The Masquerade Ball Event Closed

@Bridget Collins || Interacting as Thora Larkston (just to make sure  )

Thora hurried up the staircase to the ballroom. It was annoying, living in the dungeons of the castle, as it took ages to get anywhere... Not like it was easier for the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the towers, but still. Finally, she reached the ballroom, panting, and swung open the door. The sight was spectacular. Literally. She practically lived at Hogwarts, but the girl had never seen anything like this. Beautiful flowers adorned every corner of the room, soft lighting casting a glow over the room. Thankfully, no candles or fire that could set things on the fire. Although she hadn't gone, thankfully, the Blossomball had gone seriously awry, as all of the rumors. As Thora had seen the destruction caused by the disaster, she had no doubt those rumors were true. Although she certainly didn't mind a little drama (not involving her, of course), she wanted to get out of here with her life and safely so. It didn't help that the Ilvermorny students were here, but who knew what they were like. She certainly hadn't talked to them.

Thora scanned the room for anyone, anyone she knew. She hated being in places all alone, especially in a room full of magical students that could and would kill you. Who could she go to? Suddenly, the Slytherin regretted two things. First of all, why had she even come here? She knew pretty much nobody and had dressed silently in her dorm as other girls chatted loudly and helped each other with their outfits. The only student she was comfortable with was Bridget, and there was no way she would be able to find the other Slytherin. You couldn't even tell who a single person was, thanks to those masks. Of course there was Katrina, the creepy girl who had Flipendoed her in the library. So obviously, that was off the table. Maybe she could get to know... she abruptly cut the thought off. There was no way the introverted girl would make any move at all to get to know anyone. Thora should've just stayed back and done homework or something. Praying that Bridget would show up (and recognize her), Thora sat down in a chair as she tightened her already tight mask anxiously. 

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Thora's Outfit	Thora's Hair

Interacting with @Dinara Lucey

THIS IS A DOUBLE POST
first post is as Catriona Staverly, main character | second post is as Delia Finch, approved dNPC

Interacting with @Kyle DeRook
Mentioning @Gem Stuart @Kyle DeRook
RPing as Catriona Staverly | text color #8d7cc2

It was safe to say Catriona was Nervous, with a capital N. She was a mess, basically. Most of her friends had dates to this ball (including Gem, the thought of which made her feel mildly sick). So she was alone, not wanting to crash anyone's date or ruin the night for them. The food and music (and the fact that she'd told Asteria, the girl she'd met the previous night to come with her) was pretty much the only thing that made Catriona want to come in the first place, and she was too nervous for the food. At least the ballroom was nicely decorated.

She'd stay for an hour and then she could leave, preferably with Asteria. And with the Americans here, maybe there had to be a prank or something happening. Who knew what would happen with them around? Either way, the night was set to be interesting. It would either end in more sadness, which was fine, she was basically a swimming pool of dramatic emotions, or laughter.

Catriona peered around the room, searching for familiar faces. She did spot one, that DeRook guy she'd met at the lake. She cringed, remembering how badly she'd messed that up. A conversation that left all parties feeling much worse than when it started. What was up with him anyway? Why was he so... Catriona didn't know. It was like sadness but much deeper than the sort of sad she was feeling. She'd figure it out eventually.

Should she approach him? Last time she'd tried it had gone badly, but it wasn't like he could hex her in such a big crowd right? Mind made up, Catriona moved through the crowd to where he was. She tugged at her mask, wishing she'd chosen a bigger one to hide her face better.

"Hello?" she said, wincing at the way the end of the greeting curled up like a question. "I'm— well, you know who I am. If you remember. Fancy seeing you here."

Clothes

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Interacting with @Lark Flaer @Gem Stuart
Mentioning @Maggie Parker @Gem Stuart @Elzabeth Gillan
RPing as Delia Finch (approved dNPC) | text color #a64d79

Delia glided into the ballroom, trying very hard not to let herself feel nervous. It was just Don. She'd known him for a year and she liked him and he liked her. She could do this. Don was the least scary person she knew. Everything would be fine.

She nodded at Gene when she stopped beside her friend. "They're probably inside already. But hey, it's always better to be fashionably late, you know." She grinned, flipping her hair over one shoulder. At Genevieve's nudge, she moved to look at the offending character, an undignified snort making its way out before she could stop it. Who decided it was a good idea to let a poor kid dress like a pumpkin... She found herself laughing at the hilarity of the costume with the elaborate decorations in the background. She did have to admire the kid's bravery for wearing something like that, though. It was quite the statement. "He's certainly got some confidence."

