Closed STARGAZER PISCES Fish Among the Sea of Stars PV Tentmates

Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres

Wearing: Grey oversized hoodie, dark blue jeans and white sneakers.

Renzo had finally made his way to his tent. He took his time finding it, finding there not to be a need to rush like the majority of students surrounding him. There were all so excited; screaming and giggling, jumping around and pulling on the sleeves of their peers that they had already seemingly made friends with. How could they do that so quickly, so easily? Renzo was such a mummy’s boy, always being her shy little shadow on any outings and avoided jumping into meeting other children without a care of a doubt like his siblings had.
He let out a small sigh and wore a faint smile, still, enjoying the view of excited smiles and sound of excited laughter. He did somewhat envy them and hoped he too could eventually have that same feeling they all shared.

Upon entering, he found the place to be emptier than expected, minus one girl that looked rather curious. His eyes lingered on her for a moment in curiosity before he stepped further in. His dark brown hues couldn’t help but glance straight up at the night sky above. He was about to question himself how was that even possible? but remembered, magic. Of course.. everything was.

"..Hey there.." He called out hesitantly now and walked towards one of the beds, placing down his large backpack on top of it to claim it as his own. "Names Renzo. What’s yours?" He asked, his voice gentle yet heavy with an Italian accent. He offered a warm smile to the girl then let his eyes wander around the room further, curious and itching to explore. Of course, he was to use his manners and wait for the rest of the students to turn up. "It’s.. pretty, huh?" He added, his head nodding up towards the night sky above them.

english — ▇ italian — ▇

─────────────── Statistics ── sta. 10 eva. 5 str. 0 wis. 4 arc. 6 acc. 10

Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres & @Renzo Russo

Time was a silly thing. Sometimes it felt too fast, and sometimes it felt too slow. And if one was lucky, they could time in the moment. Right now, Colby was feeling just that. She had been waiting forever for summer camp to finally start, but saying goodbye to her family, who she would not see for a long while for the first time ever, was too quick for her taste. Now, she was on the camp grounds, taking in the moment. Looking around, Colby could see so many other peers who seemed her age and older. She had heard that there were students from different schools also attending the summer camp. It was surely going to be a bit overwhelming, but that did not stop Colby from being herself.

Pulling a suitcase in hand, Colby needed to find the sign ups for what tent she was going to be in. Colby did not care who would be in the tent with her considering she did not know anyone here at the summer camp. But she did care about what kind of tent theme she would be in. Unfortunately, the themed tents were at random, or Colby was not aware that there was a period of time to choose, if others had chosen their tent theme.

As she looked at the long list of camp themes and groups, she could not help but the laugh at the gingerbread theme. To enter a tent and have snacks all day and night as furniture and building support sounded like a blast. Finally, she found her name written in black ink along with a group of other students. One of the names read, 'Xiomara,' and Colby couldn't help but to laugh at it to herself. Was it even a name? How would you even say it? She then saw the tent that she belong to: STARGAZER. Colby couldn't help but to roll her eyes.

If it had been a little more than a year ago, she would have loved having the nighttime sky as her tent theme. But ever since that night last summer, the nighttime sky made her blood boil. She was still filled with anger and frustration at herself and the situation. Colby creased her eyebrows, not afraid to look pissed at her placement and began to walk to the tent, her suitcase rolling behind her.

Magic was phenomenal. Colby had found the tent as normal as can be from the outside. However, when stepping into the entrance of the tent's flaps, it changed to be large and spacious on the inside. She looked around and saw that the ceiling was representing the nighttime sky but with aurora borealis cascading through its darkness. Stars were not shining as bright because of the colorful lights, and no moon seemed to be seen. Colby still found it to be hideous and gripped her suitcase handle a tad bit tighter. She tore her eyes away from the ceiling and saw a simple bonfire fireplace in the middle of the room with cozy seats and pillows around. If that wasn't all, there were other tents connected to this larger one that added for more space.

There were two other students in the tent before her and one of them had mentioned the nighttime sky being pretty. Colby couldn't hold her tongue and shook her head. "It's ugly," she said, and made her way further into the tent. She made her way to one of the fluffy orange blankets on the ground and sat down, her legs out in front of her.

