Piérre, Piper, Lavinia & Akari Valentines

@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato

Valentine’s day. On this day last year, Piérre had done a number of things. He had adopted his kitten Figaro after slipping out of school secretly by use of Floo powder, had set off an extremely potent stink bomb in the main corridor, and he had witnessed the execution of a Sectumsempra curse in the Hospital wing while everyone he had affected with his prank gone wrong had been puking their guts out. He was a year older, a bit more paranoid, a little more knowledgeable about his own life, yet not any the wiser, still a merry twelve year old who didn’t know when to shut up or sit down.

Everyone deserved a chance to relax... everyone deserved the chance to not have fear that they would be attacked at each and every turn. Piérre, though he was one of the unfortunate members of the student population who had been tossed about almost like a rag doll from event to event with hardly a chance to catch his breath, was still an innocent, ball of boundless energy.

A Valentine’s Day party seemed the perfect opportunity to sit down and relax, recognize that his Valentine’s Day last year had been a freak fluke, and hopefully get to know other people. Indeed, Piérre Luigi Marchonné; Harlequin, Jester, Italian, was more than ready to play the gentleman, having pulled out an old favorite ‘formal suit’ of his from last year and made some alterations to it in order to elongate the sleeves and the pant legs. This was the notorious formal suit from his first year Halloween Masquerade, an event in and of itself.

Reducio

The only thing that he was missing.... a boutonnière.

Quickly, he had dashed up the stairs to the Astronomy Classroom, admiring the rose petals strewn that way. Piérre thought about their current astronomy teacher, the menacing aura he exuded and the usual grim nature of his, and despite himself, the Britalian couldn’t help but wonder... was the professor a bit of a secret romantic, even considering that personality? Surely he wouldn’t have agreed to have his classroom done up in his way if he wasn’t, right?

Entering the room, Piérre immediately noticed the three goodies on the table; roses, chocolates, and a cupcake? Quicker than lightning, he snatched a pink rose and a bag of chocolates. Chocolates for... someone, he was sure that he could manage, and the rose was to be his boutonnière.

Just as he was stuffing the rose stem into his buttonhole, he noticed the tag on the stem, a curly number ‘26’. Hm... a number... perhaps it corresponds with...

Yep! A table... or perhaps a better word was a picnic blanket.

Dashing over, Piérre took a seat. He didn’t pick at the food yet... he was just waiting for his other group members to arrive.

He wondered who he was paired with...

Piérre is utilizing his ‘Calming Presence’
@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato
Possess a 10% auto-hit rate and have a sense of calm around Piérre

Interacting with: @Piérre Marchonné
Mentioning: @Lavinia Cloven & @Piper Clark
Outfit
Ability in effect: Charmer ♡

After being told to go to the Astronomy tower and dress up in a pleasant outfit on Valentine's day, Akari had some suspicions on what was going to happen but wasn't completely sure just yet. Akari typically didn't do much on Valentine's, aside from maybe pleading with her parents to get her a couple heart shaped chocolates to snack on from the local grocery store, so if something were to come from this event it would definitely be a first.

Once the time had come, she made her way up to the Astronomy tower and at entering was stunned at the beauty and ambiance of the entire room. Oh my was this perhaps a Valentine's party?
Well whatever it was going to be, it looked magnificent. She took a few more moments to take in every single detail and piece of Valentine's themed decor that surrounded her.

She then approached a couple of tables and squinted to see what was written on the cards that were displayed on top of them. Take one? Why of course! She happily leaned forward and reached over to a vase plucked a pink rose from it before bringing it to her nose and taking a whiff of its scent. What a delightful and relaxing scent roses exude. After she brought the hand with the rose back down she used the other one to pick out and admire one of the cupcakes. To her surprise, she suddenly noticed that the tag attached to it began to change and form into what looked like a number? She glanced down at the rose and saw that its tag had produced the same number. She looked between them a couple more times. 26... 26...
She then looked around the room to try and find a clue as to why she had received a number, when it caught her eye that each balloon set up at each blanket had a number that presumably matched up with the one on the card.