At Vi's request, Delia pinched her friend, lightly as more of a joke than anything else. She knew Gene well enough to know she was probably nervous, more nervous than Delia herself. "Gen, you'll be alright. I promise. Knock him dead."

As Hunter approached them, Delia stepped back, giving the couple some space before walking towards Owen and Don. "Hey," she said, murmuring the words to Don. "Wanna dance with me?"

Clothes

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Rowan huffed a sigh, a little annoyed how much effort this was taking him. Maybe he should just go back to the wheelchair after this. But Miko looked so excited... Eh he would try for tonight at least. See how it goes and all. 

"Not really. I'm still quite terrible with it at the moment. And if these braces were off I wouldn't be able to do much else other than crawl. The crutches are what's keepin' me up really. I'm struggling not to fall over."  He was blushing slightly, but from what was a mystery. "You may have the honor of catching me a few times tonight." 

Looking around the room, Rowan sneered ever so slightly. Ugh. Americans. Ilvermorny students to be exact too. Not to say he had anything against either group. Which he did, but still. He wasn't one to group people, but american culture was so... sloppy. They were the type of people to say 'You look hot tonight babe' Rather than legitimately any other quality compliment. He would bet money that there was going to be some form of cat calling tonight. Rude, sloppy, lazy, and just such a bore.

Eyes drifting back to Miko, he saw the surprise written over his features. Oh. The drinks. Probably enchanted again. He was staying away from those this time no matter what. 

The half veela chuckled softly. "You sure you want to drink that, darling? Who knows what it could be spiked with this time. You saw what the truth potion did to me last time."  Although by the time he said anything he had already chugged it, so there was no use.

He shook his head with another small laugh, giving up on warning him but instead switching to a different topic. 

"You look great tonight. Not to say you don't look stunning always, but you look especially amazing tonight. I see you got your hair to behave. An incredible feat."  He was mostly just teasing him but there were still some facts in those few sentences.

Interacting with @Piérre Marchonné and @Dan Palmer

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Interacting with @Elaine Pendrast

Hjørdis could not believe that they were still holding balls and parties after the amount of times these things seemed to go wrong. Hogwarts had a way of attracting so much negativity. She honestly never even considered that this job would be that dangerous. A part of her thought she left that life behind her, when she left her position as an auror. It had been a while since those days but in the last year that she had been Head of House, she could not help but feel reminded of it. Nonetheless, she had made her way to the ball without complaints. She had put a lot of trust in their headmaster. It was something her father had taught her. Respect for people in higher positions of authority. Solomon Lear must have known what he was doing when he invited another school to visit and opened up the grounds. 

The Head of Slytherin, however, did not trust the new visitors. Opening up the school to people, without really having a chance to 'vet' them, seemed worrisome. Since they had shown up, she spent more time patrolling the grounds and castle, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Luckily, nothing had come to fruition so far and she just hoped it would stay that way. Hjørdis was always a fan of dressing nicely, though. She spent time making sure her appearance was to her very high standards and outfits always played a big part of that. Today, however, there was no real need for her to 'hide' her identity. Her silver hair was pretty much a giveaway, even if she tried. 

Colouring the roots of her hair, she made them a little darker and added a headband with cat ears on to match her mask. The mask itself followed the shape of a cat's face with little whispers and a cat nose. The minute she saw in the shop, she knew she had to have it. It was, after all, representative of the greatest love of her life: Jeger. It might be a masquerade party but there was nothing stopping her from going with a feline approach to the whole thing. Hjørdis entered the ball with her aunt, Elaine, with little Bengal cat following behind them, staying close to her side. 

Spotting Headmaster Lear was not difficult. He was dressed in armour, of course, though she noticed that it looked like a darker coloured piece. Hjørdis could not help but wonder how many different suits of armour the man had. Perhaps they could invest in getting more of these clumsy students some... His mask was appropriately chosen for the Halloween occasion, taking a little 'scarier' approach to things. She politely nodded, greeting him silently if she caught his eye. She could not see the other Headmaster, from Ilvermorny, yet though.

