Event Blossom Ball - Trial of Apollo

Rping as Ilvermorny iNPC Melody Westmoore | Hex: English - #8b2788 (to match her caricature as the goddess)
Interacting with: Trial Host (@Kazuo Shimada) | Outfit: Hecate (see above collage) | Underworld post

"Apollo" stared arrogantly down at Mel from his throne, a girl dressed as the goddess of beauty at his side. A performance?! No no no, Mel was not a theatrical kind of girl. She wasn't a dancer, or a reciter of poetry, nor a singer. Ugh, she had not signed up for this! But she couldn't quit now, not two Trials away from completing her heroine's journey. Even if she'd wanted to, it wasn't like she could simply run from under the harsh, expectant gaze of the sun god and his entourage. That would be mortifying, and Mel was no wimp.

And so she wracked her brain for something to preform, trying not to squirm as Apollo looked at her in a way that said, entertain me mortal. One of her best talents was running, but she couldn't do that. She had to stay on the little stage, and plus that would bore her audience. She had a quick tongue, but it was mostly accustomed to banter and trash talk, not improv. She knew absolutely no poetry, but even if she did she wouldn't have performed it for all the galleons they could pay her. Ditto with dancing. Her singing voice actually wasn't terrible, but she didn't like using it. However, that seemed her only option. She had to act fast, as Apollo looked bored and restless, and just about ready to send her away a failure. Mel realized with horror that she'd been standing there in silence for nearly a minute now. Like a total idiot.

Now, if singing was, regrettably, her best option, which song? Most of the songs she knew were not suitable for the situation, and she only had the choruses memorized besides. Why were so many of the songs she knew back-to-front from Disney movies? No way in hell was she belting out Let it Go. The only song that came to mind was... oh no. It wasn't even on theme. Was she seriously doing this? But she was nearly out of time. The girl had no choice.

Mel cleared her throat. She had better suck up. Didn't gods like that? "Great and glorious Apollo, god of all things warm and divine," she started. Not bad."Uh, I am here to present to you and your company Satisfied, from the Broadway musical Hamilton." Her mom loved the show, and played the soundtrack on repeat whenever the family took long car trips. This was one that she was confident she had memorized in its entirety, and she liked Angelica's whip-smart monologue. Oh God, she wasn't a theater nerd.
Mel did her best to clear her head, and began.

"Alright, alright
That's what I'm talkin' about
Now, everyone give it up for the maid of honor
Angelica Schuyler..."

The audience looked a bit shocked. They sure hadn't been expecting this. But was Mel imagining it, or did they look a bit amused?

"...I remember that night, I just might regret that night for the rest of my days
I remember those soldier boys tripping over themselves to win our praise
I remember that dreamlike candlelight like a dream that you can't quite place
But Alexander, I'll never forget the first time I saw your face
I have never been the same..."

A shaky start, with the Thunderbird hiding behind her gold masquerade mask, but her voice grew more steady as she sang. Mel closed her eyes to block the party out. As long as she was doing this, she might as well do it as comfortably and as well as possible.

"...It's the feeling of freedom, of seein' the light
It's Ben Franklin with a key and a kite
You see it, right?
The conversation lasted two minutes
Maybe three minutes, everything we said in total agreement
It's a dream and it's a bit of a dance
A bit of a posture, it's a bit of a stance..."

The twelve-year-old forged on with her song.

"...I'm a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich
My father has no sons so I'm the one who has to social climb for one
So I'm the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in New York City is insidious..."

"...Number three
I know my sister like I know my own mind
You will never find anyone as trusting or as kind..."

"...And I know
He will never be satisfied
I will never be satisfied..."

By the time she finished, Mel was a little bit more at ease. That didn't stop her from running off the stage less than five seconds from the performance's completion, heart racing and blushing profusely.

She had done it.

Roleplaying as Durmstrang iNPC Arjan Oberoi

Entering thread from the Hermes

Confident as ever, Arjan ran his hand through his glorious hair. He flexed his beautiful arm as he did this, of course. How many trials had he been through by now? Was this the first? He did not really know but he also did not really care. It did not matter. All that mattered was that he became the king of the ball and that was pretty much guaranteed by the fact that he was present. He was the most suitable candidate, after all. No one else could really compare to him.

