Event Blossom Ball - Trial of Persephone

Roleplaying as Durmstrang iNPC Arjan Oberoi

Entering thread from the Underworld

It took way too much time for Arjan to find his way to the correct area. Mostly because he seemed to just keep getting distracted, as though he was forgetting what he was meant to be doing or why he was there. After some time, he found himself getting distracted by a pretty girl. But then he saw the trial nearby and decided it was a good time to try that. He heard a voice as he approached, calling him a hero - which, of course, he was. The smirk on Arjan's face grew tenfold. Apparently he had wondered into the trial of Persephone - whoever that was. Collecting flowers? That seemed almost too easy! Of course he could do that. He had, after all, spent plenty of time finding the best flowers to pick and present to random girls. His date had been the recipient of one earlier this fine evening. Oh wait. He had a date - where was she? Why wasn't he with her? These were questions that made him frown but, for the life of him, he could not quite recall when he last saw her. Did she leave?

Shaking the thoughts aside, he glanced around and turned his attention back towards the voice when he could not immediately see her nearby. Apparently he had to find some sort of flowers. Obviously, it would be the most beautiful rose! That would be the perfect flower, no?

A frown appeared as his eyes scanned the listed flowers. There were six flowers... None of which sounded like a 'rose'. What even was this? Were these even real flowers or made up names? What sort of flower was a 'Narcissus'? He had no idea but it sounded COOL. He kind of wanted to keep one. Maybe if he found one, he could keep it. Then again, he would have no idea which one it was... What if he just picked 6 different roses? Would that work? Hm. Perhaps best to - at the very least - pick six different types of flowers. Geesh, who the hell was supposed to know what these even where? Who actually paid attention to plants? Did he look like the type of person who would play around in dirt? What, was he five? Come on! They should have given pictures or colours to look out for or something!

Despite all of his thoughts that made him think this was ridiculous, a part of him still wanted to win. So... he had a tactic. His plan was to just run around and pick different flowers each round, and hope for the best. Maybe he would be lucky enough to pick the correct six. All he had to do was find the six most beautiful ones, right? That should be easy!

What an easy trial! He smirked as he started the trial, eagerly searching for six different flowers that could be the ones listed on the sheet.

ACTION: Taking part in trial

Stamina: 15 | Evasion: 4 | Strength: 15 | Wisdom: 3 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Charmer Allies: Phaedra Stavrou, Falentra Black, Rudolf Novikov & Vyacheslav Preobrazhensky
Status: Forgetful | Health: Full

Post Tracker: [Underworld 1 | 2 | 3][Persephone]

Outfit of the day | shoes

Graphic by Leonard Oaksworth

Mentioning: @Evelynn Decipio & @Levi Drakos

Apparel

There is a pure, simple kind of beauty in joy. Something that seeps into your heart, often without your realization. Something about the very atmosphere that rubs off on you, lending a piece of its own self to you in an infectious manner.
Light seems to emit comfort and delight, leaving everything in its wake brighter for its gentle touch, warmer on the surface and within, and more optimistic for the future, where you know you'll find that light once more. It always returns, and so hope is never truly lost.

The absence of graceful illumination throughout the previous trials left Marshal with a newfound appreciation for the peace which radiated from this new area, its flowers providing a much-needed respite for his weary eyes. The nearby music resonated with his soul, gleefully reminding him that spring was here; after a long endurance of the cold winter months, the glow of sunlight was finally upon them, renewing their respective faculties and allowing them to see the world through fresh eyes.
The hush that had oppressed their conversations fell away with the gloom, leaving him free to smile once more, open to the exciting possibilities presented by the upcoming trial.
The first-year glanced in Eve's direction, expecting to see the same feelings reflected in her eyes, but all he saw there was emptiness. Almost as though she had seen a ghost, the girl's stormy gaze was bathed in absence of feeling, her expression haunted by some phantom that Marshal could not see. Her jaw clenched with a fervor that could only be wrought by anger, fear, or perhaps something worse altogether.
Following the line of her tense stare, he was led only to the flowers, to the apparent beauty that awarded them with its presence.

The boy wanted to ask if she was all right, wanted to somehow chase away whatever demon had descended upon her consciousness. And yet he hesitated. While she certainly seemed uneasy, he got the feeling that nothing he could say would put an end to it. He knew well enough that some things simply couldn't be helped; sometimes a person needed to face a memory alone - and all the emotions that came with it.
Though it pained him, he would not pressure Evelynn with his intervention. He would merely flash a supportive grin, were she to look his way, and send all positive thoughts in her direction. Perhaps it would help, if only in some small way.

