Secret Blossom Ball Event Finished

Lizzie looked up to Cassie and smiled, "Nothing is wrong." She was telling the truth. It was just a shock. That's all. The Ravenclaw then noticed another Slytherin (whose name was Emory) coming over to them and patted her dress once again. They had a beautiful pink dress on that really suited them.

Lizzie subconsciously looked down at her plain blue dress and sighed. Obviously, her mum picked a really pretty one but it wasn't as nice as some of the ones here. She looked back up at the girl and smiled wider after having a compliment. "Thanks. You look pretty nice yourself." She answered.

"I'm Lizzie Verdine." She said while hoisting her coat over her arm again. It was getting quite heavy and annoying but Lizzie would just have to deal with it. I knew I should have just got a cheap coat and not this fancy one. She grumbled to herself.

They then started to walk over to Blake's table after Cassie introduced themselves as well. Lizzie slowly sat down and placed her hands in her lap. For once, she never had anything to say. It was a bit awkward since she wasn't used to going to parties and stuff like that.

Blake then walked off to go get some drinks and Lizzie turned to the girl she had seen him with before, "Hi... I'm Lizzie. I just want to tell you I'm not jealous at all. It's just I was supirsed. I mean Blake has never mentioned you." Lizzie then continued, "I'm more likely to marry my music then an actual man."

She laughed at her own joke and then it became very awkward she just sat there laughing like a mad man. Lizzie cleared her throat and smiled slightly while adjusting her coat onto the back of her chair. Blake soon came back and Lizzie took one of the chalices while Cassie took the other.

She quickly took a drink of to try drown herself (metaphorically not literally). Lizzie decided to not speak anymore (just in case she made a bigger fool out of herself) and stare of into the distance with 'My fairy king' swirling around her head while moving her head and tapping her feet.

Interacting with @Cassandra Ironwoods , @May Moonstar , @Blake Bayne and @Emory Montgomery

Interactions closed

Please excuse my terrible writing. I'm trying to reply to all the RPGs before the server gets shut down and also it's hard for me to write when there are so many people.

Interacting with: @James Cadwell

Mentions:@Lydia Cooper @Janet Jackson@Rafael D'Spacito@Aaron Jones

Status: Temporarily open

Abilities/race: Part-Veela

It was certainly a beautiful evening, one couldn’t have wished for better for such an eventful night to come. From afar the pitch appeared dark aside from the lingering sunlight and stars were already starting to appear in the clear sky above, sprinkled delicately across the moonlit blanket. The path into the pitch was lined with candles set carefully on the ground, all of them encased in what appeared to be unburstable bubbles. Inside was a glorious sight, more candles floated effortlessly in the air, creating a peaceful, relaxed aroma, flowers were scattered across the perimeter adding to the beautiful scene. It felt harmonious, almost unreal, as though they were sitting inside a fantasy fairy realm. It was all together a very pleasant sight. The Gryffindor girl was running late however and as she exited the changing rooms she glanced nervously around in search of her date. James. Where was he? She supposed she couldn't complain, she had lost track of time while doing up Janet's hair, the girl just wouldn't sit still. She looked completely different tonight, the girl had made an effort to look elegant for once, abandoning her rowdy, uproarious behavior for the event. She had let her hair down, although not in the plain normal waves that were usually sent carelessly cascading down her back, but she had entwined flowers into a kind of half updo and the lightish brown/blonde tips shone even more clearly in the fluorescent glow of the nearby candles. She was quite happy with her outfit, a pale pink floaty dress with heels, which she admittedly was not used to walking in yet. Arianas mind wandered off to James temporarily, she couldn't believe he had asked her to the ball. To some extent, she felt that she didn't deserve his sweet, kind nature or his handsome smiles and affection. Familiar faces met Ariana's eyes as she scanned the crowd, she saw Lydia with Rafael and caught the Hufflepuff girl's eye, smiling genuinely at her. She would go talk to them later. She then spotted Aaron, standing near the tables laiden with various assortments of food and drink. They had promised to see each other at the ball, he was the one who had told her about it of course. She should go talk to the friendly huffle boy, they were good friends after all! Before she could do this however, she was interrupted from her dazed thoughts by a small tap on her shoulder and spun round, startled, to come face to face with James, who was holding a bunch of beautiful roses, Ariana's favorite flowers. He looked amazing, Ariana was speechless for a few moments, he hadn't gone too over the top, but was perfectly on point. In her opinion he looked better than anyone she had seen that night. He smelled amazing too, like vanilla. Her face by now was on fire, her cheeks burning, probably the same color as the roses in his hands. Reaching for the roses she smiled shyly at him staring up into his gorgeous face “Thank you for the roses, they're beautiful!” She paused, noting his appearance again. “Y-you look amazing Jam.” She saw his cheeks turn slightly pink, but nevertheless he smiled back at her, his handsome hazel eyes piercing her lively green ones. She temporarily forgot about everyone around her, all she felt at this moment was pure happiness, tonight was certainly going to be exciting.

