SCHOOL TRIP: Sophomores

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SCHOOL TRIP: Sophomores

Big city lights! A new country! A foreign language! Forty very difficult children! The staff might have their hands full with this one, but there's definitely plenty to keep the sophomore class busy in a city like Osaka.

Students are given packets that contain their hotel room key, museum pass, allowance, a map of the city and its Floo network, the itinerary, and a basic list of rules. For the most part, it looks like they'll have a lot of freedom, so long as they don't break any rules. "Mind yourselves," Ms. Vector warns, looking over the rim of her glasses at the assorted students.

HOW THIS WORKS

• The sophomore class is going to Osaka, Japan! They will be staying at the Hotel Osaka Natural Super Hot Springs.


• Staff Presence: Ms. Vector, Mr. Hightower, Mr. Oakes


• Students will have to go through international magical customs, so they can't have any contraband in their bags, such as weapons or drugs. They will be travelling via the Floo network to the Tokyo Magical Transportation & Travel Station, after which they'll go to Osaka via a magical train network.


• For the two non-travel days, there will be a set school activity that's mandatory, and the rest of the time students can do whatever they want to.
  • Friday: Osaka Castle, Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, Osaka Aquarium. Students leave at 9:00 AM, and return to the hotel at 5:00 PM
  
  
  • Saturday: A choice of three types of shows: Kabuki, Noh, or Bunraku. Students leave at 6:00 PM, and return to the hotel at 9:00 PM
• Students are given an allowance of ¥5560 (~$50) per day for food and leisure. They have student passes to get into museums, gardens, etc. with no charge, and the hotel has a free continental breakfast. Any room charges will come out of your character's allowance. They may spend their own personal money however they please.


• The hotel has a hot spring and sauna that the students have access to, so long as they behave respectfully. Horseplay in the hotel will lose your character privileges.


• Curfew is 12:00 AM. Teachers will come through to make sure everyone is in their rooms.


• ALTHOUGH THIS IS BEING POSTED ON 11/22, STUDENTS WILL NOT ACTUALLY BE LEAVING UNTIL THE MORNING OF 11/23!

Room 603: Antigone / Grace / Rupert

Room 604: Hieronymus / Archimedes / Tobias / Griffin

Room 605: Peyton / Carolina

Room 606: Concordia / Violet / Quentin

Room 607: Natalie / Tuesday / Corrigan / Marie

Room 608: Miguel / Pandora

Room 609: Paris / London / Nisha / Dinah

» DEPARTURE/ARRIVAL: Any scenes relating to leaving campus or arriving in Japan can go here!

» THE HOTEL: Any scenes that take place at the hotel can go here!

» DAY TWO: SIGHTSEEING: Time to see the city.

» DAY THREE: THEATER: In the evening, students can go to one of three classical Japanese performances.

» GOING HOME: Time to pack up and return to the states.

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

Comments

DEPARTURE/ARRIVAL

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THE HOTEL

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Archie, the first night. (open to multiple)

[cherubic]

He has a room to spend the night in, and friends to waste the time with, but instead Archie is perched on a ledge just outside the hotel. The sun is going down, but it's already hidden behind the skycrapers. He's seen photographs of cities like this, but no photo can capture the scale. Or the smells. The noises. The scale. He stares down the street and tries to take in each unfamiliar sign and piece of architecture, but... he can't. A sketchbook is propped up on his knees, skinny legs exposed in a pair of outdated shorts. He hasn't made a single mark on the page.

This feels fake to him. It's as real as any story he's read, or any film he's watched, which is to say hardly real at all. As soon as he saw the city, it was as though he took several generous steps away from himself and retreated into third person. It hasn't helped him yet.

Still, the city is beautiful.

Archie & Hero

[victimless]

Hero sits nearby, reluctant as always to let Archie go off unsupervised. Or so he's claimed (loudly and repeatedly), but the embarrassing truth might be that he just doesn't want to be alone. This is the farthest away from home he's ever been.

But he won't waste his time twisting his hands nervously. Hero has a Japanese phrasebook in his lap, and a highlighter in hand. "Nihongo ga wakarimasen," he recites carefully, committing the words to memory. He refuses to look like a fumbling tourist. "Eigo o hanashimasu ka?" Hero drags his highlighter across the phrase, neat and precise, muttering to himself. "'Do you speak English?'"

