Prefects Saul, Briony, Pepper & Elly
October 02, 2009 5:03 PM
Bonfire activity: Obstacle Course! by Prefects Saul, Briony, Pepper & Elly
There were times during the months leading up to the bonfire when the planning had been very hard. Not for the event itself, because organizing an obstacle course was easy and fun, but the cheer had occasionally been forced. Or so it seemed. Elly had felt the tension, working with Saul, Briony and Pepper altogether. She didn’t know Pepper very well, but she and Briony were friends, and Saul was practically her best friend. Elly hadn’t asked what was going on between them– she hadn’t needed to for two reasons. The first was that she was a human being and could read social situations as well as the next person. The second was that Saul was – well, Saul, and had talked about everything a lot, anyway.Saul and Briony's break-up had occurred pretty early in the planning stages. It had been mutually agreed upon based upon differing life goals and impending graduation, but it still left them a bit awkward around each other. And then since he wasn't dating Briony anymore, Saul was considering maybe asking Pepper, but thought that might be disrespectful to both of them, not to mention unfair since that almost certainly wouldn't last beyond graduation either. So he'd kept that thought between himself and Elly. He'd also confided to her that he'd almost asked to switch groups with Irene because he was pretty sure most of the tension in their bonfire committee was his fault. But he'd stuck it out and here they were.
When Saul had asked her if they were still friends, Briony had replied with a 'Yeah, sure, we are.' Though, it was an empty saying. Even if they managed to retain some semblance of awkward friendship, it wouldn't last beyond graduation. As he had pointed out, they would be in two different worlds, and as everyone knew, two different worlds just didn't stay in touch.
Unfortunately, this wasn't quite as well known for the activity assignments. At the time, she had thought about asking to be in Geoff's group and now, she wished that she had. The group situation was utter torture with having to work with her ex who she still didn't doubt had liked her roommate, her roommate that she knew for certain liked her ex, and the best friend of the ex. There really was no place for her, which had caused her normally quiet self to be even more quiet, only contributing when necessary.
Pepper couldn't help feeling that having to manage an obstacle course was somehow fitting. Between dodging the topic of Briony and Saul's break-up, tiptoeing around her own feelings for him and leaving poor Elly trying to avoid getting tangled up in the matter, they had plenty of experience between them. The situation would have been enough of a struggle anyway, even if she hadn't felt like she was responsible for Briony and Saul breaking up. She hadn't dared broach the topic with Briony herself, although she'd awkwardly expressed some sympathy at the news, but the word in the corridor was that they'd broken up because things weren't going to hold together after graduation. However, she knew that Briony knew how she felt, and had been encouraged by the other girl to act on it. She never would of course, and even though she'd firmly assured Briony of that, she had a sneaking suspicion that her roommate hadn't let go of the idea that stepping aside was the right thing to do, and that this had factored in to the break-up. There was also a certain first year contributing to the mess, or a certain pair of them, seeing as she seemed constantly tête-a-tête with someone's inconveniently present cousin... Connie wouldn't tell her what she'd told anyone, she'd just imply that someone now knew something and then giggle and run away. Perhaps the whole thing was a wind-up but Pepper had the sneaking suspicion that Saul now knew how she felt, as keeping her mouth shut and being subtle were not amongst her littlest sister's natural assets. However, she didn't know that he knew for sure, and she certainly wasn't going to inadvertently let the cat out of the bag by trying to find out. Saul might be able to guess, but he certainly wouldn't know whether she knew that he knew that she had feelings for him (if he did know), so until he debagged the cat, she was going to keep up the pretence of its being safely stowed away. Or, better still, of there being no cat, it certainly not being contained in any kind of tote, and thus the matter of its release quite simply being an impossibility, and just carry on with working as one happy, issue-free team.
Finally, the day came when all the planning was done, and they were all set for the obstacle course. It had to be done in teams of three, and involved the team transporting a bucket full of stones from one end of the course to the other, by any means they chose. The aim was to finish the course with as many stones still left in the bucket as possible, as quickly as possible: there was even a prize for the winners.
