Arrival Thread - Magical Schools - May 2021 Arrival

Open to interactions

Here it was, the day she had looked forward to ever since she had heard of the grand school. It was time for Irina to leave her home country of Russia and head to Scotland for what she hoped was a chance of a lifetime. Only a few of her fellow Koldovstoretz members were actually coming to Hogwarts and surprisingly Irina was the oldest one. Many students were hesitant to come to Hogwarts due to it’s mysterious reputation but there was just enough of them to use only one portkey. Hogwarts in Irina’s eyes was a new place where she could learn more magic and meet others from around the world. In addition, it seemed like a new adventure for the blond, a new chance to explore herself.

Luckily, Irina wasn’t the oldest one from their group, the leader of Koldovstoretz, Headmistress Pavlova was coming with them. It was nice to have her come so that Irina wasn’t the oldest representative from the school. From Headmistress Pavlova, Irina had learned that they were coming to Hogwarts for the Blossom Ball and event that joined magical schools together.

Excited to go on this new adventure, Irina had packed all of things and joined her other members to take the portkey. This experience was not something Irina had done often before so when she felt her insides turn and her feet wobble it was expected. On first sight the school, she was blown away. It was nothing like Koldovstoretz, this school was grand and looked like one of those old castles. Muttering to herself, Irina said, ”Wow this is really it, I’m so glad I’m finally here.”

Feeling even more thrilled to spend the next weeks here, Irina spotted an adult for the school. He turned out to be Caradoc Browne and introduced them to the fine school. In addition, he told them al, about some of the gossip. Apparently the head of whatever Slytherin was happened to be a former spy now a fugitive from the Swedish law enforcement. Irina was shocked by this news and already wanted to know more about this teacher.

Nevertheless they were directed to what would be their home for the next weeks, the campgrounds. Unloading her items onto a bed, Irina felt more at home among the trees and tents and hoped that this wasn’t her only opportunity to visit the school. Soon enough it was time to head to the ginormous castle for a dinner feast.

Irina decided to find her way to a table in the middle that held some students wearing yellow. The Hogwarts headmaster who Irina remember as being apart of ABBA, had a beard that lived up to her standard. He gave a few opening words and all Irina could think about was how magical and grand Hogwarts looked. She was finally here and she couldn’t wait to start on some new adventures.

As Approved iNPC Iris Fields Mentioning: Lamik Fillestar, and not by name Henry and Katherine

Outfit Hair&Makeup

Travel by portkey was far from Iris' ideal. It was far better than waiting around in a train for hours or the awful dusty feeling after Floo Powder, but it was still far from perfect. The sucking and sinking and twirling and twisting, that awful feeling of nausea was instant and took a good while to shake off. Iris dusted imaginary dirt from her skirt and flicked her hair behind her shoulder. Welcome to same old Hogwarts. The first time Iris had travelled here she had been excited and eagerly anticipating the masked ball, then she had ended up passing out for no good reason and missed the excitement. The last time she had been, she had been able to meet some other students from different schools and had the broom race and went to the ball with Lamik. This time, there wasn't much to look forward to. Lamik and the people she had met last time and her never were able to stay in touch, she assumed they had moved on.

Besides, Iris knew how much she had changed, there wasn't a chance they would still want to be around her. She was stuffy and acted just how her grandmother wanted her to without thinking twice. Every once and a while Iris would realize and resent it but now it was effort to not. And a small part of her even enjoyed the safety in it, knowing exactly how she was supposed to act. It was easier that way.

Iris focused on this as she approached the dreary old castle surrounded by her peers and led by a constantly overenthusiastic headmaster. Iris straightened her outfit again, trying to avoid the attention of anyone else. She had made a fair deal of people not like her in the past few months and she had no want to stir up more bad feelings before being stuck with them for weeks. Her outfit was one she had actually chosen, not her grandmother, but it still resembled her style rather than Iris' old style. She wore a beige themed diamond checkered sweater vest with a thick, uncreased white polo shirt underneath. On the bottom she had a mid length pleated black skirt and plain white Vans. Her hair was down, though trimmed just last weekend, and she was wearing a good deal of makeup, courtesy of her grandmothers strict insistence. Her nails matched the beige on the sweater vest and a small golden charm on her necklace were both a constant reminder of her grandmother.

