Open Adventure Knows No Bounds

[Mirim Park]

OoC: Open to Professors & Creatures that reside in the forest

It was the first thought that came into mind when the Headmistress gave her speech. In fact, it was the only part Mirim had listened to. And out of that part, she had only heard the words, "enticing", "off-limits" and "danger", and those words had been swimming in her mind, all night long. She could barely sleep! So at the crack of dawn, Mirim marched towards the forest with her go-to bag filled with emergency things and other things meant for...other fun. Sock was also there, but instead of cuddled in Mirim's hoodie, the bat stood on full-alert.

As far as Mirim could see, no one was there, and for now, that would do. She wondered if there were any ghosts in the forest, maybe that's what was lurking in there. Mirim reached the outskirts of the forest not before long. "Ready Sock?" She whispered and looked behind her once more, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she went into the woods.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had never purposefully broken a rule. In fact, she felt a bit sick marching towards the Forbidden Forest, her heart leaping at the thought of being caught by a professor and getting in trouble. It didn't matter that getting caught was the goal. She still wasn't looking forward to being scolded by an authority figure. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

The headmistress had made it sound like staying away from the forest was the most important rule in the school. And if she broke the most important rule, then surely they would try to send her home? Celia didn't even need them to go that far. She just needed the school to contact her parents. Surely once that happened, they would see how unhappy she was here, that she didn't belong here.

Once Celia had reached the edge of the forest, she paused, unsure what to do. It was so early in the morning that there didn't seem to be anyone out here. She squinted against the rising sun, towards the castle. Was someone watching her? It would be pointless if she entered and no one noticed. Maybe she could weave back and forth between the trees on the forest's edge? Would that look too strange?

Celia decided to make a big show of looking for any potential witnesses, craning her neck this way and that, but no one came charging forward. Maybe she had to actually enter the forest. Taking a deep breath, Celia walked forward, letting the shadows fall over her. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and it was hard to concentrate on anything besides the fact that she was breaking a rule. Celia forced herself to forge ahead, and as she rounded a tree, she nearly ran into someone. "AHH!" She leapt back and stared at the other person — a girl, her age. "What are you doing here? The forest is off-limits," she said, frowning slightly.

 

[Bern Malakas]

Bern see 2 of their fellow batch mate to enter at the forbidden forest, Bern know what to does to warn them because it off limits and were in the 1st year we know that the headmasters told us not to enter this area, Bern try his best to convince them to come back at Hogwarts castle, "Hey I'm Bern and I want to say that this are not good to enter this scary forbidden forest” please came back at Hogwarts Bern shout it for 2 people wish that he heard was his saying to them.

 

[Mirim Park]

"AAH!" Mirim shouted in surprise to see another girl in the forest. "Well, I could ask the same to you." Mirim had a smug look on her face. What are you doing here?" She then asked. Mirim didn't think it was fair for the girl to ask a question about what she was doing when she was clearly doing the same. "Off-limits, Off-schimits! If the forest was off-limits, they should have put a fence around it." Not that a fence would've stopped her, but without one, the school was basically begging Mirim to explore the forest.

When a boy approached them, Mirim knew she wouldn't be able to continue on with her plans if she gathered a crowd. She might as well get caught before doing anything. "You can stand here, do nothing, or you can come with me. Do what you want. I'm going in anyways!" She said to the girl before going deeper into the forest. Mirim's go-to bag lay heavy on her back

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia hesitated when the other girl made the very good point that if the forest was off-limits, there would have been a fence around it. That seemed like a grave oversight on the part of the school. But then again, this was the same school that had forgone proper dorms in favor of military-style barracks in the dungeons. She didn't want to think about the other girl's statement too hard. That would mean she had gotten up at the crack of dawn and entered this dumb forest for nothing.

The sound of a boy's voice caused Celia to flinch slightly, and she made out a figure just beyond the trees. Unfortunately, he sounded far too young to be a prefect, and he was definitely not a professor. But hopefully this "Bern" guy would go fetch a prefect or professor. "No way," Celia called out, perhaps a bit louder than necessary. Maybe someone who actually had authority would overhear. "You'll have to come here and get us."

