gooseberryhigh | BIG BIRDIES' BYE-BYE BBQ BEACH BASH

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BIG BIRDIES' BYE-BYE BBQ BEACH BASH

BIG BIRDIES' BYE-BYE BBQ BEACH BASH

It's a hot and sunny afternoon as students in swimwear and sun hats begin to arrive at the clearing behind the lodge. Let the annual Azurcrest Parting Party begin!

Each year's senior Azurcrest class holds a (staff-approved) "Parting Party" for the student body to celebrate all the adventures they've had and friends they've made at Gooseberry High. It's also tradition for them to outdo the previous class' efforts. Last year's theme was The Mighty Jungle; the rope-swing course over Lake Gooseberry was legendary!

This year, though, the big blue jays think they have a strong contender. Sand is laid over the whole clearing to expand the modest beach. Umbrellas and lounge chairs evocative of a resort dot the 'beach' and the summer-ready tunes of DJ Levi Kramer pump across the party. At one point, "You Reposted in the Wrong Neighbourhood" begins to blare over the speakers—disaster is in the air, but Oscar Zabinsky saves the day and skips to the next track before any teachers hear the questionable chorus.

The Azurcrests are throwing a...
BARBECUE BEACH BASH!

A Slippery Surprise

The first thing students see as they round the corner of the lodge is very large and very blue: it's A GIANT SLIP 'N SLIDE! Starting atop a hill behind the lodge, it ends with a small ramp to launch adventurous teens into Lake Gooseberry.

In true Gooseberry fashion, [Volunteer B] starts a competition to find out who can shoot the furthest off the Slip 'N Slide. Meanwile, [Volunteer C] tries to impress [The Apple of Their Eye] by sailing off the ramp and catching a beachball mid-air... but it's intercepted by Goosey, who punts it back to shore with her tail! Whoa! Apparently even lake monsters wanna have fun.

While swimming in the lake under the bright summer sun is fun, especially after a ride on a giant Slip 'n Slide, isn't life even more fun with a little competition? At some point, Susana Velasquez climbs up onto Antonia Papadakis' shoulders and challenges nearby classmates to a game of CHICKEN! The game quickly catches on and students are soon cheering and whooping while their peers try to knock each other into the water.

Cookout & Bonfire

After a cookout dinner grilled by the seniors and a few enthusiastic staff (in thematic aprons!), the party heads up the hill to Azurcrest to end as it always does: with a bonfire.

Wyatt Winslow's improvised song about the Gooseberry houses, to the tune of [Song of Their Choice], is an instant hit.

The final ballad of the night is also the final tradition of the day—a heart-wrenching rendition of [A Song Suggested by the OOC Studio Audience, Please Take Pity on Me, This Is a Very Long Post] performed by the Parting Party seniors. Although not a senior, Jefferson Key joins with such gusto that they're ushered in to finish the song with the rest of the pack. The crooning of Mercedes Estrada and Quinn Cunningham lead some to question whether or not they actually practiced like they insist they did. (They did, but they're... just that bad.)

When curfew falls and it's time to go home, house groups gather and walk back to their camps while the graduates-to-be clean up the evidence from their final Parting Party.

RULES

The whole school is invited! The Parting Party happens every June and characters will already know what & when it is.

Summer clothing and swimwear is recommended but there is no dress code. Clean Azurcrest gym shirts are available for those who prefer to wear them when swimming or sliding.

The party begins at 3:00 PM.

Dinner is served at 6:30 PM.

The beach segment packs up and moves to Azurcrest for a bonfire when the sun begins to set at 8:00 PM.

The evening concludes at 9:45 PM. Students gather into prefect-led house groups and walk back to their respective camps.

All contraband is contrabanned. Yes, even though this is an Azurcrest fête.

RULES: SLIP 'N SLIDE

The Slip 'N Slide is safe! This isn't another extreme sledding incident. There are charms to keep students from veering off of the slide and everything has been triple-checked by staff.

More charms keep the slide wet at all times.

Only one person on the slide at a time.

No animagus forms allowed. (You have claws, children.)

You only have one chance to compete. You can now compete twice! Feel free to fill out the form more than ~~once~~ twice, but don't expect a score for extra runs!

Your highest score will count toward the competition and the house sums.

