Closed STARGAZER PISCES Fish Among the Sea of Stars PV Tentmates

Interacting with everyone ♥ ♥ ♥♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Mentioning her pet Nemo
Metamorphmagus: Not Active ♥ ♥♥♥ ♥ Outfit: Denim jacket, blue t-shirt, jeans, sneakers and braided hair

♥♥♥ Her eyes lit up as other students entered into the tent. At least she was not going to have to tent alone, that would be kind of boring! "Yeah, it's absolutely stunning," Xiomara responded to Renzo as she stole another glance at the sky that loomed over them, "I'm Xiomara," She introduced herself in response. She spoke in a Northern Irish accent for the most part - until she said her name, which was where her Puerto Rican accent would come out. She picked it up from her mama, whose accent came out when she was irritated - and the words 'Xiomara Marisol Torres' would often come out of her mouth during those times.

As the rest filtered in, she would introduce herself to them in turn in a similar way as they entered in.

Xiomara could not help but quirk an eyebrow on her very expressive face as she heard the next person's voice. A girl who introduced herself as Colby after commenting that it was 'ugly' but then giving her a compliment. Sort of. The 'I guess' and 'I suppose' made it sound more like an insult than a compliment but she did not bother to question it.

She could not help but perk up slightly as she saw a familiar looking face enter next. Aamon - from the train station! She gave him a small wave by raising her hand in acknowledgement as he entered. It was nice to see someone she knew, kind of. Okay, she had literally just met him and knew very little about him but uh, at least she recognised his face and that was a pretty good start in her book.

"Hey!" Xiomara acknowledged Rowan with a grin, not really noticing the girl was a bit older than them. She had a terrible time judging people's ages. She had met a boy a week or so ago who she was convinced was no older than five but it turned out that he was an eleven year old part-goblin! Then she met an older student at the station with Aamon, and asked the girl if she was a first year... Ages were hard.

The next arrival made her really excited. She had no idea who he was but she heard his excitement in his voice as he spoke about the stars - she fully understood! "Aren't they great?!?" She responded, rather loudly in return to his apology, ignoring that part since she thought he had no reason to apologise, "Yeah! There's even books over there in that section! I didn't look too closely but I spotted a few were about space!" She continued as she pointed enthusiastically towards the tent at the back. She had definitely seen a few words like 'stars', 'space', 'constellation' on the bindings of some of the books but did not pay a ton of attention to notice if they were all astronomy related or just a few. There was at least a few though and one looked very cool but she had gotten distracted by people.

"Atticus is a great name," Xiomara responded after introducing herself to him, deciding that she would call him Atticus and not Atti, because she thought it was a good name. If he preferred his nickname then she would have gone by it but he did say 'if you want' and well, she did not want to. Maybe she was a sucker for a good old-fashioned name but it was most likely that she thought people should learn to say people's name properly, after years of people not knowing how to pronounce her own name.

Xiomara blinked as she watched the train boy start to take out... so much stuff from his trunk. No wonder his trunk was heavy! He had his own pillows?! Wait- was that a robe?!? She suddenly felt like she ought to have brought more stuff. Could she ask her grandpa to send her more things? Oh gosh. He asked what the most interesting thing they had brought along was... Her lack of packing was suddenly making her feel rather inadequate. What did she have other than some clothes?! A book was not really interesting, nor was fish food. Really, the most interesting thing she had brought to camp was herself. She was a rather interesting person, if she did say so herself!

Colby had a Rubik's cube. She had... uh... a sweater? Another boy arrived, claiming that he had something interesting too! Oh gosh. "Uh, well I didn't bring my guitar or camera so I guess, the most interesting thing I have is Nemo!" She responded, suddenly regretting her choice of not getting a guitar. That would have been interesting, she could have played something for them! She wondered if someone had one she could borrow one day... Her camera was a DSLR and unfortunately, her grandpa told her that she could not take that to camp as it had a battery in it. He did promise to buy her a magical one if she did well in school but she did not have it yet so, she was kind of limited in what she could bring. Xiomara made a note to herself to bring her guitar to school next time. "I guess, if anyone has a guitar I could borrow, I could play something?"

