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PETITION EVENT: Meeting Martin Pratt
In response to the upcoming event where everything written in the journals will suddenly be anonymous, Martin Pratt (the Gooseberry graduate who invented them) will visit the school to fix the damage. Everyone will see him wandering around campus from time to time, but he'll mostly be distracted and unhelpful when taking breaks from his work.
However, one student will get an opportunity to speak with him on the morning of the 11th, right before he leaves. They'll be passing the office he was lent, and he'll call them inside to ask for a little help. Finished with his responsibilities, Martin will be much more open to holding a conversation. What this means is that whoever is chosen as a result of this petition event will get to roleplay a complete scene with the NPC Martin Pratt, who knows a lot about the journals, Anonymous, their brother, and the history of Gooseberry itself.
RULES AND GUIDELINES
- Fill out the form provided and post it here.
- You have until May 5, 11:59 PM. After which we'll choose, and the winner will be contacted.
- You may write as much or as little as you like, but we're looking for thoughtful responses to get a good idea of what your character would do with this information.
- You can enter as many or as few characters as you like.
- We're looking for characters who are both active and appropriate within the narrative. All this means is that we need you to justify why giving your character this opportunity would add to the story of Gooseberry.
- Having received previous spooky/metaplot events does not make us less likely to choose your character. Please apply if it interests you!
- What is currently known about Martin Pratt: He's a Gooseberry grad (former Ebonhide) and a Muggleborn. According to Mr. Elmasry, who was an underclassman when Martin graduated, he was eccentric and spent a lot of time alone in the woods. There are rumors he married a vampire. (Yes, Martin's graduating year is a slight retcon of previously released information, just roll with it!)
- The magical journals first came into use in the summer of 2011, i.e. just before our current seniors started sophomore year, and the first anonymous post didn't appear until January 2012.
- Meggie will be playing the role of Martin.
Character:
What would they want to ask or talk about?:
What would they do with the information?:
Anything else you think is relevant:
PETITIONS
Chris Park
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Ho boy. Chris has been very invested in this mystery all year, along with Robin and Tess. But he also remembers nearly everything that has happened this year, including being one of the few people that knows that Tess has already received a letter from Martin, and the contents of that letter. Most of what he'd want to talk about is the anonymous writer and the possibly growing threat of the anonymous writer.
This year feels unprecedented (correct me if I'm wrong) because this is the first year that the anonymous writer has offered them prizes for answering questions. In Chris's opinion, the prizes feel like they're meant to anchor them to Gooseberry. He'll tell Martin that the prizes have a tether to Gooseberry and won't work once they're gone. But the prizes are also some kind of magic that nobody else can feel except for who the prize is meant for. And he'll want to know if Martin knows anything about that. How is it possible to make a magical item designed specifically for one person that won't work for anybody else without that specific person taking any part in it? He'll also bring up some other strange happenings - like what happened to the junior ebonhide cabin when they were all locked in their cabins. And the weird deer dolls a handful of them came back from break to. That creepy video they could access for that minute they had random wifi. How this entity seems to have the ability to enter cabins without setting off any wards or unlocking any locks, but asked to be let in on the night of the lock in - and then left
Chris will describe Anon's recent changes, how they seem less talkitive, how they seemed to want the kids to stay here forever right before ulysses disappeared for three days, how they always run away at some point, because of 'brother'. Does Martin know anything about brother, because the kids sure as hell don't but Chris wants to. Anon says that they're not a ghost, and Martin says that the journals are on a locked network that can't be accessed by anybody that's not in gooseberry, so is it possible that the anonymous writer is another student, locked in here with them - does that possibility exist? What are Martin's personal theories on who the anonymous writer is based on what he knows about them that nobody else does, and does that question even matter? And how is it possible that even when they're all anonymous, Anon knows who they are?
But Chris also wants to know about the history of Gooseberry. The Anonymous writer clearly can't leave here. It's anchored here somehow. So what existed here before Gooseberry did. The forest is obviously some kind of magical - why?
His final inquiry would be whether Martin believes that the anonymous writer, or that their brother is dangerous to them - does Martin believe that this break from the pattern of what the anonymous writer usually does - a pattern that hasn't broken since the anonymous writer appeared - symbolize something is wrong?
