gooseberryhigh | FEBRUARY GROTTO PARTY

FEBRUARY GROTTO PARTY

The attitude towards the Grotto and the deep woods beyond has changed. Still, it's the only place that's out of view of teachers, and slowly, students trickle in. There might be fewer tonight than there were in months past, but that's no reason not to have a good time. The bonfire burns bright, there's plenty of alcohol and music, and everyone's ready to forget for a while.

The Grotto is always warmer than you expect it to be, although the snow on the ground encourages everyone to cuddle close to their friends and dates. The bonfire in the center is large and ambitious, making for a warm and seasonal party. Alcohol is widely available to anyone who wants it, and some thoughtful students also made sure there was plenty of water and soda. By the fire is a table hosting Quidpong.

Inside the stone building, things get downright cozy. Many students sit down on blankets and pillows to keep themselves off the cold dirt floor. A circle gathers around a single glass bottle, and kissing games take place on and off throughout the night.

A series of “borrowed” tents sits just beyond the bonfire. They’re full of blankets and pillows, and have generous warming charms cast inside them. Technically they’re meant for hanging out with a handful of friends (about 4 people can sit in them comfortably)... but if you claim one and zip up the flaps, most people will get the message: Do Not Disturb. (Remember to keep things PG-13, and fade to black if necessary!)

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

Cameron Carney STB #1: Ivy STB #2: Susana 7MIH: Etta	Jaime Castillo STB #1: Teo STB #2: Casey	Avery Davenport STB #1: Ennis STB #2: Laurel	Matteo Diaz STB #1: Jaime STB #2: Calvin 7MIH: Essie
Calvin Evercreech STB #1: Cole STB #2: Teo	Marilyn Fairchild STB #1: Isabelle STB #2: Essie 7MIH: Casey	Ariadne Flint STB #1: Milo STB #2: Micah 7MIH: Reid	Gabriela Flores STB #1: Casey STB #2: Jeffy 7MIH: Milo
Henrietta Gray STB #1: Olivia STB #2: Ursula 7MIH: Cameron	Milo Greer STB #1: Ari STB #2: Isabelle 7MIH: Gabi	Ennis Harper STB #1: Avery STB #2: Olivia 7MIH: Ree	Regan Hobbs STB #1: Hazel STB #2: Cole 7MIH: Ennis
Katerina Ivanova STB #1: Diego STB #2: Ivy	Hazel Keating STB #1: Ree STB #2: Riley 7MIH: Micah	Jefferson Key STB #1: Susana STB #2: Gabi	Xavier Lewis STB #1: Laurel STB #2: Diego
Ursula de Luca STB #1: Ulysses STB #2: Etta 7MIH: Riley	Diego Morales STB #1: Katya STB #2: Xavier 7MIH: Laurel	Estella Morales-Tran STB #1: Micah STB #2: Marilyn 7MIH: Matteo	Cole Moss STB #1: Calvin STB #2: Ree
Casey Patterson STB #1: Gabi STB #2: Jaime 7MIH: Marilyn	Ulysses Quayle STB #1: Ursula STB #2: Wilde 7MIH: Ivy	Olivia Sanchez STB #1: Etta STB #2: Ennis 7MIH: Penny	Isabelle Sargent STB #1: Marilyn STB #2: Milo
Micah St. Clair STB #1: Essie STB #2: Ari 7MIH: Hazel	Riley Stamper STB #1: Wilde STB #2: Hazel 7MIH: Ursula	Ivy Templeton STB #1: Cameron STB #2: Katya 7MIH: Ulysses	Laurel Templeton STB #1: Xavier STB #2: Avery 7MIH: Diego
Penelope Vargas 7MIH: Olivia	Susana Velasquez STB #1: Jeffy STB #2: Cameron 7MIH: Wilde	Jonathan Wilde STB #1: Riley STB #2: Ulysses 7MIH: Susana

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: During class, the teachers are even stricter than usual, and not a few students receive warnings to not leave the trails. Are you going to listen? Whatever. The party starts at 7 PM, so you've got a couple of hours for primping and pre-gaming. Don't get caught, and don't go alone.

