The Masquerade Ball Event Closed

Interactions: @Saskia Nicholson
Mentions: Dan Palmer; Headmaster
Health: Full
Status: Traumatized but otherwise fine

Thora realized her mistake as soon as the word left her mouth. Why the heck was she trying to use Leviosa, of all charms? She wasn't stupid. She had done the homework. In fact, Charms was one of her favorite subjects and the girl remembered almost every piece of homework she had done for that class in the past year or so. The homework she had completed following the class where she had learned the Levitation Charm had specifically been about an idiot. A certain Jarleth Hobart, the creator of the spell, had tried to make himself fly and had failed miserably. The crowd had pretty much shunned him as a failure. That's what Thora was. A failure. 

The Slytherin had easily been able to cast Ferula a couple times, a third year spell she technically should not have known. Yet, when she tried to cast a simple first year charm that was as easy as a swish and a flick, she had blown it. Shaking her head as if to physically remove the stupid defeat from her mind, Thora almost snorted in disgust at herself. Here she was, freaking out over a failed cast, while people around her were literally getting killed by another student. Speaking of which, Saskia... 

Thora watched in horror as the Hufflepuff was first bitten by the crazed boy and then fell, smashing her head on the floor. Merlin, what was wrong with this accursed boy? If he was under the influence of some dark magic, she could let it slip, but if this was how he normally was, Thora was scared. Why someone would ever act like this, she would never know.

Most of her, the rational part of her, told Thora to leave. To run. To flee from the ballroom and forget what had happened. But she couldn't bring herself to. True, she had already saved multiple people and some would say she had already done enough, but people still needed help. At least, until the crazy boy crashed. A well placed Flipendo had taken him down, and Thora glanced in thanks and relief in the direction of a certain girl [Serena Towers] whom the snek assumed had cast the spell. At least they were safe. 

Or, were they? The heavily armored man, whom Thora had originally assumed was the Headmaster, was dragging a boy out. Was she seeing correctly? Green sparks exploded in her face, making the girl rub her just-as-green eyes. There was too much going on here. Too much destruction, and someone tried to cast the Green Sparks Charm? Someone had already made the mistake of casting the Red Sparks Charm, earlier, and had that gone well? No. 

Thora bounced to her feet, the exhaustion melting off her. All she wanted to do was to retreat to her dorm, to close the curtains, and dive under the covers. All she wanted to do was to hide with the horrific world. But this night wasn't over. Oh, it was far from over. A flicker of movement to her left caused Thora's eyes to widen with amazement. Saskia Nicholson was getting up, mere moments after she had collided with the not-so-soft floor.

As the Hufflepuff made a beeline for the door, holding on to a mere chair for support, Thora raced after her. "Saskia!" she called. Maybe this was her ticket out. Maybe she could finally run away from all of this. But this, obviously, was not the case. Saskia was following Dan, whom was the mystery boy being dragged out by a scary man. That was great. Just great.

She didn't care too much about Dan, honestly. Thora didn't know him personally at all, but still, she had an obligation. First and foremost, he was a fellow student. Although Thora was typically a self-pronounced scaredy-cat, she couldn't let her peers just die off in front of her. It wouldn't happen, at least not on her watch. Furthermore, Dan was her Quidditch captain and a pretty good Seeker. This was not happening. Nobody was dying tonight. 

"Are you okay? I-I saw you hit your head really hard," Thora lowered her voice, blushing as she stated the obvious. But seriously, the other girl should've been half-concussed right now. The mere fact that she was still moving was impressive, as it was an almost inhuman feat. Saskia was most likely not okay, but she had might as well ask anyways. "A-are we gonna go after Dan? Or do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" 

RPing as: Saskia Nicholson

Mentions: None | Interactions: @Thora Larkston

Health: Almost knocked out but still standing
Status: Bleeding lips, smashed head, blinded by green sparks

The room was spinning. Was she even going the right way? She hoped she was. Her vision was too green and bright for her to see things clearly, and she only had one person to thank for. But this wasn't the time to get angry. Well, it was. She was very much pissed off. Pissed off at herself for being so useless, a failure even. She didn't do anything to help, and she wasn't even sure if she was only going to make things worse. But she could try, right? One more time before she fully collapsed into an incompetent heap of worthlessness.

