Secret Blossom Ball Event Finished

Open to Interactions
Interacting with @Atlas Reid

As the complement left Ethen’s lips he desperately wished that he would be able to completely vanish. He knew there existed cloaks that could accomplish it but there was nothing he had to escape the situation. In all of their time together there was plenty of time for embarrassment but that had always been funny thing just seemed like the type of moment that he would need to block out of his memory. The fact that she was just standing there silent with a red face only increased his discomfort. He fully expected her to punch him as he twiddled his thumbs anxiously waiting for the girl to say something...anything.

“Ha… Yeah tags… I mean who needs em….” Ethen awkwardly babbled as he scratched his head. It seemed like they might be able to move past the obvious discomfort but then the girl started speaking again. S-sexy? She called me sexy what do I do, Ethen thought with widening eyes of utter confusion. She had meandered through an equally awkward compliment as he stood there and Ethen could feel himself on the verge of collapse from discomfort.

“They have suits in stores!” Ethen quickly said, louder than intended. “I-I mean parents. They got me one um. So I put it on. The shoes are...black…” Ethen added. Why… Why would you say that. Of course they are black. She can see them. Ethen smiled awkwardly before stretching an arm out and patting her shoulder twice. “Thank you,” he said trying to nod confidently from her compliment. To his delight, the girl flipped the topic to the nearby snacks and Ethen whipped his attention to it. For once he had no appetite but he would try anything to avoid more awkward conversation about their looks.

“Yes, I will check you out. IT. The snacks! I will check the snacks out! Give me this,” Ethen said feeling his face go red at the slip as he snatched a cupcake off a nearby table and forced it into his mouth. "Mmm that sure is good," he said desperately clawing for some form of salvation from the continued blunders.

Pulling the chair out, Mildred took a seat and picked up a cupcake from her plate. While she was unwrapping it, "Crystal? That's a pretty name, I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me..." Finally unwrapping the cupcake, she took a bite of it. "Mmmpp I men nat truin ta compluin" She raised her hand to cover her mouth as she swallowed, blushing a faint pink before counting, "Excuse me, as I was saying... not trying to complain but you know, Mildred just seems like such an old-timey name or something like that." She placed the wrapper next to her plate.

She looked at crystal not expecting her to ask a weather question, normally people would ask about the school or something along the lines. "Winter!" She said without hesitation, she probably could never survive the heat as she grew up in the cold- she'd end up a puddle on the side. "I absolutely love the cold as where I grew up it was always snowing or raining. What about you?" she titled her head.

Wanting to wash down her cupcake from before she picked up the strange drink that she had grabbed in a rush, she read the label where it said, "Yoohoo" and "Chocolate drink" with a bright red "shake it" on the top, she started shaking the drink which ultimately probably looked weird to Crystal. "Sorry- I had grabbed this yoohoo or whatever drink in a rush and never had it before... it said to shake it or something." After shaking it, she uncapped it and took a sip. immediately, she started coughing- there was something with the drink she couldn't place her hand on... it had just tasted so much like watery milk. "Have you ever had this before, Crystal?" She was going to suggest giving it to Crystal however that was a bit strange, she'd throw it out later... if she were to find out whoever had suggested or brought Yoohoo to the ball she'd have to question their choices in drinks.

Open to interactions!
Interacting with:@Crystal Jagger
Mentioning:

Interacting with @Mildred Wilson

Crystal finished up her food and took another sip of her drink, which she still had no idea what exactly it was. But she still had hope it wasn't going to had any bad effects. She barely had to think about which season she preferred. "Summer, I don't really like the cold all that much. Although the one upside of winter is that you can have firepits going, sometimes they get too hot in the summer," She told Mildred, staring at the girls drink. That one was in a bottle, she could actually she was it was. Crystal was currently questioning why she didn't grab a bottled drink and instead tried her luck with the Russian roulette of the already poured out cups.
"You got lucky with what you grabbed honestly, I think over half of the drinks were unlabeled," she told her. But It seems like even with having the label you don't exactly know what you are going to get, Mildred clearly wasn't expecting what her drink tasted like. "No, I don't think i've ever had that. Honestly I don't think I want to try it," She snickered "But honestly whoever planned the drinks was kinda dumb, not labeling most things. At least mine tastes decent, but I can't really place exactly what it taste like," She rambled, taking another sip of her fruity like drink. "Also, I don't think your name is all that bad. It sound rather nice to me," She smiled.