"Well unless you mean her, then I guess she's pretty, I suppose," she said, shrugging and not caring in the world about what others were thinking. Colby was not one to be attracted to anything. She was only eleven after all, but she had seen time after time of her peers having crushes and even being crushed. It just wasn't her thing. At least not for a long while. "Oh, since we're here for the long haul. I'm Colby."

Aamon Athanatos had arrived at the London Quidditch Stadium. His finely tailored garments starkly contrasting with the rugged surroundings. And by rugged, this meant anything outdoors. He glanced around, taking in the repurposed quidditch pitch dotted with tents. His upbringing in the opulent Greenbryer Manor in Bath had not prepared him for this. The pristine gardens and lavish interiors of his home were a world apart from the plain circumstances of this camp.

Aamon was third in line as heir to one of the oldest and wealthiest wizarding families in Britain. His life had been one of luxury, filled with private tutors, elegant soirees, and the finest magical artifacts money could buy. Greenbryer Manor was more a palace, its halls echoing with the footsteps of house-elves who catered to his every whim. He never truly understood the concept of need but he had heard stories. Despite his magical heritage, Aamon had never so much as pitched a tent or gathered firewood. He had been cocooned in a life of comfort, far removed from the everyday challenges that most wizards and witches faced.

As Aamon trudged towards the camp's registration desk, his loafers crunching on the gravel path, he felt a mix of excitement and trepidation. His parents had insisted he attend the camp to "build character", "experience the real world," and "make the right friends" phrases that had sounded almost foreign to him with the exception of the last. He had packed meticulously, bringing along an assortment of enchanted items and luxurious amenities, including a self-cleaning tent and a magically heated sleeping bag, enough clothes to change thrice a day and have three spares each day he was scheduled to be here inside a silver lime trunk with an oversized lock. But as he looked around at the other young witches and wizards setting up camp, he realized that his preparedness was of a different sort entirely.

"Name?" asked a brisk, no-nonsense witch at the registration desk.

"Aamon..." there was a pause. His older half-brother Vladimir had warned him that they would treat him different if they knew his surname. "Athanatos," he whispered, fearing that a false name would not be found on any roster. He tried to inject a tone of confidence into his voice, but his surname faltered slightly as the witch looked up at him. Did she know him? His brother, father, cousin? The witch checked his name off a long parchment and handed him a map of the campgrounds along with a list of activities.

"You'll be in the Stargazer Tent, Pisces" she instructed. "Your tent is over there. Welcome to Hogwarts Summer Camp."

Aamon nodded and made his way to his assigned area, dragging his enchanted trunk behind him. He passed groups of campers who were already bonding over the tasks of setting up tents and starting campfires. He felt a pang of envy at their easy camaraderie. Despite his affluence and pedigree, he had always struggled to make friends, his sheltered upbringing leaving him somewhat socially awkward. An over-thinker, he was spending more time considering how to respond, he rarely took in the moment of dialogue.

As he reached his tent site, he hesitated, looking around helplessly. The tents erected by the camp seemed simple, unlike his elaborate, self-assembling one. That was until he ducked inside the tent, passing through the flap and saw the starry night sky in the middle of the day. Some students were already inside the tent, choosing a place beneath the false stars. Were the blankets on the ground camp-provided or somehow assigned? He was not entirely sure. Swallowing his pride, Aamon approached the boy. Boys seemed to be a rarity here in Hogwarts, ten to one by his rough assumption.

"Hi," he began, his voice more tentative than he would have liked. he should have made it sound a bit deeper. "I'm Aamon. Could I...um...could I set-up near you? I'm not quite sure how things like this work."