It started in front of a wall about ten feet tall. There were rock climbing handholds up one half of it and a rope hanging down on the other half, so people had two obvious physical options for getting over it if they wanted to forgo using their magic and do the whole course the Muggle way. Wands opened up countless additional options, ranging from outright levitation to simply moving and/or enlarging the handholds into easier to grab positions or sizes.
On the wall's other side was a ditch that went out about fifteen feet and was nearly as deep as the wall was tall. It was filled with water. For people unafraid of getting wet, the fastest way down from the top of the wall was to just jump in and swim their way out, though that would, of course, risk losing stones from the team's bucket. For those that considered the water another obstacle to get around, there was a rubber raft floating about three feet out from the wall that could hold all three teammates and their bucket of rocks. Three oars were also provided.
Saul had shamelessly used his familial relationship with the Simon Tellerman, Sonora's groundskeeper, to help get the water-filled ditch constructed. Actually, Simon had helped them with most of the course's obstacles to one degree or another, if only by getting them the materials they'd need to build it. But the ditch had been the biggest and hardest of them to get finished in time for the bonfire. There was no way Saul and the three red-haired girls could have gotten it dug out all by themselves without the assistance of Simon and the prairie elves. That one had looked a lot easier on paper than in practice.
Following the mighty river, there came a far simpler staple of the obstacle-course, the scramble net. Teams had to wriggle their way underneath without becoming entrapped and tangled in its tentacle-like grip. In fact, the 'tentacle-like grip' was more evident in this net than in most, as it had been Transfigured to mirror the behaviour of Devil's Snare. The net had weaker characteristics than the plant as, after some discussion, the committee had ruled that an obstacle with the objective of choking entrants to death was probably a bad idea. However, amongst the shared traits with its botanical cousin were the facts that the harder one struggled the closer it squeezed and that a short, sharp burst of fire would send it on its way.
By this point, the contestants were probably tired from all the physical exertion that had been placed on them and Briony's contribution probably looked easy peasy by comparison. All the team had to do was get down on all fours and manage to crawl through a tunnel with their bucket. Simple as that except it really wasn't so simple. The rubber tunnel had been charmed so that as soon as a person entered the tunnel, it gave the perception of being upside down causing the natural need to try and right one's self. Probably the easiest way to deal with the mind trick was to close one's eyes, but then that left the minor problem of grappling in the dark with the bucket. Yes, simple yet tricky.
Finally, Elly’s contribution entailed some disgusting-looking green slime (which was only a clever repelling charm, and not slime at all) with several raised platforms. The teams would have to find a way to get from one platform to the next, then to the next, and so on, until they reached the end of the course. They were provided with just one wooden plank for assistance in getting across the raised platforms.
It was a fun course, and students from both schools could take part in competing teams or work together. Being one of the louder two members of their committee, Elly became the self-appointed front-man. “Obstacle course! Form a group of three and have a go – sign up here. Hi, there!”
Subthreads: Ooooh! Oooh! Obstacle Course! Need two partners! by Jose Hernandez with Andrew Duell, Jose H, Megan Macrae
Needed: two more people by Oliver Abbott with Kenny Watts [RMI, 1st-year], Christabel Phippen (RMI 2nd Year), Oliver (Sonora 5th year)
Available for Coercing by Daniel Nash II with Kaiser Martix (RMI-ian), Alissa Kendrick (RMI)
Searchin' fer two mateys! by Scott Kendrick with Simon Gallup [RMI, 2nd-year]
Sidelining it. [Not Participating] by Robert Jacobs III with Adelita Garcia - Sonora 2nd year, Rob, Lita, Celia Hier (RMI firstie)
I don't like competition. by Cindra Embers (RMI 4th Year) with Jaeven Dimitri
1
Prefects Saul, Briony, Pepper & Elly
Bonfire activity: Obstacle Course!
82
Prefects Saul, Briony, Pepper & Elly
1
5
Jose Hernandez
October 03, 2009 12:01 PM
Ooooh! Oooh! Obstacle Course! Need two partners! by Jose Hernandez
The bonfire was awesome! As a first year, this was technically Jose's first experience at a Sonora midsummer activity, at least as a student, though he'd been part of the entertainment two years ago at the fair. This was much better, and not just because he wasn't working.This time, after all, had an obstacle course. His cousin was one of prefects running it, so he had a little inside knowledge of what was beyond the wall, but to see it first hand, he was going to need two partners.
