MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

[goosemods]

MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

It's a windy October day, and the entire school is packing up to go on a camping trip. This month's monthly bonding is going to force even the most indoors-loving students out into the wilderness for one night.

There's a rumor going around that the trip is clearing out the students so that MACUSA agents can search campus without the students around. This will have to remain a mystery, however, as nothing interesting happens before the hike gets underway. Quentin Youngblood sets up some magical audio surveillance in their cabin, but when they get back the most interesting thing they recorded was the sound of two raccoons fighting outside. However, they do hear footsteps on the walkways outside the cabin. It could just be staff doing patrols.

Natalie Prince struggles on the long hike and ends up lagging behind, but on the bright side gets to walk with Mr. Covington who's bringing up the end of the group. As everyone's setting up camp, Dinah Dixon suddenly shouts either in fear or excitement: it's Brother! ... Oh, wait, no, that's just a normal moose. False alarm.

CAMPING RULES:

• Dress appropriately for the weather. It's autumn up in the mountains, and it's beginning to feel like it.
• No large electronics of any kind. Alas, Mr. Thorn has been overruled during this particular trip, since it's not actually an OE event. You may bring your gadgets.
• Buddy system at all times. Do not go off on your own.
• Don't leave the trail.
• Respect your tent-mates. If Thorn suspects there's a problem, he's stepping in.
• Lights out is 10:00 PM. All students must be quiet with lights off after this hour.
• You must help carry the group's equipment.
• Clean up after yourself.
• All the rules that apply on campus apply here, kids! The only things you're escaping are your uniforms and classes.
• If you act up, you're being sent home early with Mr. Covington and will face IC repercussions.
• Thorn is serious about making sure you kids learn how to survive in the great outdoors without your wands, and therefore insists all the set up and take down be done without magic. He doesn't humor any arguments about wandless magic, either. "Those are the rules. Now get to it!"

HOW THIS WORKS

• Students will leave Friday afternoon and hike out to a large camping area. The trip is about a an hour and a half long hike, but it's low impact and everyone takes a break in the middle for snacks.


• Upon arrival, tents are set up. It's two or three people to a tent!


• Tent assignments were made with a combination of student requests and random assignments. You can choose whether your characters asked to be put together, or if staff assigned them by chance.


• Couples are not prevented from being in the same tent. However, the tent walls are awfully thin, and the campground is crowded. Hanky panky at your own risk.


• Each year has its own campground and fire, but you can wander and mingle with other years.


• No magic is allowed when working on setting up camp and survival skills.


• Students will return Saturday morning. Ebonhide will have to miss their Quidditch/Cheer time on the pitch, but Mr. Thorn will arrange with their captains to give them some choice extra practice slots next Saturday.


• Students who don't have sleeping bags, pillows or camping gear will be provided with school loaners.


• Students may bring their familiars so long as they're able to travel safely. Familiars that remain behind will be tended to by staff.


• Staff will come through and do a head count at curfew (10:00 PM) when everyone must be in their tents or at the fire pit. Midnight is quiet time, and everyone will need to be in their tents with the lights off.


• If your characters want to sneak around and trade tents, there's a chance of being caught if it gets too widespread. Chances are, though, you can get away with it.


• Assume that the locations of the tents and campgrounds correspond to the layout of the table that's just below this list.


• EACH YEAR WILL EXPERIENCE A UNIQUE SUPERNATURAL EVENT. There will be places to react below.

SENIORS:

Veronica & Riley	Iliya, Ulysses, & Mackenzie	Avery & Sofia
Saira & Phoebe	Ferdinand, Reid & Cameron	Phineas & Yancey
Adeline & Sybilla	Reece, Jonathan & Sylvester	Lachlan, Jaime & Ennis
Oscar, Dominic & Webster	Roxanne & Rosemary	Olivia & Clementine
Casey & Casper	Kurt & Chloe	Antonia & Ursula

JUNIORS:

Ariadne & Jade	Joanna, Samantha & Evangeline	Sebastien, Lucas & Ramon
Fern & Charlotte	Gabriela & Victoria	Madison & Ruby
Calvin & Micah	Milo & Bianca	Cole & Austin
Regan, Isabelle & Paige	Estella & Jefferson	Zachary & Solomon
Hazel & Susana	Todd & Spencer	Heathcliff, Cassius & Ira

SOPHOMORES:

Archimedes, Hieronymus & Griffin	Natalie & Antigone	Peyton, Grace & Corrigan
Violet & Carolina	Rupert & Quentin	Concordia, Marie & Tuesday
Nisha & Dinah	London & Paris

» THE HIKE: Although it takes an hour and a half, the hike is low impact without many hills, and it's very scenic. The mountains are full of fall colors, and it's perfect scarf and sweater weather.