Other than them, there did not appear to be many professors within the room yet but it was still early. Her eyes scanned the room, looking at the different outfits that the students had chosen. It was interesting to see how everyone had interpreted the theme in an entirely different way. "I quite like the variety of outfits." Hjørdis simply stated to the Gryffindor Head of House, as she observed them. She would have made a comment about seeing how long till the disaster ensued but she did not want to jinx it. Hopefully, just maybe, for once, they could go the whole evening without anything going wrong.

Jeger | Outfit of the day

@Max Avery

xxxMaxwell asking her to the ball gave her excuse to attend. Since the day it was announced, she had nearly convinced herself that she'd sit this one out, because every ball so far turned out the same. That fact put her on edge, especially since it meant they would be in the company of Americans; a group of people she didn't particularly like. Americans were so crass already— she couldn't imagine how the spirit of Halloween would worsen that.

xxxBut for her friends, she'd agree to show up anyway.

xxxIt was a masquerade, which meant everyone could get away with a little showing off. She looked tasteful. Classy. Elegant. If it weren't obvious before that she was a pure-blood, her attire for the night spoke volumes. At Max's side, she strolled in donning a layered white dress that fell to her ankles, with thin, beaded straps and gold embroidered patterns. Her shoes were simple as not to overpower the dress and the heels short since she was already tall enough. It took only a single dose of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to straighten out her hair enough so that it could be pull back into a neat bun, away from her face, paired with earrings. But perhaps the most pronounced accessory was her mask, bright gold and made out of the same sequins as her dress. Phaedra clearly intended to impress.

xxxAnd she did, apparently. When her date complimented her, her attention was yanked from the scene to stare at him, as she nervously clasped her hands together before smiling. It was strange how suddenly she didn't know what to do with them; hold on to Max's arm as they walked? That was an option until he looked away to scan the place. Good thinking. She knew she should probably do that too, and her gaze followed Max's to land on several oddities, including the Headmaster in black leather armour and carrying a sword. Not a good sign. Phaedra just hoped she wouldn't have to use the wand holstered to her lower leg tonight.

xxx"You're welcome. I'm happy you asked me. These are always more fun with someone to dance with." That was a blatant hint that she had wanted to dance with him at some point; any boy would have to be dense not to realise it. "And you look very nice too," she added on, thankful for the mask to hide her embarrassment. He certainly looked better than 'very nice'. Phaedra had wanted to call him handsome, dashing, charming, or any other word that she'd heard her mother say to her father— but for the sake of keeping the atmosphere with Max not awkward, she would smartly settle for a safer word instead. Although she was just coming to grips about her crush on him, she couldn't be too obvious about it. The results would be disastrous.

xxx"I could go for something to drink."

Marissa had been MIA for the past few months. Staying in the shadows mostly, she only really went to lessons and then hid up in her room or the library. She had given up on socialisation, finding it a failure. Mari had attempted many times but nothing stuck. Either they disappeared and left the school, or they already had their own friend groups. So there Marissa was, a lonely little bean once again.

Another ball once again. These always failed, not matter what would happen. Especially a masquerade ball, which spelt disaster almost instantly. Marissa had decided to go, out of clear boredom. She dressed in her mood, a simple black dress with a black mask, butterflies on the side. The black represented the mourning of her twin sister, Claryssa, who had died just over a year ago now. And the butterflies represented her wanted to fly away forever. From all the feelings from inside her, ripping her apart.

Her blonde hair was only down to her chin, she had decided for a new cut for the new year. Obviously it was wavy as usual, but for some reason there was now a small white streak at the front of her hair, only about an each wide of her hair. It went from the roots down to the ends, maybe it was due to stress? The outfit definitely contrasts her hair, but not her mood.

The moment she stepped in, Mari saw a few people she recognised. She gave a small wave to Serena Towers before making her way to the food table, making sure to be away from any social interaction. Dymphna Teague was also there, as wel as.. ew.. Max Avery. Mari had not seen him for some time, and that was a good thing.

But for now, she stayed her usual anti-social self, away in a corner as she watched all the students mingle together.

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RPing as: Saskia Nicholson

Mentions: Dan Palmer, Jake Morris, Lamik Fillestar | Interactions: @Ayden White

In theory, a masquerade ball was an interesting idea. In fact, parties in general were fun. Who wouldn't want to take a break from homework and studying to have a good time with some friends, enjoy some good food, or even dance with a special someone? Even Saskia would have agreed that she needed a break from all the work she had done over the month from Quidditch and classes. But there was one thing that annoyed her, and it was having to dress up.