Interacting- @Logan Baird

He tilted his head side to side, thinking over her words before nodding, "well...okay point." he admitted, he couldn't really disagree with her. "Yes that's how it began I suppose, but I've been finding that most of your house just has a talent for that. Or at least every single one I've come across."

It all came back to confidence didn't it? Seemed like all the people who could actually needed it were left dry while all the kids who, in his opinion, could really learn to be knocked down a peg or two were practically drowning in it. But then again, maybe confidence wasn't the problem. Maybe she just hadn't found the right people to click with.

"Maybe you just haven't found the type of group you want," he offered, "or maybe places like this just aren't the right place for you to make friends."

Personally, he wasn't one to see himself as over confident but he was confident enough just in the fact he really didn't care what strangers thought. Peers or otherwise. Even so, this sort of setting didn't really seem like the greatest way to meet new people, everyone already dancing or together in their little groups. But maybe, just maybe, he could at least get Logan to just enjoy herself rather than stick to the side and worry about her friend count.

She obviously didn't enjoy the solitude nearly as much as he did. Being at least a little more social wouldn't kill him. Or would it? You could never be sure with this school. Still, one dance wouldn't hurt, probably. He could at least do that much, since he had technically promised to dance way back when. One dance, he told himself. One wasn't the end of the world especially with friends.

He couldn't say he was a fan of some of the music playing, but as a happy, if not slightly slow song resembling like something Sage would gleefully declare 'fairytale music befitting Bell' came up...well, it was at least something he was used to. Something he could easily work with.


"Well, you certainly talk like you're good at dancing with your fancy lessons and all, but I've yet to see proof." he began teasingly, drawing the other out of her thoughts when he caught her starting to wander away. Shaking his head he sighed, "and that simply won't do, I need proof," he declared looking quite sure of himself. Mind made up Elsian gently pushed his chair back, taking a moment to stand up before he moved to hold out a hand to his friend. He bowed lightly, a wry smile tugging at his lips, the action clearly coming off as exaggerated and mocking that of what you'd see adults do in movies or stories. "so with that...Miss Logan Baird of Hufflepuff, may I have this dance?"

Interacting with @Wyatt Starkey

Open to interacting

Vincent halted at the edge of the dance floor and spent a few minutes observing the dancing people. There were several couples, but also quite a few lone dancers and the sight of them combined with the infectious music played by the outstandingly performing orchestra almost made him join. Almost. He let his gaze sweep across the dance floor taking in as much of the pleasant atmosphere as he could. This surely was a great party, he was happy he had eventually decided to go, despite having no date. The organizers really did an awesome job, providing all the conditions to potentially make this a legendary evening for all who attended. He lifted his chalice to take a sip from his pineapple juice and just as he tilted it his brain got triggered by a familiar sight in the far corner of the pitch, behind the goal posts, almost at the edge of his peripheral vision. It immediately conjured a feeling of unrest, anxiety even, in his head.

Slightly confused Vincent lowered his chalice and shifted his attention to that particular dark corner to see what – or better who – it was that had alerted his brain in such an unnerving way. He was too late. A glimpse of long, raven black hair, the hint of a beautiful, dark colored dress. That was it, whoever had stood there was now gone. She was gone! Vincent stared thoughtfully at the now empty spot, racking his brain to try to make the necessary connection, but to no avail. He felt the pieces of the puzzle were there, but, much to his frustration and anger, he couldn’t seem to get them to fit. And even if he could, it wasn’t meant to be for now.

“Good lord…”

The words startled Vincent, who was still far from reality, and he nearly dropped his drink as someone, judging by the voice it was a boy, next to him unexpectedly uttered them. Vincent reluctantly pulled his attention from the opposite side of the pitch to see who had spoken these words. The mysterious figure he had seen, or at least he thought to have seen, would have to wait for now, even though he had no idea who exactly it was that had caused his mind to jump into high gear. As he turned to his left he heard a sigh and the sound of someone taking his leave. The boy, whoever he was, sounded far from being at ease and Vincent, who knew the feeling all too well, wanted to talk to him. He saw the boy right behind him, a few feet away, walking towards the concession stands. It was a remarkably skinny boy with dark brown hair that looked like it had just been hit by an F5 tornado. From what Vincent could see the boy was wearing an almost completely black outfit with the exception of a brown plaid jacket that looked somewhat aged.