She searched the room for 26 and once finding began to stroll over when she noticed someone had already arrived.
Was that the first string quidditch keeper? Piérre, right?
She smiled at him as she drew closer, but with a tiny splash of awkwardness from not expecting anyone to be there but still proceeded to speak up in a friendly tone.
"Hey! Mind if I join you?"

Interacting: @Piérre Marchonné @Akari Kato
Mentioning: @Lavinia Cloven
Ability: Perfectionist (but will hopefully be unneeded in this thread)

Reducio

Outfit:

Valentine's Day was a day that Piper had never really thought about for herself. At home, Eleanor seemed rather sad and usually couldn't keep herself from locking herself in the office (though there were rare years just the two of them would travel to the country and picnic). Sometimes Piper would just spend the day with her abundance of homework or work for the neighbors - anything to take her mind off of her father. This year, it hadn't occurred to her that she'd be at Hogwarts on Valentine's Day. And it was sickening.

The streamers around, the mountains of hearts, the color red. And worst of all, the giggling, whispering students who couldn't stop talking about their fancies (or "crushes"). The smirks, the snickers, the blushes, and everything in between were exchanged, and Piper found it hugely disruptive to her studies, where her grades were ever-slipping. Additionally, it hadn't even occurred to her that students - students her age - would be interested in participating in romantic activities. Piper was no idiot; she knew that a Valentine's party was happening. It was all over the school. However, she had very intentionally not signed up - the entire idea of dating someone you had no idea about, manipulated by someone behind the strings, was repulsive. However, the positive things that came out of this holiday were mainly the chocolates and new wizarding sweets. Piper was sure to send Eleanor a few cauldron cakes.

Ever since her gown fiasco at the Halloween Masquerade, Piper had been hesitant to wear anything beyond jeans and a shirt or her robes ever again. However, when the mysterious owl had come on February 13 saying to come to Astronomy tower in warm and nice clothing (emphasized), Piper had been unable to sleep for the night. She wondered who could have sent the message - was it a school owl? It likely was, as it was one of the more common types. She had analyzed the letter from the handwriting right down to the ink color - she couldn't decipher what the letter could possibly mean except by following its directions.

And so, Piper had awoken and dressed in a hurry and waited anxiously for the designated time. She was very careful in her dressing, but finally decided on a loose dress. She liked how it flowed around her under her warm jacket. It was elegant, but in remembrance of her adventures after the fall masquerade, it allowed Piper to move freely if this was a dangerous trick. After finishing combing her hair, Piper had stared into the mirror confidently for the first time in awhile. She didn't put too much stock into her wear, since whoever wrote her had zero authority to tell her how to dress.

Waiting for the night to come was agony, but Piper distracted herself with various books and extra credit homework, alone in her dorm so nobody saw her. At last, she climbed up to the Astronomy tower.

At the moment she climbed the stairs, Piper remembered and wanted to curse. The floating hearts reminded her. It was Valentine's Day. Right. After all her most careful analysis, Piper had still forgotten one of the largest variables that may affect the letter's source. Sighing, Piper trudged upstairs and hoped this meeting was unrelated.

Walking into the room, it seemed Piper was quite wrong. Hearts. Flowers. Refreshments. Candy.

Oh no.

This had to be that Valentines party. She was so, so stupid. And blind. Piper felt a torrent of horror and dismay. However, she hadn't signed up. She was safe from dates. And perhaps it wasn't quite time to leave yet; if she did, she wouldn't find out what moron sent her that owl. Much as she didn't want to admit it, Piper wanted to see if (and who) had even noticed her, let alone taken the time to ask her to attend. Plus, refreshments were a bonus.

Trying to ignore the people milling about and the changed classroom, Piper took a bag of chocolates as labeled. Of course she was polite. She glanced around and studied the faces of everyone, and looked down in surprise. A number had formed on her bag. 26. Was this a clue? Mystified, Piper looked around. Picnic blankets were laid around and each had a balloon, numbered. There was in fact a 26, so she headed there. But something caught her attention - why would she be given a number? That only seemed to happen to the participants of this activity. And that was precisely when the true horror set in.

Piper had been set up.

At a blind date.