Interacts With: @Arlo Reynolds, @Thomas LeStrange

She was actually quite scared of Thomas. Ever since that time he threatened to kill her in the Owlry her blood ran cold and it felt like someone had her by the throat. The fine hairs on the back of her neck would stand on head as she saw him eye the duo and bring a drink to his lips before approaching. There were a great many things for her to fear and yes, Thomas was rightfully among them but he was not her greatest threat (yet).



The disembodied voice would cajole her. She had intended to placate her friend, but now she had even more of a reason. She would reach down for his hand. Her fingers would feel cold. Not as cold as she felt that afternoon in the Owlry, but there was still an uncanny chill. "Let's get outta here," she sounded nervous because she was.



“Called to the stands? Whatcha talkin about?”



A call back to what she had said just before. "My friend..." her voice trailed off. "Really wants to meet you," she answered. The actual truth just sounded too weird. "And he won't..." She seemed to be a bit agitated. "He won't stop going on about it."



“I mean, I’m happy to go wherever you’d like. Shall we?”

It wasn't that Arlo was non-complaint, but rather Marion was too slow. Thomas would choose a path between her means of egress and her present place, the perimeter of the dance floor. She took a deep breath, gripped Arlo's hand tighter in her left. She was not particularly powerful, her grip would not be painful. "Dang it," she whispered. Her heart pounding.



“Did you two…plan to dance? Arlo, did you not see the sign? You must be this tall to ride this ride.”

Thomas taunted.



”Good one, Thomas.”



Arlo retorted.

“Come up with that all by yourself.”



Poor Arlo. He swat at Thomas' condescending patting hand.

“Only kidding buddy, if you need a pair of shoulders to sit on so you can see her face, I’m available.”



She almost said that there were plenty of chairs for that. Not as a jab but a serious statement. Thankfully the recommendation never left her mouth, it would have likely only been met with a roar of laughter from Thomas. "Gawd, like what's your problem," Marion complained. There was a dance floor FULL of people for him to piss off, why did he have to come over here.

“Oh, just kidding are we. Freakin jerk!”



She agreed on that assessment.The guy was just here to push his buttons.

“Honestly…I think we got off on the wrong foot, Marion.”



Shut up she mouthed. "You think," she replied incredulously as she sniffed the air. "Are you drinking?" That bitter scent that reminded her of a Friday night. The heck was wrong with him.

“I do hope the shoulder is on the mend.”



It wasn't actually. Well, it was 'healing' slowly, naturally. There was this sharp, stabbing sense in her shoulder whenever she lifted her arm still. She had been afraid to seek out nurse VanCleaf in the Medical Wing since the incident. She was afraid that she would have to explain things. That they would look and see something wrong. Like someone that delays checking out that lump they found, partially certain already of what could be found but in perpetual fear of that confirmation. "I am sure it keeps you up at night. All better," she lied. Yes, like most people - the girl was a liar.

“We were actually just about to go. Well...um...”

He was giving her an out. It was not even a lie. They were leaving.

"Yeah, we're.

She started to agree with him.

“Allow me to explain over a dance?”