» SETTING UP CAMP: Mr. Thorn encourages everyone to participate! Help dig a fire pit! Learn to put up a tent! Prepare dinner!

» EVENING: Everything's winding down, and many students have retreated to their tents. Others linger by the fire. Mr. Covington makes some (non-alcoholic) hot apple cider or hot cocoa for anyone who's still up.

» IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: SENIORS: A beautiful teenager in a tattered suit, lace shawl and what looks like a mask from last year's masquerade wanders through your campground, leaving newly bloomed violets where his bare feet touched the ground. If you're awake (one character per player), you can come out and meet Anon in person. He will answer the first 5 questions asked, but... it's Anon, his answers may not be useful. Staff are exasperated by this news, and MACUSA agents will want to interview you. Anon needs to be reminded to keep his distance.

» IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: JUNIORS: Pearl visits your year's campground, and wanders through the tents at night. If you're awake, she will trade with you through an opening in the tent flaps. Give her something valuable, and she'll reward you with something of hers. (One trade per player.) Later in the evening, Peter can be heard coming to collect her. In the morning, members of staff insists all students who made a trade give up their items to MACUSA... unless you hide your prize.

» IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: SOPHOMORES: Late at night, everyone remembers Mr. Merrill coming through and checking on them individually now that he's finally caught up with the group. Sheesh, that's a long walk, kids! He's a little too quick to tease them, but it's easy to assume he's tired and that's why he's not his usual gregarious self. However, in the morning, he's nowhere to be seen. Mr. Merrill never arrived last night. So who was that..?

» MORNING: The staff are tired and a little frustrated by what happened last night, but this is just what happens at a magical school, right? This is Gooseberry now. Time to pack up and hike back to campus.

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

Comments

THE HIKE

[goosemods]

Bad Kids Defy Death

[godzillabutworse]

This hike is just, like, a walk? And that's ... kind of boring? Like, okay, sure, the trees are the color of fire and the sky is clear and bright blue and beautiful and it's all gorgeous? But, um, wow. Gonna need more than a Bob Ross painting to keep this child occupied. Nisha props her hand over her brow to scan the surroundings. Where's the adventure?

It takes a moment for the dots to connect, but she eventually spots just what she's looking for and with a skip in her step, she jogs to catch up with Tuesday. Nisha starts their interaction with a light, friendly elbow to Tuesday's side. Because that's just who she is. "I spy with my little eye," she says in a low whisper, nodding just off the path, to a pine tree of some sort with big, sturdy branches. "Something a little more challenging than a stroll." Nisha wiggles her eyebrows.

Kurt Nerds @ an Innocent Civilian (Open)

[puphart]

The wilderness? Hiking? Camping? This is Kurt's element! Even moreso than in the auditorium or the stables, his default setting of Nervous Excitement has been replaced with Contented Excitement — the only thing that could push it into Giddy Excitement would be letting them bring horses like they did on the OE tree trip last year. (Kurt idly wonders if Bluebell will be allowed to participate in that event this year and decides to tuck the question for Mr. Covington into the back of his mind.) The gear on his back (and then some) doesn't seem to bother him as he putters around at the front of the herd, attention divided between the trail, the forest, and Newt, who, having spent half the summer in Yellowstone with Kurt, knows the drill. More or less.

"T-t-there are neat!" he says to the person walking beside him, whether or not they had just been conversing, as he points at a tall, slender plant ending in yellow-green flowers. "B-because we're so high up, this is one of the latest places that plants bloom! Like this, um, this slenderbush buckwheat!" He sounds simultaneously thrilled by and in awe of this slenderbush buckwheat, as though it had opened Kurt to the mysteries of the universe.

Ruby (OPEN)

[patineuse]

Ruby is already fiercely bored by what just sounds like a hike and camping in the woods, but at least it's a change of scenery from all the hiking and camping they do every day at Gooseberry.

They've stopped for a break, which Ruby uses an opportunity to... not talk to her classmates. Standing off to the side, a few feet away from the other juniors, she goes into a series of stretches that culminates in her pulling one leg high in the air behind her, into a needle pose.

Sy & Clem

[threatens]

Normally, Sy's all about this hiking and camping shit, but right now his desire to deal with other people is at an all-time low. He'd expected Vector to forbid him from going, but it turns out whatever the hell the MACUSA's doing is way more important than him fucking up again, so whatever. Fine. He's here. He's got tape over his nose, a split lip and purpling bruises on his face and neck, but he's goddamn here.