Celia glanced back at the other girl, weighing her options. On one hand, she wanted to wait here until a professor showed up. But that could take a while, and she didn't want to risk having to stand here and listen to Bern who sounded like an insufferable tattletale. "I'm coming." Surely she would get into more trouble if she was found deeper in the forest? Plus, the other girl looked like she knew where she was going — she even had a bag of supplies. Celia had zero hiking experience, and she didn't really want to get lost in a "forbidden forest" alone. She followed the other girl deeper into the forest. "Do you know where you're going? Have you been here before?"

 

[Mirim Park]

Of course, Mirim had no clue where she was going! "Heck No! That's the whole point of exploring the forest! Besides I'm a first-year." She simply wanted to go deep enough to maybe see some of the dangerous creatures and... maybe capture a ghost. Then the forest wouldn't be dangerous anymore, right? And then everyone would commend Mirim for capturing the awful ghost and they would all be allowed to explore the forest."I'm Mirim by the ways, and this is Sock!" She gestured to the bat who sat on her shoulder as she continued walking. If the forest was dangerous it was most likely haunted. There was no other possible explanation she could think of at the top of her head. All forests had their danger to a certain degree, scary creatures, poisonous plants, etc. etc. But most of a forest tended to be either boring or cute animals.

Mirim walked with all the confidence an 11-year-old could have and once she thought they were deep enough (they weren't deep at all, but an 11-year-old's depth perception can't be that good), she opened her bag and started rummaging through it for her materials. Mirim produced some rope, a net, some salt and a wooden cross. She wasn't religious or anything, she'd just seen it happen in movies and stuff and thought it would probably help. "Okay, we're deep enough! I'm going to set up this trap. and you're going to spread salt around this net." She handed her net and the salt to the girl she'd just met and headed towards a tall-ish, sturdy-looking tree, beginning to climb it.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Great. Of course she had to attach herself to a first year who had no idea where they were going. Celia was starting to have second thoughts. This girl clearly had a lot of unearned confidence, and that could potentially be dangerous. But if she didn't follow the girl, then she would be lost and alone. Better to be lost with someone else. "I'm Celia," she said before glancing at the girl's shoulder. She recoiled. "Is that a bat? Don't those things have rabies?" Her mom had told her that wizards kept strange pets, like owls and magical snails. But she was pretty sure they didn't keep bats.

Celia's attention was diverted when Mirim suddenly stopped and started to pull objects out of her bag. Her eyes grew wide as she watched Mirim unearth a rope, a net, and a cross. This was exactly like the beginning of any horror movie. She couldn't believe she'd been lured out into a forest with a psychopath who was probably planning on tying her up and killing her. "...what are you doing?" Celia took a step, trying to subtly glance around for a good place to dash off to. Once Mirim turned her back, she could make a run for it. She was fast; she would be able to get away.

Mirim, however, did not try to attack her and instead handed her the net and some salt. "You're going to what?" Celia stared at the other girl who was now climbing a tree. "A trap? For what?" She made no move to follow the other girl's directions. It was clear Mirim was crazy, but at least she didn't seem to be murderous. "I'm not helping you until you explain what you're doing." She surveyed their surroundings, trying to figure out what animal Mirim could possibly want to capture.

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim didnt turn around but raised her pointer finger up and shaked it left and right, signaling a no. “Tsk. tsk. tsk. Nope Celia. Sock is from the magical menagerie! The person who owns the menagerie is a Professor, And Proffesors, are smart! Therefore, Sock does not have rabies!” Mirim said, grinning from ear to ear as she continued to walk in the forest. “Probably!” She added, very enthusiastic.

As she continued to climb the tree, Mirim said, “A ghost! We’re going to capture a ghost!” Mirim had not too much knowledge about climbing trees but she had more than enough experience. She reached a branch that wasn’t wasn’t very high and wrapped the rope over the branch like a pully, she let go of the rope and both ends touched the ground while the middle stayed up high.

Mirim lowered herself a bit and let go of the tree trunk, rolling onto the ground and getting several leaves and bits of dirt on her clothes and hair. “If we capture the ghost haunting the forest, it won’t be dangerous anymore! And no more danger means no more forbidden forest!” She explained this to Celia as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Instead it’ll be called the Mirim and Celia forest! Named after us for capturing that ghost!”