One step forward. Another step forward. She was still going in the right direction, or at least she thought she was. Her head still hurt. Could she even think properly anymore? She had to focus. Ignore the pain and focus. Someone was in danger, she needed to help them. It didn't matter if she was hurt. It didn't matter if she wanted to fall back down and rest. Someone's life could have been on the line, and they had already succeeded in preventing the giants from kidnapping a student. They couldn't lose someone else now.

Did she hear someone call her name? It was faint, but someone did. It might have been her imagination, though. There was already so much happening. It was hard to process what was going on anymore. But what if it wasn't just her imagination? What if someone was really trying to call for her, and she was being a jerk by ignoring them? It couldn't hurt to take a look, would it? It was just one simple glance, and if it was nothing, she could have moved on. She could risk it just this once.

It took her longer than usual to figure out who it was, thanks to a combination of her head injury and the green sparks, but it was Thora. She was running after her, at least she thought she was. Did she want to help? Help would have been nice. She normally disliked the idea of being taken care by others when she could have helped herself, but this was one of those times when she admittedly needed the help. It was either that, or she'd find herself crashing somewhere else again.

Was she okay? Was being nearly knocked out from a concussion and her lips bleeding okay? To a normal person, it wouldn't be. Those things weren't meant to be taken lightly. That made the question completely redundant. Anyone could have taken one simple look at her and say that she wasn't okay. How was she still standing? Who even knew anymore? But she was still standing after all. Technically she was fine, at least for the moment. She would be fine until she actually dropped to the floor.

"I'll be okay. Just knocked my head really hard on the ground. Nothing I can't handle," she assured, managing a weak smile. Well, as much of a smile as she could anyway. Her lips were still bleeding and mutilated. It probably wasn't a good idea to face the girl directly unless she wanted to gross her out.

She nodded, her gaze resolute. "We need to go after Dan. Someone's dragging him out of the ballroom, and we need to stop them before they hurt him. She briefly glanced at the Slytherin. She really didn't want to have to ask this, but she figured it would come up soon. Even if she said no, that would have been fine. "Do you mind if I lean onto you for support? I'll try not to drag you down. We still need to hurry if we want to catch up to him."

Outfit: Dress | Mask | Shoes

Interactions: @Saskia Nicholson
Health: Full
Status: Fine but traumatized; slightly blinded by green sparks

So Saskia wanted to go after Dan. Not a moment of indecision passed before Thora made up her mind as well. She was going too. First, the Hufflepuff was quite literally about to collapse, not to mention her lips, which were bleeding everywhere. Surprisingly, the other girl was still able to walk straight despite this. Thora knew Saskia was strong, though, so she didn't exactly doubt her ability to walk out while concussed. Still, she definitely couldn't do it alone.

So when Saskia asked if she could lean on her for support, Thora was quick to agree. "Sure, go ahead," the Slytherin said. At least she could do something to help, unlike just then, when she had stood and watched as people got licked and bitten, for Merlin's sake. She felt useless. No, she was useless. She had helped for a while, but then everything just seemed to take a nosedive. Why her? Why now?

"Yeah, we need to hurry," Thora muttered. It was obvious, but, well, the supposed Headmaster was dragging Dan away at a rather alarming rate. If they wanted to help, they needed to go. Thora would offer more help to Saskia to make sure that they could go faster, but the badger looked fine. Well, as 'fine' as a lip-bitten, half-concussed girl could be. What she really should've done was bring the girl to the Hospital Wing, but she was stubborn. Thora knew she would likely have done the same, had she been in Saskia's shoes, so she just let it go. As long as she said she was fine, she should be okay. Where there was a need, there was a way. And if that way involved two unlikely heroines by the names of Thora and Saskia, she was in.