What would they do with the information?: Chris wants some kind of validation. A lot of kids here are feeling unsettled by the forest. He isn't terrified of it like a lot of kids are, but he's gotten more wary ever since his rock. He wants to feel validated in that apprehension. And he'll do what he always does with information, he'll share it with Robin and Tess and use it to further their scooby crew. But he wants answers, and he believes that everybody else deserves those answers too.
But it also depends on what answers he gets. He could be asking questions that Martin doesn't know the answers to - questions that only the anonymous writer knows. So the answers determine what Chris does with them, but there's a good chance he just publishes them all. He's not a sophomore, there's no secret seance.
Anything else you think is relevant: I feel like a lot of this probably overlaps with Tess and Robin (if they enter this petition) since they're all in the same group, sharing the same questions. That's not entirely relevant, just an acknowledgment. I'm sorry, this was a lot, but I'm very invested in this mystery and so is Chris.
Ennis the Fanboy
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Ennis doesn't care too much about the journal system, but he's more interested in learning about Anon and Brother and if there are any other forest entities that Pratt knows of. The only thing he would ask about the journal system is how Anon and Brother are able to manipulate it; they can make posts anonymous, they can make text uniform but they can make their own text smell unique to themselves, and Anon has shown that they know the identity of users even when the post is Anonymous.
He's honestly looking for any information that would humanize Anon/Brother and give insight to their motivations. After the Evercreech Incident, he's a bit wary of them for the first time and wants any reasoning to not be afraid.
What would they do with the information?: It depends on the information he learns. If anything he learns is remotely positive about the entities, he's going to treat it as gospel and spread The Good Word to his fellow students. Not immediately, but whenever negative Anon talk comes up, he'll use select quotes from the meeting to try to show Anon in a good light.
If he learns anything incredibly negative about them, he definitely won't reveal it to others unless something happens that completely destroys his faith in Anon/makes Ennis fearful of it. He's truly, truly a dumbass who would try to contact Anon directly to verify what he's heard from Pratt, and he'd be more aggressive about trying to get a response than his "leave a letter and run" method he's been using.
Anything else you think is relevant: I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE RIGHT NOW. :(
Robin Youngblood
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Robin would have a lot of specific questions. He considers this shit practice. Some examples include:
While his questions would center around the journals, he also might stray into territory like what kind of weird things happened in his day. Like space bears on the roof, did they ever get space bears on the roof of the lodge?
What would they do with the information?: Every single thing he said, no matter how batshit, would go in Robin’s senior project. He would discuss it with Tess and Chris and would definitely go on just a few more ghost hunting missions, even if every single thing Martin Pratt said was “do not go hunt ghosts, that is a bad idea, this is all a bad idea.” If there was any kind of comment about “oh yeah I was doing this and then this happened!” Robin would try and recreate that moment. And his anti-prom theme might turn into “Help Robin Solve This Fucking Mystery” and will possibly forget about things like music and booze.
Anything else you think is relevant: Robin has met Martin Pratt once before, and he told him to write a letter if he had any questions, but Robin does not come across well in writing (I don’t know if I could say he comes across well in person, but he can at least communicate better in person). He would definitely prefer an actual conversation, even if there was a lot of rambling. This would also go on his resume. But Robin is putting everything on his resume. He’s desperate to pad this shit out.
Ivy Templeton
What would they want to ask or talk about?: In roughly this order, she'd ask as many of these questions as he let her:
Beyond that (I KNOW I'M SORRY I'M ALMOST DONE), she'd be happy to take any sidebars into the nitty-gritty technical stuff behind the journals, talk about her own senior project, talk about Laurel's senior project, talk about her relationship with her sister (if Laurel came up, she'd take the opportunity to ask if Martin has any siblings, and if they also went to Gooseberry), talk about the local history of the area (including asking about possible mining sites if she has that info by this time), talk about what kind of work Martin's doing now and asking after what it was what he wanted to do when he was in high school, talk about Mr. Elmasry or other notable Gooseberry alumni that overlapped with him, talk about the staff and her classes and how they've changed since he attended Gooseberry, and possibly divulge some of the information she's learned about Anonymous and Brother if he seemed interested.