 

[Celia Vuong]

On one hand, Mirim's logic made sense. Celia didn't want to admit it, but as crazy as this girl seemed, her logic so far had been pretty faultless. Of course, there was the possibility that she was lying about getting the bat from a professor-owned store, but she didn't really seem like the lying type. "Just... keep it away from me," she said, eyeing the bat warily. "It could've picked up a disease after you bought it."

Of course, Celia changed her mind about Mirim's logical reasoning capabilities as soon as the girl explained her plan. It made absolutely no sense. She leapt back and grimaced as Mirim lowered herself to the ground, getting dirt in her hair. "You think the forest is off-limits because there's a ghost in here? Why would that even matter? There are ghosts everywhere in the castle, and they don't do anything but float there." Her mom had warned her about the ghosts so that Celia wouldn't freak out when she first saw them. They were still a little creepy, but as her mom had promised, ultimately harmless.

Celia lifted up the net and salt. "How are you even going to catch one? It'll just pass right through whatever you use." She turned her attention back to the rope dangling form the branches. It was clear this plan wouldn't work, but she still wasn't entirely sure what Mirim's plan was. Was she planning on strangling this supposed ghost? "They probably made the forest off-limits because they don't want anyone getting lost or hurt in it," she reasoned. That made a lot more sense than some killer ghost.

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim whispered to Sock, “Don’t listen to Celia. She’s just jealous that she doesn’t have an amazing pet like you.”

Mirim had also realised that she’d mistranslated. ”OH! I meant spirits! Not ghosts! Sorry, somethings get lost in translation sometimes.“ She said tapping her head, signifying where her brain would be. She wasn’t as good in English as her sister, and she‘d sometimes get similar words confused. Growing up she’d heard stories of Dokkaebi and other similar spirits haunting forests. Her grandfather said that during the night they’d have parties around a bonfire and playing pranks on people, and in the morning they’d be tired and headed back to sleep. She assumed that dawn would be the best time to catch a Dokkaebi seeing that they‘d be pretty tired after all of their night activities. She had to remember that ghosts were good, though she didn’t know much about them, maybe she’d investigate in them later.

“Nope! That’s why we’re using salt! Salt is supposed to trap spirits." She said, matter-of-factly. "The net will hold the salt and the salt would be the actual thing trapping the ghosts, not the net." She explained, making or trying to explain with her hand gestures. Mirim ignored the rest of the things Celia mentioned, anyone could get lost or hurt, for Mirim, the forest was just an extension of the school, both were unexplored to her and in some ways, both could hurt her. She raised her hand out, "Well, if you're not going to do it, I'm going to do it before the sun is fully up. All of the spirits may be as good as gone now." Mirim frowned slightly.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia wasn't entirely convinced with Mirim's spirit explanation either. "Spirits don't exist," she said, albeit not very confidently. Her mom hadn't mentioned anything about them. Then again, she'd failed to mention that there was a freaking hat that handled the sorting here. For not the first time, Celia wished her mom had just done the normal thing and taught her about the magical world growing up. Then again, if that had happened, then her parents' marriage wouldn't have fallen apart and she wouldn't even be here, stuck in a forest with a crazy girl.

"I don't see why a so-called spirit can't move past the salt." Celia was having a hard time conceptualizing this creature, and she was just picturing another ghost. "Besides, what's the rope for? And the cross?" The cross was probably the creepiest thing about this whole set-up, and Mirim hadn't even done anything with it so far. Celia considered Mirim's request. This all felt so ridiculous. "You can do it," she decided, holding out the salt and the net. "The spirits are gone because there are none." If what Mirim was saying was true — and Celia was pretty sure it wasn't — then the forest would only be off-limits after dark. Celia considered pointing this out but decided Mirim was past convincing.

 

[Mirim Park]

"They do!" Mirim insisted, she'd never personally seen any Dokkaebi but she knew they existed, maybe not in Hogwarts, but in the depths of the forests in Korea. She couldn't see why Spirits couldn't exist if creatures like ghosts or unicorns or mermaids existed. Anyways, Mirim wasn't here to debate on the existence of evil spirits, both with the girl and with herself. She was here to catch them, and she would, as soon as the net was ready.