As Iris followed the group on their tour of where they were to stay, she stayed in the middle of the group as much as possible. They were to stay at the campgrounds on the sunnier southern hillside. The tents have ought to be especially enchanted, Iris thought to herself, otherwise it was going to be a long next few weeks.

All five schools gathered in the great hall. There were a lot of students. Iris waited a moment for the more daring to take a seat before walking around, eyes scanning for at least one person she knew. The last thing she wanted was to be alone at the table. Well, she wouldn't be alone, but she might be surrounded by a bunch of unwanted people. First impressions, first impressions, her grandmothers reminders constant in Iris' mind. She should sit with other students with families of high regard. She should make sure she was only sitting by important people. Others needed to know she was dignified. But this was the first time her grandmother wasn't around or sending constant letters or dictating her life. She could do whatever she wanted. But why was it so hard for Iris to even know what she wanted? Ugh, it shouldn't be this complicated.

Iris ended up taking a random seat, also not wanting to be a last person sitting down. Anyone who appeared to be holding themselves with high regard might notice Iris attempting to make eye contact for a moment before trying to find another similar person. Anyone Iris recognized would likely be met with a small smile, perhaps a nod to a vacant seat around her. But she couldn't force anyone away either, the last thing she wanted was to make trouble and hurt her families name. Well, not her family, the Field's, the Kingston's, who most dignified people had been introduced to. Iris Kingston, the perfect girl that her grandmother had bippity boppity boo-ed from a ragtag, treeclimbing, broom racer, to a perfect epitome of a Kingston.

Rosella Sokolov
Russian| English

Rosella was by no means a stranger when it came to traveling by portkey. Not her favorite means of travel, but it was better than other methods. The girl glanced at the other students around her from Koldovstoretz. There were very few of them, all but one of which were younger than her. The other was a year older than her, giving Rosella a sense of comfort that she wasn't going to be in charge of anything.

The girl didn't even think twice about the portkey as she landed on her feet softly, luckily not stumbling. With only a glance, the girl knew what her next art project was going to be. Hogwarts castle was giant and would be something perfect for her to draw. The red head tugged on the red of her sleeve gently as she followed the other students of Koldovstoretz closely, knowing she would get lost if she wasn't careful. "This place is massive," she said to no one in particular, her boots silent on the ground.

Rosella felt as if she had no time to look at their surroundings before a man had come over to show them around. The man seemed rather nice, like someone Rosella would be able to speak to if she needed assistance with anything, she kept that as a note for later on. The girl didn't listen to much of what the man was saying when he showed them to their home away from home. It seemed he was just gossiping about the other professors, something she honestly did not care that much about.

Dinner had come faster than Rosella had expected, all five schools gathering into the great hall together. It was rather crowded, but Rosella thought it best to find someone new to speak to. She glanced at the four large tables in front of her, making her way towards the table of mostly students with a bit of green on their robes. She decided this would be where she sat for the night.

Her head snapped to the side at the sound of someone speaking, seeing it to be the Hogwarts headmaster. She didn't remember learning much about him, other than hearing something about ABBA, although the girl was not to sure if she was remembering anything correctly. Slowly she glanced around, looking to find anyone she could talk to.

rping as iNPC Maksim Preobrazhensky [x] Outfit.

Closed to interactions (excl. @Levi Drakos). Mentioning Slava (@Ruby Cazares).

Ah yes, Hogwarts. Why did all the schools always want to go on field trips to the one school with the tallest staircases? They had already visited the British school of witchcraft and wizardry in the fall, and now they were returning once more. Was Hogwarts really so much more superior than the other wizarding schools? Maybe it was because Hogwarts liked to throw the most dances- Max had expected Ilvermorny to be more into the homecoming/prom scene, considering that they were all Americans, but apparently Scotland liked to have their fair share of festivities as well. Not that he was complaining, mind you. Maksim never missed out on a chance to get dressed up.

