There was a bit of shock in Will's face when he heard his name being called for the Wizard Team? Was this some kind of sick joke? Was Schmoe right in the head. He would know that placing him on the Wizard Team was a really stupid thing to do. He walked up to the place where the equipment was but also looked toward Schmoe "Is this really okay?" No context, take that as you will. He meant it mainly for himself. Was it alright to place a Muggleborn on the Wizard Team? He put on his Wizard pinnie and took just one net.

He turned away from the Muggle Studies Professor then looked over to where the Wizards were gathering and joined them. Standing next to uh...Aries? No Atlas. Who really cared.

The only good thing about this was that there weren't any real Muggles involved on the "Muggle Team." Ivy still found herself wondering about the ones that had been kidnapped for that awful DADA lesson - nope, not going to think about THAT part of the lesson though - and she still hoped that they were somehow okay, even if it seemed unlikely.

But, having been assigned to the Muggle Team, she also wasn't sure how she felt about having to give up her wand yet again. The idea of letting the other students cast spells at her didn't sound fun, not when she wouldn't be able to defend herself. Or...at least not defend herself with her wand, because depending on Schmoe's answer to Ashley's question, she might be able to in other ways. Punching something did sound pretty nice right about now, but not so much her fellow classmates. A certain Not!Headmaster though...

But alas, that wasn't gonna happen this lesson. Anyway.

She handed her wand over to Professor Schmoe and grabbed the pinny for her team.

Alexandre was not offended that Professor Schmoe had called his answer weak. Because he knew that he wouldn't have said that if he wasn't being watched. He understood he had to say that, he really did. He still thought his answer was a good one. He didn't like fighting. Why would he stick around to get into a fight unless he absolutely had to?

Anyway.

Alexandre made his way to get his team pin. And found out that he was on the muggle team. That was fine with that. If he could have had his pick that's what he would have chosen anyway. Hiding sounded more fun. And, as just established, he didn't really like fighting. He just hoped that the hooded figures weren't going to be playing. While he had a bit more faith in most of his classmates, he was a bit afraid that the hooded would actually send painful spells even though they were only pretend muggles. But it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it anyway. He handed his wand over to Professor Schmoe and joined the group of his teammates that was forming. Did anyone have any strategies? Alexandre didn't really, and he certainly wasn't going to be the first one to speak.

They were now going to hunt each other??? What was this term!?! Kale looked at the kids from the Room™, especially the younger ones, and started to track who was going where. He didn't like when they were left defenseless without their wands and he didn't like it equally as much when they were assigned wizards and asked to hunt their peers.

This stunk.

He barely noticed the team he was assigned when he tugged the Team Muggle vest over his head. Kale was too busy scanning the room. It took him more than a minute to come to and notice his team. Sigh. He turned in his wand without compliant.

Oooooh, a game!

Dahlia loved playing games. Or well... she did. Hearing the rules of the game put somewhat of a frown on the young girls face. She could recall playing something similar to this at home with all the kids in her family. They always had a great time playing it too. Now... well... with everything going on, it felt wrong. Getting to use magic and nets to capture one another? This might have sounded like more fun if their current situation wasn't as it was.

Hearing her name spoken along with Wizard, Lia sighed. Truthfully she would've preferred to be on the Muggle side, then at least she wouldn't have to capture anyone. Silently she made her way over to collect a vest, tugging it on over her robes then grabbed a net as well. Slowly she wandered over to join the Wizard group.

So what was the plan?

Mamie was still shook about the whole Aboli situation, but she was somewhat cheered by Schmoe recommending they use her spell suggestion for their game. Who's smart now?! Mamie, Mamie was smart! Plus, then she was on team wizard! So she could keep her wand for once!

If she could pretend Aboli was fine, this day was really turning around for the twelve-year-old.

