[closed] So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road

[reconnaissance]

Date & Time: forward dated: Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th March
Location: a fair way into the Outlands
Characters:
Asami Sato chittybang, Cedric Diggory theboywhodied, Collette whatsupcroc, Ellie Linton reconnaissance, Fi Maxwell burnsinvisibly, Katniss Everdeen accidentalrebellion, Mitsuki Ishikawa drowns, Peter Parker arachnoid, Steph Brown controlledvariable
Summary: Nine teenagers with varying degrees of trauma decide to go camping.
(Actually, eight teenagers get bullied into going camping by Ellie.)
Warnings: Not sure yet; I'll add them as they come up. At the very least some language, and fallout from PTSD.



Ellie had found the place once before on her wandering into the Outlands; a dilapidated old barn, with stone walls and a roof that was, by some miracle, completely intact despite all the evidence of nature clambering up its walls and trying to reclaim it for the land. There's a hill leading down to it, and if you follow that hill down, you meet the woods, a big lake. It's beautiful, she thinks. Nowhere near so wild as Hell, but that was better.

Finding that place had been how it started, before thinking about getting some of the others together had kicked in. A way to unwind, after the body swap. At the very least a chance to get some decent people all together in the same place (and maybe a way to apologise to Asami for pointing a gun at her that one time).


OOC: Party style, adventures everyone.Just go wild, if you want it to be set at a particular time, maybe specify in the subject line? I'm doing some starters just... in case that helps but do whatever you like tbh. YEAH. There's also the ooc plotting post so chuck folks in there and scheme and let the madness and CR unfold.

Comments

[theboywhodied]

[Cedric is happily out on his usual morning jog, his sleeves pushed up haphazardly as he warms up. The air's so much nicer to breathe out here, he thinks, racing a few laps around the lake. He then makes his way down a woodsy path, stopping in surprise as he spots someone leaping and twisting through the air.]

...Wow.

[controlledvariable]

[She hears him approaching, so there's no surprise when she sees him, Steph simply holds her handstand, looking over at Cedric.]

Hi. [She's a little out of breath, as she goes to one hand, using her now free hand to wave.] People always looks so weird upside down.

[As if he's the one who's upside down.]

[theboywhodied]

Huh. I was always disoriented if I got knocked upside down on my broom, I'd never had a look this way on the ground before.

[Cedric twists his body as much as he can at the waist to see her the right way around.]

[controlledvariable]

... You actually have a broom?

[She knew he was magic, but actual broomsticks that witches fly around on just seems like it's taking things too far. Even Klarion didn't have a broomstick.]

[theboywhodied]

Not here, but I did back at school.

[He grinned and wiped his brow.]

Looks like you don't need one to fly, though.

[controlledvariable]

I'm surprised the Initiative doesn't have some, they've got plenty of other things from home.

[Mostly weaponry, but she still thinks they could manage to make a broomstick that can fly. Although now she's thinking about weaponizing a broom...

Focus, Brown.]

You should see me on the bars. [so modest] Not that I wouldn't take a flying broom if it was offered, I reckon they'd be fun.

[theboywhodied]

I'll have to take a look around when we get back.

[He grins and nods.]

If I find them, I'll try teaching you! But you do great things even now. That was amazing.

[controlledvariable]

Would that even work? I mean - can people who aren't magic use them?

[That sounds really, really cool. Steph's always loved flying, even if to her that means grapple lines. Or hitching a ride with Kara.]

Thanks. My form's terrible, but only coaches and judges care about that.

[There are very specific ways that gymnasts are supposed to move, but Steph tends to just go with what's easiest for her, since it's not like she's competing.]

[theboywhodied]

I don't know! It's never been tried before. But I think it could be possible, we don't use any special spells to control the broom.

[He smiles.]

If that's true, I'd love to see what good form looks like.

[controlledvariable]

I'll definitely take you up on that offer, then. Even if it means falling on my ass a lot.

[Totally worth it.]

Watch the olympics sometime, if you have them in your world. The stuff they can do is amazing, which you'd expect when they train for about seven hours a day.

[Which is only a little more than a Bats' schedule, but still.]

[theboywhodied]

I won't laugh, I promise.

[Cedric just keeps smiling.]