After settling into their accommodations for the duration of their stay, Max took the time to change out of his Durmstrang robes into something much more appropriate for making new friends. He was a firm believer in a strong first impression, so while some may have chalked it up to vanity and arrogance, Maksim genuinely took pride in his appearance and clothing. Off came the scarlet school robes, being neatly folded and tucked away for another occasion, and out came a few articles of Muggle clothing. Although he was a pureblood, he was quite enamoured by Muggle fashion, and had taken it upon himself to acquire several pieces he deemed fashionable and flattering to his body type and silhouette. He had decided that a dapper and classy outfit would leave the best impression on the other students, so he opted for a pair of clean and fitted dress pants, a plain but elegant turtleneck, and a sweeping pale gray jacket that he thought accentuated his shoulders quite nicely. That, paired with his always-presented silver cross necklace and brown dress shoes, certainly made him look a lot more put together than he felt on the inside. To top it all off, because I think he would absolutely do this, Maksim lightly spritzed himself with what Muggles called, er... Axe body spray. Apparently, it was quite popular among teenage boys such as himself, so he only found it fitting to wear a little bit to try to fit in with any Muggleborns from the other schools.

By the time dinner at the castle rolled around, Maksim was a straight-up nervous wreck. His younger brother was absolutely nowhere to be found, which would've been alarming if not for the fact that this was a frequent occurrence. It seemed like Slava was always out and about, terrorizing- er, having fun with his various friends and generally having good time. So while the Durmstrang students entered the castle as a group (for the most part), Maksim still felt quite lonely. His fingers flew to the cross around his neck, gently rubbing the slightly tarnished silver as his eyes darted around the semi-familiar Great Hall. There were so many faces... some of them he recognized, others remained strangers. He could feel a bit of a lump building up in his throat, and the pit in his stomach was really starting to make him nauseous. Since when was he nervous about a few strangers? He loved social interaction, and talking to people... but generally, he did that in Russian, not English. Although he had picked up an above-average amount of English from various pub patrons over the years, he certainly wasn't as comfortable with it as he was with Russian.

While his classmates dispersed off into the sea of European and American students to find a spot to sit and dine, Maksim lingered by the entryway, unsure of how to proceed. Should he just walk up to someone, and ask to sit with them? That wouldn't be too awkward, would it? His hands dropping to his sides, Maksim squared his shoulders and straightened his posture, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. You got this, he thought to himself, placing the slightest hint of a smile on his face to dispel any negative energy that may have been accumulating on his face in the form of wrinkles. Easy peasy, it's just dinner...

Nikita could say she enjoyed the boat trip, which is saying something because she never openly admits to enjoying things. No, then that leads to people thinking they can talk to you about what you enjoy, and then they think they're friends. And the last thing Nikita needed was lame wanna be friends. She most certainly hoped Hogwarts wouldn't be filled with those people.

Nikita had gotten off the boat in a hurry, rather eager to see the way Hogwarts looked. There was a nice lady who was quick to show everyone around. The school itself was big but full of very short people. "Not bad." She said to herself in Swedish. No, it wasn't bad at all. As soon as they entered the great hall the students started to sit. Nikita stood there stupidly, of course, searching for some people to sit with. The people wearing blue seemed to be.. not her type. The people with red on their robes were too loud. The yellows seemed far too nice for Nikita's taste. So she walked over to the table of greens.

They seemed okay.

Nikita looked around and only listened to a few words that were said. She turned to a girl next to her. "I'm Nikita- from Durmstrang. You?"

action: finding herself a seat and chatting

[ @Miranda Everest as Sylvie Everett • @Henry Knight as Charles Alluring • @Scarlett Aden ]

English #26687E • French #72267E

Oh. My. Gosh. Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin had arrived, and Hogwarts had better be ready to receive her. Not only that, but the carriage ride hadn't been spectacularly boring, either - Cassie had managed to listen to a glorious half-hour of glitchy Greatest Showman songs from her phone before they'd obviously gotten too close to Hogwarts and the device had given up altogether. Someone ought to make a magic phone which could work near and in magical schools. Like with Beauxbatons' last visit to the UK, Cassie had been one of the first out of the carriage. This time, their arrival had seemed a little more organised - maybe due to the fact that they had arrived on time, rather than 'fashionably' late. In fact, they were apparently the first school to arrive at all, which Cassie thought was pretty cool. They were met by the same woman as last time, who turned out to be the Head of Slytherin, which Cassie was fairly sure was one of the houses, and were taken to their accomodation at the campgrounds.

