Event The Fall Ball (Masquerade)

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Banner made by the amazing Eyre Reeves
Open to Interactions! (DM or owl first!)
Interacting With: @Eyre Reeves
Mentioning: @Flash Holmwood | @Rose Moon | the general fight involving Erin, Kyle, Quinn, Amara, etc. | @Vladimir Athanatos
Hex Color: #FF4080
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For Moderation:

Action: Be a dick to Eyre, follow the cat and join the Hunt
Health: 500/500
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Fearless | Terrible Presence
Stats: Stamina 5 | Evasion 10 | Strength 5 | Wisdom 9 | Arcane Power 10 | Accuracy 6

Ana noticed a number of things as she scanned the room. The first was a fight involving several other students and she rolled her eyes slightly. Why did every dance have to have some sort of confrontation? Granted, she had been at the center of more than one of said confrontations, but that didn't mean it was any less ridiculous. She considered telling Eyre that his carrot/girlfriend had gotten involved, as that was almost certain to draw him away, but that would likely result in him tracking her down and dragging her away from her date a second time. She stashed the idea in the back of her mind as she continued to scan the room.

"Eyre, I didn't do anything wrong, I apologized for an accident, either hit me again or be done with it," Ana said. The bravado leaked from her voice towards the end and she sounded strangely vulnerable as if she legitimately expected her former friend to strike her, the metaphoric mask slipping. Prior to the summer, she didn't been particularly bothered by getting hit, especially if she knew she deserved it as she had in the owlery. After the summer though, it was just one more horrible reminder of how her father wasn't anything like she'd believed him to be, and what a failure she was. Additionally, and she wouldn't admit this part to herself, it genuinely terrified her. As brave and fierce as she liked to think she was, the action cut through her defenses and made the lioness little more than a cowering kitten. She had been taking her anger out on Eyre, and what she had said was indefensible, but him slapping her had still caught her terribly off guard, and hurt in more ways than one.

Again scanning the crowd for a legitimate escape, she heard a terrible, odd scream. As she swiveled her head to find the source of the scream, she saw no sign but some shimmering distortion and an occasional glimpse of feet. An invisibility cloak. She hadn't grown up in the wizarding world and read as much as she had without being able to identify one when confronted with it. Her attention was completely gone from the conversation she was having as she squinted at the pair of feet leaving the ballroom. "Shush," she said, her attention completely focused on the pair of feet following. It was a bit blunter than she would have liked, but she was trying to focus and Eyre wasn't helping that. Whether or not he would recognize that she was legitimately trying to investigate something was a tossup. On the one hand, he had known her more than long enough to know the signs of her truly being focused on something important. On the other, she had pulled a similar trick to this, generally involving making up a summons from her parents, more times than she could count at parties to get out of a dull conversation.

Her laser focus was broken by the crash of lightning and thunder and then the window shattering. Screamed pierced her ears and she shielded her face with her hands for a moment before glancing back at the broken window to see the cause. Except the window was intact. A ghostly rider seemed to have been jealous of the fun the schoolchildren were having and have opted to interfere. What a jerk! It wasn't their fault he was dead. However, his words banished the irritated thoughts from her mind and she furrowed her brow. She caught a glimpse of a wispy cat and scowled further. Obviously, she had to follow it. For one, she doubted it was a coincidence that the rider and cat had appeared so close to the odd scream she'd heard. For another, she had absolutely zero self-preservation skills and even less impulse control. "Come on, we can finish that later. Or ideally, never," Ana told Eyre, already gathering her skirts. Less tightly than he had grabbed hers moments ago, she grabbed his wrist and began moving towards the cat without paying much heed to if Eyre was willingly following her or not.

