Magical Masquerade: The entrance

Reducio @Reyna Evergreen fearless foulplay

Reducio outfit: blackout suit, combat boots Reducio ooc notes: sorry for the late post!

4/13/24 • english • japanese • wc: 485

· ─────── · · ─────── ·

Botan stood, frozen watching everything. Yes, he heard his date say something along the lines of, come on, let's go! But no. He wanted to move but he couldn't. Botan wanted to know what would happen here. Botan watched two Hogwarts students, Finnegan and Gideon continue to grip each other, and even though he couldn't see it ,one of the boys still had the knife inside of him. Botan knew it was in his gut area, but he couldn't see it. There was a plush bear on them and Botan didn't understand why. His eyes flicked over to two other students, Gideon and Astra who were fighting. Botan couldn't hear what they were saying but Astra was involved in the attack so Botan assumed it was related to that.

Botan also spotted something, a snake. A real life snake. He had never seen one outside of a local zoo before. He assumed it belonged to one girl, Dusana. He watched as the snake latched on to one of the boys, who he would later find out was named Gideon. He watched and realized, the snake is constricting him. いいえ。いやいや。Īe. Iyaiya. |no. no no.ヘビが彼を殺そうとしている! He said softly in his native Japanese. He began to scream. Hebi ga kare o korosou to shite iru! | The snake is going to kill him! Quickly he remembered what he was language is speaking. "The snake is going to kill him!"

Luckily, he quickly broke free from this. Botan was relieved.

He turned and watched an older Hogwarts student, Jack, as he turned into his animagus form, an Elk. Botan watched as the boy had Orbis cast on him by another girl Dusana and is now stuck partially submerged in the earth. Over, across the way a different Hogwarts girl, Aly cast a spell on a boyJack that would put him in a full body bind, but watched as someone blocked it. The spell ricocheted off her protego and hit someone, placing them instead of a boy named Jack.

He watched as Piérre picked up Jack’s wand and a big blond boy began fixing his hurt eye with a few spells that were so advanced he did not recognize them. Another boy he didn't recognize found a skull that must belong to a human. Botan was shocked. That Jack boy had dug up a skull. A human skull. Before Botan could cry out, sparks exploded everywhere. What Botan didn't see was the spell Periculum and Fumos cast. He also didn't see Rebecca pulling Finnegan away from Gideon. Gideon kept hold of the bear and the knife retracted inside still concealed.

He watched a boy who he would later find out was named Theo, cast flipendo at the snake and missed. Jack made his way up out of the earth, unburying himself. A protection spell was cast, but Bo was unaware who it was protecting.

Botan gripped his wand and raised it pointing it at the giant snake. Bo did not cast anything but was prepared to. What he did not think about was his date waiting for him.

Action: Watching all of the chaos but doing nothing.

Posts - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Dusana breathed a sigh of relief as a blast of wind cleared the smoke surrounding her. She was grateful for the clear-minded person who had decided to cast instead of her. The willy-nilly who had thought calling out to her snake would do her the best. As the smoke cleared and her vision was no longer impacted, Dusana audibly gasped. Asclepius was situated in the grass, hissing quite angrily at all the boys. At her voice, he turned back to her and hissed, "I grabbed the boy. He shook me off." She rolled her eyes at the boy still panicking. "Asclepius wouldn't hurt you. Not enough that you'd need to go to the Hospital Wing anyway."

Asclepius continued his report, his body vibrating with anger. "And that one," he turned his head to gaze towards Theo, "cast magic at me." She scowled at the boy. She couldn't truly blame the boy in all this chaos, but enough was enough. This was a disaster of a night. She looked over the scene. One of the boys she had seen earlier was now on the ground, bleeding. She scowled, looking back to Asclepius. "Come here Clep. We have work to do." At her command, her snake slithered over to her, curling around and up her arm to drape over her neck. He was her extra eyes and ears now. Settling her free hand over Asclepius' body, she stalked towards the boys. The one with the teddy bear seemed unharmed and she quickly dismissed him from her thoughts. The bleeding one was more important.