Now, it was time for dinner, and Cassie was dying for some food. First, though, the armour-clad headmaster (woah, Cassie loved his costume) said something troubling. Growing tension? What growing tension? If Cassie had known anything about 'growing tension', she doubted her parents would have let her come. They'd taken enough persuading as it was, following October's Magot. But Cassie was dragged out of her musings by the announcement that it was time for eating, and they could sit wherever they wanted.

Okay, Cassie thought. First: find Charlie. Second: find Sylvie. Third: find Scarlett. Fourth: force everyone to sit together. Well, maybe not force, but still... Cassie really wanted to introduce all her friends. She looked around her at the crowd of students, and decided that actually, maybe she had better find Sylvie first. If Sylvie was even here. "Sylvie!" she called over the heads of the other students - a feat, considering her height. "Where are you? Get over here!" She waited a few moments for the blonde to appear. If she didn't, Cassie would sigh and give up, instead moving towards where the Durmstrangs were finding seats.

"Charles!" she called, a blue dot in the sea of red - Cassie wasn't a huge fan of Beauxbatons' uniform but couldn't have been bothered to get changed earlier. It was just dinner. Nothing worth dressing up for; and anyway, her woollen coat was surprisingly warm."Charlie, where are you? Come over here; I'm starving, and I'm not eating by myself like a loner!" Once/if she found Charles, she would then circle round the Gryffindor table, searching for Scarlett, if she was present.

Roleplaying as Durmstrang iNPC Arjan Oberoi

Open to Interactions
Mentions: Maxsim Preobrazhensky (@Ami Procoppio), Slava (@Ruby Cazares) & @Erin Ryan (not by name)

Dressed in his Durmstrang uniform - proudly representing his school - Arjan entered the Great Hall. He had started to become familiar with the location of the rooms. Well, at the very least, he was able to find his way to the hall from where they resided fairly easily. He probably would not be able to find any other room but finding food was always a priority, so it was definitely one of the locations he made an effort to try and find the last time he was here. He was not necessarily a foodie, per se, but he needed to eat in order to have the energy to exercise - which he did enjoy.

He ran his hand over his dark hair, slicking it back as he entered. His hazel-brown coloured eyes scanned the room, looking for any familiar faces - or anyone of interest. There were a few people that he had met the last time he was here that he would not mind meeting again - particularly a rather beautiful girl that seemed to be able to handle herself in a fight. He was intrigued. He never did get her name last time - or what school she was from - but he was hazarding a guess that it was Hogwarts and that she would be here, somewhere.

The hall was not overly busy yet - perhaps he was early. However, he did not really notice anyone of interest that he wanted to talk to. In fact, he did not really recognise anyone. If he had paid more attention, he might have spotted that Preobrazhensky kid that he knew - pretty exclusively because of Slava - but let's be fair, Arjan was busy focusing on the females present and he was not exactly close enough to Preobrazhensky to really bother to find him. Slava was not around though. Not that he cared where Slava was, of course. But if he was told that the kid was getting bullied somewhere, he should probably go assist the guy, right? Not that he cared or wanted to look out for him, of course. But you know... Slava can't look after himself so someone has to. Unfortunately for Arjan, he just happened to be the only one who could - right? At the very least, these were the excuses that he told himself. To the point where he likely had convinced himself - even if he was fooling no one else - that they were true.

Unfazed by the fact that he would be sitting alone, Arjan walked in and randomly took a seat at an empty spot on one of the tables. A spot that looked clean and relatively quiet - at least, away from large groups - so he did not have to listen to the chatter of a bunch of overly excited first years. He helped himself to some of the chicken available, with a glass of pumpkin juice.

