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 Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:16 am
The day began bright and early, with a breakfast of toast and eggs cooked on a camping stove. After everyone was fed and watered, he lead the group through a very quick wilderness safety lesson, to follow last night’s this is how you build a campfire without generating so much smoke that everyone dies tutorial. Once satisfied that no one was about to go stick their hands in poison oak and everyone knew how to treat heat stroke and frostbite and splint a sprained limb, it was a short ride to the rafting company, where everyone learned what to do in case of capsizing and got fitted with life vests, and then, finally, it was another bus ride to the launch site. “All of the rapids on this stretch of river are considered class three or below,” Finn explained, once everyone had filed off the bus and kayaks had been assigned. “And we’re not going to hit anything tough until we’re about an hour downriver, so you all should have plenty of time to get your bearings and figure out how this works. Go with the flow, aim for open water, and avoid the rocks - easy, right? I’ve got a hundred-dollar gift card to White River Outfiters for whoever makes it to oars out fastest, with the fewest spills. ” “If you fall out, keep your feet up and head for shore. I’ll go first on the bigger rapids so I can grab any stray kayaks.” After a moment’s consideration, he added, “We’re going to be on the river for about three hours, so let’s go ahead and get started. If you’ve got any questions about paddling, let’s take care of them before we get too far downriver.” Prompt 1 And we’re off!The river at oars in is wide and mostly flat, the perfect place to practice paddling and find your sea legs, but a few meters downstream, the current changes into two distinct channels. Closer to the right bank, the water moves quickly, with a light chop, while towards the left bank, it’s much slower and smoother. You…A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw! B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right? Please post your selection in BOLD font at the top of your response post!You have until THURSDAY, MAY 22ND at 9:30 AM PST to post your choice for this round! There will be five rounds total, and you cannot make up missed rounds (the results from the previous round are posted at the start of the next, so it wouldn't be fair). You will receive a positive or negative point total for each round you respond to, and a null point value for rounds you fail to post in. The player with the highest score at the end of the game will receive the IC prize as well as a stick of the winning character. I will also be raffling off a stick from among everyone who posts at least once, so if you decide not to go for the high score, that's cool, too!
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 5:11 pm
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
Marissa had only been able to get through the experience of camping with a bunch of other knights—most of whom happened to be very young looking twenty-somethings—through the assistance of a few drinks.
Alright, more than a few, but it wasn't like anyone had been counting.
Well, not anyone that mattered.
In any case, it didn't bode well for her the next morning. On the one hand, she was grateful for the sunshine, as her sunglasses looked in no way out of place. On the other hand, it caused an aching pain in her skull that three Advil and a s**t ton of water hadn't quite cured yet.
Why she'd even agreed to come along, she had no idea, but it'd seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, being around a bunch of teenagers and/or those who were barely adults had a way of reminding her of her advancing age, which she tended to put a great amount of effort into resisting. The specter of forty loomed right around the corner, despite her insistence for the last ten years that she continued to remain a sophisticated twenty-eight.
She highly doubted she was fooling anyone around here, but she'd be damned if she gave up just because she was being confronted by all these fresh faces. She still looked damned good for her age, thank you very much. Not many year-from-forty year olds could still rock this purple bikini.
Of course, the swim shorts and rafting gear kinda made it loose its effect being that it was more or less entirely covered.
Into the water Marissa went, ignoring her aching head and taking up her oar with the determination of one attempting to prove that she was still young. The slow channel along the left bank held absolutely no interest to her aside from a vague thought that it might have been the better idea under the circumstances. Instead, Marissa went right.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 5:38 pm
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
A camping trip to start the summer? Hell yeah!
Dominic signed right up for that, though with the slightest bit of reluctance considering who he'd be going with. Surrounding himself with a bunch of other knights was definitely not on his list of things to do that summer. He'd been more enthusiastic about it before, but as of late he just wasn't...feeling it? Headspace-wise, anyway.
What ultimately convinced him though? S'mores, whitewater rafting, and the possible chance of seeing a particular someone clad in a bikini if she were so inclined. He couldn't be sure if she would be, but it was something to hope for at least. By the time he'd finished breakfast he was already set to just enjoy the trip; as long as he wasn't in uniform, he could sort of just consider it a regular camping trip.
