ｍａｇｉｃ ᴍᴜsʜʀᴏᴏᴍs

[- serendipity]

When eight friends set out on a harmless camping trip in a forest several miles away from home, they don't think anything could go wrong. Four are exchange students who were partnered with someone the school thought appropriate and in three days they'll be leaving. Their period of time together has come to an end and the camping trip was supposed to celebrate the time they had together and set in everyone's mind that they would see each other again. It was just going to be a fire, laughing, story telling, smores, games, stargazing and maybe some alcohol. Who could have thought it would take one thing to change all that; mushrooms.

[- serendipity]

ＡＬＩＣＥ
i n n o c e n t • a m u s i n g • f o c u s e d

gender ;; female
age ;; nineteen years old
nationality ;; british
university life ;; alice studies history at a modest university in the centre of london. the university covers everything and history is definitely not its' main course care. however it is the only university alice can afford to go to with the money her parents have lent her and she has earnt. she pays for a three-roomed bungalow with a small student loan and despite her situation she likes her education and is only slightly nervous about the future.
her roommate is ;; melanie

ＥＺＩＯ
f u n • c o n f i d e n t • k i n d

gender ;; male
age ;; twenty years old
nationality ;; italian
university life ;; ezio is studying art at a highly respected, prestigous art university in italy. he lives in a flat shared with three other guys going to the same university, close to campus. all of his academic life is paid for by his parents yet he has to uphold himself on his own outside of school life. his grades depend on the subject within art but his primary like and 'a' source is photography. he's loving it and is also very pleased he chose to go on the exchange programme.
his roommate is ;; peter

ＧＲＡＩＮＮＥ
r a s h • c o m p l i c a t e d • i m pa t i e n t

gender ;; female
age ;; twenty-one years old
nationality ;; irish
university life ;; grainne is reading music at a large university specialising in the arts. the university is a good one and quite cheap as well. grainne is able to pay for it and her rent using her student loan. she lives in hertfordshire, about ten minutes from her chosen university. she cycles there and is enjoying it immensely. she hopes to use the exchange course to improve her cv and widen her knowledge on world music.
her roommate is ;; amber

ＡＭＢＥＲ
i m p o s i n g • w i t t y • n o s y

gender ;; female
age ;; twenty-two years old
nationality ;; american
university life ;; amber is studying music at a posh university for those descending from wealthy roots. she's there on a 'scholarship' and thus her only expenses are food, other necessities and keeping the rent on her large apartment up to date. the university is in orlando and she lives eight miles away from it. she travels by taxi or train and is enjoying not only the work but the privileges too.
her roommate is ;; grainne

ＬＥＷＩＳ
a v e r a g e • p r o u d • d e t e r m i n e d

gender ;; male
age ;; twenty years old
nationality ;; british
university life ;; lewis is studying advanced mathematics at a well known university, north of london. he switches between living with his aunt and uncle who are divorced. he stays a term at his uncles' and then at his aunts', both of whom live close to the university. currently he is with his uncle. school has always been tiresome for lewis but he knows he needs it. he has to earn his tuition fees by managing three part-time jobs.
his roommate is ;; juan

ＪＵＡＮ
f r i e n d l y • c o n t r a d i c t o r y • o p e n

gender ;; spanish male
age ;; twenty years old
nationality ;; spanish
university life ;; juan is studying maths at a combined college and university in the outskirts of madrid. all of his school work has always been funded by the inheritance he got from his great-grandmother and the small account that his mother maid for that purpose. he lives in a hotel in the centre of the city and gets to his university by both train and bus. he likes his maths but would prefer to skip the learning; just know it and be able to get out into the world.
his roommate is ;; lewis

ＰＥＴＥＲ
l o u d • o u t g o i n g • i n s o l e n t

gender ;; male
age ;; twenty-one years old
nationality ;; british
university life ;; peter is studying graphic design at a specialist art academy which he got into on a scholarship. he lives with his parents three miles away from campus and gets there by bus every day. his grades are good, they would have to be to keep his scholarship, and his parents refuse to pay for anything; they want him to be independent and learn about life sooner than later. he's enjoying it so far in his second year.
his roommate is ;; ezio