(Mufferaw had taken one look at him, said "You're not going to die of anything except idiocy," and kicked him out of the infirmary. Some Healer.)

When Sy senses someone approach, his response is automatic: "Fuck off." Then he actually looks over, readying his most potent leave me alone glare, only to see who it is. Clem. "Oh."

Yancey & Lachlan

[lachlangalbraith]

While the announcement of a camping trip on Friday and Saturday had initially thrown Lachlan's carefully maintained schedule into disarray (and the boy, therefore, into a bout of anxiety), he'd managed to shuffle things around and come up with a workable timetable that would allow him to go and focus on the trip and now...he's uncharacteristically relaxed. Because being out in nature always makes it easier for him to relax.

Walking up one of the paths at a leisurely pace, eyes turned upward as he watches for birds and takes in the pleasant sight of sunshine breaking through the thinning trees, he almost doesn't notice that Yancey is walking in front of him. Eventually, though, he does and he smiles. The boy seems out of his element here but not in a bad way. Maybe it's just because he's outside and not in his LARP gear. Whatever the case, after taking a moment to gather his nerves a little, he calls out, "Oigh! Yancey!"

He lifts the small instant camera he'd brought along to get snaps of birds, unable to resist catching his friend off guard.

Sweaty Boy needs a lift (Jaime + Open)

[sheepish]

Once upon a time, a young Ennis could hike for miles through rugged terrain: through the bush, the valleys, up the winding mountain paths. They'd live off the land and sleep beneath the stars. But that was seven years ago and a sedentary lifestyle filled with modern comforts and the convenience of his own magic has made him... soft.

Only an hour into their easy hike, he already has a stitch in his side. His antiperspirant salve he slathered on his face, hands, and torso in an attempt to remain presentable in front of his crush is backfiring horribly as sweat trickles from the backs of his knees, beads down his calves, and is absorbed by his socks. Despite the cool weather, he is burning up. This is hell. This is literal Hell. Beauty is pain, but he didn't know it'd be like this.

Ennis slows to a halt, gripping his side and leaning miserably against a tree to catch is breath. On the plus side, his foundation is staying in place and his hair still looks fantastic. But, God, at what cost?

Reece & Paige

[peanutbuttercup]

Camping is not exactly Reece's favorite activity, but it's his fourth year at Gooseberry and he's come to accept that it just happens sometimes. No avoiding it. Still, he kind of drags his feet on his way back from his cabin to the staging area they're leaving from, and he finds most people paired up already for the hike. He can't very well go off without a buddy, since he's the buddy system's #1 fan this year, so he surveys the crowd.

All of his friends are paired up already, but it's not really the time for his social anxiety to act up. He switches over to prefect mode and locks in on a target almost immediately.

"Hey," he says, hiking his backpack further up his shoulder as he approaches the new Azurcrest student. "Paige, right? Do you need a buddy?"

Quentin and Carolina

[taxation_is_theft]

Quentin doesn't mind hiking. He feels personally offended everytime it's used in bonding rituals, but the walking don't bother him none. He weaves in between classmates that start to lag behind because they're losers and natural selection is coming for them, until he finally falls into step with Carolina. "Sup," he says to the girl that he'd suggested should make out him to prove a theory for science.

SETTING UP CAMP

[goosemods]

Micah & Calvin

[stclair]

As soon as tent assignments are being discussed, Micah immediately sidles up to Calvin and calls out "Dibs!" as though anyone else might want to claim Calvin. Well, maybe they do. Calvin's a hot topic in Gooseberry news right now, after last night.

He shoots a grin at Calvin. "Any complaints?"

Casper & Casey

[casperkim]

Casper doesn't like camping. He doesn't like the Great Outdoors or interruptions to his routines or forced bonding. Annoyed but resigned, he'd come with his headphones and his iPod and a couple of books, ready to ignore his peers and get some studying done instead. So he doesn't think it's was worth putting in a request for a specific tent assignment. Especially not when it seems like his cabinmates might benefit from a break from...well, him anyway. He's been in an awful mood lately and he knows it. Let them have the night off.

This...turns out to be a mistake.

The news that he'll be with Casey Fucking Patterson leaves him looking like he's bitten into a lemon. He turns his music back on and stalks away to get their supplies without acknowledging the other boy. He doesn't know much about setting up tents. Everything he'd learned during the year of Outdoor Education he'd begrudgingly taken has been almost entirely forgotten and he'll be relying on the instructions and watching their peers, but he certainly doesn't intend to ask Casey for help.

