Something Wicked - Summertime Blues

[Dawn OOC]

Quinn rolled her eyes. “Oat juleps ain’t a thing,” she grumbled.

 

“You’d know,” Roach retorted quickly.

 

“And what’re bein’ an ass for, Rochelle?” She didn’t give the other girl a chance to answer, mostly because she didn’t care about why the other girl seemed to want to cause trouble. If Rochelle’s screwing around cost her family the chance to train on Clairburn’s lands, Quinn would be livid. “They haven’t done anything other than move into their family home, and you’re makin’ fun of ‘em.”

[Nina]

"Rochelle... thats apretty name," says Dylan from the porch, smiling at the young girl.

"Yes, it is," said Clairburn giving the boy on the porch a quick glare, "don't worry Quinn, we have thick skins around here. As for Evelyn, she is my niece. She'll be coming to live here later this summer. Shes why we moved back here."

[Malachite]

"Will...she be coming to school?" Silas asked, moving his question from Dylan to Mr. Clairburn with an embarrassed flush. Clairburn looked old enough to be his grandfather, so this "Ms. Evelyn" probably wasn't school-aged, but then the question hadn't really be about her. 

He'd loitered a little behind his friends on the way past the car and now he stopped on the excuse of listening to the answer.

 

"Yes, she will be attending school here. I expect shes your age, Silas right? Shes fifteen, will be sixteen in the fall," said Mr Clairburn.

[Malachite]

Silas nodded and hesitated, the question he'd meant to ask still trying to make it to his lips. He glanced up at Dylan and then back at the ground, then over to Mr. Clairburn. He managed to switch over to southern gentleman because it was easier to deal with. "Yeah. She'll be a sophomore, then? She'll be in our class," he gestured to the group, with a smile for the older man. "We can show her around and get her settled in at school."  

 

He began a retreat away from the house and back to the others, practically hiding behind Quinn now.

[SalmonMax]

"Glad you think so," Rochelle said back to Dylan, then she couldn't help but add, "Folks call me Roach though. See you in class, right?"

 

She gave Silas a glance, wondering if he was perving on Clairburn's niece before he even saw her.
 

"Thanks for the lemonade, and the intense manual labor," Roach said to Warren and Dylan. "Byyyeee..."

 

With a wave, she turned and headed after Silas.

[Shameless]

Hank had dutifully pitched in alongside the others, it wasn't like it was overly hard, even for those not as strong as Jordan.   He'd taken the offered drink and drank it while they chat.   Taking the cue that it was time for them to go he'd started heading off, but stopped with the mention of Evelyn, another teen, and likely someone they'd all meet long before summer was over.

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Claiburn.  I'm sure we'll see you around."   With that, Hank returned to join his friends.  They had a fun excursion to plan at the cabin, and after this, he figured they'd at least have something interesting to talk about, and not spend it trying to cheer up Jordan.   While that was important, they were supposed to have fun together, and that would be a better balm for Jordan than anything.

[Asarasa]

When Dylan had appeared, Jordan had taken a glass of lemonade, nodding her thanks and downed it in one long pull, her jaw tight. Like Dex, Dylan was very attractive, though where Jordan considered Dex 'hawt', she'd would say Dylan was 'pretty', very pretty. And like Dex, it felt like he definitely knew it. She wasn't in the mood for pretty. And if he was Mr. Clairburn's groundskeeper, he must've come down with him, she didn't recognize Dylan Coventry as being a local of Blairsville or the surrounding area.

 

18 hours ago, Rochelle McKendrick said:

"Miss Evelyn?" she asked with a chortle, her voice low enough that she intended it for just her friends around her. "What is this, a Southern plantation? Did we miss out on mint juleps? Lets demand mint juleps. Jordan, ask them for mint juleps. I'd have Quinn do it, but she'd ask for, like, oat juleps or something."

 

Jordan's brows crinkled as she returned her empty glass of lemonade to the tray, avoiding meeting Dylan's too blue eyes, as she glanced at Roach. "This is Georgia. This place likely was a Southern Plantation way back when, Roach." Jordan rolled her eyes in exasperation at Roach's last comment. "Yeah, all those box you brought in."

 

She gave Mr. Clairburn a small wave in passing as headed back down the track. "Later, Mr. Clairburn. Glad to help out a neighbour, and a new classmate, I suppose."

[Noir]

 

 Hannah helped along with the others. Though her contribution was nowhere near Jordan's, but was certainly more than Roachelle's, who barely and begrudgingly, carried in a single box and managed to avoid doing pretty much any else. Hannah did pay attention each when she would enter the house though. She had seen it many times and it had a bit of a mystique about it, so to finally be inside, even if only barely, was a big deal, so she could not help but soak up all she could about the interior.

 

  "Well, like it says in Sir Bevis of Hamption, "many hands make light work." Hannah said with a faint smile in response to Mr. Clairburn's thanks as she took the offered refreshment. 