She went to the front and grabbed her wizard vest, and put it on, then pulled out her wand and shuffled to join the wizard group, with some girls her age and Moose and that Nemesis kid and...one of the Flamsteeds? No equipment for this child, she had her wand, after all! She was kind of excited to chase and capture her classmates. It was just a game, right? Mamie was competitive, so...she was going to put her whole effort into this game, Inquisitorial Squad present or not. "I think we should split up," she suggested, since it seemed nobody else had any strategy ideas. As seen five minutes ago when Schmoe agreed with her spell suggestion, Mamie had good ideas. Even if she was a Muggleborn.

Flynn was....silenced. That was fine. It made her wand hand twitchy, but it was fine. This all was fine.

What else was fine? Schmoe's response to her. "Sure, professor." Was all she said in return. They could pretend this was the new way, Tavie was good at acting after all. She could keep up this charade for however long the term continued on.

Though she wasn't sure where this lesson was going until Schmoe finally revealed their activity. Tavie... had no interest in pretending to hunt her classmates. Nor did she have any interest in giving up her wand. Thankfully when the professor looked at her, he placed her on team wizard. Or maybe not thankfully, since she didn't plan on attacking anyone? Hmm.




Dutifuly Octavia went and retrieved her pinny. She did not retrieve any supplies, however. Being sixteen and having her wand, she was perfectly capable of summoning those objects or casting a spell. That was the point of this activity, right? That at least was how she would see it. This was wand practice with friends.

She went over with the other crowd of 'wizards', putting on her pinny and otherwise remaining quiet until one of the smaller students spoke up. "Alright." Tavie smiled a little at the second year Hufflepuff encouragingly. "If we split up, we should have a somewhat even number of upperclassmen with each group." Schmoe was still splitting up the class, so it was too soon to tell what team everyone was on.

In the past, Violet had always been eager to answer every question, eager to advance and earn points for her House. But the apathy she'd felt since being exiled to the under-dungeon had not gotten any better, and she just didn't really care about the class discussion, or points, or what was going to happen, or anything. And there was the Inquisitorial Squad, as usual, bullying everyone and getting all bent out of shape when someone questioned their bloodlines. Which caused Violet to perk up a little--that was an interesting question. In her experience, people who were bullies, so eager to impress on everyone that they were better and more powerful, were usually insecure. She certainly hadn't noticed any of them risking themselves at the dragon preserve; no, they tried to get a bunch of little kids to do the dangerous part for them.

And now Schmoe's announcement of an activity--of course there had to be an activity--penetrated the fog surrounding Violet's brain. She was not surprised to be assigned to the Muggle team--Rosier had probably instructed Schmoe which students 'deserved' to be on the underdog team. Once she would have been miffed to have to play a Muggle, but now she just didn't care one way or the other. But she was really tired of having to hand over her wand to people all the time, she considered as she handed hers over. Really, she had grown quite dependent on it in just a few short years of school--most wizards were, as a matter of fact. That was a weakness of theirs, and it would probably do them all good to practice doing things without magic once in a while, just in case they might need to some day. Like, right now she felt like if she wounding up punching someone in the course of this exercise, it wouldn't bother her much.


Sorry, just got to this class today--been dealing with plumbing problems IRL (could use some magic here myself)

Morgan wasn't sure if he was becoming desensitized or just numb to everything that was going on. He was fairly used to the hooded creeps lurking around every corner and looming about in their lessons. They were a daily, annoying presence, and he'd learned to tune them out the best he could as the fight really wasn't in him anymore.

The defiance at this point seemed useless and he'd watched in casual disinterest as Aboli spoke out and was predictably cast upon by the hoods, though he did find it slightly interesting that her friend who undermined their spells wasn't punished as well. Or it looked like maybe they'd cast a trip jinx, he couldn't quite tell. And not that he wished for anyone to be hexed or jinxed or worse, it seemed more like a prank than the learning opportunity that Schmoe claimed it to be. What did Morgan know though?

He was a little more horrified when Flynn addressed the hoods directly though. Even if he had been completely respectful, he should know better. Didn't he remember when Phoebe lost her teeth for simply smiling at one?? And so he cringed slightly when one of the hoods pointed a wand at him. Morgan didn't see anything that looked bad, so hopefully he got off easy.