Flash! Where was he? She stopped for a moment and searched the ballroom for him. He didn't appear to be at the drink table where she'd left him and the crowd between her and the tables stopped her from seeing anything. She couldn't just leave him. Where the hell was he? He didn't seem to be involved in the growing brawl in the middle of the room, but there was no sign of him. The cat had already started on its way, and she had to unravel this puzzle. Still, she felt absolutely horrible at the prospect of just abandoning Flash, and she inwardly cursed at her own stupidity. If she hadn't felt the need to trip Rose, then Eyre wouldn't have dragged her off and she would be able to let Flash know that she was going instead of just ditching him. With one final desperate glance around the room, she continued on her way, her stomach in knots. If she had glanced over her shoulder, she might have seen Flash attack a certain Ravenclaw. If she had seen these, she would most definitely have stayed and jumped in. Not just because Flash was attacking him, but because it was the very same boy who had Flipendoed her repeatedly and knocked her out at the Blossom Ball. If only...

Post Tracker:
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Post Tracker: x x
Interacting with: @Selim Faust
Mentions: @Elisabeth Erner (Rosa Swann) & @Starlee Kennedy (Florian Yves LeRoy)
Open to Interactions
Bolded Text: French | Italic Text: Dutch | Regular Text: English

Verena's ears perked up when she heard the boy start speaking French. While she did technically know English better because she's been using it for longer, she was comfortable with French at the moment since she had been using it for the past couple of months at Beauxbatons. She happily responded, "Verena Marigold, Beauxbatons, lovely to meet you, Selim" She added a curtsey to her introduction.

"My friends have surprisingly found this affair... undesirable." Verena said, looking back to the crowd where Rosa and Florian were definitely apart of, "I've personally found it a very net positive experience. I do wish I could've participated in the activities more, but alas our goal was to spread broom racing publicity, nothing more." She had hoped that they would've done at least a small duelling event. She would've loved to impress everyone with the talent she did have with the power of her magic. But, it was still enjoyable to mingle with students from the UK.

The boy seemed to still be looking past her to observe the guests at the ball, supporting Verena's thoughts that he was acting as sort of a watcher or bodyguard of sorts over the group. She turned to the guests mingling throughout the dance floor herself. There were many people dancing, yet amidst it all, she was able to support one of the two people she had abandoned to be apart of this interaction, Florian. She had completely forgotten about the drinks, and she was worried Rosa might've sent him out of worry.

Verena quickly snapped her head forward to face Selim. She hoped that he didn't notice that sudden movement, but that movement was just because she didn't want Florian to notice her either. Her gown and hair kind of gave her away but being in the corner hopefully helped hinder his search. It wasn't like she wanted to be actively avoiding the two, Verena enjoyed their company, but this was an opportunity to have a new interaction with someone. Sure, maybe not a friendship, Selim didn't seem like the type to make friendships, but it could still be a pleasant interaction.

Interacting with @Flash Holmwood, @Katrina Walker, @River Dewlight, and @Adonis Thorn
Mentions: Thora Larkston and Vladimir Athanatos
~ Open to Interactions ~

Perhaps she would have noticed his expression if she wasn't so caught up on the fact things were likely taking the turn for the worse she knew was coming but had hoped wouldn't. As it was, her focus was on answers, logic, trying to figure out what she would do either way. If this wasn't real she didn't feel particularly up for some adventure or whatnot and if it was, she wasn't sure she'd go anyway. Everyone else was heading there, after all, and what if it was some diversion, some trick to lure them away from the real threat? It would probably come down to where the people she cared about went, regardless. Her question had been worded so, in the case this was a Halloween trick and he wasn't supposed to tell her anything, she'd still get an answer.

His response, to say the least, came as a shock. She blinked, her attention shifting completely towards him. What did he mean 'what does it matter'? It was the difference between them being in for a horrible night or not. At least he clarified his statement, but she hadn't been expecting the sarcasm either. Well, she had her answer but unlike what she'd anticipated, now she was even more at a loss for what to do. Flash clearly had something going on and the fact he was pretty much ignoring her now made it obvious he didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to talk to her. For a moment her opened her mouth, trying to think of some response, but then she closed it. The truth was, she wouldn't even know where to start a conversation at the moment, so instead she took the hint and walked away.