The boy moved in somewhat of a rush, as if he wasn't at all comfortable. Perhaps he was expecting something bad to happen or maybe he simply didn't want to be here in the first place. After a second of doubt whether or not to talk to the boy, Vincent completed his turn and started walking in an effort to close in on him. As the boy maintained quite a pace and there were people crossing his path all the time, he only managed to catch up with him at one of the tables the boy was heading for. Carefully, so as not to startle the boy, Vincent halted, put on a friendly smile and softly tapped the boy on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m Vincent. Are you okay?”

Open to Interaction

"A pleasure," Evelynn had replied when Jones had introduced himself properly. And then added, "Yes, I knew that much, at least," when he went to mansplain that he'd been playing against her in the last match.

Although, realistically, he'd done nothing in the game to stand out in her memory. The first few quaffles had been grabbed by just about everyone but him, and unfortunately, by the time he'd worked out the kinks and warmed up enough to show a bit of chaser prowess, Evelynn's attention had been fairly heavily fixed on the snitch.

"Ah, thank you," came a reply, the tone just slightly taken aback, at the congratulations that followed. Really, she hadn't thought her performance against Slytherin to be anything to boast, except perhaps, for having broken Severin's blatching streak and for being one of the few seekers to actually remain astride her own broom by the end of the match. But she had entered only part-way through, and had failed to swipe a certain little golden ball from the air. So, really, she hadn't thought there to be much to celebrate. "I really can't take credit for that win, though," she went on, reflecting the thoughts that had stirred behind her eyes. "Gryffindor owes that victory to our fine chasers. And our keeper. Did you see that long goal by Lowe? I don't think I've ever seen such an impressive cross-pitch shot. And Quinlan's throw at the end there right before the timer sounded? Honestly, I didn't believe it at first."

A rare smile plied Evelynn's lips as that match was brought back to the forefront of her mind. It had been one physically draining and emotionally wrenching victory. The whole team had pulled through on that one. Against all odds, as well. She still couldn't quite believe it. Granted, it did little to improve their standings in the overall Quidditch Cup rankings -- they still ended up dead last -- but at least they didn't end up the only house without a win. That made it a success in her eyes. Next year they could start things off on a better foot and redeem themselves.

Thoughts of Quidditch were pushed heavily from her mind as d'Arque spoke up, however. Gray eyes panned to blue, seeing what looked to be a genial smile, but the words that accompanied it didn't seem to quite match. "You weren't--"

She tried to cut in, to express that she didn't at all find him to be an intrusion. But he continued, and she found her rejection of his notion trap itself at the tip of her tongue, never quite allowing itself to be fully expressed. Had she come across like that? Brows pinched in self-conscious reflection as he continued, his words sounding somehow more profound than they ought to. Not the right time? Not the right time for what? What was probably not that important? The more he spoke, the more he sparked a sense of superficial confusion laced with a deeper intrigue. If there was anything she knew, it was that when someone said 'it's probably not that important', it definitely was.

"..You.. as well..." Evelynn replied somewhat uncertainly, eyes trailing after him as he departed.

A myriad of questions erupted suddenly in her mind, then. Who was he? Vincent d'Arque, sure. He'd said that much. But who was he really? Somehow, it didn't seem as though it were mere coincidence that he had approached to speak with her. And what was it that he had started to say? That it was something to do with Quidditch that he had wanted to speak to her? Or was it more than that? Eyes narrowed at the back of his head as he drew further into the crowd of students milling about the ball. Did he know something about all of this? About Moore, and Davenport, and Vladimir?

"No, it's alright," Evelynn said, her voice still slightly washed out as she turned a lagged gaze back to Jones to reassure him. "I'm not really sure what that was about. But I---"

--think I'd like to find out, was what she had been about to say. Only the words cut off before she finished the thought. From the direction of the group whose general actions she had been loosely monitoring approached a girl. Not just any girl, either, but the one she had seen as entering with D'Spacito, presumably as his date (Lydia Cooper). Only...