NOVUS'S PERSPECTIVE
------------------------------

Novus knew it was time to go. Things had somewhat calmed down: the fires were out, the injured were being taken care of, and the attackers were... well hopefully not dead. The boy reasoned that there was nothing much that he could do to help, and any attempts might get in the way of those who actually knew what they were doing. The door was easily accesible, and students were getting out as fast as they could. Novus decided to join them. With another look around to ensure that there was nothing that he noticed which was worth any attempts to interfier with, the boy headed towards the halls exit.



______________________________

LAMIK'S PERSPECTIVE
-------------------------



Lamik looked at Jake with a frown, heavily considering heeding Saskias words (as illogical as he found them) and dealing with the younger boy himself. Before he could decide on anything though, he heard a loud crash, prompting him to look back in her direction. She was hurt- that much was obvious. It seemed that the boy who called himself the Candy King had managed to outmaneuver her. Conveniently, Lamik had missed exactly what had happened, but chances were that he would figure it out some day. The King of Candy was quickly defeated by other students, and Saskia, despite her injuries, seemed to be determined to keep moving.

As admirable as Lamik found it, what she was determined to do was a bit concerning. At least one of the attackers- the one that had been bound- was fatally wounded. Dead, maybe. Lamik couldnt seem to look at what had happened for more then a few seconds (it wasn't exactly an easy sight for a 12 year old), but he did see enough to realize that something was burried deep in the attackers eye. The culprit; a slytherin no older then him, was being dragged away by Solomon (or at least who Lamik assumed was Solomon). As she passed him, another girl on her tail, Lamik called out to her. "Saskia, youre hurt..." but she didn't respond. Whether that was due to him speaking too softly or her simply ignoring him was unknown, but it didn't really matter. What did matter was that she was following the Headmaster, and as Lamik began to follow them, still holding on to Jake, he heard the girl say that she was going after "Dan". "Thats Lear taking him!" He said.

Unfortunately, there was no way that Lamik would be able to keep up while still holding onto Jake, and so he stopped walking after the two girls and spoke to the boy with as reassuring of a smile as he could muster. "Lets go to the medical wing Jake. We'll be safe there."

Right after she cast her spell, Galton came rushing at Katrina. She sidestepped him just in time and saw a repulsive blob of drool sail over her shoulder.
She stayed frozen as several other spells were cast, aftraod one stray on might hit her. She was lucky as Galton was thrown to the ground and left unconscious.
A small part of her felt bad for him, for this certainly was not normal behavior. With all of his talk about being ‘Candy King’ Katrina wondered if it was drugged candy that set him off rather than some spell as she previously thought.
She made her convictions clearer to NEVER eat candy from a wizard or, frankly, anyone.
Once Galton was down Katrina took a few steps toward him to see that he was actually down. She wondered what he would do. The remaining glints of green still sparkles in her vision and she wished people would stop casting those spells.
She debated exiting the ball, but wanted to help others. She scanned the room as she (slowly) exited towards the door. Katrina avoided looking at the part-giants for she was not in the mood for more nightmares, as she was sure to come of this all.
Shivers crept up Katrina’s spine as she replayed the horrific events. It was all too much for a little 12-year-old. Katrina felt the familiar tightening in her chest of a panic attack creeping in and had to quickly stop and take a few breaths. Tears she hadn’t known were there began to well up in her eyes. There was only so much one student could take. She found that she was near a wall and crumpled down, fighting tears. No one would see her, as the never did, so Katrina felt safe enough and began to cry a few tears.

Action: cries and has an almost panic attack

Andrew stood petrified, staring in alarm and disbelief as he saw Dan swing the high heel, plunging it into the half-giant's eye. It was something from a horror film as he watched the gruesome scene, unable to peel his gaze away from it.