The Gryffindor's attention only splintered from his date when a boy greeted them and explained the rules of the trial. At his appearance, Marshal raised an eyebrow. He recognized the boy as another Gryffindor; more importantly, a particularly nosy Gryffindor who evidently found the deep, dark secrets of others far superior to his own reality. Levi was the name, if Marshal recalled correctly.
As a rule, the blonde-haired student made it his duty to count everyone he met as a friend, and to treat them as such. However, he was rather unsure as to how he felt about this one. Further exploration was required before any true judgements could be made.

Centering his focus on the trial at hand, Marshal accepted the parchment from Levi, awarding it with a pensive examination.
Flowers? he thought with dismay, brow furrowing. I have to find flowers? Why do these challenges just keep getting worse? Can't they have one that doesn't require any knowledge whatsoever?
Of course, he supposed that would be slightly counterintuitive, considering the event had been thrown by the school itself, but surely even the evil masterminds behind organizing class schedules were capable of letting their students relax for one night. Heck, they already provided opportunities such as lunch, so they couldn't be all bad. Or at least, that's what he had figured before tonight.

"Aster," he muttered quietly, face scrunched in concentration. "Anemone, Red spider- Spider Lily?" He glanced up to scan the scattered flowers. Sadly, he doubted any of them resembled a spider - it couldn't be that easy.
Couldn't there have been a challenge where his vast knowledge of Quidditch would come in handy? Was he not to be thrown even a single bone?
Awaiting his turn, he studied the meager depictions beneath his nose. This was not likely to go well, but he would certainly give it a heroic effort.

Action: Attempting to find the flowers in the given time limit.

Trial Tracker:
Orpheus | Apollo | Hecate | Hades | Persephone | Hermes

Blossom Ball '21 - Outfit (thanks to Anja Murtaja)

While the Orpheus trial had been exhausting on a mental level, the Hermes one had been physically draining; running and avoiding obstacles definitely did not get along with heels and long dresses, but Lydia still managed to have some fun, so it was worth it.

She reached the Persephone trial, looking around and taking in the atmosphere of the Spring side of the ball, as a small smile spread over her lips, her face still slightly flushed by all the running. She really hoped that this next trial would have been calmer, and that it hopefully will not involve any running. However those hopes went away as she listened to the boy that was explaining the trial; she will have to pick out some flowers, but first she will need to find them...

Lydia looked down at the decorated parchment, and she thought she did recognise some of those flowers, which meant that she must have seen them somewhere- even if the "where" was a total mystery. One of those flowers kind of creeped her out, the "Red spider lily" had such a beautiful colour, but its shape did resemble a spider, and a shiver ran down the girl's spine as she tried not to think about spiders.

After the explanation was over, and they were given the okay to start the trial, Lydia started looking around for those six flowers, while also trying to be quick.

Action: doing the trial.
Stats: STA: 5 || EVA: 7 || STR: 5 || WIS: 10 || ARC: 5 || ACC: 5
Race: Part-Veela
Abilities: Alluring || Lovely Creature

Trials tracker: Underworld || Hades|| Hecate || Orpheus || Hermes || Persephone|| Apollo

Interacting With | @Henry Knight as Charles Alluring
Mentioning | @Scarlett Aden | @Lucia Fox as Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin

The last trial had been simple. The ones before the last one had been more complicated in their meanings and goals, and complicated to do. But this time, it was somewhere in the middle. They had to search for flowers. Six types. And there was all kinds of places those flowers could hide. But still, it was just finding flowers. It wasn't like they were being quizzed or magically tasked or something.

Drew shrugged at Charles' comment. "Picking them should be the easiest part. Finding them is the real challenge. But at least it's not too complicated," he said. "And, technically, we are children." He smirked a little. Charles probably didn't mean it technically, and Drew expected an enormous eye roll for that. He felt an arm around his shoulder when he was listening to the rules, and a question from his teammate. He squinted his eyes a little. "It could be a clue that there's something there, a clue that there's nothing there, or a real warning. I've heard stuff about the forest around Hogwarts being dangerous. We'll just have to see, I guess."

Then Drew remembered who Persephone was. She had gone around picking flowers, wandered too far, and then had been kidnapped by Hades when he saw her, and he pulled her underground to the Underworld. Was the warning about the woodline a play on that? "Do you know the story of Persephone? Maybe it's about that."

Then it was time for them to start the trial. Drew clenched his muscles, ready to take off once they were allowed. "Good luck, Charlie. Let's go frolic and pick some flowers."

For Moderation
More Information about Drew is here
Action: Doing the Hermes Trial, running as fast as he can

[1] | [2] | Hades Trial | Hecate Trial | Orpheus Trial | Hermes Trial | Persephone Trial

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Currently closed to interactions
Interactions: None
Mentioning: None
Word count: 226
Hex Color: #0080FF
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For Moderation:
Action: Attempt trial
Health: 500/500
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Fearless | Terrible Presence
Stats: Stamina 5 | Evasion 10 | Strength 5 | Wisdom 9 | Arcane Power 10 | Accuracy 8

Persephone. Goddess of spring or flowers or nature or something. Not a goddess Ana was particularly interested. She got kidnapped or ran away, depending on which version of the myth one believed, and wed Hades, causing the change of season. In Ana's opinion, the silliest goddess.

