Gooseberry High (OOC)

The following Animagus Studies characters can successfully make a full transformation as of February 1:

• Nathaniel Bird: raccoon.


• Reid Wainwright: mute swan.


• Kurt Wolfhart: Australian shepherd.

What this means for you three is that any time from here on out you can choose to have your character make their first full transformation. It doesn't have to take place Feb 1, or any time in February for that matter. If you have any questions regarding the transformation please comment below.

A few things to note: Even if you have completed your transformation, you must continue to take and pass Animagus Studies. Ms. Rhee will be helping you to control your new form and navigate the legal proceedings. You must register with the MACUSA as well as the government of any other countries where you hold citizenship.

All school rules apply even if you're now a giant predator animal (or a tiny sneaky one), just be responsible pls children or Ms. Rhee will turn into a bear and eat you.

• If you have not done so already, please post to January's Activity Check! I know half of you are... here... and still posting... :(((


• February's plot calendar will be posted Tuesday, January 31 at 8 AM MT. (If you need help figuring out when that is for you, check out the green indicator HERE.)


• There's a Grotto party on Feb 3! If you'd like to take part in the customary ~kissing games~, please sign up HERE.


• We'll be leaving the Quidditch tryouts post open for at least another day, so everyone who wanted a spot on the team has a chance to post to it. You can assume Mr. Thorn told everyone that the decision's going to be delayed because he has to confer with the Heads of House.

( ACTIVITY CHECK )

• As the mods are having some personal emergencies, teacher responses are going to be delayed. We're prioritizing characters who need a response for plot reasons, or whom we already wrote something for. If you don't get a response tomorrow and did need something specific, hit us up on the Dropbox.


• We've made a few changes to Character Limits and Activity Requirements. They are: a) players who've been in the game for less than a month can only app up to two characters, b) you only need a minimum of 6 comments for a comment thread, and c) the increased activity requirement for five characters is no longer permanent. Thank you Meggie and Alex for being my guinea pigs to see how well that worked. I'm sorry for making you cry.


• Due to how many athletic, muscular kids we have, we're retconning that the school has a weight room. Mr. Thorn oversees it, and you can't use the large machines without a partner to spot you. There are showers, and a small sitting area with a magical water dispenser and a coffee pot.


• The school is currently interviewing for a counsellor, who will be a brand new NPC and staff member starting sometime next month! Some responses from teachers may say that the student is being recommended for counselling, and this is what it means. There are a number of characters with visible issues that the teachers have noticed, and they'll be asked to attend counselling. If your character would like to attend counselling despite not receiving a gentle order to do so, there will be an opportunity to request they be put on the list. The current characters who staff will ask to attend counselling are:
  
  • Ennis Harper
  • Katya Ivanova
  • Casper Kim
  • Diego Morales
  • Riley Stamper
  • Sylvester Stoker

• If you want to participate in Parent Teacher Conferences, or make any revisions to your submission, now's the time to do it! We're working on teacher responses today and tomorrow, so this is kind of the ~last call~. Sign up HERE.


• Thank you for all of your patience and enthusiasm! This is our first time being mods, and it's a constant process of adjusting to see what works and what doesn't. We hope you all are still having fun here because we have lots of things planned for the future!


• Does your character have a sibling who graduated last year? Let's talk about them!

• TODAY IS THE LAST CALL FOR SIGNING UP FOR THE TALENT SHOW. At 11:59 PM Mountain Time, I'm assuming that these are the only entries and I'm finalizing the order in which everyone performs. Last minute entries tomorrow will not be in the running for a win, and will be assumed to have performed sometime in the middle of the pack. Sign up HERE.


• Quick note, if you ever ask a question in an IC/OOC or try to seek out a teacher response and we miss it, you can take it to the Dropbox. We go through the dropbox regularly and clear it out, so we won't miss or forget your question.


• There will be an upcoming "player" event from Diego added to the calendar soon, Unsanctioned Overnight Camping Trip! Taking place the night before PTC, Thursday the 19th, it'll be with the presumed intent of allowing everyone to let loose before their parents arrive. This will be another event where you can opt in to getting in trouble, or having a terrible hangover when you have to face mom & dad.

Some quick things...

• Remember to sign up for the talent show! It's happening on Sunday! You must be signed up in advance because we'll be posting the order of everyone's performances, which will be randomized. Sign up HERE.


• Regarding tomorrow's Friday the 13th event, characters with two or fewer active characters in their cabin may choose to end up in another. This is not necessary, but we want to give you the opportunity to move your character temporarily into a more populated area.
  
  
  • You must come up with some moderately plausible excuse for why they were there after midnight.
  