Her steps took her towards the edge of the room, the girl not really paying attention to the crowd swarming after the cat or the fight that had broken out. Had she said something wrong? Maybe it was the way she'd worded her question? She supposed she'd made it sound like the whole thing with a ghost being planned was a bad thing or that she didn't consider him capable of planning a ball that didn't go terribly wrong. It was a possibility, though not necessarily a fair one. After everything that had happened, a ghost that burst in telling them they were all in danger wasn't really in good taste. She supposed maybe they'd just wanted to generate interest, but was it really worth it if getting people to participate meant telling them tragedy was imminent? She'd already watched one person die.

Having reached the wall, she looked around. The fight wasn't something she particularly wanted to get involved in. If things got really bad, perhaps then she'd intervene, but at this point there was no use, no personal stake. Going back to the Costume Party wasn't really an option. Thora was there but so were those Durmstrang boys and she definitely didn't feel like getting into a food fight. There was no use going after the cat; she could probably catch up to it still, but she just wasn't up for it. If anything, she'd put a damper on everyone else's mood. Should she just leave? Honestly, that sounded like a decent option about now.

She'd taken a step towards the door when she spotted Katrina. Her friend had come with Adonis Thorn, someone she at least knew of from the Slytherin duelling team, and was talking to River Dewlight, a fellow member of S.W.A.G. Club and Ravenclaw's second-string Seeker. She could stop by on her way out just to say hello.

Once she got close enough, she mustered a smile and gave the trio a little wave. "Hey Katrina." She nodded to Adonis and River as well. "I was just going to head out. Not for the Hunt, I guess I'm just not feeling like sticking around." She shrugged; it probably was a reasonable notion considering she hardly looked the part of someone all that excited for a ball. "You all look great, by the way."

With one less smile that wasn't as forced, she headed off towards the doorway. The Common Room would likely be nice and quiet, and she had plenty of books she could read. She took the second to look over her shoulder one last time, just to make sure everything was okay, just to properly admire the decorations.

Crap.

Everything was not okay, that much was clear, because Flash was walking up towards a tall boy that despite the mask was clearly Vladimir Athanatos. What was he doing? And then Flash's hand was curling into a fist and it became all too clear that for whatever reason he was trying to punch the Ravenclaw. Her eyes widened, but she made no move to do anything, to stop him. She probably couldn't stop him, no matter how fast she got a spell off, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. Naturally she didn't want Flash, or really anyone for that matter, picking a fight against Vladimir. He was strong and he was smart and he was likely more powerful than they realized, or at least had someone more powerful on his side. But maybe Flash knew something she didn't. And besides, didn't Vladimir deserve it? Probably. After everything he'd done he was far from innocent.

Still, Flash was definitely not okay. Bridget could acknowledge she only knew so much about him and knew fighting was in his cards, but he was at least reasonable enough to know flat-out punching someone stronger without backup didn't tend to get you anywhere but the Hospital Wing. Whether his punch was successful or not, there was no way she was leaving now. She didn't have a clue what was going on with him and didn't know if he even wanted her help, but she was still his ally and she still cared about him. Her promise to have his back wasn't empty.

Action | None yet
Outfit
Post Tracker | x | x | x | x

Bolded Text - French | Regular Text - English
Interacting: @Vladimir Athanatos
Mentioning: Cassanora Browne (@Hugh Lowe), @Rafael D'Spacito and @Flash Holmwood

TL;DR: Dancing and conversing with her date, in shock at the sudden attempt at violence
Stats: Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 10 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 7
Ability: Charmer

Interacting with/Mentioning: @Wyatt Starkey
Status: Open for Interactions!!

English: #6B5076
Welsh: #9E8FB9
Uzbek: #874343

Post tracker: [x] [x] [x] [x]

"Oh, like you care."

Well, he wasn't entirely wrong on that part. Autumn had a list of unsaid rules, and one of them was to not care about others. She was self-preservative and independent, and emotional attachment got in the way of that. With the small exception of Naomi, Autumn had found that it was always best to put yourself first, unless there was strategic reason to not do so.