"Good...evening..." Evelynn replied with reservation at the offered greeting. Although the girl's tone had seemed controlled well enough, her expression was almost overly so. Like she was on the verge of tears, and the question that followed along with the touch to Jones' arm that -- as light as it was -- demanded his immediate attention, suggested that there was something going on. The question posed next by the Gryffindor co-captain was one of genuine concern. "...Are you alright?"

Keen eyes flickered then from the blue-haired girl to take quick stock of what was going on behind. D'Spacito was still there, although Evelynn could have sworn she'd seen him walking off somewhere. Perhaps she'd been mistaken. And Anderson was... where had she gone? It took a couple seconds for the red head to pinpoint her location, and when she did, it was met with the peculiar view of a certain massive vase of flowers in the hands of none other than Beckett. What in the heck was going on. A suspicious gaze flicking once more to D'Spacito before pulling forward to focus kindly on Cooper.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lydia.." Evelynn spoke up again, a small, but gentle, smile on her lips. She lowered her voice, eyes glancing between each of those of the obviously troubled girl as though trying to glean the thoughts that lay behind them. "He... didn't... hurt you... did he?"

He being D'Spacito, naturally. And she could only assume that he had. It would be par for the course, anyway.

Action: Currently seated at a table, conversing with Cooper and Jones

Interacting with @Xailah Alptraum and @Breana Oliveire
Mentioning @Ruby Cazares

For all his trepidation, all the planning and preparing, young Pericles briefly let down his guard. While Xailah peered up at the lights in a dreamy sort of way, he took advantage of the moment to examine her eyes. He hardly lacked the faculties to hold eye contact, but up close, he could contemplate their feline design with newfound appreciation. Abnormalities in appearance were practically expected in his family, thus he had been groomed to appreciate oddities. They were synonymous to mystery: as a metamorphmagus, did she choose to wear them that way? What inspired it? Contemplations he might dare to ask aloud another night. To hear that she was not actually angry had the boy humming a happy little "I'm glad." His words were simple and few, but earnest. That relief flickered however once he witnessed the dream draining from her eyes, heard the sad sound she breathed. "What's the matter?" Worry was not typical to his tune, but a twinge of it couldn't help surfacing.

Xailah was right about him, really. Right about the entire affair. Yet all the same, despite the stretching and straining he did to rationalize his decision, he was grateful for her understanding. Even if she did not agree entirely, it meant a great deal to have someone around willing to hear his reasoning. The concern Pericles experienced persisted, mingling strangely with that underlying relief, once the witch mentioned the fate of her previous balls. Pericles tried to sustain some positivity while he murmured mid-spin, giving her a lazy twirl, "At least you're prepared for the worst...." You can't save them all. Another ugly truth, one which sent his stare diverting down at her throat's bow, but he needed to hear all the same. The lad smiled sadly and nodded once. His tune of hope was forced while he said in his soft way, "I could try. You'll help me, won't you?" Peri's pace was steady, not too slow to bungle into other dancers, not so swift as to test her step. "I hardly mind you being my shadow a'tall. You're a competent witch and my first friend here, Xai. I'd feel a great deal better with you watching my back. You say you don't have a strategy, and I s'pose we can't prepare a plan not knowing what could happen." His expression grew sheepish, volume low as he admitted, "I'm going to look like a real fool if nothing does. But I'd rather be wrongly over-prepared than wrongly under. I can't do it on my own- not well, at least." Xailah opened the window to speak with Ruby, and Pericles took it gladly. "I'd like that, yes," he enthused. "We aren't especially familiar, but she's clever and creative. Besides, it will help, having another Prefect at our side tonight. My plan so far? Seeking strength in numbers." He offered his arm, flicking an unspoken word of thanks her way while they began to drift from the dancefloor.