It took her a moment but she then pointed to the carry case near the bed that she had chosen. It contained a small fish, just chilling by itself. She had almost forgotten that she had put Nemo down and kind of just expected people to know who Nemo was! "He- She- They are new! I got them like a week ago and I think they are still a baby," She explained, not entirely sure if anyone found it interesting. Xiomara had absolutely no idea if Nemo was a girl or a boy... she never asked. But even she had gone there to get a different pet - like a cool cat or adorable bunny or something - rather than a fish that seemed kind of boring but... Little Nemo was starting to grow on her.

OOC: There's a moderated game in this tent, if someone wants to start it, please feel free to! Hint is in the tent description!

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15 July 2024 ~ Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres, @Renzo Russo, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos, @Nathaniel Costello, @Atticus Drake, @Septimus Merrill

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Rowan stood quietly off to the side of the tent, observing as her other tentmates gradually trickled inside and continuing to be fascinated by the enchanted ceiling. It reminded her of the ceiling of the great hall at Hogwarts, but this was different. Here, it was always a beautiful nighttime, with the breathtaking aurora borealis painting the dark sky with its green, blue, and violet shades, above the pine silhouettes.

The girl was pleasantly surprised by the boy who rushed in after herself, Nate, who held a fish bowl in his hands. His scatterbrained excitement amused Rowan, and she couldn’t help but smile. Another boy followed, and after a few moments of odd silence as he stood gawking at the ceiling (Rowan couldn’t blame him, it was indeed amazing), awkwardly introduced himself as Atticus Drake. “Rowan,” she replied in greeting to both of them, and she stepped away from the wall. “Pleasure to meet you.” She smiled back at Xiomara. She took note of what the other girl had said about the books- space was one more topic that captivated Rowan.

Aamon suggested a show-and-tell sort of showcase, and Colby pulled out a rubik’s cube, which Rowan recognized immediately. Her father had given her one a couple of years prior as what could have been considered an apology gift for leaving once again. She had learned how to solve it quickly, and spent a good deal of time alone during the following months working on her speed. “I know how to solve one of those,” Rowan commented, trying to open herself up a bit to appear more friendly. As she made her way towards the area which Colby had set up for herself, their final tentmate entered, hauling a large (and quite obnoxious, Rowan observed) steamer trunk in front of his small figure. His name was Septimus, and his polite tone deemed him as nice enough.

While Xiomara introduced her goldfish Nemo, Rowan sorted through what she had packed in her mind. Anything noteworthy to show the others? It then occurred to her that the few muggle objects she had brought from home may appear fascinating to the others, unless they were raised in muggle households as well, of course, but none of them struck her as such. Except for perhaps the eccentric boy called Nate, who had run off in a frenzy towards the telescopes. Perhaps she would show them her rock collection. A pouch of smooth stones in various colours that sat in the front pocket of her backpack. It may not strike any interest in the others, but Rowan found her collection awe-inspiring herself. Most of them she had collected from different locations around Europe from when her family had travelled. Some she had found naturally, others she had purchased from a shop. One way or another, they were all unusually beautiful.

Rowan set her bags down upon the nearest sleeping bag, aqua in colour; across the way from Colby’s, and nearby Septimus’s and Xiomara’s. She then dug through her backpack and produced the pouch, from which she poured about ten of the stones inside into her hand. “I have a rock collection,” she offered, showing the colourful stones to the others.

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

Astronauts by Rachel Platten

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

★ ★ ★

Whatever his tentmates were saying might as well have been static at that point as Nathaniel's attention honed in on the vintage-looking space telescopes mounted on tripods off to one end of the Stargazer tent. Mouth slack, the boy ran a hand down one of the said instruments, marveling at the gilded bronze that made up its polished body (the other hand was used to raise Pisce's glass carrying case up to let him admire it, too).

Immediately, he lugged one of the telescopes with one hand onto a nearby table, struggling with the weight (the telescope tilting precariously) but never letting go of Pisce's bowl anyway. Nate liked to think it was a joint effort, giving the fishbowl a little tap to show his appreciation.

“—doing show and tell?” After a few short moments of him maneuvering the controls of the old-fashioned device—to no avail—Nate realized he had, once again, forgotten he wasn't the only occupant in the tent, the four words snapping him out of his space-fueled fugue. His cheeks were stained a bright red as he finally raised his eyes and forced himself to look at his tentmates.

So many times, he had trailed off of an existing conversation with his dad or his mom or his other kid friends back in the States. This is in favor of some random interesting thing that he had conjured in his mind mid-conversation. And although his parents were very patient with him and circled him back on the things he had missed, oftentimes, his kid friends back home looked at (and called) him weird.