That's where the top athletes compete, right? All the different events sound interesting. It's almost a shame that I only had one sport in my world.

[controlledvariable]

I would.

[Someone falling off a broomsick would be pretty hilarious. Which, speaking of falling, her arm's starting to tremble a little, so she lets herself fall to the side, turning the handstand into the second half of a cartwheel, until she's on her feet.]

That's the one, it's really amazing to watch, I wonder if we could find an old broadcast or something. ["One sport" earns a curious look, though.] How can you only have one sport?

[theboywhodied]

I'd love to.

[He laughs and clarifies.]

There are others in other parts of the world, but in England Quidditch is the only game for us. It's so exciting that we don't really need anything else. Flying high above, dodging bludgers, the thrill of the chase...I love it.

[controlledvariable]

[Give her a second to think on that.]

You play a sport on your brooms? I can't decide if that's crazy or awesome.

[Or craz awesome.]

[theboywhodied]

It's fantastic.

[He grins and glances up at the sky.]

So I'll show you. But...uh, if it's not too much, may I ask to see your flying again?

[controlledvariable]

Do you have people from home here, or can you give a one man demonstration?

[She brightens at the request - it's nice to feel good about something she does that isn't fighting - and nods, eyeing the area around her to work out how much space she's got.]

I'll preface this with the necessary 'don't try this at home, kids'.

[She takes a bit of a run up, leaps into a cartwheel, to a front hanspring, to a full twisting layout, followed by a tuck and ending on a simple aerial. The landing isn't great, since the ground doesn't give her a lot of purchase, she grins anyway, giving a little bow.]

[theboywhodied]

I have two people from home. One's my enemy, the other's not the flying type. But depending on how that virtual reality thing works I could show you.

[Then it's time to watch her fly. His head twists as he watches her, and then he cheers.]

Wow. How long have you been training for that?

[controlledvariable]

[The "enemy" comment has her a bit worried, for a moment, in case there's a dangerous witch here, before she remembers him talking to Rita. The woman is annoying, but Steph is 99% sure she could beat her in a fight, magic or not.]

I started when I was twelve, which is actually really late for a gymnast, I'd never make it to elite levels.

[She can do all the moves, technically, but she'll never have the same ingrained sense of form that people do when they've been a gymnastic since they were three years old.

Also she's a about five inches too tall.]

[theboywhodied]

You have to start even younger than that? It would really be a matter of opportunity then, wouldn't it. But you're pulling it off so well I wouldn't have known.

[He can't tell. He's too busy admiring her skill.]

Do you do anything else athletics-wise?

[controlledvariable]

If you don't start before you're five, you might as well not bother.

[But she smiles for the praise, wiping off her muddy hands on her jeans as she makes her way back over to thim.]

I play a mean game of table tennis. [a grin] And I've taken some self-defence classes.

[Understandment of the year.]

[theboywhodied]

That's a really harsh game. Suppose I'll just have to stick with the flying.

[He looks past this and is amused.]

Table tennis?

[controlledvariable]

It's pretty intense, and that's not even considering how much it wrecks your body.

[Not that... being a vigilante doesn't, but at least that feels like a better sacrifice. Saving lives is worth the likelihood that she'll have arthritis by the time she's thirty.]

You get a table, stick a little net along the middle - [she's making gestures to accompany the explanation.] - then use rackets to hit a ball back and forth over the net. The aim is to make your opponent miss the ball. You can play it one-on-one, or in teams of two.

It's a version of tennis, which is played on the ground, on a large scale.

[theboywhodied]

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<small><Cedric tries to picture it. Her gestures help, but it's still a little confusing.</small>

I think I understand. But I definitely know what self-defence is. I'm just starting to learn now---magic's great, but it'd be foolish to rely on it.

[controlledvariable]

There's probably a tennis court in the Hold, if you went looking for it. [She hasn't thought to look herself, since she trains in other ways, but - it might not be a bad idea, if there is one. Regular matches could be fun.]

It's foolish to rely on any one thing. [There's something a little impressed in her smile.] I could probably teach you a thing or two, if you'd like.

[She's so good at secret identities.]

[theboywhodied]

I'd be grateful. I'm learning what I can in training at the Hold, but that doesn't cover everything. The tennis might be a nice break from that too.