This trial wasn't going to make Ana much fonder of her, seeing as the pureblood was not what some might call "outdoorsy". Quite the opposite, actually. While she liked flowers, she certainly didn't wish to run around like an idiot looking for them and picking them. She considered flouncing out altogether but decided against it. She had made it this far, she wasn't going to let a little dirt get in her way. It surely couldn't be any worse than that first year detention for fighting in the halls. She could use magic this time and she could clean herself off the moment she was done.

Resolve hardened, Ana launched herself into the task. As she searched for the desired flora, she wondered why she was doing this. Sure, the title would be nice, but the opinions of her schoolmates were nothing to her. No, that wasn't true. They meant far more to her than she had ever fully realized and since her rather ignominious start to the school year, she was desperately trying to rebuild her carefully cultivated reputation.

Post tracker: Underworld entry | Orpheus | Hecate | Hades | Persephone | Apollo | Hermes

Attire - Medusa
My trunk has Year 3 stats these are year 2:
Stamina : 8 | Evasion : 7 | Strength : 3 | Wisdom : 8 | Arcane Power : 9 | Accuracy : 8
Action| Participating in the trial of Persephone - Playing hide and seek with the flowers

Lily speaking in English
Lily speaking in Welsh
Others speaking

Lily had been waiting to do Lily had been waiting to do Persephone’s trial since she found out what it was: collecting flowers. To others, it might seem lame, but Lily know she was destined to do well. When she was told what flowers she would need to collect, she just knew she would do well. After all, one of the flowers was Red Spider Lily. Her namesake. It had to be a good sign.

When it was time to go, she knew she had to be ready. She quickly memorised the flowers in her head: Aster, Anemone, Narcissus, Red spider lily, Dianthus, and Hyacinth. All six. She ran off, ahead of everyone else, and knew she was being drawn to the red spider lily.

When she approached a part where nobody else was, she thought it might be wrong. But then she saw it: the red spider lily. There was only one way to describe it: beautiful. It had smaller strings coming off the bulb, a bit like a spider’s legs. Plus, it was red. It wasn’t that she liked red, but it just wasn’t her favourite colour. However, she was afraid of spiders. So, that’s why they call it red spider lily. She thought. Then, she ran on to try and find the rest of the flowers.

Banner by Lucia Fox

Entering thread from the Spring Festival

She knew very little about the trials on joining but they sounded kind of fun. Besides, she was in a great mood. The ball was actually turning out pretty fun - and without chaos. It was strange. Admittedly, she had just missed all of the chaos but if she did not see or hear it then in her eyes, there was not any. It simply looked like everyone was having fun, which was very nice to see. Serena had a smile on her face as she skipped towards the trial, opting to try them and see what all of the fuss was about. Winning was not really a priority for her. In fact, she probably preferred not to get the attention of winning. However, they looked fun and why do anything that was not essential if it was not fun for you?

Hearing a voice, she turned to pay attention to the words that were being spoken. Her face lit up more as she heard the description of the trial. Flower picking? That sounded really cute! Perhaps they could decorate the castle with all of the bouquets people were picking, that would be very nice.

Her smile faltered a little when he advised that there could be a danger, and to hurry. Immediately, her hand touched her pocket to check her wand. It was there. She was fine. She had been through hell and back, what was flower picking? Right? It had been some time since she realised that she did not necessarily require her wand to cast but she was still not super confident to cast wandlessly. Where the choice was given, she preferred to pick using her wand than not. Having it in her hand just gave her a bit more confidence and she knew the penalty of failing to successfully cast magic before. She was not about to take the risk willy-nilly.

Once they were permitted, Serena skipped around happily, searching for the flowers on the list. In all honesty, she was not familiar with all of them. She thought she knew what some of them were but most were her hazarding a guess. At the very least, she had a bit of common sense. The red spider lily, for instance, was likely red. Skipping through the grounds, she attempted to search for the flowers.

If she failed to find all of the correct flowers, maybe she should simply try and collect a few of the ones she did manage to find - if any. She could still create a half-decent bouquet with other flowers, right? It did not have to be perfect, it was the thought that counted. If she made it really pretty then they could gift it to someone or use it to decorate the castle and therefore, it would go to good use and that was all that really mattered. Pausing for a moment, Serena wondered if there was a spell that she could cast on the flowers after picking them to allow them to live forever, remaining fresh. That would be ideal. She did not want them to die! Especially not because of her! They were so beautiful and they smelt great, it would be such a shame.