However, the next part, once again, was what maddened Autumn.

“I don’t know how thick you think I am, but I’m not so incredibly stupid that I’d believe your true intentions are good right now. Having a conversation with me like we’re old pals? We’re barely acquaintances, you sorry excuse for a Hufflepuff.”

Any other time, Autumn would be embarrassed to be caught, but there was a huge difference between any other time and now. And that was that her true intentions were good right now. Well, maybe not good, but not bad either. Neutral.

And she had not spoke to him as if they were old pals. She had said hi, made a stupid, badly-timed joked, and insulted his outfit. She had spoken to him like she would talk to any acquaintance; not too friendly, not too threatening. Just Autumn.

And to top it all off, sorry excuse for a Hufflepuff? Really? It was true that Autumn felt that she belonged more in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. It was also true that she often found herself to feel different amongst the other cheery, friendly Hufflepuffs. But she was a Hufflepuff. She had tried to fight it, and she had tried to complain. She fought with the hat, she fought with herself, she fought with everyone around because she was lost, and everyone in her house seemed so nice, and she was not, and she had thought that she was supposed to fit in with her house, and if she didn't fit in with the nice ones, what did that say about her?

Thankfully, her thoughts were interrupted by a ghost on a horse breaking in through a window. Honestly, Autumn was glad for the dist- Wait.

Ghost. Horse. Window.

What.

“Time is running out!

Something terrible is creeping about this castle, and if no one stops it, tragedy cannot be avoided.

If no one steps up to face this challenge, we are all doomed.

Follow the graceful apparition to find the riddle’s first piece - and if you need my help, call my full name.”

As Wyatt heard the noise, and left to follow the ghost cat that had apparently came along with the ghost on the horse- because that was a thing now- Autumn shrugged, and instead of running after the cat, like most of her lunatic peers, she remained.

Yeah, no. She would rather live.

Turning around, she realised what this meant. A ghost knight meant that things probably would not remain normal in the masquerade for much longer. It would be best to check her surroundings for anything suspicious.

For mods:
Abilities: Sixth Sense, Perfectionist
Stats: Stamina: 5, Evasion: 5, Strength: 7, Wisdom: 7, Arcane Power: 8, Accuracy: 8
Species: Full Human
Health: 500/500
Action: Check for anything suspicious (Wisdom above)

Interacting with
@Jack Burnett @Jake Morris @Dealla Prince
Mentioning
@Zykeal Lane
Open to Interaction

The broom was certainly not really meant to carry three people, even if Jake was small and light and neither Ruka nor Jack were particularly heavy. Still it seemed to go slower, was more difficult to steer - The second of which, however, may have also been due to the fact that Jake had started pressing back against him as if his life depended on it once he had realised that they were actually leaving the Costume Party and not just flying around the Rehearsal Room.

With Jack behind him and Jake in front of him, they must have made a ridiculous sight, hovering in midair on an invisible broom, but as they entered the Masquerade in the Ballroom it was quite clear that there was enough going on already that nobody was really focused on who was entering or leaving. From fights and spells and ominous ghosts, the Masquerade seemed a lot busier and chaotic than the Costume Party had, so Ruka tried to steer the broom to stick further to the sidelines. He wasn't exactly interested in getting involved in any of the chaos, at least not before he hadn't been able to have a proper look at it first.

"Plenty of Pirates here, I think," Ruka told Jake with a playful squeeze. He had wrapped an arm around the little badger once he had realised how uneasy riding off on an invisible broom had made him, and at least for the moment that seemed to be calming enough for Jake.

Slowly steering the broom around the room, Ruka decided to avoid the chaos in favour of the refreshments table; The treats at the Costume Party had clearly mostly had some horrible effects on whoever consumed them, so maybe getting something to drink or eat here was going to be a bit safer. Before he could actually have a look at what kind of treats the Masquerade had to offer, a familiar voice reached his ears, close enough for him to recognise it but too far away to understand what it was saying.