When he reached out his hand, Marion instinctively recoiled and flung the drink she had in her hand at Thomas' face. It was only half-consumed. Pumpkin juice. "You jerk!" Her anger was real. His presence a constant threat, the drink hardly a remedy for whatever curse his presence might bring but perhaps a deterrent. "F-find something else to bother!" She grit her teeth and looked away as she tried to shove him back. Even if her hands made contact with his possibly soggy ensemble, again he would notice how incredibly impuissant her assault was. If he was pushed back, that would be his choice to do so for the sake of theatrics or drama rather than her 'awesome power.'

“If that’s still what you’d like to do Marion.”

He was giving her the opportunity to go with the sociopath. Wasn't happening. "No," she confirmed.

Briefly Interacting with @Marion Davenport, @Arlo Reynolds and @Victor Moore
Mentioning @Lydia Cooper and @Rafael D'Spacito
Directly Interacting with @Evelynn Decipio

"No problem," Aaron said as Wren left them. He looked in the direction she was headed and his eyes zoomed in on the girl she was headed for. Lydia. Wha- What had happened? Her hair was blue! As his eyes widened at the sight, though, he couldn't help thinking that she looked extremely pretty like that. Her hair was on theme with her dress now, and he thought about how she could probably pull off any hair color. Just as he contemplated going over there and complimenting her new hairdo, the devil himself showed up.

Rafael D'Spacito.

Aaron's eyes instantly narrowed and his whole body stiffened. He had been dreading the moment that the Gryffindor Captain would arrive. Ugh. Before he could get too worked up by the boy's presence (he could feel a phantom pain in his body from the memory of their fistfight), he turned back to the people he was with.

He was just now registering that there were two more in his company, a pretty blonde girl who might've also been an upperclassmen, and a boy he recognized from his own classes. "I think I'll just put these under the refreshment table over there. You can grab it for her when you guys leave," he said to Wren's date, gesturing to one side of the pitch. "If you guys need anything that I can help with, just find me wandering around!" he offered, this time looking at the other two people as well. With that said, he headed for the refreshment table with the vase of flowers (completely missing the altercation with Thomas). (OOC Note: I totally missed that there was an insult fight happening, so I'm trying to say that Aaron would've interacted with them before Thomas, if that's okay.. otherwise act like Aaron is totally oblivious to the altercation in front of him)

Once he was there, Aaron put the flowers under the tablecloth when no one was looking, hoping it would keep the pristine specimens safe. It's not like the ball organizers had a safe to place valuables in, but he figured this was as good a place as any. If anyone were to try and steal them, that person would be pretty obvious. The vase of flowers was almost a comically large gift, which made Aaron wonder if the guy who had bought them thought it through at the time.

As he contemplated what to do next, Aaron looked around and decided to take a much-needed break. The black-haired wizard grabbed his second bottle of Yoohoo for the night and began to drink some. The night was just beginning, but he could already tell that it was a success. So many people had shown up and he was so happy about it. Sean, Lydia, Atlas, Pericles and Opeila had put so much time and effort into the ball, and to see them all having fun was a real treat for Aaron. As he looked around, though, he quickly realized that Sean was still missing. Probably still in the stands. Should I go check on him?

Aaron instinctively wiped the sleeve of his nice suit jacket over his mouth to get rid of any milk mustache. As he realized his mistake, though, he was glad to see that the chocolate milk did not show up on the suit. He looked as impeccable and Hufflepuff-themed as before. Good thing, too, because he didn't want to be caught looking anything but his best with Rafael around. Ugh. The thought of that smug jerk with Lydia was revolting to Aaron. He tried not to think about it as he headed through the crowd once more to go to the stands opposite him (where he had seen Sean go into them). As he was walking through the crowd, though, he got distracted once more thinking about how much he despised D'Spacito, and he ran straight into someone. Well, not literally. He caught himself a second away from colliding with the girl though, and he quickly took a step back.