A skills class and some bus rides later, and they were finally on site. Dom was fitted his in vest and raring to get in the water, so he fidgeted with the clips and whatnot, bounced in place and glanced around while Finn chattered on, until they were finally allowed into the water. Dominic paddled forward at a considerable speed, working his kayak more to the right and toward the faster water. Nothing wrong with getting a little head start, yeah?
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 7:10 pm
B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right? Darren had been on the fence about this trip - he'd had to put aside other... obligations... but he felt it was worth it to spend some time with Hafwen away from the hustle and bustle of civilization. He was not a stranger to the outdoors - well in theory anyway - but camping and rafting were not things he usually did... Well rafting anyway. He'd stuck close to Hafwen for most of the trip so far, and was a bit chagrin that they were about to get on the water where he wouldn't be able stick close to her. But it was part of the course, part of the "training" so he figured he'd suck it up and if they both ended up soaked and frozen they could huddle together for warmth at the end of the run. It was summer, so he doubted they'd die of exposure. Breaking away from Hafwen with a regretful squeeze of her hand and a kiss to her forehead. "Be careful, okay?" he murmured before he made his way to his own raft and hopped pushed out into the water once he got situated. He was tempted to head toward the faster-moving water on the right side, but seeing as he'd never really rafted before, he felt that taking it easy would avail him better. After all, he wasn't in this to win.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 7:30 pm
Anabel hadn't been entirely sold on the whole operation until Finn promised that, firstly, he wouldn't make her stay on shore, and secondly, that she could judge for herself when she'd had too much and needed a break. Which, on the one hand, could end badly. On the other hand, and the more important hand, she hadn't been rafting in two years, and felt like she kind of deserved a treat after becoming a super-powered soldier of intelligence, or whatever she was. She was more like… the operations side of a knight. But hey, at least she was on the river. She sat up straight in the front of Finn's two-person kayak, a bucket of rope in her lap, and sized up the river before her. It didn't look difficult, but they were with a bunch of newbies… Anabel only hoped there wouldn't be too much life-saving to be had, because she was definitely not up for hauling multiple people around.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 8:44 pm
B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right? -- Rene severely hopes this isn't the case
Maybe he should have thought twice about signing up for a camping trip. Of course it would involve water. Camping always involved water. Sighing, Rene looked from the river to Finn as he talked. He decided right then that he was very glad he didn't understand what class three or below meant, or what classified as tough. He didn't want to know.
It was better if he didn't know.
....Wait a minute
Fall out?! You could fall out. Oh god. Oh god he was in SOOOOOO much s**t. This was such a bad idea. Was it too late to go home? Probably. Rene whined before shoving off. He just had to take things slow.. And hopefully everything would be okay.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:17 pm
B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right?
Marlin hadn't known what to think when the flyer had suddenly appeared in front of him mid-afternoon. Although he wasn't prone to receiving bits of mail via Knight ring, he had assumed by the method of thing's appearance that the sender was a Knight and although he had been in the shop sorting stock, the afternoon had been a slow one which meant that he hadn't had to try and scramble for an excuse as to how or why a bit of paper had mystically appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Babylon wasn't a name that he recognised - at least not Knight-wise although Marlin acknowledged that he, okay make that Falias, had only spoken with a small number of Knights and although there had been many different Knights of differing ranks the day that the Code had decided to whisk them all to Olympus, Falias had mainly hung by Aventine.
He had nonetheless taken up the invitation, despite the fact that what he knew of rafting able to fit on said flyer, with space (lots of it) to spare. After all if nothing else it sounded like it could be an interesting distraction and given the time he'd been having, or rather that Falias had been having, Marlin rather thought that he could do with one of those.
He had started to think differently when the reality of sitting in the raft on the water had hit, the earlier crash course not feeling nearly enough, but Marlin had signed himself up the moment that he had used his Knight ring to send back a reply that yes he'd come and that meant at least in his book, seeing this thing through to the end.
