InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You are a beautiful person."

Gooseberry Mods (goosemods) wrote in gooseberry,
@ 2016-11-11 09:12:00

Entry tags:

! ic/ooc, henrietta gray, philippa nightingale

NOVEMBER GROTTO PARTY

There's still a light snowfall as the sun sets, but adrenaline must be keeping some of the students warm as one by one they sneak out into the woods to the Grotto.

The Grotto is always warmer than you expect it to be, although the chill and snowflakes encourage everyone to cuddle close to their friends and dates. The bonfire is large and ambitious, and it reflects off the white snow, making for a warm and seasonal party. Alcohol is widely available to anyone who wants it, and some thoughtful students also made sure there was plenty of water and soda. By the fire is a conjured table hosting Quidditch Beer Pong.

Inside the stone building, things get downright cozy. There's one odd discovery, though: Laurel Templeton's flag! It appears to be stuck hard with magic, so taking it back will be a problem. Regardless of this, many students sit down on blankets and pillows to keep themselves off the cold dirt floor. A circle gathers around a single glass bottle, and kissing games take place on and off throughout the night.

If you signed your character up for either Spin The Bottle or Seven Minutes In Heaven, find their partners below:

Cameron Carney STB #1: Regan STB #2: Ursula 7MIH: Tabitha	Wesley Carpenter STB #1: Tabitha STB #2: Etta 7MIH: Laurel	William Chase STB #1: Veronica STB #2: Regan 7MIH: Chloe	Sun-mi Choi STB #1: Zoey STB #2: Veronica 7MIH: Mina
Quinn Cunningham STB #1: Etta STB #2: Rafael 7MIH: Ty	Sofia Delgado STB #1: Olivia STB #2: Essie 7MIH: Etta	Calvin Evercreech STB #1: Solomon STB #2: Chloe	Leonardo Fiori STB #1: Cricket STB #2: Sy
Henrietta Gray STB #1: Quinn STB #2: Wes 7MIH: Sofia	Ty Hawkeswood STB #1: Casey STB #2: Laurel 7MIH: Quinn	Ryan Hertz STB #1: Chloe STB #2: Tabitha 7MIH: Cricket	Regan Hobbs STB #1: Cameron STB #2: Will STB #3: Susana 7MIH: Reid
Ursula de Luca STB #1: Micah STB #2: Cameron	Joanna May STB #1: Jacob STB #2: Solomon	Diego Morales STB #1: Riley STB #2: Cricket 7MIH: Casey	Estella Morales-Tran STB #1: Cole STB #2: Sofia
Cole Moss STB #1: Essie STB #2: Micah	Frances Noble STB #1: Reid STB #2: Olivia	Tabitha Ogletree STB #1: Wes STB #2: Ryan 7MIH: Cameron	Christopher Park STB #1: Rafael STB #2: Dom 7MIH: Zoey
Casey Patterson STB #1: Ty STB #2: Faye 7MIH: Diego	Veronica Powers STB #1: Will STB #2: Sun-mi 7MIH: Dom	Cressida Quayle STB #1: Leo STB #2: Diego 7MIH: Ryan	Rafael Ramirez STB #1: Chris STB #2: Quinn
Olivia Sanchez STB #1: Sofia STB #2: Frankie 7MIH: Riley	Chloe Shepherd STB #1: Ryan STB #2: Calvin 7MIH: Will	Micah St. Clair STB #1: Ursula STB #2: Cole 7MIH: Susana	Riley Stamper STB #1: Diego STB #2: Mina 7MIH: Olivia
Rosemary Stoker STB #1: Faye STB #2: Reid	Sylvester Stoker STB #1: Laurel STB #2: Leo 7MIH: Faye	Laurel Templeton STB #1: Sy STB #2: Ty 7MIH: Wes	Wilhelmina Tran STB #1: Dom STB #2: Riley 7MIH: Sun-mi
Dominic Tremblay STB #1: Mina STB #2: Susana STB #3: Chris 7MIH: Veronica	Faye Turner STB #1: Rosy STB #2: Casey 7MIH: Sy	Zoey Valentine STB #1: Sun-mi STB #2: Jacob 7MIH: Chris	Susana Velasquez STB #1: Dom STB #2: Regan 7MIH: Micah
Reid Wainwright STB #1: Frankie STB #2: Rosy 7MIH: Regan	Solomon Webb STB #1: Calvin STB #2: Joanna 7MIH: Jacob	Jacob Wood STB #1: Joanna STB #2: Zoey 7MIH: Solomon

