Selina Skies

August 07, 2021 9:08 AM
“Good evening,” Selina addressed the students. The relatively simple set up behind her of tents, an as yet unlit fire, and food, belied the thought and effort that had gone into this year’s event. The bonfire should have been one of the easier events in the rotation. After all, it was ‘stick a bunch of tents on the pitch, light some wood on fire.’ Even the main issue of making sure no one got hurt should have been relatively self-managing with eleven to eighteen year olds, though they had put a barrier charm around the fire just to be on the safe side.

That element of ‘health and safety’ had not been the primary concern this time around. Again, it was eleven to eighteen year olds they were dealing with…

“We will launch our celebration and our evening activity, which will be a camp cook out, shortly. Before that, some logistics… Tents are divided based on gender, as per your dorm assignments.” She was fairly sure that wording both accurately assigned the trans and non-binary student populations to their correct tents. “As a reminder, there is no maximum occupancy on tents, but there is a minimum occupancy of three.” This year, given the number of openly same-sex relationships occurring between students, the tent-sharing policy had needed to be revisted. Or rather, the existing tent rule would be firmly reinforced, and they would have to hope that a solid portion of gooseberries put a damper on anything more than hand-holding. “Beds are single occupancy, and similar charms to the dorm room corridors are in place to enforce this.” In this case, the spell related to the number of occupants, which was strictly capped at one. This only applied to people getting into the bed between the covers, so groups could still sit on the beds to chat, paint nails or—if they realised this loophole—make out and do inappropriate things. There was no such thing as a perfect system, but it was the best they had been able to come up with. She had debated whether or not to specify the bed rule, as she thought it was more likely to get people thinking about it than deter them, but had erred on the side of not wanting anyone to get a nasty shock—after all, she could envision a perfectly innocent scenario where someone was having a bad dream and wanted the comfort of a close friend; the last thing they needed was dumping abruptly onto the floor.

The other pause for thought was how to make the bonfire ‘interesting.’ Selina wasn’t sure why having a large fire and a camp out wasn’t a change enough from the normal routine by itself, but it seemed like they had to work out how to make every iteration of the event unique. She wasn’t fully convinced that was what the founders had had in mind when they had decided to celebrate summer with a rotation of four simple events, but apparently that was the expectation. Luckily, everyone had been happy with the suggestion of a simple cook-out.

Well, all the staff had been. She wasn’t sure how some of the students would respond to the suggestion that they prepare their own food. She thought it would be rather good for all of them, though she wasn’t going to force anyone.

“As stated, for the bonfire, we will be having a camp cookout. As well as the main firepit, there are several smaller pits laid. Once you have taken a seat by them, they are charmed to respond to ‘fire please’ and will ignite themselves. There are several food types on different trays with instructions, which you are welcome to take back to your fire and cook.” These ranged from simple things like hot dogs which basically needed reheating, to more complex things like chilli—although the complexity level had still been taken down a good few notches with most of the slicing done, meaning the only real thing the students would need to do would be combine it in a pot and supervise it. The food fell into the categories of things that could be wrapped in foil and shoved in a fire, put on a stick, or combined in a single pot. “Prairie elves and teachers can help if you’re not sure what to do, and there will also be some pre-prepared supper items to compliment your meals, or for those of you who don’t want to cook. The elves are only here to help guide you, not to do it for you,” she pointed out, though given their tendency to want to serve she thought that keeping them from doing the work might be a struggle even for those students who did have good intentions and only wanted a little guidance.

“I hope you will enjoy your evening. I declare the bonfire...open.” With a wave of her wand, the main pile lit itself.
Subthreads:
13 Selina Skies Bonfire - Let's Get Cooking 26 1 5

Giselle Duell

August 10, 2021 8:57 PM
It was time for the bonfire, and Giselle wasn't sure if that was good or bad. The year was essentially over and nothing dark, or bad seems to have happened. Everything was still fine, or tonight was going to be an absolute nightmare of terror. She hoped everything would be fine, it sounded better than the other option. She sighed to herself as she stood aloof from the tents and the cooking fires. Best prepare for a nightmare of terror. Honestly, she had pretty much given up on deciphering the prophesy, sometimes there just was no point in it. What would happen, would happen and it was more about being as prepared for it as possible. Not that she was.