She kneeled when she arrived, noticing that Mateo was also coming this way. Dusana breathed a sigh through her closed lips, trying to settle her nerves. She knew what she was doing. She was the school Nurse for a reason. Speaking softly to him, she rested a palm over Finnegan's forehead, hoping it would get through. "You've got yourself in a bit of a pickle, haven't you." Stroking his head, she assessed his wounds. Blood was streaming from his wound. Mateo would finally get there and thankfully he cast Ferula. She hoped he was skilled enough in the healing arts. Otherwise she would after she calmed him down. Stroking the boy's head, she reached into her deep pockets and pulled out one of the potions she had had the lucky fore-thought to bring with her. Uncorking it, she tried to pour it down Finnegan's throat. She would be able to heal him, and if needed move him to the Hospital Wing if needed. A stray thought pinged in her head that she had another patient heading towards her domain. Hopefully they got there and her assistants would be able to help.

As the potion poured down Finnegan's throat, (if enough was ingested), the boy would calm down enough that she could care for him properly. "It will be alright. I'll heal you. No need to worry." She hoped her bedside manner was empathetic enough that he heard her and calmed down a little bit. Dusana bit her lip. What a shit show at her first ball.

Dusana

STA 10 | EVA 9 | STR 5 | WIS 13 | ARC 12 | ACC 16

Parseltongue Adept | x | Pet Snake | x | Pet Snake Attacks | x | Dark Heritage
English | Parseltongue

Items: Wand, Bruise Removal Paste, Calming Draught, Deflating Draught, Swelling Solution, Pet Snake

Action: Pouring a calming draught down Finnegan Connor's throat
@Jack Warren @Mateo Sáez @Sereia Clairmont @Pericles Dralt @Evelynn Decipio @Finnegan Connor

Asclepius 240cm Emerald Gazer Abilities: Spy | Venom | Constrict | Consumption Action:Reporting (spying) on the scene

Interacting with: Botan Miura
@Charlie Jacobsen

Mentioning: @Gideon Athanatos , @Ernest Baird and @Astra Norrick

As much as Elisa wanted to be brave, the moment she saw the skull, she could feel her blood run cold, It was all too much for her, She felt the bravery that she had previously shown Astra shattering, She had never imagined a stabbing would turn into the discovery of someone or something buried in the very same place were nearly half of Hogwarts have walked on, unaware of what was remained beneath the surface,

Elisa could feel panick hitting her entire body, but neither could she let herself get buried by the endless thoughts in her mind when she noticed Astra once again running behind the gold haired boy while trying to cast something, Elisa widened her eyes as she ran behind the boy while trying to cast something on him, As much as Elisa was against that risky idea, Currently all she wanted was to either find her wand or to control the panick which was slowly spreading inside her, When suddenly her sharp eyes noticed a boy pointing his wand towards the snake which was set by the nurse which had tried to constrict the blonde culprit but failed, her eyes widened as she rushed towards the boy, Being a snake lover, the last thing she wanted was the boy harm the snake to protect someone who had literally stabbed a innocent, Elisa ran towards the boy feeling a light sense of anger, without even caring about her missing wand or fear, while trying to interpret why everyone was against the snake knowing that previously another first year had tried to cast a flipendo but had missed as she tries to snatch the boy's wand "Are you crazy? Why are you trying to hurt the snake when it was just trying to capture that crazy bastard" she muttered, her eyes filled with anger,

Elisa took a deep breath finally facing the boy, her face a bit calmer than before but a bit of anger remained in her eyes as she said "The snake was set by the Nurse, it isnt harmful, the one who poses a threat to us all is that crazy blonde guy, he stabbed a guy for no reason and is now trying to blame someone else", Elisa tried the best to explain the truth to the boy, but it was up to him, if he was gonna believe her or not, "You should think twice before casting any spell" added Elisa, totally in no mood to start a argument, she had enough of this whole situation, ever since the skull had come into the whole problem, she regretted not leaving all this mess with Ernest, she was sure that he might have left till now with his partner, Elisa felt a light sense of jealousy in her mind which she didn't mind much knowing the fact that currently her mind was mess and she was feeling different emotions one after the other....

