InsaneJournal

Happy New Year! In the first moments of 2014, students staying over break are treated to an experimental fireworks show by Mr. Oakes. He floats an empty boat out into the lake, and sets off the fireworks remotely with magic. Although the show is astounding, it ends with the boat getting completely immolated. The last highlight of the show is watching the burning boat slowly sink into the murky water.

Students are picked up by the magical buses and are brought back to Gooseberry. (There will not be an IC/OOC, but you can check out September for how it works.)

Casey Patterson decides to celebrate “Run It Up the Flagpole and See If Anyone Salutes” Day by stealing the boxer shorts of Dominic Tremblay and, well, they run them up the flagpole.

Classes resume.

🌟 At breakfast, Tabitha Ogletree gets her acceptance letter to Julliard and screams in shock, before blushing bright red and begging forgiveness for giving people a surprise.

A heavy fog sets over campus. Visibility is limited to about 30 feet. When you look across the fields or down a path, you can see other students heading to and from classes, but every once in awhile, the silhouettes don’t move right. Sometimes, you think you can see someone standing out in the woods through the fog. It always turns out to just be trees.

Henrietta Gray is chatting with the portraits in the entryway to the sauna, and makes an unusual deal with them. If a visitor can either sing them a song or recount to them a story (a TV show episode usually does the trick), the portraits will be more forgiving of indiscretions. Etta shares this trick with their fellows!

• From now on, if you bring a guest who is not a prefect or captain, the chance of getting caught lowers to 15%.


• If you decide to have sex in the sauna, the chance of being caught has lowered to 25%.


• If you take this plot, you are obligated to make a ward to the Head Boy, Head Girl, prefects, and captains to let them know. If you don’t, then Meggie will force Rafael to take it, and it’s going to be very unsexy.

MONTHLY BONDING ACTIVITIES for all seniors.

In honour of Gooseberry High’s tenth year anniversary, Mrs. Bloom announces at breakfast they will be inviting everyone’s parents/guardians to the school in order to become acquainted with their children’s teachers and how they spend their days. Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place in two weeks, and your families have been notified by owl of all the details. If your character will be participating in this event, please fill out this form.

LARP Club returns from break to learn that King Elmasry has finally found a wife—but she turns out to be an evil enchantress who charms Reece Downing to serve her! Christopher Park engages them in a fierce battle, and would've killed Reece... if not for the quick actions of Gabriela Flores, who destroyed the magical amulet and freed them from the spell. The enchantress is neutralized, and our heroes save the day once again!

🌟 Casper Kim passes out during morning Quidditch practice, and ends up having to stay overnight in the infirmary.

In the middle of the afternoon, a blizzard sets in, stranding all the students in the lodge after dinner. The teachers pull out enough sleeping bags and couches for everyone to get comfy enough to spend the night. (IC/OOC to come.)

• That evening, Philippa Nightingale sees something outside in the snow, looking through the windows at the end of a long hallway. The teachers assure them that it was just a bear, but Pippa is certain the arms and legs were too long…


• That night, Cressida Quayle swears they saw someone outside the window—or at least, the shape was humanoid. Theresa Noble hears someone trying to open a locked door into the lodge. Hazel Keating on the third floor hears something walking around on the roof.


• Everyone has trouble sleeping, and even the most courageous students feel unsettled.

The blizzard lets up. All students are allowed to return to their cabins by the afternoon. Classes take place as normal, even if you didn’t get a shower or had to sleep in your clothes.

In Music this week, Ms. Thrussell teaches the students about magical compositions that inspire vivid emotional responses. She focuses on a masterpiece by Velasco Morales, composed in the late 1700s. Hayley Ferris masters the difficult piece, and all who hear it feel deep elation, like standing on a beach staring across the ocean, the warm sun on their skin and the breeze in their hair. Diego Morales declines to even try to learn the song penned by his ancestor.

Zoey Valentine is going through the Potions storage room, looking for some spare cauldrons. As they search, they accidentally disturb a large nest of billywigs! Zoey is stung immediately, and the strange insects scatter through the school. (IC/OOC to come.)

• Although Mrs. O’Hare has a handle on the situation within hours, a lot of students get stung.