What would they do with the information?: If he wouldn't be off-put by her taking notes, she'd write it all down as they spoke. If this doesn't seem feasible or polite to her at the time, she'd write down as much of it as she could remember immediately afterwards. Ivy's got a personal notebook that's already full of meticulous notes about Anon, and this would all go in there. As for who she'd share it with: probably anyone who was curious. She's big into group problem solving and is always happy to have another set of eyes on something. She's working with Neil & co to go GHOST HUNTING, so she'd definitely share them right off the bat, and she'd probably stay away from straight-up just telling everyone, but she'd be very willing to share her notes.
What she personally does with the information is going to depend partly on what she learns and partly on how other people take it. She tends towards being passive herself, because she's a little bit of a scaredy cat, but a properly intriguing lead would motivate her to investigate, as would the slightest amount of peer pressure. We're also tentatively planning to have Neil & the gang go to the Grotto on the weekend of the 13th, I think? So the extra knowledge might be useful for ghosty hunting :>
Anything else you think is relevant: FIRST OF ALL: I don't think Ivy's going to have a reason to use the felix felicis candy on a like, an RNG roll before the end of the schoolyear (... unless if she uses it to avoid being caught by staff while ghost-hunting and can ALSO be like a guide dog for everyone else and stop all from getting caught but they seems like a stretch), so I'd be cool with her blowing it on trying to find an opportunity to grill Martin for information. OTHER STUFF: Although she's a little socially reserved, Ivy has a certain amount of shrewdness that can be useful in gently coaxing information out of less-suspecting targets. Her natural curiosity and strong background in charms/hexes/spellwork would allow also her to carry a competent conversation with him on the technical details of how the journals worked. and also i do think it'd be funny if she had a big dumb crush on him
Laurel
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Laurel does have questions and concerns about the Grotto, the way the journals actually work and their relation to anon and brother, etc -- but she would spend the majority of this conversation asking direct questions about the nature of the entities, why they behave the way they do, what their motivations might be, why recent changes have occurred, etc. I can't promise that she would be especially logical in laying out her ideas, and there would likely be things that slipped her mind (she's more emotional about this stuff than she likes to let on) but she would tell Martin everything about what she's experienced: the flowers, the deer dolls, the night of the Masquerade, things she and Ivy saw with the Probity Probe, Wes, direct journal exchanges with anon, etc. She would very much want to know what Martin thought of these things, and if there were anything he could tell her about them.
What would they do with the information?: I'm not going to lie, she would gift it straight and directly to Ivy. She knows that other people are looking into things and that there's a whole lil Ghost Squad etc, but her sister is the one she'd think of first and trust the most, mostly by default. I could see her also approaching someone like Cricket or Chris, but primarily only if Ivy thought it would be a good idea or encouraged her to do so.
Laurel is working through a lot of thoughts and feelings about anony, her relationship with the entity, and various things she's observed or heard of. She struggles a lot with having strong instincts that anony is not bad and doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but having concrete evidence that there are things in the woods that are honestly dangerous and possibly actively malevolent. :( She dislikes wondering if she's rational; it ties into being the "less responsible" twin. This information might also result in her being more active and vocal, and possibly investigating on her own terms.
Anything else you think is relevant: ♥
Isabelle Sargent
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Isabelle has been trying to research what's going on since the Seance. After that, she was both a) freaked out and b) intrigued. She thinks her classmates have a death wish and, like some reasonable people, thinks 2 is bad. Or at least, associating with 2 is because brother is bad. AND knowing that they can communicate through Seance just left a whole other slew of things to be concerned and confused about. SO, seeing MR. Journal Maker himself and knowing through the grapevine that he has some knowledge on the entities, she'd bring a pen and paper and take meticulous notes as she asked him things like --
- Are the journals able to be 'hacked'
- Why do they break sometimes?
- Does he know who the forest Entities are?
- Has he encountered them before?
- How does the journal get imprinted with a scent, since no one but 2 seems to be able to do it? (And possibly Brother?)
