Arrival Thread - Magical Schools - May 2021 Arrival

OPEN TO INTERACTIONS please interact - she needs to meet at least one other person xD

English | #576D88 Russian | bolded

Why did there have to be a ball? And why, just why, did four different schools of magic have to be involved in it? Klara had not been looking forward to this day, unlike many of the other Koldovstoretz students. While yes, there would be plenty of things to learn and see at Hogwarts, there was absolutely nothing appealing about a ball. She didn't have a date, for one - because honestly, were the adults really expecting eleven and twelve year olds to have a date? - and she also just really hated big, social activities in general. Nothing about them interested her. And yet...

Something seemed a little bit... off with this particular one. Not only did Hogwarts balls have an interesting reputation, but this was the very first time she'd heard of all four schools getting together like this. Was there something else going on? Could there be? At the moment, Klara was almost certain that there was. Because while at first - such as on the day that they'd been alerted that they were traveling to Hogwarts and the day right after that - she hadn't noticed anything too strange, well... things had started begging to be noticed later.

First of all, no one at Koldovstoretz had even known that there was going to be a ball at all until about a week ago. Second of all, the way that the adults in her school were acting was slightly different than normal. They all seemed... nervous, if that made any sense at all, Klara thought. Which it didn't. The professors and other adults at these four magic schools were some of the most accomplished witches and wizards ever, weren't they? So when they all met up, what could they be afraid of?

Something big, that was for sure.

And something very, very powerful.

Klara had never been a very adventurous girl, so when the time came for her to grab onto the handle of a portkey, she hesitated ever so slightly. Still, knowing that she would miss it if she didn't place her hand onto it soon, the twelve year old did so, mentally preparing herself for what might come next.

---

Even a few hours later, after they'd all settled in, Klara couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Walking into the Great Hall, however, that feeling was smothered and replaced - for a little while, at least - by anxiety. There was just so many people in the room, and most of them were talking and laughing with their friends. Not knowing where to sit, the Russian girl searched for the emptiest corner she could find. When her gaze landed on a relatively open area, Klara crept over and sat down, trying as hard as she could not to be noticed. Head down, the twelve year old let only her eyes wander as she took everything - and everyone - in.

Hopefully, no one would bother her and she could eat her meal in peace, trying to piece together the puzzle that was this sudden meeting between the four schools.

@Henry Knight as Charles Alluring | @Katrina Walker as Iris Fields | @Kage Suzuki as Werner Schmeikl | @Lucia Fox as Cassie Heather
(If there's anyone else that's hanging around with these people that I missed, feel free to tell me)

Andrew Lycan had stayed in the campgrounds before, the last ball that had happened at Hogwarts. Sometimes Drew wondered why they always came to Hogwarts for balls and stuff. He wanted to see some of the other schools and what they were really like, like Durmstrang, where his friend and pen pal Charles Alluring attended. He supposed he might have to learn French or Russian or a different language if they went to another school, and going to Hogwarts gave him an excuse to not learn any new languages that would probably throw him off, and maybe cause him to offend someone. But really, it would be a good learning experience! And it would be new and fun and exciting. Believe it or not, Drew had almost finished with his exploration of Hogwarts the last time he had come here.

Anyway, he was glad he was here for another event involving the schools, and even a new school this time. Kol- cold something. He would have to ask someone how to pronounce it later, but for now, he could be ignorant.

The Wampus had lost his close friend, Gregorí, and hoped that he would join up with him later, wherever he turned out to be.

As he came into the Great Hall, Drew was practically tackled. The Ilvermorny student struggled to regain his balance, and then looked down at the telltale shaggy hair of his cousin Gabe. He chuckled and hugged him back. "Ya gotta stop doing that, Gabe. One day I'll actually fall over," he said lightheartedly.

"I know. That was my goal in the first place," Gabe said with a grin, releasing Drew. Frankie wasn't far behind- Drew remembered that they were in the same house- and they shared a hug as well. After a few greetings and jokes, Drew set off to find his female cousins, who were apparently too good to come greet him. Faith accepted a hug sitting down, and then he spotted Rose. She seemed to be scanning around for him, and only spotted him when he started approaching her. She grinned and stood up, accepting a big bear hug from the bigger boy.

"Hey," he said, smiling and pulling back from her. "How have you been?"

"I'm wonderful now that you're here," she said, smiling.