Having been besties with Dan for so long, the thought never crossed Andrew's mind that Dan would do something as vicious as this without reason. If Dan had to resort to such extremes, it had to have been for righteous cause, only to stop the half-giant from hurting more people.

Then he saw the masked figure of a man approach Dan, and Andrew mentally sighed in relief. Surely the adults would fix things, help Dan, put an end to this nightmare. He noticed a subtle flash of green strike the half-giant. Whatever the spell was, Andrew didn't suspect the slightest that the masked man would have any other motive than to rescue Dan by subduing the half-giant.

Then came the piercing shout that somehow got Andrew's feet to move, starting towards Dan in concern.

"Get offa me ya weirdo!! I don't know you! You wanna see my what?! STRANGER DANGER!!"

If the man said something, it was too quiet for Andrew to overhear as he began dashing his way over, despite the amount of chaos and debris in the Ballroom that made it difficult for him to make a straight beeline towards them.

“Won’t work,” [the Headmaster] announced [to Dan] with an eerie calm. “You’re in a room full of witnesses that know that you are full of shit. They see me and what little I have done to you and they have also seen how much you have done.”

His gaze fell on the motionless bodies of the half-giants as he narrowed in closer. Were they…unconscious? …Dead?...

"Dan! You okay?" Andrew's heart pounded as he rushed over to his friend's side.

But Dan had already distanced himself just as quickly as Andrew drew near, confusing Andrew as he sided closer to the adult(s) nearby. After being through such a traumatic event, it calmed him with comfort and security to know that a professor was around.

Then why was Dan acting so… jumpy?

"Rictusempra!"

He only caught bits and pieces of the madness that was going on with [Galton Lansdale]. Plenty of students seemed to be entangled with that rabble; Andrew didn't want to cause more harm than good by overcrowding and butting himself into that situation (though if all else failed with the spells used to subdue Galton, he'd have picked up one of those silver hors d'oeuvres trays to whack Galton on the back of the head with it).

He saw the Headmaster raise his wand, without skipping a heartbeat, pointing it at Dan.

"Depulso."

Subconsciously, his brain registered that it must be the Ilvermorny headmaster. Boiling down to the details, everything about the man's tone of voice, accent, and overall composure didn't match any of the other Hogwarts professors.

"Hey! -Dan!" Andrew shot a bewildered stare at the masked Headmaster, uttering a shout in Dan's direction and preparing to give chase after him as Dan was swept away by an invisible force, towards the broken-down entrance of the Ballroom.

He didn't understand half of what was going on, but first things first, he had to make sure Dan was all right.

Action: Catch up to Dan, if possible.

Jürgen with his powerful, manly noodle arms would subjugate the part-giant Hugh Lowe. A demonstration of power that came one a decade. Nay once a generation. It was unlikely he would defeat the big guy a second time. He would lock his wrists together, gripping onto the Gryffindor tightly. He simply whispered and repeated the same thing over and over again. "Chill big dude, chill..." While he had seen Hugh around, he was like a landmark for most students. He had played with him once, but Hugh was not very good at playing super heroes (he really sucked actually). 

Galton was taken out. It was no shock, he was biting and licking people. He needed to stop but he did not need to die. The students here were nuts. Hugh was nuts. Someone was going to kill Galton just like the part giants if he did not do anything. Jürgen would let go of Hugh, not that he would have been able to hold on much longer even if he wanted to. "Dudedon'tkillme," Jürgen said as a single word with his palms facing the former Prefect. 

"I'm... just... going to" he stepped backwards towards Galton's motionless form. "Help..." He knelt down besides Galton and checked for a pulse. Assuming that he felt the beat of his friend and roommate's heart he would bend lower and attempt to lift Galton up. It would not be very romantic, no cradled boy in Jürgen's arms. No, Galton was like a preppy backpack slung over a shoulder.

