The Masquerade Ball Event Closed

Several weeks ago it had all seemed obvious. There was a ball, people went to balls with other people and the only person Ruthie felt remotely close to of the opposite gender, so it was obvious that she should ask him. And she did. But after he accepted while vaguely mocking her, the school seemed a buzz with people nervous about the event, and she attended a girls' night to prepare, she seemed to have lost all the common sense that went into the original decision.

Even her parents' letters had been full of excitement, especially at the prospect that a boy would be accompanying her. Still, there had been stress. As the child of a fisherman, Ruthie was unaccustomed to money. Her mother, in fact, was the primary bread winner, but even then research in Herbology was less fruitful than research in Charms or Transfiguration. It was because of this lack of funding that the young Ravenclaw had received a parcel in the mail containing one a small silver gown, hand sewn. Her mother was proficient with a needle and that saved them a lot on clothes, but this time she'd out done herself. It was an elegant silver-blue gown with a bateau neckline and a slight high-low hem at the knee. Accompanying this was a black lace mask with deep blue and indigo rosettes attached and a pair of silvery shoes, so translucent that they almost looked like glass reflecting light. It was likely a simpler outfit than many of her peers would wear, but it was enough. And actually for the girl that Jorah pointed out was so as unlikely to own a dress as a squirrel, it was more than enough.

She got ready without much consideration. People looked nice for this sort of thing, she knew after the girls' event last night, but it wasn't like it was important. It was just a school event among friends. That was why she left the tower relatively quickly, having left her curls fall down at either side of her face like they always did. Getting down the stairs took care, however, not wanting to trip and tear one of the seams on this dress.

Once she arrived, she looked around the vestibule for Jorah. Even though there were some people already milling about, she hoped he would be able to spot. The masks, however, made people seem to blur. Fearing this might be like looking for the snitch in a Quidditch match, she decided to look for the Ravenclaw by his hair. With the way the brown strands typically flopped in front of his forehead, his hair was his most distinguishing feature. It look several minutes while she stood on the staircase, but eventually, she saw that sweeping hair dangling above a black raven mask. Squinting, she locked eyes with him to ensure she had the right lad. When his eyes seemed to perk up as he fiddled with the mask, that's when she knew she had the right boy.

Walking over, she pulled on the seams of the dress slightly to ensure it was clean and hanging correctly. Not that she really would have known what to do if it weren't--a dress like this was not her usual attire. Reaching him, she said, "Hey. You look nice." And he did with his suit and a swirly blue tie--very Ravenclaw. The fabric looked shiny, maybe even expensive. She wondered if her homespun dress was worth all the trouble in comparison. "Is this okay?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious of her outfit. It was stupid: worrying last night and worrying now. Jorah had always accepted her exactly as she was. Why should now be any different? Breathing, she reminded herself of her original thesis: this was just two friends at a school event. No need to be nervous.

Tag: @Jorah Moussa

Kyle Lay on his back on his bed in just a pair of Kestral Pajama pants as the rest of the boys in his bunk were getting ready. Buttoning up shirts, tying ties, combing hair, spraying cologne or whatever. Everyone making sure to look nice and proper for the fancy ball. Kyle wanted to mock them but atleast they were having fun. Chatting, playing around, talking excitedly about the Masquerade. What was he doing? He was staring at the ceiling wondering how long it would take for his Pillow to manage to worm itself free from its bonds and attempt to get him once again.

Finally with a sigh he sat up and rubbed his face. Should he go to the ball? Did he even want to? What was the point. Every party Kyle showed up to people avoided him, yelled at him, or hit him and then he would just make a scene and leave. Why bother going through that again? Then again...he would have a mask on, and he knew Santario would be there. That was atleast one person who didn't seem to mind his presence.

With a groan Kyle got to his feet and walked over to his trunk and opened it up. Sitting ontop of his assorted junk was a clothing box with his outfit inside. With a shrug he grabbed the box and set about getting dressed. The Long tailed vest went on first since he already wasnt wearing a shirt, followed by him slipping off his pajama pants and putting on the black studded pants, wrapping his belt through the loops and clipped the sliver wolf head belt buckle, wincing slightly at the feel of discomfort from the silver touching his skin. Next he slipped on his usual black boots but instead of leaving them untied and sloppy looking he took the effot to actually tie them tonight. Once the outfit proper was done Kyle moved onto accessories, first grabbing his grey tie with skulls on it and he tied it around his left bicep like an arm band. Once that was taken care of he unrolled the black cloth strips meant for wrapping a boxers hands and he set about lacing it through his fingers then around his hand and finishing by tying it up to a little past his wrists. To top everything off he reached in once again for the one part of his outfit he didn't let Santario see the other day. The metal mask that looked like it was had made, with jagged eye holes and sharp edges.