"Oh- I'm sorry!" Aaron said, his tone a hundred percent apologetic. But when he recognized who he was talking to, his eyes lit up for a moment. "Oh, Evelynn! Hey! Are you enjoying the ball?" Although they had never had a proper conversation, Aaron knew exactly who the Gryffindor seeker was. They had both been in the Martial Artist club meeting for new members, and they had played against each other two weeks ago in the unofficial Quidditch match - the one where Rafael had eaten dirt. The thought made Aaron's smile grow a little bit as he waited for the auburnette to reply. He had heard through the grapevine that she wasn't a fan of the big-headed captain, so she was a potential friend in his eyes.

Open to interactions
Interacting with |
Mentioning | Everyone who has entered since my last post on page 8 except Elsian Cox who entered from the stands

Althea Valeden entered in a dress that looked like a playoff of a sailor’s outfit. Was she a fan of… oh, what was it? Sailor moon? Was that what her muggle friend called it? Maybe it seemed like something described from there. At least it wasn’t a full floor-length gown; she had better chances for movement that way. *Click* Tomas Lestrange 2.0 instead of showing up in his robes now, he walked in like the grim reaper in all black. If you weren’t paying close enough attention to the white rim of his shoes could make it look like he was floating slightly above the ground, which only helped with his presence. This kid was like a walking omen, and Santario felt bad for anyone who decided to get in his way. *Click* Søren Silverwood was a welcome splash of classy blue after Lestrange’s doom and gloom. *Click* Ruby Cazares looked like a regal noblemen ready to walk in a negotiate important contracts. *Click*

Serena Bowen another princess in a floor-length gown, but this one at least was a change of pace in color. A white gown topped in purple tulle. She bet there were heels under the dress to not great for running but maybe useful if she needed to defend herself. Good luck. *Click* Cassandra Ironwoods… Who n their right minds allowed an 11-12-year-old to wear a dress with that slit and that backless? It was like she thought she was an adult or something. This reminded Santario about a party her grandmother threw once at the château. The new wife of one of an influential politician came in. Her grandmother said something about attention, but San couldn’t remember quite what she had said. The dresses were somewhat similar, though. *Click* Allister-Jameson MacAllister entered the ball in a very traditional Scottish attire a very respectable choice. Choosing traditional garb was a bold and great decision. *Click*

Rafael D’Spacito captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team walked in with a bouquet of roses. Cleary, this little lion had someone to impress. Hopefully, whoever it was, is impressed by the act of affection, considering this was one of the only boys who seemed to bring a gift for their date. *Click* Kaylie Lovens dressed simply in a blue sequined dress with white flats. Maybe she wouldn’t be alone for too long. *Click* Janet Jackson came in, in a strapless… Who let these girls pick these dresses seriously?... Pastel mint dress. *Click* The girl looked a little lost but very soon seemed to find someone she knew. Lavinia Cloven came to the ball in a rose gold dress and seemed to keep to herself for the time being. *Click* Aurelia Notrésvace had changed her hair color for the ball and dressed in another scantily clad dress, but that was somehow the normal here even if it was inappropriate. *Click*

Now it had definitely been long enough for people to get dressed and enter. Anyone else was a latecomer at this point, and San needed to get photos of the ball before it went all to hell. She would lean down and grab the strap of her camera bag, hoisting it onto her left shoulder before turning her camera towards the actual ball and the people enjoying it. Or, at least, mostly enjoying it. She would not start to take photos of people dancing, snacking, and mingling.

Commentary on pages 2, 4, 8, and 13

Outfit | Locket | Hair | Camera bag

Interacting with @Willow Anderson

Her eyes widened as Willow talked about a variant of paint. "There's a thing called fabric paint?!" She resounded with surprise. Before attending Hogwarts, She rarely touched artistic or creative topics. However, because of a certain series of events, she started gaining interest in it. "Fascinating! Just how many kinds of paints are there..." She pondered. Breana's face brightened at Willow's offer of doing it even if there's no ball coming soon. "Oh! Wanna try doing that to shirts? Maybe with those cool paint splatter stuff?" Breana wished, hoping they can hang out after this ball. At the topic of sticking together, the little Ravenclaw grinned and raised her hand to Willow, landing her a high five. "Oh, heck yeah! Lonely girls club unite!" She giggled.