 

At the mention of the title of the book, Roachelle only half-heartedly tried to stifle a small snort laugh and say softly to herself, "Heh. Bevis." which caused Hannah to rolled her eyes before he took a testing sip (people had different tastes in lemonade after all) and nodded to Dylan. Her eyes shifted back to the ground only to glance at him a time or two while he was eyeing Roachelle. He was certainly pretty, which was unusual for a boy.

 

When they had finished their beverages Hannah returned the glass and looked to Mr. Clairburn again.

 

"Well, my family, the Harpers, are your direct neighbors, just on the other side of the fence over there, on Walsh Road." she explained and turned slightly, pointing in the vague direction of her home to the West, through the woods. "I'll let my parents know we got new neighbors. And I am sure they would say that if you need anything, feel free to stop by." she offered and noticed her friends with beginning to meander back down the road.

 

"It was nice meeting you both." she said with a small wave before departing with her friends.

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Noir

[Nina]

As the kids head out across the yard towards the long driveway Warren Clairburn watches them then turns back and climbs onto the porch and goes into the house after giving Dylan a sharp disapproving look.

All of this is witnessed by Hannah who is in the rear of the gang and looked back out of curiosity. She saw Clairburn close the door and Dylan was still on the lowest step of the porch watching after them with a smile on his lips. At just that moment Hannah stumbled over a small branch and looked down to keep from falling. Slightly embarrassed she made sure that none of her friends had noticed and then looked back to see if the pretty boy had seen her clumsiness. He was gone. She scanned the circular drive and could not see him and it had only been a second or two not enough time for him to go back up onto the porch and back into the house, not unless he was the Flash, but there was no sign of him. It was almost as if he had vanished into thin air. She chewed her lip and caught up with her friends but didn’t say anything.

 

The kids split up after making their way off Clairburn drive and went home to do their chores and make sure the parents would let them have the weekend camping outing they had planned. True to their word, several of the kids helped Quinn take care of her Chores at the stables, and while some of the parents had some trepidation, after all the kids were teens now and there was always that parental worry that trouble would find them, finally all of the kids got permission under the condition that a couple of the kids older siblings would chaperone the outing. And so it was that by six o’clock that evening the kids were on their way.

 

Spoiler

This concludes the first scene/session everyone receives 2 XP and if you have contributed to the Project +1 Bonus XP

If y'all could toss me some suggestions for which siblings will be acting/volunteering as chaperones please do so in the OOC thread.

Session two will begin shortly maybe today probably tomorrow. I will be continuing it in this thread instead of making a second thread.

good job so far y'all

 

[Nina]

II

 

The cabin was old, especially by today's standards and even then, there was literally nothing of the original structure still present, it,  having been first added onto, then absorbed into, and eventually replaced by what stood today. It was nestled into a cove off the lake and on land that was eventually to be claimed by the Walsh’s, the land was heavily forested but not easily accessible due to the sharp ridge that rose from the edge of the lake into a small peak some hundred and sixty feet up into a narrow plateau before gently leveling off. While the land on either side and higher in the mountains had seen development this jut of land was still virtually pristine.

 

The cabin, or lodge, itself, stood in much the same place as it had for over two hundred years, even though it wouldn’t be recognized by those early pioneers.  The main building of the structure had begun life in the late 18^th century as a single roomed log cabin nestled into the side of the cove the ridge rising up behind it while before it lay a small natural harbor on the lake where boats and canoes could make easy landfall. It is not known if this earliest rendition of the cabin was built by or ever even occupied by a Walsh or any relation to the family of today. It is known that it was used by the earliest whites who hunted and fished the lake and surrounding mountains.

 

By the early 1800s the original cabin had been rebuilt, still one room, the lower quarter of the walls had been replaced with stone and an additional smaller building attached which served as a small stable. It was during this period when for the first time the name Walsh became attached to the cabin, a mountain man called Lemuel Walsh took up residence there and claimed the area as his stake. By the time o the gold rush and the establishment of Blairsville, Lemuel, and acquired a wife and several children and at least three of his relatives from up north, two brothers and a cousin, had joined him each making claims on land in the newly formed county.

 

Over the next hundred years the cabin was  sporadically occupied and when it was in use, it was never for more than a few weeks or months at a time. The Walshe’s had moved to the city and used the cabin on the lake  as a retreat more than anything else. It was during this time that most of the modifications and additions were made.

The original Stable room was torn down and rebuilt as a large bunk house and a new stable was built away from the house. A second set of bedrooms was attached soon after the civil war and after that a second story was built and the original bunk house turned into a kitchen dining area. In 1906 the whole cabin was dismantled and a stone foundation laid then the cabin was rebuilt on this foundation yet again, this is the buildings we see today, although 90% of the structure has been replaced over the years with new material and a few additional rooms and amenities such as indoor plumbing and electricity have been added. Indeed, even to this day each generation of the Walshe’s have added their touch to the old cabin and camp.

