Sensational Ilvermorny Arrival Closed

Lowering her head back down from its almost vertical tilt, Karilyna peeled her eyes from the castle and glanced back towards her best friend, bouncing alongside the taller girl's longer strides. "No," she retorted, "Obviously not." The sarcasm was evident in her voice, dripping from each syllable as she smirked at Phyllis, hood still tightly on. It was still far too cold for her to remove her hood and not begin to shiver pathetically, as much as she loathed appearing weak in any way ─ even one as fickle as tolerance of not-so-favorable temperatures. Still, the amusement dancing in her eyes was even evident under the dark hood ─ it was all just a joke, really; surely Phyllis would understand. The duo practically lived on jokes, after all.

Thun-door-bird. Well, that certainly was a new one to add to her extensive (and only lengthening) list of nicknames (more like the list of names Phyllis enjoyed spontaneously calling her). "So? I mean, as the current resident Thun-door-bird, can't I just officially pass the title to you?" she retorted. The redhead had a point, though ─ it wasn't at all smart to attend this year's ball after its predecessor had clearly deteriorated into chaos ─ and despite her tendency for recklessness, Karilyna found herself wanting to avoid the upcoming ball as well. But still━

"Bruh, you don't even have to go to the ball to get murdered by a door." It was true. As she heard an inquiry regarding her glorious encounter with Hogwarts' ballroom door, she turned, eyes almost hidden under the too-large hood. Aaaand now she was the undead ─ the undead Thun-door-bird. Desperate to get a word in edgewise, Karilyna elbowed her friend, facing the brunette, "Nooo, I'm alive," she interjected, ignoring the fact that she didn't look the most friendly creature at the moment, "But yeah, I did get smashed by a door at last year's ball. Fun times," she grinned.

In addition to the two new names she'd managed to garner in the past minute or so, she was apparently part of Plott's band now. It was generally best not to label Karilyna as an example (unless you wanted a horde of short children running around mindlessly) and so she wasn't at all used to the idea, but although she typically would've enjoyed the attention, she didn't appreciate being Plott's example. Nope. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she'd been doing to even be an appropriate individual to follow ─ oh, walking? Ah, walking was an amazing thing to do, wasn't it?

She jerked to a stop beside Phyllis, instead shifting from foot to foot. "Yeah, we've been here," she echoed, turning towards Theo. "Oh yeah," her eyes lit up at the mention of broom racing ─ not her forte, but certainly a sport to be excited for ─ "You both are racing, right? Good luck! And I'll be there to watch," the words tumbled headlong from her mouth, a cascade returning after she'd been briefly silenced by the confusion of being called out.

Besides, even if she wasn't racing, the prospect of spectating a broom race sounded much more appealing than a ball. Perhaps she wouldn't be pounded by a door this time.

Interacting with: @Andrew Vance Mentioning: @Erin Ryan

"Yes. Yes, yes, and yes! I'm so excited! I've never slept on a real campground before!" August's mind was going too fast for his head, and he wobbled around, his eyes open wide. A grin was still stretched upon his face, as it seemed he couldn't stop smiling, at least not today.
He was being especially exuberant, even for him. The day was just too...exciting! His face started to hurt, but that just made him laugh. For a moment longer he was slipping away from reality, off into his own world, and then his attention snapped back, as quick as lightning. He overheard someone yelling, and when they finished, the look on his face was so deeply concerned that surely anyone would wonder what was the matter. It looked as if he had just witnessed a crime being committed rather than a sarcastic student being argumentative. "I truly don't know..." he trailed off, and then looked up. "They got the name of the school wrong. They called in Liver Morning. That's not it's name. It's Ilvermorny. Do you think they know that? Should someone tell them? I don't want to tell them, they look scary. Do you think you should tell them? Are you scared of them? Could you duel with them? What spells would you use? Do you think I could use any spells? I can do this!" August took out his wand and spun it around in a circle, thankfully nothing shot out of it. He didn't comment on the words the person had spoken, but rather had focused on how they said them. It was a strange habit of his that he was completely oblivious to, although everyone around him surely wasn't. It was one of the many things that made August different, but he didn't notice. It seemed the will of the world for him to constantly stick out without know he did. He put his wand away when the umbrella charm disappeared.