Training Pitch	Actions: Attempting to snatch Botan's wand, succeeds or not but still explains him the whole situation.
'Thoughts' "Speech"	Notes: -

Stamina: 5 |Evasion: 3 |Strength: 4 |Wisdom: 7 |ArcPower: 4 |Accuracy: 7

Abilities- None

april 13th, 2024		saturday, afternoon
wc: 350ish		dhampir | sensitive to sunlight
interacting with: Zophyr Qethnis | @Mahlioz Evethisawe & @Gideon Athanato		mentioning: @Astra Norrick (redhead)

Given that Scout was no longer bound by magic, she decided to try and keep herself on her toes. "Scout, thanks," she huffed out, bringing herself to her feet, "I'm not leaving, though. What if something happens?" Well, given that something had happened- in fact, multiple 'something's' had happened, but what she said was just for flavor.

She followed Zophyr when the girl approached another, a red-head Astra who Scout had thought she had seen in the middle of the heat. Her memory doesn't serve her well though, and her view of the events that were going on had been cut short by the whole paralyzing. But it was fine, she felt a little safer with Zophyr around, since at least if she got hit with another spell someone might be able to help.

Unlike her fellow students around her, casting spells was not Scout's strong suit. She was a little strong, a little fast, but her spells were weak. Which sucked, and some of it were due to her bite-y habits, but at least she had something to make up for it. She'd probably lose in a duel but she could pack a punch! (Or try.)

Her thoughts consumed her (as they often did, despite them never being provoking), but Scout snapped back to reality when the redhead shouted out 'hey!', and her eyes followed the redhead's wand to one of the stab-y guysGideon... Wait- was he running? What a total coward! That was so annoying, why bother starting a fight if you know you can't finish it? Or... wait, was finishing the fight equivalent to stabbing one of the other students...? Huh... this wasn't the time to think about that!

"Don't be a coward!" She called out, the need to grab that scaredy-cat consuming her. Scout never considered herself the kind to try and insert herself in situations... but this was kind of a necessity! The redhead casted a spell- not that Scout even knew what it was, but she should try her best to avoid it, and get that stupid coward!

He was older than her, but that didn't mean Scout shouldn't be able to tackle him. She was pretty strong... she hoped.

action: attempting to tackle gideon athanato
stamina: 9 | evasion: 4 | strength: 6 | wisdom: 4 | arcpower: 2 | accuracy: 5
dhampir

Willow breathed as deeply as she could, confusion clawing at her throat and worries cascading through her mind. Most of all, she hoped that everyone would be okay. People were hurt, people were scared- but she wished that she could crawl into a safe hole, wrap herself up, and wait until the blood was gone and everyone was happy and safe.

But she couldn't do that. Be brave, Willow. She told herself as fiercely as she could. Cowardice isn't helpful. But what could she do? A shy twelve-year-old who couldn't even imagine hurting anyone? Willow was quite the blossoming witch, but she didn't know any spells yet that would be helpful. Not that she could have mustered the courage to do something even if she could. One hand danced over her wand, but she didn't pull it out.

She felt her date's arm around her, and felt a little better- someone cared. Someone was there, and yet that someone didn't even know her name. But, still, he had chosen to stay with her, chosen to come to the ball with her, which calmed her racing nerves.

"My name is Willow," She said, in her usual soft voice. Any attempt to make it stronger came out squeaky. The girl hoped that he could hear her over the shouting. "Willow Byrne. I'm a Ravenclaw." She knew it kind of defeated the purpose of coming to the masquerade ball, but really, it was the least she could do to him her name.

April 13, 2024
WC: 249
Mentions: @Ernest Baird
Stats: Stamina: 4 - Evasion: 7 - Strength: 3 - Wisdom: 10 - ArcPower: 4 - Accuracy: 7
Action: Fighting off a panic attack
Open to interactions

April 13th 2024
Quidditch Training Pitch
Moderation Post

Initiative rolls

Reducio

How was initiative calculated?

Initiative rolls were calculated by taking either Sta, Eva or Acc (whichever is highest) and adding it to a 1d20. This has been done so that the action order was not completely based on luck and instead had a foundation on your character's skills. Critical failures or Success were not possible for these rolls.

Roll may not line up exactly what shows on discord. This is because there were lots of doubles. Turn order remains consistent though.

