Flags and the Forest Capture the Flag Camp Clo

Mentions: Lilith Westlocke and Alaska Remillae
Interactions: Alaska Remillae

Amanda sat in the mess hall, fidgeting with her thumbs. She had already finished her food and was waiting to be dismissed when she heard someone call out, asking if anyone wanted to play Capture the Flag. Amanda’s hand shot up in the air. She always had loved playing Capture the Flag in P.E. The girl motioned for everyone who wanted to play to follow her outside. Amanda jumped up and jogged out of the mess hall. She spotted Alaska Remillae also heading out to play, but she couldn’t reach her to say hi. Amanda figured she’d catch her later. Amanda was placed on Team Virgo as an attacker, along with Alaska. Amanda grinned. This was the perfect time to connect some more with the other girl. The team captain was Lilith Westlocke, who immediately began strategizing.

Lilith: We need a game plan. There are five of us including myself. I'll leave it up to a vote. We can either stick together and try to find and retrieve the flag together or go into separate groups. If we stick together, it would lead to a bigger target. Separation would mean that we have less communication with each other, but it could help us find the flag quicker."

Amanda nodded. She wasn’t very good at strategizing, but her speed and endurance compensated for that. She figured she’d leave the planning to the others. She grabbed a couple glow sticks and put them on her wrists. It was a good location for them, as she could cover the light with her jacket sleeves when absolutely necessary. Then Amanda heard Alaska speak up.

Alaska: "We should definitely split up early so that we would be able to spot the flag faster. If one of us gets tagged, we have to return to our side. As soon as we get back, run back into the enemy territory and keep on searching for the flag. Once someone spots the flag, then we group up and aim for the flag.”

That plan sounded good to Amanda. Again, she wasn’t good with strategy. She walked quietly over to where Alaska was standing and whispered “Hey,” so as not to disrupt the team’s brainstorming.

Blaze had no idea what to do. It was strange as he had played the game plenty of times before. "Maybe its the pressure," he told himself in a whisper. A girl began to talk, by the way, she talked she looked very confident. If Blaze would have to guess he would say that she had played capture the flag before. This was cleared when she began to talk. She knew what she was talking about telling everyone the best things to do things that Blaze agreed would work well. He didn't say anything though he just nodded slightly listening to the girl to speak. 

Even when she began to shout she still sounded confident and it didn't feel like she was shouting because she was mad. Blaze had to say something so he opened his mouth "Yeah split up but at the same time not too far apart makes sense," he felt good being part of the team and speaking to the group made him feel as if he was more important than he really was. 

Then a girl who had said to be Lilith, Virgo team captain spoke it seemed she kinda mad at the other girl. Blaze understood why but maybe Blaze was chiller with it the Lilith was. Blaze then asked the blonde girl "So if we're splitting up... cause you know I agree we should split up, what group sizes should we use?"

Defender of Team Leo

Oliver listened in for the most part, he was a quiet boy, which really was a burden when he was getting competitive and wanted to suggest something. Every time he joined in on group activities, he always felt like he could contribute something but feared the shame of humiliation over the pride of being a benefit to the team. He cursed himself for letting the discussion go by without even able to agree, and nodded after it was all set up.

Oliver drew his wand and looked around before flicking it into the air, a small throwing spin to his head height. He went to catch it, only to miss, and his wand plummeted and lodged itself in the mud.
"Ugh.." he groaned at his foolery and knelt to pick it up. He moved over to a low hanging branch and wiped off the end on a leaf.