The end of the term had distracted her from any more research she could have done about it. It really was only now that she was standing here with the darkness of night supposedly descending down around her (not that she could see it), that the prophesy actually entered her mind again. In her discussion at the beginning of the term, Professor Skies hadn't though it had anything to do with the bonfire, and Giselle really hoped at this moment that she was right.

The divinations professor, strolled around the perimeter of the festivities, trying to sense anything out of place. Her hands shuffled her tarot cards more out of nervous habit than anything else, between wand waves to watch her progress. Nothing seemed out of place though... perhaps back in the school? Was it good that everyone was out here? She turned her head, as if orienting her face in the school's direction would allow her to detect anything strange going on at that distance.

That was the instant it happened. Giselle was just a bit off balance, her head turned as she was swapping from cards to wand when her foot still striding forward caught on an uneven patch of ground. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her head as she toppled forward, wand and cards flying every direction. She hit the ground with a soft thud, cursing her own ineptitude. Maybe, hopefully, no one saw that. Unfortunately that didn't seem to be the case, she could hear footsteps approaching as she pushed herself up to a kneeling position.
2 Giselle Duell This is fine. Everything is just fine. 1517 0 5

Katerina Vorontsov

August 19, 2021 11:08 PM
It was done.

It was strange to think of, somehow. Katya could remember life before Sonora, and knew intellectually that it had really taken up more of her time on earth than school ever had, but it still felt as though school was a solid pillar of her existence, as much as practicing her languages or arguing with Tatya about stupid things. It didn't seem quite real yet to think that after tomorrow, it was entirely possible she'd never set foot here again.

She had thought of asking some of the other Advanced girls to make Ivan Kupala wreaths with her, but she had realized the trees here, such as they were, were all wrong for that. She could have gotten the correct branches sent to her from somewhere, of course, or could have Transfigured them, but that had felt like cheating somehow. Reasoning, then, that she had the rest of her life to be Russian, she had resolved to be as American as possible this one last night in the south.

Even considering that resolution, though, she was surprised by the hesitancy with which she greeted the idea of cooking for herself. It made no sense, she thought irritably, to feel that way. She was a perfectly competent potioneer, after all, and all the lists of directions she could see had far fewer steps and components and moving parts than even the simplest Beginner potion. It wasn't as if she was particularly afraid of fire, either. She had been taught to respect fire since she was a tiny girl, of course, but also that as long as she respected it, it was mostly a good thing, putting off heat and light, sustaining them all through the winter. All very curious...

She had just about settled on a recipe to try when she heard a sound behind her and turned to see that someone had fallen. Going over - she was still a Head Girl for a few more hours, after all - she was dismayed to recognize Professor Duell. What in the world was she doing out here? Of course the staff supervised them, but given the circumstances....

"Professor? Are you all right?" she asked. "Do you need help now?"
16 Katerina Vorontsov Yes. Nothing wrong at all. 1418 0 5

Giselle Duell

August 21, 2021 3:43 PM
Katerina, it was Katerina. Giselle sighed a quiet sigh of relief, that was probably the best she could have hoped for. She was graduating and wouldn't have much opportunity to spread the tale of her teacher's incompetence at walking. A younger student or another staff member would have been terrible. She wasn't sure if Val would have been better or much worse. Speculation along those lines was useless though, she did have Katerina to deal with.

"I am fine, thank-you." She replied to the graduating girl in a resigned, and what she hoped was a casual tone. Trying to convey that the situation was 'no big deal' without implying that it was a common occurrence was tricky. "Accio wand", she called with her hand outstretched. It obediently flew into her hand. That was one skill she had made sure she had learned as young as she'd been able to do it… perhaps for situations like this. A reflexive motion of the wand brought the scene into focus again for her.

"I'm sorry if I worried you, I was just a bit distracted and found a small uneven bit of ground." She waved her wand again to begin collecting her scattered cards. She needed to refocus this conversation. Leaving this like this may make Katerina prone to talk about it, her best bet was to distract her with another topic and hope the girl forgot about what brought her over here in the first place.

"How go your plans for the future? Do they align with anything you have predicted in class?"
2 Giselle Duell Absolutely, good things all around 1517 0 5