He was very easily distracted; this was a fact. Especially with things that pique his interest—like space and stars and astronomy and telescopes and constellations and galaxies and planets and space-related devices. However, he had to actively remind himself to tone some of that distractibility down to be able to socialize effectively (his mother seemed to think this was very important and reminded him their entire way here).

Nate was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he realized the others were currently occupied with a bout of show-and-tell one of the boys initiated.

A girl laid a jumbled Rubik's cube onto the floor of the tent, while another remarked that she knew how to solve it. Nate remembered dismantling one and putting it back together—colorful piece by colorful piece—as his one surefire way of solving the puzzle toy. He, however, had a small inkling the girl wouldn't appreciate that.

The last girl produced something that made the boy perk up.

"A fish!" He'd remark excitedly, telescope momentarily forgotten as he scrambled towards where the girl was situated on the other side of the tent. "I have one, too! His name is Pisce, because see here?" Nate would point at the cluster of indistinguishable spots on the tail of his fish. "These spots look like the Pisces constellation. It's like a sideways letter-V with the little fishes at the ends. See?" He'd smile widely, proud of the name he had given his pet. "Say hi, Pisce!"

Nate would extend the fish's bowl forward, careful not to accidentally smack it against the other girl's. He knew just how fragile glass was at that point, having dropped a planet-shaped marble on it one time that chipped the lip of the bowl.

"I think he's my show-and-tell, too!" He'd say as he would turn to address his other tentmates. "Although I didn't pack him. Mom said Pisce wouldn't like my enchanted backpack. I don't know why that is, but I guess it's because Pisce wouldn't appreciate being kept beside my clothes, my snacks, my books, my telesc—"

Nate would freeze as he realizes this.

"Oh wait, I brought my telescope!"

Pisce the Fish | Nate's Travel Telescope

Banner by the lovely Ernest Baird

Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos Mentioning: @Nathaniel Costello, @Atticus Drake, @Septimus Merrill

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

A small smile formed on Renzo’s lips as Xiomara introduced herself. She seemed like a nice girl from the go-off, which naturally helped him ease into the new settings a little more. " Xiomara.." He repeated as if to clarity on the name. A part of him struggled to understand her Irish accent, but when she spoke of her name, he couldn't help put pick up on a hint of another accent. Just as he was about to ask, his eyes drifted back over to the entrance of the tent, where they set themselves on Colby Vildler.

A dainty looking girl with unruly hair walked over with ease. There were no introductions given, only a mention of the night sky, and how it was.. ugly. Renzo’s brows raised in shock, and he gave Xiomara a quick glance from the side before they lowered back down to Miss Vildler. "O..oh.. I" He was lost for words, so he simply swallowed whatever he was trying to form back down and gave her a small nod. This one was a feisty one it seemed.
"I’m…Renzo.." He replied and gave a slight nod to Colby as a cautious greeting. Thankfully, it wasn’t long till another student entered the tent. Aamon Athanatos. Renzo exhaled and seated himself on his bed.

He seemed to have entered with a somewhat cautious/uneasy nature, but he couldn’t blame him. If anything, he felt the same way deep down and if his speculation was right, he was to surely give him a heads up on Vidler’s.. lively nature so to say.
Aamon had approached Renzo, who now gave him a warm smile upon their introduction. "Renzo Russo." He replied, greeting the fellow male with a hand extended out to shake with his smile still present. If he was to shake it, he would give it a gently tug before releasing and gesturing his hand towards the spare sleeping bag and blankets beside him. "Sure, set up next to me Aamon. Is it your first year here too then? I don’t know what to do either.." He let out a small laugh, though his voice was slightly stiff. With his accent being so strong, he was a bit self-conscious as to whether or not anyone could properly understand him.

It wasn’t long before the tent was becoming more crowded. Renzo took note of Rowan Sallow, who approached Aamon to chat to. He felt a little awkward that she hadn’t let on to him, but that was just his shy nature getting the better of him. He let a sheepish smile creep onto his lips as his shoulders raised slightly and his body tensed. He was just trying to comfort himself.

His nerves quickly lowered those as he couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at the boy who was talking to his fish. He seemed enthusiastic. Renzo liked that in people. He didn’t get up to introduce himself just yet however. There were others around who were doing that. He was sure to have his rounds at a later time. They had all summer together so there wasn’t any rush.