He was ready to win this thing. At least, that was what he thought. Until he heard someone speak about music and poetry. What even was this? He had to recite a poem? Did he even know one? A frown crossed his eyebrows as he pondered. He could not think of a single poem, how was he meant to know that he should have memorised one? What did that have to do with a school ball or with being king? That was rubbish! This whole thing was a set-up! There was no way anyone would be able to recite poetry off the top of their head. And music? Pft. It was not like he had any instruments that he could figure out how to play right now! Come on! This was not fair. Was he meant to have had piano lessons and then just casually walked in with a piano?

Wait - Dance. He heard the word dance. That was something he could do! Right? What if he just beat someone up? Would that count? It would be a beautiful display of muscles. It should count. A large smirk crossed his lips as he thought about that idea. Perhaps he could put on a beautiful play - an incredible fight scene! He would completely boss that whole thing. This was, after all, why he spent countless hours exercising and practising different forms of martial arts. Of course, he mostly practised different forms because he could not decide which one to stick to and ended up trying one for a little bit before moving to another and so on. This made him actually kind of not great at any of them in particular but that was beside the point. He was still learning!

Arjan had kind of missed the theme of the ball or that the gift should match that theme. Then again, even if he did know, it was not necessary that he would follow it. He did what he wanted, after all. If the music from the ball could be heard, Arjan would start to dance in rhythm to that. If it could not, that did not matter. He would dance nonetheless. Because even without music, he was perfection.

[Video 1 - mute the sound]

He started his routine by taking a few steps forward quickly and launching himself into a cartwheel. From the cartwheel, he went into a series of backflips before ending it with a few twists of his body. He landed on his feet, taking a breath before standing up. With that out of the way, he went straight into the rest of the dance.

[Video 2 - mute the sound]

Crossing his arms over his chest, Arjan bent his knees as he slowly lowered himself. He then suddenly stood up, stretched his arms out before doing a backflip that he made look way too easy. Landing on his feet, he quickly bent his leg to the ground to look like he landed on one knee instead, brought his left hand over and moved it down across his face. Then he stood up again, stretching out with each hand, before bringing them both down once more. His legs were apart at this stage, which was closer to the position he needed to be in. It did not take him long to transition into the next move, where he placed his right hand to the ground and used the momentum to do a spin in the air. With a few more stretches, a few gestures of holding his arms out and spreading all fingers apart, a few more intense pullbacks before casually just pointing to the judge, he would continue to dance. He circle his arm in the air a few times before doing another flip in the air, this time a corkscrew. He ended with his arms stretched wide, leaning back a little. It was actually a pose that any Bollywood fan would recognise, as it was made famous by one of the top actors in a very old movie that he had seen.

Whether or not the dance fit the theme was up for debate but he thought it was the most beautiful, incredible thing they would have ever seen. They would not have been able to take their eyes off him, he was impeccable! He was, obviously, the most handsome and most talented person the judge would ever have seen and they ought to be grateful that he graced them with such a fantastic performance. He was - well and truly - the most incredible specimen to have walked the planet, after all.

Oh right, was this over yet? He had to go back to the courtyard, wherever that was. Wait, weren't there other trials to do? Where were they? Wait - how did he get so far away from the courtyard when he was there to begin with? Where was his date? Did he still have one? He had so many questions. It was almost as though he forgot exactly how he got here in the first place. His sense of direction was likely not great at present but he blamed the fact that he knew very little about the layout of this school. Right, time to find his date. Or perhaps the other trials... Or you know, his way back to the courtyard place with the mysterious vibes.

ACTION: Taking part in trial

Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 4 | Strength: 15 | Wisdom: 3 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Charmer Allies: Phaedra Stavrou, Falentra Black, Rudolf Novikov & Vyacheslav Preobrazhensky
Status: Forgetful | Health: Full

Post Tracker: [ Underworld 1 | 2 | 3 ][ Persephone | Hermes | Apollo ]

Outfit of the day | shoes

Blossom Ball '21 - Outfit (thanks to Anja Murtaja)

Making her way towards the last trial she still had to do, Lydia decided to undo her braid, since more hair kept falling out of it; her long, strawberry blonde hair were now draped over her shoulders, slightly wavier than usual. Once she got close enough, she recognized the two people sitting on the flowery bench; it was Kazuo, a fellow Hufflepuff and a member of the duelling team, and Dealla, one of the Ravenclaw duelling Captains. She wondered what this trial will be like, and when she finally reached her destination, she listened to Kazuo- or well, Apollo- explaining the instructions.