 

Summer in the Appalachians hot and humid with late sunsets. The Walsh road kids were out of school and off for their first adventure of the summer a Memorial Day weekend at Silas’s family’s lakeside camp with its two-hundred-year-old cabin and the best camping and fishing around. Most of the kids would ride over to the camp in Jordan’s twin brothers, Craig and Keith’s pickup, along with Jordan’s dog Banner. The two boys would be filling in as chaperones along with Beau and Kinkaid Hollins, Quinn’s brothers. However, the Hollins’s including Quinn, wouldn’t be arriving until later that evening since it was Graduation and Beau was getting his diploma tonight. Because of graduation and the Hollins late arrival Silas and Hank had volunteered to ride and lead some horses from the Hollins stable out to the camp a few miles away on the lake.

 

With all the chores done and bearing their packs of clothes and goodies The girls minus Quinn all climbed into the back of the  pickup around seven thirty which was just about the time Beau was getting called to walk the stage and receive his diploma. Silas and Hank had left the Hollins stable about thirty minutes earlier mounted on a familiar horse and leading another. The kids in the truck made a stop at a local store to buy some soda and even more snacks including some for the large pooch, then they were back on the way.

 

The cabin was located on the large stretch of land owned by the Walsh family since colonial times, it was undeveloped and fairly rough terrain, the only access to the cabin, aside from the lake and several hiking and game trails, was a single dirt road which followed the ridge after coming off of Haizlip Ridge road. The ride was uncomfortable and fun and by seven thirty the girls and Jordan’s two brothers had arrived at the cabin having passed the two younger boys, Silas and Hank on horseback about a ¼ mile back up the road. Everyone chipped in and unloaded the truck while they waited for Silas to arrive with the keys. Banner had leapt out of the truck as soon as the tailgate was dropped and ran off toward the water and Jordan had to go collect him when he didn’t heed her calls. By eight o’clock the boys on horseback had arrived and opened the sprawling cabin up and the kids hauled the weekend’s provisions inside. As the kids put things away and decided who was sleeping where Quinn finally arrived with her brother Kinkaid, Beau had gone home to change and would come later.

 

It was twilight, a little after eight thirty and all the friends were together. It was summer and two months with no school, it was summer and things were about to change for all of them.

 

Map

Spoiler

on the map below you can see the general layout walsh road where your homes are is on the right at the top the area at the bottom and on the left border by the red dotted line is the Walsh land on the lake the cabin/ camp is indicated there

 

[Dawn OOC]

“So.” Kinkaid paused expectantly, eyeing his sister in the darkened interior of the car. 

 

Her thoughts of Bey-bey’s training over the summer slipped away. Quinn glanced at him, waiting. After a moment of silence, she sighed, “What?”

 

“I may have swiped your yearbook,” he told her.

 

“That makes you a jerk, but that’s nothing new,” Quinn said, not sure where he was going with this. 

 

“I saw what Keith wrote,” he told her, his eyes on the road.

 

Quinn took another look at him; he should have risen to the bait about being a jerk. “Okay. He’s a jerk, too.”

 

“Do I need to talk to him?” ‘Kaid asked, glancing at her.

 

She blinked in surprise at the anger on his face. “About bein’ a jerk?” she blurted, just before her brain realized that her brother was working himself up over a stupid drawing of a penis. It took another second for her to understand that her brother thought Keith had meant something hinky by it. She couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped her lips. “Kaid, are you seriously talkin’ about defendin’ my honor?”

 

“Well, you are my little sister,” he retorted, jaw firmly set. Though neither teen realized it, the two of them shared the same stubborn frown on their faces. Add in the black hair and long features common on the Hollins side of the family, and sometimes people thought they were twins. 

 

“Defending my honor,” she said, caught between disbelief and humor, “from Keith Johannson? Where was this outrage when Randy Trask wouldn’t stop pulling my pigtails in second grade?”

 

“It’s different now,” he pointed out. “You’re older, and he’s… said some things around school.”

 

“You say things about Candy all the time,” Quinn stated. Even in the dark, she could see his blush at the mention of his long-time crush. 

 

“Candy’s not my sister, and you are,” he said firmly. 

 

“Woooooow,” Quinn drawled, “double standard much?” As the cabin came into view, she added, “Look, if I need help with my honor, I’ll letcha know. Otherwise, butt out.”

 

Kinkaid scowled as he parked, but his headlights had passed over the corral and the sight of Bey-bey inside had already knocked all thoughts of ‘Kaid or Keith from her head. It was summer, and she was going to get to ride and spend time with the horses for two months. Stupid messages in her yearbook and her brother’s even stupider sexist statements were forgotten as she trotted over to check on the horses. Hank and Silas had done an excellent job as always, and she patted the horses goodnight before heading into the cabin.