The same went for Attitus Drake and Septimus Murrill who joined not long after. Everyone seemed nice and most were chatty. A good mix he thought.

It wasn’t long before they were all getting settled and were unpacking. Some of which shared with the group of their unique and personal items. Renzo stayed quiet for the most part, but his eyes were wide and soaking it all in. He edged forward slightly as they shared away, at times he even opened his mouth to speak, but he really wasn’t one to talk over anyone, so instead, he decided to watch in enjoyment and listen to them all talk with passion in their words and eyes. He took a moment to glance down at this backpack beside him, pondering on the thought as to whether or not he had anything interesting to share openly with the group. He… didn’t really. Nothing in comparison to them all. He did have a few small baked treated that he had personally made with him though. Maybe when the time was right, he would offer some to them all.

english — ▇ italian — ▇

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

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

Although she offered her Rubik's cube for anyone who wanted to try, no one had taken it to try it. She shrugged it off. Maybe they had no idea how to use it and did not want to embarrass themselves. It did take her awhile to figure it out, and she did not expect them to do that off the bat. Unless they were some kind of genius or something.

Colby was ready to see if anyone had anything cool to share with her and the others in the tent. One by one, some of her tent mates had shared their interesting item they packed and some were... Not interesting at all. A couple mentioned that they brought a fish and another person said they have a rock collection. Who chose these groups?

"What do you even do with a fish?" she asked, confused how something that no one can pet or snuggle with can still be a man's best friend. Colby looked at fish that were brought and just watched them swimming. But that was obviously all that they were doing. Perhaps one of her tent mates can enlighten Colby. Or perhaps not.

Colby was slowly getting a sense of some personalities in the tent. So far, the most excited of the smallest things is Nathaniel, one of the fish owners. If anyone was meant to be here in the Stargazer tent, it was him. He even had his own telescope.

Shaking her leg, she could feel that it was falling asleep from sitting for too long. Colby got up and walked around the area while still opening up her ears to listen to her tent mates. She decided that maybe it was a good idea to look around the tent as it is bigger than just this room. Colby made her way towards a side of the tent that opened up to another room, a bit smaller than the room she was just in. It had looked like a small reading nook. Colby wasn't a whole big fan of books, and this only made her think about Flourish and Blotts where all the books were so unorganized that it took forever for her to find the books she needed.

Colby looked at the spine of each book to see what theme the books were about. It seemed that it was all based off of Astronomy. There were books about Zodiac signs, constellations, planets, solar systems and more. But then one book caught her eye. It was a black book but with gold letterings. To Colby, it was really pretty. She took it off the bookshelf and looked the front cover. It was the same coloring, black and gold, as the spine. Except this time, it was the name of their cabin. Interesting. Colby moved the book a little too fast when about to put it down when all of a sudden she heard a rattling sound coming from it. To double check, she shook the book ever so slightly. The rattling sound had gotten louder.

Keeping the book in her hands, Colby ran back to the group. "Do magic books usually make sounds?" she asked everyone, wondering if they had any experience with it. Perhaps it was nothing, but seeing how beautiful the book was and how it only made noise when shaken, it was worth asking. Colby shook the book ever so slightly to show the others what she was talking about. She had yet to open it, but knowing magic... Sometimes it was not a good idea to open a book without knowing much about it. Anything could happen.

STARGAZER TENT
- July 15, 2024 -

ELBOW-DEEP in the contents of his open trunk, Septimus rooted around for something both meaningful and valuable enough to show off to his tentmates. He wanted to "wow" them. Upon receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter, the boy had been given all sorts of advice on how to make friends with the other kids in the incoming first-year class. William, kind and honest as ever, had told him that he only needed to do one thing: be himself. Apparently, friends who were not interested in the real Septimus were not really friends to begin with. He supposed this made sense. On the other hand, Septimus's father had said that it was important to look his best. Mr. Merrill, the businessman, knew that no matter the enterprise — be it magical, Muggle, or mundane — appearances were everything. When talking to his son, he'd put it rather memorably: you can't spell "first impression" without "impress."

So Septimus was pawing through his things in search of a toy or trinket that would make him look cool and trying to pay attention to what the rest of the group was saying in the meantime. He glanced up from his trunk to see one of the girls, Rowan, hold up a handful of colorful rocks; when two of the others, Nate and Xiomara, started talking about their pet fish, he got back to work. They were nice fish, sure, and if it was true that Nate's had a constellation — their constellation, Pisces — on its tail, well, that was awesome. It could be their tent mascot. But Septimus found himself quietly agreeing with Colby as he pushed aside a rain jacket and a pillowcase. She was right: what do you even do with a fish, really?