Morgan was so bored with this lesson on how Muggles Are Terrible Part 86 and had gotten a little consumed in his own thoughts that he almost missed the next part of the instructions until Schmoe assigned him to Team Wizard. Oh... they were playing a game? He was a little surprised to be on that team, considering he was one of the incarcerated, but okay. He could use some spell practice since he rarely had his wand anymore.

Nets and ropes though? That seemed barbaric and... well, to be honest, like muggle things. Weren't they meant to use their wands and magi? Wasn't that the whole point? Morgan didn't collect any of that for himself, but did grab his vest and walked over to the team just as he heard Tavie and a younger student mentioning the strategy of splitting up. "That's cool with me." He did not have a better idea, even if he had a spell in mind. And there were a lot of first and second years who could probably use the help of an older student. Which apparently was him now.

So...

Atlas was surprised just how long the silence droned on among the group as their numbers grew and when someone did finally speak it was almost deafening. To the first year at least even though the Hufflepuff had spoken in a perfectly normal and sensible tone. Though it did not encourage him to speak up much and he sort of just nodded along a bit until the one pretty older Ravenclaw girl spoke up about balance and dividing up based by year...which he somehow took offense to. Not that he had much ground to stand on.

"...I'm only good at Summoning and Levitation Charms," he admitted under his breath while looking down at his feet. "...and some cleaning magic." So...he was going to need to be paired with someone who could compliment and utilize his skillset appropriately. "...so...I could be on one end of the space...and summon a net to myself...like casting a fishing net...and I can run fast..."

And trip over his own feet but you didn't tell people your weaknesses like that.

Heath watched the hooded figure’s tripping jinx, and just like that the fighting (if one could call it that) was over. While he’d give Schmoe credit for standing up for the students at all, he was disappointed. He wished that just once a professor would hold their own to the hoods and not back down after the initial confrontation! Oh well, that was too much to hope for, he supposed.

He showed no reaction to the professor’s reply or to the instructions for the game. He was past the point of being shocked or appalled; all he felt was numb. Wizard team or Muggle, he didn’t care. Whether it was a physical fight or a magical one, either would give him the chance to release some of his pent-up aggression. He would’ve preferred to unleash it on an object or better yet, Rosier’s minions instead of a classmate who did nothing to deserve it, but he’d take what he could get.

Heath made his way to the front, avoiding Schmoe’s eyes as he collected a vest and pinny. Muggle… of course. That was all everyone saw in him, just a carbon copy of his muggle father. Why should this be any different? He handed in his wand without complaint and joined the rest of the muggle team, standing with Claudine and Ashley. At least the girlfriend was on the same team. No matter how angry he got, no matter what the activity required, he absolutely would not fight her!

His dark eyes scanned the area, sizing up the other team and then his own. Ashley, Bernie, Claudine, Minjae, Ivy, Alexandre, Kale, Violet… decent team. They might actually win this! A plan began to form in his mind, but he hesitated to speak up, not wanting to come across as bossy or inadvertently steer the group wrong. He didn’t want a repeat of the kelpie lesson from a few terms ago! Was anyone else going to say anything? No… okay. Looked like he had no choice then. “I think we should use the buddy system,” he said, keeping his voice as low as possible so as not to tip off the other team. “Split into smaller groups of 2-3 people so there’s someone to defend you if you get hit with a spell, and if you have to fight…” Should he voice his idea out loud? He doubted it would go over well! “Try to make them drop their wand… then use the time it takes them to pick it up to run. What do you think? Any other ideas?” He searched his teammates’ faces for any sign of a reaction. He was open to anyone else's ideas!

Finneas blinked a few times, he was quite uncomfortable. This whole game made him uncomfortable. The whole lesson, actually. The whole year. Technically speaking? Everything made him uncomfortable. AnYwAy. "No punching please, Ms. Fox. But, er, you are allowed to resist." As in running. Hiding. Wiggling free? Whatever their imaginations could come up with. Except punching. No punching. Please.