With a fond smile spreading on his face, Ruka slowly slid himself off the broom, pulling Jake back a bit so he was resting against Jack instead with no regards for whether his brother was comfortable serving as a backrest or not.

He probably wasn't.

"I'll be right back," he promised Peter and the Lost Boy before he made his way around the table and to the girl he thought he was able to recognise despite her wearing a mask. She had been spared being set on fire this time but Ruka assumed she had gotten a dance anyway, judging by the fact that she was leaning against the table with a boy who was most likely her date for the night. He seemed vaguely familiar but Ruka didn't want to busy himself too much with him, was far too focused on approaching Dealla with as much confidence as he could bring up while dressed in a, well, dress and wearing a ridiculously tall Top Hat that kept wobbling with every move he made.

"If it isn't Aphrodite herself," he said brightly as he got close enough to be heard without having to raise his voice. "Looking every bit the Goddess you are." With a cheeky grin, Ruka took a ridiculous little bow, keeping one hand on the front of his Top Hat to make sure it wasn't going to fall off.

Straightening up again, he offered the boy next to Dealla a vaguely apologetic nod before he put his attention on the girl in front of him again, green eyes sparkling brightly behind his green mask. For the first time of the night he was acutely aware of the fact that he was dressed up as a fairy, wings and blonde hair, and a small bag of pixie dust dangling from his neck, but judging from what he had seen of Dealla before she was hopefully just going to take some amusement from his getup. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything I just..." He averted his eyes for a moment, letting them drift across the rest of the happenings in the room without focusing on any of them for too much. "We only just arrived." He gestured behind him towards Jack and Jake in the hopes that they hadn't gone off to join trouble elsewhere. "I thought you might be able to catch me up on everything that's going on. Like Ghost Rider, for example." He chuckled lightly and nodded in the direction of where the ghost knight had taken off to. Ruka must have been in too late to hear what he had been saying, if anything at all.

"And to maybe..." He rolled his shoulders back lightly, glad his mask was covering the way his cheeks flushed. "Ask for another dance later on. To actual music this time."

|Action|
- Entering from the Costume Party with Jack Burnett and Jake Morris
[Permission to godmod Jake given. Permission to godmod Jack not needed because I am his mother.]
- Struggling with Jack's ridiculously Tall Top Hat
- Interrupting Dealla's Date with awkward flirting
- Looking stunning in a dress with wings and sparkly tights

Stats
~ Stamina: 7 ~ Evasion: 9 ~ Strength: 4 ~ Wisdom: 12 ~ Arcane Power: 6 ~ Accuracy: 7 ~

Abilities
~ Muggle Condiotion ~ Advanced Casting ~ Perfectionist ~

Roleplaying as Beauxbatons iNPC

Interacting with:
Status: Alexander Baron ^{@Mars T'ien}, @Melissa Land, @Katherine Labrouder

English: #6C4971
French: #AE989A
German: #5A7189
Mandarin: #2A3C54

Post tracker: [x] [x] [x]

"Miss Katherine? No, not a date. Just a request I thought rude to turn down."

Sure.

Now, Viola had not meant much by the entire "you could do better" thing. In fact, it seemed fairly obvious to her. However, the Katherine girl was not hard to read. Viola had not known that she was within hearing distance. She had not known that Little Miss Katherine would be so offended at such casual words.

Except, oh- she had.

So, maybe she was a bit mad that she didn't have a date. Maybe she was taking it out on the dramatic little first year.

And maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was an idiot who did not see things coming, whose intention had not been malice towards someone he considered inferior to her.

Viola chuckled internally.

As if.

As "Miss Katherine" left the ballroom, she could not keep herself from uttering a low "toodaloo, bitch" (in french) under her breath.

Viola thought that maybe the drama would end there, and she turned back towards her newly-assigned date, only to have to turn back around again when she heard foot steps approaching.

