Valentine's Tea Errand Finished

Interacting with~ @Ginevra Tsuchiya

Mentions~ @Logan Baird

The polite smile twisted into something more real as he slipped into the chair with the others permission. He'd been lucky to come later than most others apparently, what with how the tea sets had begun to circulate to tables, most likely left there by students who, like him, wouldn't want to continuously get up to go to the one table in the back of the room whenever they wanted tea. He took advantage of it, feeling quite glad that he wouldn't have to go near the groups where he'd be easily spotted and poured himself a cup, gently picking up the tea to take a small sip.

When the other spoke he gave her his attention, actually taking the other in for the first time now that he could relax. She was dressed up quite prettily...definitely one of the people who had actually planned to come here unlike him. He gave her what most likely was a blank look, slightly caught off guard as she began to rattle on in a way that seemed nervous before his lips curled into a half smile, somewhat amused at the fact he'd come across another Hufflepuff like this. Apparently they were a magnet for him or something.

"Hi." he offered with a small smile, "I'm Elsian, Gryffindor and fellow first year." he introduced easily, eyes closing for a moment as he enjoyed the tea, continuing when the girl, Ginny, finished her question.

He leaned forward, resting his chin in his palm, "I was told about this by a friend, she wanted to go but neither of us thought we'd actually get to come," he gave a half shrug, "I came alone, though I know a few people," he turned to look towards a different group, nodding towards where Logan was, seeming pretty busy with a few others.

"They haven't noticed me yet though," he admitted, turning back to Ginny to give a small grin as if trusting her with a dark secret. Really though, if the other was coming out of her shell and making new friends he wasn't about to get in-between that. Part of him had been worried for the other after all.

"Honestly, I just happened to come across this and stayed because I love tea." As if to accentuate his words he took another sip before setting the cup down, "well that.... and I wanted to see if these events were really as cursed as the rumors say..." he admitted sparing a glance towards where the fighting had been, "apparently they were true."

Really part of him still couldn't believe it. The teacher hadn't even stepped in!

Giving the girl a curious look he wondered half to himself and half out loud, "why'd you come? Expecting a friend?"

Word Count~ 472

She thought the shorter Parce-Jack was Parce, but in reality the shorter Parce-Jack was yet another boy with strikingly similar facial similarities and structure. they just kept on shrinking like Russian nesting dolls. She would not realize this until the somewhat taller boy doffed his disguise, a pair of shades. Erin was as dumb as a bag of hammers, he might have evaded her lustful stare had he kept them on. She was going to leave smallest Parce to his fate, a scorned bitchy girl thinking that girl had been taken to the event in her place. Served him right she thought to herself bitterly until she noted the Clark Kent reveal sans a telephone booth. Sadly there was no spandex involved. 

Realizing that he was there a second time made her feel worse when she considered the fact that he was here without her and he was attempting to hide his features. There was no reason to wear sunglasses indoors. She felt a mixture of confusion and anger as well as jealousy and betrayal a second time upon seeing him. A paranoid part of her thought it might have been to avoid her and she wondered if that was how he often avoided her in the halls. That it was not coincidental after all but rather a conscious decision, the possibility actually hurt. 

After making her plea to the Professor she would watch as her supposed boyfriend jumped at the blonde. She took in a sharp breath. No... Hell to the no. That was not going to happen in front of her. She was no voyher.

From where she stood, she would not see the violence only the reckless passion before they fell behind the blanket of the crowd. Him successful with his 'romantic melee' or otherwise. She would start to march over to where Jack-Parce and mini-Parce were, the loud click of her heels would not overpower the loud crowd that had gathered but it would punctuate the passing of seconds like a metronome. 

She would notice the Prefect Healy there and then her man being lifted from the ground. For the sake of his preservation, at least until she killed him, her plan had to change. Erin might have looked the part of an adorable youth, a palate of pink, wearing a dress on the pale end of the spectrum and a head of curly purple tresses that covered the scars that would have otherwise been exposed on her back. She did not look like the type of girl that fought, but most of the people there knew otherwise. 

He looked mad, the part-giant that is. Perhaps Jack-Parce did too, not that it mattered much as the girl bit his finger. Like a Chihuahua biting at someone's ankles comparatively, a likely nuisance rather than an injury. She could care less if the girl was fighting for her life, it was better than touching her man. "Unbelievable," Erin would mutter. The statement was directed at Jack-Parce. 