Room 609, Night One: Gettin' Beautiful

[dinahdanger]

"So, like, the burning means it's working extra well, right guys??" Dinah asks as she resists the urge to claw at the face mask slathered on her skin. This is supposed to... remove blackheads? Burn her pores? End world hunger?? GOD, she doesn't know, why would you ask her? She was just told to put this thing on her face and she agreed before anyone could even explain the supposed benefits. Stop selling and smear goop on her already. "Because it's like super burning and I dunno if I'm ready to be super beautiful???"

Room 609, Night One: Gettin' Beautiful

[godzillabutworse]

Nisha stares at her hands, all smeared with green face gunk, purposefully. You can almost see the equations moving through the air in front of her. Dinah snaps her out of it.

"You're already super beautiful," she up talks before licking some of the gunk on her finger and making a terrible, awful noise. "Wuughhhhhh--bluh!" Nisha shakes, whole body, and flings some of the face mask gel onto the wall. "Oops. Oops. I got it!"

She does her best to stand without putting her hands anywhere that doesn't need burny green stuff on it and looks like a baby deer standing for the first time.

Room 608; Come bother your prefect, get a mani-pedi in return

[colitaderana]

He's already claimed the bed nearest to the window by the simple expedient of throwing his bag on it and beginning his hunt for an outlet to plug his converter into. His beat-up laptop is in one of his bags...somewhere and he did promise his mom he'd skype her once they arrived if only to prove that portkeys were still, in fact, a safe form of transportation and he hadn't gotten himself splinched.

(His sisters would laugh themselves sick, but Rafael might actually take it upon himself to Apparate all the way to Japan just to un-splinch his baby brother. Gross.)

Miguel wasn't certain how he'd ended up lucky--or unlucky--enough to end up with only a single roommate. And a girl at that, but Gooseberry had its own weird... quirks. Pandora is nowhere to be found yet, but it's just as likely that she's among the other Azurcrests, nesting. He's taking this opportunity to dump his carry-on out on his bed, revealing a truly astonishing array of facemasks, mudpacks, complexion toners...

Listen, a boy's gotta put his best face forward and prevent premature aging and Miguel's going to slap these on his face 'til the cows come home.

Now that he's sprawled on his bed and waiting for the oil on his nails to sink in so he can destroy those awful cuticles, he's more than a bit suspicious at how quiet the sophosaurs are being.

Re: Room 608; Come bother your prefect, get a mani-pedi in return

[taxation_is_theft]

Quentin waltzes right into the room like he belongs here. He doesn't. He throws himself down on the other bed - the bed that definitely doesn't belong to him, or Miguel. "Disney probably abducted Pandora and is using her soul to fuel his immortality," is the sentence he decides to use as his opener. It makes perfect sense to him. He raps his fingers on his sternum. "It had to happen to somebody. Might as well happen to somebody with a name like hers."

Peyton and open to multiple

[legatorum]

Peyton is in her element this whole time, and she's clearly happier and bouncier than anyone has seen her this year. This is awesome. She's all about new experiences and the culture of a new place, and Japan is so different than everything she's ever experienced before. She will chat, hang out and have fun with anyone and everyone, but by the time they're in Osaka, she's pretty glad to find out that she has such a calm roomie that she's used to.

AND Hightower is with them! Even better!

DAY TWO: SIGHTSEEING

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Two Mean Fish and Grace at the Aquarium (Rupert/Iggy/Grace)

[somethingwick_ed]

Japan, so far, has been enjoyable for Rupert - the onsen in their hotel is his dream, the city has provided good sightseeing (even if they're trapped in Osaka and not in Tokyo), and his classmates haven't driven him absolutely insane yet. But now that they're in the aquarium he's less enthused. He's never been one for anything nature-related, and while he can appreciate the aesthetics of an aquarium... there are only so many fish he can look at. Determined to put on a good face for his friends, though, he only looks mildly displeased while they walk around. He thinks this is acceptable.

As he stops alongside one of the open ray tanks intended for petting the creatures, however, his expression passes from mildly displeased to a bit disgruntled. Who would want to touch those??