• If your character is stung, for several hours they experience extreme giddiness, and may float a foot in the air. It’s up to you if your character got stung or not.

🎂 Happy birthday, Mackenzie Prince!

Mr. Thorn announces that there will be two unique Quidditch games taking place in the near future. They’ll be matches against a team from Ilvermorny, and a team from Hogwarts. The reason for this is that starting in March, Gooseberry has been chosen to host talent scouts from the American and British Quidditch leagues. All house team players will be seen by the scouts, but it’s still prestigious to be chosen for the Gooseberry team that’ll go up against the visiting schools. He advises everyone practice hard this month. Tryouts for the Gooseberry representative team will be held January 29th.

Anuhea Apalai wants to start a betting pool on which players will be selected.

🌕 WOLF MOON

Veronica Powers is out on a brisk hike when the trail crumbles beneath their feet and sends them down a small incline on Rattlesnake Trail. Luckily, they’re unhurt, but soon realize they’re not alone. A massive and very angry black bull moose has been disturbed by their fall, and proceeds to charge them! Vee escapes by running and tumbling down a hill. They arrive at the lodge bruised and a little bloody, with their hair full of twigs.

Friday the 13th! Students wake up amid jokes that today is supposed to be unlucky. No one’s too concerned, until the first person goes to open the door to their cabin. That’s strange, it’s stuck. Soon it becomes clear that the door is sealed. You’re locked in your cabins! (IC/OOC to come.)

• All windows and doors are sealed shut magically. There’s nothing you can do to open them. Please don’t try fire, we don’t want anyone to kill themselves and all their roommates.


• All students were in their assigned cabins that night. No exceptions. Sorry, this is just for ease of executing the event.


• Staff will realize there’s a problem at 8:00 AM. They are similarly unable to unlock the cabins.


• Staff conjure water and simple meals to students for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s not the best, but it’ll have to do.


• At midnight, exactly 24 hours after the cabins first sealed, the doors and windows will magically unlock.


• It’s assumed this was another freshman prank, but no culprits are found.

MONTHLY BONDING ACTIVITIES for all juniors are cancelled.

[Character N] gets up first and realizes the door’s finally unlocked, but decides to prank their roommates by claiming they’re still trapped. [Prefect Character O] puts a stop to the nonsense before their cabin panics. (Note: Characters N and O must be in the same house.)

The Annual Talent Show! This year, the best three performances will not only win prizes, but they’ll be asked to perform in front of the visiting parents during Parent-Teacher Conferences. If you'd like to sign up your character for the talent show, please comment below.

The announced prizes are:

• Third place: A pair of tiny pocket two-way mirrors. They show what the other one would be reflecting, and voices can be heard through them.


• Second place: A probity probe in the form of a magnifying glass. When you look through it, anything magical that is hidden appears to glow.


• First place: The 2013 Contrail Hurricane, a top of the line broom generously donated by a former student who was notoriously good at showtunes and Quidditch. This broom is the best of the best, and used by professional American teams.

Martin Luther King Day. No classes.

Joanna May is walking to the lodge to get in a little extra studying, and sees Mr. Elmasry leaning on a tree, looking unwell. He’s struggling to breathe, and seems to be in a lot of distress. Joanna panics when they see the gray tinge to his lips. They rush him to the lodge and to Healer Mufferaw, who’s appropriately upset… but not very surprised. He has a healing spell and a potion ready, and within 10 minutes Mr. Elmasry seems to be fine. Mufferaw has some choice words about how Karim needs to be careful breathing in all that dry, cold air. Mr. Elmasry, meanwhile, is deeply grateful, and reveals to Joanna that he’s struggled with severe asthma and other assorted health problems since he was a kid. It’s the whole reason he knows Healer Mufferaw so well.

🎂 Happy birthday, Nathaniel Bird and Quinn Cunningham!

A wifi signal named iM HeRe appears late at night, accessible from anywhere on school grounds. When students connect to it and attempt to access the internet, the default page is a black screen which plays the videotape from The Ring. Nothing else loads online.

• In the last hours of the prank in the early morning, the video suddenly changes to a strangely compelling live cam of the woods near Ebonhide. It makes you want to watch closely. It makes you want to go into the forest... However, a little after 8 AM, the wifi signal disappears, and the live cam is disabled.