The anemic ginger that made Cloverfield boring was there as well, threatening the little girl. She knew that Prefect was probably in on it. She mentally patted herself on the back for her supposed brilliance. As long as she did not feed the muggle-born hick to Quinn she had no score to settle with the girl. She had none to settle with Quinn either any longer, despite the broken bones and the bruises he left on her, she had what she wanted so there was no reason to continue their animosity. 

"Rough when first dinner bites back," Erin commented as she stood on the side of Jack-Parce. "Taking her out of here?" To eat obviously but let's not be dramatic. "Be happy to knock her out, make her easier to carry so I can get on with my date." Yeah Jake-Parce, you're here with me now you jerk! "And you two," did the girl also eat people? Probably, she reasoned. "Can" she waved her hand dismissively. "Do what Prefects do."

"A blonde?" She turned to Jack-Parce and accused him as her hand man-handled the necklace around her neck. "Seriously!" This was going to turn into a jealous spat, at least for Erin. "What perverted crap did you pull on her to start a fight? And why weren't you pulling that on me!"

Katrina was startling. Pretty, but yeah. I was gonna die wasn't I. My head was racing, when she asked if I wanted to sit down I looked at the floor. No, I did not want to sit there. Not that I said that of course as I stiffly stood there and watched her with wide green eyes. He was attracting attention, all of the attention. Well, not really all of it, but plenty.

Nobody was hurting him, nothing bad was happening yet.

Well, there was plenty of bad. It just was not where they were. My neck shrunk, I wished I was a turtle and I could hide in my shell. The girl meant a chair, I then realized as I noticed where she went. I reluctantly followed, it was more like coaxing a feral kitten from the gnarled roots of a tree that was just out of reach.

Trying something new...

"Yeah, something like that," I admitted. "My friend, Vlad convinced me to come." It was madness truly, and hypocritical to come to think of it. He was not coming, he said 'he had plans.' What plans could be possibly have on Valentines Day? It was always the three of them. Oh, I blushed a bit as I realized. Just the two of them. Wasn't going to work, she did not like him. Not like that in any case. And it was not like it would work for him either, the heck was he thinking?

For a moment I relaxed, I was distracted. Distracted long enough to take a seat at the very least. It was still uncomfortable I realized, now I was just sitting rather than standing. Surrounded by people I did not know. I just sat there quietly, I let them talk and I knitted his fingers together and rested them on the table. "So..." I was addressing Wren. "You like him? ...Err Rafa?" A stupid observation, but I saw it. The playfulness and the laughter. His reticent tolerance of her shenanigans.

"And--" he eyed Pierre. Yeah, it was definitely the same guy he saw at the Caretaker's Office. What if he mentioned it? Merlin, he would be so mad! He needed a question, something to make the conversation about him or one of the girls. "How long have you two been together," I was referring to Katrina. Similar personalities, at least from where I sat. Seems crazy for any of them to come here and look for a couple unless they were here as a couple. That was a thing here too wasn't it?

Mention: @Quinn Healy, @Jake Morris, @Katrina Walker & the drama.
Interacting with: @Rafael D’Spacito, @Wren Caster, @Piérre Marchonné

Mentioning: @Jack Burnett @Rafael D'Spacito @Persephone Barret @Wren Caster

Attempting to interact with: @Victor Moore



Amused, Jo sipped her tea as a Hufflepuff prefect stepped in the quell the chaos. It seemed as if the place had quieted down…perhaps she had seen enough and could get out of this hot-pink hellhole.
She reached for a biscuit (as she feared eating popcorn would make rather obvious that she was enjoying the mayhem around her), but stopped - who was to say they weren’t spiked with a love potion or something? It didn’t seem like something the Professor of Flying would do, but after the rumors she’d heard about the Blossom Ball, she rather wisely decided to abstain from any of the sweetmeats.

A bloodcurdling roar put an end to her musing - she looked up to find Jack dangling in the air, held by an enormous and rather shockingly-dressed Hufflepuff Prefect. Jo held in a snicker as she watched the half-giant’s lecture. As large as he was, Mr. Prefect would have to have quite the small brain if he thought his preaching would have any impact on the “self-preservationist” Slytherin boy. Still, she guessed it was worth a try, especially considering the size of the Hufflepuff. Who knows? It seemed like he wasn’t fighting back at the moment, which was more than she could say for the blonde Slytherin girl who had poured tea all over Evelynn.

Somewhat bored with the Slytherin girl’s repetition of violence and boldly assuming Jack wouldn’t do anything too interesting at the moment, Jo slinked into the crowd, keeping her ear open for anything interesting.

