gooseberryhigh | ARRIVAL: The game is now open!

ARRIVAL

Summer is over, and fall is creeping in. It's the first of September, and every student of Gooseberry knows what that means. Some of them fasten new badges to their lapel excitedly, while others merely dread the inevitable hours on a bus, followed by months in class.

The people milling about and getting themselves to work or the grocery store mostly don't notice the colorful buses stopping in front of apartment buildings, or zipping into quiet neighborhoods. Teenagers drag suitcases and trunks on board, and the noise level inside rises with every new passenger. Eventually, it becomes a cacophony of gossip and reunited friends, and the city streets become forested wilderness and towering granite mountains.

There are four buses, which pick up students by year. This means that all the seniors are riding together, all the juniors are riding together, and all the sophomores are riding together. If you have a sibling in a different year, or live in close proximity to a student from another year, the characters had the option of making arrangements ahead of time to bus together. The school isn't particularly picky, as long as all students sign off and are picked up. (Check here for a rough order of when students get picked up, but if you want to handwave a different order for plot reasons, you totally can.)

Exchange students and students from Hawaii or Puerto Rico must find their own transportation to the mainland, after which a bus will pick them up at a designated spot as per usual.

The buses are large double-deckers which are painted like standard No-Maj school buses. Except that, of course, they're also emblazoned with the Gooseberry emblems. They work basically like the Knight Bus, meaning they move supernaturally fast and cannot be seen by muggles. They have long rows of acceptably comfortable seats, which are set up in blocks of four facing one another. The back of the bus on the lower level has an on-board restroom, which leaves something to be desired.

Below, the post will be divided into three buses, so go ahead and comment below describing what your character did, who they sat with, etc.! Have fun, and welcome back to school!

» Boarding: The Gooseberry bus pulls up to your home lightning fast, and the driver hops out to help with your luggage if you need it. Did anything happen as your character got on the bus?
» During the Ride: Did anything happen on the ride to Gooseberry? The drive will take anywhere from one to four hours, depending on when your character was picked up. The sights outside of your window are bound to be amazing, but they pass quickly.
» Disembarking: It's a little chaotic, with everyone in a hurry to get off this damn bus already. Did anything happen while your character got off the bus?

» Arrival at Gooseberry: Finally! You're here, and you're all together! Staff is ushering freshmen and new exchange students off to the lodge, while everyone else is greeting their Head of House. Each Head of House is making sure all their students have a sack lunch (which will meet all dietary concerns if you put in the request ahead of time) and they'll be heading to their cabins to settle in.

The game is now officially open! Feel free to start making journal entries and posting logs!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As Diego and Mina got on the bus, it was obvious that tempers had been short in the Morales-Tran household that morning. They immediately sit as far away from one another as they can, which leads Diego to slide into the seat next to RANDOM PERSON WHO REPLIES TO THIS.

Pick me! Just for the hilarity of it

Haha! Yes!

Diego is IMMEDIATELY all smiles. This is a golden opportunity to finally make Chris like him. He obviously expects to spend the next several hours in meaningful friend conversation, even if it kills one of them. Probably Chris.

Yes, I'm dying. I mean Chris isn't outright rude and wouldn't tell Diego to get lost but he was definitely contemplating throwing himself off the bus toward the end there. He also made up increasing more bizarre facts about his life whenever he was required to put in anything. So Diego's definitely learned some strange and unusual not real facts about Chris by the time they reach the school.

Levi got on the bus at LA so he was part of the final Western stops before they finally got to Gooseberry, but that also meant that he missed out on most of the action. He spots two of his favorite people and INSTANTLY BEELINES toward them and tries to cram into the seat facing them.

He flawlessly transitions into inserting himself into whatever conversation they were having and agrees wholeheartedly with whatever not-facts Chris was spouting, adding on his own elaborations to his story.

"Oh, yeah, wasn't that the summer you spent in China with the panda bears?"

Anuhea boarded quietly and found a spot to sit near the middle of the bus. She wanted a window and spent most of her time reading or looking out the window. She would talk if the person next to her started the conversation.

Iris' parents made arrangements with a government official, magical, to be picked up from their home, outside of New York City. She arrived on the 30th, with just her mother, that way the two of them could do a little sightseeing before she headed off to school. Her mother was there to say goodbye, and Iris got on the bus with a slight smile on her face. She quickly found empty seats, and sat down by the window.

Ravi boarded the bus at NYC as well, and surely noticed this unfamiliar face with them. He took the seat across from Iris and introduced himself, and asked if she was an exchange student. :)

She smiled and introduced herself too, and would say that she is an exchange student, from England. :)

Ah cute, they can totally spend a few hours chatting then. C: If you're interested in having a scene, we can do that? But right now I really need to behave like a responsible employee, lol.

She's fine with chatting! She'll probably ask all sorts of questions about the school, and answer any that he might have about Hogwarts.

Lol. Be a good employee! We'll have lots of opportunities to scene!

Chris boarded with the usual scowl and usual minimal possessions and found an empty seat to sit in nice, quiet solitude.

Isaiah took an empty seat right at the front of the bus and immediately got out a book and started staring at it very hard. After a few minutes of nerves about whether anyone was going to interrupt him, he actually started reading.

Tabitha turned up with her parents, but helping her board was this fine piece (http://newimages.bwwstatic.com/upload10/511924/sweet2.jpg). He's actually her father's assistant, but does anyone need to know that?

Z tends to get a little nauseous on rides like this and looks it.

She pops some no-maj medicine, puts on headphones, and has her eyes closed almost the whole time (mostly to keep from having to talk much, though she'll respond if anyone pokes at her).

Diego has a ridiculous number of bags, and they're all full of instruments. It's hard to look like a cool smooth dude when you're trying to balance that much crap, but he's obviously practiced at this by now.

ARRIVAL: The game is now open!

SENIOR BUS

BOARDING

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ROZ SAID IT WAS OKAY TO BUTT IN SO HERE I AM

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Re: BOARDING

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Re: BOARDING

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DURING THE RIDE

DURING THE RIDE

DISEMBARKING

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