Midnight Serenade
Roleplaying as approved :
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•Terrible Presence in Effect•@Dennis Tumberton⋄────────────────────────⋄
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Last edited by Prat Pass on 26 Jun 2025, 03:27, edited 1 time in total.
| Prat Pass - Slytherin | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 10 | Str: 6 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 7 | Acc: 13 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 15 | Str: 0 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 15 |
Midnight Serenade
Disappointing.Roleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Lovely Creature in effect.
Maria had spent the vacation in France hoping, longing, for a connection. Really, any connection. She had continually been met with frustrating disappointment after disappointment. Ghosted by her cabin mates, ignored by boys at the tea party, and left isolated in the halls of Beauxbatons, France, Maria had concluded, was a horrible place. Don’t get her started on the tea! An affront to human nature itself! Who puts flavors in their tea? It tasted stale when it was by itself and intolerable with things added. She only wished she brought more with her from Japan - she didn’t like Japan either!
A light breeze swept the hem of her trademark lavender flower embossed silk kimono and her warm dark auburn winter robes as she made her way outside to clear her head. Her hair was tied in a bun fastened by her favorite flower: the hibiscus flower - coincidentally also makes a nice herbal tea. Her skin soft and pale in the moonlight. Fresh air would hopefully do the Chinese girl some good. France hadn’t met her expectations at all. It was, in a word, disappointing. At this point she should have at least one friend but it doesn’t seem like it was to be at all. Her hands folded in front of her, gracefully stepping softly on the cobble stone path, brooding as it was over her decision to come in the first place.
She was carried, either by fate or by happenstance, to a certain balcony overlooking the garden. How she got there, she wasn’t entirely certain, so lost in thought was she. However, the footing turned to gravel and the noise of the terrain change alerted whoever was out there in the night.
A voice. Maria snapped out of her trance. She shook her head as if coming back to consciousness and her dark olive eyes settling on a boy. A sinking feeling came over her as she took him in, her feet continue to carry her forward. Why did it have to be someone like him she encountered at night on this quiet walk? She didn’t know him but she already had doubts about him just from his presence alone. Still Maria was raised better and her manners were never far behind. She bowed slightly, but not too far, more habit being around Japanese people than it being her own culture. “Greetings,” she said lightly, with an air of confidence. “Sorry to disturb you,” she added with equal grace.
She approached the stone balcony, despite her repulsion, something beckoned her to the edge. Her hands on the stone railing she decided to focus on the stars, seeming to dance in the moonlight. “What brings you out at this hour?” Perhaps this boy, a mixture of presence and…sadness was it?…wasn’t as terrible as he appeared.
@Prat Pass
Maria Leung de Almeida is the iNPC of Dennis Tumberton
Midnight Serenade
Roleplaying as approved :
⋄─────────────⊶•Terrible Presence in Effect•@Dennis Tumberton⋄────────────────────────⋄
| WWW |
| WWW |
| Prat Pass - Slytherin | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 10 | Str: 6 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 7 | Acc: 13 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 15 | Str: 0 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 15 |
Midnight Serenade
Contradiction.Roleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Lovely Creature in effect.
Quiet. It was peaceful here beneath the vast expanse. Another stargazer like herself. Perhaps this “other” was more similar to her than she realized. This compassion wouldn’t last. In the next moment, she felt watched. Normally, she basked in the attention of being seen; however, this felt different. Was she being hunted or feared or both. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed him move closer but tried not to let on she noticed. The boy sounded sad but his figure imposing. Should she reach for her wand?
Instead of spell, a threat, or a snide remark, this…aura, more than person…introduced himself. Unexpected. The tension in her shoulders released as if a weight lifted off them. Her dark eyes met his as she shifted to leaning with one arm on the railing, facing him. Her visage, despite her alertness, cool and controlled. Don’t let people know they bother you, this was a lesson her mother taught her early. You must save face at all cost. Do not run. Do not falter.
She dipped her head in recognition of his name. Arno sounded like 阿诺 (a nuo). 诺 nuo meant promise. She was slightly annoyed now that such a fearsome boy had such a winsome sounding name. She found the contradiction added to how unsettled she felt. “诺,” she muttered more than said. “I’m 诗颖 (shiying).” She introduced herself by her Chinese name, so thrown off was she by this apparent discrepancy. Now she felt homesick and didn’t bother to correct it to something more friendly to westerners.
He then noticed she wasn’t from around France which illicit a wry smile vaguely noticeable from the corner of her mouth, her calm facade slowing cracking. Was it the kimono, her name, or the fact she looked Asian? Had this been the tea party she’d have been forced to bite back, but this Arno seemed earnest. She let it go. “I go to school at Mahoutokoro. It is in Japan. You don’t sound French.” She said finally, leaving out the part where all white people look the same to her.
As quickly as the boy had come to the threshold of her comfort, he backed away. Visibly more comfortable after both the introduction and his retreat, perhaps also worn down from the late hour, she decided to answer his question truthfully. “It has been less than ideal. France has always been a place I dreamt would be so romantic and so full of life. It has been anything but that.” She left out conveniently that this was the first interesting thing to happen to her where nothing bad had happened yet.