..... Are teeth allowed? Er. Finneas paused for a moment thoughtfully. "Er, yes, I... Suppose that would be fine." Because Minjae was referring to biting through the rope, yes? Not that.... That seemed like it would work. But, er, Finneas hadn't considered any other implications that may come with that particular question. He was.... distracted still.

Finneas looked over to Moose, having heard the question. Not entirely understanding the context. The game? It wasn't okay. None of it was. But because he didn't want any more intervention from the... Hoods, he quickly straightened his back. "It's er.. It's.. Please join your team." That was... hard.

_____________________________

Anyway, ANYWAY, AnYwAy.

Look at that? It was time, wasn't it? Finneas pocketed the wands for safekeeping before raising his own to put up a protective barrier around the circle of cones. This would keep students from leaving the circle, though they were already briefed on the boundaries.

He cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "One again, as a reminder, the wizard team must c-capture those on the muggle team and put them into the muggle p-pen," he raised a twitchy hand and pointed to the fenced off area that would serve as their muggle pen for the lesson. "M-muggle team, you are allowed to resist the best you, er, can. As for spells," here he paused to look at the gathered eerily silent up until a few moments ago Wizard team. "Please keep your spells mild, I er, I recommend the use of incarcerous, ebublio, and Petrificus Totalus."

Here he took a sharp breath. "I will give the muggle team a minute should they need a head start." He paused, allowing for the extra time. Once some time had elapsed, he raised his shaky voice once again. "Let the hunt begin!"

OOC: Hi, we're in the final stretch! This activity will go on for THREE days. I'll be posting in this thread throughout and will give more specific time warnings as we go. There aren't super strict rules here because I wanted to allow for some stretching room, but I've tried to highlight all you need to know below, so please take a look!

Things to keep in mind:
+ The field is MUDDY (it rained the night before)
+ It's not pitch black out, but around sunset-ish so it'd be darker out
+ Boundaries: Students must remain within the coned off area at all times. It's a fairly large area!
+ Muggle Pen: The fenced off enclosure at one end of the field.
+ There are plenty of trees, bushes, mud spots, puddles around
+ Refer to this rough (real rough) diagram

Rules:
+ Team Wizard: Capture all the muggles & throw them into the muggle pen ; Team Muggle: Resist capture, escape the pen if needed, hide
+ Wizards can use magic or provided "hunting" supplies
+ Muggles are not allowed to use magic, but can still resist capture in other ways, find a way to escape the muggle pen, etc
+ Please be reasonable and don't break bones, I trust y'all. ok? ok.

Logistics:
+ Continue to title your post with which team you are on
+ I'll be posting sporadically to introduce/remove barriers and other things
+ Please be mindful and limit yourself in terms of how much you're doing in a single post, as to allow others to interact creatively and take part
+ Work together, allow chaos to do its ~thing~, have FUN!

As always, please nudge me via PM or VM if you have any questions!

Mamie nodded excitedly as some of the big kids, Octavia and Morgan, agreed with her idea. See? She was smart. Maybe even she was smarter when she had her wand? Or the fresh air? She was definitely happier and more confident in the fresh air. She glanced at the Flamsteed twin. Aries? Maybe? Or was this Atlas? as he muttered something that she did not hear. Was he suggesting a spell or disagreeing with their plan? Mamie had no clue. "One group per big kid?" she said, making another suggestion because the last one had gone over so well. Encouragement worked wonders on Mamie's willingness to cooperate.

"Can we go that way?" she pointed with her wand in the opposite direction of the pen area, then looked to see which big kid (and possibly other little kid) wanted to go with her. Freedom and competition made her confident, and she wanted to get going, now they'd waited for the "Muggle" team to have their head start.

Go team!

She'd somehow already forgotten poor Aboli's dismissal from class. She'd remember and feel guilty again when they returned to the room and she had nothing to do but feel regret.

The Snakette decided that she liked the Muggle team. It was even better that Heath got selected. Naturally, he already had a suggestion; a suggestion she happened to like, by the way. “If we’re caught, we can try biting them,’’ Claudine whispered back, briefly thinking about Minjae’s question and Schmoe’s response.

