rest of her behavior all the more baffling. "We'd've been in a world of trouble if Ms. Rhee knew we'd been all the way to Logan."

With her hands free of s'mores, she folds her arms together and leans over, trying to keep herself warm. It's not cold out, exactly, but she still has a chill. "I've had enough of detention for a lifetime," she says, and then she pauses to think. "And I'd hate to have to go back to Hogwarts."

For one reason or another, Jade doesn't like giving Charlotte too much credit. "I guess it wasn't actively stupid." She shrugs, not willing to really go beyond that. But then she pauses, watching Ari lean forward and mirroring the action. She's not that cold, but it seems right to be on the same level. She remembers Essie and how miserable she probably was without her own best friend there. Jade's drunk enough to look directly at the ground and speak a truth. "I wouldn't let you go back there. I've never blackmailed a whole school, but I could."

"Mmmph," Ari says into her folded arms, although whether she was trying to say something or just making a noise of agreement isn't totally clear. Either way, she lets out a long sigh afterwards and turns her head to look at Jade side-long.

"I should count myself lucky they let me come back in the first place," she says. Her grades at the end of last year hadn't been terrible, but they also hadn't been the strongest. And she'd gotten her scholarship on recommendation from her Divination professor at Hogwarts, a subject she failed badly and isn't taking anymore. But... "Never mind that," she says as soon as she gets her wits about her. She might be drunk, but doesn't need anyone knowing that she can't afford her own tuition. Especially not Jade. "I'm here, anyway."

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BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari

Jade & Ari