Gala of Mysteries Fall Ball

Aston smiled at Luka's compliment and nodded along to his words about Drumstrang. "That makes sense. To be honest almost all of my friends are in other house, I barely spend time with people in my house. It's pretty decent, most of my classes has at least one of my friends in them. The only time where that fact becomes annoying is during the meals. We sit by houses so I end up eating breakfast alone, sometimes I do try to sit with them though." Aston does wonder why he never befriended many fellow ravens, perhaps it was just luck, it's not like he has been avoiding talking to other Ravenclaws.

Luka's question reminded Aston, Kenzie is still back there! He was conflicted, on one hand, he did say that Kenzie and him was going to spend time together at the ball, especially after Alex and Prat ran off to who-knows-where. But if Alex can leave and go dancing with Prat surely Kenzie will be okay with Aston spending some time with Luka here today. The boy is from Drumstrang it's not like Aston can just go find him to hang out whenever he wants like he could with Kenzie and the others. "She's a friend of mine, we were going to hang out at the ball but all we planned to do was eat some food and talk. I'm sure she'll be fine with me staying here, she won't mind."

Word Count 241/200

norwegian ❅ russian ❅ english ❅ swedish

october 19 outfit [x][x][x][x]

Hans Jenssen (@Archer Duncan)

broken me and broken them and - you are broken too

❅ ❅ ❅

As they went to sit down, she was looking at the boy with worried eyes. Slouched over, he didn't look fine - how could he? "Nikolai." With a heavy sigh, she moved her gaze toward the blond. With the growing number of Durmstrang students being traumatised, depressed, or just tired, she hadn't really noticed how exhausted Nikolai looked. Some would say it's because of the cold weather, but Astrid was started to think that maybe their school was cursed, in a way. "But…. But, Astrid, he’s strong right? He is strong, and he will be fine. Astrid, he will be fine." Hans was rambling, and also panicking. And Astrid wasn't sure what to do, except responding with a voice as calm and reassured as she could, even if it came out a little shaky. "I don't know him like you do, I don't know everything he's been through. But you trust him, and from what I know, he's strong. He'll get better, we all will." After all, Durmstrang was just a bunch of traumatised kids. She thought she could escape it, and she did. For four years. The girl exhaled softly. What was happening to all of them was so unfair. Astrid was not even fifteen wet. "No, sorry, you’re not my therapist. And... I've also been told wallowing in depression isn't exactly my best look, is it now? Let's talk about something else." He had a very fake grin, she had a very genuinely sad smile. Looking at him strait in the eyes, she said "If you ever need to talk about something, I'm always here, okay? It's okay if you're not fine, I'm not fine and it's okay. Don't feel... ashamed to talk about it. But yeah, if you want to talk about something else... What do you want to talk about?" She was serious, if he ever needed to talk, he could come to her, she would listen.

❅ ❅ ❅

Inventory wand, Snicker bar
Action being the therapist friend
sta ● 11 | eva ● 9 | str ● 6 | wis ● 10 | arc ● 7 | acc ● 10
fearless - obnoxiously strong - keen eye - charmer
Post 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

𝙾𝚄𝚃𝙵𝙸𝚃: Reducio

│ │ │

▪ 𝙴𝙽𝙲𝚈 ▪ ▪ FELIX ▪ KOLBECK ▪ ▪ DURMSTRANG iNPC ▪ SIXTH YEAR ▪

│ │ │

𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂: Reducio @Evelynn Decipio as Greta @Aaron Jones @Illowy Magnard

If Felix hadn't been so attuned to Greta's every moment, he might have missed the sudden shudder within his jacket. He knew the second he pulled back to scan her features. It might have been dark, but the moonlight still betrayed her true emotions.

Fuck, she was crying. Why was she crying? What had he done wrong? Was she really afraid to be alone with him in the dark? No, that wouldn't make sense because they had slept in the same tent together over the summer, but... It hit him like a ton of bricks. It wasn't what he had done, it was what she had been through.

"Greta..." He kept his voice low, allowed it to fall softer than he usually allowed it to be. A whispered apology barely broke through the noise of the gala, but it sliced through him all the same. His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away any tears trailing down her cheek. "Hey... It's okay. You don't have to apologize... Its been a hellish week."