Two Awesome Fish and Grace at the Aquarium (Rupert/Iggy/Grace)

[gracesowerberry]

Sometimes, Rupert and Grace have a lot in common. She's similarly enthralled with Osaka and would be similarly disinterested with the aquarium if it weren't for Antigone's enthusiasm. Sometimes, watching the other girl get excited is enough to get her excited and she walks along with her hands hooked behind her back, smiling and taking in the vibrant fish that she definitely can't tell apart and their neatly maintained underwater environments.

Once they get to the rays, though, she stops dead in her tracks and looks at the creatures with her bright red lips slightly parted. She looks at Rupert and then at Antigone. "Is it...really safe to touch them?" she asks quietly, "Given the...'sting' part?"

Revolution at Osaka Castle: Tuesday+Open! To Mult!

[tues]

The castle is a centuries-old feat of architecture, with beautiful grounds and a real live moat. There's probably a tour that would have told Tuesday all about the history and battles, but she's more interested in the here and now. She breaks away from the group by faking a bathroom emergency. She makes a quick break to a window instead and looks out.

All right. If all 40 of them were to secure the perimeter and drive all the other tourists out, they could Absolutely gain control of this place. She knocks on the wall experimentally. "When we Get this place, the first thing I'm going to do is clear out the bottom floor so we can Fly here." She tells the first familiar person she sees.

Revolution at Osaka Castle: Tuesday, London + Open! To Mult!

[beansontoast]

Revolution, huh? "You're getting ahead of yourself. You need a plan for taking the castle, you know. You can't plan for what to do with the castle before you conquer it," London replies thoughtfully, as if this is a totally normal conversation to be having.

Aquarium: Nisha & Open (to Multiple?)

[godzillabutworse]

Her cell phone screen is just a scroll of pictures followed by the words "It's you." over and over. A procession of steadily more alien sea creatures, for the last hour and a half, with no response from the other side.

Until Nisha snaps a shot of a spider crab. That elicits a response. A screenshot of the conversation showing the time stamps, in EST. "You like 💯??????????" she replies before stuffing her phone into her back pocket with a huff.

She purses her lips and stares at the deep sea display. Watching the long-legged crustaceans move at their own, low gravity pace kind of makes her feel itchy all over. So she turns to the closest recognizable face and says, "You think they serve seafood at the cafe?" And then, immediately, "D'you think it makes the fish feel bad?"

Tally's birthday dinner & open to multiple

[heresie]

It's Natalie's sixteenth birthday! To celebrate, she's taking her friends out to dinner on her dime. She picked a very nice French restaurant, La Baie. Is it slightly silly to go to a French restaurant while you're in Japan? Probably.

She invited her "friends", which consists of anyone who wanted to come, except Violet, Concordia, and Quentin. Sorry! She holds a grudge.

It's a very nice restaurant, with a dress code and everything, so try not to get the party kicked out for poor behavior or anything. "Blah, blah, we're representing our school on the international stage," Tally says in a lackluster impression of Mrs. Bloom. And dress appropriately! The restaurant suggests "sophisticated elegant" attire. Tally didn't fully take that to heart because she's gone for a glittery look, because it's her birthday and she deserves to be the center of attention.

"I don't speak Japanese or French," she complains to whoever's at the table and will listen to her, even though the waitstaff all speaks English. "What do you think amuse bouche means?"

DAY THREE: THEATER

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GOING HOME

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OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

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Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[hotdish]

I would love to see this class sit through a Noh play

Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[sheepish]

i want these shitty kids to get in an onsen without showering first

Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[byebyebirdies]

i've decided that back when fly high was real big the network tried to get a fly high anime made but it bombed so there's a bunch of really shitty songbirds anime merch floating around japan in weird places

Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[gonnabefamous]

Sophomore girls at the hotel during the night

Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[colitaderana]

Who wants to come with Miguel to the POKEMON CENTER!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: OOC ⛩️ Questions, comments, concerns!

[gracesowerberry]

For kiddos planning to attend a kabuki performance: any preference on what play it was? Or will any ol' play do? It maybe doesn't matter but I didn't want to assume. Thanks! ♥