Feeling relieved that she didn't have to run anymore, Lydia's mind started racing fast as she tried to think about songs that were related with Spring or something along the lines of the Ball's theme. It didn't even take her a moment to decide that she would have sang a song to Apollo; it had been a while since she had properly sang, but she still wanted to try that out. If only she could have a piano with her, she would have definitely played something to go along with her voice.

Putting on a polite, charming smile, she did a curtsy, lowering her head, her right foot behind the left one, and her knees slightly bent. "Good evening, oh Apollo," she said, and then got back up, "Tonight I'd like to sing a song for you,".

After that, she took a couple of deep breaths, before she started singing, her light voice filling the air.

"Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it's all right..."

As she sang, Lydia kept her eyes closed, her left hand placed over her stomach, as the other one moved to the rhythm of the song.

"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here"

She continued singing, and the more she sang, the more she felt as one with the song.
Once she reached the final notes, Lydia did a small harmony, before finishing with the last note.
She opened her eyes once again, and did another small curtsy as she smiled at Kazuo and Dealla, as she hoped they had liked her song.

Action: doing the trial.
Stats: STA: 5 || EVA: 7 || STR: 5 || WIS: 10 || ARC: 5 || ACC: 5
Race: Part-Veela
Abilities: Alluring || Lovely Creature

Trials tracker: Underworld || Hades|| Hecate || Orpheus || Hermes || Persephone|| Apollo

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Currently closed to interactions
Interactions: None
Mentioning: None
Word count: 243
Hex Color: #0080FF
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For Moderation:
Action: Attempt trial
Health: 500/500
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Fearless | Terrible Presence
Stats: Stamina 5 | Evasion 10 | Strength 5 | Wisdom 9 | Arcane Power 10 | Accuracy 8

Apollo. God of sun, music, medicine, and prophecy. Ana had always thought the lot a rather odd combination, but that wasn't her job. Still, it felt as though when they were assigning domains, Apollo had gotten a bit greedy. So, naturally, he was one of Ana's favorite figures from the Greek pantheon.

The instructions made Ana smile with relief. No maze, no running around picking flowers, no creepy voices calling after her, just some appreciation for the arts. She rather wished she would have had more notice, since she would have brought her ballet attire. Dancing was her favorite way to express her appreciation for the arts, but her sandals and mock peplos were perhaps not the best thing to do pointe work in.

She didn't enjoy singing half so much as dancing, but years of voice lessons meant that she was no stranger to performing. She also enjoyed attention, to perhaps an excessive degree, so there had been more than one of her parents' parties where she had sung at least one song. After thinking for a moment, she selected her song and launched into it.

Her voice teacher listened to some Muggle music, so the song Ana chose happened to be a Muggle song, written by some band called Icyplay or something like that. It was one that resonated with Ana a little too much lately, so she poured every ounce of emotion and pain that she could into her words.

Post tracker: Underworld entry | Orpheus | Hecate | Hades | Persephone | Apollo | Hermes

Attire - Medusa
My trunk has Year 3 stats these are year 2:
Stamina : 8 | Evasion : 7 | Strength : 3 | Wisdom : 8 | Arcane Power : 9 | Accuracy : 8
Action| Participating in the trial of Apollo

Lily speaking in English
Lily speaking in Welsh
Others speaking

Mentioning Cassie-Heather McGregor-Martin @Lucia Fox

Here it was. The trial of Apollo. The one she definitely wasn’t excited for. She got stage fright, and still had no idea what she was going to do. Do poetry, she had been told by her friends. But Lily didn’t want to do poetry. She was no good at it, and could never remember the words. But, when she got nearer, a short girl was going on with some friends. She announced that her name was Cassie, and that it was a group performance. Thankfully, she also said that anyone could join in. This was her chance. She had to do it. Though her stage fright was certainly going up hold her back, there were others up there with her. I will be fine. She told herself. Everything is going to be fine.

"Righto, this is a group performance, anyone can join in if you want, I won't judge. We're all gonna do the Macarena." The Macarena. Shouldn’t be too hard. She knew the moves, at least. Though, she had absolutely no idea what the lyric were.

It might be the joke version. She told herself. Luckily, it was. She played the lyrics in her head: Hamburger, cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato; hamburger, cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato; hamburger cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato; heyyyyyy, macarena! After finishing it, she stepped on after Cassie and joined in.

