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

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?"

Essie & Jeffy!!

[racingstripe]

Sorry Essie, but Jeffy flops in his sleep. Despite his every best intention to be respectful and good and not crowd Essie in their shared tent (STILL! SUPER COOL!!), the second he dropped off to sleep, Jeffy's arms found their full length. When Essie moves, Jeffy turns, and his arms flop over his face. He's just awake enough to hear her speaking, just aware enough to slowly, groggily piece together her words without trying to ascribe any logic to them.

"'Course I do," he mutters into his arm, his eyes just barely peeking open. As his focus sharpens, his vision adjusting to the dark, he can make out Essie sitting up, looking through the tent flap. "Whasgonon?" That might not have made sense. It's probably not important.

Essie (& Jeffy?)

[gooseburied]

"Oh, it's you again," a familiar, small voice says in response. She doesn't sound wholly pleased about recognizing Essie. "I'm not going to make a trade if you're going to be difficult this time."

What do you want to trade over to Pearl?

Essie (& Jeffy?)

[racingstripe]

Jeffy fumbles around behind him. "A trade? Uh, um," his hand falls on his book, well-read and dog-eared. He's pretty much got it memorized at this point. "What, like, uh, this??" He holds out his copy of The Shadow Rising.

Re: Essie (& Jeffy?)

[gooseburied]

"This book is covered in words, I can't draw in it," Pearl complains. All the same, she gives Jeffy a slightly rusty best friends locket, which still contains a photo of two girls he's never met. They're smiling and hugging in the tiny moving photo. Someone must have been pretty upset to lose this. Oops.

Essie (& Jeffy?)

[racingstripe]

"They're really good words, at least!" Jeffy says, in an attempt to spread the joy of reading far and wide.

Taking the locket, he stares at it for a long time, opening it, closing it, inspecting it. Even if there's nothing extra special or extra magic about it, he likes it. He wonders if there's a matching one that belongs to one of the girls in the picture and if they still think about it sometimes?? Probably not.

He sticks it in the front pocket of his bag and will be sweatin' it tomorrow morning when the staff tells them to give up their ghosty goods. Oh no, he's so bad at lying.

Re: Essie (& Jeffy?)

[magitechnically]

Essie winces. It's about the best reaction she could have hoped for. "Yeah, sorry about that." Trying to make Pearl understand had been pointless then, and would be especially so now, but that wasn't why Essie had called her over. "I just wanted to thank you. For helping before. My brother's safe now and you helped a lot." Everything else aside, Essie was truly grateful for the assistance that had been given them that night and it only seemed polite to let the other girl know.

She hadn't meant to make a trade, but when Pearl asks and Jeffy hands over a book, it seems like it would be a rude reminder of before not to offer the little girl something. "You can have these if you want them?" Essie says as she slips off her pair of knit hedgehog mittens and they quickly roll up into two fluffy balls thanks to a charm she'd placed on them. The amount of bundling up she had done to share a tent with Jeffy had maybe been a little excessive.

Re: Essie (& Jeffy?)

[gooseburied]

"... Sometimes I miss my brother too. And these are cute," Pearl admits reluctantly as the gloves disappear into her bag. "I guess you can have this back. It's not even a very good compass." Essie is handed a familiar compass through the tent flap.

Re: Essie (& Jeffy?)

[magitechnically]

Essie gasps when she finds the familiar disk in her hand and immediately pops it open. "Thank you," she whispers, fighting back emotions as she watches the three needles swing around as they locate their targets. It's a bittersweet reminder of her homesickness. Before Pearl leaves, she adds, "I hope you see your brother again."