He was not particular about who these partners were and started approaching people at random, unconcerned about grade level or the color of the uniform robe. He was not in the least bit shy and strangers were as welcome in his group as long time friends. "Hey! Wanna do the obstacle course with me?"
1
Jose Hernandez
Ooooh! Oooh! Obstacle Course! Need two partners!
149
Jose Hernandez
0
5
Andrew Duell
October 03, 2009 12:17 PM
Cool! I'm in! by Andrew Duell
Andrew wasn't entirely sure what to make of all the excitement around the bonfire, but he was having a good time. He saw Jose wandering around, asking about an obstacle course."Obstacle course? Sounds like fun." He paused just a moment, "What is it exactly? Where do we sign up?" The thought of signing up for something he didn't really know that much about didn't seem to bother him. He'd have to assume that this was another way for the teachers to see what the students have learned. It sounded a lot more fun than sitting around in the class room taking tests, he approved. This would be a good way of practically applying what they had been learning after all.
"Are the teachers running the course?" He asked a little absent-minded as he was already trying to remember all the different things he'd learned so far, and how they might be applied to an obstacle course. Granted that would depend on the obstacles.
2
Andrew Duell
Cool! I'm in!
145
Andrew Duell
0
5
Jose H
October 03, 2009 3:20 PM
Most excellent, then we need only one more by Jose H
"Hey, Andrew!" Jose greeted his yearmate from Teppenpaw cheerfully. It was a good day and he'd had a lot of sugar with his cereal that morning. As the other first year bombarded him with questions about the event, Jose bounced on his feet, politely but restlessly waiting for the slew of questions to slow before answering."It's not the professors," he corrected the last question first. "It's the prefects. This one's run by Saul, his ex-girlfriend, the girl who likes him, and his best friend." As Saul's cousin, it was Jose's job to know these things nearly as much as it was Connie's (she was Pepper's little sister). They'd been trying to get Saul and Pepper together all year, but so far no dice.
"We sign up with Elly over there," he pointed at the red-haired girl distinguishable from the other two red haired girls running the booth by the Pecari badge on her robes. "And it's like any obstacle course. You gotta get from one end to the other. It's a contest, too. Saul said there's a prize for the winning team. But we need three people, so we gotta find one more."
"Hey!" he called out, as another kid passed by the pair of them, "You wanna do the obstacle course with us?"
0
Jose H
Most excellent, then we need only one more
0
Jose H
0
5
Megan Macrae
October 11, 2009 8:33 PM
Two's company, three's a team! by Megan Macrae
Megan Macrae’s white-blonde hair was tied back in two neat braids she had done herself that very morning, and she wore her best-looking pair of grey uniform robes. She wasn’t sure how she felt about wearing grey robes—grey was one of the Aquila House Colours after all, and Megan was a Draco. But regardless, the girl was very excited about coming to Sonora and even more excited to actually meet other wizarding kids. The only other magical person she really actually knew was her brother, and Hank had been acting really weirdly in the past year. Megan pulled a face as she thought about that, but quickly re-focused on what was going on. Blue eyes sharply observing everything that went on, Megan had been somewhat distracted from actually hearing what was going on around her. Mostly, the diminutive first year was worried about getting lost (she had followed what a strange upperclassman had pointed out as the way to the Labyrinth Gardens, after all) and not worried about finding an activity to partake in.Now that she thought of it, Megan decided, blinking at the older girl who was yelling something about an obstacle course just in front of her, that may have been one of the reasons she didn’t have many friends in her year. Sure, she had acquaintances and such, but no real, close friends. But had she ever? Annoyed with herself, Megan shook her head and turned around, walking away to find someone she knew. Although she was hesitant to admit it, the first year Draco was actually fairly shy.