She noticed Wren Caster, confessing to an unfamiliar Slytherin her feelings for Stella Dawson, a girl Jo remembered from the Acid Pop. Look, Rafa was there too!

While a certain happening back in December made the Gryffindor loath to join Wren’s little group, her current lack of friends and gradual indifference towards Jack’s dilemma left the sulky brunette no choice.

A hearty guffaw escaped her lips as she noticed a sickeningly “cute” headband atop the Thunderbird’s head.

Under normal circumstances, she would have crept up behind the boy and playfully tugged on it, shouting a word or two to startle the jumpy boy. But… not here. This was a Valentine’s party, and she’d need to be careful lest her fun be interpreted as something more amorous.

It was then that Jo realized an unfamiliar Slytherin boy seemed to have been added to the regular sea of faces.

“Hello. I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Jo. Jo Morgan.”

As amiably as she could notwithstanding her standoffish apparel choice, she gave the strange Slytherin a light bow - try as she might, Jo just couldn’t get used to the idea of shaking hands. She added a smile as she bobbed back up at the end of her introduction, hoping the boy would be so kind as to give her one in reply.

WC: 474 Total Word Count: 1224 Errand Complete!

Interacting with @Elsian Cox
Open for interactions

"Nope," Ginny replied. "I'm just curious about how a Valentine's tea party would look like, since I've never attended one." She decided not to add something like I hope you don't think it's weird.

After that, she tried to make a remark about Elsian's honest admission about coming just to see whether the party was cursed - and about his love for tea. "Well, that's nice, isn't it? I mean, that you like drinking tea and happen to stumble on this event." Pausing for a moment, the Hufflepuff continued, "Honestly, you came because you wanted to see a cursed party? Wow, you really are a Gryffindor!" Naturally, she was not sure that the boy would like her latest remark, but Ginny hoped that he could appreciate it as an attempt of praise.

Half out of curiosity caused by the voices, and half to continue their talking about the drama of the curse, Ginny turned her head to face the students in panic. The brown-eyed girl sighed and spoke up, "Honestly, I myself am not interested in being caught up in a chaos like this. Before coming, I've hoped that the event would be peaceful and fun... and perhaps even somehow romantic."

Noticing that Elsian seemed to glance a bit, suddenly Ginny realised that Professor Bercegeay was not around. Wasn't she supposed to step in and handle this chaos?

"Elsian," she said tensely, "do you see Professor Bercegeay? I think I saw her some minutes ago, but not now." The girl was ready to jump to her feet any moment now. "Shall we go look for her?"

Interacting with @Ruthie Greer
Minor godmoding permitted

As Jake closed his eyes from his safe place under the table he heard the sound of shouting voices. He clutched Freddie and tried to be brave and not think of the fires. But he didn't like the sounds of fighting anyway, they made his heart beat quicker, and there were just too many kids. There wasn't going to be a fire though...there wasn't.....

Suddenly he felt a tap on his own, and his body jolted, startled. His eyes opened up and saw his friend Ruthie. Her voice was gentle and she stuck out a hand. She wanted to urge him out. Jake hugged Freddie tighter. He didn't want to come out. He felt suddenly very strongly that coming out was the last thing he wanted to do until everybody stopped fighting.

But her hand didn't move, and the little Hufflepuff finally took Ruthie's sleeve and poked his head out cautiously and reluctantly from the table. He could see, across the blindingly pink room, that something was still going on, though the main yelling had got quieter. It didn't matter if it had gotten quieter. Jake was sensitive to the sounds of commotion and he could tell something was still going on. It looked like a boy was hurt. He thought he saw blood. The tea party had gotten out of control, and they needed a grown-up, except Jake felt too scared to get one.

At Ruthie's urging though, and her guarantee that it would be ok, he dared to emerge, moving quickly to Ruthie's side and replacing the safety of the table with the safety of Ruthie's arms. The only difference was that he started to lose the battle with crying. The small boy's face pressed into Ruthie's side, Freddie still held tightly, and he closed his eyes again, a couple tears rolling down his cheeks. Ruthie had seen him cry many times - she had met him that way - and her presence meant a safe place for emotions as well as protection from whatever chaos was about to ensue. But try as he might he couldn't shake the memories of being alone and frightened in a pumpkin costume waiting to burn, and the certainty that something as bad or worse was about to start.