This girl... Viola liked her better than the last one already. The other one's clothes had looked like she had tried and failed absolutely miserably. This one... She looked like she was not even trying.
All black, really? What idiot thought that was a good idea? She looked like she was about to rob a store. And, oh, was that black eyeshadow with blue eyes? Yes. This girl clearly did not give a damn how she looked. Viola was not able to decide whether that was better or worse than Katherine when the girl opened her mouth and spewed out trash.

It was hard to smile sweetly and politely through the entire thing, but Viola managed. While the other girl had seemed spoiled and unlikable, and presumably did not have many connections to affect her, apart from maybe a failing business to inherit from her parents, this girl had come from a group. So if she had smile, she would.

"Hey I just wanted to say that i heard what you said to alexander that he needs better and i agree so why don't you go so he has a better option like you said and how much did your lips cost they seem to be a little bit big and the shoes your wearing makes you look like you stole them from the charity shop and i guess you did the same with your dress and by the way remember this face cause I'm the girl that just wiped your a** you disgusting rat"

Okay, well, that was a lot to unpack.

Thankfully, Viola was used to thinking and replying quickly.

But before she could, the boy in front of her did so for her.

"My dear, there's no need for such hostility. A ball is something we're meant to enjoy."

And he left it there.

Viola was glad. She had her own response to this, and she did not want to dance with someone who would not let her speak for herself.

"Thank you," she said to the boy, quietly and politely.

She turned to the girl again then.

"Oh, hello. I apologise sincerely for my words. What I said to Mr..." Alexander. The name was new to her lips. She like it. "to Mr Alexander was intended as a simple conversation starter; an ice breaker, if you will. It was not in my intention to ever hurt your friend. However, I think you will be happy to know that my lips are very much natural, thank you for the compliment on their size, although I do not see how the size of my lips concerns you. And no, I did not steal my dress or my shoes from a charity shop. My mother's business made my earrings specifically for me and I bought my dress and shoes using my budget of 15 thousand francs, and the rest went to a charity store. That is ironic, do you not think? Now, I would prefer it if I were left alone with Mr Alexander, although the decision is yours to make. I love your eyeshadow, by the way."

Once the girl left, she muttered once again, in French, "Aw, the wanna-be goth is sad I made her friend sad. Adorably pathetic."

Finally, she turned back to Alexander.

For mods:
Abilities: Charmer, Lovely Creature
Stats: Stamina: 5, Evasion: 7, Strength: 6, Wisdom: 8, Arcane Power: 6, Accuracy: 8
Species: Full Human
Health: 500/500
Action: Talk to Melissa

Interacting with
@Romah Neobey

Cade noticed Romah suddenly acting peculiar. What on earth was she all jumpy about? He hoped no one was giving her trouble. Cade had just gotten over the incident that took place in the abandoned toilets. He could still smell the rancid plumbing even days later. GIving an outward sigh his ears perked up when Romah asked him if he wanted to dance.

"You would have to teach me. I've never danced this way before." He replied offhandedly observing the couples dance. Peggy should have taught him about it before. She was always going on about creating the perfect gentleman. Or perhaps Charles could have given him some advice? But that was unrealistic, his father was rarely ever in Ottery St Mary. He looked over at Romah wanting to explain his dilemma further, explain about his parent's attempt to make a gentleman of him. But she was having some issues of her own.

"Cade I have something to admit. I have had a crush on you since the first day." She looked away immediately. Cade felt a shiver race up his spine. The tips of his ears going red. A smile etched itself on his face. It felt nice to be admired in that way. The knowledge of her interest in him almost made him want to admit something of his own. But it just was not true. He saw Romah as a friend. He couldn't imagine romancing her in any way. A crease formed between his brows. How on earth was he to voice this. He didn't want to hurt her feelings or worse their friendship. He opened his mouth.

"Wow Romie... That's... Well, I was hoping we could just be friends. I really like you, but just not on that level... do you know what I mean?" He looked at her anxiously hoping he had been straightforward. He didn't want to ruin the night. "We can dance. Would that make you feel better?"