She didn't really think she had to carry all of it alone, did she? He slid a finger down to tilt her chin up so he could look her in the eye, "You're allowed to feel things, Greta. You're allowed to cry. You don't have to put on a brave face around me, I care about yo—"

The moment shattered the minute another person bumped into them, the glass shards of reality crashing down. His eyes flickered up to the offender, his features, soft just seconds before, hardened into a blank stare as his eyes did a once over glance of his outfit. Felix quickly made his judgement call; not good enough for Greta. He was another boy whose IQ likely matched their age. Merlin, she really had a type, didn’t she?

“Sorry, we don’t have any shirts for sale.” He tried to dismiss the boy with a pointed comment towards his lack of shirt. He thought tight-shirt had been too poor to afford clothing that fit, but this kid—Biceps—couldn’t even swing ill-fitting clothing. He had apparently spent his budget cosplaying as an internet incel, donning a walking red flag of a hat which he tipped towards the Swede.

Ugh.

“Felix. Sorry about that, I didn’t know you were already acquainted with my girlfriend.” Girlfriend was a stretch, of course. This was the first time they had been on anything resembling a date, but he planned to lay a 'claim' on her to try and deter Biceps from whatever playboy hell he had planned for her. Felix was banking on the fact that Greta was not fluent in English and would just translate it as a friend who happened to be a girl.

Felix raised a brow at the boy when he asked his date to dance. Was this guy for real? His eyes shifted to look at the brunette girl by his side to see if she seemed annoyed, but it seemed she wasn't fazed by it, even started to walk away. Geez, her indifference didn't really bode well for Biceps, did it? Now Felix had to put up with him. Great, just fucking swell. Wasn’t it bad enough that the universe had deemed it appropriate to torment him with Arjan for five years, now he had the Temu version trying to dance with Greta?

Felix gave a shrug of his shoulders, an arm still wrapped around his date, "It's up to her; I don't make decisions for her." He tried to stay casual but someone who knew him well enough might have noticed how tense he was. Surely Greta had enough sense to see through this guy and understand that accepting his offer to dance was a bad idea. She was here as his date, after all, and it wouldn’t be proper for her to—

‘Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,’ the Swede’s inner voice screamed. His hold on the Norwegian tightened, his jaw clenched. He could feel something stirring within his chest, something he would refuse to acknowledge, "I'm not going to tell you what to do, Greta. If that's what you want, go ahead and dance with the guy."

A young Felix might have thrown a fit, he might have told Greta to have fun with her new date or something equally dramatic. This wasn't the problematic relationships from his past that haunted him daily, however, he refused to embarrass her or try to tell her what to do again. If Greta wanted to dance with Biceps, he'd let her, but he was going to watch the two like a hawk.

"Sure, you kids have fun." The ache in his chest deepened as he watched her go.

Action: N/A.

English • Spanish

sta • 7| eva • 6 | str • 9| wis • 6|arc • 5 | acc • 7

Keen Eyes

open to interaction

entering ball and greeting Zyair

@Scout Fu-Hai as Zyair Ona'je

October 19th, evening

"Hi. You do too! Erm, sorry. I'm a bit nervous." She took his arm. All of this was a first for her, first time taking a boy's arm, first time being told she looked wonderful by a boy unrelated to her, first time with a major crush on someone. Maybe, if she was lucky, this would really work out. She was hopeful.

She folded her hands together, slightly awkwardly, her face already a slight pink from his compliments. "No negatives to say about you, so obviously." She laughed slightly, even though it wasn't funny.

And then he asked her to dance. And started saying something, something she couldn't catch, but something that made her freeze. What had he been trying to tell her? She left his comment alone and recovered.

"We shall." Sabrina didn't have much experience with dance, but she loved it. She felt free when she danced. Back home in Bolivia, everyone danced. Hopefully Zyair wouldn't think she was weird for dancing. She pulled him out to the dance floor.

"Do you dance much?" She paused, then added, "mi querida."my dear

She smiled and moved her feet in the choreography Catrina had taught her from her Muggle school. She loved that dance. It felt so... right to her. Sabrina felt so right there. With Zyair.