“You seem to find yourself out here in a…sad mood? Bad mood?” She asked, her English still not the best but wanting to further into the contradiction of a boy that somehow continued to intrigue her further.
@Prat Pass
Maria Leung de Almeida is the iNPC of Dennis Tumberton
Midnight Serenade
Roleplaying as approved :
⋄─────────────⊶•Terrible Presence in Effect•@Dennis Tumberton⋄────────────────────────⋄
| WWW |
| WWW |
| Prat Pass - Slytherin | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 10 | Str: 6 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 7 | Acc: 13 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 15 | Str: 0 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 15 |
Midnight Serenade
小诺 - a little promiseRoleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Lovely Creature in effect.
Arno continued to defy Maria’s understanding. It was as if whatever spell he might have cast over her was losing it’s potency the longer she was with him. From fearsome figure to frail boy, this Arno seemed small now as Maria’s vision of him grew clearer. The way he looked at her was far more familiar now, as a curiosity. Something to be understood. The fear she felt seemed to dissipate. Going from feeling hunted to being studied.
He said her name and instantly she reached to correct his pronunciation. Foreigners and their lack of finesse with tones. Instead of correcting him, as would have been the default, she simply said, “You may call me Maria, it if is easier, 小诺 (Xiao nuo - a common way to form nicknames and derived from the Chinese pronunciation of Arno, here means ‘little promise').” Though normally she explains her nicknames to foreigners, the hour was late, and she was too sleep deprived at this point to clearly communicate that she was referring to him.
It was once again surprising that this boy was also French. Apparently, Maria was worse than she thought at telling white people apart. It was to expected since this was the first time she came to the West and that white people were now in the majority. “Oh.” She said, vaguely understanding all of his words, squinting to try to read his lips not that that would have done her any good. Despite how he looked, he was quite good at talking. Even if she couldn’t understand what he was saying fully, she had to admit secretly she kind of liked how he said it.
His mood shifted to speaking softer, perhaps more gentle and something about wastelands. It seemed quite dangerous to her. A strange frail boy indeed. From scared to annoyed to curious, Maria was now unsure of what would come next. She continued to piece his words together as she moved back to admiring the landscape, whose valleys were steeped in shadow but the tops washed in moonlight. What a view for such an odd pair. Unsure of what an “eden” was, she finally understood what he meant was something opposite a wasteland, like a paradise.
‘Not sad but contemplative,’ she thought, understanding the word but would not shred her dignity by daring to pronounce it out loud. It was Maria’s turn to move closer to Arno. Her skin radiant in the soft light. Her eyes deep wells, as if she was casting her own spell and aura over the place, replacing such a fearsome presence with her own.
What was once a compulsion to move toward the ledge was evolving into a need to know this bizarre and confounding boy more. “And what,” Maria said, only several steps away, before resuming her position of leaning against the railing, “does a French, but not French, boy come out here to think about?” Her voice was light, compassionate, but still teasing.
@Prat Pass
Maria Leung de Almeida is the iNPC of Dennis Tumberton
Midnight Serenade
Roleplaying as approved :
⋄─────────────⊶•Terrible Presence in Effect•@Dennis Tumberton⋄────────────────────────⋄
| WWW |
| WWW |
| Prat Pass - Slytherin | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 10 | Str: 6 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 7 | Acc: 13 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 15 | Str: 0 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 15 |
Midnight Serenade
Maria was met once again with consternation. She was so sure she was about to get to know this westerner and perhaps any other person would have spilt what it was they were actually thinking about. He had evaded her question by turning it on her. He can keep his secrets, she thought to herself. Half frustrated and half amused by the fact that this boy continued to be a puzzle that kept surprising her, she had tried to listen to him. Of course, once again he continued using complex sentences and fancy words much older than she suspected one their age possessed. Maria was tired, it was late and he was not making it easy for the girl, whose native language was not English, or her second language either, to firmly understand what it was he was trying to say.Roleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Lovely Creature in effect.
It was, however, clear to her that he didn’t wish to answer the question. Maria took a minute to reorient herself to the shift in conversation. What did bring her out? It would be weird if she told him she felt a presence or pull, she didn’t think westerners were as steeped in spirits as they were in China or Japan. “The moon is very clear here,” she said at length. It wasn’t a lie, it was definitely a clearer sky than she was used to in China, that’s for sure. “France is difficult for me to adjust to. Maybe I wish to have company,” she said with a wry smile, as if to insinuate the company was barely acceptable. “I’m glad I came.” She said at last, not leaving her own reply with a tease, that would have been quite rude for her.
He offered to take her to eat some pastries. However, at such an hour, a French delicacy was not appetizing, it would not be good for her healthy. She smiled at his invitation and said, “Thank you, I will need to taste your apple tart another time.” She turned to leave but not before turning around and saying, “It was nice to meet you, 小诺. Maybe we will meet again some day.” She gave him one last playful smile before disappearing into the night and returning once more to her cabin.
@Prat Pass
Maria Leung de Almeida is the iNPC of Dennis Tumberton