There were already two people sitting at the picnic blanket, and Piper stepped hesitantly towards them, momentarily resisting her urge to run. One was a slightly older boy who was basically the stand-out blue version of Florian. His suit was absolutely appalling and attention-grabbing, though his sole presence was...slightly calming, in a way. The girl's outfit was much more casual, and she let out a grace and elegance that simply radiated superiority.

Piper's thoughts raced and she wanted to curse all hell off of whoever had done this. She had been seen though, how could she back out now? Piper stepped forward, partly ignoring the fact that she was the third person to show up at a paired date. This was possibly all just a misunderstanding. "Uh. So. Do either of you know why I'm here?" She wagged her bag with its number at the two students. It was less a question and more a not-so-subtle accusation, but still a valid one. Though she would usually have much more tact and reservations, Piper was too confused and angry to care at the moment.

Interacting with: @Piérre Marchonné, @Piper Clark, @Akari Kato

So, here it was again, Valentine’s Day. Last year Lavinia had spent the day doing nothing except homework and that was fine with her but when she saw the flyers in the hall advertising a Valentine’s dinner she knew she had to sign up. It’s not like she could possibly find love on her own or even friends for that matter so why not have a teacher put her on a blind date? She wasn’t expecting to find anything by signing up but she only did it to try and step outside her comfort zone.

As she was taking the long walk up to the astronomy tower she found herself rethinking her choices wondering why couldn’t I have just stayed in the dorm and what if the person I’m paired with doesn’t think anything of me? Lavinia pushed these thoughts aside and continued on her walk, as soon as she arrived at the astronomy tower she was blown away everything was pink and red. There were little hearts floating in the air and everything just looked like a Cupid threw up. Why was it that pink and red was always associated with love? As Lavinia was still trying to take in the newly decorated astronomy tower she looked around and saw a fair number of people already present. Many of them were wearing pink or red getups and as sad as it was to say Lavinia was no different.

Reducio

She was wearing a button up long sleeve dress that she had bought from hogsmeed and she really liked how it looked on her. Regardless of her outfit she moved closer to a sign that said “Please take one” and on a table was a vase of roses, bags of chocolates and a plate of cupcakes. Lavinia didn’t even have to think she grabbed a bag of chocolates without noticing that there was a little tag on it. Even though she assumed that the chocolates were to be for her blind date she grabbed on out of the bag and plopped it in her mouth. Ahhhhhhhhh, that chocolate tasted soooo good and I really want another one but I have a feeling that these were not went for me, maybe if I’m lucky my date would have chosen chocolates too. Where was I supposed to go for my date anyway? It’s not like there was anything to tell me which blanket to go to. Right as she thought that she noticed that the roses had little tags on them and so did the cupcakes. Looking down at her bad of chocolates she saw that there was a little label and instead of being blank it said 26.

What was so special about the number 26? It had appeared on her bag of chocolates but what did it really mean? Was this the number of her blind date or did it have to do with how many chocolates were in the bag? Curious Lavinia grabbed a cupcake and it’s label also showed the number 26. This meant that number probably had to do with where she need to go and it seemed as though Lavinia was very obvious as to what to do. Holding her bag of chocolates in one hand and her cupcake in the other she saw that each picnic blanket had a number in it. For being in Ravenclaw, Lavinia was doing a very bad job at understanding what was going on. It was probably just the nerves though I mean it’s not every day you go on a blind date.

She finally spotted number 26 and walked over, surprisingly there was already 3 people sitting down. There was one male who was wearing a fancy blue tux and 2 girls, one of which looked very confused as to why she was there. Lavinia didn’t blame her she looked again at the blanket and yep it said 26 so why was she on a blind date with 3 other people? Was this supposed to be some weird thing where the guy got to choose which girl he liked the most because Lavinia wasn’t sure she wanted to be apart of that. Another weird thing was that all of the people sitting in the blanket looked younger then her, 2 of them looked even as though they were 1st years. Well Lavinia thought that she might as well say something so she walked over and said ”Hi I’m Lavinia and I believe that I’m supposed to be here at number 26” Instead of waiting for a reply she sat down and got ready for a weird 4 person date.

@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato

The boy was still trying to stuff the rose into a stubborn position, considering briefly if he should bust open the chocolates, when a light voice reached his ears. No way.