Ursula and Nia are Campions

[heyitsnia]

Nia's looking at the pile of tent-related shit she and Ursula have amassed when she gives an animated, whole body shiver and slaps her palm across her upper arm. It's too fucking cold for mosquitos. Aren't they all hibernating? Or dead? Whatever it is bugs do when it drops below 70 degrees? Shit.

She looks at her hand and finds the remains of an ant, and, only a little disgusted, bends over and wipes her hand off on a large rock, punctuating the gesture with a gargled groan that really expresses how she feels about the whole situation.

Anyway, back to the shit. There's a lot of it. Some sticks. A tarp. And some more sticks. And, like, tent-making paraphernalia. Nia knows exactly what to do with all of this.

She walks over to the pile. She lays down in the middle of it. She looks at Ursula and with a self-satisfied smile says, "Done."

Reid & Cash

[cygninae]

Once his tent is theoretically livable, Reid approaches Cash like he's concerned his fellow prefect might bite him. Or maybe just bite his head off. Not that he's ever seen Cash raise his voice before. The guilt drags Reid forward anyway, forcing him to talk when, god, he really hates talking. He hates talking about himself most, because usually it's about how he totally fucked up and doesn't know what's going on. He should not have been made a prefect.

There's a too-long pause as he stands in front of Cash.

"Hey." He clears his throat. "Can we talk."

Violet & Carolina

[notgonagall]

To be perfectly honest, when tent assignments are announced, Violet is not entirely sure who Carolina is. So sue her: she's not from around here, she's still working on matching names to the faces of some of her quieter, more introverted classmates.

In the end, she gets Cordi to point for her, and oh, hey, it's one of the Ribbonfins who got so angry at them for their harmless little prank the other night. Great. This should go swell.

Not that she's ever let someone's judgment or dislike stop her before.

"Hey," she says, approaching the other girl at set-up time. "I really hope you know how to pitch a tent, because this is my first year at camping school, yeah?"

Riley (and Vee and/or Open)

[riledup]

Riley is useless in this situation. No. Riley is beyond useless. She waited until her senior year to take Outdoor Education, and literally every second of it has been hell. No amount of appreciating cute butts in shorts could possibly make it worth it. And now? Now poor Vee has to pay the price, as her tentmate lets out a dramatic groan and nudges a stake with her feet.

"Can't we just, like... sleep in someone else's tent?" She's sure Casey would let her join him. Casper might have a problem with it, but for some reason that seems like an easier problem to solve than the idea of putting up an entire tent by hand.

Rupert & Quentin

[somethingwick_ed]

UGH. Rupert is not a fan of camping because it almost always involves getting dirty with no real reward, and the fact that it's uncomfortable on so many levels just adds to his strong distaste for the activity. He'd been moderately petulant the entire hike up, and now that it's time to set up the tent he's become even more surly. The fact that he's sharing with Quentin isn't helping. Currently, Rupert is not very pleased with Coppertales. Plus Quentin is weird. And potentially gross. Who knows.

There is an upshot to his tentmate, however, and that's that maybe Rupert can push all the manual duties onto him. He waves at the disassembled tent before crossing his arms. "I'm more of the supervising type. I bet you're very handy with setting up tents, anyway." Doesn't he have some weird apocalyptic cult family or something? That probably involves living in tents.

DANGER ZONE: Dinah, Nisha, Terror Twins

[dinahdanger]

"OH, OH, OH!!!" Dinah squeals, pointing at the trees, bouncing in excitement. "It's Brother! GUYS, it's totally Bro—" The figure in the trees lazily plods in another direction, its sizable antlers bobbing along. There was nothing regal or otherworldly about it. There are no ghosts here for you, sophomores. Dinah's face wrinkles in disappointment. "It's a BUTT," she shouts instead, then turns back to the tent poles in her hands. She has... very little idea what she's doing here. Outside of this school, she's never gone camping before. They live on a boat. She goes boating.

"So is there any rule against doing like a MEGA-TENT?" she says, quickly getting over the fact that there wasn't actually a ghost-guardian-moose-bro-dude in the trees watching them. "OH, what if we ALL shared a super mega-tent??"

EVENING

[goosemods]

Fortunetelling Corner

[victimless]

Hero makes a point of waiting until the sun's going down before he pulls out his Lenormand deck (neatly packed into the leather case Corrigan got for him). He owes Marie a reading, but will gladly do ones for other people until he gets tired.*

"Ask me a yes/no question," he instructs Marie. "On a matter that has been deeply troubling you, and calls for celestial assistance to find your way."