With his outfit put together Kyle nodded to himself and went to the mirror and examined himself. His sharp blue eyes were drawn to the bottom left of his face, where part of his scar could still be seen. Kyle frowned slightly to himself but ultimately figured not very many had seen him face to face and as such his scar shouldn't be a huge deal. With a final shrug he left the dorm and began to make his way towards the ballroom where the Masquerade was going to be taking place.

When he stepped through the doors Kyle noticed that the music was way different than anything he could have expected, and honestly he was into it. This was exactly the kind of music he listened to back home, despite his parent's protests, and his head began to bob some along with the heavy bass. If he was lucky maybe he would be able to get a mosh pit going at some point before the night was over. After all, what good is a show like this without some blood and an elbow to the face at some point? right?

Kyle looked around the room looking for Santario, but it seemed she hadn't show up yet. As such he sort of walked around aimless, taking care not to get too close to anyone he. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be horrible this time? Sure Halloween had a way of always going poorly for him, but this was the first birthday where not only was there good music and the potential for a good time he also wasn't going to be the center of attention and his mom was going to be here to do something silly or over the top. Then again...Santario knew this was his birthday after his house elf, Solkey, blabbed and told her when it was.

Hopfully she wouldn't do anything over the top...

Open to interraction

Interacting with @Aphrodite Bloom

Getting ready for the Ball was.. tedious, to say the least. Her dress represented herself, green flowers in place of her house, and the color pink representing the universal love of oneself and of others. She had got it custom made, asking her mother months in advance to have it ready. Her hair, flowed over her shoulders intricately in bouncy locks, her bangs styled to a curl as well.

She had done her makeup herself, a dramatic winged liner, along with green eye shadow on one eye and pink on the other, topped off with a sparkly lipgloss. She looked different, that was for sure, but beautiful none the less. Her mask was a hot pink, with green fastenings to secure it on her head.

So without wasting another minute, she scurried down the narrow corridors of the school and made her way to the ballroom, fascinated by how far the decorative team had come. It was beautiful, ribbons on everything, a stage draped with white table cloth, and gorgeous sparkles filled the room obviously due to some kind of spell.

Everyone looked beautiful, and it honestly caught her breath, putting her at a loss of words. As she glanced around the room, she spotted a stunning girl standing by the punch bowl, her blonde and black split hair flowing ever so neatly over her shoulders. Peering into the crowd of British and Ilvermorny students with a smile, she pushed her way through everyone and grabbed her hand to let her know she was there. Since she hadn't seen Gem yet, she decided to talk with Aphrodite, thinking it was only suitable.

Interactions: Dymphna Teague
Mentions: Quinn Healy

@Phaedra Stavrou

It was time. Time for the Ball, time to dress up like a pureblood, and time to take Phaedra out as naturally as they'd hung out dozens of other times. Max was dressed up much better than the last Ball; being with his father this past summer had taught him how true style could portray elegance. No more casual suits for boys, tonight he was dressed in a three-piece with gold accents throughout to match the dress Phaedra had picked out. Shoes sporting the same classic white-and-black as Al Capone's, vintage gold cufflinks from Rosalyn with a cursive 'A' engraved onto them, and a mask wrought from delicate gold that covered half his features completed the outfit for the masquerade. He'd fit right in if this was a pureblood event where wealth was to be evident but understated.

Next to him - since they'd met before at a pre-determined place - Phaedra looked wonderful. He shot her a brief smile as they entered together, but looked away again quickly. It was odd, yet he found he couldn't look at her for too long without having to immediately look away. He'd asked her to come as a friend, however somehow the two of them showing up both dressed up made the atmosphere feel different than any other time they'd hung out before. Why did he feel so nervous being around one of his best friends? It made no sense and he didn't want to examine it any closer. He shoved down the feelings, the only thing revealing his internal struggle being the way he kept fidgeting with his cufflinks.