No magic use is allowed in the competition.

There's no prize for the winner; consider it a metaphor for adulthood.

The winner will be decided Sunday, June 4 at 5:00 pm MST.

» Before the Party: Set-up time for the senior Azurcrests is primp 'n preen time for the rest of Gooseberry!

» Beach & Lake: Whether students want to relax, chat, or play, there's plenty to do! Beachy ambiance is provided by picnic tables, beach chairs and chaises, large towels, and colourful beach umbrellas to provide shade (and modest privacy). Nets for volleyball and badminton are set up, and when in doubt... you can always swim in the lake or build sand castles on the shore!

» Chicken! Post a comment with the first team's names (ex. Ty & Hazel vs. ???), stating which is the vehicle (the person on the bottom) and which is the attacker (the person on top). Then another team can claim the match à la beer pong (ex. Ty & Hazel vs. Casey & Riley), stating who fills the same roles. Katie and Rin will roll your results!

» Slip 'N Slide: The bright blue plastic runs down a steep hill behind the lodge and ends with a small ramp that launches adventurous teens into Lake Gooseberry.

Slip 'N Slide rules can be found under Rules.

Sliders compete to find out who can fly the furthest off the ramp!

Post the below form on the Slip 'N Slide thread to receive your score! ~~You can only compete once~~ You can compete twice, but if you are not competing, you can post as many times as you like and don't need to use the form! :)

Azurcrest	Coppertale	Ebonhide	Ribbonfin
333'10"	263'2"	143'1"	225'1"

Longest Distance: Samantha Sweeney @ 47'6"!
Their flight was 7.5ch long.

Totals were last updated after Fern Mufferaw's first attempt.
» Cookout: The evening's chefs—the ten seniors and a handful of generous staff members (Mr. Merrill, Mr. Elmasry, Ms. Thrussell, and Ambrosia)—slip on puntastic aprons in Azurcrest blue and grill up some grub! The menu consists of hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn on the cob. As always, meat-free alternatives are available and cooked on uncontaminated barbecues. (The less competent cooks have been given less vital tasks.)

Toward the end of the meal, a cake of monstrous proportion is brought outside and students are ~~forced~~ invited to sing "Happy Birthday" to birthday twins Laurel and Ivy Templeton!

Ambrosia:	FEELING PECKISH?	Henrietta:	Eagle-eyed
Mr. Elmasry:	Eggcellent chef	Jesse:	Hawkward!
Mr. Merrill:	TOUCAN SAY THAT AGAIN	Laurel:	Shake a tail feather
Ms. Thrussell:	Songbirds duet better	Levi:	BIRD IS THE WORD
Cecil:	PAPA BIRD	Mercedes:	Free as a bird
Diego:	Cheep and cheerful	Quinn:	FLYING THE COOP
Drusilla:	MIGRATING SOUTH	Ryan:	Trick or tweet

» Bonfire: Parting Parties always end with a large bonfire back at camp. Songs, s'mores, and stories are exchanged as friends snuggle up under blankets and swat away the season's first mosquitoes.

» End of the Night: When curfew falls and it's time to go home, house groups gather and walk back to their camps while the graduates-to-be clean the campsite. Azurcrest non-seniors are welcome to stick around and lend a hand.

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hi, Jade." A tiny quirk of eyebrow is far too subtle to convey anything to Cole and he responds to her question by glancing down at the ground and biting his lip for a moment. It's not difficult to see that he's troubled by what happened the other night. Tense. Uncertain. And tired. "Bad," he says finally, "I went to the campout last night. I...shouldn't have gone to the campout last night."

Then he looks at Jade. "How're you?"

Jade looks up and around, to see if someone's near to hear him almost talking about things he shouldn't be talking about. There's no one, really. She moves to put her glasses back over her eyes, but even Jade knows this wouldn't be the sneaky disguise she might hope for, and eventually just leaves them as they are. She does slip toward the front of her chair so she can lean closer to Cole and lower her voice. Just in case.

"I'm all right." She waves off the question, easy. "Did something else happen at the campout?" Her voice has a more panicked edge than she'd usually allow. That doesn't mean a thing.