" Do you have any tips for dueling? Have you ever done it before? Are you knew to it?" he asked these questions all at once, as if pounding the third year with a flurry of snow-balls. He was curious, and when he was curious, he asked questions. It was his nature, and no one had ever told him to do otherwise.

August didn't hear much of what was spoken between the caretaker and the student, as he was focusing on other things much more interesting, but he did, however hear a single phrase: Death witch. Now that sounds like fun. He let his imagination wander, and if he had tried to stop it, he wouldn't have been able to. Images of a tall, intimidating woman flashed through his mind. They wore feathers around their neck-oh so many feathers, and a large wand was in their hand, pointed directly at him. They were surrounded by...eagles! Eagles with their wings spread out with the setting sun behind them, casting a shadow upon the woman. Her dress was long and covered in beautiful twisty patterns. "A Death Witch sounds lovely, don't you think?".

Roleplaying as Ilvermorny iNPC Lazarus Plott

Interacts with: Tagged in post | Mentions tagged in post | Open to Other Interactions

A wide smile of approval sat on the Headmaster's face, "Atta boy!" He gave Novus (@Lamik Fillestar) a nod and a good pat on the shoulder as he passed him to say 'well done', as if he might need it, "Absolutely splendid!" He encouraged him as he watched the younger boy head into the castle.

Looking around, he spotted that the example that he had pointed out earlier had stopped walking. Was something wrong? Did something happen? Heading over towards Phyllis (@Bridget Collins) and Karilyna (@Thora Larkston), Lazarus gave a bold smile. He observed the former girl's posture - crossed arms, not moving. Was she nervous to enter? He did not blame her in a way but confidence and boldness was the key to survival. Reaching into his pocket as he approached, he took out a bottle and cracked it open. By the time he had gotten over to them, they were already walking with another student - Theodore (@Opeila Winters).

That would not stop him, however. Within a matter of moments, the headmaster was throwing a fistful of pink and purple glitter over both of their heads, "Go forth and shine brightly, Miss Stanwood and Miss Kawahara!" He added with a certain amount of oomph. He looked at Theodore for a moment, clearly considering if he should throw another handful of glitter at him too. The boy seemed to be far keener and confident already though, perhaps he was fine without some. Naaaah. A bit of glitter did everyone wonders, "You too, Mister Duncain!" Lazarus added, throwing some glitter over his head too.

Without waiting for a response, he turned his attention to another pair. A blonde girl [@Erin Ryan] with that adult he had seen earlier [@Kit Paine] Liver morning? They were going to be eating liver in the morning? Oh, well, that seemed a bit much for breakfast but who was he to question Hogwarts choice of cuisine. Unless it was... "We're eating haggis in the morning?!" Mildly impressed and surprised. It was Scottish cuisine, that much he knew and it was made of liver right? He was fairly certain that was the case. The girl continued to say something about the parade but he ignored it. She was obviously just commenting on how fabulous it was. What else would she say? He was busy thinking of haggis.

"Ah, good to meet you, Professor Paine. I don't believe we met the last time?" Lazarus questioned, returning the man's greeting. He was fairly certain that the caretaker was new, not that he could recall who his predecessor was. But that was unimportant right now. He was about to continue when Kit continued to speak... uh...Wait... WHAT? HE WAS DOING WHAT NOW?

His eyes shot left and right. Panic starting fill him, whattodowhattodowhattodo?! What was he meant to do?!?! "Oh well urm - Paine I- Do you know that you have a student on your tail...?" He replied, noticing the blonde girl was trying to attack Kit. What was even going on in this school? Was this... normal?

Nonetheless, it brought him a few precious seconds to think of a reply to his earlier request. "I urm actually uh have a date!" He added quickly, unsure of what else to really say, "Yes yes yes, that uh beautiful lady that I met last time! She promised to dance with me over a year ago, who am I to deny such a request?" Lazarus quickly added with a chuckle. A slightly awkward forced chuckle but he tried to make it less awkward. It was not like he had just been asked to the dance by this man. The emphasis he put on the word 'lady' was not subtle by any means. He was interested in women.