Reducio

Apart from the flower, it seemed AJ had done this almost entirely incorrectly. For one he had just charged in and blurted out nonsense like a buffoon, not only that but seemingly he'd run in on quite a situation, given the oddly tense atmosphere he could sense and the...ongoing proposal? Not only that but his attempt to talk 'normally' had seemingly not had the desired effect.

That said though, he had seemingly nailed it with the lily. Evelynn voiced her approval and got on her tiptoes for a moment. Figuring she had something to whisper to him AJ leant down and inwards, only to feel the soft brushing of her lips against his cheek. Which caused him to blush deeply and entirely forget what he was next going to say.

He barely even comprehended her fixing up his outfit. Initially he had hoped the whole look would give off an intentional messy vibe when in reality he simply didn't want to admit he had no idea how to tie a windsor knot. All of that didn't matter now though, and he only snapped to reality when he felt a very gentle new sensation around his neck.

"Ayah..ehm...ahnum...Foo' yeh, foo' soonds goo'" "I-uh..um...an-um...Food yeah, food sounds good." He nods slowly, his grasp on the English language seemingly coming back to him one word at a time. "Yoo ehm...yoo loo' ehm...byoo- ehm...vurry prutteh." "You um...you look um...beau-...um...very pretty."

Reducio

Some idiot forgot to include stats and info in my last post, so here it is now.
Link to trunk: Huzzah
Abilities: Fearless | Prodigal DADA | The Muggle Condition | Wandmaker | Animagus
Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 11 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 15 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 15

october 19th, 2024		saturday, evening
wc: 600ish		zyair ona'je - uagadou
interacting with: Sabrina Ortega | @Sage Willows		mentioning: scout

keen eye | calming presence
stamina: 5 | evasion: 7 | strength: 4 | wisdom: 7 | arcpower: 7 | accuracy: 10

"Oh, of course I do." Though he was sure the type of dancing Sabrina was referring to wasn't anywhere similar to the kind Zyair did back home, he didn't mind stretching the truth just a little bit. There wasn't much difference between breakdancing with his muggle friends and ballroom dancing, was there? Both required steady timing and patience, and Zyair had both of those aspects in plenty.

Luckily he was right, dancing with Sabrina was very similar to dancing with his friends- only at a slower pace. His hands naturally found themselves at her waist, it was all-in-all a very pleasant experience. The music was okay, and even though there was a comically large crowd surrounding them at all times, it definitely could've been worse. For just a moment or so, he had even managed to forget about how horrible he felt over Scout and not inviting her first.

Well, that feeling lasted for about thirty seconds.

As soon as Zyair was starting to relax and actually enjoy himself, he caught a glimpse of strikingly familiar red hair running off. His feet stopped moving, his gaze dropped to the doorway of the Great Hall, and for a long moment he just stared. "Damnit." He cursed under his breath, selfishly wondering if she had seen him with Sabrina. If that sight alone caused such a reaction, maybe Scout hadn't been as upfront with her lack of care at him going to the dance with someone else as Zyair had initially thought.

He was brought back to Earth when he realized he had suddenly stopped dancing, the looks from the people around him as he stood unnaturally still snapped him back, and he quickly pulled away from Sabrina. Lord, how does he explain that he really likes this one girl and he really regretted not asking her to the Gala but he definitely didn't regret asking Sabrina to the Gala- well maybe he did a little bit but he definitely wasn't going to say that to anyone, let alone the girl he was thinking it about. But how in the world was he going to explain that he needed to leave?

Guilt flooded his chest.

"Hey, Sabrina," he started, hoping he'd find the proper way to say goodbye in his sentence, "I just want you to know that this has been a really lovely time but..." What now? What does he say now? Does he say what's really on his mind, or does he doll it up in a way that insinuates that he does want to keep spending time with Sabrina? It's not like he'd enjoy never speaking to her again, but it also seemed unfair for him to pretend that he also felt the same way she did regarding this 'more-than-friends' escapade. "There's someone I need to be with right now, and that's not you." Wow, he probably could've phrased it better. For his own sanity, he turned away immediately as to not look at her face. While the action might've been a little selfish, if he had seen her hurt face it might've lingered in his nightmares. "I'm really sorry for leading you on. I really am."