Drew rolled his eyes. "That's adorable, but that's not what I asked." Rose blushed a little, but didn't say anything this time. It was like she knew he was right. "I heard your mom got engaged."

She looked off to the side, not meeting his eyes anymore. "Yeah," she said softly. Drew guessed there wasn't much to say about it other than that. Drew kind of wondered why she hadn't told him in their owls, and he had to find out by his mom instead. It made him wonder how she really felt about it.

They conversed for a couple of minutes, until most people started sitting down, and Rose clearly wasn't comfortable being one of the few standing up.

That's when he heard Charles call for him. "Drew! Where are you! Come join me at the long table where everyone is in red and gold if you hear this!" He could hear it, all right. Charles sure was good at yelling. Drew left Rose with some of her friends, finding Charles and a few others not far down the table. Drew considered himself good friends with Charles. They had met the last time that the schools had gathered, and had seen each other since, and had gotten along brilliantly. He was looking forward to seeing him again.

Charles was hanging around three others. One was a blonde girl that Drew recognized as Iris, one of the other broom racers from Ilvermorny. They had stuck together a little bit during the race. He saw a boy that was quite small [Werner], and a brunette girl [Cassie Heather, though he wasn't sure which school either were from. Drew smiled. They looked like a cool group to hang out with for now, and he walked up to them.

"Hey guys," he said casually, inserting himself into the group. At least he had been invited. "How have you been, Charlie?" He looked over to Iris, and made sure that she was, in fact, Iris, and not just some person that he was calling Iris that... wasn't Iris. "Your name is Iris, correct?" Then he decided that he should introduce himself to the other people who didn't know him [Cassie Heather and Werner]. "Sorry, I don't know either of your names. I'm Andrew Lycan, from Ilvermorny."

Mentioning ~ Rosella Sokolov @Logan Baird ~ @Scarlett Aden

Interacting ~ Cassie Heather @Lucia Fox ~ Werner Schmeikl @Kage Suzuki ~ Iris Fields @Katrina Walker ~ Andrew 'Drew' Lycan @Rose Moon ~ Ophélie Moore @Rhea Miller

Languages ~ Russian ~ French ~ Spanish ~ German ~ English ~ Norwegian

Outfit: Here

As Approved iNPC Iris Fields Mentioning: Werner, Cassie, Drew Interacting With: Charles Alluring@Henry Knight

Color: English= BF8080 Norwegian= BF8040 Outfit Hair&Makeup

Charles assured Iris that she would never be a bother as they were friends. Friends, a slightly foreign concept. Before she was so focused on being known and popular and never made strong bonds, then she was obsessed with broom racing and ignored most everyone, and more recently she was told that she wasn't worth people's time and that she was just an object of the Kingston family. Through it all, Iris struggled with the fact that she could have friends. Could he really want to be with her, he didn't know how horrible she'd been, how she just ignored so many people because it's what her grandmother would want. But, there was still time to change, wasn't there? Her grandmother wasn't here after all.

Iris was accepted without trouble into the group. It was quite frankly of a relief considering last time they had arrived at the castle and Iris had been ignored and disposed of without a second thought. Charles noticed the change in last name by his raise of an eyebrow but thankfully said nothing, they could get to that later. Cassie, the mischievous one as introduced by Charles, seemed, well, a bit overexcited, or at least talkative. Iris didn't catch most of what she said, but ended up lightly and distractedly fist bumping her after realizing that she wasn't going to put her fist down until she fist bumped back.

Charles leaned over to Iris' comment about his popularity, replying again in Norwegian, "Something new indeed, it seems like at least one person from every school knows you here," Iris joked, "And again you read my mind. Having someone to talk to definitely eases the situation, doesn't it? Though I might need to take some pointers from you"

After hearing their short back and forth, Cassie asked which school Iris was from, "I'm from Ilvermorney. But what I just spoke was Norwegian. Absolutely no connection between the school and the language," Iris forced a smile, dearly hoping it didn't look forced. Just at the conversation, Cassie glanced down at her outfit and Iris looked now, realizing that she was from Beauxbatons by her uniform, Iris' guess about French was right.

Iris only caught the tail-end of Charles' comment to the quiet boy but caught that he said that he was starting to prefer people from Ilvermorney than Beauxbaton. Iris smiled teasingly.