It was then that his focus was snagged by a lively trill. Scanning for the source of the strange sound, he spied Breana after all, presently in the throes of the Macarena. In the span of a second, several emotions tumbled in his head, mind trying to decide which it would stop at like the spinning symbols on a casino machine. The first was the happy little leap of spotting somebody one knows and enjoys. The second was that underlying unease, a sinking sensation which had tainted the boy's perspective, all brought on by a letter in which someone else pretended to be Breana. The third was a prickling of patience, reminding him to set the second aside and not hold it against the poor unsuspecting witch. Amused by the funny way in which she and another girl danced, he leaned in, nigh whispering to Xailah: "I've one more person I planned to 'recruit' for our party. Please excuse me, Xai- tell Ruby I recommended you two meet. I'm going to grab another friend, then find you." It wasn't all planning preparations, of course. The Ravenclaw found himself already enjoying the evening far more than he'd meant to. If wrangling together a few of his favorite people made them more secure, and resulted in them all becoming friends, why then, he could consider this ball a personal success.

Pericles wove through the growing number of dancers, spinning and stepping to avoid jostling couples or stepping on toes. By the time he reached Breanna, she was twisting to a far less silly tune, though the sight of her having fun and letting her radiant personality shine was still clear in his head. With one of those cheerful smiles relaxing his stare and curling his lips, he chirped on arrival "Breana! Can I cut in?" The young wizard made a point to establish a space for dancing, keeping close before someone else tried to occupy their little section of floor. While quite comfortable with casual Breana, it amazed him to see how drastically she could clean up. Those silvery eyes were bright and wide with amazement as Peri beamed, "You look brilliant! Your hair is really lovely like that, and where did you get your dress? And your- what were you doing? That dance?" He tried to emulate it without shame, holding both arms out, then cluelessly criss-crossing them before putting his palms on his head. "How do I...?"

^Summary
Finishing dance with Xailah and briefly parting, sending her Ruby's way, saying he'll search for them soon as he's "recruited" one more person to their party: Breana, another face he's meant to meet tonight. Attempting to join her in a dance possibly the Macarena

Reducio

Open for interaction.

Coming from Changing room.

Alexis’s stepped into the pitch in a graceful step, her head held high and her back straight. This is the first ball she has been to that’s not her family’s gala. For the first time, the guests are not her distant relatives she didn’t know exists.

She took in the decorations in the quidditch pitch and her eyes lit up. The floating candles, the flowers and the fairy lights were breathtaking, This is better than I expected. It’s looked completely different from the pitch she remembered, it’s like she was in some kind of fantasy realm. Finally, her eyes fell on the big dance floor in the middle of the pitch, feeling thankful for it, at least she didn’t to worry about her heels anymore. It was in front of a stage, there was music. She guessed it was from the music club or something.

She looked around at the tables, seeing people already find their seat and started talking. Of course, everyone’s already talking. She came here alone, hoping she would find someone here to talk to but that’s going to be a bit of a challenge now. Now, I’m starting to regret reading that book.

She shook her head a little, No bad thoughts, Alexis. You’re an Asterion. Hold your head high. She fix her posture and started to walk towards the food and beverage area, she kept her eyes on the dance floor though, looking for someone she might recognize, I have to start somewhere. Right now, a drink would be nice.

ACTION : walking towards the food area, passing the tables

Interacting with @Flash Holmwood
Mentioning @Evelynn Decipio @Lydia Cooper @Aaron Jones @Thomas Lestrange @Selim Faust @Vincent d'Arque @Opeila Seilun @Vladimir Athanatos @Victor Moore @Marion Davenport @Rafael D'Spacito @Willow Anderson
Closed to Interactions unless mentioned above or interacting with Flash

It was almost ridiculous how easily Flash went along with his little act.

There were no words needed for Ruka to explain to him what he was trying to do; Despite the fact that Flash clearly realised that the dance didn't pose a big challenge to the Fire Dancer, he went along with every stumble, offered gentle encouragement where one would give it in a normal situation, like they were merely here to have fun. As if Flash was doing nothing but teaching Ruka how to dance at this Ball intended for students to have a good time. What a painfully accurate metaphor for both their lives; Just pretending to have fun while everyone else seemed to have a genuinely nice evening.

At least they had moved from not being part of the world from opposite ends of the room to not being part of the world together.