As the last of his tentmates shared their favourite things from home or simply watched the show-and-tell go on, and as he started to feel like he was getting to the bottom of his trunk, Septimus finally found what he was looking for. Wrapped in a pyjama shirt was a wooden box slightly bigger than the size of his head. It was made to look like a treasure chest, with a curved lid and a golden latch holding it shut, and its sides were painted with scenes that might have come from the old stories of King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table. Castles and towers. Wizards and sorcerers. Swords and magic wands. Septimus's face lit up as he pulled the box free of the pyjama shirt and lifted it out of the trunk. He set it down on the ground beside him, flipped the latch, and waited for his turn to share. He had volunteered to go last, after all.

"I've got some toys, too," he said, nodding towards Colby's strange puzzle cube. Colby herself seemed to have gone missing while he'd been looking through his trunk. He glanced around the bonfire to see if she'd switched spots, but didn't see her anywhere. Oh, well. "They used to be my brother's, but he gave them to me when he got too old." As he spoke, Septimus opened the toy box and pulled out three small, ornate action figures: a wizard in starry robes and a tall, cone-shaped hat, a dark wizard in black robes (and no hat), and a fearsome red dragon. He laid them flat on his palm and held them up for the others to see. Slowly, they twitched, stretched, and then sprung to life. The wizard and the dark wizard got to their feet and began battling each other. The dragon flapped its wings and launched itself into orbit above Septimus's hand, breathing a jet of fire no bigger, brighter, or hotter than the flame produced by a matchstick into the air. Septimus watched them move about for a moment before looking up at his tentmates with a grin.

"Aren't they cool? I've got more of them at home. Sometimes, I take them all out and pretend they're at war. There was this one time where..." He was about to launch into a full retelling of an epic dragon battle he'd witnessed over the kitchen table two years ago, but he was interrupted when Colby returned to the group with a book in her hands.

"Do magic books usually make sounds?" she asked, shaking the mysterious book around to demonstrate the rattling sound that she was talking about. Septimus furrowed his brow as he studied the cover. It was jet black — the only thing that stood out was a group of dots arranged like the constellation on the sign outside of the tent. His first thought was that this book was probably where they kept the spare key; quickly, he remembered that tents did not have keys. Weird. What was it, then? "Some books make sounds, but not like that," he said, glancing at the rest of his tentmates to see their reactions. "What does it say inside? Let's open it!"

@Xiomara Torres // @Colby Vidler // @Aamon Athanatos
@Renzo Russo // @Rowan Sallow // @Atticus Drake // @Nathaniel Costello

Aamon had a keen interest in understanding human behavior. Specifically his peer's human behavior. He aimed to learn more about his peers by subtly engaging them in conversations and observing their responses. His chosen method? A simple yet revealing question: "What's the strangest thing you brought with you?"

A girl with curly hair and bright eyes named Colby, like the cheese, would be the first to give an offering: a colorful Rubik’s cube. Aamon nodded as she explained the game, noting her alleged preference for intellectual challenges. The question was revealing in several ways, one was the fact that she had the game. One which he was unfamiliar with, not that he was an expert at games because he had experience with few, however the lack of enchantment made him wonder if there were muggle influences in her life. The second was the perception of intellect, that she is either intelligent or wants others to believe so. Regardless, he felt that she might value information and intelligence. What he did not know is if she valued the information or the perception that she had it.

Next, was a little girl with long dark hair. She revealed a small, portable fishbowl. Inside, a goldfish swam lazily. The fish was named Nemo. He pondered over the name longer than the actual creature. The 'pet' if he could call it one, was a fish. It was not something she would be able to interface with or develop a relationship with. If anything the role of companion could have been replaced with a block of wood that needed to be polished on occasion. She seemed to desire to be the caretaker of something, responsible over someone. That would be easy to take advantage of, what he pondered over was the name. Nemo was latin and meant 'nobody' or 'no one.' He would not have been familiar with muggle classic literature such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or the Disney Classic Finding Nemo. “This is Nemo,” she said softly. “I couldn’t bear to leave him at home. He’s my best friend.” Ethan was intrigued by her deep attachment to her pet and made a mental note of her nurturing nature. In Greek, it meant from the valley or glade but that did not appear to be any more fitting.