Again, Cole bites his lip. But he doesn't leave Jade waiting long before he nods and murmurs an uncomfortable, "...Sort of." Then, as if this were in any way a complete answer, he indicates to the chair beside the girl's. "Can I sit? It's easier to draw when I sit."

Jade perhaps thought that invitation was implied by her even talking, but quickly kicks at the chair in question, nodding. "Sit." Manages to sound more like a command than a confirmation. "Sort of?" She prompts, her mind jumping to the myriad of complications that could mean. "What happened?"

Cole sits obediently, slipping off the satchel and putting his sketchbook on his knees, though he doesn't open it just yet. He taps one finger restlessly against the cover instead. "Ennis saw something. One of the things with the antlers, he calls them Forest Dwellers, just standing there in the middle of everyone while they slept. Then it disappeared. I don't...know why it was there, though." By this last sentence, his voice is very small and it's obvious that he's given that a lot of thought without coming to any satisfactory answer. At this point, though, he doesn't think it could be anything good.

That's concerning. Of course, everything having to do with the forest is concerning these days. It's Jade's turn to bite her lip, only she does it to just be quiet and still, and not betray that she's worried. She is. "Are you sure he wasn't sleeping, and it was a dream? Or...or he maybe saw branches or something, and got confused?"

These are half-hearted inquiries at best. She knows better than to expect anything but the obvious and the worst, now.

"Ennis said he saw it," Cole returns immediately and there's no doubt in his voice about that, "And we were in the field. There weren't any branches. There wasn't anything to cast shadows. Not that would've looked like that. Ennis saw it." He frowns and looks over at Jade, considering this again and considering her. She looks different than she normally does. Less composed. Less sure. Less sharp. He's never seen her bite her lip before either.

"Do you think...it doesn't want to be seen? That senior that got taken into the woods, the one that left, nobody saw what happened. And nobody saw Ulysses go into the woods either. Maybe..." But even he realizes he's grasping at straws and he shakes his head. He doesn't know. But Jade doesn't know either. He turns his dark eyes toward the lake.

"If it doesn't want to be seen, maybe it should stop dropping by cabins and campouts." Her words have edges, but none of them are directed at Cole. Her gaze follows his, over the lake and into the trees. She tosses a piece of her hair back, as if she's brave enough to dare the Forest Creature to come out now. It's only because she figures it won't.

She turns back to him, though, quiet and more curious. She takes another sip of her drink, like they were maybe discussing fashion, or the musical. "And then it was just gone? Did you tell anyone?"

Directed at him or not, the sharp words prompt Cole to wince. It had almost certainly been a useless question and one that the Azurcrest wasn't interested in considering. "And...then it was gone," he agrees quietly, only turning his gaze back to Jade after a long pause. "No. We didn't. We talked for a while but we didn't wake anyone up. We didn't go back to sleep either, though. And nothing else ever came." That would explain why he looks so tired, at least.

"Do you think we should've? Told someone."

Cole's wince doesn't make her feel regret exactly. She does exhale quickly, so that her voice evens out when she speaks next. Jade hasn't been sleeping much either. She understands that part. She shakes her head, slowly, considering. "No. That would've just led to more questions."

The farther she can steer any of the other sophomores from supernatural and seance talk, the better. At least until Monday, when she and Calvin and Ari would clear it up for good. "No one got hurt, at least. And it was just standing there, right? So it wasn't even doing anything." She sighs, giving in to thinking about all this for at least one more moment. "I wonder why it came at all."

It had never occurred to Cole to be concerned about more questions and he murmurs a small sound of acknowledgment that doesn't sound entirely certain. But it's too late now and Jade's right about one thing, at least: the entity hadn't done anything. "That's what Ennis said," he confirms, "It was just there. Nobody noticed except for him, even the people it was standing right over. And then it was gone. But it wouldn't come just to do that. Right?"

She does not know really where to begin with that question. Jade has no idea how to decipher the rationale of the forest creature, or any of this. The mystery of the woods has been a fun joke, up until about a week ago. It isn't fun anymore. She thinks about lying for a second, to make up a story that would just confuse him so he would walk away. She doesn't.

"I don't know." She admits instead, sounding more resigned than sour, for once. The corner of her mouth twitches up, with all hints of her usual mischief finally in place. "And I'm not going to ask it."