In a swift motion, he was gone- disappearing into the crowd as he tried to figure out where Scout might have gone. He tried to ignore the growing feeling of disdain for his actions as he sped-walk out of the Great Hall. Maybe he'd get lucky and never see Sabrina again, but more likely than not... he'd probably find her angry face the next morning.

action: leaving the great hall very swiftly

19th October 2024
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Waiting Patiently for @Scout Fu-Hai
Mentioning: Aurélie Duval @Ophelia Northwell
OOC Notes: Shoot me an owl if you'd like to interact

"Casey?? Scout?? Where are you guys...?"

Strange. At least one of them would have arrived by now. But the longer Emily continued to call out her buddies' names, the more in vain her efforts seemed to be as more guests continued to overshadow them.

Emily stood at the side of the venue awkwardly. Did she keep them waiting too long? Was that it? Did deciding which colour of ribbon for her hair make them impatient enough that it warranted them to leave?

She was over exaggerating obviously, but Emily was struggling to come up with better reasons on what was taking them so long. Scout wasn't one to forget, was she? As for Casey, he could be anywhere. Emily had to often remind herself that he still valued his own company above anyone else's. Even still, she was certain he would still meet with her.

Back at the forest, they reaffirmed their friendship. They weren't allies anymore. They were friends. Their communication no longer had to feel transactional in ways of exchanging information to find a missing brother or for the discovery and research into magical beings.

Emily fiddled with the end of her skirt. She was tempted to leave and scour the castle to look for them. The again, if she left now and they would appear...

Yeah, scratch that.

To stave off her boredom, Emily hit the dancefloor. With constructed movements and a hint of style, she moved her body, savouring the music that dictated her moves. She had improved a lot compared to the last ball. She had that nice girl, Aurélie to thank for that, after the two of them shared a dance back then. Even if it was one of the most awkward interactions either of them could've had in their lives.

Dancing alone like this made Emily feel like an ice skater; twirling in axels, shifting across the checkered floor and moving rhythmically like she was owning her own little stage, as small as it might have been.

It wasn't long before Emily detached herself from all reality, now completely absorbed in her own space as she moved in tandem with the music.

A comforting bliss in what could otherwise turn into a catastrophe later down the line... Assuming the rumours surrounding Hogwarts's social events were true. Alas, time would only tell.

In the meantime, Emily was happy enough to boogie.

_{Word Count: 463}

Action: Oh, Oh, Dancing With Myself~

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

MODERATION ROUND 5

Beyond all this pure-blood gathering glitz and glamour though, the dastardly animal attack continued, with even more ferocity than before after the victim's engagement.

The second bite was no longer dry. Rather than slithering away to find another target, the fearful snake refused to detach despite @Winnie Harper's gentle attempts. Now intimidated by her screaming and scolding, the creature struck once more, this time with additional determination. Only biting with venom when threatened - and this was one such occasion, the young lady would not only feel another acute pain up her leg, but would also find her ankle reddening and swelling in response. It was a fitting Achilles’ heel for the animal lover.

Reducio

Strength contest: Winnie [d20:3]+8 < Snake [d20:8]+5 => Snake is still attached
Accuracy: Snake [d20:18] + 10> Winnie [d20: 8] +10
She is bitten
HP Loss: 50 + 5 (Arno's arcp) * 20 = 150

Without the Snake-Vanishing spell, the asp viper would only go on to choose anther target after its delivery of (quite literally) venom. The viper would not even spare the youngest and most innocent of Hogwarts’ students, a first year, cutie patootie Hufflepuff. In his casually slouched posture, if @Gemini Johnson had been waiting for an exciting turn in his humdrum story, he had better Carpe Diem and seize the day when the snake coiled up to him. It showed no malicious intentions as of right now, merely circling, preparing.