“KK?!” Piérre’s head snapped to the sound. Of course he would have to recognize his own teammate’s voices. The game relied so strongly on being able to predict and remember intonation, frequency, intent of words. True intent, not just what was being said aloud. Piérre even remembered accidentally calling KK a boy before being corrected the other way around. Piérre was pleasantly met with his mini-Keeper Gryffindor, and Akari would be greeted with a beaming smile. There was something about Akari not unlike Piérre... except that it was more of a commanding presence, a sense that she knew what she was doing, even if the world around her didn’t.

“Get over here! Pop a squat!” Piérre laughed aloud, patting a place next to him, “Man, our new Astronomy Professor sure knows how to make some great digs, doesn’t he? Didn’t think him that kinda guy... but, y’know, more than happy to be proven wrong, yeah?” Piérre chirped, beginning small prattle like he usually did. Forget what he had gone through. He was unshakable... especially when faced with trouble.

Cue the storm clouds, because another individual was coming, and she seemed to be not very happy with her predicament.

Why was she here?

“Because you signed up?” Piérre tipped his head like a curious puppy. He didn’t recognize the blatant fury or the disapproval in her voice at all. “I mean... I’m just here to have a good time and enjoy some chocolate. I see you grabbed some for yourself! Come on! Sit down and introduce yourself! My name is Piérre, Piérre Marchonné! This is Akar- oop! D’you want to introduce yourself, KK? Man, this is gonna be something, isn’t it?”

And then there were four, as a third girl came over. Was Piérre supposed to be The Bachelor or what? Any guy in his position would probably have been exhilarated just to be noticed by some girls, especially young and pretty girls such as the likes of the ones which had come together... but Piérre was just happy to have the company. The more the merrier!

She looked a little older than Piérre, but not too much so. In fact... hadn’t Piérre seen this particular girl on the Pitch not too long ago in the game against Ravenclaw? Perhaps it was just coincidence.

“Hi Lavinia! I’m Piérre! Welcome to the party!” He smiled at everyone gathered. Perhaps there was going to be some hope tonight. It seemed just so pleasant, such a nice occasion, such a perfect opportunity to get to know one another on a night that was meant to put aside petty rivalries or anger and just enjoy each other’s company. “Seems like everyone likes the chocolate, huh? Just about all of us grabbed one.” A small, pleasant laugh. “D’you want a chocolate, KK?” Piérre opened the bag and offered one. “Not gonna eat them all myself right now, anyhow...”

He hummed to himself as he looked out the window. He didn’t know too many constellations unfortunately, but that didn’t prevent him from admiring their diamond-like twinkling as his eye caught their light just right. Somewhere out there, people were reuniting, some people were breaking away. Some people were living, and some were dying in the bodies of their living selves. The Britalian’s heart went out to each of them... wishing them the best. Just like he wished everyone that he ran into the best.

He wasn’t thinking about love in his own life at the moment... he was listening quietly to the rest of the others, getting a sense of their dynamics. What each person acted like, what each person spoke like. Their formalities, their quirks... anything that could help Piérre get to know them better and get them to be more at ease if they needed the gentle push in the right direction.

Piérre is utilizing his ‘Calming Presence’
@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato
Possess a 10% auto-hit rate and have a sense of calm around Piérre

Interacting with: @Piérre Marchonné @Lavinia Cloven & @Piper Clark

Akari happily sat down next in the spot next to Piérre after the invitation was extended and the small smile and turned into a big amused grin after hearing the name he called her. She nodded in agreement at his exclamation about the new Astronomy teacher and the “great digs”, though didn’t get much of a chance to reply for she was nibbling at the rose icing cupcake that she had taken from the entrance. Then, someone else approached them asking them why she was there while waving the same number card that Akari had received at them. Akari blinked at the girl cluelessly, she was the last person to answer a question like that, so instead of replying she just let Piérre do the talking while she took another bite of her snack.

”Oh yes right- er-” Akari mumbled with a mouthful of cupcake. She quickly swallowed before continuing her introduction. ”I’m Akari, pleasure”

As she finished her last bite of her treat yet another person joined them. This was confusing, why so many people? Well, it couldn’t hurt to make new friends now could it? So she proceeded to politely introduce herself again.
”Welcome, my name is Akari” She piped up as the newcomer sat down.