"Since I haven't said it yet, you look nice tonight," he said quietly to the Ravenclaw, trying to remember the proper etiquette without sounding dumb. "Thanks for agreeing to come with me." Regardless of how awkward he currently felt, he was determined that they'd both have a good time. The last school-wide Ball had been an absolute nightmare of fire, spilled punch bowls, and screaming, so this one had better go alright. They deserved at least one proper dance and a chance to eat food without students going flying.

Seeing Solomon Lear in full armour though... that was troubling. It always made him paranoid, but tonight with paranoia already running so high it was doubly so. Not to mention the extra American students who had shown up. He didn't trust Americans since his time spent in Salem, and this crew just had a kind of look about them as if they were up to no good. He briefly wondered if his penpal was in amongst them; he hadn't seen a picture of her so he wasn't sure. She'd seemed nice enough so he hoped she wasn't up to anything.

Shaking his head to keep the paranoia at bay, he took another good look around to see what people were wearing. They ranged from the ridiculous to the classy, and with the masks there was a kind of anonymity to some people. Could people like Ben have slipped in? No, no suspicions tonight.

"What would you like to do first?" he asked Phaedra, giving her lady's first choice since he'd been the one who'd asked her. Whether she wanted to dance, get food, or visit he would leave up to her, and he'd subtly watch both their backs. At least the vest of his suit had a custom belt holster for his wand. It would take a total of two seconds to grab it and cast something; no matter what happened, nothing would happen to his date or friends.

“Hi!” Adlai said returning the greeting to @Serena Towers “and thank you, I think your dress is pretty as well! What do you think of the party so far?” Adlai asked desperate to mingle among her peers, though that may seem a bit creepy.
Adlai may be an anxious girl but she is very extroverted and gains energy from being around people and socializing!
The fact that she hadn’t yet been able to strike a conversation has been driving her into a down spiral of sudden tiredness.
“I can’t wait to see everyone else’s costumes I’m sure there amazing!” She exclaimed watching for more people to arrive.
She found the Americans quite interesting. She had meet a few who were tourists when she lived in Iceland but she didn’t know that Americans knew about magic like people did the UK.
There was so much she had left to learn. So many people she had left to meet. So many things to rattle on about to her parents, even if they couldn’t understand what she was talking about.
“Oh, I’m Adlai by the way!” She blurted smoothing out the invisible wrinkles and sticking her hand out to Serena, hoping that people in the wizarding world knew what a handshake was.

This is a double post for Hunter Reys and Elizabeth Gillian.

Both open for interaction.

Rping as Elzabeth Gillan
@Lark Flaer @Maggie Parker @Dale Kurt

Elzabeth was nervous, she had never been to something like this before, it was totally out of her element. Yet here she was, in heels and a blue dress like some fairytale princess. She used to love dressing up, but now that everyone was looking at her she just wanted to shrink back and put on her favorite sweater.

"No, I can't think like that, tonights going to be fun!" She told herself. After the dress swap, Elzabeth had started to feel more excited but now that she was here, with everyone else, it made her see how real it was.

She looked around at the other costumes, noticing a few that were really extravagant and others that were a little more affordable. Couples were already mingling, making her wonder if it bothered her that no one had asked her or not.

There was no one out there really, other than the small crush she had no one really showed any interest in her yet which her mother had said would probably be because she was just a first-year but she couldn't help but wish a little that she did have someone special to share the night with.

Not knowing where her friends were exactly, she started to walk into the crowd, carefully making sure she didn't trip over her own feet. There weren't many times in her life she was allowed to wear heels but they made her feel taller, therefore, a little more mature.

Just when Elzabeth thought she was one of the first of her group to get here, she spotted Lark chatting with a few other students.

Her lips lifted into a smile and she moved around the room, eager to be with someone she knew.

"Hey, hope I'm not intruding." Elzabeths eyes lifted from Lark to the other members, she recognized one of them, the other not so much.

Elzabeths look:

Reducio

Sorry for the size!



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Rping as Hunter Reys
@Lark Flaer @Gem Stuart @Catriona Staverly

Hunter turned away from Don to look at the door, a habit he had acquired out of his nervous waiting but this time his eyes landed on the only person in the room that seemed to matter right now.

She had died her hair, and it looked amazing. From her dress to her eye makeup it was a whole other side of her he's never seen before and it made his heart stop.

Vi was gorgeous, she still managed to look like her self and royalty all at once. For a moment Hunter wasn't sure if he would be able to even walk but after a deep breath, he faced her and started to take one step at a time.