She stuck to the walking-away plan until she heard somebody on her left call out. Megan turned, to see a pair of boys she didn’t know. Teams of three, the younger Macrae realised with a start as the rest of her brain processed the invitation to join a team of three. It would be fun to do an obstacle course, and if the two boys wanted to be on a team with Megan, well, that was fine with her!
“Sure,” she said with a grin, walking over to the boys. “I’m Megan, and I go to RMI,” she added, then laughed. “Although I guess you kind of figured that out. We sign up with that girl, right?” Megan finished, pointing at the girl who had been yelling earlier. “Or I guess I shouldn’t be telling you guys what to do. This IS your school.” Another laugh and a shrug as Megan prevented herself from tugging anxiously at one of her braids. She usually wasn’t this nervous meeting people...maybe it was just the novelty of the whole event that was putting her nerves a little on edge.
0
Megan Macrae
Two's company, three's a team!
0
Megan Macrae
0
5
Jose H
October 13, 2009 9:41 AM
Then we're ready to start! by Jose H
"Excellent!" Jose enthused with a small bounce and a big grin when the girl he'd cornered agreed to join them. "Yeah, Elly," he confirmed in answer to her question about signing in with the red-haired Pecari prefect. "This is going to be great," he told both Andrew and the RMI girl, Megan, as he started to lead them over to his Housemate.Then he realized introductions were still in order, since even if he knew her name now, she didn't know theirs. "I'm Jose, and this is Andrew," he told Megan. "First Year Sonorans."
It wasn't a long walk, so by the time he finished saying that, they were already at the starting table. "Hey, Elly!" he greeted cheerfully, turning his attention from the first year girl to the sixth year one, with barely a breath in between. "We're ready to start. Jose, Megan, and Andrew, representing Pecari and Teppenpaw for Sonora and RMI's, um," he looked to Megan to supply her House.
Catching sight of his cousin, he became momentarily distracted and waved over at the only non red-haired female running the booth. "Hey, Saul!" Under ordinary circumstances, Jose didn't like to advertise too loudly that they were related, not wanting to get overshadowed by his popular and very well known older cousin, but today was different. Today was about fellowship and friendly cooperation.
"Hey, Hose," Saul returned, and Jose was in far too good a mood to be put out by the nickname. Then, in a rare and almost apocalyptic turn of events, Saul Pierce made a circular 'turn-around' gesture and admonished somebody else to pay attention to the rules Elly was trying to go through.
Jose turned back and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm listening now."
0
Jose H
Then we're ready to start!
0
Jose H
0
5
Andrew
October 14, 2009 9:09 PM
Let's roll! by Andrew
Andrew smiled at this brave girl who wanted to team up with Jose and him. He even did a small bow when Jose introduced him. They were a team now, this course was going to be toast, he could feel it now. Plans were already forming in his mind for possible challenges they'd face.Once they got over to Elly and Jose got her attention, Jose seemed distracted rather quickly by his cousin. Knowing the boy, this didn't actually surprise Andrew much. Andrew took the opportunity to ask Megan a quick question he had. He turned to the girl, "Where is RMI?" He caught sight of Saul gesturing to Jose out of the corner of his eye, and decided maybe he'd better pay attention as well. Best to know what they were up against.
2
Andrew
Let's roll!
145
Andrew
0
5
Megan
October 17, 2009 2:23 PM
Climbing may yield better results by Megan
As soon as one of the guys named the red-haired girl yelling about the obstacle course, Megan forgot the name. There was so much going on that she was running out of room to store things! But when the same boy introduced himself and the other boy as Jose and Andrew, respectively, she made sure to remember their names. It would be really embarrassing to forget the names of her teammates! Not to mention very rude. She was hoping to make some new friends today, and she probably wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who forgot her name, so it only made sense that she should remember the two boys’ names.By this time, Jose had led the trio over to the girl in charge and was introducing them to her, probably so she could mark down what team they were on. Briefly, the first year wondered if they would be receiving House Points for participation, like they had for the competition Headmaster Guido had set up this year. Megan liked that competition. There were all sorts of riddles, but they were creative and the challenges were fun.