Despite seeing a couple of others (Marissa and Dominic) make for the faster moving water on the right, Marlin stuck with the left-hand side and the slower moving water. Despite this being a beginner's course, it was still his first time white-water rafting so he wanted to get the hang of what he was doing first before trying to push for more.
There'll be other chances he told himself as he paddled. I can always try hitting the faster water further down river.
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 1:01 am
B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right?
Hafwen had briefly contemplated signing up for the trip without discussing with Darren prior but was glad that she had changed her mind on that eventually. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy spending time with the affectionate idiot whom she knew would put aside everything for her sake. It was more a matter of her having to make an effort to try to include him in her life now in stark contrast to how she had led it before they got back together.
She had been looking forward to this trip for awhile really. The cast on her left arm had come off about a week ago and she was looking forward to pushing herself a little with this so as to help her regain her stamina faster. Clad in a blue bikini that just about matched the shade of her hair that was now tied back in a ponytail, she blushed faintly at Darren's words and nodded. "Mm. You too."
Giving his hand a small squeeze, she smiled then started towards her assigned raft with her oar in hand. It took her awhile, this being her first time trying her hand at rafting, until she finally got a hang of the paddling required and what was required to get her to where she wanted. She decided to go with the slower channel like Darren and a few others (Rene and Marlin) ahead of her, figuring that it was probably better to be safe than sorry lest she accidentally capsized her raft so early on.
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 6:24 am
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
Noah had jumped on a camping opportunity and arrived with enthusiasm.. He hadn't been in ages, but back before he was put upon by managing his business and knightly things he used to go often.
It wasn't until he'd gotten on the scene that he realized how long it had been and suddenly felt very old. Even outside of camping activities, he used to be all about water sports and being near rivers and beaches. How did he get so used to just... not? Even his tanned skin had started to fade a little but that was okay, because he had taken this time off and was going to have a crapload of fun.
Normally the mellow and calm individual in a group, he maintained a quiet calm through all the instruction and lead up, listening with his arms crossed, but there was a certain buzz and bounce in his movement. He was visibly impatient and excited for all of the motions he was going through.
Once on the river, he took to the choppier water without hesitation. This was going to be awesome.
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 5:17 pm
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
He didn’t bother telling anyone, but it was probably pretty obvious that Michael Gallo was quite confident in the water. Probably overly confident. But that was with good reason. Water was his element, where he felt most comfortable. Rain, lake, river, ocean, snow — anything water related he thrived in. He’d practically lived eight years of his life on the ocean, and while he hadn’t been kayaking in quite some time, he was confident it was like riding a bike.
“A little birdy told me it was someone’s birthday yesterday,” he called over to Marissa as she headed towards the faster currents, plunging his oar into the water to propel himself towards her. “Lordy lordy~” he chanted, clearly enjoying himself.
Michael was one of the older campers there, but he didn’t mind. It was knight stuff that made him feel old. This? This revitalized his teenage years.
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:38 pm
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
Will edit either first thing in the morning or after work!
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Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 10:19 pm
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
Cora needed to get away from the city, needed something that was fun instead of hospital visits and having to take it slow in everything she does since her attack. So of course she jumped on the thought of a camping trip, it was perfect. Not only would she be out of the city, but she could finally see if she was able to do things like before.
Without her boyfriend and her mother freaking out over her.
In a pair of simple jean shorts and a purple tank top, she hid her bikini under it as she glance around at the others. She gave a nod towards Darren and Hafwen before she moves to her own raft. She only been rafting once, and that was with her father. Trying to remember what he did, it took a couple minutes before she go use to the oars and the paddling. Ahead of her she could see some of the other take the slower path, and she would have had she not decided she was in this to prove to herself she could.
Shifting her weight in the raft, she moves the oars as hard as she could in the water, forcing her raft to move towards the fast moving water. If she capsized, she didn't mind.
She knew she would be okay.
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 12:30 am
B.) Go with the slower channel near the left bank - there will be plenty of chances to rock the boat further downriver, right?
Tony opted to hang back, not participating in the race, but rather there to keep a watchful eye on the collection of younger people and make sure, if he were capable of preventing it, that nothing bad happened. It was a noble goal, but he had a bad idea that the river would prove a formidable foe for the generally landlocked librarian.
