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

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff

[heathclifflacey]

"I'm not going with a corpse," Heathcliff returns, visibly wilting at his friends' refusal to at least agree to go to the dance solo. He leans back and presses his hands palm-down against the ground behind him. He's beginning to think that this conversation was a mistake. A big one, maybe. Especially when Ira starts turning the questions his way.

Slowly, he shrugs. "I mean. Yeah. It'd be cool. But no point in going with someone if you can't go with the right someone. Right?" He'd thought that, maybe, they'd all been in the same boat. But after Cash and Ira's responses, that idea seems...pretty stupid.

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff

[longcons]

At this point, even Cash was beginning to twig to the fact that maybe, just maybe, Heathcliff's intentions ran a little deeper than small talk. Clearly, he had a certain "right someone" in mind. Not that Cash particularly agreed his general sentiment. He's a natural cynic and about as romantic as off-brand toothpaste; the chance of meeting someone truly special in high school was, if you asked him, asymptotically approaching zero.

But whatever. "Mm. Unrequited affections," he ask-states, having jumped to several conclusions already. "Sad." And before you say anything about his capacity for basic human emotion, please note — he even grimaces sympathetically as he says it.

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff

[ashworthless]

Ira has been a little concerned about this situation since its onset at the date auction, and yet says, “Ohhh.” Like it’s a secret he had just been reminded of now. They’d all known Heathcliff wanted to ask Fern. None of this is really a mystery, but he should’ve been doing more to fix it. He mirrors Cash’s grimace, sympathetic. It’s a shitty position to be in, he assumes.

“That sucks. Maybe we should see if she wants a refund on Patterson. I would.”

Ira has always been a master of subtlety.

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff

[heathclifflacey]

Frowning, Heathcliff lowers his eyes and shrugs his broad shoulders. "...More unrequited that I thought. I guess. I mean. It's not like I was going to ask her to go steady or whatever but we hang out all the time and we have fun together and I just thought...I don't know. That she'd want to go with me if she wanted to go with anyone." It's not hard to determine who 'she' is but he still doesn't use Fern's name. Apparently, he thinks he's keeping a secret.

Until Ira speaks up, anyway. Fox's out of the bag. For a moment, he looks dumbstruck, then he shakes his head. "Phi said the same thing. Well. She said I should ask her anyway. But I can't do that, dude. Why would Fern bid on Casey if she didn't want to go with him?"

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff

[longcons]

Yeah, fox is out of the bag now. Cash hadn't been aware of any... potential feelings between Heathcliff and Fern, unrequited or otherwise. Fern? Fern? His expression momentarily mirrors his roommate's.

When it comes to people to admire, he thinks she's an excellent choice, but somehow, the idea of Heathcliff going to a dance with her makes his head spin. Boy. Yikes. In a rare moment of real empathy, he hopes that his friend isn't in love with her: Cash isn't sure she's capable of returning those kinds of affections. Which is a compliment to her, really; Fern is one of the few people he knows to be as suspicious of vulnerability as he is.

Cash blinks away his surprise and turns back to the question at hand. Why would Fern bid on Casey? Well, why does Fern do anything. "Shits and giggles?" He suggests, mildly. The phrase is a little alien in his mouth, but it's the most succinct description he can think of.

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff + Surprise Fern

[nothalfplaid]

A brown head of hair pokes through the tent flaps as Fern forces her way into the tent. There's not a lot of room as it is, but she's making her own space, even if she has to jab an elbow into someone's kidney to do so. "No door, couldn't knock," she comments, settling down in front of the only path of escape. For a moment, it's not clear whether she heard their conversation, but just when it seems safe, she pipes up, "Shits and giggles is a lot of the reason I do anything. I'm also a sucker for a six pack." Fern looks over to Heathcliff to see if he's imploding yet, and decides to fan the flame. "So you wanted to ask me to the dance?"

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff + Surprise Fern

[heathclifflacey]

Shits and giggles, huh? Heathcliff doesn't seem entirely certain about this answer but he doesn't have much time to think it over before Fern suddenly appears and pops into their tent. Startled, he gapes at the girl and tries to remind himself how to speak (even just a 'Hey' would be a good start) as she settles herself in front of the tent's only entrance.

Then she acknowledges the conversation they'd been having and turns her attention squarely onto him. And, while Heathcliff doesn't implode, he looks like he might. "I. Well. I mean," he stammers, obviously caught off guard, and finishes dumbly, "Yeah. I did." Then, perhaps even more so, "And I've got a six pack too! And..."

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff + Surprise Fern

[nothalfplaid]

Fern is plainly enjoying herself, unable to maintain her poker face as a shit eating grin slides into place. "That so?" she says, "Should have said so sooner, could have saved me some money." She lets him sweat for a little longer before she adds nonchalantly, "We'll go together then."

Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff + Surprise Fern

[heathclifflacey]

Heathcliff's not sure what to make of that grin and the idea that Fern would've said yes is bittersweet. Maybe more sweet, though. Probably. He doesn't have too much time to dwell on that or to try and find some clever response about how much she'd paid for Casey, though, before Fern makes her pronouncement.

We'll go together, then.

The boy's heart leaps in his chest and he looks completely floored before breaking into a broad smile. "...We will?"

Re: Ira, Cash, & Heathcliff + Surprise Fern

[nothalfplaid]

Where Heathcliff's face is an open book, Fern's is a blank slate - or a shuttered window. "Sure," she says with a shrug. She spares a glance at Cash and Ira to see if they look like they're planning to crack wise, and whether it will be just at Heathcliff. "Casey doesn't really want a date anyway, he just wanted to be on stage. Event Committee has their money. It's fine."