Valentin Schnell - 36
Vladimir Athanatos - 35
Piérre Marchonné - 34
Gideon Athanatos - 31
Dusana Sabo - 29
Elisa Shakestra - 25
Aly Salinger - 24
Mateo Sáez - 24
Finnegan Connor - 23
Sereia Clairmont - 23
Piérre Marchonné - 21
Pericles Dralt - 20
Evelynn Decipio - 20
Rebecca Lark - 18
Buddy (Mateo's snake) - 17
Astra Norrick - 11
Scout Fu-Hai - 10

Some extra notes

Reducio

Best to read the post first before this. If you are confused by something read this:

Gideon getting away was purely based on his high initiative roll. He out rolled anyone trying to stop him and fled.

Unfortunately, Jack is going through an unfortunate circumstance at the moment and was unable to post. You can all assume that the Elk is still stood there.

Descriptive and interesting writing wasn’t really possible given how long it took to manage, roll and write this. So the descriptions are very utilitarian. It is up to individual posters to flesh out the actions and add the detail.

How I am handling the snake and parselmouth mechanics here should not be taken as precedent. I have no clue what the precedent is.

A reminder that for this thread at least. I am allowing people to cast protego on themselves and bodyblock in one action.

I apologise in advance if I forget to apply charmer -1 accuarcy or lovely creature or other global buffs/debuffs. These abilities are a nightmare to moderate.

Even more notes:

It is more than possible that I will get things wrong. This is my first time moderating. Please let me know if I miss your action or do something incorrectly.

Please be very specific about your action at the bottom of your post. Anything done in the bulk of your text won't be considered unless it is mentioned in the action section. This is to avoid confusion.

There was another issue where some people thought accuracy would be used to determine tackles. I apologize for not making this clear beforehand, but I am now. All physical altercations will be done with strength vs evasion. This is for simplicity's sake. Of course it is slightly contextual, if you are throwing a ball at someone it will use accuracy. If you are unsure, DM me and I'll tell you what your action would use, but as a rule of thumb, strength for physical fighting and tackles.

Fourth Round

Valentin Schnell valiantly stood at Piérre Marchonné’s side tensed and prepared to react to danger. The Gryffindor would look as if he was about to cast something at Dusana the nurse, when his attention was suddenly taken by an object tossed at him underhand. Piérre would catch the human skull easily, passed to him by Vladimir, who immediately started walking off down the path and out the training field exitgate.

Botan Miura also looked like they were about to cast, this time on Dusana’s snake. Elisa Shakestra stepped over to Bo quickly and attempted to snatch the boy’s wand out of his hand.

Elisa’s strength:
[d20 : 18] + 4
In the end, the result was: 22
Botan’s evasion:
[d20 : 10] + 7
In the end, the result was: 17
Success!

The boy was hesitating as he pointed his wand directly towards the snake. Elisa grasped Botan’s wand and yanked it straight out of his hand before he could cast anything. As this commotion ensued,
Aly Salinger departed the pitch.

Another student who desperately desired to leave was Gideon Athanatos. He used the chaos of those caring for Finnegan or mistakenly attacking Dusana’s snake as cover to make a run for it. He quickly slipped in and out of the crowd, scurrying away. Mateo's snake, Buddy, lunged towards Gideon’s leg, but the golden haired boy had bolted before it could get close. Astra Norrick was half way to casting the freezing charm on him when her line of sight was broken. Finally, Scout Fu-Hai had pursued Gideon into the crowd and almost tackled him, but the boy proved slippery and zig-zagged amongst other students until he was out of the gate and vanished from sight.

Dusana Sabo, the nurse, was the first to Finnegan’s side. She knelt by him with Asclepius around her neck and encouraged him to drink a calming draught. If he complied, the young Gryffindor would feel his nerves set at ease and his mind free from panic. It would help with the pain and also restore 50 hit points.

Mateo Sáez, another adult, had arrived on the scene. He proceeded to assist Dusana with Finnegan’s precarious condition.

WDC 10
[d20 : 4] + 13
In the end, the result was: 17
Success!

