gooseberryhigh | MORNING ASSEMBLY

After breakfast, there's a mandatory assembly in the auditorium. All students must attend, and there will be punishments if your character skips it. Ms. Vector gives the announcement in a clear, confident voice. Coppertales and anyone who takes Hermeticism knows that this is the voice she uses only when you're in deep trouble. There are three main takeaways:

Gooseberry does not tolerate bigotry in any form. The staff condemns the actions and words used Sunday night, and regret that it offended anyone or made the LGBT members of the student body feel unsafe or unwelcome. If you're found speaking that way by a staff member, there will be serious repercussions. Students should report to their Head of House or a prefect if any other student is using homophobic, racist or sexist language.

The Anonymous Post fosters bullying and negativity. Next time there's an Anonymous Post, staff may take actions to discourage people from participating. This time, not even Mr. Merrill objects.

The teachers are aware of the presence of a new set of creatures called the "Strangers". They seem to be capable of impersonating human beings, but not much else is known yet.
- Students aren't the only ones who have been experiencing strange things that can't be attributed to the ghosts or forest.
- Last night, the younger forest entity ("Anon") found Mr. Covington and informed him of what's going on. Anon seems fairly certain that the Strangers are physically weak and can't cause bodily harm... but they still have malicious intent. He says his older brother is dealing with them.
- The staff support Antonia and Ferdinand's buddy system. Students found wandering alone will lose points. Staff will walk with students when necessary.
- While this is being resolved, students are asked to report any strange incidents, and to communicate with one another. If they overhear or see something troubling, have a conversation with the other student before making assumptions.
- Everyone is also asked to not accept food or drink left out for them, following the rash of drugged foods. The potions store room will be under lock and key, and students working on private projects will need to clear their requests through Mr. Elmasry or his TA, Adeline Foster-Hayes.
- MACUSA has been informed of these problems, as well as the new rules for students. They'll be helping the school to investigate this.

Furthermore, later on today and throughout the week, Heads of House will pull aside any students that were severely targeted during the Anonymous Post.

It's up to you as players to determine if your character was attacked enough to need intervention. The teacher will want to confirm the student is safe, and discuss what was said. If your character was not mistreated on Sunday but would still like an audience with a teacher, they can have one and reply below with what they have to say.

If the student seems very upset/angry/otherwise agitated, they may be advised to see Dr. Perry, even just for one session. They will not be forced to, however.

If you'd like to, you may write your character's response here, and you might get a staff reply.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Addy is responding to all of this nonsense by buckling down in her small corner of the world. She’s a firm believer in controlling what you can and trusting the rest to work out. She a liiittle bit wants to say something about Sofia being targeted, but trusts her friend to do it herself. She’s even MORE than a little bit worried about Anon.

So she will of course respond to all of this by maybe very literally camping in the potions room until at least the poisonings die down. This is her FORTRESS. She will DEFEND it.

Privately, Charlotte is gleeful that this went far enough to warrant a mandatory assembly. It had been too long since the last Anon post and her Mean Girls (or so she assumes) really sharpened their claws in preparation for this one. They went above and beyond and she couldn't be more proud.

Outwardly, though, Charlotte puts on a serious face and nods along in solidarity with what the staff is saying. She doesn't expect anyone would suspect her; she's a bawdy bisexual with lesbian grandmothers so, really, she's been hurt by this too! Gooseberry is supposed to be a safe place!!

Avery thinks this meeting is stupid. Sure, her name had been brought up several times and yes it had hurt her feelings but what was this meeting supposed to resolve? There wasn't going to be any closure. There wasn't going to be any changes. The Anon posts would still happen, people would still insult each other. It just seemed so... pointless.

So when she came in, she was already quite obviously looking not her usual self. Avery had the tendency to be much cheerier, to try and be up beat or make people feel better when things weren't so great. She didn't feel like she could do that, either, and honestly looked a bit exhausted.

Sofia really doesn't feel like being here, which is apparent by the annoyed look on her face and arms folded over her chest. Yes, some jealous little wench called her a slut, but she's really not spilling any tears over it. She's used to being envied. She's also a grown adult and can do what she pleases, so if anyone gets on her ass for that then there's going to be hell to pay.

Essie looks extremely uncomfortable with being pulled aside, but it's not an altogether uncommon reaction for her to have with a teacher. Enough people have reached out to her that she knows what this is about. She explains that she did essentially agree to let Quentin Youngblood stalk her, but she doesn't want him to get in trouble and she doesn't feel threatened by him. She spent enough time harboring a crush on his older brother to know that Youngbloods are.. eccentric, though she doesn't spell it out quite like that.

She's not sure if all the comments came from him though, and that does make her kind of uncomfortable, but she also assures them that she's been taking personal defense seriously since the events of last year and regularly attends Duelling weeks now as well as taking DADA again.

Like the other students, Calvin is not thrilled to be singled out by a teacher. Calvin's not close to his Head of House by personal choice. At first he's very taciturn, but after Mr. Hightower plies him with coffee and a slice of cake, he manages to pry a few details out of Calvin. Calvin insists he's fine and can handle everything that he read, and furthermore he doesn't want to single anyone out as the responsible party.

But no one can out-Ribbonfin Mr. Hightower, and at the end of the meeting Calvin walks out having somehow agreed to make an appointment with Dr. Perry. Honestly, Calvin's a little annoyed to have been out-maneuvered.