» 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 a karaoke setup for anyone who feels bold enough to sing along. If you don't care for music, there's beer and soda in the ice chests, along with bins for empty bottles and cans. Don't litter. This isn't your home.

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

» Kissing Games: This is where to post your character's reaction to their Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven Assignments!

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 door. (The "door" being a heavy wooden board that's propped against the doorway and magically "locked" for seven minutes.) You can use your wand to get more light, but really, you two should be making out.

» Quidditch Beer Pong: Not far from the bonfire, Sy Stoker has set up a table with Quidpong. Nearby is a supply of red ping pong balls, Solo cups, and a waterproof signup sheet. Post your character/team under this heading to call for a challenger! Ask a friend to post results for you, or use the honour system. :)

» Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans: Someone got their hands on a family-sized bag of these imported sweets. At first, it's just taken to be candy, but as the truth about these jelly beans is fully understood, it becomes a spectacle.

There's a group of students sitting in a circle, passing the bag around. The idea is that you take one, and then everyone waits in anticipation for your reaction. (Let's be real, they're all hoping you get earwax or cigarette ash.) You must then guess what it is before passing the bag to the left.
In game terms, this means reply to the root comment, and we will use RNG to pick out a flavor for you. You can then write your character's reaction and attempt to identify what they just put in their mouth.

» The Tents: Cozy up in one of these tents with a few friends… or just one friend in particular.

» The Woods: Tonight, the chaperoning prefects are adamant that no one should wander into the surrounding forest. The air grows colder the further away you wander from the heart of the Grotto, and the trees cast long shadows.

» After the Party: At midnight, prefects will be clearing the party and guiding everyone home. Don't walk back alone! Anyone left at 12:30 AM when the second wave of prefects hits the Grotto will be written up for punishment.

» OOC: QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & CONCERNS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's nearing midnight and the party is wrapping up to a close. Although she doesn't actually go out into the woods, Penny does get close and spends and extraordinary amount of time staring longingly at them.

For most of the party Sylla can be seen keeping to herself and walking around the treeline, gazing into the woods intently. Whatever mysterious force that's out there is far more interesting to her than American beer 💁

Quinn calls out to Sylla to stay away from the treeline! at least once. PREFECTING IS HARD. WORK.

Ravi takes the shortest path he can see to get himself away from the fire, and away from anyone who might be looking at him. Unfortunately, that path leads him right past the treeline, but hell, he doesn't care right now. He's a prefect. Who's going to stop him?

He doesn't run—that would attract attention—but his movements are purposeful as he marches past loitering, tipsy students, and into the forest. Outside the charmed circle of the Grotto, the air almost instantly becomes colder, more appropriate to early February, but Ravi keeps walking. He doesn't have a plan, and it takes until he's gone far enough for the party music to blur to an indistinct roar that it finally occurs to him that he can't outrun this. Jealousy, as sharp as a blade between the ribs, and underneath that, burning hot and unexpected, is anger. Ravi pivots on his heel and aims a kick at a nearby tree trunk, hard enough to rattle the branches, hard enough to hurt. He inhales through clenched teeth. He rarely gets angry—or if he does, it's never this angry, and the emotion staggers him with its intensity.

Anger. Really?

Anger at himself, for being such an idiot.

The wind's gone from his sails. Ravi's capacity for extremes has never been great, and he already feels drained. He leans his back against the tree trunk and looks up at the bare branches. "Sorry," he mutters to the forest.

"Ravi?" the forest says back, or rather, a very drunk boy says back as he noisily tries to follow where he thinks Ravi went. "Ravinder! Wait!"