With a point of his wand and a perfect pronunciation of the incantation, Mateo’s wand spewed forth bandages, which wrapped around Finnegan’s stomach and stopped the bleeding. Romeo Giovanni Marchonné was close by and had the same idea, but with Mateo’s successful cast, there was no need for another. Rebecca Lark had also been onlooking, ready to jump in and aid Finnegan if the adults got into trouble.

Sereia Clairmont, seeing Ava Winchect on the verge of panicking, attempted to help her out.

WDC 10
[d20 : 17] + 15
In the end, the result was: 32
Success!

A quick flick of Sereia’s wand and Ava would feel her mind become content. She would suddenly forget what she was worried about and would feel warm with confidence, as if she could run a marathon and do anything she wanted.

Evelynn Decipio would kick off from the ground, flying high up into the air with Pericles Dralt, seated on her broom. It wouldn’t be long before they were back at the castle.

OOC INFORMATION

A warm welcome to everybody! Please proceed with the roleplay, only after reading this section.
• The treasure hunt has concluded and the main ball thread is currently open! I would suggest you head there unless you wish to participate in the MS event happening on this thread.
• Your character must be indexed. If not, check out this thread !
• Moderation of this thread occurs once in 3-4 days.
• A character is allowed to only have one moderated action per round.
Moderated actions are described below:

Reducio

Moderated actions are those actions that requires rolls like casting a spell on someone, physically fighting (like punching) with someone, surprising someone etc. Rolls are not needed for pre-decided or consented actions, like asking someone for a dance.

• Please specify your actions at the bottom of your post.
• Please mention your stats and abilities at the bottom of your posts.
• All normal h.io rules are to be followed.
Thank you for reading! I hope you have fun.

Mentions:

Reducio

@Aly Salinger
@Astra Norrick
@Evelynn Decipio
@Finnegan Connor
@Gideon Athanatos
@Jack Warren
@Mahlioz Evethisawe
@Theo Vendeberg
@Meenauh Silmataurea
@Pericles Dralt
@Piérre Marchonné
@Rebecca Lark
@Vladimir Athanatos
@Elisa Shakestra
@Scout Fu-Hai
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
@Dusana Sabo
@Ava Winchect
@Astrea Soleil Neptune
@Galton Lansdale
@Elisa Shakestra
@Sereia Clairmont
@Mateo Sáez
@Charlie Jacobsen

RPing as Zophyr Qethnis from Uagadou

Genderfluid, pronouns at the moment: she/her

☽ Kirundi | French | English | Swahili | Arabic | Tswana | Xhosa ☾

Date: April 13 2024 Time: evening

Interacting with: @Scout Fu-Hai, @Astra Norrick Mentioning: Gideon, Finnegan

Zophyr was right about a few different things (which unfortunately boosted her already-too-big ego). Firstly, that this firstie, apparently named Scout, had zero intentions of leaving. Great. And secondly, if the redhead was to be trusted, that Goldilocks had indeed stabbed that boy Finn. He was being tended to now, which was good; had gotten bandaged up and was being tended to. Perhaps a friend of the redhead's. That didn't matter at the moment. The boy was going to be okay for now - Zophyr had other things to take care of.

The redhead (man, Zophyr really had to catch her name at some point, this was getting repetitive), after confirming Goldilocks was the culprit, suggested Zophyr help in 'eliminating the knife from the situation'. The second year had absolutely no idea a knife was involved, let alone where it was or how to eliminate it. For all she knew, it was another wand that had been used, because apparently Hogwarts students were insane. (Though even if it did actually turn out to be a knife, it didn't make that statement any less true). There was no way to figure out what the weapon was now, because Goldilocks was making a run for it.

The first thing Zophyr noticed was Scout start running after him. As reckless as the Uagadou student was, she didn't usually go running after threats that had just stabbed someone. She was about to cry out in fear for the first year when the redhead's spell interrupted her. A freezing charm, but Goldi was too far for the spell and had managed to slip out of Scout's grip. Zophyr wanted to scream as she was forced to watch Goldilocks get away, helpless. A few moments of enraged frustration. Then she turned to... Redilocks. That worked. What great nicknames Zophyr came up with.