Rowan supposed she had been reluctant to leave. She knew she would miss her mother, and her sister, and perhaps even her father, but she was also desperate to be among other wizards of her age. Since she had been stuck in St. Mungo's for nearly her whole first year at Hogwarts, Rowan hadn't gotten much of the latter at all. So, as she stood with the others and listened to the camp introduction and rules, Rowan pushed away the doubt that lingered and straightened her posture. The young witch wasn't paying much if any attention, as she was preoccupied with observing the collosal size of London's quidditch stadium. A structure this big, and surely with a deafaning sound during quidditch games, must be beyond difficult to magically conceal. Rowan felt like an ant in a garden. The feeling was quite unnerving, and she felt sick to her stomach. She forced herself to tear her gaze and attention back to her immediate surroundings. She would get through this. And besides, it was camp! Rowan had been looking forward to this for months, constantly anticipating when she'd get to go. And now, she was here. She'd do her best to make the most of it.
Rowan had her backpack on her back and a bag in her left hand as she made her way towards the
papers listing the tent assignments, pushing through the crowd of people, wanting to get out of the chaos as soon as possible. She didn't know anyone here. Well, perhaps there were some of the others she had met in that first month at school, but she'd have to wait and see. Rowan squeezed herself into the front and saw her name on a list. It was a first-year tent. Of course it was, she shouldn't have expected anything different. The young vipress was retaking her first year because of how much she'd missed, and she would be in the same classes as these students anyways, even if she was a year older then them. Her cheeks turned red with embarassment as she thought about what some of the other students, now graduated to their second years, would say if they saw her in the same classes as the newest students. Perhaps they would think she's stupid. Rowan walked particularly fast towards the tent, which didn't look like much on the outside. She couldn't change what others thought of her. Her tentmates were hopefully nice. And she'd learn from them about the wizarding world. That was the most important thing.
Rowan couldn't hold in her audible gasp of awe as she stepped through the door of the tent. It was much larger on the inside then its outside let on, with a ceiling that resembled the gorgeous night sky, and cozy sleeping bags scattered around a firepit in the center. There were four others in the tent already, and Rowan had entered just in time to hear one of them, a boy with brown, neat, introducing himself as Aamon. He said he didn't know how things like this worked. Neither did Rowan. Perhaps they could figure it out together. She didn't recognize any of the four, and suddenly remembered her manners. "Hello," she said, forcing herself to look at them. She had trouble with eye contact. "I'm Rowan."

Interacting with @Xiomara Torres, @Renzo Russo, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos, @Rowan Sallow

Banner by the lovely Ernest Baird

Roleplaying as Nathaniel Archer Costello Stamina 7 Strength 1 Evasion 6 Wisdom 10 Arcane Power 5 Accuracy 6

★ ★ ★

Nate patted his hair down after a particularly rough ruffling courtesy of his muggle dad. "Take care of yourself, alright, bud? But don't forget to have all the fun you could possibly get your hands on." The man said as he straightened up.

"And tell me everything you'll learn about Astronomy in Cogworth's."

"Hogwarts, honey." The boy's mother would correct, a mirthful and fond smile gracing her lips.

They were dropping off the excited, practically vibrating boy right at the entrance of the London Quidditch Stadium just in time to catch the beginnings of the annual Summer Camp. In preparation for his upcoming academic journey, his parents saw it fit to register him for the camp so he could start connecting with his soon-to-be peers and learning about the Wizarding World in a more... hands-on manner. Already, among the hustle and bustle of the crowd of people (adults and kids his age alike), Nate saw traces of what magic can do. All around him, tents were being levitated into orderly positions on the pitch, food was zooming out of containers of their own accord and into awaiting buffet tables, and even school banners and regalia the boy didn't even know the names of were suspended in the air, stationary amidst the light breeze that tickled his face.

He could not wait until it was his turn to step into the halls of Hogwarts. Nate was pretty sure his mother's stories would pale in comparison to the real thing—but even then it had already sounded amazing.

"Dad's going back to the States for work but by next break, at the earliest, you'll have plenty of time to tell him all about your Hogwarts adventures…" His mom would then lean down and run a hand down the portable fish bowl Nate had strapped over one arm, "…with Pisce, of course."

"I'll bring you back one of the smaller aluminum shavings from the JPL Engineering department, in exchange." His dad winked. "I'm pretty sure it's the same material they used on Perseverance a while back."

Nathaniel's eyes lit up as his hands tightened around the straps of the enchanted backpack on his back. No matter how excited he was for the Wizarding World that waited for him, nothing still beat the feeling of getting NASA souvenirs from his dad.

At least, for now.

Who knows what the school year has in store for him.

***

About a half-hour after his parents left, Nate finally got his tent assignment clutched in his right hand. When he was handed it, he couldn't help but let out a small, surprised, and happy gasp.

The Pisces Stargazer tent.