"Errhm..." Breana hesitated. She fiddled with her hands as Willow tried to convince her into a compromise to telling her who her date is. She groaned before finally giving in."Fiiiiine. Finefinefine, but just house, okay? That's it! No names, nothing!" She said. She figured that Willow would not sniff out who he is if it's just telling her his house. Well, there are probably tens of students in them, so that'd be vague enough, right? "He's... Well, he's a Ravenclaw, like me." She smiled softly. "So yeah... super smart and stuff... but still kind and observant towards people... and how he's so easy to talk to..." Her smile curled into a serene and delicate manner as her mind wandered to thinking about Pericles. She blinked for a moment, realizing that she was talking aloud and quickly stammered to a halt, her face sporting a light red blush. "W-well I told you mine!! Your turn to tell me yours!"

Hoping that Willow would not bring up the crush again whilst chicken dancing, Breana thought she should be a little looser and branch out to more than the chicken dance. After a couple of good minutes doing the chicken dance, Breana shouted to her friend, "Say, Will! Do you know this dance?" And she quickly transitioned from the chicken dance to something just as fun: the macarena. She held out her hands, starting slow so that Willow understood her lead, and laughs as she goes to the normal macarena-ing pace. She started humming the infamous song, then slowly starts singing it out loud in a funny fashion. Breana can sing, though with what she's doing right now, she's just making silly sounds that accompany their silly dance.

Interacting with @Breana Oliveire
Bi Panic Mentioned with @Astrea Soleil Neptune @Jack Warren

Willow's eyes widened when Bre didn't know that fabric paint existed. "Let's see there's, oil, acrylic, fabric, puff paint I think you'd like that one, watercolor, tempera... There's really a whole ton. I mainly work with acrylic just because that's what my parents would buy me, but I really want to get into watercolor. Oh! Maybe we could tie dye some shirts too! The rehearsal room has a ton of space to just really go wild and try all different things. We could make an afternoon out of it!" While the school year was winding down, she was hoping her and Bre could find some time to hang out before summer came. She returned the high five, sticking out her tongue in a playful way.

She felt bad for pushing Bre, she seemed really nervous about revealing who it was. But there was something in her that wanted to know and help push them together. Willow raised three fingers, "Scouts honor, just houses." But as soon as Bre revealed it was a Ravenclaw her eyes immediately began to scan the ball for any that she knew if he was here. She admittedly didn't know a ton of the Ravens, but eventually her eyes found a certain one that she had played tag with. Looking back at her with a quirked eyebrow after Bre asked her to share hers she asked, "Pericles?" With her startled stuttering and half baked denial a grin grew on Willow's face, but she hushed her voice so no one could overhear. "It's Pericles isn't it Bre? It's ok your secret is safe with me, I won't tell a single soul. Not even my stuffed animals." She giggled before realizing that she had to reveal her own in exchange. It was only fair.

Her stomach dropped, she really didn't even know what a crush felt like yet. Did she say Astrea? The beautiful Slytherin that had captured her attention since the first time they talked? Did she like Astrea like that? Willow had no clue, she didn't know if she just really wanted that connection as a friend or something more. Willow didn't even know if she liked girls like that. Her mind drifted to someone else too, Jack Warren. They started off really rough, with him stealing her journal. But then he kissed her in the Great Hall, and she didn't... hate it. After he ran to save her in the Hufflepuff fire, when she saw him fall through the floor, something terrified her about losing him. She wanted to continue to get to know both, but she just... didn't fully know what her feelings were. Maybe she needed to talk to an adult about it, they'd be able to help.

After a noticeable silence she sputtered out her own house. "Um, Hufflepuff. Jack Warren specifically. But he's currently nowhere to be found. I think... he was going to ask me to the ball but I had already asked Ruka. I don't know." She waved it off with a blush. "It's fine. He kissed me on my birthday and it's confused me ever since. Oh my goodness, why am I still talking." She put her face in her palms. She hadn't talked about this with anyone except mentioning it to Flash, but even then she didn't mention the confusing feelings that came with it. Feelings were confusing and dumb.