He looked at Serena after she had talked. She introduced herself but surely everyone here knew her. Oliver knew her. Not so long ago, his feather fell under her chair during class. He spent 10 long sweaty minutes debating whether he should ask her kindly to get it, or if he should walk up to her and lean underneath her. By the time he cleared his throat and wiped his forehead, preparing to speak to her, the bell rang and he missed out on the entire homework and notes, and also didn't even get to talk to her. He cried that night for sure, a small one compared to other nights, but in the sob variety no doubt. Oliver dreamt of being like the other boys, more relaxed, more charming. Reid... Max... Dorian... Adam... They were all so destined to be respectable and loved figures in society. Oliver felt if it was possible, he was in his way to becoming a Chocolate Frog.
He looked away from Serena. Oh God, how long was I looking at her? It wasn't even a focused stare, his eyes had blurred out as he got lost in thought. She could have spoken to him and he'd be so detached from this reality he wouldn't have heard her. He scratched his head anxiously and walked away quickly, inspecting the placement of the flag. He prodded it with a finger downwards to see if it could go in any deeper.
Oliver looked around for a place he himself could defend. He was pretty slow so he didn't want to stand too far away. Putting a finger on his chin, which really pushed deep into his soft, baby chub, he thought. Aha! I know! He smiled to himself, proud of his genius idea. Oliver opened the Port'o'Potty door and got inside, closing it till it was slightly ajar. And then, he pointed his wand out, staring through the crack in the door on the lookout.
"This is your best idea yet, Oliver!" he spoke to himself a bit too loud.

ACTION: Mention of Serena Towers and some overly handsome Hogwarts boys.

Annabelle stood her side of the line, watching as the teams gathered to discuss strategy. What she overheard sounded like chaos. Team leaders shouted announcements to their groups, students scrambled to find partners... one girl even wandered over to the wrong side. Well, this was certainly going to be interesting. Still, no amount of chaos could quell the young Prefect's spirits. It was her first big event! Sure, once the school year began there would be plenty of drama club things for her to run, but for now this was the closest she had come to being a real leader.

Ever since she had revived her letter, Anna had wanted to do something great. If a Muggle-born girl like her could be given such wonderful powers, she was certain that there was some purpose behind it. All she had heard about since coming to this place was the grand battle against evil that had taken place a generation before. Students at this very school had fought and won a fight to save the entire world. She knew in the back of her mind that it was horrible, but Annabelle longed to be involved in a grand adventure like that. Of course she would never go so far as to endanger others to feed her own dreams of glory. Real situations like that were probably absolutely terrifying... but the young dreamer could not help but wish for the chance to be a hero.

For now, she got to display her leadership skills by running a fun game for her fellow students. At least, she certainly hoped that they were having fun. She loved all of the strategy and involvement she was seeing. Anna had been tempted to tell December that she had gone over to the wrong side, but it seemed that events had played out perfectly. The Gryffindor glanced down at her watch- an old analog device that she had borrowed from her father when she first left for Hogwarts. She had wanted to bring her cute dolphin-themed digital one, but it seemed that battery-powered tech did not work within the confines of the boarding school.

It was nearly time to begin. Annabelle's eyes flicked between the watch and her fellow students. The second hand grew slowly closer to the the upright mark. She watched as the Defenders scattered to hide their flags. One more minute... The tension grew. Groups were eager to take off, to start hunting. It was amazing what competition turned people into. Though she was on neither team, even Anna felt the adrenaline building within her. As the last seconds counted down, she left out all of the built up energy in a mighty yell.

"TIME'S UP! ATTACKERS... BEGIN!"

OOC: Tomorrow I will owl the people who will need to wander toward the forest to begin our adventure. Until then, have fun playing and steer clear of the Forbidden Forest ^_^ Lucy and I will be looking around too, so make sure you hid your flag in a spot that meets the requirements!

Interacts with Annabelle Wolfe

The electricity of excitement added to the chill in the air, causing Lucy to shiver. Students were milling around and trying to decide on where to hide their flag, some of them talking loudly close to the border. The other team is going to overhear them if they keep shouting, she thought with amusement. There were a couple of glowsticks left from each team, so she copied Annabelle and put a red and blue one on both wrists as well as combining both colours for a necklace. 

At Annabelle's yell, Lucy perked up, peering into the gloom of the North side. Annabelle had assigned her this half of the camp to moderate, so she figured she'd better do her job. She knew she probably wouldn't see much from this middle boundary, but things that need actual refereeing would probably happen near the border. She absentmindedly fingered her wand, which she had tied to the belt loop of her shorts with some yarn. The whole effect looked pretty janky, but it worked when she didn't have her school robes. She hoped she didn't have to use it for anything more important than a possible light source, but you never know what will happen when there are twenty children playing an active game in the dark. The burden of sharing the responsibility of leadership started to settle on her shoulders as she imagined terrible things happening - students lighting each other on fire, students falling and hurting themselves... she shook her head, clearing these thoughts. If it happened, she would deal with it at that time. No sense worrying about it now.