Strange name, that was the best he could conclude.

The next student offered a rock collection? If they had not just arrived at camp, he would have assumed that they had found these rocks during this excursion, but it was their first day. was this an interest in geology, lifting heavy objects, or a neurotic need to collect.

One of the boys in the tent had brought a telescope. This was a curious choice, a subject of interest by wizards. A potential lover of knowledge with a specific interest declared, there is the possibility that the desire is to ensure the perception of intelligence but it could be a specific passion. One that could be looked into later - he wondered if this was for natural purposes, potion making or divination purposes.

Finally, Renzo, the pre-teen that Aamon had chosen at random to unpack adjacent to. The choice was derived from random novelty, he needed someone and by choosing to engage he could exude a confidence that his soul lacks. He was curious what Renzo would claim as an interest, what sort of person he would attempt to define himself as in front of his peers. Nothing was offered and Aamon would be puzzled by this but decided to leave it at that. Even the lack of sharing, showing and telling was for the lack of a better word telling -- even nothing was something. Yes, there was the possibility that he simply did not want to share their peculiarities, shyness, introversion, or social awkwardness. However he did not believe it due to the casual exchange they had when he set out his stuff, if anything Aamon was the more awkward of the pair.

He would not have much time to ponder this as cheese girl (Colby) explored the bookshelves and retrieved a book from the shelves. Aamon's back was to her as she took the curiosity into her possession, he was pulling furniture from his chest. Yes, Mary Poppins-style pulling standing candelabras and sitting chairs from his chest that held much more than the external dimensions suggested.

He never did mention his most peculiar item, but the fact that he had packed a sitting room of sorts would enough of an indicator that the boy was odd in his own way. As he was heaving a coffee table from his chest cheese-girl would ask if books normally make sounds. An odd question. "No, books are made of inert paper and often bound in leather," he stated. "But interesting fact, the earliest examples of writing were etched into stone slabs or impressed into bark, and were used to record information, lists, or numbers rather than literature. This also made no sound."

One of the boys in the tent would claim that books sometimes made sounds. What sort of sounds was he used to hearing? Not that he remarked further, he just suggested they engage the strangeness head on -- Open It. His brother has warned him to avoid oddity. That there would be numerous peculiarities that seemed harmless but would raze an entire dorm by the end of the evening.

If and when they attempted to open the book, Aamon would reject the call for adventure and dramatically leap behind recently withdrawn sitting chair and scream "everything is dangerous, take cover!"

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15 July 2024 ~ Interacting with: @Xiomara Torres, @Renzo Russo, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos, @Nathaniel Costello, @Atticus Drake, @Septimus Merrill

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Rowan gently dropped the stones, one at a time, back into the small black leather pouch in which she carried them, and shoved the pouch into her pocket. The boy called Nathanial enthusiastically showed off his fish Pisce, which Rowan found quite peculiar. They were residing in the "Pisces" tent after all, and the spots on the fish's tail did indeed resemble the constellation. What a coincidence. A few moments later, Rowan had the jolting realization that the others were starting to migrate, seeming to unconciously move towards one another as they pinpointed the people who they felt they would be the most comfortable around. The two boys, Renzo and Aamon, opposite mannerisms; Rowan wondered how that would work out. And Xiomara and Nate, perhaps they would bond over their fish. The young Slytherin felt suddenly very alone in the tent crowded with people. She felt even more awkward over the factor of her age, and that if they find out about her retaking the year, they may deem her as an idiot and turn on her. Rowan pulled herself out of her catastrophizing thoughts before they could spiral out of control and realized she had zoned out; the boy called Septimus had pulled from his trunk three small action figures that, to her surprise, had sprung to life and were battling with one another. Magic would never cease to amaze the witch, who had grown up in a muggle household.