 

“Alright, where are we?” she said, bustling into the kitchen, eyes sweeping the counters for food to be put away. 

 

“We’re all good,” Craig told her with a nod, gesturing at the pantry. “We knew Mom would get mad if we didn’t clean up after ourselves.”

 

Quinn rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Everyone did okay, so we all get a cookie, I think,” she told the room.

 

“Too late,” Keith said, coming up behind her and holding an open package of Oreos over her shoulder. Half of it was gone, and Quinn snatched three herself before they were all gone. Neither one of them reacted to Kinkaid’s glare at the other boy.

 

“Dinner?” she asked, stuffing the first cookie in her mouth. 

 

Hank pointed to the old grill on the deck outside the house. “Hotdogs are cooking,” he said in his steady way. 

 

“And then whatever else you want,” Silas piped up from the living room, a plate stacked with chips, dip, and some kind of brownie. “We got enough for everyone.”

 

“And then some,” Hannah softly added between nibbles on cheese balls. 

 

“Then we may have enough once Beau gets here,” Kinkaid said. That got him several stares, as Beau wasn’t the only Hollins kid with a reputation for eating like their horses. “I’d fill up now, if I were you.” He shoveled a heap of dip into his mouth with an unbroken Dorito, all of the food disappearing in one chomp.

[Malachite]

Kinkaid tended to be a simple guy. Food, horses, and girls were his primary interests, like his older brothers. He wasn’t prone to moodiness or sullen swings, though he could be a bit stubborn. He also didn’t hide his emotions well, and Silas knew him well enough to see he was agitated about something. 

 

He’d just decided to say something to ‘Kaid when the older teen approached him. “Hey, Silas, can I talk to you for a moment?”

 

 Silas nodded and the pair moved off away from the others for privacy. Silas frowned in a touch of worry. “Is everything okay?”

 

“Maybe. Keith has been saying things about Quinn, so keep an eye on him.” Kinkaid mistook the confusion on Silas’s face and added, “I’m not asking you to get involved. Just let me know if he steps over a line with her.”

 

“Unless he’s going to dress up in a horse costume, I doubt Quinn’s going to give him the time of day,” Silas replied drolly, but his eyes did track over to the particular Johansson twin. People always seemed surprised that he could tell them apart, but for Silas they’d never been all that identical.

 

“You know, she’s fifteen. She’ll start noticing boys soon,” Kinkaid said with a frown. “I know she’s horse-crazy now but she’s gonna grow up and soon--” He caught himself and shook his head. “Just keep an eye on him. He’s been talking shit.”

 

Silas shrugged and nodded. “Okay,” he agreed. He stepped away from Kaid and around a corner towards one of the bunk rooms. Once he was out of sight, he braced himself against the wall and put his hands on his legs, taking a deep breath.

 

He had to ask me to keep an eye on Keith. Why couldn’t Craig be the one with a crush on Quinn? He drummed his fingers and tried to think of some way for the rest of the night not to be totally awkward and awful. 

 

He came back into the great room and asked, “So, who’s up for ‘Never have I ever’? I think there’s some beers and Smirnoff’s in the den fridge from the last time Dad and the uncle’s went fishing.”

[Asarasa]

With the sun below the horizon, the heat of the day was eased slightly, the breeze off the lake balmy and refreshing, twilight promising to grow cooler as the night got later. Jordan was at the grill, minding the hot dogs - only a few perhaps blackened more than they should have been - as she looked out over the deck towards the lake and the stars above, idly sipping at her big glass of pink lemonade twisted with Spite, melting ice cubes clinking.

 

On the patio table, the pitcher of lemonade and bottle of Sprite were both more empty than not. Banner, Jordan's big fawn-coloured, dark-faced dog she'd gotten for her birthday last year, had claimed the deck chair she had vacated to tend the grill, his amber-brown eyes flicking from guardedly watching the shadowed landscape about the cabin to Jordan at the grill, silently willing her to toss him a hot dog or three his way.

 

"Nuh-uh, Banner, you already had your treats," Jordan said, playfully wagging the tongs at Banner before turning the hot dogs. She was always carefully about giving Banner any people food, didn't want to him to get any bad habits, or a bad diet. "But I have a couple of apples for you, later."

 

Banner was a Kangal Shepherd, not that common outside of Turkey, but their popularity had been rising in the last several years. A friend of Jordan's mother from back when she was a competing triathlete had started breeding them in the US and had asked Skye Johannson if she wanted one, and she had, giving it to Jordan for her fifteenth birthday. Banner was already four months at the time, but Jordan had fallen in love with the puppy instantly.

 

And like the dog, over the last year, Jordan had grown tremendously. Where it seemed she was outgrowing everything, Jordan had been overjoyed that Banner seemed to grow along side her. She'd been warned his breed needed a lot of exercise and a fair bit of space, so Jordan took him on her daily runs, in the morning and evening, and played with him all the time.