If successful, Jürgen would teeter under the weight of his friend. Galton's unconscious body would bump into every table, chair and somehow even a wall as Jürgen tried to carry Galton to safety away from Hugh and Dan.

The armored, masked Headmaster just wanted the reckless, destructive youth far away before he made another mess, murdered another person, cried stranger danger as a dangerously suggestive ploy for attention. @Dan Palmer was being expelled from the ballroom, away from the Headmaster but he was not headed to anyplace in particular. Just expelled from the chaos, in a place where the other students can defend themselves in the presence of the boy's lunacy.

Not that the boy deserved to be saved.

@Andrew Vance would rush into the very ballroom that most of the students were vacating. He would ask Dan if he was OK, but Dan was sliding away from the youth. An invisible force was drawing him away. The Headmaster made no additional move towards Dan, there was no need. Dan could tell the truth, spin it any way he wanted. It really did not matter. No matter how wild his imagination was, he was unlikely to stumble onto the truth. He did not want the truth, The knowledge that -- 



Andrew would pursue the Slytherin. It was a constant game of catch up for the boy. Oddly enough several months earlier, he could have been ahead. He could have been the very peril that they were fighting. Andrew was closer to death than he ever knew or could appreciate, had fate not interceded months earlier. It was the Blossom Ball, an older bully was going to force him to dance. An older bully that was collecting 'new friends' to share with the crones. Not that said bully knew these part-giant menaces, but the crones dirty fingers were marking many fates these past few months. None ended well. 

@Saskia Nicholson would also follow the boy as he glided out the door. Hobbling behind both Dan and Andrew with her chair crutch that creaked and wobbles as she followed. Her head was throbbing, she could feel the blood rush between her ears. Her brain might feel a bit tight in her skull. There was a slowly emerging goose egg emerging on her head. Her lips were bloodied and raw, her violent first-kiss ended anticlimactically and her aggressive paramour @Galton Lansdale was now face-down on the floor. 

The Headmaster did not go anywhere, he simply stood there in awe of the havoc. The children and Professors were more dangerous than the dead part-giants. How? He mouthed to himself. Even if he had an evil plan, it was likely more effective to leave the children in a locked room for a few hours, in all likelihood they would cannibalize one another and set the room ablaze. there would only be charred bones in their wake.

@Thora Larkston would follow Saskia as the young girl hobbled after Dan. It was like moths flying into a flame. The two girls would follow the boy out of the room as he made his dramatic exit.

A pair of dead giants, an unconscious youth that now felled everyone could safely ignore. Novus would leave. As he did so, the headmaster would call out to him. "Boy, I was wrong. Stick with the Americans." Whatever he meant by that would have to wait for another time. 

The girls would continue to follow Dan out of the ballroom. Concern for the backwards kidnapping where the kidnapper wanted his victim away from him. @Lamik Fillestar tried to verbally quell their fears claiming it was 'Lear' taking the boy away. That would have been ideal, the Headmaster actually being there. Perhaps things would have went differently if there was a different man in this armor that was terribly unlike Headmaster Plott to don. At the very least, the girls did not intervene.

@Katrina Walker was simply breaking down as she made it into the hall. This was supposed to be a nice, safe, fun dance. Maybe she would meet a boy, get kissed. If not, she got to feel like a princess for an evening in a pretty dress and jewelry. Instead the dress encumbered her movement, was easy to catch fire and the clunky jewelry and mounds of hair were hazards. Many of Katrina's friends had already run off, some for medical attention, others just left and still others were tending to other injured students.  

That only left @Jürgen Hess, an unconscious Galton, an infuriated Hugh Lowe and a handful of students that milled around still. Jürgen would let go of @Hugh Lowe, since he did not post... Jürgen would not die of blunt force trauma to his... everything. Jürgen would find a pulse when he checked Galton but it was running like a hummingbird. It buzzed beneath his fingertips.