During breakfast, Ms. Vector announces that yesterday’s wifi signal was a prank played by a bunch of former Azurcrests. From the way other staff members keep glancing at him, it seems obvious they suspect Mr. Elmasry took part in this prank.

Victoria Powers is outside the History of Magic classroom before dinner and overhears Mr. Elmasry telling Mr. Merrill that none of his old school friends are taking credit for the last video. Mr. Merrill, uncharacteristically serious, warns him to “be careful about the kind of attention you attract.”

🎂 Happy birthday, Matteo Diaz!

Boating Club goes ice fishing on the frozen lake. The bass and trout come unusually fast and furious, with everyone catching a record number of fish, and Ferdinand Ayers landing an impressive 14-pound, 12-ounce largemouth bass. There's enough fish that their catches will be the main course for tomorrow's dinner. Hope your parents like seafood!

🌟 Diego Morales organizes an unsanctioned overnight camping trip in the woods close to Azurcrest, making use of the warmed up tents from the last Grotto party. There will be alcohol and a party before bed.

Parent-Teacher Conferences begin. Family members start arriving Friday after classes end, and get settled into the newly renovated wing of the lodge. All visiting families are given one room each to share.

That evening, there’s a dinner for students and their families. After which, the winners of the talent show perform for the parents. No pressure! (IC/OOC to come.)

(If you would like your character to take part in PTC, please sign up here.)

Second day of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Parents and guardians speak to Heads of House and other teachers about the students. That night, parents and other family members will all return home.

🌟 Students or family members outside enjoying nature before breakfast may hear something less peaceful than the birdsongs they were expecting. A game of pick-up hockey is happening by the docks, Quinn Cunningham and her mother versus Christopher Park and Jesse McBride. They sound loud and angry, and like they're having a great time.

After a tiring day, Penelope Vargas, [Character T] and Ennis Harper have the same idea. They’re surprised to run into one another in the Grotto, looking for peace and quiet… and a stiff drink.

🎂 Happy birthday, Reid Wainwright!

🌟 The Pennywise Pixies and the Goosey Griffins face off in the second game of the intramural pick-up hockey league! Run by Quinn Cunningham (with the help of Christopher Park), all skill levels are welcome, and players can join at any point in the season.

Casper Kim is walking in the evening, and they think they hear someone crying around a bend. They follow, and now the crying is further into the woods. They still follow, and once again, the source of the crying moves. They stop to think, and hear the same hitched sob from just a minute ago. The exact same sob. The crying seems to be a one minute loop playing endlessly on repeat. Suddenly terrified, Casper runs back to their cabin, inexplicably in tears.

Ursula de Luca wakes up to find all of their hair accessories have been taken and replaced with small stones, a few acorns, and one very large beetle. (The beetle is long since deceased.)

Robin Youngblood’s pet goes missing! An exhaustive and emotional search turns up nothing.

Opposite Day! To no one’s great surprise, Mr. Merrill is really into it. It makes his classes confusing, bordering on completely incoherent. Sebastien Lacroix manages to keep up with him, though, and receives 50 total house points for all the questions they answered.

Two days after the initial disappearance, an old basket appears on the doorstep of Robin Youngblood’s cabin, containing their sleeping pet. (The basket is tangled with weeds—where did it come from?)

MONTHLY BONDING ACTIVITIES for all sophomores. Juniors are forced to join them, since everyone was locked in their cabins for the junior monthly bonding session.

🌑 NEW MOON

The Anonymous Writer should post tonight...

Tryouts are held for the Gooseberry representative team that’ll play in the Ilvermorny vs. Gooseberry game. The match will take place at the end of next month. Depending on the team’s performance, the roster for the game against Hogwarts may change. If your character is going to try out, please respond here.

A chill falls over the school as the sun sets. Students feel a sudden need to be close to their loved ones.

It seems like an average morning, but the roommates of Ulysses Quayle awaken to realize they’re nowhere to be found. When was Ulysses last seen? In a panic, they report the disappearance to staff, and a search begins. It’s as though they walked away from their cabin with no explanation...

This is a lottery event. If you'd like to enter the lottery, please respond here.