Open to Interactions

Serena was not necessarily one to arrive early to meals. However, she was hungry. And more than that, she was bored - and curious. She had seen a few new students dressed in a different uniform passing by earlier and knew that they were likely some of the students that were visiting today. However, just passing by was not really enough to satisfy her curiosity. A part of her was starting to enjoy meeting new people, learn about new cultures and see what the other schools are like. Another part of her was a little hesitant, knowing that there was always seemed to be drama and disaster at the events Hogwarts hosted. It was getting better though - from what she saw, anyway. So that had to be something, right?

The other hesitation was that she was fully aware of her brother visiting - though she still had no idea why he would. He hated everything about Hogwarts based on what he would say to her when they were at home - which likely was only because she went there - yet he showed up here. Clearly, he did not hate it as much as he claimed but of course, he would never understand that. She honestly just could not be bothered to deal with him. It was bad enough having to run into him during the Quidditch tournament last year bI knout since then, she had a reason to avoid him and he seemed just as keen to reappear wherever she was at every opportunity. It was kind of annoying, to be honest. She went to Hogwarts to get away from her older brother and do her own thing, not have to be careful. Every time he was around, she knew she would have to be on her 'best behaviour' or reports would go back to their parents. Nothing drastic but the minor things from how clean her clothes were or how she wasn't behaving elegantly or something dumb. Things that Serena did not care about but she also did not want to deal with one of her mother's lectures on the topic.

As she entered the Great Hall, her eyes immediately spotted him. It was not hard. He towered over most of the other students present and she was - apparently - relatively good at spotting things, as being a seeker had taught her. Turning straight on her heel, Serena marched the other way hoping not to catch his attention whilst trying to find some friends. Unfortunately, it seemed that she arrived earlier than they did - whoops. She'd have to eat alone for now, which was always kind of awkward. But hopefully, she could meet someone new or a friend would appear soon enough.

She chose a seat facing towards his back so she could avoid getting seen by him. Luckily, her attention was quickly diverted as soon as she sat down. Eyeing up the food, she immediately grinned as her eyes fell onto the dessert options. It was quite the feast and food was definitely the way to her heart. The temptation to just eat all of the sweet things was real. However, she stopped herself as she heard her stomach rumble. The actual food was likely wise. Raising her plate, she loaded up a small amount of the mushroom ravioli, some fried asparagus and baked potatoes before pouring herself a glass of water. Grabbing her fork, she dug in and started to eat to mask her awkwardness at the fact she had to sit alone and had no one to talk to.

Mentioning/Interacting: Open to interactions

Status: Tired

#78b1c9

[font=Kaufmann Bd BT]Werner sat at the very end of the table, fidgeting with the hem of his robes. He didn't particularly understand why all four schools had to go to Hogwarts (maybe it had to do with some festival he heard an upperclassman talk about?), but he took it. It was the only thing he could do, anyways. The boom of students talking filled the halls, and he felt dwarfed by the extreme greatness and richness of Hogwarts. And he'd thought Durmstrang was already big.

Although he was small enough to be hidden, his white hair made him stand out. Most other students at Durmstrang had darker hair- a normal gene in the northern countries. He felt uncomfortable in the red robes he wore, but it wasn't like he was allowed to wear anything else.

More than anything else, he was tired. Tired, tired, tired. He'd spent nearly all day in that boat- and gotten seasick as a result. A few trips to the washroom didn't help much, and he didn't feel like eating. He wanted to go home, but he didn't mention it. If he did, he'd probably get teased and beaten up by a couple of upperclassmen.

He got a glass of water and sipped it, wincing as the acidic taste of his stomach acid (still lingering in his mouth) was washed down. His eyelids drooped- he really was quite tired. Peering around, he noticed no one else seemed as tired as him- or tired at all, really. The most common emotion he'd found today was excitement, excitement, and more excitement.

Despite him already being small- a lot smaller than most others his age, he felt really, really small in a place like this. Insignificant. He had never felt this small at home- despite his younger sister being taller than him.

*Ich möchte nach Hause gehen.

He repeated the words in his head, squeezing his eyes shut. The seasickness from before lingered in his stomach, making him want to barf again. But he couldn't. Not here, anyways. Maybe later he'd get to.

For now, all he could do was just take it.

*German for 'I want to go home'