The boy lifted his portable fish bowl up to his face and cooed at the cheerful aquatic individual inside it. "Did you hear that, Pisce? We're going to a tent named after you… well, almost," he remarked, stopping by a stark black tent that was so dark, it seemed to absorb the light from its immediate surroundings apart from the glitter that dotted the entirety of the fabric itself, made to look like the stars of the night sky. Right above the entrance was the name Pisces, the letters embossed to look like space.

Sucking in a nervous yet giddy breath, the boy stepped into it only to find himself practically transported to a different dimension.

"Wow…" was all Nate could say in a breathless voice filled with awe as his eyes immediately went straight up to the very realistic night sky above—on? In?—the roof of the tent. Unstrapping his backpack, the boy haphazardly abandoned it to the side by the entrance without even looking, in favor of the fish bowl that he immediately raised up over his head. "Pisce, look at all those stars! I've never seen so many!" So lost was he in his wonder that it didn't even immediately register to him that there already were a few occupants inside. He only ever noticed the others after a few moments of jumping excitedly about and chattering to his fish about the constellations he could see from his position by the entryway.

"Oh um… hi." He laughed sheepishly as it dawned on him that he had probably looked crazy talking to his fish and yelling at the tent roof. "I'm sorry, I didn’t know there were already people inside." Nate noted that the people in the tent all looked to be his age (apart from maybe one who looked a tad bit older). They were all friendly-looking to him so the boy wasn’t too worried they'd look at him weird at the moment. "I'm Nate, it's nice to meet you al—are those telescopes?!"

Nate's Travel Telescope | Pisce the Fish

Date: July 15th, 2024

Speech

Interacting: @Xiomara Torres, @Renzo Russo, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos, @Rowan Sallow, @Nathaniel Costello

Summer camp, what is there even to say about it? Atticus had been waiting for this day... and well... September 1st but that was a couple months away still at this point, his entire life. His introduction to the world of magic through the lens of his own eyes and not his relatives. His mother wanted him to come to this to "build relations", which was really her posh term for making friends that maybe will have other pureblood relatives that Beatrice (his mum) could use to find out if Atticus was doing anything he shouldn't be in Hogwarts, her own eyes and ears into the building. But he had no intention to encourage her helicopter-esque behaviour.

He had already been to the desk and sent towards this tent, it was a dark colour but looked relatively standard. He had a feeling something wasn't going to be normal, especially because the tent didn't look big enough for 8 people but that was irrelevant. The quidditch pitch in general wasn't too surprising to Atti as he had already visited a couple of times with his Dad, but the set-up that had been placed inside of it was amazingly impressive. Atti had been helping his dad clean up in an empty dragon paddock and other menial chores in the morning prior to coming to the pitch (their estate wasn't horrendously far away, and the traffic was worse than the distance), and he had dirt smeared on the knees of his jeans from kneeling in the grass, his Mum would have been very mad had she known, she had packed him a trunk of fancier, clean clothes, but Atti and his dad didn't care as much.

His right hand holding his trunk, he used his left hand to flip open the door to the tent and step inside, immediately being overwhelmed by the amazing night sky that was above them. The tent was amazing, even though he had been raised in a world of magic, his father literally being a dragon tamer, this was one of the most amazing things he had seen, he didn't even know where to look first. It was only after gawking for a minute that he realised other people were already in the tent.

"Oh uh... hi!" He wasn't normally awkward generally speaking, but realising there's like 6 people around while you're stood looking at the ceiling is an odd feeling. "Atticus Drake, yous can call me Atti if you want, I know I've got an old-fashioned name."

OC: Just getting the social ball rolling so we don't just give names and do nothing else.

An awkward meet and greet. Fantastic.

The tent was filled with the sounds of hesitant introductions and the rustling of bags being unpacked. Rowan Sallow offered a generic hello, blending into the background without much of a hook to draw anyone in.

Nathaniel Costello stood in awe of their surroundings, his eyes wide with wonder. Did he really think that the fish he brought with him understood him? His fascination with nature was almost childlike.

There was also an Atticus. Some filthy chap who hadn’t even bothered to wipe the dirt from his clothes before entering the tent.

Names were being tossed around, but they held little interest unless accompanied by a pedigree.