Jürgen would try and lift Galton up from the floor. For a small guy, Galton weighed a lot. 

Jürgen Hess attempts to lift Galton Lansdale.
Strength Check: 6 + 4

Jürgen would fail to lift his housemate from the floor. Galton was just too full of candy. How the boy just wrestled a part giant is unknown. It might be a relief to some, a concern for others as a pair of eyes set behind a mask met young man and nodded. Considering the events this evening it was likely intimidating to see an armored man in a mask approach. The sound of the armor moving resembled the march of ten rather than one. He would kneel down and lift the boy (passive strength is beyond the DC, no roll needed). "Show me the way to the Medical Wing." No flamboyant gestures, no dramatic exit. "And everyone else, get out of here!" He shouted, there was a roughness to his tone. The sort that a tired, exasperated man would express. Two dead kids, a fire and some fights. For the love of Merlin, how is this castle even standing?


Dan would be expelled into the hall and then down the hallway. He would find that he stopped moving in front of the girls bathroom. He would nearly be pushed in. If he chose to fall in, none would be the wiser but the small flock of girls (and Andrew) chasing the boy, he might get the beating of his life. His back would nudge the door and then the force that compelled him this far from the ball would cease. Dan was safe, alive and not kidnapped yet.

RPing as: Saskia Nicholson

Mentions: None | Interactions: @Thora Larkston

Health: Almost knocked out but still standing
Status: Bleeding lips, smashed head, blinded by green sparks

Saskia gave an appreciative smile to the girl. "Thanks. Now let's go save your Quidditch Captain," she said, surprisingly lightheartedly for someone who was still in great pain. There was nothing better than relieving the tense atmosphere with a carefree statement, after all. After Thora's approval, the Hufflepuff made an attempt to pull the Slytherin's arm close to hers in order to support herself. It might have been pretty awkward for the both of them, but they didn't have much choice left. It was the best they could do for now, at least until the pain stopped.

"I hope this is okay, she mumbled, following Thora's direction to where the exit was. It was hard to process what was going on around her, with the head pain she had. It was easy to hear Thora's voice when it was so near her, but everything else was incomprehensible noise. Someone would have had to shout really loudly at her to get her attention- otherwise, it was difficult for her to notice them. She sincerely hoped there was no one else who wanted her attention, however. The two girls had something to do, and they needed to do it quick. Besides, it would have been hard for someone who was nearly concussed to do anything else at the moment. Her best bet would have been to focus on what needed to be done.

Actions: Exiting the ballroom with Thora to find Dan

Outfit: Dress | Mask | Shoes

Dan wasn't sure what happened. One minute he was going to interrogate Galton, the next minute, the gremlin child was unconscious, and the armored old man creeper named Headmaster Plott used some spell he never heard of to send him dragging out of the ballroom.
He'd kept going and going, and everything was happening so quickly he wasn't able to stop himself.

Panic started to rise in Dan. Where was that freak taking him? Images of a scary boy torture prison dungeon room flashed into his mind, and the panic increased. He tried to stop himself with his feet, but they just effortlessly slid along the smooth stone. He kept his arms off of his sides, so that if a rope trap were to spring, it would just wrap around his torso instead of his arms.

But, none came. To his great relief, there were no traps. However, he knew where he was. He knew the hall where he was still being dragged. When the spell stopped dragging him, he knew where he was, and the biggest panic of all struck him.

No no no no no no no no NO!!!!

He was at the entrance to the girls' bathroom. The Forbidden Zone. There was no WAY he could go in there. If he went into that evil, unholy place, the boy therapy required to recover from the trauma would be intense. Video games, Batman and Marvel comics, nachos, and watching gaming content on Youtube for DAYS would be required.
No way in hell.

Dan dug his toes as hard as he could on the floor, and tried to force himself to away from the doorway. He would not cross that threshold under any circumstances.

Action: Falling away from the doorway to the room forbidden for boys to enter.