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: SENIORS

[goosemods]

ENNIS MEETS HIS IDOL

[sheepish]

Ennis can't sleep. Choosing to share a tent with Jaime was already a bad idea, but then choosing to sandwich himself between two beautiful boys was an even worse idea. He thought Lachlan's non-threatening brand of handsome would make this easier than sleeping beside Jaime in the middle, but right now he feels trapped between Scylla and Charybdis. It's overwhelming. At this rate, he'll sweat right through his sleeping bag.

Careful not wake the other two, Ennis sits up in his sleeping bag and slowly unzips himself from his humid prison. He allows just the slightest opening in the tent to slip his body through and crawls on his elbows toward freedom before collapsing on the grass to savor the cold breeze. It wouldn't be so bad to sleep out here instead...

From the corner of his eye, he sees movement and he's sure he's been caught out of his tent by the staff. When he turns his head to look, though, the sight of the figure makes him gasp and he quickly scrambles to his feet, brushes the dirt off his pajamas, and runs his fingers through his hair to neaten it. This must be the boy Sam saw last night... The one she thought might have been Anon himself. His eyes well with tears of joy and he presses a hand firmly over his heart to keep it from leaping out of his chest. He's afraid to blink for fear that Anon will disappear again.

Ennis waves shyly at the being and gives the campground a quick glance-over before padding over to meet him. It's happening... IT'S HAPPENING.

"Hi," he greets breathlessly, dark eyes wide as he tries to soak in the sight of him. He never wants to forget. Ennis gestures toward the suit and shawl, giving a light yet awkward laugh as he tries to make smalltalk. "Are you going to the dance again this year? I heard you were practicing."

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: JUNIORS

[goosemods]

Essie (& Jeffy?)

[magitechnically]

Sleep usually finds Essie easily enough. It's just the natural result of always running at such a high energy. But tonight's energy is different and no matter how long Essie keeps her eyes closed, her mind keeps whirring away, hyper-aware of every single sound outside and every movement Jeffy makes just inches away. So when she hears the rustle of footsteps, she's quietly pulling herself up, hoping to distract herself with chatting with whichever one of her yearmates can't sleep either.

But when Essie peeks her face outside the tent flap, she spies a girl both familiar and completely unexpected, and the sense of dread that hits her is swift and strong. The last time she had met Pearl, she had been offering help to find their lost loved ones. A quick check back over her shoulder confirms that Jeffy's still there. Of course he is. She's no reason to think he wouldn't be. Pearl's just a girl, though one that Essie would have been glad to never meet again. The memory of their first meeting is one that she tries to avoid, too many difficult emotions tied into it, even if everything had managed to work out in the end.

Essie's fingers run over her hand, calling back the sensation of clinging tightly to Diego's crucifix necklace. It's back with him now, both safe. She watches Pearl a little longer and then coughs quietly to get her attention. "Um, hello. Do you remember me?"

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: SOPHOMORES

[goosemods]

Dinah (+ Nisha?)

[dinahdanger]

"Okay, OH-KAY," Dinah sighs heavily, dramatically, as an adult INSISTS on checking on them. Like they're BABIES. Why was Mr. Merrill like A MILLION YEARS late in showing up anyway??? "We're TOTALLY turning off the lights!!"

MORNING

[goosemods]

Nia (Open)

[heyitsnia]

The emotions the Anonymous Writer had imparted had lingered in Antonia's chest for hours. She could tell when his anxiety left, because the prickly, tightness in her chest and head and shoulders stopped feeling alien and started feeling like her own. So she passed the night thinking. About what he'd said - about visitors - and what he'd made her feel and the fact that he'd been able to make her feel things at all.

And what sleep she'd gotten was interrupted quickly by the chatter of morning birds. Now, absent of any strong feelings, she's just exhausted. She packs slowly, sluggishly stuffing her things into her bag - which, really, isn't all that different from how she'd pack normally. Just, lower energy.

Nia scrubs a hand over her eye. Hiking back to campus is going to be miserable. And now there's the shadow of someone else standing over her. She shuts her eyes, not looking up from her spot on the ground. "What can I help you with, honey?"

OOC 🍂 Questions, comments, concerns!

[goosemods]

Re: OOC 🍂 Questions, comments, concerns!

[puphart]

kurt 10000% keeps backup tent pegs in newt's pouch