Aamon Athanatos, however, was different from the rest of them. As he attempted to settle into the tent, his mild peculiarities became apparent. His concern with neatness and order stood out; he wiped away the dust that had somehow already gathered across the face of his trunk. From within his trunk, he began pulling out what could only be described as frivolities for a summer camp: votive candles, throw pillows, and even a silk robe that he folded onto his... sleeping bag. It looked like a very sad cocoon, it was not going to do at all. Surely the house elves packed some sort of appropriate place to sleep.

Trying to break the ice, Alaric looked around at his tentmates. "What's the most interesting thing you guys packed?" he inquired.

Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres, @Renzo Russo, @Rowan Sallow, @Atticus Drake, @Septimus Merrill, @Aamon Athanatos & @Nathaniel Costello

One by one, each tent mate had trickled in. From the looks of balance, there were more boys than there were girls. Colby was relieved to hear this as girls were way too emotional and dramatic for her. Maybe... just maybe this tent would be normal. But of course, wishes hardly come true, so who knows what is to be expected.

Everyone who entered the tent had seemed to introduce themselves. Colby, who had already found her spot and unpacked by keeping everything in her suitcase, scoped the room with her green eyes. She assessed each person, making judgements of her own for each one. One person seemed too shy, another was awkward, and then there was someone who was too fascinated by telescopes. This was definitely going to be a long summer.

There was a self-realization, however, that this is the first time, in a long time, that she is entering a program and later a school with no one to know. She was like a lone wolf. Perhaps getting to know some people would be beneficial.

The one who Colby had thought was the shiest of the group seemed to have surprised her. Out of the awkward silence of after everyone introducing themselves, Aamon had given the first ice breaker. And to Colby's opinion, it was a pretty good one. Depending on the item that is shared, you could know a bit about the other person. The problem? Colby had no idea what she wanted to share.

She did not want to share off the bat that she was a werewolf. How would that sit with them that they are going to live with a canine for a month? If anything, she wanted to keep that a secret as long as possible. While being a werewolf had it's many negative moments, there was one thing so far that she found helpful and that was a sense of smell. She was able to determine what was rotten or starting to rot prior from it happening. It was a wonderful skill to prevent food poisoning.

She looked to her bag and opened the top, looking in. What did she bring that was out of the ordinary? Deep under her folded clothing was a special cup that her mom gave her as her "wolfsbane cup" but that wasn't going to be shared. She began to gently look through her bag only to remember that she had brought a muggle contraption called a Rubik's cube. How could she have forgotten? She took out the cube and made it visible for others to see.

"I have this. It's called a Rubik's cube. It's a puzzle. To know you solved it is by getting every color together on each side by moving certain parts of it," she said, randomly showing how the parts move. Colby placed it down in front of her, the cube mismatched of color on all sides. "If anyone wants to try, go for it," she offered, seeing if anyone knew of the game or was new to it and wanted to try. It was one of the very few games that her mother, a muggle-born introduced to her to when Colby felt frustrated about certain situations. It was definitely a helpful tool.

STARGAZER TENT
- July 15, 2024 -

RIDICULOUS, wasn't it: the sight of the steamer trunk, robust and decorated with mementos from voyages of the past, being tugged through the snow by a red-faced boy not all that much bigger in size. If you were to approach and offer him your help, he would shake his head and insist that he could handle it alone — that he could see the tent assigned to him from here, actually, so it was really no trouble. In reality, the serpentine trail that the trunk had cut across the frozen Quidditch pitch betrayed the fact that the boy had left the registration table with little-to-no idea of where he was going. And now, he thought grumpily as he approached a cluster of jet-black tents resembling a starry sky, I'll be stuck with the last pick of... well, everything.

Septimus's face was not normally so sour. He was only in a mood because he'd recently been betrayed: apparently, some people thought it would do him good to meet other young wizards and witches before the start of the school year at Hogwarts, and so — just a week after his eleventh birthday — he'd been shipped to summer camp. Although the itinerary spanned less than a month, the time seemed to stretch out in front of Septimus as if it were ten years (and it sure felt like his mother had packed enough of his things to last twice that long). Why had he been sent here? What had he done to deserve this? And what kind of fun did his parents expect him to have that he couldn't have at home with William?