Banner by Lucia Fox

Entering thread from the Persephone
Mentions @Caradoc Browne

Serena knew she had likely flopped the previous challenge but she had had fun. She had simply got to enjoy a nice stroll (well skip) through the area and potentially stopped to just smell the flowers. That was enough for her! Making her way to the next challenge, she noticed the judge - in all of his radiance and glory, of course. It was another boy that she did not recognise. Where did all of these people come from? Did they even go to Hogwarts? Maybe they were from the other schools... Man, Serena really needed to pay more attention or meet new people. She was losing touch it seemed. Then again, perhaps that was not her responsibility anymore. Perhaps she could just have fun.

Nonetheless, she listened to him speak about the trial. Within a few moments, she could feel her heart pounding a little. Oh gosh. Apollo's trial sounded kind of scary. Not in a dangerous way but... she was going to have to sing or something out aloud? Do a performance? Have people actively watching her and judging her? All of those things seemed a bit... nerve-wracking, in all honesty. She could feel her stomach twist a little, a shyness coming over her that was mixed in with awkwardness and confusion. She had no idea what to do. Her breathing was slightly audible, as she disliked the idea of singing in front of others. Serena pondered hard. Dance. Dance was something she could kind of do, no? Hell, she had joined in on the Hufflepuff dance parties before and she was here at this ball just to dance!

A solo performance was not exactly her forte but she did enjoy dancing and spent a lot of time doing it randomly around her bedroom at home or even here at school with her housemates and her far too energetic head of the badger house. Speaking of Browne... he would expect her to dance without hesitation, right? Well, to be honest, Serena had no idea if that was true. However, he danced without hesitation and regardless of what others thought! She had seen his dad-moves. It was time to take a page out of his book and do the same.

She exhaled loudly, her leg tapping against the floor as she was trying to shake out her fears. This was nothing compared to some of the stuff they went through, come on! Serena had literally taken multiple bludgers whacked at her like a champ and fallen from her broom plenty of times, she had literally danced with death before and fought an enemy that made no sense to her. Was she really nervous about dancing? That seemed silly!

Hesitantly, she made her way to the stage or wherever she was meant to stand. Her posture was a little timid, that was clear. Swallowing, she nodded to the judge, introduced herself and said she would perform a dance. With that, she started to dance to the music she could hear coming from the festival. A little bob, some swaying, an awkward arm movement or two. She looked awkward - both in her movements and her expression.

It took a few seconds - what felt like an eternity to her - before she started to get into it. Her shoulders swayed, moving up and down. Her legs started to move a little faster, a little smoother. There was a kick, a hip sway, some more arm movements. As she started to tune into the music, zoning everything else out, she started to dance better. The longer she danced, the less awkward it became. Serena found herself humming along with the tune once she had picked up what it was.

There was a lot of hand movements, expressions and arm movements in her dance. It was paired with some hip sways or simple leg moments and turns but the majority was in the upper body. It started to become a bit more graceful as time went on. A lot of the moves she was doing had a 'Bollywood' feel to them. It would likely be harder to recognise on the songs she was pairing them to but anyone who knew dance well would likely be able to recognise that she had had some experience there.

She even threw in some very 'dad' like moves that she had picked up from her head of house [like this] and even went full-on bhangra as she got into it more and more. By the end, she had a massive grin on her face and was pulling expressions in time with the song just for the fun of it as she danced.

Her dance did not need to make sense for her to have fun. If nothing else, she knew that. As she had gotten into it too much, she attempted to also cast the bluebell flames charm by saying "Caeruleus Inflamarae" and moving her hands around. Her plan was to simply light it in her palms. If successful, she would hold up the cold blue flame at the end in her palms, with both hands raised above her head as though she was placing a lotus into the sky but in this case, she was presenting the judge with a gift of a beautiful flame. Well, that was if it worked. Who knew what would happen if it didn't?

ACTION: Dancing her heart and soul out to the best of her ability [Attempting to cast Bluebell Flames wandlessly at the end - feel free to autofail as I know spells weren't necessarily permitted]

Stamina: 10 | Evasion: 10 | Strength: 1 | Wisdom: 13 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Part-Goblin [Gobbledegook and Wandless] and Evasive Maneuvers
Status: Energetic | Health: Full

Post Tracker: [1][2][3][4][5]

Outfit of the day: [1][2][3][4]

lettering in header done by the wonderful serena towers

ACTION:
Spitting mad verses, yo!
(I will 100% actually rap this so just DM me on Discord if you want me to)
stamina: 7 | evasion: 8 | strength: 15 | wisdom: 6 | arcane power: 3 | accuracy: 12

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BLOSSOM BALL 2021

Interacting With: @Kazuo Shimada
Mentioning: N/A
Hex Color: #800000

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And finally. The last challenge was upon them.

