gooseberryhigh | 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

Lachlan is a decently observant fellow and and that squint is enough to stop him from putting the book away just yet. He hardly has time to wonder if he's crossed a line, though, before Yancey has stepped away to claim his makeshift sword and is changing the subject.

Slowly, he nods. "Aye! You can usually identify them with some combination of appearance and behavior and songs. It's relaxin' and a good excuse to get outside, I guess. I've been doin' it since I was a lad. So when I came here..." He shrugs, hesitant. He knows that the appeal of this hobby is difficult to explain to others and that he's bored his good friends close to tears with his avian interest. "I got a new list and started over."

"Oh, yeah, I could see that being relaxing." Yancey agrees lightly. He tilts his chin up, eyes scanning the trees momentarily, still whipping that stick around mindlessly. "Well, y'know, the birds here in Utah are pretty different from the ones you'd find in Scotland. Or, at least, it sounded that way while I was over there." He offers a smile. "Seems like starting over was a good idea?"

"Well different," Lachlan agrees and smiles back at Yancey. A lot of people wouldn't notice the songs of local birds enough to make a statement like that and he's happy to be impressed by the other boy.

The mention of his time in Scotland saves the Ribbonfin from a discussion about some particularly impressive American birds as Lachlan, hesitating and shaking his head, admits, "I...always forget that you were at Hogwarts last year." Mostly because it's genuinely difficult to picture him at a staid, traditional wizarding school with no focus on the arts and no LARP and an agenda to pretend the modern world doesn't exist. The question that comes next pops into his head and out of his mouth before he can even consider why he's asking it, "What house were you in?"

"Ah," the ridiculous stick-swinging stops, and Yancey points his improvised weapon at Lachlan, grin broad. "Because it seems like I've always been here, yeah?"

That's... not the reason at all, Yancey. But you keep believing that.

Yancey goes right back to pantomiming swashbuckling with his prop, head listing slightly to the side at the next question. "I was in...Slytherin," the answer comes slowly, thoughtfully, but his tone remains light and casual. Yancey knows Slytherin has a reputation, but he's also vaguely aware that there are quite a few former Slytherins here on campus. "You were...?"

This isn't the reason but Yancey's confident, cheerful insistence makes the idea worth going along with. Laughing softly, Lachlan steers the branch away from him and agrees easily, "...Aye. Somethin' like that."

There's enough uncertainty and consideration in Yancey's answer that, in a way, it sounds more like a question. And Lachlan can understand why; Yancey isn't the type of person that most would associate with Slytherin. But not all Slytherins are the same. And Slytherins have some exceptionally admirable qualities. And Slytherins can be... Unwillingly, Lachlan thinks of his ex-boyfriend and the painful throb of nostalgia forces him to look down at the ground for a moment. He almost forgets to answer.

"Ravenclaw," he says, and looks up to offer the other boy a reassuring (if a bit pained) smile, "But I had mates in Slytherin."

"Yeah, they're real good to their own!" Yancey offers politely, smile a bit tight. He was never one of them. 'Never quite fit in' doesn't even begin to accurately describe it. But Yancey's smile softens, because that particular house seems to pull up not great feelings for both of them.

He rolls his head. "Yeah, yeah, I figured. You seem... Ravenclawish."

Too distracted by the thoughts of Gabriel he's trying not to think, Lachlan misses that tight smile and gives a small nod of agreement even though that hadn't been his ex-boyfriend's experience at all. But he'd been like Lachlan, a social outsider at the very bottom of his house's social hierarchy, and that's not an easy place to be in any house. Except maybe Hufflepuff. So there probably wasn't much point in trying to draw parallels anyway.

He's about to speak when the Ribbonfin beats him to it and prompts him to utter a bright, startled laugh. He can't quite help it. Because he supposes he is Ravenclawish.

"Aye. You could say so," he acknowledges, then looks uncertainly at Yancey, "And...is that a good thing?"

Yancey blinks, brows going up, a bit worried he might've given offense. "Oh, yeah, of course. Very clever, you guys are." He's talking with his hands again, and, by extension, a stick. Gesturing to his head and then at Lachlan, pleasant smile firmly in place. "Some really brilliant minds in that house," he laughs. "Way beyond me."

While Lachlan does shy away a bit from the swinging stick, he still smiles, quietly relieved. "Me too sometimes. It...kept you motivated." He tilts his head back a little, glancing at the trees as he hears the brief lyrical trill of some songbird. Maybe a chickadee of some sort? It flies by before he can get a good look or even think to lift his camera, though. That's all right.

He looks back at Yancey. "...Don't undersell yourself, though."

MONTHLY BONDING: CAMPING

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan

Yancey & Lachlan