When she was offered a chocolate she immediately responded with a nod of her head and said ”Mhm, please!”
Then reached over and took one of them then popped it into her mouth, but while chewing her brows raised in a slightly surprise fashion and she sort of regretted taking it so soon after her cupcake for the sweetness was taking over her mouth and basically was giving her a small sugar rush. She placed a hand on her head briefly and sighed quietly at herself.

Despite the overwhelming sugary taste, she gazed at all the other desserts and food placed on the blanket in front of her, well, no matter how this day would turn out, at least she could say there was some really good food.

"Because you signed up?"

If it weren't for the boy's odd calming effect, Piper would have blown her top. Instead, she took a deep breath. The mounting anger was still there, but she managed to shove it down into her stomach rather than her chest, where it bubbled furiously. "I didn't. Sign. Up. Some absolute bastard tricked me into coming." The boy was so relaxed it was rather hard to believe. She would not relax. In fact, Piper had half a mind to stalk out of there right away. However, she took another deep breath. She was very confused - she should take a time out and think about it.

Who had set her up? Piper would be 100% certain to murder them as soon as they were identified (and make it hurt), but she couldn't discover anything or anyone at this exact second. And more importantly, why was she a third party on a supposedly two-party date? Hogwarts was the most disorganized school ever, though what else could one expect from a magical school besides the abnormal?

"I'm Piper." She was curt about her name, but she was still unsure of whether she should be here. Was she allowed? She also mentally noted the names Píerre and Akari. However, another stylishly dressed person joined the trio shortly, and she had apparently been directed there like Piper. Lavinia. Piper glanced at her sideways. This was way too weird - at this point, was it even a date? What creepo put three girls - and young teens, no less - with one boy? How was nobody else seriously weirded out by the idea of this? Her respect for the staff had officially plummeted.

Piper cleared her throat. "Anyway. Why in the name of Merlin are there four of us?" She took a seat to be some kind of polite, but sat tersely on the edge of it. She wouldn't want to give the impression she had the intention of staying too long. Piper still couldn't believe she was still present. It would serve whatever moron that had put her name on the list right if she didn't go along with their plan. However, there were a couple reasons for staying that tugged at Piper's mind, and none had anything to do with the people.

First of all, the basket of sweets (which had just caught Piper's eye) looked way too good to resist - Piper had never been able to say no to chocolate or biscuits, and today was no exception despite her situation. Additionally, the night sky was clear for once. While all of the heart-shaped balloons and pinkness and romance atmosphere were puke-worthy, nobody could deny that the stars above were breathtaking. Piper wasn't the best in astronomy or in constellations, but she did find the idea of an entire universe absolutely fascinating.

So. Outcome of staying: Food, rare sky observation without a professor telling me what I can and can't look at. Sugar. Chocolate. Guaranteed awkwardness. Clues to identity of person who signed me up. Outcome of leaving: Alone time. Lack of sweets. Possible revenge on person who betrayed me.

The benefits of staying outweighed those of leaving, and so Piper would do it. For the chocolate. She reached into her numbered bag and popped a piece into her mouth, chewing it sulkily. Eyeing everyone else, Piper awaited an answer to her question.

Interacting: @Piérre Marchonné @Akari Kato @Lavinia Cloven

Interacting with: @Piérre Marchonné, @Piper Clark, @Akari Kato

Welcome to the party was what the guy who’s name was Piérre had said. I guess it made sense because the phrase was two’s company and three’s a crowd so then four would be a party. It was odd that the teachers would put four people together on what was supposed to be a blind date. This fact gave her a little less respect for the teachers of the school, even though the place looked nice did the teachers have some sort of hidden meaning behind the fact? To be honest Lavinia wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, the stuff that had gone on at this school was crazy and everything had some sort of bad thing that took place. It was like the school was drawn to bad events taking place, that’s why she didn’t have that many friends she was scared of something disturbing happening if she got too close to people. It was even a mental debate to decide to take part in this.