Poor Don hadn't even gotten the change to answer his question before Hunter had abandoned him but that was the last worry on his mind as he stopped in front of Vi. "You look amazing." He chuckled.

On the inside he was going over everything he could to try and not screw this up for her, he didn't want to give off the impression she was just another girl but at the same time he didn't want things to get awkward between them, he still wanted to joke with her and the group like he usually could.

"Way better than me that's for sure." Yeah, Hunter was definitely the unattractive one in the relationship. He offered his hand out for her to take, figuring it was the proper thing to do. Dang, was he really doing "proper" things now? What has this place done to him?

Open to interactions

Santario increasingly felt nervous as the day went on because this was the day of the ball. She tried to calm herself thinking that she had been to formal affairs before, but something in the back of her mind kept telling her none like this. This was something that she would be attending with her peers something she had never done before. She saw as the other girls put on make-up and gossiped with each other about who might be wearing what or who they were going with. She herself knew not nearly enough people to talk about and at the same time wasn’t interested in talking about other people. She stared at herself in the mirror as she gently pulled the rollers out of her hair hands shaking a little with her nerves. Just breath, you’ll be fine.

Now that the rollers were out her hair fell ins lightly curled rivulets passed down her back. Hopefully, her hair would hold up this way the whole night, though she was sure it would end up falling a little flatter at some point as that was just the way it was with her hair. She would walk over to her bed and pick up her dress carefully the beautiful black to red ombre in the chiffon material made her heart sing. Her nan and pap knew her so well and she couldn’t even fathom as to where they had found the perfect dress for her.

Slipping into her dress and sliding into her shoes she would make some final adjustments before asking one of the other girls to sip up her dress for her. Once that was done, she would make some final adjustments to make sure that it fit properly especially considering it only went over her right shoulder. Grabbing her gloves she would slide the red and black lace, fingerless gloves up her arms admiring the satin ribbon that crisscrossed up them. Once that was finished, she picked up the fox mask and tied it around her head pulling half of her hair out of the ribbon that held it in place allowing it to hide the tie.

With one final look in the mirror those sharp sapphire eyes peering back at her from under her mask and a nod of approval she made her way to the ballroom. Other students already making their way in she hesitated for just a moment allowing herself one more deep breath before entering. You can do this she thought as she entered the ballroom through her brow would furrow slightly underneath her mask. This was not the music she had expected when she thought of an occasion like this.

Her eyes scanned over the decorations and it brought a smile to her lips, they were simply stunning! She would continue to move along into the ballroom proper though not scanning for people that she thought she knew because there were already enough people for that to be overwhelming. Instead, she decided to just move into the drink table, walking with far more confidence than she had, and get a drink.  

Interacting with @Adlai Rod | Mentions Jake | Open to other interactions

Serena smiled at her company, "Thank you," She replied politely as the girl complimented her own dress. She glanced around, "It looks quite nice. I'm curious to see what the food is today." She explained, honestly. If nothing else, Hogwarts always had the best food during the events. It seemed like the elves would always go one step further when catering for events and she for one could not wait. It was pretty much the best part of any event, without a doubt. The decorations of the party were nice too. It was kind of nice that everyone was dressed up with masks this time. That had not happened before, so it was a nice change for Serena.

"Woah, that pumpkin outfit is adorable!" She suddenly said as she looked around and spotted someone in a giant pumpkin outfit. She could not see who it was but whoever it was, was definitely dressed to stand out. She loved it. It was so different from everyone else, who were dressed in fancy dresses or suits. Her own outfit was kind of boring in comparison to the pumpkin outfit but her mother would have approved of the dress, at the very least. Well, her mother would have preferred something more extravagant, to be honest but this was definitely better than Serena turning up in a pumpkin outfit. Her mother would have killed her.

Glancing back to the girl, she shook her hand, "Serena," She replied politely with a smile, deciding to skip the infamous last name for a while. It was better not to know, for it came with too much baggage and Serena just could not be bothered to carry the weight of that baggage today. She preferred it this way, "Nice to meet you, Adlai," She continued as she let go off her hand, "That's a very pretty name, I haven't heard it before. Where's it from, if you don't mind me asking?" Serena had to silently thank her mother's strict ways for giving her the ability to, at the very least, make small talk during parties like this. Whilst she hated small talk, at least she was capable of doing it without feeling too awkward now - thanks to several years of experience meeting random people at parties. 

Serena's outfit