Reducio

Randomly chosen from: Emily | Allister | Sabrina | Felix | Astrid | Aston | Gemini | Evelyn | Reyna | Greta

————————————————————

OOC Information

Welcome to the Gala of Mysteries!
1. To participate, you must be indexed. If you are not indexed yet, please apply here.
2. Moderation will occur every week on Saturdays.
3. Your character is allowed one moderated action per round. Please specify your moderated action somewhere OOC in your post.

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.

4. Please include your abilities and stats in your post.
5. There are two other threads in this event, Haunted Halls and Whispers of the Dark. You can directly enter the two threads without needing to post in this thread, but if you already have, please specify that you are leaving this thread for either one of the other two.
6. Please follow all usual HIO rules.
7. Enjoy the ball!

Roleplaying as Hans Jenssen

"I'm not... ashamed," he managed with a swallow, though the truth of the statement was far more debatable than he would have preferred. Still ashamed did not cut it. More so an odd mixture abashed, flummoxed, bewildered - he never truly understood the Russian word and its definitions: смущенный. Despite knowing the world was big, Hans had somehow persuaded himself he was bigger. But- "But, I should try to stop convincing myself I'm fine." Gone were the days when his problems were so simple they could be danced away. Gone were the days when he could pull out a wrench and fix his heart. No, the screw was stuck somewhere far too deep in his ribs-barred chest for his desperately prying hands to reach. What was this bomb of a human heart: so powerful and yet so fragile?

"You're right." The words coming out as a vague murmur, he cleared his throat and tried again in a much louder voice, eyes matching hers as they locked places, "Thank you Astrid." Keeping eye contact for a pathetically short time, they flitted away once more as he stared into the nothingness. Feeling all too vulnerable in his body, Hans reminded himself that it was a feeling he should learn to embrace. Still not his therapist, but Astrid was someone he could open up to - in fact he should probably have dropped that guise a long while ago. That blasted Johannes knew better. "Ughhhhh- Sorry... I just don't know how to handle this. Working through my emotions is... difficult because I've never felt things so deeply before. And that goes both ways, the positive and the negative. It's like being colourblind one day and not the other. I really appreciate it, but someone should have told me beforehand it came as a double side sword."

With a deep intake of breath, he begun once more, "And I thought...." What did he think? What did he think when slugs and salt - salt of all damn things! - were the most of his troubles? That he was naïve enough to believe his own words two months ago promising the suffering boy there would be no more waiting for the storm to pass to see the rainbow? Sacrifice, torment, pain were prices he would be willing to pay; they were prices he could not bear to see others pay. "What is love without pain, right? That's what they say...." So there was a hefty price for the extraordinary, just as everything else taxed under emotion's cruel iron fist. Established even by Earth's geography, there could truly be no highland without its ravines and pitfalls... and to think he thought the Durmstrangnian fjords beautiful. With a bitter laugh, he fell into an uneasy silence.

"I don't think we need to talk about anything. Thank you so much just for being here." Hans said finally, throat dry from his hitched up emotion.

This boy who always seemed to always have words to say suddenly found comfort in this newfound silence. Like the last few late nights spent with Nikolai, often just watching him stitch away, their's was a mutual understanding in the air that magically transcended speech. In fact, such a mundane thing as speech and all the humour that came with it would have undermined... whatever lopsided, half-decaying, dully-coloured rainbow they were crossing. And what would be on the other side of this collapsing Bifröst bridge? Not Valhalla or Asgard, certainly, but perhaps some poorly-rendered, AI-mangled copy cat version of utopia. Hans sought solace in the fact that no matter what the destination was, he was not alone on the journey. That did make it so much more worth taking.

@Anastasia Blackwood-Varney as Astrid Olsen

Sta: 8 | Eva: 10 | Str: 5 | Wis: 5 | Arc: 2 | Acc: 10 | Fearless | Charmer

Charmer affects everyone but Nikolai Vol'ka, Valentin Schnell, Johannes Sauer, Felix Kolbeck, Greta Fransson, and Astrid Olsen

October 19, Evening of the Gala.
Action: Trying to pin the snake's head down with a plate so it can't bite anyone else Inventory: Wand, Wizard Camera
Outfit: Pastel yellow slacks, vest, tie, shoes, and silk headscarf. White button up.

Reducio