 

Banner had of coursed investigated the lake as so as they arrived, like he did everything, as though he'd never seen a big pool of water ever before, then took him on a run around the edge of the property line. Kangals were loyal and protective, made surprisingly good family dogs, but needed to know what and where they were guarding. Banner didn't seem to mind that his flock were a bunch of teenagers instead of sheep or goats or whatever they guarded in Turkey.

 

The run had done Jordan good too, helping her to put Dexter out of mind for now, instead of dwelling on how hurt she was, and how much she wanted to make him hurt.

 

"You okay, She-hulk?" Craig asked his huge, younger and only, sister, as he stepped out onto the deck arms full of trays for what was going to go the grill after the hot dogs. Banner perked his head up, and after placing the plates on the patio table, Craig skritched him behind the ears, Banner's muzzle rising in delight, hind legs vibrating against the deck chair as he stretched.

 

"Fine," Jordan muttered, finishing her lemonade and plunking the glass down on the table harder than necessary as she aggressively started removing the cooked hot dogs from the grill and transferring them to a waiting tray.

 

"Wanna talk about it?" Craig asked casually.

 

The twins had talked about what they had heard about Jordan and Dexter Fox, and while they didn't know the details, they both had their suspicions. Keith had wanted to head off and do something to Fox right after school, without any real planning... like usual. Craig had wanted too, as well, but wanted to know more first, then plan a prank of disproportional response. Jordan was the youngest of the Johansson siblings, and while it was still disconcerting that she was also the biggest and strongest, she was still his - their - little sister. Yeah, they still messed with her, but if anyone else did, they messed with all the Johansson brothers too.

 

"No," Jordan growled bluntly, slamming the tongs down on the hook to the side of the grill and turning around picking up the tray mounded with hot dogs.

 

Craig held up his hands in surrender. "Sure thing, sis. Just an offer. From Keith too, if you want to talk, or just vent or something. S'long you don't vent on us."

 

Jordan sniffed from her lofty near head taller in height, but gave her brother a nod. She wouldn't actually tell him, or any of her brothers, what had gone on between her and Dex, but at some point, she'd likely bitch or want someone to clobber in sport or physical activity, and if her brothers were offering.

 

"Maybe."

 

Jordan walked into the kitchen with the hot dogs. "Dogs are done, come get'em while they're hot," Jordan called out, just after hearing Silas' suggestion from the great room. "I'd rather Truth or Dare."

 

That way, if there was something she didn't want to say or admit or talk about, there was an option so she wouldn't be welching on the game.

[Shameless]

Hank had tended the horses once they brought them over, after having helped unload.   Once that was done he head inside with his own gear, and quickly picked out where he was going to sleep.  He'd brought much more than the others, a side effect of being a scout.  Nobody said anything about it, long used to how he was, and he soon joined the festivities.  

He helped bring in the food from outside, and was among the first to fix a plate, choosing to enjoy it in personal silence, letting the others mingle and converse, thinking about how this, even if it was "chaperoned,"  was the way to start a summer.

He chuckled when Silas called out to them, starting out with "Never have I Ever" as the first game of the night.   "God I hate this game." he muttered softly, even as he smiled.  

[SalmonMax]

Rochelle started out helping bring stuff in, and then just sort of vanished at one point, between the cabin and the car. It was towards the end anyway, when most of the party goods were already moved, so folks were too busy to to chasing after her. Roach had always been a bit like a cat in the group, vanishing for days or even weeks at a time, only to return later as if nothing had happened. The duffel she'd brought, supposedly full of Mentos and Pop-Rocks, had also vanished.

 

It hadn't really been full of those things, of course. It had a top layer of some bags of chips and a few loose bottles of soda. Under that was a cloth divider. Under THAT...was the real cargo.

 

A bunch of little battery-powered amplified speakers. Several Bluetooth digital audio devices loaded with spooky sounds. A homemade fog machine, with a little improvised switch she could activate with her phone. Three triple-element LED lamps that could cycle different colors, also remote-controllable. All her hoarding parts for a hypothetical 'ultimate rave' was paying dividends now.

 

She wasn't missing long though. Just took enough time to dump the duffel in a safe spot away from the cabin, then bring it back. Then Roach rejoined the other kids. Well, kind of. She mostly hovered by the snack table, stealing munchies and watching the tiny little dramas unfold.

 

When she was satisfied she'd been observed as present for long enough...Rochelle slipped away again, this time to set up some stuff in the woods. Bluetooth range wasn't terrific, but it had the advantage of not needing as direct a line of sight as infrared control. Besides, the speakers were too small to carry far anyway, so distance wouldn't be a big deal. She covered them up with leaves and twigs and similar so they'd be hard to see if you weren't looking.