As the name crossed his mind, Septimus frowned. William Moses, the young wizard's kindly caretaker, had been the one to accompany him to London, which meant that he was taking the brunt of Septimus's childish anger. He supposed he was feeling a little guilty about unceremoniously leaving William at the entrance to the stadium: rejecting his au pair's goodbye hug in favor of heaving his trunk defiantly onwards, barely even stopping to check which tent he'd been placed in. He didn't want to alienate one of his only friends, especially since he saw more of William than he did his own brother, most years. But — he deserved to be annoyed. It wasn't right that no one had asked him before dropping him in this backwards winter wonderland.

Whatever. At this point, boy and trunk came to a halt outside the group of tents that Septimus felt he could safely assume were the Stargazers. The one he wanted was called "Pisces." He squinted at the signs in front of each tent, trying to make any sort of sense of the illustrations that distinguished one from the other, and eventually settled on one which he thought looked generally fishy. As he maneuvered his things to the entrance, Septimus caught a glimpse of people standing inside and heard the soft murmur of conversation. He felt his face blush a deeper shade of red as embarrassment combined with physical exertion. He was right. He was late. It sounded like they'd started without him.

Well, it was safe to say there wasn't much he could do to get in unnoticed. He'd been hoping to secure a nice sleeping spot and introduce himself as the rest of his tentmates arrived, but he hadn't counted on his trunk being so heavy (or the ground being quite so snowy.) He supposed the best thing to do would be to get the awkward hellos out of the way before anyone could make a big deal out of them. Would the rest of the students in his tent look down on him for being late? Had they already formed their own clique without him? He didn't know the social habits of eleven-year-olds all that well — he hadn't been one for very long. But there was one way to find out for sure.

Septimus repositioned himself on the other side of his steamer trunk, facing the tent, planted his feet on the ground, and shoved it forward with a labored grunt. He watched the trunk slip through the flaps of the tent and, a second later, followed it into the space where he'd be living for the next month.

It was stunning. Septimus struggled to take in every detail of the night sky projected above him, marveling at the stars and the sheer depth of the space between them. It was like he was still outdoors. Quickly, he took note of the smaller tent at the back of the space, the crackling bonfire in the middle, and the chairs and sleeping bags set up for eight campers. Most of his attention, however, was directed towards his tentmates. He counted seven of them, which (unfortunately) confirmed his fear that he was the last to arrive. They all looked to be about his age, which was comforting, he supposed. Four of them were gathered by the sleeping bags: a girl with a fish [@Xiomara Torres], a boy in a hooded jacket [@Renzo Russo], another girl fiddling with some sort of colorful object, perhaps a toy [@Colby Vidler], and another boy whom he didn't recognize but who seemed to have an air of high society about him [@Aamon Athanatos]: an air which had become familiar to Septimus after so much time living among the well-to-do magical community of Bath. This boy was very tall, too. (In fact, several of his tentmates were.) It was intimidating. Septimus straightened up, wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, dusted off his hands, and tried to make himself appear a bit bigger than he actually was.

"Hello," he said, figuring that the emergence of his beast of a steamer trunk had been a suitable attention-getter. "I'm Septimus. Nice to meet you — the lot of you." Here, he took note of the other three campers, clustered a bit closer to the front of the tent. One of the boys [@Nathaniel Costello] had another fish, which he held aloft like he was showing it the night sky, and the other [@Atticus Drake] clutched his trunk in one hand while he, too, stared at the enchanted ceiling. The last of the occupants was a dark-haired girl with a backpack [@Rowan Sallow] who looked a bit older than the rest of them, although it was hard to tell for sure. All in all, they seemed like an alright group. Normal at first glance, at least. Even if the fish were a bit odd.

"Are we doing show and tell?" Septimus asked, nodding at the toy that one of the girls had produced and presented to the rest of them. "I'm sure I have something interesting in here." If only his mother would've allowed him to bring his wand. But it was brand new, still in the box from Ollivander's, and she was strict about it remaining intact and in place until he left for Hogwarts. Shame. But he had to have other things that would help him make friends. Septimus muttered an apology as he pushed his trunk past the boys standing nearby and claimed a sleeping bag for himself. "Give me one second," he said, popping the latches on the trunk, as if they'd been waiting for him to have a go and he hadn't just completely interrupted their game. "I'll go last."