“The darkness could work to our advantage,’’ Claudine mused quietly. Of course it wasn’t that dark but still. The mud also… []ihmmm.[/i] “We could throw mud at the other team if needed.”

And so… this is the hunt.

“I guess we start hiding now.’’ Claudine didn’t expect the entire group to stick together and supposed that each person had a plan of their own or with a friend. She personally liked the idea of small groups. In any case, she started off, slipping and sliding, towards one of the trees within the coned area. It would be a good place to start and to stay hidden for a bit.

Ash nodded at Claudine. "Crazy." You know what else was crazy? They were allowed to bite, but not punch. Made no sense. "I agree with the groups idea. And sometimes mud has rocks in it, so throwing it is probably going to be effective." She ran after Claudine, somehow managing to keep her balance. Trees. She wanted to climb one. Then jump down behind a wizard and scream real loud. It would scare the daylights out of them.

Violet huddled around the group, listening to Heath's ideas, then spoke, her own voice lowered like his had been. "Those are all good ideas. Also--use the element of surprise whenever possible, get them before they see you and have a chance to use their wands. Also..." and here her eyes began to twinkle, just a little bit, "...also....MUD!"

Ivy stepped closer to the rest of her team when they were gathering to form a plan, listening to Heath's plan. Splitting into smaller groups definitely sounded like a good idea. Spreading out was important either way, but sticking with a friend or two would definitely be helpful. They were stronger together than they were alone and all that. Plus using their surroundings to their advantage, like the waning sunlight and the mud, as Claudine and Ashley and Violet suggested, was good too.

And...biting too, apparently, though that seemed like a last resort type of thing.

So Ivy nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Professor Schmoe was clarifying the activity again and then...it was time to begin.

"I'm gonna head this way then," she said, nodding in the opposite direction from where Claudine and Ashley had run. Good to spread out as much as possible, yeah?

So off she ran, assuming that one or two of the others would follow if they wanted to.

Not considering themselves part of the wizard team so much as the wizard group, Nem certainly no interest in speaking up to contribute any sort of strategy. When the others started to chime in, they disengaged further, standing by in silence and simply waiting. Those avoiding them, or catching their eye, need not concern themselves; Nem did not intend on forging any connections here today.

Or, it turned out, on getting as stuck into this activity in the way Schmoe was expecting. This particular professor had a thing about spoiling fun before it even got started, and had already started harping on about using mild spells. So.

Once the wizard team had been set loose, Nem did indeed move, but only to return to the professor and ditch the vest back on the pile it had come from. They remained silently by Schmoe, arms folded, wand still in one hand, looking out over the circled off area and offering no explanation.

Finneas hadn't noticed Nemesis veering off the group, so that when he turned and saw them, it nearly made Schmoe jump out of his skin.

...............

"Errr..." The noodle-man blinked a few times, unsure of what to do or ... why this was even a thing? He was meant to keep an eye on the entire class, but for the moment his attention was on one Nemesis of the Upstead variety. "Is, er, do you need something?" Was there a reason why they weren't wearing their team attire?

Will was looking between his team trying to gather what their plan was? At most it sounded like he and anyone that was in their first year would accompany the older students. But that didn't really sound like a strategy it just sounded like more pairing. "Shouldn't someone guard the pen if we catch one of them?" It sounded like the Muggle group could try to escape and in this exercise they wanted to keep them locked up. He hated the idea. It was basically just what was happening to them The Room right now. There was someone always guarding them just outside that door.

He stopped speaking for a moment when Nem just up and walked over and stood beside Schmoe. Not Fair. He wanted to just go and do that too. But he was no where as brave as Nemesis was.

"I can volunteer to do that. So I don't get in the way." He added on. Making sure they knew that he would be a hinderance if he paired up with any one of them.

"No." Nemesis didn't look at Schmoe, but they'd still caught, in the steadily darkening afternoon, his obvious signs of surprise. They filed the memory away for a future laugh, but remained impassive for now. "Not feeling too well."

Nem paused, watching the muggle team break away in the distance. Their wand hand twitched.

"Don't want to risk any lapses in judgement."

SooooOOOOOoooooOOOOO...