 

The lamps she set up at roughly equidistant points around the cabin. Each had a sort of soft haze filter in front of the LEDs so they wouldn't be too sharp and clear. The fog machine was...a gamble. Roach took the wind and tried to put it in a spot where the breeze would carry the fog towards the cabin, far enough away that the noise wouldn't be easy to hear. If the wind changed direction, that'd spoil it...but she only had the one, so it would work or it wouldn't.

 

Throughout the preparation, she made a point of occasionally being seen at the cabin again. Usually lurking outside it, digging a hole here, peeling bark off a tree there. Sometimes stopping in for another can of soda, or a handful of Doritos. Because of that, it was getting on dark before she was done...but finally she thought it was ready.

 

...and just in time for freaking 'camp games.' Ugh. Maybe she could run home and get more stuff and bring it back and set it up too?

 

Oh well.

 

"Someone say the 'dogs are done? Sweet. Gimme a couple of those with, like, everything on them."

 

Craig waved her to a stop. "Wash your hands." At her aggrieved expression he stood firm. "Seriously. You were walking around out there, getting poison oak and dirt and all that on you. Wash up."

 

Roach threw her filthy, filthy hands up, and stalked to the kitchen to wash up before getting her well earned nitrate-laden treats.

[Noir]

When Hannah finally made it home she was greeted by her cat, Rembrandt, sitting on the table near the door and expressing his displeasure at her tardiness with an unending series of meows.

 

"I know. I know. Gimme an earful." she says as she reaches out to scritch him on the head. The cat tilted his head back and began sniffing at her hand, taking in the various scents gathered at Hollins' place from helping Quinn with her chores.

 

"You are like a jealous girlfriend. You know that?" she said down to him, finally scritching him on the head and heading to seek out her parents.

 

After some talk and phone calls and a snack, she got permission and walked briskly back to her room with Rembrandt in tow. Using Remmy as a sounding board, she debating what outfits and swimsuit and books to bring. She liked the cabin and found it often inspiring, partially due to the scenic nature of the place, but also due to the memories made there, so she made sure to grab her camera bag and the old, worn notebook of her rough writing (before she would transfer it into a small, leather bound journal she had on her shelf).

 

Once packed and showered, she said bye to Remmy with some belly scritches and caught a ride with the others out to the cabin. She helped carry in things, at least as much as she could, and got settled in before meadering around with her camera, taking shots of her friends and around the cabin during 'magic hour', with the smell of the grilling hotdogs luring her back.

 

16 hours ago, Rochelle McKendrick said:

 

"Someone say the 'dogs are done? Sweet. Gimme a couple of those with, like, everything on them."

 

Craig waved her to a stop. "Wash your hands." At her aggrieved expression he stood firm. "Seriously. You were walking around out there, getting poison oak and dirt and all that on you. Wash up."

 

Roach threw her filthy, filthy hands up, and stalked to the kitchen to wash up before getting her well earned nitrate-laden treats.

 

"Hotdogs and... Chernobyl-dogs." Hannah added as she nudged one of the few that got overcooked. "Carbon is not a food group you know?" she said teasingly to Jordan, drawing forth a smirk from her larger friend, which only caused Hannah to laugh as she made her hotdog and added a handful of chips to her plate.

 

Hannah sat down and took a bit of her hotdog, listening to the suggested games and rolled her eyes with a grin.

 

"So we are gonna be the teen cliche then, eh?" she teased and then took another bite and a swig of her soda.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Noir

[Nina]

The kids stuffed themselves on hotdogs, chips, and soda; a few vegetables and bottles of water had made it in for the healthy mined among them, but starch-free was pretty much off the menu. The younger crew of kids sat in a group circle, with Roach as usual a little more distant than the others while still technically a part of the group. Jordan’s twin brothers lazed about nearby eating and drinking but they were paying as little attention as humanly possibly to the former freshmen. Quinn’s brother Kinkaid had skipped eating and drinking in favor of leaning near the front screen door watching for Beau, scowling each time he looked back into the room at the kids or the twins.

 

The kids finished munching and finally decided on what game to start off with. They did a quick clean up and put away the food stuffs, but when they tried to grab the few beers and wine coolers from the fridge Keith and Craig grabbed the alcohol away from them. Before the argument could escalate, they were all interrupted by the shine of headlights through the front windows as not one but three or four vehicles pulled up next to the truck outside. Beau had arrived and he wasn’t alone.

 

Silas gave the motorcade an agitated frown as the than a dozen older teens intruded on his weekend. The older teens leapt out from the cars and began unloading several cases of beer and not a few bottles of hard liquor. He wasn’t the only one upset: Quinn figured out what was going on immediately and stormed outside. She paused only long enough to accuse Kinkaid of knowing about this all along - to which he just gave a weak shrug.

 

“What are you doing?” she hissed at Beau when she caught him coming around the back of his truck with two cases of beer in his arms.
 