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interactions @Dale Kurt
mentioning The chaos
word count 537 | text colour #274E13
abilites active terrible presence
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There was a second of tentative peace where Astrea simply tried to ignore all that was occurring around her, breathing in the gentle curls of white steam still slowly steaming with warmth. Unfortunately, it seemed that the peace that previously held the room was utterly broken, for a sudden scream of rage rang in her ears, loud and infuriated with unrestraint, and then a deep voice warning all with authoritative disappointment. It reminded her of- of thrown glass and fleeing the confines of the manor for the fields, of the breaking point of her governesses, of last week at the S.W.A.G game. She ground her teeth together with an audible sound, though it was drowned out the fast-paced events of the gathered group.

Things were on its way to settling down- Good god, the professor hadn't even arrived yet, what was taking so long to walk to the Small Hall from wherever in the grounds? A flying professor no less, it would have taken at least 10 to 20 minutes to drop by.

Incorrect, having the professor return to her in a foul mood would certainly ruin any impressions of her, and perhaps the family teachings as a whole. Astrea took a sip of her tea as she forcibly relaxed her shoulders, back straight as ever in an ingrained habit. The more she focused on it, the more she realised that it was easier than expected to untangle the thoughts in her, a gentle calm settling over her like a thick blanket as she set her cup down delicately.

What- If she hadn’t been overwhelmed by the sense of calm comfort that filled her, Astrea would have probably been very alarmed. Yet the feeling hadn’t been as present when she was walking over, only until she had walked inside and sat down- even then it was not this potent. Astrea’s gaze drifted over to land on the boy who had walked by, watching the other with realisation as the boy oversaw the chaos. The boy had an aura to him, much like the one the Bloodlines are to have been described by others and much like the one she Carrie herself- yet the exact opposite. She felt at peace. Hm.

“I’m Dale by the way.” Dale lifted one hand up briefly before setting it down, as if a lazy wave, or perhaps a mere gesture that held no meaning other than simply moving.

”Astrea, pleased to meet you.” Neutral, though a hint of warmth juxtaposed the impersonal words. Simple, nice enough. She would let the other carry on a conversation, let the unknown be known.

“You’re also from Slytherin right? Cause if you are not... this would be awkward.”

The aristocrat let herself a light hum of amusement at the other’s words, the sheepishly genuine question plain against the complexities of the Tea Party’s commotion. “Do not worry, I am. The house of snake rang victorious last, didn’t we?” While a question, Astrea knew the answer for a fact. It would have been hard not to know, considering how many points the house had earned. But it would be her olive branch, a raised hand to conversation.

Reducio

Note: UGH I should stop writing so late at night before checking which post it is, confusion will reign in the last post of mine here- I don’t really want to rewrite it though. Oof.

Interacting: @Mildred Wilson, @Sola Haze
Mentioning: @Ginevra Tsuchiya, The Chaos

Teiki had noticed Ginevra. She had given the girl a smile, and a wave. Although, the unfortunate part was Teiki's timing. Just as she had tried to give a small greeting to the fellow Hufflepuff, other people had decided to step in front of the raven-haired girl. She had frowned slightly, but shrugged it off. Teiki would greet Ginny later, she decided.

"I'm a First Year. Oh! Slytherin's cool." Turning back to the conversation, she decided to try and ignore the craziness that was happening. Unfortunately, this proved harder than it looked. But, Teiki managed, her blue eyes watching the two other people nearby.

"Never? Either of you?" She laughed softly. "Well, normally they're smaller groups, but this one's quite large. Reminds me of the Masquerade Ball." She paused then, the sudden realization that she shouldn't have brought that up only showed itself after the girl had spoken. After all, the ball had ended in injured, fires, dead half-giants, and other problems... So, intent on forgetting the observation, she decided to continue on the topic of Errands.

"Generally, they're rather simple and fun to do. I would recommend them, especially since they give house points and sometimes money." The soft smile stayed on her face, eyes pleasant.

But her attention trailed off to the chaos. Of course, she couldn't hear any of the words spoken, but she could tell the distinction between languages. Which was why she could tell when the girl had switched to French. Teiki didn't say anything directly to the Slytherin, although small mutterings could be heard from the Hufflepuff. "Une autre qui peut parler francais. C'est intéressante, mais tellement bizarre. Parle dans une langue que tout peut comprendre si vous voulez taquiner quelqu'un." French: Another who speaks French. It's interesting, yet very weird. Speak in a language that everyone can understand if you want to tease someone. The words were accompanied with a small shrug, and she turned to face the people who she had been talking to previously.

"Did you come here for any reason asides from the errand?" She hadn't, unless meeting people counted, but she suspected others might've. It was Valentine's Day, after all.

@Mildred Wilson and @Teiki Laurent
Mentions @Olphie Bercegeay