  
  • This currently applies to Senior Ebonhide boys, Nathaniel Bird and Leonardo Fiori, and Sophomore Ebonhide boys, Sebastien Lacroix and Solomon Webb (because Kele is currently on hiatus)!
  
  
  • The rest of you hooligans all have to stay in your assigned cabins!


• A few of our recent plots have been player suggested! Thanks for contributing to the game! We'd also like to point you once again in the direction of the Plot Suggestions Dropbox if you guys have anything you'd like to see!


• Guess which mod wrote this announcement! Based on all of the exclamation points!!! I hope you're all having fun!!!!

( Wanted Lines Meme: January )

The following Animagus Studies characters can successfully make a full transformation as of January 1:

• Asher Guthrie: cat.


• Ty Hawkeswood: squirrel.


• Veronica Powers: fox.

What this means for you three is that any time from here on out you can choose to have your character make their first full transformation. It doesn't have to take place Jan 1, or any time in January for that matter. If you have any questions regarding the transformation please comment below.

A few things to note: Even if you have completed your transformation, you must continue to take and pass Animagus Studies. Ms. Rhee will be helping you to control your new form and navigate the legal proceedings. You must register with the MACUSA as well as the government of any other countries where you hold citizenship.

All school rules apply even if you're now a giant predator animal (or a tiny sneaky one), just be responsible pls children or Ms. Rhee will turn into a bear and eat you.

Experimenting with a new rule: each player is limited to one plot for the first 6 hours. After that, the only limit is one plot per character.

( JANUARY PLOT CALENDAR )

( PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE APPROVALS )

Last announcements of the year!!!!! :O

• If you have not yet already done so, please post to December's Activity Check! (If you've resolved to drop a character, please do us a favour and let us know here or in the Dropbox so we're not awkwardly emailing you later to be like "hey... what's up...")


• January's plot calendar will be posted on Saturday, December 31 at 10 AM Mountain Time. (If you need help figuring out when that will be for you, take a look at the green indicator here.) We've learned our lesson from December, so there will be less IC/OOC's, but hopefully characters will be able to devote proper focus to the ones which are coming up. Three words: Parent-Teacher Conferences.


• Happy New Year!!! Here's a little meme for everyone to go out on...
  
  ( ALTERNATE PBS AND THE NEW YEAR )

( ACTIVITY CHECK )

Some quick announcements, since we've had a few people ask:

• Yes, journals will work like normally when students are away from school! Because otherwise the next two weeks of this game will be a very boring, lolol. A character's journal will stay connected to the school network until a few months after they graduate or are expelled. Distance doesn't matter.
  
  (Why isn't this awesome magical technology more widespread in the wizarding world? That's a good question which actually has a lore answer I don't feel like explaining right now. Maybe it's a metaplot spoiler? WHO KNOWS. Suffice to say that the charms involved with the character journals are bound up in the school.)


• Also, if people want to get rolled for solo runs or repeat runs for the Tree Maze, I will still be doing that! (Until... let's say, Wednesday.) I've also adjusted my algorithm to make it easier to beat the current record, so you might as well try!!! I know, I know, Alex. I'm sorry.


• EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!!!! We've changed the activity requirement for scenes in IC/OOCs. It is now a minimum of 3 comments by your character.

Some quick things...

• Tomorrow's ic/ooc for the play is going to be very simple. We've had a lot of ic/oocs, and we anticipate the dance will be big. Accordingly, the post for A Midsummer Night's Dream will mostly be for reactions! Of course, feel free to get in all your cute little exchanges. :)


• We'll be putting up a catch-all post for giving presents on December 20th. This is so the comm doesn't get flooded with gift giving!


• Both of the mods have been suuuuuper busy/tired lately, and we appreciate your patience with all our characters and the mod things we've let drop! ♥ We maaaaaaybe got a little too ambitious this month.


• Students are leaving for home on Monday!


• Do you guys have any memes you want to try? We may end up posting one or two during the break while the game has no events. (No guarantees though because we're not kidding about needing a vacation, haha.)

A couple fun ones!

• The Divination Tower is open for use!!! Divination students, please go read that page to see how Divination is going to function from now on. We hope this will make the whole thing more approachable, and easier for us to manage.


• Who is everyone taking to the dance??? The mods are nosy, and we want to offer you this space where you can plot with one another ooc for date shenanigans!


• Want a blind date? Bailey Hartman can help you, and Mackenzie Prince can help Bailey help you.

OK, we had way more announcements we needed to do, but I'M TIRED and these are important so just some quick ones today:

• The Tree Decorating competition ends tonight, in less than five hours! Coppertale is currently winning, which is awful because they're awful, but it's a pretty tight race otherwise. So if your character hasn't posted yet, show some house pride and try to knock those foxes from the top!