- Are 2 and Brother actually related?
- Are they dangerous?
- IF there are actually two of them, is one dangerous and the other not?
- Does he know if 2 is a girl or boy?
- What does he know about Elmasry?
- What does Mr. Elmasry have to do with the forest entities?
- Is the Grotto safe?
- Does he know why they can communicate via journals and - yes she's mentioning it - seances/ouji boards?
and whatever else she can get out of him.What would they do with the information?: She would tell. Everyone. Isabelle isn't about to try and make 2/Brother look good or bad. If she was wrong, she'll share it. If she was right, she'll share it harder. This isn't for her own personal agenda or sense of self-preservation. She's worried about her friends who don't take it serious. She's worried about everyone who thinks 2 is some kind of lonely friendly spirit who just wants to talk to someone. Isabelle wants confirmation on whether or not they should talk to this thing or not, if doing a seance was a horrible idea that made it stronger or not. Like, ALL THE THINGS. And once she has some solid answers, she's telling everyone what she knows. She's going to TEACHERS if she has to, and be damned what her classmates think.
Anything else you think is relevant: Isabelle IS easily influenced by her peers. I think if there was enough backlash she might not tell teachers, or she might not put everything she knows on blast. I think she'll try and be sensitive about it, particularly because of Laurel. She's a smart girl, though, and she let peer pressure get in the way of her better judgement about the seance, too. She doesn't want to let that happen again.
Tess Noble
What would they want to ask or talk about?: Tess has spoken to Martin before via letter, but his notes on the workings of the journals were... beyond her. She would hope that talking to him in person might be more productive and coherent.
She would want to ask him, first of all, if he's learned anything new. Have any of the experiments he mentioned in his letter panned out? Does this new event tell him anything new? Does he have any new theories?
As a former student, what was his experience with the entities - if any at all? Was the Grotto there when he was there, and did it have any particular feelings associated with it, like it was anyone's home? What could be making the entities increasingly active lately? What sort of power and skill would the entities need to do the things they do - "hack" the journals in ways he never intended, waltz into cabins through locked doors, and cause terrifying visions?
Frankly, Tess doesn't care about the intricacies and inner-workings of the journals - sorry, herm nerds. She just wants to know if the entities are dangerous and if the students here are safe.
What would they do with the information?:
Add it to their crazy conspiracy cork board with yarn and pictures. Carefully consider them. Likely share them with close friends who are also investigating the mystery. She's generally for openness, and feels like the student body deserves to know what's going on, but she also doesn't want to cause a panic or a riot, so it would depend on the implications of the information she got.Anything else you think is relevant: Tess has been pursuing this mystery with the Scooby Crew all year. She started off as The Skeptic, convinced that there was nothing weird going on. It was some kind of prank (or a series of pranks). Maybe "anon" was a journal feature, or a staff member, or something, but god damn it, there's a reasonable explanation here so long as they approached it with logic instead of hysteria.
Eventually, Tess had to admit that something strange was going on. In some ways, that made things more interesting, but it also made them scarier. Things got weirder, and more serious. Larke and O'Hare showed up. Cricket's little brother was kidnapped and almost died. Tess is ready to leave high school itself behind, all the drama and homework and quarantines, but she's not ready to leave the mystery behind now that it's real. Frankie is still here, and if she doesn't solve this, and she leaves, how can she protect her?
OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
fake petition goes in ooc thread
What would they want to ask or talk about?: She only has one question, and it's "Are you really married to a vampire?"
What would they do with the information?: If he said "yes", she'd proceed to tell everyone so. If he said "no", she'd proceed to tell everyone that he personally told her that he is, in fact, married to a vampire.
Anything else you think is relevant: 😎
Re: fake petition goes in ooc thread
i would link sexy art meggie drew but she is asleep right now and is probably going to yell at me for even saying that much
Re: fake petition goes in ooc thread
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
#gbconspiracytheories
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
Brb finding yarn and a cork board
Re: OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
(Also, life update: less tired, still having to deal with crazy ass parents so my kiddos will pop up and comment before I start posting at the weekend! love y'all <3)