He was referring back to the Halloween ball from last year, where he had the pleasure of dancing with the Head of one of the houses... Gryffindor, if he was correct and another [@Maya Galim] had asked him to let her know when he was ready to learn other dances. He was totally ready. Right now!

When he was referred to as a death witch by Erin, Kit's brows rose, but he said nothing to contradict her indirect accusation. After all, he still had little idea as to what, exactly, a death witch was since he didn't think he'd ever heard of them before. And, since Erin hadn't seen fit to elaborate more on her definition of the term, how was he to know if he really could have been considered one by her standards or not?

It didn't seem she was eager to discuss the topic, much less listen to any protest he might have had against her beliefs, so he didn't bother trying to convince her otherwise. Instead, he decided to put the matter on hold while he attempted to address Lazarus Plott.

Not long after he had delivered his inquiry to his fellow American wizard, however, a shocking pain ripped up his tail and spine, causing his hair to stand on end like a yowling, arch-backed cat. He himself made little sound, however; only drawing in a sharp intake of breath like a pained gasp while his eyes widened at the sensation before pushing the focused air back out through slightly-parted lips. His startled gaze stared straight ahead for a few unseeing moments before finally blinking to refocus on the man in front of him. He did not look back at Erin. His tail's grip on her didn't slacken all that much, either.

"Ah, good to meet you, Professor Paine. I don't believe we met the last time?"

The swarthy caretaker looked somewhat dazed as he tried to take in every nuance of Lazarus' reaction to his question, both verbal and non-verbal. His flustered and anxious behavior might have been a source of more entertainment to Kit if the agony from Erin's bite wasn't still resounding through his entire nervous system. Even so, he forced himself to push through it long enough to formulate an answer of sorts to a question posed to him.

"Oh well urm - Paine I- Do you know that you have a student on your tail...?"

"...Please," Kit managed to say at last, fixing his smile on his face with a bit more effort than before, "...Call me Kit. No, we hadn't met last time because I've only recently been employed. And yes..." His grin thinned to stretch the slightest bit wider. "...I am aware of the student on my tail, thank you." He would deal with her in a moment.

Distracted though he was, it wasn't enough to keep the caretaker from being aware that Lazarus' comment on Erin's presence was to change the subject and perhaps even stall for time to recompose himself. It was cute, he thought, how even this showy, proud headmaster could so easily be reduced to such a vulnerable state of flusterment with a mere handful of words.

It wasn't even as though he was asking him out on a date or to be in a relationship; just to accompany him for a single, innocent event that even children were going to attend. Yet somehow even just that invitation had been enough to shake the flashy fellow's composure. After all...wasn't it often the ones with the showiest displays of pomp and circumstance or toughest acts of bluff and bluster that were the most insecure deep down?

"I urm actually uh have a date!" Lazarus was quick to supply. "Yes yes yes, that uh beautiful lady that I met last time! She promised to dance with me over a year ago, who am I to deny such a request?"

Kit searched the headmaster's features, his mismatched irises tracking minutely as if reading something written on the other man's face. Then he offered a weak chuckle to echo his conversation partner's and straightened back up, withdrawing his proffered hand to reach up and scratch the back of his neck instead.

"Ah...of course. How foolish of me to think you wouldn't already have a date." But then he sneered in what was unmistakably a taunting manner. "Regardless of their beauty or gender, I find it noble of you to remember and honor a promise made to someone even a year ago."

He dipped his head in a more respectful fashion, his sneer transforming into a graceful semi-smile. "In that vein, however...I will have to request that you consider me for the next available opportunity to accompany you, whenever that might arise."

Kit extended his arms in a lavish shrug. "For example...if your lady friend finds she can't keep to her promise or you decide to change your mind, I trust you'll know how to reach me, whether by owl or in person." He was already turning his back to Lazarus by then. "My office is in the North Tower. Feel free to drop by any time."