The other person Charles had been calling, Drew, showed up. That's when it clicked, that was Drew from broom racing. Andrew. Drew. Oh, that makes sense. "Yes, Iris Kingston, pleased to meet you again,"

Open to Interactions

[font=big caslon]─────── ❀ ───────

[font=big caslon]As iNPC Ophélie Moore Outfit: uniform Open to Interactions

[font=big caslon]French: #664F6F English: #190047 Russian: #351664

[font=big caslon]Interacting: Charles [@Henry Knight] Cassie [@Lucia Fox] Klara [@Gia Adelard] Mentioning: everyone

[font=big caslon]Ophé smirks slightly, grabbing both Charles's hands in theirs. He's speaking English so they decide that it's reasonable to follow suit. "My travels were lovely, thank you! This is so exciting, isn't it? I've never been to the Scottish highlands ─ not anywhere near Hogwarts, in fact." At the boy's suggestion of a meet-up, their smile widens, becomes more genuine. "Yes, we should! I'll send you an owl or something."

Letting their hands slip away, they turn, and wave at one of their fellow Beauxbatons students Cassie Heather. She is cool. Commendable in every way, and although she probably has no idea who Ophé is, they admire her greatly and are bubbly with excitement at the opportunity to interact. "Hi, Cassie! It's good to see you here. Glad you came along." They offer tentative eye contact, unsure of the relationship between the two of them, or if there is even recognition. Either way, every real friendship starts with a smile, right?

After slipping away from the little group, they discover a gap in the crowd, a small circle that is mostly uninhabited except for a single Koldovstoretz girl. This particular student looks anxious; all tucked away in her solitary corner, eyes sweeping the room. Ophé has empathy for that. They get anxious in crowds, sometimes, especially at galas and big fancy parties with her grandparents and tons of grown-ups. Maybe the girl is claustrophobic. No matter the cause, Ophé feels obligated to approach her, and try to help her to feel better.

Ophé seats themself beside her and smiles. Not that they ever stopped, but their smile changes to be more appropriate for the situation: instead of just pure glee, they now offer warmth and kindness. "Hello," they say softly. "My name is Ophé. They/them. Or─ my apologies, you understand Russian only. Not my best language, but it's good. My name is Ophé. I─" Wince. How do you say them/them in Russian? This seems like something they should be aware of by now. Oh well, no matter. They furrow their brow in concern, and it takes everything in them not to give the poor girl a massive hug. Instead they restrain themself to the simple, yet often effective phrase:

"Are you ok?"

[font=big caslon]─────── ❀ ───────

Interacting with: Milo Durand (@Delilah Stewart) & Clara Durand (@Aspen Summers)

Her meal was interrupted not too long later by a voice she did not recognise. Midway through eating some pasta, she had to stop herself from responding and carefully finished eating her bite to prevent a rather awkward coughing situation. Turning her head to spot a boy she definitely had not seen before, dressed sharply in what she believed was the Beauxbatons uniform, "Of course! O-oh-" She initially waved for him to sit and join her with a smile on her face, pleased to not have to sit there alone and trying to be polite. But the sentence quickly started to derail when he finished his sentence.

She looked solitaire... What did that even mean?!

Wasn't that a game? Right! A card game. Solitaire. Her uncle had shown her how to play that once. Not that she fully grasped the rules of it at that time. Young Serena ended up just randomly moving some cards and definitely doing some cheat moves. But it was still a card game, right? How did she look like a card game?! Was this a compliment? Was it an insult? She had no idea.

"Oh well uh, yeah, you see..." She started to justify it but she had no idea what she was actually justifying. Her hands moved around a little over her plate as she gestured randomly, clearly busy in trying to think of an answer. Wait- did he mean 'solitude'? Being in solitude meant that you were alone, right? Oh! Well, that made more sense! He was calling her alone - wait, that was an insult, right? She had no idea.

Luckily, the awkwardness Serena felt was broken by the girl beside him. His sister, apparently. An apology. "Oh! No, no, there's no need to apologise. I guess I arrived before my friends did. I'm sure they will be here soon!" She had no idea if her friends would be here anytime soon but she was trying to be optimistic - and hopefully not come off as a complete loner, even if she was by herself.

There, that was not so hard, was it? Geesh Serena, be polite. "Serena," She introduced herself in return, placing her cutlery done and holding out her hand for a handshake to be polite. She shook Clara's hand before moving to offer her own to Milo, who was hopefully not trying to insult her. She had no idea but at the very least, his sister seemed nice! Then again, Serena thought most people were nice by default, "Lovely to meet you two. Are you both from Beauxbatons?" She asked, hazarding a guess based on Milo's uniform. They did not need to go to the same school, of course. Her brother did not attend Hogwarts, after all.