Colby had disappeared. Rowan didn't find herself pondering over where the girl had went- rather, she walked over to the rubik's cube and began to solve it, sitting down beside the bonfire. It wasn't too hot, and was comforting to her tense muscles. After about thirty seconds, Colby reentered from a tent-within-the-tent in the back, holding a book in her hands. She asked if magic books were supposed to make sounds. Probably, Rowan thought as her hands moved in a blur around the colorful puzzle. But what would I know? The cube was solved in fifty seconds, and Rowan returned it to the exact place where it had been before. Rowan hadn't noticed that behind her, the strange boy who talked too much but in a different way then the erratic one called Aamon was pulling furniture- yes, furniture (Rowan had to do a double take of this) out of his chest. Rowan shook her head slightly, laughing a bit. What in the world did he pack furniture for? And the chest definitely was not large enough to fit--

Her train of thought was cut off by Aamon himself, who was giving an unnecessarily lengthy explanation about the making of books.. Her curiosity getting the best of her (as always), Rowan stood up and walked to Colby and Septimus, who were standing around the strange book which Colby held in her hands. "May I?" Colby handed Rowan the book, and Rowan brought it to her face so that it was parallel with her nose and she was looking across it rather then down at it. It rattled suddenly, making her pull it back and jump slightly. Her cheeks turned red, embarassed. She shouldn't be so foolish.
Not understanding why she was nervous- it was a book, for Merlin's sake- Rowan lifted the cover, opening it.

MODERATION POST

𝕌pon opening the book, it would become immediately apparent that this was not a book that one might actually endeavour to read. Much like a children's pop-up book, when opened a small, miniature Quidditch match would spring up from the hollowed-out pages. It was not your standard Quidditch match, however. No quaffles or bludgers were anywhere to be seen as the players zoomed in endless loops around their miniature pitch. Rather, all eight of them seemed to be acting as seekers, chasing the same elusive, slightly glowing snitch as it darted to-and-fro, eternally escaping their grasp. Above the players heads, the ghostly impressions of the same shimmering constellations that graced the Stargazer tent's ceilings flickered softly in perfect repose, and below in the grass, if you had good eyesight or were just willing to stick your whole head into the mock-game, tiny versions of the same blue and red sleeping bags in the tent could be seen awaiting the players' valiant return.

In the centre of the pitch appeared to be a small, half-spherical indent, perhaps the size of a golf ball or smaller. Once the pint-sized Quidditch game had completed its first rotation of its endless pattern and looped back around to begin again, an audible click could be heard from somewhere in the tent. Continuing to watch the Quidditch match would yield no further results; the tiny players never catch the snitch, and the game always inevitably loops back around again.

Reducio

OOC: The tent's mini-game is now unlocked and playable. The game does NOT have to be played immediately, and is available to start at any time until August 11th IC, and September 31st OOC. Once the game has begun, you'll be at the whims of moderation posts, and will be able to do very little roleplay in this thread outside of the game until the its completion. You may, however, still open additional threads for later dates in your tent at your leisure, or choose to create a separate thread to play the game in. Moderation posts may take up to one week, so, as such, it's recommended that you finish up any interactions and events you'd like to take place in this thread before continuing with the game, should you choose to play it in this specific thread.

For hints on next steps and general inquires, please owl @Rebecca Lark. Please note that as one of the first groups to engage with this mechanic, you will be acting as beta testers, and the mechanics may differ from that of future groups. Please do not post spoilers for the game anywhere on-site or in Discord, so that others who are playing can do so at their own pace. If this rule is violated, the offending players may be barred from the game at my discretion.
@Rowan Sallow, @Atticus Drake, @Septimus Merrill, @Nathaniel Costello, @Colby Vidler, @Aamon Athanatos/@Solomon Lear (for their convenience), @Renzo Russo, @Xiomara Torres

OC: This thread appears to have no interaction beyond the mod, I am departing from this thread.

IC:
Aamon was right to assume everything was dangerous. He had heard the stories of Hogwarts. Of the monsters, the magic and the most dangerous creature of all - the other students. He would duck and hide for cover. His fears, both ridiculous and premature, the magical pop-up book would show a quidditch game. One he would not immediately take note of until someone commented on it, did not immediately die or scream, hard to say what happened without posts. But either in response to or in the absence of various relevant elements, Aamon would eventually peek his cowardly head from his hiding place and sheepishly approach the book. Mesmerized by the graceful loop about the pitch momentarily, he would be startled by the click.

Something happened.

Aamon's eyes would dark back and forth. What in Merlin's name happened? It was just a click, nothing bad was going to happen he assured himself. But why? Was this some sort of game? A puzzle? Ice-breaker? Honestly, if the other students engaged, it would be a brilliant notion, but an anxiety gripped Aamon because the writer needed a reason for Aamon to leave the dead thread. He would wait a tick and when no obvious answer or assurance was made, he would wordlessly back out of the tent.

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