Rafael had somewhat expected something along the lines of a performance, if he were completely honest. Of course, as thorough and plenteous as the other gods’ abilities and fields were, their opportunity for competition seemed somewhat limited, leaving their trials vague and unpredictable. However, it seemed almost silly to the Captain that the Trial of Apollo would be anything less than a show of musical or artistic expertise. As such, the Captain found great pride in his own foresight, or more specifically, the preparation of a simple poem – a small safety, in the hopes that his assumptions were correct. And they had been.

Despite his avid searching and plenteous nights of repetition to the mirror or a close friend, the young man couldn’t help but feel a sudden and unexpected pang of anxiety – in the midst of his preparations, he’d forgotten a key component, leaving his nerves on edge as he reevaluated the credibility of his performance, the impending execution of his final trial. Of course, it was no secret that the young man was a more vocal member of society. However, his words were, to a good portion of the student population, difficult to interpret, courtesy of his odd, foreign linguistics. Fuck, what am I going to do? He panicked slightly internally, his face betraying some of his inward strife in the form of a small furrow of the brows. This competition was too close to bet on something so small. Perhaps he could attempt to right his speech, then? Somehow? Maybe he could try something a little more… American, maybe? British simply wasn’t going to work, the odd vowels were simply too odd for him to recite on the spot. He’d try adding some American into his vowels, then, he told himself with a decisive nod. He hoped to God – gods – that it would do him some good.

Alas, the time for performance had snuck up on the young man. Straightening out his posture and softening his facial features into something more easy, confident at the competition at hand, he would offer his most charming smile to the judge of today’s events – a first year he’d seen around the Great Hall once or twice, the face striking up some sense of familiarity yet no name. “I’ve come with a poem,” he said thoughtfully, trying the linguistics. It sounded little awkward, sure, but much clearer than his own Argentine. Perhaps this was going to work, then, he thought with a gentle curve of his lips. Best get this out of the way, then.

Clearing his throat shortly, he began his performance.

HYMN TO APOLLO

God of the golden bow,
And of the golden lyre,
And of the golden hair,
And of the golden fire,
Charioteer
Of the patient year,
Where — where slept thine ire,
When like a blank idiot I put on thy wreath,
Thy laurel, thy glory,
The light of thy story,
Or was I a worm — too low crawling, for death?
O Delphic Apollo!

The Thunderer grasp’d and grasp’d,
The Thunderer frown’d and frown’d;
The eagle’s feathery mane
For wrath became stiffen’d — the sound
Of breeding thunder
Went drowsily under,
Muttering to be unbound.
O why didst thou pity, and for a worm
Why touch thy soft lute
Till the thunder was mute,
Why was not I crush’d — such a pitiful germ?
O Delphic Apollo!

The Pleiades were up,
Watching the silent air;
The seeds and roots in the Earth
Were swelling for summer fare;
The Ocean, its neighbour,
Was at its old labour,
When, who — who did dare
To tie, like a madman, thy plant round his brow,
And grin and look proudly,
And blaspheme so loudly,
And live for that honour, to stoop to thee now?
O Delphic Apollo!

STA _____ 10 EVA _____ 4 STR _____ 9 WIS _____ 10 ARC _____ 2 ACC _____ 8

STATS & ABILITIES Interception Reducio When a Quaffle is being passed, users with this ability automatically get a chance to Intercept the quaffle. This does not replace their normal action for the round. This put the quaffle in your and by extension you teams' possession. Also, if the Quaffle is dropped for any reason, you would automatically (without it taking up an action) attempt another Quafflegrab. At present there would be no mid-round way to drop a quaffle due to the order of operations, however there will be certain effects in future patches that can cause this effect. Catch Reducio Able to catch two falling players on your broom when playing Quidditch. These additional caught players would be brought to the ground safely and they would be allowed to retrieve their broom and enter play again the next round. This can be done every round as the player's action if they choose to do so. With brooms that have the feature where an additional player may be caught (such as Bluebottle) where there is a stackable chance of failure with each additional person caught, there is no stacking failure chance for players with this ability. YEAR III AB Reducio TBD

Action • Kissing ass, in rhyme [attempting the challenge]