“Relax Quinn, we just want to have a little party to celebrate graduation without everyone breathing down our necks. This place is perfect and none of us could afford to go to Atlanta for the real parties. So we're just going to have our own for tonight, ok?” Beau said as he went past her and into the cabin and straight to the kitchen. When he came back out he caught Quinn still glaring at him; he sighed and caught Silas’s attention, waving him over to the side away from everyone else.

 

“Hey man, I know this is kind of rude and shit, but I didn’t have time to talk to you before. These are all my friends. Most of them graduated tonight like me but can’t afford the trip down to ‘lanta for the big parties.” He paused as Silas looked around at the stream of older teens going in and out and then at Quinn.

 

“What about us? This is supposed to be our party. What if our folks find out? You guys are supposed to be watching us," Silas protested softly. 

 

Beau gave him a big grin and reassured him, “Everyone'll be gone by morning and then it’s yours for the rest of the weekend. Promise.”

 

“Yeah, well, what are my friends supposed to do tonight while you guys drink and whatever?” He didn’t mention the beer and coolers he'd tried to pilfer for those friends. At least at this point getting hold of a bottle of something wasn't going to be difficult.

 

Beau grinned wider, “I thought you guys could crash tonight out in the old bunkhouse. I know it’s not as comfortable and cool but I brought some sleeping bags and I’ll even let you guys have some beer. And,” he sliped his hand in his pocket and brought out a small wad of folded bills, “for your trouble and to keep it all quiet. What do you say, buddy? It’s all up to you. Fun night for everyone and you start the summer with some cash.” Beau presses the cash into Silas’s hands.

 

Silas took deep breath; his shoulders droop a little and he nods, pushing past the older boy as he slips the bribe into his pocket. He made his way over to collect the other kids and point them to the old bunkhouse. He could get them pizza or subs or something tomorrow as an apology with Beau's cash and he just wasn't up for a fight with the older boy tonight.

 

The old bunk house was located back away from the main house beyond the small stable and was jutted back up against the ridge itself. It had always been there, as far as Silas could knew and had always been called the old bunk house. He never knew why, since it was more like a storage building than anything else. It was a single room building, wider than it was long, with windows along the front and the sides. Of course none where the back wall faced the ridge because that would have made it nicer with a good view. As far as Silas knew it had also never actually held bunks, but he supposed it could have in some distant past. What it did hold were loads of crates and boxes, some of which hadn’t been opened in a hundred years, and piles of dust and cobwebs.

 

“Really we are supposed to sleep in there, is there even any electricity in this place?” asked Quinn, who was very much not happy with any of this.

 

“We could sleep outside it’s a nice night and we have sleeping bags,” Hank suggested as he looked around curiously. He'd never been in this building before - none of them had.

 

“What’s in all those boxes?” Jordan asked as she looked in the window, her cellphone light glinting off the cobwebs and revealing the piles of unopened boxes.

 

Roach was quiet; at first she'd been disappointed, but as he brain raced in it’s twisted way she saw the possibilities.

 

Spoiler

as usual ask if you have questions

 

 

 

[Dawn OOC]

Quinn fumed as she threw Beau’s sleeping bag on one of the studier-looking boxes. Every motion radiated rage as she collapsed next to her bedding, scowling at the floor. “This is bullshit!” she snapped as soon as the last of her friends were inside the bunkhouse. “We were here first, and it’s not even his cabin!”

 

She turned dark eyes to Silas, pleading for him to see her point. “It’d serve him right if we ran back and told Mom and Dad about this!” Silas knew she’d do it; she’d saddle up Bey-bey and head back to their house in the pitch black if she thought it worth the effort. 

 

“Yeah, and your parents would get out here,” Silas said reasonably, “and half of them would have already had their fun. But we wouldn’t get to have our weekend.” He pulled out the bundle of cash. “We have more options now than we did. I thought we’d get pizza or something tomorrow.”

 

Quinn blinked and grabbed the money, giving it a quick count. Pushing it back into Silas’s hands, she said, “Not enough payment for the shit they're pulling. So what are we going to do about it?”

Edited February 28, 2020 by Dawn OOC

[SalmonMax]

Roach sauntered over, the biggest shit-eating grin slowly spreading across her face.

 

"You guys are going to love what I have in mind."

 

Silas and Quinn turned to give her a questioning look. She waggled her eyebrows.

 

"We're going to wait for them to get buzzed...maybe a little drunk, but not, like...stupid passing out drunk. Then we're going to scare the living shit out of them. Literal brown stains." She shifted her vocal register up in pitch, "'But Roach!' you say, 'How? We are but helpless teens!'"

 

She spread her hands out. "I have the cabin wired, bitches. Like, all around it. Wired for sound. For light. I even got a fog machine. We'll have ringside seats."

