gooseberryhigh | MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At various points in the evening, Casey drops (out of nowhere?!?!) onto the log beside certain people. His pink windbreaker and the giant mess of a cat in his arms make him easy to identify, and he greets each person with the same phrase: "'Sup."

[DON'T NEED TO FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO A WHOLE THREAD WITH CASEY IF YOUR CHARACTER IS IN THE SUBJECT! i mean, you're welcome to! 💜 but i just wanted to inform you that your character has been 'supped. it's like a "your character has been killed" card in a board game. i also can't guarantee that he was a sick conversationalist, so proceed with caution if you do.]

Edited 2017-10-21 01:15 (UTC)

Sometimes, Rosy humors Casey. She acts like what he's saying is important or makes sense, she participates in the conversation just enough to allow him to do what he really wants to do: talk about himself. But usually, she has energy, she has empathy, she has a fuck left to give.

Rosy does not have any fucks to give right now.

She turns and looks at Casey and his cat, sighs, and says, "What?"

Misinterpreting Rosy's question as confusion, Casey repeats with a hand gesture to indicate it's her turn to answer the 'question,' "'Sup." He doesn't notice her bad mood, um, at all.

Edited 2017-10-21 01:47 (UTC)

Rosy blinks very slowly at Casey, then turns her eyes back toward the fire. "I—stuff, I guess?" she says, spreading her hand out in a dismissive shrug. "Did you need something?"

Is 'you' too forward? ................................................................................................................................................. "You."

Casey barks a laugh at his own joke.

It's such a good joke, OH WHAT A JOKE! BRO!

"Nah, just like." He shrugs. "Whatever. Seein' what you're up to. Campfire, huh?"

Rosy does not crack a smile at the joke. If anything, her face just gets straighter.

"I ran out of homework to do," she says, deadpan, eyes still on the fire.

"Fuck."

"My words exactly."

Is that... Casey Patterson? Saying 'sup' to her? Phi, confused and a little disgruntled, glances to her fellow senior, eyes moving from his face to his windbreaker to his cat. All of it induces discomfort in her. After a very long moment she just looks away without saying anything. That means the 'conversation' is over, right??

Casey, who had been looking Pointedly Away because he's Cool, is confused. He blinks. Where's the response? Isn't Phi supposed to be his soulmate? Or at least, like, somebody whose aura matched his sick purple nails?

He shrugs and goes back to thinking about how he's going to approach the night's tent situation.

Did that... actually work? Phi smiles the tiniest amount. She's not about to complain.

Webster is pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Casey. He still doesn't really know what Casey's deal is or how Casey feels about him, but Webster likes the guy. He's never really met someone like him before.

Webster scoots over to give him space. "Hey! Cool cat. Can I pet him? [...] Is it a him? Her?"

Fuck, bro, Casey doesn't even know what Casey's deal is.

He grins proudly and holds his arms out a little farther, brandishing the twenty-plus pounds of cat. "He fuckin' loves that." He pauses and furrows his brows, looking down at Hugo. "He's a 'him,' like... with his parts 'n whatever, so I call 'im a 'him,' but like..." Despite the loud protests of said cat, he reaches out to hold Hugo around his chest, face-to-face with Casey. He's never thought about Hugo's preferred pronouns before. What if he's been doing it wrong all this time. "What d'you think, fuzzy bro?"

The 'fuzzy bro' just stares back, tail swishing.

Webster wants to pet the cat but also doesn't want to interrupt this [...] moment between Casey and his 'fuzzy bro.' He takes a sip of his hot cider and gives them some time.

Finding his cup empty, Webster decides to offer his two cents on the matter. One because he finds Casey's thoughtfulness on topics like this interesting... and two because he wants to get to the cat-petting part.

"I think you're probably okay calling 'him' a 'him.' Cats aren't usually shy with their feelings so I'm sure he would've let you know by now if he was unhappy." Casey still holds the cat in front of him, studying him, and not offering him to Webster. So, he continues, "If you wanted, you could raise Hugo gender-neutral and use the pronouns 'they' and 'them.' It might actually good practice for when you meet people who prefer not to use the male or female pronouns. And, I imagine it'd make you aware of how gendered we are as a society."

God, Webster wants to pet that big BIG fluffy cat so badly.

Lachlan hasn't felt this good for a while. He's silently resolved not to think about his schoolwork for once (that will all come crashing back down on him on Sunday, thank you very much!) and he's just spent the day out in nature with his friends, so how could he not feel good? When Casey arrives, he's sipping at a cup of hot cider and looking up at the stars. Naming the constellations he can see in his head is the closest he's going to get to studying on this trip.

Surprised to have company, he looks over at the other boy and smiles. He doesn't know why Casey's been so...focused on him lately, but he doesn't mind, really. Even if he'd had to flail for excuses to get out of partners mud wrestling with him. "Hey, mate. Just...takin' it all in." He lifts his hands as he says this to indicate everything around them, nearly sloshes his drink onto his hand, and then takes a hasty, sheepish sip. It's fine. Nothing to worry about here.

"What about you?"

Casey blinks, unsure what "it" is, then shrugs. "It" sounds like thinking. Thinking sounds like something that shouldn't happen when camping. Then again, camping shouldn't happen, either. "Like. Whatever. Campin' sucks so it's like... y'know." Another shrug. "Whatever."

Edited (casey should stay in the dance studio) 2017-10-23 23:46 (UTC)

Casey isn't the last person that Casper would expect to come sit with him by the fire, but given that they've already spent part of the day fucking around with their tent and that they'll be spending all night together, he doesn't know why the other boy would brother. He takes a long sip from his water bottle (cider and hot chocolate are both far too sweet for his taste) before turning to face the other boy and answering flatly, "Do you want something, Patterson?"

Ulysses looks up from his hot chocolate. "Hi, Casey." It's funny, Ulysses normally likes to maintain that veneer of distance with the Coppertale senior boys — call them by their last names and all that. But it's hard to call Casey "Patterson" when, to Ulysses' mind, he's talking to Cricket's pet boy.

"Just fixin' to write home, if you want to say hey." He does have a quill out, although no ink has made to paper.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

Casey & His Victims (Phi, Rosy, Casper, Phin, Lach, Ulysses, and Webster)

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Rosy

Casey & Phi

Casey & Phi

Casey & Phi

Casey and Webster

Casey and Webster

Casey and Webster

Casey & Lachlan

Casey & Lachlan

Casey & Casper

Casey & Ulysses