Knowing that she probably had to wear something formal for these types of events, she had reluctantly brought several dresses with her to Hogwarts. They looked decent enough, but she really didn't want to wear them. Longer dresses made it easy for her to trip over herself, and running in anything other than was a lot harder than it initially sounded. Not to mention, the fabric made her skin itch. How did people wear these things? And that wasn't taking makeup into account. Who would want powdery stuff on their face and keep it on there for the rest of the day? Alas, that was what girls did to look more pretty and attractive. It was something Saskia didn't think she would ever understand for a long time.

The young Hufflepuff walked in the already crowded ballroom, smoothing out the edges of her dress. She was grateful to have worn a shorter dress for this event. She didn't know what she would have done if she or someone else tripped over her own dress because it was too long. It wasn't as irritating to the skin as she expected, and she was sure she could last through the night with no problems. Of course, wearing high heels was out of the Her mask, on the other hand, was actually something she was looking forward to wearing. Not only did it fit with the rest of the outfit, but it looked pretty cool. Maybe she might not have been as disguised as some of her other peers, but it was a good attempt. And at least she would have looked presentable.

Surprisingly enough, she got herself a date. She didn't feel like she needed one, but after having a chat about the ball with a rather nervous first-year in the same house as her, it was decided that they would go to the ball together. As friends, of course. They barely knew each other, and she wasn't really looking to do anything beyond that. And at least on Saskia's side, she wanted to make the boy a little less nervous going into a ball full of so many other people. There was a lot going on, and for someone as shy as him, it was easy to be overwhelmed.

And she was right to assume it would have been overwhelming. For the most part, they did their best to make it seem like it was an actual masquerade ball. There were several tables scattered across the room, all which were decorated with gorgeous looking flowers that seemed to radiate brightly among the lights of the ballroom. In terms of visuals, it was very pleasing to the eye. Although there was something that was off about the music playing in the background. All that screaming and blaring music was an odd contrast to the elegance of the ballroom. It was strange, but if that was what they had in mind, then she wouldn't really complain. It was actually rather amusing and it helped take off the pressure of what might have been an overly serious event.

All that was left to do was wait for her date. It would have taken a while for her to scope out wherever he would be in this sea of people ahead of her, although if she couldn't find him in time, or if he even showed up to begin with, she could have always let herself socialize with some other people, whether she was familiar with them or if they were complete strangers. As long as she wasn't stuck standing around doing nothing.

Scanning the room, she already knew this would have been a difficult task. There were simply too many people, and it would have been harder to find her date considering he would have been wearing a mask. Although she did see some... Interesting things going on. From one side of the ballroom, she could barely make out a boy in a pumpkin costume. Looking at the boy closely, she realized she knew this boy. It was Jake- the boy who got lost in the Hufflepuff dormitory hallways. The girl frowned, staring at the younger Hufflepuff. What made him think that wearing a pumpkin costume would be a good idea to a masquerade? She doubted he was doing it to make some kind of fashion statement. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if the poor boy was tricked into thinking this was some kind of costume party instead. She would have went ahead and questioned the boy, but it seemed that there were a few people who already beat her to it. She could vaguely recognize one of them as the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. He wasn't wearing a conventional suit, but it did look like a cool looking outfit, along with that mask of his. From what she had known about him, he seemed fairly okay, so she wasn't too worried about Jake. As long as he and the other boy with him were there to help him, he would have been okay.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a boy in a purple suit with... Was that a paper mask? It wasn't even decorated or anything. It was a simple white piece of paper glued onto his face. Saskia pressed her lips together, turning away from the embarrassing sight. What was most humiliating was that she also knew this person. Even behind that ridiculous looking mask, she knew it was Lamik. Then again, she wasn't expecting anything less from him. He was an idiot although he was kind of smart but she wouldn't admit that, and this was just one of the many absurd things he decided to pull off. For now, all she could do was pretend she hadn't noticed him. The last thing she wanted to do was to talk to a weird walking eggplant. She would just have to wait until either her date arrived or if there was something else to do.

Outfit: Dress | Mask | Shoes