“Oh, uhm, Draco,” she quickly added to the end of Jose’s introduction, interrupting her own thoughts as she grinned at the redhead who was noting this down before she got distracted by Jose waving to a boy who seemed to be helping out with the whole obstacle course thing. The older boy responded in a familiar way, and Megan began wondering if Jose was the boy’s younger brother. She wished she could wave to Hank like that, but she honestly hadn’t really seen her older brother in weeks. Although the white-blonde girl wasn’t likely to come out and say it, she really missed the days when her older brother would bring friends home for breaks and they would let her play with them.
She was thinking about asking Jose about the other boy when Andrew, who hadn’t said much until now, asked her a question about RMI. “We’re in Boulder, Colorado,” Megan said. “It’s only a few hours from where I actually live, so it’s kind of convenient,” she added, thinking about her home state with a little bit of homesickness. It had been a long second half of the school year, and she was looking forward to getting back home and riding her horse. Of course, then she was going to have to admit to her family that she’d kidnapped their last barn cat, Celia, to take to school. Whoops.
Of course, then the older boy motioned at Jose to pay attention and Andrew and Megan followed suit. Once the redheaded girl had finished explaining things to them, she grinned at the two boys. “Okay, so who wants to start?” The
0
Megan
Climbing may yield better results
0
Megan
0
5
Jose
October 19, 2009 9:38 AM
Then let's get on that. by Jose
After Elly finished going over what they were supposed to do, and had given them a basket full of rocks, Jose turned with the others toward the front of the first obstacle. A giant wall, easily twice the height of the first year Pecari and then some. It didn't daunt him in the least."I'll go first!" he volunteered excitedly, handed off the rocks to one of his teammates, and bee-lined directly toward the rope end of the wall. The climbing hand holds looked fun, but he'd been great at the rope climbs in his previous school's gym class. This wall was way lower than the ceiling of the school's gymnasium, and he had a wall to brace himself against.
When his own feet were about the height his head normally stood at, an idea struck him and he twisted around to look down on his teammate, "Hey, when I get up there, we can use this rope to hoist the basket up next. Like, tie it around the handle, you know? And then I'll pull up real slow-like so it doesn't spill."
With that idea shared, Jose turned back to his climbing before his arms got tired, and shimmied up the rest of the way. He really missed gym class from his muggle school. Flying lessons were fun and all, but rope climbing and dodgeball and stuff were awesome. And had a lot more variety.
At the top, he scrambled and pulled himself onto the wall. That was the hardest part, because the rope was attached there and he couldn't use that to hoist himself up any higher. He nearly overbalanced and went over the other side into the water, but he managed to catch himself in time and steady out. Carefully turning around on his knees so he faced back toward his teammates, he looked down and called, "Okay, I'm up. One of you can tie the basket and we can get that up here next. If the other wants to, you can probably start climbing up the hand holds over on that side and save us some time. It's kinda narrow up here, though, so be a little careful once you're up top."
0
Jose
Then let's get on that.
0
Jose
0
5
Andrew
October 19, 2009 7:17 PM
Right behind you by Andrew
Andrew scrambled with the bucket as Jose thrust it into his hands. He only nearly spilled it twice before getting a firm hold and setting it safely on the ground. They were going to have to do something about that, not spilling those rocks was going to be the biggest challenge of the course. He considered the problem for a moment, the easiest solution that he came up with was simple. Transfigure the bucket into a sphere, leaving the handle and securely holding the rocks inside with no risk of spilling them.The only problem with that, was that it was to easy. Any first year could pull that off and would pretty much eliminate the bucket as a challenge. It would just be a weight to lug along then. Maybe if...
Jose called down from the wall about pulling the bucket up after him. "Alright, just let me try something here quick. Hopefully it'll make things easier." Andrew looked around at the ground and spotted a rock laying on the ground that would suit his purposes. He pulled out his wand and reshaped the rock into a mostly tight lid for the bucket. It was a little heavier, and wouldn't save them from completely upending the bucket, but it should prevent accidental spills. Hopefully.
Andrew turned to Meagan as Jose reached the top. "Think this'll help? You can start climbing, I'll tie this off."
2
Andrew
Right behind you
145
Andrew
0
5