With that matter resolved, he could finally turn his full attention to...other matters.

"A Death Witch sounds lovely, don't you think?"

Some new Ilvermorny student seemed to have overheard Erin speaking of Death witches, commenting on how he thought they sounded...'lovely'. Kit wasn't sure if this was meant to be a reference to their appearance or their descriptive adjective of 'death', but he gathered that this kid probably had little to no idea what a Death witch was, either. It was something of a relief to the caretaker who, despite being an adult wizard, was muggle-born and had never before heard the term that he could recall. Then again, maybe it was a Hogwarts thing that Ilvermorny students like himself and the commenting boy wouldn't have had any knowledge about anyway.

He chose to ignore the remark, seeing as it hadn't seemed to be directed at him anyway, and turned back to address Erin instead.

"You say you 'know enough'," he said, trying to pick his words as carefully as someone trying to separate edible berries from moldy ones. "But I'm fairly certain you know far more than I do about death witches. Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot." His vision cut to her wrist and he delicately unwrapped his tail from her wrist. "Or arm. Or tail. Point is, I'm not after you. I'm not your enemy. In fact, I want to try to be your friend."

His tail disappeared back under the hem of his robes as he jerked his thumb behind him at the headmaster. "Like I told him, feel free to call me Kit. And, if it's not too much trouble...disregarding whether I am one or not, would you mind giving me your definiton of what a Death witch actually is?" He tilted his head at her. "You've got me curious, now."

@Erin Ryan, August Henry (@Paisley Brown), & Lazarus Plott (@Solomon Lear or @Hjørdis Jensen)

Interacting with: Lazarus Plott (@Solomon Lear or @Hjørdis Jensen)
Mentions: @Hjørdis Jensen & @Kit Paine
Open to all Interactions!

Arriving on time to greet schools should have been her priority as one of Hogwart's representatives, but considering that it was Ilvermorny, Maya considered that it was better late than never. Although she was stationed at the other side of the castle, she could still hear Ilvermorny's presence as if it was right next to her.

When she arrived, the entire Ilvermorny student body was on Hogwarts soil. From the looks of it, there was a large band that announced their presence as well as rows and rows of carriages that students were coming out of. It was all way too dramatic. They were not royalty and yet they hold themselves high as if they were. Perhaps the pompousness was the way of Americans-- Maya was never a fan of them for multiple reasons.

Stepping foot into the welcome ceremony, Maya looked around to find Nora already present. However, she was off to the side. Maya found it not like her as she was always the center of attention from what she witnessed these past couple of years. There was another colleague, Kit Paine. He was new this year as our Caretaker. He had taken over for Marcus Iwasaki who promoted to our Head of Ravenclaw. Maya figured there would be a lot of potential in that man.

Next to Kit Paine was none other than Lazarus Plott, a man Maya could tell from a distance. There was something about him that made him easy to spot. Was it his dramatic aura? She couldn't put her finger on what it was, but she knew that it was best to welcome him--unbeknownst of the conversation already occurring between Paine and Plott.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Headmaster Plott," she said, lowering the hood of her cloak to reveal her hair tightly kept back in a bun. A small side smile painted on her tanned face. "I hope your travels were not too tedious," she added, being as cordial as possible.

@Ginevra Tsuchiya as Gregorí Erkens

Drew was usually overly oblivious to too much in the world, but he could tell his best friend was not at his best. "You good, man?" he asked him casually, as always. Both boys had way too much pride- it really was not healthy at all. Greg probably should tell him he wasn't feeling too amazing, but Drew respected his pride, and Greg probably didn't want anyone to worry about him. Especially Drew. Drew would definitely be more protective over Greg than normal if he was told that Greg wasn't okay. Drew was protective over everyone he cared about, which, of course, included Greg. Drew hoped he was okay. "Maybe you should uh, lie down or something?" he suggested.