• The Grotto party is on Thursday! That means Spin the Bottle and 7 Minutes in Heaven, so if you wanted randomized smooches for your characters, be sure to sign them up before the 15th!


• We've added something new to the plot calendar: Potions Character D2, on Dec 14. Anybody want to take that? Currently, we are not allowing doubles. Taken, thank you! FYI We're probably not going to add any more events this month, as the mods really need a vacation, but players can absolutely feel free to create their own events and parties and stuff. ♥

There are two things we need you guys to help us with:

THE CHRISTMAS TREE PRANK

• A variety of Echo Charm was cast on the trees cut during the camping trip. Anything said during the ic/ooc was potentially recorded, and at random times for the rest of the month, the trees may repeat something that was said to a random passerby. Starting Monday, you can nudge a mod to see what your character hears.
• This applies to everything said during the camping trip and the tree decorating event (to be posted in a bit).
• You can also submit snippets to us that were recorded in the presence of the trees while in the lodge, or that happened in an ic/ooc but you didn't have time to play out.
• You can also request a specific conversation not be repeated for whatever reason.
• Please comment HERE to submit quotes, or request immunity. In the comment title line, please write either SUBMISSION or IMMUNITY. And yes, you can do the equivalent of taking a hockey green badge and request blanket immunity from this event.

WINTER BREAK

• Is your character staying for the holidays, or going home? Once your character opts to stay, they can't leave without parental permission. Characters leaving will be taken home on the busses, just like their arrival at school. Please respond to this comment HERE saying what your character's plans are, feel free to discuss with friends, etc. If their plans change after this, just let the mods know. This is just so the teachers have an IC list of who will be staying behind.
  • Characters staying can leave for parties and family gatherings only with express parental permission. A parent or legal guardian, or another legal adult confirmed by parents or guardians, must pick them up outside the anti-apparition zone and return them at a scheduled time.

Over the last week, a few things have been established about how detention and mail work at school! Here's that information for everyone:

• Detention is served Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It's not served on Fridays because Fridays are often irregular with monthly bonding. The staff is aware that some characters (cough cough Casper and Quinn cough) would probably rather serve detention than go to monthly bonding.
  
  Detention takes place for 1-2 hours after dinner. What it entails depends on the teacher that gave it to you. If it's a sweeping detention assignment, such as with sledding, you default to your Head of House as the teacher overseeing what you serve and how.


• Packages are magically screened when they arrive. There's a charm in place that detects alcohol, drugs, weapons, explosives, and other illegal materials. There is no way around this charm; it's exceptionally thorough. If the spell is set off, your character will be called into the lodge by their Head of House to open the package and see what caused the trouble. If it's something within the rules that just got caught in the wide net (cough medicine as alcohol, a new bow for Archery Club as a weapon), it'll pass. If it is contraband, it'll be returned to the sender. Kids will only get in trouble if it's blatantly obvious they're trying to sneak in contraband. Ms. Vector is harder than any of the others about this.
  
  Letters without anything but paper in them can be dropped off straight to the tables by owls and ravens a la Hogwarts.

MINI MEME:
We did these a while ago, but we have so many new characters and players now! Let's re-introduce ourselves by answering some quick questions for fun~

• Which Gooseberry house would you be in?
• Which Hogwarts and Ilvermorny houses would your character(s) be sorted into?

THERE WILL NEVER NOT BE ANNOUNCEMENTS.

• Special thanks to Kas and Roz for running that magnificent hockey game! ♥ You guys did a really good job, and we appreciate the effort you put into it.


• We're going to be revising how Divination is handled in the game! The mods are in the process of creating a specialized dropbox, tentatively called the Divination Tower, where you can go to ask for results on readings or interact with Mr. Chettri. In the meantime, any readings you want to do, please consult the normal old dropbox. We hope this will make all of our little aspiring Seers feel more comfortable asking for feedback.


• Fern Mufferaw, Healer Mufferaw's daughter, is now available to play in the Coppertale sophomore girls' dorm. If anyone wants to play her, you have to contact the moderators just to make sure all the background elements are sorted out. There are some canon details about Mufferaw's history that need to be followed, so she's not as blank of a slate as the other names. :)


• Remember to sign up for the camping trip this weekend! If your character is in Outdoor Exploration or Equestrian Club, they can come along! Signups are right here!


• Tomorrow will be the sledding ic/ooc! It's a weekday, which I know is a pain, but Meggie will be doing her best to stay on top of rolling for injuries and other random events.

♥, M&M