Atlas was kind of hoping someone would jump on his suggestion with the net and maybe he had high key been hoping it would be Nemesis and he was nodding lightly towards Stallion or...er...Stag...or...er...whatever name for a male animal it was that the older SLYTHERIN was going by. Relatable content though, not wanting to get in the way and all. But before the first year could confirm that he thought a guard was a good idea, the older Slytherin was walking AWAY from the group and that was giving Atlas all kinds of bad feelings. Did it mean Nemesis thought that they were all stupid? Hopeless? Worthless?

It was all he could do to stare, mouth slightly hanging open, and entirely missing what it was the more talkative member of their group thus far - the Hufflepuff - was saying. Wh-wh-what if...what if Nemesis went to Rosier and gave all of theirnames and said how ineffective they all were!?


"W-w-we won't get anywhere just standing here!" he suddenly spoke, absolutely no plan in his thoughts at ALL other than just not standing her like a bump on a muddy log. He had thoughts about using the environment to their advantage, all the mud, and it was another spell that he kind of sort of knew how to use. Ish. But...well...panic was sinking in at the thought of being labeled worthless by Nemesis Upstead, so the Gryffindor was, er, Gryffindoring and taking off towards a group of the Muggles team with his wand thrust in front of him and directed towards the ground with a rather unusual battle cry.

"SPONGIFY!"

Because...what was better than mud? Even muddier mud...like...uh...quicksand mud. If the ground were soft enough they could all just sink into it and then they could Mobilicorpus them into the pen!

So much for teamwork?

Poor Schmoe had no idea what he had meant with biting, did he? It was pretty obvious he was still distracted by the events of what had happened to Aboli. But the confirmation was all he needed. However, upon viewing who was in the wizard team his face fell. He could not bite the first years hands! Great now he needed a different plan.

Speaking of plans, the Hufflepuff turned to Heath who began to speak about using a buddy system. He folded his arms and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His idea was not a bad one but lately anyone telling him what to do and playing ‘the boss’ was getting on his nerves. He could think for himself, thank you very much.

But before he could say anything which was probably for the best because The Hoods were still present Schmoe called for the start of the activity and he watched the group spread out in smaller groups. Minjae sighed and was about to turn and run when something caught his attention.

Don’t mind the activity, he was more interested as to why Nemesis Upstead was not going after them but returning to the Professor’s side. They had seemed so eager to steal his bag last year during Defense class that they had almost blinded everyone in the room so why……

But then he heard a shrill battle cry (Atlas) and the seventh year finally reacted. He saw the little first year running after one of the teams and he quickly ran the opposite way, alone.

Dahlia was more than just a slight bit confused. Did her team have a plan or didn't they? The talk of breaking up into smaller groups and going after one 'muggle' at a time made sense but... no one seemed to be doing much yet. Probably because they hadn't started... until they had.

Nemesis was on their team, yet... they weren't? Why had they grabbed a vest if they weren't going to join in and help? What was even going on there. She didn't really know but she also didn't have time to dwell on it.

Glancing around, Lia spotted Atlas running after a group of 'muggles' and grinned a little. "Need some help?" she called out running over towards her follow first year, wand grasped tightly in her hand. He could work on spongifying the mud and then she could capture them?

It was silly, but there was a naive part of Kale's baby brain that hoped when the time for this barbaric class assignment started that all of his peers would choose to stop. He knew the Hoods wanted to punish everyone at the school, cull the ranks of young witches and wizards here, but if they wanted the parents of these kids to comply with their new world, they couldn't kill everyone. Seriously.

Killing people doesn't make them like you. It just makes them dead.

Unless they planned to wipe out a mass majority of adult witches and wizards who would no doubt retaliate if their children were killed, something had to give. And Kale stupidly was always hoping that moment was now.

When Flamstead shot off the first spell, Kale went running. His eyes darted to track all of the younger kids who were on the muggle team. Just in case they needed help.

And he also kept an eye on Nem. If an opportunity presented itself to punch them, he would. Again, he'd heard what they had said about his dead Dad.