Mirim didn't really know how salt prevented caught spirits, ever since she could remember, the front door of their grandparent's home had bowls of salt in front of them. She'd ask what they were for for, and her Grandpa had always said, "Evil spirits, Mirim-ah". "To hang the net from, so that it would trap them. And I don't really know what the cross does. They just usually have it with them in movies." She said, looking at the cross and wondered if she should put it back in her bag. Mirim humphed, and took the salt shaker and the net, she did her best to cover the net with salt and tied it to the rope, She hid the net with a couple of leaves. "There! Now we just wait." As she said this, she heard the sound of leaves bushling from the direction of the castle. "Quick! Hide!" Mirim grabbed Celia's hand and hid in a nearby bush, squatting. The rope was in her hands, ready to let go in case a spirit got caught in her trap. She saw a dark figure walk and then stand on the trap. Mirim let go almost immediately and the net sprung up. She very hoped that whatever she'd seen had gotten into the trap.

(Godmodding approved)

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel hadn’t had coffee yet. That was the first thought floating through his mind as he grimly trod his way through the forest underbrush. His second thought was these kids better have a very good excuse for being out here or he may just leave them to get eaten by a manticore or something. His third thought was a lot less coherent and involved a lot more swearing, as Angel stepped into the clearing he’d heard the distinct sound of student voices arguing coming from.

He’d been all ready for a dramatic yet stern entrance, ready to give the kids a good scare and shepherd them back into the castle while it was still early enough for him to potentially go back to sleep before morning classes, instead, he now appeared to be awkwardly dangling above the ground, limbs akimbo and distinctly uncomfortable. “The next thing I see better be whoever set this up cutting me down before-“ Angel stopped, spitting is disgust when something fluttered off the net he seemed to be tangled in and into his mouth. “Is that salt? Why is there salt."

 

[Mirim Park]

“We won’t answer your questions, evil spirit!” Mirim cackled, thinking she’d been able to catch a spirit. She popped out of her hiding place with the cross held out infront of her. “HAHA! I’ve caught a Dokkaebi! See Celia! They DO exist!” With the shade of the forest, She still hadn’t gotten a good look at who she’d caught in the net. “Fowl spirit! I have caught.. caught-ed? Captured You!” She pointed at the net. Sock was now in the air, fluttering around the “spirit”

But also now that she’d captured the alleged “spirit”, Mirim wasn’t sure what to do. She hadn’t thought this far ahead. Should they wait for a Professor to appear? She certainly couldn’t bring this large heavy looking creature back to the castle all by herself, even with the help of Celia. She took a few steps towards the net to inspect what she’d caught. A little curious of how they looked, after all it was her first time seeing a spirit. “Hmm.. Wait. You look like a human! No in fact, you look like a Professor! Celia! The spirit was disguised as a Professor! It was probably trying to prank someone in the castle! How despicable!” She accused the “spirit”, jumping into conclusions.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia shrieked when Mirim suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling her into a nearby bush. The other girl had been right, there was actually something lurking in the forest. And they were definitely going to die. She watched wide-eyed with fear as a large figure emerged in the clearing only to be halted by the net. It didn't take long to figure out what exactly they'd captured. And it was no spirit. "Ohhhh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod," she muttered as the gravity of the situation dawned on her. They'd just trapped a man, an adult, a professor. They'd trapped a man-adult-professor in a giant net and had left him swinging under the trees in a dangerous, forbidden forest. They were in so much trouble. A new fear took hold of her as she momentarily forgot all her plans to get expelled.

Celia wasn't generally a violent person, but at that moment, she did feel like giving Mirim a hard shove. Her stupid plan had led to them capturing a professor. Before she could point out their mistake, Mirim had already leapt up, brandishing the cross. For a second, she was too stunned to do anything and just watched as Mirim started to gloat. The Gryffindor had to be out of her mind. Celia thought the girl would put two and two together once she realized that the "spirit" looked like a professor, but instead Mirim doubled down on her theory. Celia groaned softly and buried her face in her hands.