On the dance floor, Bre started to lead her in another dance. The macarena, a classic really. Willow quickly caught on, following the motions Bre set the pace for and eventually speeding up. Humming along with her and shouting out, maybe a bit too loudly, "Ayyy, macarena!" Jumping in a full circle, making her dress swish out as she did. "Does anyone actually know the lyrics to this? It just sounds like gibberish to me." Willow continued to make random sounds to the beat of the song, the only clear part being the 'Ayyy, macarena' every now and again.

Kaylie was nervous and starting to think that this would have been a complete waste of her time. Kaylie walked around her drink in her hand and she kept her face held high and a bright smile taking a small sip of her drink every now and then saying hello to some friends and quite a few strangers as well. Kaylie looked around everyone was already in crowds and there were also quite a few loner as well. Kaylie walked away from all the comotion being pushed back and forth through people because she had to squeeze through large groups of students at Hogwarts. Kaylie found a space where there weren't any people and she stood there sipping her drink looking at the sky staring off into space thinking. " I don't know why I came here. I mean if... maybe if I had met up with friend before it got to crowded I wouldn't be as lonely as I am now. Luckily I brought a book with me for emergencies. Kaylie pulled out her book and sat down and started reading. Kaylie didn't bother to look up at people who were walking past. Kaylie thought to herself "Who would've thought that I'd be at a secret ball with my nose stuck in a book. Kaylie continued reading.

Interacts with: @Wren Caster, @Aaron Jones, @Rafael D'Spacito, & @Thomas LeStrange
Mentions: @Lydia Cooper, @Marion Davenport & @Arlo Reynolds

He was incredibly nervous and while he made an effort to hide it, he was doing a poor job of it. The clumsy, smiling fool he was.

“No, Victor, I think it’s really sweet! I can just set them over here until the ball’s over then take them back to my dorm. They’ll really liven up the place and trust me the dorms need it.”

She saved him from his failure, promising to take the flowers with her back to her dorms. At least they would get some use. He would offer the chocolates as well. Yes, he was rambling, trying to take Rafaels warnings to heart about her being self-conscious. However, announcing that she was wrong was likely not the 'best' move, but it was his move.

“I understand. Thank you, Victor. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness. I love chocolate and roses.”

The taunting voice in the back of his head continued to nag him during this exchange. It was a distraction. An annoyance. Dammit! Leave me alone man.

“Do you want to dance Victor?”

"Y-yeah," of course he replied without hesitation. A smiled a bit as if to saw to an unseen tormentor -- see. He would test the zipper on his duffel bag and push it under the table, beneath his vase of flowers and adjacent to the massive box of chocolates. Before they could head out to the dance floor, his hand extended if she wanted to enter hand in hand a underclassman would approach them.

"Hello, I'm Aaron!"

He did not know him, but the boy introduced himself as Aaron. He looked like a muggle, perhaps a half-blood considering his attire. Not that he had a problem with half-bloods or muggleborns. In fact, he preferred them, they seemed to lack ulterior motives.

"I'm trying to be helpful around the place, so if you'd like, I could take your flowers and put them somewhere safe so you can dance or eat or something."

That was really up to Wren, he would look over at her. "Might be better put away," he mentioned. "Even if there is a bit of magic in them," he admitted that something was cast on those flowers. Of course there was magic in everything wasn't there. "Not much is probably safe here," he added. Of course he did not know this Aaron either, for all he knew Aaron was going to mess with her flowers.

She apparently was fine with it. So Victor had no reason to complain. If she trusted him, he trusted him. "The flowers might change colors," Victor warned. It was a surprise he had for her in case things did not go well, considering she had not lived in a magical household likely, a little bit of glitter could go a long way. In this case, literally.

"Would you want them somewhere in the open? Or would you prefer somewhere secure."

Victor did not really care. Out of sight might be better come to think of it. Victor shrugged.

“Um, I think if you could put them somewhere secure that would be great! I would like to take one out of the vase so that I can have a rose to add to my accessories. I’m going to put them in the Gryffindor dorm, to adorn it more and make it less bland.”