He was already coming to terms with the very probably reality that he would under up under water at some point today.
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:18 am
It could be said, if one was in the general habit of understatement, that Laney was not the most coordinated human being that the universe had spat forth. While she had gotten through her school years without faceplanting on a pommel horse or putting any classmates' eyes out with a golf club, she had never really blossomed into what anyone could describe as a being of great athleticism. Her personal best on the mile run had come in somewhere in the ballpark of thirteen minutes, she knew which direction to run in baseball if she managed a hit, and she had a healthy sense of self-preservation that enabled her to represent her impressive flying-projectile-avoidance skills in a dodgeball match -- that was about it. Otherwise, she was roundly considered somewhat hopeless.
Something like white water rafting was not what anyone would have described as in Laney's wheelhouse.
But Finn had been really nice, and funny, and Laney was supposed to be trying to make new friends. And she knew all of three knights in the world, which was pretty abysmal for how long she'd been at this job now, and she couldn't really have tried to pretend she'd had a busy schedule with no room for a camping trip in it. So, instead of skipping the outing, she'd RSVPed her yes, bought some alcohol to take on the trip (because at 21 she was convinced that the person who brought the booze always got coolness points), and turned up to learn how to paddle a very large inflated banana (with her in it) downstream.
Laney was quickly learning that, even in the company of all the other things she wasn't very good at, paddling large, inflated bananas was not her best skill. She poked her oar through the water with haplessly desperate enthusiasm, silently begging it to propel her banana in the direction she wished, but she struggled to really get the instructions right in her head. Her banana was definitely zigging when she wanted it to zag.
(Could everyone tell? Was everyone silently laughing?)
It took Laney a moment to realize that the river had come to a fork up ahead and she was going to have to split off from part of the group. She didn't like the look of the water on the right, which was intimidating and which all the confident people seemed to be paddling to. The left was much more her idea of a good time: it had the gently inviting feeling of a bunny slope, and cried out for her inept kayak to join it in its friendly little meandering jaunt. Naturally, she paddled for the left.
So naturally, her kayak completely disobeyed her wishes and began whooshing off to the right.
Frantically trying to correct herself before anyone noticed, she paddled harder -- but in her anxiety about the idea that literally everyone else was somehow not paying attention to kayaking and instead paying attention to Laney Sutton's personal kayak decisionmaking foibles, she couldn't wrap her head around how to correct herself. Instead her kayak sailed with an almost mockingly unerring grace off to the testier waters on the right, where she most definitely had not wanted to be.
She plastered on a terrible, horrified smile.
No one must know.
A.) Plow full speed ahead towards the faster-moving water on the right-hand side. Yee-haw!
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:36 am
If you chose…A.) The water might be moving fast, but you’re not! It’s shallow, and there are rocks close to the surface. By the time you get your Kayak into deeper water, everyone who chose to paddle on the left-hand side is ahead of you. -1. B.) The deep water makes for easy paddling. You sail right on through this section of river, leaving everyone who picked the shallow side in your wake. +1. “So far so good,” Finn said to Anabel, once everyone had caught up. “No one capsized in open water.” So at least they had that going for them. “Rule of thumb!” Finn shouted to the other kayakers. “The faster the water’s moving, the shallower it is. We’ve got some small whitewater coming up - paddle to steer, follow the water, stay away from the big rocks. It’s a good warmup section.” Unlike some rivers, this one had a fairly easy learning curve. Prompt 2 Up ahead… The river starts a downhill course. The main channel runs through a series of three rocky switchbacks, while some water skips the switchbacks and flows straight downhill over a series of low ledges, with a lot of spray and foam. It also looks like it’s possible to skip two of the switchbacks by forcing a hard left into a large drop between two boulders. You…A.) Take the course of least resistance and head for the switchbacks - if that’s where most of the water’s going, that’s where you’re going, too. B.) Force the hard left onto the large drop - it looks like an adventure, and you’re feeling confident! C.) Paddle for the low ledges - it looks like it might be a faster, more exciting ride. Please post your selection in BOLD font at the top of your response post! You have until SATURDAY, MAY 24TH at 9:30 AM PST to post your choice for this round!
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