Okay, what should she do? She obviously couldn't go and help the professor. Running away was an appealing idea (and would likely get her in further trouble), but that would only work if the professor bothered to track her down. There was only one option — she had to play along. "Wow... you were right," Celia called out, emerging from the bushes. She avoided looking directly at the professor. "What a terrible thing to do, I cannot believe an evil spirit would do something like this," she said, sounding as if she were reading lines off a bad script. She knew her performance was completely unconvincing, but she had to forge on. "We should uh..." she trailed off, trying to think of something that would get them in even more trouble. Though she knew suggesting that they kill the "spirit" would work nicely for her plans, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "...leave the spirit here and go try to find another one. There are probably more of them haunting Hogwarts." There. That would buy her more time to think.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel knew he shouldn't have been surprised to see it was a pair of younger students who emerged from the surrounding shrubbery. It was always the young ones who were the worst to deal with. This was why Angel only taught the upper years. The lower year students hadn't been around long enough to have the school properly crush their spirits. Though speaking of spirits, these two girls seemed very invested in them for some reason.

Angel pinched the bridge of his nose as they went carried on, praying his own kid was never like this. "Right, this has been very cute, thank you," he said, reaching for his wand now that his legs were starting to crap and it didn't seem either girl seemed inclined to cut him loose any time soon. It was hard to finagle it from his pocket, but with a bit of reaching, he managed it. The relief he felt as he cut himself loose with a quick severing charm was immediately dashed however as Angel fell to the ground in a heap of limbs. He groaned, pulling himself to his feet and frowning a the two girls. "You two have a lot of explaining to do-" Angel started, cutting himself off with a squawk as something flew past his head and he had to duck from a pair of flapping wings. This morning quite possibly couldn't get any worse.

 

[Mirim Park]

"You're right Celia! I wonder how many are still lurking in the forest. We should set up another trap." Mirim wondered if she had enough materials in her bag and started to calculate the distance they'd have to go to set up another one. It couldn't be too far or the spirit they had already caught would probably alarm the other ones. But before she could even begin to prepare for her next trap, the professor-spirit had gotten out of the net. "Yes I know Sock is cute, she's adorabl- HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?", Mirim was bamboozled, shocked, absolutely thingamabobbed and also absolutely filtering out the words that the "spirit" had said because she was too busy being shocked.

Mirim couldn't think of many ways in how the "spirit" got out of the trap, but she had two ideas. Either one, the spirit was actually a professor (which she thought was highly unlikely, or two, the spirit was just super powerful and evil. She decided to go with option two. "Sock! Get back here! The thing might be dangerous!" She beckoned at her bat to come back. While Mirim liked to have fun and play around with danger, she didn't like the idea of her bestest friend getting hurt.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Thankfully Mirim seemed to be on board with her idea, and Celia started to look around, trying to figure out what path would take them closer to the castle. She avoided looking at the professor though, so when he crashed to the ground, free of the net, she yelped and jumped back. He wasn't a spirit, but he was still intimidating, and her mind raced, trying to figure out her next move.

It was Mirim of all people who gave her an idea. Celia nodded fervently, trying to elbow the other girl to get her attention. "He's clearly very dangerous. He escaped the net even though you poured salt over it. Only a powerful spirit could do that." She tried to sound scared, which wasn't that hard to do considering that part of her was still afraid of getting in trouble. "We have to get out of here." Celia started backing away, hoping that Mirim would follow suit. She didn't want to actually run until the other girl did so as well.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel once again thanked his stars that he never dealt with the lower year students. He probably would have fed them to a snargaluff long ago. The two girls seemed intent on continuing to play their game, and Angel could feel his last thread of patience shredding.

"Enough!" He said, pointing his wand at the girl who looked like she was ready to bolt. "You're both coming with me back to the castle, right now. No more traps, or bats-" Angel, scowling as one girl called for the damn rat with wings circling them, "- or jokes. Let's go. And I want names and houses, now." Angel flicked his wand towards the castle, face stern in the low light. If he had to chase any kids through the forest this morning he was going to lose his carefully cultivated cool very quickly.