ＭＥＬＡＮＩＥ
b r i g h t • p r e p p y • w o r l d l y

gender ;; female
age ;; twenty years old
nationality ;; french
university life ;; melanie attends a branch of a university that focuses on history, on the western coast of france. she lives in a student board house a mile away from campus and tries to walk there every morning. when she can't she ges the bus. all her expenses are paid by herself and the rent for two rooms is shared between her and her cousin who also lives at the board house. she's always loved learning and so university is just an extension of her love.
her roommate is ;; alice

** full credit for the format of characters goes to blindesquirrel **

[- serendipity]

A forest is always an interesting place and this one is no exception. Called 'Inception Forest' by the locals and 'Two-tree Forest' on the maps it isn't a major landmark, at all. Although it's wide-spread on the village where it lies, it doesn't recieve regular visitors of campers or poachers and it is mainly used by the local children who have built mud ramps near the edge of the forest or for the locals who own dogs. The edge that faces the village has tall trees that stand several feet apart in most places and well-trodden paths interweave among them, crossing through patches of nettles, rabbit holes and short, scratchy stumps of trees.

Two hollows, spaced maybe a hundred feet apart, are the two main areas that attract the younger generation of the locals. One is only a shallow cup in the ground in which leaves gather. But the history of the first hollow is far more interesting; apparently it is actually a dinosaur's foot print and although this is only true to please the young children the adolescents still like to joke about it. Of course though, being probably five feet across in diameter with the three small 'toes' at the front about a foot or two each, it does do well as a bedtime nightmare. Scaring the children to be good with threats of a dinosaur bigger than they could imagine. And the proof? That first hollow. The second hollow is much larger and deeper and shaped like a very ragged 'L'. It is here that the mud ramps and the people who perform stunts on them congregate. With the variation of steepness all along its' edges the kids find fun in dipping over the edge and racing down and up the other side on their bikes. Small caves rest at the bottom 'L' but near the top of the edge and they go about three feet in, lined with chalk. That is the ink the people use to write their names onto the bark of nearby trees, forever leaving their mark on their home.

A bit further into the forest is where you reach the medley of holes and dens built by animals and humans alike. The holes are home to rabbits, foxes, the occasional badger and perhaps the escaped weasel who used to live inside the village with a farmer. The maze of them is treacherous if you don't know how to walk it but the best of fun for dogs. It is here dog walkers stop and let their dog out of sight to play as they try to find some game. The dens are usually no bigger than six feet wide and four along, built by anyone from five to twenty-five. Collecting large, thick sticks to then build a make-shift home with is surprisingly fun. Bringing in logs to furnish your finished masterpiece and sometimes even using a dead branch to sweep the inside. This is where most of the paths end, disappearing when you reach the minefield of warrens and starting on the other side but only as a few paths now.

A myriad of tree clusters now make up the forest and it is now really empty and like any normal forest, scattered with the occasional den. A few clearings seem to have been dropped randomly into the forest and whilst some have short grass spreading across, others are stumped with stones and are just flat mud. It continues like this for a while until, again, the trees have spaces in between and several more paths spring up. Where the forest ends a road races round the curve of it and that is why no names adorn the trees here and there are no footprints of dogs or their walkers, off the paths. Whilst the road is quiet and perfectly safe where it is, no one really ventures further than the warrens and only because they have no need to.

All in all it is a 'family' forest and a local one too. Few people bother to go that far into the countryside to find solitude and they're missing out. The locals adore their neighbourly forest and they call it 'Inception Forest' because they see it as a new beginning.

[- serendipity]

mush·room - noun - a fungal growth that takes the form of a domed cap on a stalk, often with gills on the underside of the cap.
mag·ic mush·rooms - noun - any toadstool with hallucinogenic properties, esp. the liberty cap and its relatives.

Basically, a mushroom is a boring plant thing that grows in the ground and appears in fairytales. A magicmushroom is something that gets you high; and in a good way. Everything looks and feels better too. Officially they're called 'psilocybin mushrooms' but they're most commonly known as 'magic mushrooms' or ''shrooms'. They grow in all sorts of spaces, but especially in forests. Really they're illegal but if you find a patch of them with a bunch of your friends, in the middle of the forest, who's really going to know?

[- serendipity]

Just an extra post in case I need it at some point.

[- serendipity]

please do not post here! it's a wip xD