"Thank you for... your help. Do you know if he is a student here?" There was no way they would let him get away with that, right? Or was he a master manipulator too, and because no one had any real proof (that she knew of, anyway), he'd manage to get out of the consequences of stabbing someone? Oh gods, this was terrifying. "Wait, he framed you, right?" Zophyr wasn't actually sure if it was he who'd framed her or vice-versa, but she trusted that snake and had decided to stick to one story. At least for now. She could wonder whether she was wrong later. The question was rhetorical anyway, as Zophyr did not know how to continue it. Clearly she was on Astra's side, there was no need to delare it."What are we supposed to do? He just got away! Did he leave the knife here?" There was a good chance Redilocks didn't have any idea either, but she could at least voice the questions.

And there was still Scout. Zophyr ran after the girl as soon as there was a break in the conversation. "Are you alright?" For all she knew, perhaps Goldilocks had stabbed her too in his getaway. Though it seemed not, thankfully. "That was very recklessly stupidly brave of you. Do you happen to be a Gryffindor?" It wasn't said in any kind of insulting manner. After all, Zophyr was rather recklessly stupid at times as well. For example, while many others were leaving the ball as fast as possible, the thought hadn't even crossed Zophyr's mind. Not out of any selfless want to help (though she did of course want to) - no, it was more a mix of spite and want for chaos. Old habits die hard.

Actions: talking to Astra, being very frustrated, helping Scout up (nothing to mod) Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 8 | Wisdom: 5 | Arcane power: 5 | Accuracy: 6 's Grace | Broken Broomshaft

Reyna was lost. She was lost in the crowd of people as she was trying to leave. She barely noticed the fact that her partner was long gone and was not with her. That was until she had almost entered the ball. The commotion behind her caused her to look back. And there she saw Botan.
Hold up she needed to get out! She pushed her way out of the crowd almost tripping several times. This was too chaotic. And she had thought that the chaos was gone. All she saw was a snake. And people casting spells left and right.
And then someone snatched the wand right out of Botan's hands. Reyna ran up to Botan. "What are you doing?" I asked. "You're going to get yourself killed! You do realize that there are deadly spells being fired everywhere!!"
I was so confused. He seemed to be a bit dazed but just watching the scene. Still from pretty close. Reyna didn't really understand though. It wasn't some tv show. It was real.
"Snap out of it, or you might get killed!!" I exclaimed. I sighed. At the very least maybe I could help? I looked over at the person who took Botan's wand.
"So what's going on?" I directed at the person with Botan's wand. "I'm terribly confused. And terribly confused why I'm still here but here I am anyway."
When she looked back again, her healer intuition made her feel like she wanted to help. Help somehow but she wasn't exactly sure.

Running back to @Charlie Jacobsen as Botan Miura and talking to him and @Elisa Shakestra

Reducio

REYNA WENT TO ENTER THE BALL AND THEN REALIZED HER DATE WASN'T THERE AND CAME BACK, SHE NEVER FULLY ENTERED JUST WENT CLOSER TO THE ENTRANCE

sta 8 • eva 7 • str 6 • wis 8 • arc 6 • acc 7
Calming Presence | Perfectionist

Word Count: 254/200

୨⎯ The Bloody Masquerade ⎯୧

What had she been worried about?

Now, her breath came easily and she glanced up at the professor, her eyes clear. She wasn’t at all worried about the commotion happening now, or the slew of students exiting the area. She smiled at Professor Clairmont, then glanced at the action. Her eyes scanned the scene, spotting the professors assisting the students. There wasn’t much to be done, other than wonder where the attacker had gone. Now that her mind was clear, she stood up and looked for anyone she knew, which was unsurprisingly no one. Or no one that she could clearly see, anyway.

Ava was curious, though. She could recall the day before, the tarot cards. "Do you think this is what the cards meant yesterday? Or … something else?" She wondered aloud, the question mostly directed at the professor next to her.

Cards or not, it was probably time to exit the scene. There wasn’t much to be done for those who were left, and now she was ready to go find a mug of something warm and try to figure out what she had just witnessed. It would be a rough night, that she could feel, even with the spell calming her down. And honestly, she would probably end up wandering the halls just to avoid her empty dormitory.

"Let’s go," she told the professor, only half aware that it wasn’t her original idea, but rather what Professor Clairmont had instructed her to do earlier.