RULES

Teen peer pressure (and player sadism) aside, no one is obligated to do anything they don't want to. Characters doing Seven Minutes In Heaven can spend the time just talking or staring awkwardly at each other, and characters playing Spin The Bottle can opt out of a kiss (although people will probably boo).

If characters get up to anything more racy than PG-13, please fade to black on that! This includes sexually explicit conversations. Many people track IC/OOC posts, so please have consideration for your fellow players. Talking about sex is fine (and part of the flavour of a teen game), but there's no need to get into detailed descriptions of anatomy or sex acts.

If you'd like to say two characters were partners in STB or 7MIH in addition to what's been rolled, feel free! Obviously, get the permission of all involved characters first.

» Before the Party: Classes drag on and on, and then after dinner students have a scant two hours of prep. Primping, pre-gaming, or just impatiently waiting for 7:00.

» Around the Fire: The large bonfire is warm and romantic. Pull up a log and grab a blanket, or dance to the party music. You can contest for control of the music, but don't make it weird, guys. (That means you two, Diego and Katya. We know what you listen to.) If you don't care for music, there's beer and soda in the ice chests, along with bins for empty bottles and cans. Don't litter, guys, seriously.

» Inside the Building: This may be where the kissing games are taking place, but there's still some room to just snuggle and chat.

» Kissing Games: This is where to post your character's reaction to their Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven Assignments!

Spin The Bottle: Everyone sits in a circle and takes turns spinning the bottle to find their partner. Anyone who squeezes in (or happens to be accidentally standing behind a gap in the circle) gets a shot at a kiss. People can leave and enter the game at any time. Participants will be encouraged by their drunken classmates to kiss on the mouth.
Seven Minutes in Heaven: "Heaven" is a narrow, closet-sized room adjacent to the main party, and is dark except for some cracks of light from the door. (The "door" being a heavy wooden board that's propped against the doorway and magically "locked" for seven minutes.) You can use your wand to get more light, but really, you two should be making out.

» Quidditch Beer Pong: Not far from the bonfire, Sy Stoker has set up a table with three yellow hoops sitting on a rectangular box, which will randomly release a miniature Golden Snitch. (Sort of like this, but slightly less janky-looking.) Nearby is a supply of red ping pong balls, Solo cups, and a waterproof signup sheet. Rules have been posted in Sy's journal. Winners will be determined through RNG (Marin will roll 1–50 for each player, best team total wins).

» The Woods: Don't wander too far. Is it just me, or do you keep getting the sensation of being watched from beyond the trees?

» After the Party: The further you get from the Grotto, the colder it gets. Brr! Did you make it back to your cabin? Did someone else put you up for the night?

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choneychurch
2016-11-19 02:09 am UTC (link)

Because the contact seems to do Chris some good, Cecil keeps stroking his hair gently while they talk. Everyone needs a little comfort sometimes, even if he's an odd choice to be giving it. All things considered. He's about to answer when the casual assertion that he and Levi are falling in love silences him, making his cheeks burn and prompting his dark eyes to turn momentarily away. It is true, though. At least...on his side, it is.

He takes a breath, then looks back at Chris. "Yeah. I guess that's what I mean. Neither of us meant to hurt you, but we did. And even if there's no one at fault, I am sorry it happened." He shakes his head slowly. "But it won't be a bad year. Change is hard, but things'll get better again, even if they're different from before. And Levi will always be your friend. Because he cares about you too. It's not bad to care or to get attached, even if it hurts sometimes." His hand stills against the smaller boy's hair and he adds after a moment, "And I don't know whether you believe that or not, but I trust love and I know you'll find someone that'll help you trust it too. Even if you aren't looking for it." He smiles sheepishly, knowing how this sounds, and adds in a gently teasing voice, "Feel free to roll your eyes any time, here, but I do mean that."