[Shameless]

Hank wasn't happy that they'd been kicked out for the night.  Thee money would be nice for the rest of the weekend, but all the same, he was in a foul mood after this.  "I agree, we can't just let them get away with this.  They think because they're older it's fine, but seriously, they did us all wrong, just so they can drink and party."  He smiled at Roach, who probably had something really sinister planned.

"I don't want to hurt them, or anything, just let them know they can't get away with this."

He looked over to Quinn  "Telling our folks will just get the whole weekend canceled like you said.  So this is something we'll just have to handle ourselves."

[Malachite]

Silas hesitated, wanting to just curl up and wish the seniors out of existence if it meant he could have his weekend back without so many complications. He gave Roach a look that said volumes about his opinion of her wiring up the place to scare the crap out of them, but there was just a hint of a smile. After all, it was Roach and they probably would have laughed their asses off about it afterward. "Okay. I'm in, but if we're going to do this, we should go all in. After all, once Beau figures this out, he's probably going to kill me."

He looked around, going to one of the random boxes that hadn't come from his attic last summer and pulled the lid open. "Let's see if we can find anything in here to do stuff with. What kind of sounds do you have, Roach? Ghost stuff? Chanting? Howling? If we're going to Blair Witch the party, we should give them some creepy things to trip over outside the cabin."

[Noir]

"Well, if we're going to do this, then you should give one of us the money to hide, because they'll probably be pissed off and come looking for it." Hannah casually suggested to Silas as he started looking through boxes. She would have well, except t was his family's stuff and she felt it would be a bit of an intrusion, and totally not because the boxes were probably brown recluse dens or something.

 

"Ignoring the fact that you just-so-happened to have the place wired up, what exactly are the rest of us to do?" she asked Roach

[SalmonMax]

"Sit back and enjoy?" Roach suggested cheekily. She took out her smartphone and brought up the bluetooth app that would control the audio.

 

"We have...growls, distant and up close. Creepy children singing. Creepy children giggling. Creepy whispers. Backward-masked man. Backward-masked girl. Backward-masked demon. Roaring from Jurassic Park. Slow footsteps, fast footsteps. Never gonna give you up..."

 

She looked up from her phone. "That's for the rickroll at the end. Anyway, all this we can sort of fade from one speaker to the other, and the lights can flash or fade in and out...change colors..."

 

"If you really want to do stuff, we could use some people in the bushes maybe? Moving things around? Like rustling in the bushes. Just watch out for the poison oak."

[Asarasa]

19 hours ago, Silas Walsh said:

"Okay. I'm in, but if we're going to do this, we should go all in. After all, once Beau figures this out, he's probably going to kill me."

 

"Beau will have to go through me first," Jordan assured her shorter, slighter friend belligerently. "I'm in."

 

After getting dumped by Dex, the big girl hadn't been in the mood to take shit from any boy, least of all any older than she was, but she'd kept her cool, barely, for Silas' sake. Her twin brothers had made themselves scarce as the younger teens were banished to the bunkhouse, though they had returned her glower with identical sorry-not sorry- but-really-actually-kinda-sorry shrugs. Rayland would have probably been here too, if he hadn't worked his ass off to graduate a semester early, and had decided to skip hanging around for graduation to go backpacking across Europe.

 

Banner had contented himself a single growling bark, picking up on Jordan's irritation. The huge dog settled down right in front of the door, looking out into the gloom, letting out a long, canine sigh. An dark ear twitched.

 

Wanting to move and do something, Jordan helped Silas look through the boxes and crates, using her brawn to open any that seemed stuck or rusted shut.

 

21 hours ago, Henry Alan "Hank" Leesford said:

"I don't want to hurt them, or anything, just let them know they can't get away with this."

 

"They could do with a little bit of hurting," Jordan countered, bullishly. "Maybe some dumping in the lake. It'll serve 'em right."

 

11 hours ago, Rochelle McKendrick said:

"If you really want to do stuff, we could use some people in the bushes maybe? Moving things around? Like rustling in the bushes. Just watch out for the poison oak."

 

Jordan narrowed her blue eyes suspiciously at Roach. It seemed awfully convenient that Roach already had that kinda stuff set, but Roach was awfully tricky too. Maybe she knew what was planning already?

 

"I could do that, move things about, the bushes stuff," Jordan offered over her shoulder.

 

The others gave Jordan doubtful looks. The buff blonde was capable of many things - being circumspect wasn't one of them.

 

"If one  of you can sneak their keys, we can put the cars in neutral and push them, move them some place else to freak 'em out, maybe."

[Nina]

While Silas and Jordan shifted and opened old boxes the other kids found places for their sleeping bags and all the while Roach gave instructions for the haunting to come. Banner who had been the lazy dog lifted his head a growled looking beyond where his owner was working and just then, as Silas moved a heavy box, behind where he labored a stack of boxes rising all the way to the ceiling teetered and began to fall!

 

Spoiler

Silas and jordan each need to make a test to either catch the falling boxes (jordan) or get out of the way (silas)