She paced the border on the far side, waiting for students to appear and start making daring dodges. A small part of her felt disappointed that she couldn't participate, but she also enjoyed moderating. It was far easier to keep an eye on things and watch other people exert themselves than to do it herself. She was just glad that Annabelle had let her help out. 

"Hey, Annabelle," Lucy called, "I just thought that maybe we should see if the teams hid their flag legally. I'm going to go check West side. Make sure they didn't bury it or throw it on a roof or something." She grinned and waved at her fellow prefect and walked into the northern part of the western territory, scanning for an abundance of glowsticks that would mark their flag.

ACTIONS:

-Walks onto the West side (Team Virgo) to check to find and make sure their flag is hidden legally (not buried and is easily accesible). 

Team Leo
Interacts: Leo Defenders
Mentions: Virgo Attackers

Emma sighed internally after the announcement had come out. "Two in the front, two in back."  After the quick comment, she took her position, a few feet in front of the port-a-potty. If the Virgo attackers wanted to get the flag, they would, unmistakably, have to pass her by. She stood upright, her head looking every which way and her hands down at her side. Once or twice, she had even looked 

The brunette signaled towards the defenders to get their attention before the first Virgo ambush commenced. "Don't- well, try not to leave your spot, if you do, you could let in more attackers!" She found herself a bit bossy at the moment, but she really didn't mind. She hadn't exactly noticed she was yelling, but if she could do anything to win, she'd do it.

She walked around briefly, sometimes getting close to the foul odor of the port-a-potty. Emma quickly took a step away from its unique turquoise color. What in the world were the professors feeding them? She thought to herself as she crushed a few twigs for fun. She would have never taken a step in a public restroom like that.

Mentions: Lucy O'Sullivan, Team Captains, Leo Defenders
Interacts: Lucy O'Sullivan, Emma Hill

"Great idea!" Annabelle shouted back. She paced along the division line toward the South end of the grounds. It was likely that she would have to spend much of her time along this border, as this was where a lot of the action would be happening. The sheer amount of trust involved in this suddenly struck her. What if somebody was tagged and just... didn't report back? What if someone refused to hand over the flag and just kept running? Anything that happened outside her field of vision would have to run strictly on the honor system... Then again, she did have Lucy. The blonde-haired girl seemed very competent, and Annabelle was happy to have her on the team.

As for the players themselves, Annabelle had met several of them. They seemed like trustworthy people. In fact, all of the children she had met over time had been relatively good. The young optimist may have been a bit naive, but that did stem largely from experience. Plus she had her captains to keep the group in line. Edric was a fellow prefect, so she knew him to be responsible at least enough to handle that job. She knew Emma pretty well too. She had been a member of her club and had proven to be an incredibly loyal friend. Even when Annabelle had been passed out in the Hospital wing with a shattered leg, Emma had been one of the true companions who had refused to leave her side. She knew how important this game was to Annabelle... surely she could be trusted to keep her team in line.

Anna did not know Angela very well. In fact, the two had barely met. Yet she did feel that she could trust this new girl. She had given her the role of captain, after all. As for Lilith... well, she was the most concerning. When Annabelle had first met the raven-haired Attacker, she had been attempting to sneak into the Restricted Section of the Library. She had proven to be a great partner-in-crime, but what would happen when she was told to enforce the rules? Anna thought back to that day, a look of concern momentarily cast over her face. No, it's alright. That night had ended with Lilith being as loyal a friend as any other Anna had. She could have simply blamed Annabelle for the whole thing and continued on her own, but instead she had gotten the two of them out safely without being caught. Lilith Westlocke could be trusted.

Suddenly a horrible stench hit her nose. Gross... she thought. This must be where the port-a-potties were set up. She hadn't been over here yet... she hadn't dared. Yet from the look of it, several of the Leo Defenders were braving the smell. Anna stopped, looking curiously at the group. They were all standing near the horrific box, yet she did not see a flag anywhere. Surely they would place their defenders somewhere near their flag...