Pretending that there was no discomfort between them made it easier to feel like there was no discomfort, which in turn made it a simple task to keep a wide smile on his face as they stumbled across the floor until they were in comfortable eavesdropping distance to Vladimir and Opeila.
The words Flash uttered about him looking like he got it made Ruka turn his gaze to lock with gentle blue eyes looking at him like there was some sort of gratitude in them. It sounded like he meant that Ruka had gotten a good grip on the dance moves, but he thought that, maybe, there was more to it. Maybe Flash was talking about how easily Ruka had understood what needed to be done, how willingly he had taken initiative without being told what to do. Or maybe he was simply reading far too much into the words.

Offering a slow nod, Ruka let out a bright chuckle, as if Flash's acknowledgment of his dancing skills delighted him, then turned his head lightly to the side; a gesture easily mistaken to be sheepish, maybe almost embarrassed.

With his head tilted that way it gave him a good chance to let his gaze drift across the dance floor in search of anything else looking even just vaguely out of place. He may not have seemed too tense on the outside, but he couldn't even remember the last time he had been quite this concentrated on something. His feet moved easily next to Flash's now that they were in a good position, but he still snuck in a slight misstep here and there to not seem like he had been making too much progress in an unreasonable amount of time - He had no reason to believe anybody was paying him that much attention, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

The first person his eyes were drawn to almost immediately was one he absolutely didn't want to see, not tonight or any other day of the year, but there he was, handing over roses to a girl with blue hair and... a lot of flowers all over her. The top half of her dress seemed to be covered in them, and so was her hair. Ruka thought he may have seen her at Alan and Willow's birthday party, but she definitely hadn't had blue hair back then.

Maybe it was a change only for the special occasion and to match her turquoise dress.

The girl, however, wasn't what Ruka was interested in that moment as his eyes found another boy, dressed in the most Hufflepuff way he'd probably been able to manage, carrying an entire vase of what seemed to be... black roses across the dance floor.
Narrowing his eyes a little, Ruka kept a close eye on the boy, watching as he placed the Vase underneath a table at the same time as Flash let out a laugh that definitely didn't have anything to do with what the Fire Dancer had been doing, unless he'd done something unintentionally.

Distracted from the boy and his vase of roses for a moment, Ruka tried to follow Flash's gaze as unsuspiciously as he possibly could, waiting for their dancing position to shift enough for him to observe the right direction without needing to actively turn around. The commotion was relatively easy to find as Ruka's eyes had already found the location just a little while ago to check on Selim. The scene had changed by quite a lot from the last time he had looked at it; Selim was still there, still looking as unimpressed to be anywhere at all as ever, but they seemed to have drawn a bit of a crowd as a girl in a pink dress had seemingly splashed the contents of a chalice in another boy's face.

There was a moment of unease inside Ruka as the boy in all black went to grip Selim's arm, causing the expressionless Slytherin to visibly tense. The Fire Dancer expected to see some sort of knife or whatever weapon was easiest to reach, was already prepared for blood - that probably would have been difficult to see on the boy's black as death suit anyway - and cries of pain, but none of it came. Clearly Selim had realised in time that he wasn't being attacked, relaxing back into his emotionless existence without another action. Apparently he trusted the boy with him to not cause any harm, even if he was the type to get pretty girls in pink to throw juice at him.

For a second Ruka wondered if this was the same boy he'd seen approaching Selim by the entrance earlier on; He wasn't wearing the Slytherin robes anymore, but it would make sense for Selim to stick with him during this event if they had actually come here together.

Ruka wouldn't have taken Selim to be one for enjoying a date at a Ball, and the Slytherin didn't exactly seem ecstatic to be there either, which made the Gryffindor wonder one thing in particular:

Where the hell was Jack?

For having made such a point of using this month to try and help out his contractual partner, Ruka thought it ridiculously thoughtless to leave him alone with someone who... Was apparently moving from one victim to the next in a matter of seconds. The boy Ruka didn't know seemed to be extending his open palm to a boy dressed in all white. What a beautiful yin yang couple they would make, all black and all white, if it wasn't for all those people around who had apparently come to check on what had happened.

Ruka thought it curious that none of them were checking on the girl who had thrown the juice, rather than on the boy who had it thrown in the face, considering that she was most likely the one who had felt somehow offended by the boy. Rarely did anybody ever throw drinks in other people's faces for no reason.