When she plucked the flower from the vase, the rose would change color. The bloom would change from red, the color of love to a different color. Obviously not love. He does not move that fast!

He would draw something from his pocket, relinquishing her hand if she had given it. Not his wand, rather a slip of paper. "They say that every rose has it's thorn, but you will find only one on each of these blooms."

Written on the slip of paper:

Red - Love
White - A heart unacquainted with love
Yellow - Jealousy and infidelity
Pink - Grace and elegance
Blue - Mystery and intrigue
Multicolored - wasteful and ridiculous excess
Peach - modesty, sincerity and gratitude
Orange - Enthusiasm and passion
Salmon - Excitement and enthusiasm
Cream - Passion growers
Purple - Pride and enchantment
Burgundy - Unconscious beauty
Green - Rejuvenation of spirit
Black - Rebirth and new beginnings
Coral - Desire

"Pierced my thumb but once, the same blood that pumps through my heart fed these blooms. And now you know my intentions." The rose turned black. It was like Hallmark for wizards.



If she still put it in her hair, he would smile broadly and state "fantastic." Things were going well, but perhaps his gesture was a bit over the top. First date. First real conversation even and yet he was acting like an enamored young man. However, for anyone who understood the implications of this magic, while the gesture was sweet there was something potentially dangerous also implied.

“I’m sorry, Victor, Aaron, I saw a friend of mine that is alone and whose date is not here yet. I must at least say hello to her and see how she is fairing. I hope you don’t mind.”

She had found a friend at the ball. Someone she needed to run off and check on, alone. Had he scared her off? Already?

“I’m sorry Victor, this will only take a minute.”

"Yeah, no problem," he claimed, trying to play it cool.

The voice in his head taunted him as his stomach did a flip. His anxiety returned ten-fold as he watched his date walk away. It would turn white as she stepped away.

He would turn to Aaron after Wren walked away. "Are you an organizer of this..." he did not know if he should call this a ball but at the very least a party. It did not matter, because Aaron had already run off before Victor could finish his inquiry or his request. The vase of flowers would change once (to black) and then again (white). Victor would watch the back of the girl's head while Wren talked to some girl he did not know. Rafael D'Spacito would arrive and join the duo almost immediately thereafter.

He would have to take care of it himself then. He would lift his duffel bag. It was quite heavy, he would teeter under the weight. He would leave the box of chocolates for Wren, if or when she chose to return. He would see Thomas take a glass of pumpkin juice to the face. He vaguely knew the guy, they shared a House but he knew little else of the guy.

He would let out a sigh and approach Thomas. "Dude," there was something off about this one. What they heck was Marion attracting these guys with -- some sort of vitriol he could only presume. "Leave Mary alone," Victor was not a particularly intimidating guy but the stutter and the uncertainty seemed absent at this moment.

As soon as she walked up to Lydia, Rafael appeared. She scolded him.

“Rafael D’Spacito! Where the hell have you been?!? You left her alone and were late of all things and I should kick you in the you know where area, but I’m not. For the sake of poor Lydia here, who you, may I remind you. LEFT ALONE.”

The anger in her voice evaporated as she turned to Lydia.

“I’m very sorry, I will leave you two alone so you can make up for lost time.”

She shot Rafa a playful glare, as she walked back to the place, she had last seen Victor. He was gone. He had said he wanted to dance and then she had walked away from him. Oh, why did she have to ruin it with such a kind, generous handsome person? She tended to ruin things like this a lot. She looked around her and saw that he had taken his duffel bag but left the chocolates there. She decided to sit and start to eat them while she waited for his return.

No. She decided firmly, she was not going to wait. He was her date and she was here with him. Even though she had left him to go help out a friend, as soon as she turned her back, he was gone. She was going to go and find him, refusing to stay alone at the ball she had so looked forward to.

She turned her head and spotted Victor with two other people she did not know, one had what looked like pumpkin juice on his face and it looked like Victor was angry, so she picked up the skirt of her dress and ran to get there.

“Hey, Victor, I’m back, what happened here? And who are these people? Are you okay?” she asked the boy with pumpkin juice on his face.