It was then that she saw a faint red light streaming from the door. It had been left slightly ajar. An honest mistake. She called out to Emma, smiling so as not to be threatening. She was certain that they had not meant to break the rules. "Flags need to be visible for at least twenty feet!" she reminded her friend. "You should hang it outside the door." Opening the door was also an option, but she was not quite sure the Defenders would want to deal with the horrible stink cloud that would come from that.

Actions: Walked along South area, told Leo Defenders to make their flag visible

Team Leo Defenders
Interacts with: Annabelle Wolfe, Emma Hill

Jeronimo licked his lips, jogging over to where Annabelle was. She was shouting something about the placement of the flag.

"What's going on?" Jeronimo asked, realizing what the issue was. Emma had hidden the flag inside the porta-potty-

Jeronimo suddenly gripped his mouth. He hadn't visited the porta-potty yet, and he at that moment decided to never do so again. He hadn't smelled anything this bad since... well, nothing. He had never smelled anything so bad. It was even worse than the time that the toilet overflowed...

For the sake of his already wavering self-confidence, Jeronimo decided to shut that particular memory out as he instinctively bowed a little to Annabelle. It took him a moment to realize that Annabelle was not Korean, and would probably had found that odd.

"Sorry, we didn't realize, honest," he said, bowing his head a few more times anyway, "Can we... can we put it behind the porta-potty? It's technically visible from twenty feet the OTHER way. Right? Would that be okay?"

Jeronimo grinned as he raised his shoulders impishly. "I mean, we just want to weaponize the horrible smell. Although... although I guess the attackers would be running, so they don't really... get affected..."

Jeronimo turned to Emma. "Should... should we move it somewhere else?"

Team Leo
Interacts: Jeronimo Khan, Annabelle Wolfe

"My bad, I had completely forgotten, thanks for reminding me Anna." She laughed and made her way to the potty. If Emma wouldn't have placed have the flag inside of the port-a-potty, she would have been fonder to retrieve it. She nodded with a smile towards Annabelle then caught a breath before walking into the port-a-potty and obtaining the flag. She could have sworn she could still smell, perhaps even taste the odor. You couldn't taste odors though, could you? Hopefully, it was all in her mind. She walked out of the portable restroom slightly quicker than she had entered.


The brunette turned to both Annabelle and Jeronimo. She felt slightly guilty and relieved. After all, he had stuck up for her when she had made the unmistakable blunder. The pressure on her was like a dense metal rod on her neck, it could have outweighed her easily.

"Hide it... near the Great Lake, perhaps... on a tree trunk?" She had made the words up as she went along. Though it was her second choice, she still felt as if the port-a-potty would have been a good choice. She wasn't going to second-guess her own command, her father had always said 'Go with what your gut tells you to do, not your heart', she hadn't seen the difference, yet.

"I can go," she said indifferently as she shrugged. "I mean, it's the least I can do." With the bright red flag in her hand, she jogged over to the tree closest to the lake. It hit her, she had no rope, no nails, not even a sticky substance. She wasn't the most creative, but when she got ideas they generally never worked. She partially tore a piece of bark from the tree and pierced the flag's skin. After all, if someone wanted to get the flag they'd have to fumble with the jagged bark.

I'll just mend them afterward. She thought to herself just in case the topic was brought up.

Action: Pierce flag through bark to hide in sight

Leo attackers, mentions defenders

Angela looked around. Nothing was going according to plan. Aurelia left, the weird boy seemed super shy and unsure what's he even doing here, and the white-haired girl... was talking to the other team? At least the defenders showed some sort of coordination.

See guys... That's the spirit!, she commented Aurelia's departure, although she was definitely angry at her for not listening to the plan at all. Such bad teamwork. Would it be fair to call that "typical Gryffindor"?

Let's split., she said quickly. You, she pointed at the scared boy, come with me. Sophie, you go with her. Hopefully this way both pairs will include at least one reasonable person... We meet up behind Herbology Hut. Don't lose sight of each other. LET'S GO!, she yelled and ran towards the enemies' terrain.

She had no idea where to look for the flag, but moving towards the Forest seemed reasonable. Where else would they hide the flag? Near some boring cabin? She decided to follow Aurelia, sneaking behind the cabins. Word was Thestrals lived at the edge of the Forest, so the direction was good, and this way Aurelia won't be completely on her own in case of an attack.