He doesn't ask who Chris' "therapist" is; if the boy wanted him to know he would've said her name. Instead of pressing, he smiles softly again, "And. I'm not a therapist. But if you ever need to talk, even when you're sober, I'm here to help, you know? As your friend, if you want. Or just as the Head Boy."

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doyouevenlift
2016-11-19 02:54 am UTC (link)

There Cecil goes again, sounding like a calm, rational person. Chris doesn't roll his eyes. He's watching Cecil speak very seriously, and he feels distantly that maybe he finally gets what Levi probably always got about Cecil. To him, Levi's crush on Cecil was as real as Levi's crush on Reid. It felt like a hobby to him before. But now he's starting realize that maybe Cecil's an actual person, with actual opinions and perceptions, and maybe Levi had always noticed that - living with him and all.

"It's okay, I didn't mean for you to hurt me either," Chris acknowledges, as if he'd had completely control over any of that. He usually does. He closes his eyes again. "Go back to petting my hair," he adds, because at some point, Cecil had paused, and Chris had noticed, and Chris has opinions on that.

"I'm gonna be honest with you. I feel you, and I appreciate that you're so understanding and you listen and shit - that's real nice, you don't have to do that, but you're a good person, so you do it anyway. But there's probably no way in hell sober me is gonna take advantage of that because like right now I get that you're an awesome dude, but sober me's not really sure how I feel about you because he gets that you're an awesome dude too and it makes him uncomfortable. Not that you're like competition or anything, I already told you I don't view it like that right? This romance shit isn't a competition, either you have someone or you don't, and you can't steal someone that doesn't already belong to you - that's what my mom told me when she found out her husband cheated on her - it's not stealing when he makes a conscious decision to leave you - not that this is cheating, it's not, but it's similar guidelines, ya'know? A conscious decision was made, and I make peace with that. Sober me does too. But sober me's not a real fan of heart to hearts anyway - that talk I had with Levi a couple weeks ago was bad enough, because we were both sober and there were too many emotions, not enough alcohol. It was bad. Just between you and me, there were tears."

Chris is rambling just a little bit, and he's fully aware that he's rambling just a little bit, but he wants to make this very clear that he doesn't view this as a competition, he's not over here pining away for Levi while cursing Cecil for fucking everything up. That's not how any of this has ever worked.

"Anyway. back to what I was getting at," he continues as if something aside from his own confession has derailed his original point. From the lack of concern on his face, it's very obvious that he probably hasn't yet realized that he's just admitted to Cecil that he'd cried during that talk. "You're an awesome friend. And if you ever need to talk, I can do that for you too. Even sober. I probably won't admit it because I have an act to keep up. But I can help too. In case you wanna talk about something you don't wanna talk about with Levi or Diego. I don't know if you get like that, but I get like that. Sometimes it's just easier to talk about stuff with people you don't live with, ya know?"

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choneychurch
2016-11-19 03:51 am UTC (link)

Cecil doesn't argue or even acknowledge the request, but he does resume brushing back Chris' hair as he listens. He feels his chest tighten with sympathy as the other boy says far more than he'd ever expected to hear; about how he sees himself, about the situation the three of them had become tangled up in, about his family, and about that awful conversation that he'd had with Levi after...everything. He hates to think of Chris crying. "Yeah," he reassures him quietly, focusing on the point that the Coppertale seems to need him to understand, "You told me that. And you're right. It's not a competition; it doesn't work like that. And...I'm glad we're all right."

What comes next renders him momentarily silent; the words are almost overwhelmingly kind, especially given the source. This time, though, his fingers keep up the steady, soothing stroking of Chris' hair and the pause doesn't stretch on quiet as long before he smiles a softly down at him. "Sometimes I get like that too. And...thank you, Chris. Really. That means a lot to me."

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