Nevertheless, Lavinia’s concerns felt like they were just fading away from her as everyone was introducing themselves. When the boy spoke it seemed as though everything was calm and nothing was going to happen. She finally noticed that they was a hamper of treats and food in the middle of the picnic blanket, it surprised Lavinia that she had not seen this before because normally she was observant. What is going on with you today, come on get it together, just because this is supposed to be some sort of odd date doesn’t mean that you can not pay attention. While was scolding herself inside her brain, the girl named Piper spoke up and asked, "Anyway. Why in the name of Merlin are there four of us?" Lavinia immediately started to like this girl, she was unafraid to speak her mind and say the question that everyone had. So Lavinia taking notice from Piper decided to also speak her mind;

”I really don’t know, I mean I think the signups were for a blind date and this just feels very odd. But I guess maybe the teachers put us in a group of four for a reason, I mean I’m all up for making friends. What about you why do you think that there are four of us here?”

So that’s all she was going to say, a little thing that could be taken many different ways. Now that she had spent her time speaking she decided to grab a snack while listening to the others. She looked at the wide array of goods and decided to grab a berry scone and a glass of cold water. For some reason that was the only drink she would drink other than butterbear. Lavinia took a bite into her scone and it was just delicious, she wanted to just scarf it down but decided better of it, since she was in the presence of others. She started taking little slow bites of her scans and drinking her water as she waited for the others to talk.

@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato

As soon as Piper had swore, Piérre bit his lip, raising a hand quietly and permitting a small, easy smile to spread across his face. “No swearing. Doesn’t make you sound any cooler after all... There are better words to express your feelings. You can say that the person was a bit of a jerkwad, after all.” He said this quietly, humming as he swayed back and forth. There was even a bit of a singsong tone to his voice near the end of his words. Swearing had been something Piérre never appreciated, but accepted as a part of the world that he lived in today. But young kids swearing? There was absolutely no reason for that.

“I’m sorry to hear you feel you were tricked, though.” He continued carefully, gingerly reaching for a small cookie. “I would certainly be angry if I had been signed up without permission and didn’t want to come. But, hey, maybe we were put together for a reason! The Lord works in mysterious ways, after all, right?” Always look for the positives. Acknowledge the bad, and then turn it good.

Akari seemed to be enjoying herself, though, and that was something that caused Piérre to feel a bit more fortified about his words. Perhaps he wasn’t a total loss after all. Biting into his cookie, he listened to what Lavinia had to say, nodding along with her. “Yeah, mostly for friends, I think. Like I said, I’m sure there’s a very good reason, and I’m willing to find out what it is!”

He seemed to be the most relaxed one... and maybe that was a good thing. He was easily slipping into the role of the mediator, starting to understand the personalities of each girl and what their motives and drives were.

Akari was the sweetest girl here thus far, in Piérre opinion. Then again, he knew her the best because he was her teammate and the more experienced Keeper. She seemed happy enough as it was, no pressure points for her so far. She liked chocolate, but by her jumpiness after the offer, Piérre knew to look out for a sugar high and crash. Moderation.

Piper seemed a bit more high strung than the other two. Of course, she was the one that had been tricked into this or had not really wanted to be here. A bit of encouragement, though, and perhaps a small breaking of her exterior shell would occur. She seemed to command authority, and seemed the one to expect things to go her way. Humility.

Lavinia was like Piérre in that she wanted order and peace to be maintained. She seemed interested enough in the food, and Piérre, while picky as to when he decided to eat, didn’t blame her. She was likely here to make friends as well. Of the four of them, though, she seemed the most ladylike, as if she felt there was something to be done about keeping appearance yet having fun at the same time. She needed to let her hair down. Candid.

Then there was Piérre; King’s Fool, Jesture, Wildcard. He was a blend of them all, trying to adapt and keep in check the peace of the situation. Being the only boy, this put more pressure on him, for he had little understanding of how the girls would interact with each other or attempt to one up each other. All he could do was trad softly and play the gentleman. Chameleon.

Piérre is utilizing his ‘Calming Presence’
@Piper Clark, @Lavinia Cloven, & @Akari Kato
Possess a 10% auto-hit rate and have a sense of calm around Piérre