With that thought, she frowned. No spell came to mind. If she picked them, would they have to die? Just so she could pass a trial? That seemed unfair. Serena 'urm-ed' and 'ah-ed' for a few moments before deciding that it was not worth it. She wanted the flowers to live, it was that simple. There was no reason for her to pick them. If Serena did manage to find any flowers - whether they were the listed ones or not - she would stop and smell them. A smile would bless her face as she did. Flowers were beautiful, after all, and they smelled lovely to her. She would spend most of her time searching for flowers just to sniff them, trying to figure out which one was her favourite scent.

Serena then returned without any flowers in her hand. If she was asked, she would explain that she refused to reduce their lifespan for a trial. However, if she did locate any, she would happily oblige in telling the boy where she saw them. She doubted it counted as she was not presenting Persephone with a bouquet but she also did not mind losing. It was worth it in the end. However, she would offer up a trick instead if he wanted flowers. If he said yes, she would attempt to snap her fingers whilst saying 'Orchideous' to cast the flower-conjuring spell in the hopes that a conjured bouquet would be enough of a gift for him. If not, that would be fine with her. She figured she ought to give him the gift of flowers if she could, she just did not want to pick the real ones for it. The conjured bouquet would probably not have any of the listed flowers even if it was successful but that did not matter to her. It was the thought that she was going for. She did not want him to feel like his trial was something she disliked. She did not. In fact, she loved the experience - she got to walk around and enjoy the view and potentially smell flowers! What was not to enjoy about that?

ACTION: Did not pick any flowers in the end but offers alternatives [Attempts to cast Orchideous using wandless magic]
(Totally happy to auto-fail this, this is just what she'd do IC)

Stamina: 10 | Evasion: 10 | Strength: 1 | Wisdom: 13 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Part-Goblin [Gobbledegook and Wandless] and Evasive Maneuvers
Status: Energetic | Health: Full

Post Tracker: [1][2][3][4]

Outfit of the day: [1][2][3][4]

Closed to Interactions
Trial Tracker: HADES | HECATE | ORPHEUS | HERMES | PERSEPHONE | APOLLO

Only two more trials left to go. Starlee was feeling so close to finishing, she could almost taste it. She could practically feel the crown in her hands, off to prove to her Grandfather that she was better than him. That she could beat a set of various trials to become the Queen of the Blossom Ball. She sighed aloud as she entered the next trial, ready to take on whatever was next.

The last task had been much more physical, but this one did have a similar element - complete it as quickly as possible. However it did have the bonus of being herbology-based, perhaps not exactly typical magical plants, or even plants usually found in potions, but she had read some books on mundane plants and flora as well, so she was sure she could find what she needed too.

Again, she was happy with her outfit choice, as she readied herself to dash off out onto the grounds to find the flowers. She thought about the list of flowers she'd been given. Hyacinth stuck out immediately. It was quite the unique flower, with a cattail like grouping of vibrant flowers. Certainly that would be one she could spot quickly. The red spider lily's were quite unique as well, notably for their elongated spider-like petals. Those two would certainly be the easiest to recognize, so she mentally added them to the top of her search list. The others were much more basic in form, but she figured just knowing two would put her bounds ahead of most of the other contestants.

And with that, she was off.

Action: Collecting Flowers for the Trial
Stats: Sta: 4 | Eva: 6 | Str: 6 | Wis: 8 | Arc: 6 | Acc: 5
Abilities: Healing Sage

[ @Carolyn Hunt ]

trials

Persephone. Lucia remembered the myth of Persephone. It was so romantic. Hades had seen the goddess of springtime picking flowers with her friends and had fallen utterly in love with her. Knowing that her mother, Demeter, would never let them marry, he had taken matters into his own hands and, with the permission of her father, Zeus, took Persephone down to the underworld to be his bride. Demeter had wandered the earth in sorrow searching for her daughter, aided by Hecate, the goddess of magic, until Helios, the sun, took pity on her and told her what had happened. Demeter went to Zeus, enraged, who eventually send Hermes, the messenger god, to Hades to force him to send Persephone back. However, when Hermes arrived, he discovered that Persephone had eaten four pomegranate seeds from Hades' garden. She was allowed back to the surface, but had to spend four months in the Underworld every year, due to the four seeds she had eaten. Those months became winter.

Lucia was shook out of her remembrance by the announcement that she was supposed to be searching for flowers for a bouquet. She blinked down at her parchment, dismayed when she realised that, although she knew the myths behind some of these flowers, she had no idea what they actually looked like. It was just as well that the parchment did, in fact, contain pictures for her to go off. Lucia hoped that Carolyn would have better luck than her - after all, the Ravenclaw had seemed quite knowledge on flowers at the springtime errand they had both participated in. Lucia could be just as happy if Carolyn did well as if she did; in fact, she might even be happier, since if Carolyn did worse than her Lucia would end up feeling guilty about it.

[ for stats/abilities, see signature ]