April 17 . before dinner
stamina • 7 | evasion • 7 | strength • 5 | wisdom • 5 | arcane-power • 5 | accuracy • 6
metamorphmagus . prodigal transfig.

Leaving to actual ballif Sereia also leaves
Inventory: wand

The flourish of words from the mouth of the jester distracted her for a second. Okay, maybe half an hour — everyone around should've been frozen to listen to the obnoxious rant of Pierre for quite a while. And it died out as quick as it erupted, with Dealla casually shrugging it off. Something else, something more important, was on her mind, and Meenauh had to find out what. She was the closest one to Jack (in terms of distance) and the only one besides Meenauh who would protect him. And Meenauh didn't know why.

Dealla noticed her and politely refused any help. It wasn't quite help she was offering, but rather clearing the path for herself. Ms Salinger failed at her attempt to both level her temper and snatch the wand from Dealla's hands. In return, she, quite impolitely, threw a few words at Meenauh. She smiled and started to articulate her reply, but it was not needed. And probably it wouldn't be heard anyway, considering the rage, filling Ms Salinger's body and mind. At the same moment, Meenauh heard the protective incantation by a very familiar voice and saw the anti-hex dome covering the few students standing around the hole. The furious girl quickly retreated, clearing the direct path to Dealla and Jack. Meenauh turned to Galton and frowned: "Skull?"

To this very moment, she was quite aware about the most things around, but not this. She turned around again, looking for whatever Galton was mentioning, just to see nothing less but a skull tossed from the hole into the hands of the jester. A sudden surge or realisation came through her mind like a sharp spear. She instantly recalled that night when Jack was also digging. The night that revealed what Jack was digging for, and what he had dug out. The time was merciful to her to allow her memories turn a bit hazy and fuzzy enough to skip them. But now they were fresh as if it happened yesterday.

"Skull..." she repeated now in half-whisper, and her gaze slid off to Vladimir retreating from the scene in his usual manner. Whatever the skull was dug out for, Meenauh felt the scent of emptiness as if something had to happen, something incredibly horrendous, and they just avoided it. As if the ball had to get even bloodier, but now it was coming down to what it already was. But still there was no feeling of relief.

Dealla was now facing the freshly renowned animagus, who was still in his animal form, completely free from the bounds of the earth, but lacking the ferocity he had minutes ago. The tone Dealla was speaking in, the words Dealla was choosing, made Meenauh thinking she hadn't known anything about Jack through these past half of the year.

"Dealla," she got closer to her, "Why are you protecting him? He just stabbed Pericles in the eye," she instinctively looked in the direction of the boy, who was already taken care of and was retreating from the scene. She didn't know yet, how irreversible a wand stab was, so she was sure magic could fix it. Meenauh was also protecting Jack for obvious reasons, not at all rational, but she couldn't understand Dealla just yet.

A quick prefect responsibility call from Ms Sabo lit up for just a second as she heard the alert for Dealla and a task for herself, instinctively nodded as a prefect, but she was too deep in her thoughts of trying to get why. She'd quickly return to Dealla.

"Jack suddenly turned pale and empty," she started the story without Dealla asking for it as soon as Dealla finished reasoning with the elk. But she felt it was the moment when they had to collect what they had, a mystery to be solved, something that had to be dealt with right here and right now. The reason for visiting a single ball for a very long time, and visiting it with a boy.

"He just cut through the crowd like possessed, and then started to dig," she continued, "I was busy with Athanatos, and Jack suddenly turned violent," she tried to be short and precise, "And then..." she just opened her palm and pointed at the elk, who was silently staring at them.

"Did you ask him to turn back to human?" she asked her last question.

The stillness with which Jack was standing was disturbing. Calm before the storm. Meenauh gulped, because she knew no proper spell would work inside the dome, and the elk clearly didn't need any spell to hurt them as soon as he might turn violent again. Her mind told her it was irresponsible and dangerous to stand where they were, but her heart told her differently. Two prominent witches could find other ways to restrain the boy, if it would be needed.

Action: Nothing yet, conversing with Dealla

Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Passing interaction with @Dusana Sabo, @Galton Lansdale
Mentioning @Vladimir Athanatos, @Piérre Marchonné, @Jack Warren, @Pericles Dralt