Blinking once, Ruka saw blue hair again, and for a moment he felt confused by that fact. Hadn't the blue haired girl been with Rafa just a little moment ago?

Squeezing Flash's hand to still the sense of panic that flooded him for a second at the feeling of having lost control of the situation, Ruka's gaze returned back to where it had been before; The table with the black roses.
It was almost ironic that that was where he also spotted Rafa again, crouched down and lifting the table cloth to seemingly examine what was hidden there. The last person Ruka had expected to join the scene was the one approaching just seconds later; Willow.

Guilt flooded Ruka in an instant. He had left the girl who'd asked him to come with her to this event alone at their table without much explanation just to join an espionage mission with a boy he barely even liked for a cause he didn't understand in the slightest, and now she was there, joining Rafa of all people, with a bunch of creepy looking black roses. Well, at least she looked like she wasn't feeling too sad, so maybe he had actually done her a favour; He hadn't exactly been great company anyway.

Still, the fact that Rafa was grabbing her wrist and dragging her across the floor to hand the vase off to some other girl Ruka didn't recognise was more than a little concerning. It only got worse when the two of them joined the little group around the chess board couple, making the crowd even bigger, like the situation warranted even more attention somehow.

"What the hell is going on over there?" he asked Flash with a little frown on his face before shaking his head off the thought. A part of him wanted to drag his dance partner over there to see what was going on for himself, but at the same time he could hear a voice nearby, one he was supposed to listen out for.

"How many of your friends are watching us?"

Yes, how many, Ruka thought, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he kept his eyes on Flash, expression shadowed with slight concern. And how many of them had gotten distracted by whatever it was that was going on all the way across the dance floor? How many of them had taken their eyes off of whatever it was they had been supposed to be watching?

Still, Ruka couldn't help but keep part of his attention on the happenings around Selim, if only to make sure Jack was going to get his pet snake back in one piece once he was done doing god knows what with whomever he had gone to the ball with. The thought made some surprising anger bubble up inside him, but it was gone before he could really try to make sense of it.

Making sure to keep his smile in place, Ruka directed most of his attention back to Flash as the Slytherin said his name in a tone that suggested he was about to follow it up with something extremely raw and heartfelt, but instead Flash interrupted his thought to draw Ruka in a bit closer, making the Fire Dancer tense for a second before letting himself relax into the close proximity. He adjusted easily, taking a little more care of where he put his feet to make sure he wasn't going to step on any toes.

It was in that moment that he noticed the flowers he had put into his button hole coming loose, but he didn't want to interrupt the dance just to fix them, so he only sighed slightly as he watched them fall to the ground, soon to be caught under one of their feet as they continued their dance.

For a moment, Ruka leaned his forehead against Flash's shoulder, taking a deep breath as if to put himself together to be able to continue whatever it was they were doing. His eyes drifted to the side once more, this time falling on Evelynn, sat at a table and chatting to a blonde boy in a scarlet red tux who removed himself quickly once the table was approached by the kid in the Hufflepuff shirt who had been carrying the vase of roses to the table earlier on.
Curious, Ruka found himself thinking as his eyes followed the blonde boy for a moment. Almost like the arrival of someone else had scared him away from Evelynn. Maybe it was nothing of course, maybe Ruka's mind was simply running away with him now that he knew that there were people all around keeping an eye on Opeila and her date.

He would try to keep an eye on the boy anyway.

"Hm?" he hummed questioningly when Flash's voice reached his ears again, this time with a question Ruka had not been expecting in the slightest. It seemed like such a random thing to ask in a situation like this, but Ruka almost found himself grateful for the opportunity to give his head a little rest from all this observation. "I'd be interested," he said genuinely, nodding in Flash's direction. He wasn't going to say that he would love to know more about him; They didn't have a close enough connection for Ruka to predict that knowing more about Flash would give him any sort of satisfaction, but he couldn't deny that he was curious about the boy behind the masks.

Ruka laughed lightly as Flash revealed that he disliked and liked people at the same time, a beautiful contradiction that the Fire Dancer couldn't quite understand, much less relate to, but he nodded anyway to show Flash that he was listening, and most of all trying to make sense of his words. "So you like stories, rather than people?" he asked a little cheekily, eyes lighting up with vague amusement. "You should have said so from the start. I have a lot of those." He chuckled before shrugging his shoulders lightly in response to Flash's question.