Oh, he's too wasted for this. Normally Diego can move through wooded areas with relative grace, but his heart's beating too fast and his feet don't quite obey. It's a good thing Ravi wasn't too hard to find. He stops about twenty feet away, shoulders slumped, and realizes he has no idea what to say. No plan. Nothing.

Maybe this was a bad idea; Diego's excellent at those. They haven't even started talking and he already feels defeated.

Ravi starts when he hears someone shout. He tenses, knowing who it is before Diego stumbles out of the shadow of the trees, looking like... Ravi doesn't want to think about how he looks. Especially since it'll only remind him of how Diego looked mere seconds ago, and Ravi is trying to get a hold of himself right now.

"Diego," he says, and he doesn't sound calm, which is a disaster already. What's the point of going somewhere to be alone if people—if a certain person—won't leave you alone? Ravi straightens up, but he keeps one hand on the tree, like an anchor. He's wearing gloves, so the touch of the bark is somehow comforting, instead of cold and rough.

"Diego," Ravi tries again. Better. "You're not supposed to be in the forest."

Diego's expression crumples just listening to Ravi and how he reigns his voice back in. Diego wishes he could do that, but people can always read him like a book. He remembered when Ravi's evasiveness was mysterious and alluring. Now it's frustrating and upsetting, but it doesn't make Diego want him any less.

"Neither are you," he counters. "But what was I supposed to do? Let you go? I mean—fuck." Diego shakes his head like that'll clear it. "Let you go alone, is what I meant." It wasn't exactly what he meant.

I wish you would, Ravi wants to say, except it wouldn't be true. He bows his head for a moment, just absorbing those words and his own tired emotions and the simple, undeniable fact that Diego went after him. Despite it being a bad idea, Ravi's happy that he's here. What he wishes Diego would do is stand closer.

"I'm sorry," Ravi says instead. The only other noise is their breathing and the muffled bass of the party's music, so his voice sounds strangely loud to his ears. "I keep trying to make this easy for everyone, but I suspect all I'm doing is messing things up."

It's a bitter admission. he's a prefect. It's his job to fix things. To know what to do. To take care of everyone else, and always stay calm in stressful situations. He's supposed to always do the right thing. He's supposed to not hurt others—which applies to everyone, of course, but especially the people he loves.

God, Ravi's so tired of being himself. "What's the right thing to do, Diego? Help me figure this out, because I don't know."

People don't ask Diego for advice much anymore. Maybe they can tell he's in no state to give it. Maybe they're all done with him. It doesn't matter. He already knows he doesn't have an answer for Ravi, and Ravi probably does too from the helpless expression on Diego's face.

"What do you want to do?"

Ravi laughs, because the answers that immediately come to mind aren't anything he'd ever dare say. He wants to close the distance between them and press his face against Diego's shoulder and hold him until he warms up again. He wants to put his hand on the back of Diego's head and pull his mouth to his, and be the only person Diego ever kisses from now on. He wants to allow himself to talk to Diego again, about anything they want, and sit for hours drinking sugary coffee and refusing to go to sleep.

"Too many things." His grip tightens on the tree trunk. "Too many things, and they all involve you. Diego..." Ravi exhales slowly, his breath misting in the cold air. "I'm sorry I lied to you. I'm so sorry. I know we need to talk. A very serious, long talk. But... I feel like a fool and you're fairly drunk and we really have to get back to the party before someone gets worried, so... could we just put a pin in that?" There's a terrible hopefulness in his voice. Ravi doesn't even know if Diego will forgive him. "Can I promise that I'll explain myself later? Please?"

FEBRUARY GROTTO PARTY

THE WOODS

Penelope

no subject

no subject

as Sylla takes one step back and defiantly glances back at whoever is yelling

Ravi (CLOSED)

the trees at this school are not safe from marin :(

this is why the forest is so mad at the children tbh

Ravi & Diego (NOT CLOSED TO ME)

Ravi & Diego

Ravi & Diego

Ravi & Diego

Ravi & Diego

Ravi & Diego