He looked around to survey his surroundings, measuring how long it would take for them to get Greg to the campground. Even if he denied that he wasn't feeling too good, Drew could tell that he wasn't feeling as good as usual. There was some kind of girl on some older guy's tail? And said guy was cozying up to the headmaster. Maybe the guy was a professor here or something. Either way, why did he have a tail? He was probably a metamorphangus, able to change his appearance at will. But that did not occur to Drew. They were coming up to a woman in a red hood and a tight bun.

Anyway, he stuck next to Greg, though not uncomfortably close, masking his concern a little bit well- Drew had never been good at hiding his emotions or lying. Greg would probably see it clear as day, though, if he was feeling normal. The Ilvermorny students came with a bang, not letting anything hinder their exciting entrance.

The tears of a little boy, cowering in fear.

Something that glittered gold.

The ball. How he was unmoving during that chaos. Unmoving until the end, where he tried to save (yes, save) that boy. No, not boy... part GIANT.

He recalled being in an office, but the words he had said could not remain in his head. It was as if they were said underwater.

As Professor Maya Galim made her way onto the scene, Kit took silent mental note out the corner of his vision, but did little more to acknowledge her presence other than a brief nod to accompany the smile in her direction. She didn't seem to require more of his attention than that (if any at all) since she herself had turned her focus to Headmaster Plott in order to welcome him formally. Having already concluded his own business with the other man, Kit let her have at it. Erin was his new subject of interest for the time being.

Continuing to regard her with intense curiosity, he contemplated the warning she had seemed to try to express to Plott when Kit had tried to ask him out. What giants she was talking about or why she thought Kit intended to feed anyone to them were beyond him, but it was fascinating enough in his opinion that she had bothered to try warning anyone at all. It took a brave soul to do that much and he doubted - if her welcome to them was any indication - that Erin had any particular love for the Ilvermorny school or its headmaster. However, if she truly believed what she claimed as she seemed to, wouldn't warning others in the face of 'Death witches' she planned to expose have meant risking her own saftey?

"They are all evil," he heard Erin insist, and immediately had to hold a fist up to his lips to hide a laughter-suppressing grin behind it. His impression of the girl's noble and courageous spirit was only supported by the defiance with which she nodded to him. She...reminded him of someone he knew rather well. It caused his chest to ache uncomfortably, but he held his smile in place as if it were his default expression.

When she stumbled back after attempting to pull away from him again, he moved to try to catch her, but was a tad too late and winced what seemed to be sympathetically at the impact on her tailbone. It caused the lingering pain in his own tail from her bite to throb just from his imagining it.

"Oof. Sorry about that," he told her, his apology somewhat undermined by his ludicrously constant grin. Kit offered her a hand back up, but was not under any illusions she was likely to take it. Either way, at least she seemed willing enough to oblige the request to describe her idea of 'Death witches'.

He listened with impartial heed and arms crossed over his chest, his face making it difficult to tell whether he took her seriously or not. The altering of his features barely seemed to convey any difference in expression since he almost always seemed to be wearing a smile of some degree.

"...Dangerous...'maybe' humans..." he slowly repeated under his breath, as if to properly commit the explanation to memory. As the Hogwarts student continued to speak, however, he eventually crouched down in order to neatly seat himself on the cool, grassy ground, folding his long legs cross-wise under him and the obscuring drapes of his cloak.

Kit waited with his chin in his palm and his elbow on his knee for Erin to complete her soapbox speech, drinking in her words like a warm beverage in the crisp, cold air. When she finished, he fought the very real urge to applaud, not wanting her to think he was hoping to make light of her ideas.

Instead, he simply kept up his regular, steady smile. If his tail had still been visible and not throbbing in agony, it likely would have been twitching from side to side with the observant patience of any typical, expectant feline. Eventually, he parted his lips to address her again.

"Correction, Miss Ryan," he said smoothly, though not with the manner of an adult correcting a child. It was spoken instead with the playful, teasing demeanor of an instigator cheerfully challenging a peer. "You have noticed. And you clearly have not forgotten." His dark brows rose, gaze steady on her own. "That being said...if I really am what you claim I am...is it wise to draw my attention to yourself like this...?"

@Erin Ryan & @Maya Galim