"I don't hate people," he said quietly, averting his eyes for a second to let them drift over Opeila and her date, still dancing almost uncomfortably close by. "I just don't care much for them. It's not like any of them ever really cared much for me." There was no bitterness in his voice, no resentment, like it was just an observation. Already growing up, people had been happy to spare a coin for a particularly entertaining Fire Dance performance, but nobody had ever approached him to make sure this young, skinny boy actually had somewhere to stay during the times he wasn't playing with fire out on the streets.

Even at Hogwarts, nobody had ever cared to get to know him on a deeper level, to actually learn more about him beyond the fact that he was potentially a project to fix up so that whoever fixed him could feel better about themselves once they had succeeded. Most people just gave up once they had realised it was too difficult a situation to fix.
Jack had been the first person to actually genuinely invest himself in an improvement of Ruka's life in all aspects.

It wasn't a topic he really wanted to delve more deeply into at this moment, however.

"I think people are predictable for the most part," he continued his answer to Flash's question with a little smile on his face. "They're shallow. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" His voice was filled with something akin to pity rather than judgement. If people weren't as shallow as they were, there would be no reason for Flash to be hiding behind his masks; they would be seen through in a heartbeat if anybody actually cared to pay the slightest attention to them. It had taken Ruka all but half a conversation to see Flash for the actor that he was.

"And when they're not predictable, they are usually dangerous one way or another." A small smirk pulled at his lips. He was fully aware that Flash didn't exactly think Ruka to be predictable, but he had also never claimed not to be dangerous either. "Whichever of those two someone might be, I just prefer to stay away from either of them."

A thoughtful little hum finished his answer, and he tilted his head to the side curiously, a genuine interest for Flash's response to his opinion reflected in his eyes, but before they could indulge in the conversation any longer, Ruka's attention was pulled back to the mission at hand.

"Do you know why I asked you to the dance?"

The question was probably rhetoric, so Ruka wasn't surprised when Opeila countered it with a request for him to tell her his reasons.

Focusing his eyes on Flash's again, head tilted up slightly to be able to look at his face fully, Ruka pressed his lips together for a second as if to show that he understood that this was where all talk stopped. Whatever answer Vladimir was going to give, whether it was the truth or a lie, it was most likely the kind of information Flash had been looking for when asking Ruka to help him.

So for now, silence was the only way for them to follow Opeila and Vladimir's conversation.

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Stats
Stamina: 7 ~ Evasion: 8 ~ Strength: 4 ~ Wisdom: 8 ~ Arcane Power: 6 ~ Accuracy: 7

Abilities
The Muggle Condition

Outfit Reference
Top

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Jeans

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Shoes

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|Action|
Losing and stepping on flowers and attempting to listen to Opeila and Vladimir's conversation

Interacting with @Elsian Cox

Logan smiled a little at Elsian's attempts. She did consider the thought that maybe she hadn't met the right group of people yet. It was probably true seeing as she didn't spend time with a lot of people and the ones she did talk with just didn't like interacting with other people.

"I guess you could be right," she stated as she looked up at the male a little before getting lost in her thoughts again.

When she heard him start talking about dancing her head snapped up to look at him. The little Hufflepuff had one eyebrow raised in question of if he was actually doing this. She managed to squeak a laugh as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.

"Are you sure about this?" she questioned as if she was afraid he was just going to up and leave her in the middle of the dance. She had seen that happen before at many of the gathering her father had and she did not want that to happen to her.

Logan turned and pushed her chair in as she looked up at Elsian and took a deep breath. She took a second to think over everything and in her mind, this seemed like a pretty good idea. She would at least have a little bit of fun. "Those fancy dance lessons," Logan started out as she looked at Elsian, "have taken up seven years of my young life. I hope I am good."

Turning full towards Elsian, Logan jokingly dipped down into a low curtsy. "Of course I would love to accept your dance, Sir Elsian Cox." There was clear sarcasm as she spoke and stood back up straight again.

"I swear though, if you step on my toes it is not going to end well. I am wearing open toes shoes and I don't want a broken toe." She stated seriously but a smile grew on her face as she finished.