NATASHA PAVLOVA

Open to Interactions

Being one of the farthest schools from Hogwarts, a portkey was all they needed to arrive. Natasha Pavlova waited nearby the Portkey, watching her students enter one by one. They were a small group in comparison to other schools, but with their history, it was understandable. It had been nearly 30 years since they've been freed of persecution from USSR. How it affected the Wizarding Community was even more so difficult.

Natasha tried to smile at each student making their way to the portkey. Unfortunately, she had just finished a round of botox a couple days prior that although she felt like she was smiling, only the tips of her lips curled up. Luckily, her eyes did not look as surprised as they did a week before.

It was time. All of her children had entered through the portkey and it was time for her to go through. Before touching the object, Natasha looked behind her to Koldovstoretz. It was calm as it should be. I'll be back soon, she thought and Natasha put her bony hands on the object, sucking her out of one place and spitting her out into another.

First thing that came to mind when she arrived was not the beautiful landscape of Hogwarts. Instead, Natasha was worried about how she looked coming out of the portkey. She fixed her black dress, and took out a mirror from her black little purse where she checked her hair and makeup. Perfect. Putting away her mirror back into her purse, Natasha finally had a chance to look around.

Hogwarts looked so medieval. The amount of history the castle and land held was admirable. Her school hardly had history in comparison.

Natasha watched as her students began to head on over to the castle and mingle with other students. There were three other schools that were guests alongside Koldovstoretz. There were Beauxbaton, Durmstrang, and Ilvermorney who were also invited as guests for an event. The rumors that she had heard about events on Hogwarts had made her cautious, but there was one so many times of rejecting their invitation. It was now time, seeing as the other schools kept attending nonetheless of such catastrophes.

Speaking of rumors, it was clear that there were some spreading around about the Hogwarts faculty. How she became known to them was beyond her. Perhaps the passersby of her students as she was walking towards the castle were speaking loud. Gossip always ended individuals in ruins. These ones, though, were entertaining. Natasha was interested in meeting the famous opera singer.

Natasha made her way towards the Great Hall where the flock of students were heading. When she got inside, she stepped to the side, away from the flow of students entering and took in the plainness of the room. There were curtains for each house color and tables were spread out and elongated. It was drastically different from what she was used to. It felt like a community within these walls.

She eyed the perpendicular table at the end of the room. From the looks of it, the table belonged to professors and staff. Before moving forward, she opened up her purse and took out her mirror. She checked her hair, eyes and lips. Perfect. Placing the mirror back into her purse, Natasha made her way towards the perpendicular table. There didn't seem to be any professors or other staff at the table yet. That did not stop Natasha. She saw a chair of her choice slightly to the left of the middle and calmly observed as all the students trickled in.

Interacting with: - @Serena Towers - @Aspen Summers as Clara Durand Mentioning the above

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RPing as iNPC Milo Durand Date: 21st of May 2021 Outfit: Beauxbatons Uniform

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He could see the confusion on her face, oh god damn it, he had messed it up..did Solitaire mean something else in English? He did sit across from her though when she said it was okay. He managed to be able to speak Veela but English was too much for him? It was a bit disappointing. He smiled nervously, hoping at least his smile would charm her, before he heard a voice behind him, one he knew too well. His sister.

Just as she probably expected, Clara received a rather passive-aggressive look from the older Durand sibling before turning back to his new tablemate. "Oui, sorry, my English...it is not good." He gave a small chuckle. He was already getting off to a terrible start, this was so much easier at home, but based on her confusion when he spoke french..she did not speak it.

Shaking her hand gently when it was offered to him, he smiled again, "It is lovely to meet you as well! You do seem lovely, Serena is a very nice name." Clara knew what he was trying to do, she had seen it too many times, although he never usually failed...and he seemed to be this time. When she had asked about their school, he gave a small smirk at how she had pronounced it. "Oui, we are from Beauxbatons." He pulled on his sleeves a little, rolling them up a bit so that if he went to get any food, he wouldn't accidentally dip the edge of his sleeve into anything. "I like this school, it's very old." He did mean it in a compliment way towards the castle, but again it sounded a bit odd.