"Asking never seems to work, anyway," Cole agrees, seeming to miss that this was a joke. A bit of tongue-in-cheek. But he often does. He leans back in the chair and touches the cover of his sketchbook. He can't even remember what he'd wanted to draw now. It might be a lost cause. "What do you think we should do?"

"No. It doesn't." She agrees, even if he did miss her humor entirely. She tucks her legs under her, curling up in the arm of the chair to consider his question. And honestly, she's at a loss. She'd wanted to hunt down the forest-thing to yell, before. Now, though. It kept showing them how much more powerful the entire place was than they were. Jade thinks she has the point, and resents it deeply.

"Right now? We need to lay low. Go on like we have been." She nods, confident in this answer. "Except now, we know we need to be watching. So it won't be easy for anything to take us off guard."

That's enough being serious for Jade for the moment, so she lowers her voice a little, popping her glasses back over her eyes. "Or, we could come up with a forest monster trap. Baited with live children, we can steal them from Logan."
Just so it's clear this time, her eyes peer up from under the sunglasses a second later. "That part was a joke."

Cole thinks about that for a long moment. People have known there was something to be concerned about for a long time, but that hadn't stopped any of them from forgetting or from ignoring the danger, and nobody could be vigilant all the time. Even people like Calvin or Jade. But there's nothing else to do. Not until the group can decide whether or not to come forward. He hopes that they will because knowing about Henry and everything he'd told them while nobody else does is hard. At least he'd been able to tell Ennis.

"...I still don't think that's funny," he answers finally, tone neither scolding nor apologetic, but matter-of-fact. He's given up on trying to talk his classmates back from such jokes but he's also started to assume that they probably don't mean it when they talk like this. So it rolls off him a little more easily now. "But you're right about the rest. I guess."

Then he's quiet for a long moment, not knowing what else to say. There doesn't seem to be anything else to say. But that isn't likely to make what he says next seem any less abrupt. "Can I draw you?"

Jade just shrugs at his assessment of her humor. It's not a challenge.(It hadn't been that funny.) It's just impossible to explain to anyone, let alone Cole Moss, how vital it is for her to keep up appearances that nothing happened. This is part of that. She lets the silence fall, leaning back in the chair.

When he breaks it, she's surprised again, and even bothers with eye contact. "Why?" Is legitimately curious.

"I want to draw," Cole says without hesitation and shrugs, attempting to explain, "It clears my head. Some. And the light's good here. And you look nice." This isn't a come-on or even a compliment; he states it like it's just a fact. The sky is blue and Jade Otterwell looks nice in her old-fashioned swimsuit with the lace detailing and her big sunglasses.

That's...as good an explanation as any, honestly. She tosses her (far too thick) hair off her neck, because drawing probably takes longer than a second, and it's hot. There's no real reason to refuse him, though. "I'm not posing." She warns, but doesn't put up a fight other than that.

This earns a small smile from Cole, simple gratitude touched with just a hint of amusement. He tucks his own hair, long and always a bit unkempt and rarely willing to stay in place, behind his ear again before opening his sketchbook and skipping over a few pages until he finds a blank one. "That's okay. Most people are bad at posing anyway." He then plucks the pencil out from behind his opposite ear and pauses. "...That's a 'yes'. Right?"

Usually, in response to a second question, she'd chirp out a No, smile, and leave. That would in fact, be typical of her.

But Jade honestly doesn't have the energy to summon that reaction right now. There are dark circles under her sunglasses from not being able to sleep, either. So if this can help one of them clear their heads. Well. She can tolerate it. "It's a yes." She nods, decisive, and stretches her legs back out, lying back like she could sleep. She won't. "But I'm only sitting still for so long. You'll have to turn my limbs into robot arms, or something, if you don't get them on time."
This will probably not really be a concern.

This earns another small, fleeting smile from Cole, "Do you...want robot arms?" The truth is that his memory and his understanding of physiology are both good enough that he doesn't actually need a model but sometimes it's nice to have one. At least for a little while. If he resorts to robot arms it will be by choice rather than necessity. He looks at Jade a moment longer before lowering his head and beginning to sketch broad lines on the paper.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

BIG BIRDIES' BYE-BYE BBQ BEACH BASH

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