Event Blossom Ball - Trial of Persephone

lettering in header done by the wonderful serena towers

ACTION:
Attempting to make a bouquet
stamina: 7 | evasion: 8 | strength: 15 | wisdom: 6 | arcane power: 3 | accuracy: 12

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BLOSSOM BALL 2021

Interacting With: N/A
Mentioning: N/A
Hex Color: #800000

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Flowers. It just had to be flowers.

Despite their obvious splendor, flamboyant colors and stunning variations in sizes, and general assistance in the intimidating yet intriguing field of romance, the Captain didn’t care all that much for the colorful plants – or, perhaps the better terminology for the situation was that, they didn’t care much for him. The beautiful blooms, after all, held a scent none to pleasant to the Captain, who was not-so-mildly allergic – the very sight of the colorful blossoms brought a slight wrinkle to the sensitive nose of the young man, his gaze sharpening in the slightest as he glanced upon the likes of his next challenge. And a challenge it would be. Rafael almost wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation – “Bested by plants,” he muttered in slight distaste for his own weakness. “How embarrassing that would be.”

Yet, no such reality was to come to fruition without avid competition – having previously been given a piece of parchment, he decided to take a moment to look over the flowers he was to be searching for. Aster, anemone… yes, they all seemed familiar enough, just about all of them having inhabited his mother’s garden at some point or other – okay, a successful endeavor was more than attainable. A small grin surfaced the face of the Captain in place of the previous grimace. He would do his best to keep his own suffering short, rip the band-aid off as fast as he could. Weakness was not a luxury the young man could afford.

Heaving a sharp sigh and fixing his cuffs, the Captain set off to work, steeling himself for the worst.

STA _____ 10 EVA _____ 4 STR _____ 9 WIS _____ 10 ARC _____ 2 ACC _____ 8

STATS & ABILITIES Interception Reducio When a Quaffle is being passed, users with this ability automatically get a chance to Intercept the quaffle. This does not replace their normal action for the round. This put the quaffle in your and by extension you teams' possession. Also, if the Quaffle is dropped for any reason, you would automatically (without it taking up an action) attempt another Quafflegrab. At present there would be no mid-round way to drop a quaffle due to the order of operations, however there will be certain effects in future patches that can cause this effect. Catch Reducio Able to catch two falling players on your broom when playing Quidditch. These additional caught players would be brought to the ground safely and they would be allowed to retrieve their broom and enter play again the next round. This can be done every round as the player's action if they choose to do so. With brooms that have the feature where an additional player may be caught (such as Bluebottle) where there is a stackable chance of failure with each additional person caught, there is no stacking failure chance for players with this ability. YEAR III AB Reducio TBD

Action • Attempting the challenge

INTERACTING: /

| OUTFIT

The fourth year really could tell you all about creatures and animals, because of how much he loved them. But flowers and plants and all things that grew, was just really nothing that was too interesting to him, unless they were important to a specific animal or similar stuff. But he felt like this trial just wanted to see him fail, like the ones that had been about potions. Alan was not entirely bad at herbs either, he knew how important it was to know the basics of them, but these were mere flowers and while he found they looked extremely beautiful and pretty, he would never get out of his way to remember them by their name.

Nonetheless he would do his best attempt at picking the correct flowers as he did want to win, even if his hopes for victory had turned to look really bad, as he had done a lot of mistakes in the previous trials. He was not sure if he even had a chance at succeeding this anymore. Then again, ultimately he did have fun and knew that this was what this was all about; he did not necessarily need to be the ball king, especially since he did not even go to the ball with anyone. This would just draw attention to him. Then again, in theory he had gone with both Ami and Scott, but only as friends and to raid the buffet.

ACTION | do trial
POST TRACKER | X | H H O H P A | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X

Closed to interactions.
Wearing a deep plum chiton and cloak and grape headpiece inspired by Dionysus.
[1] [2] [3] [Hades] [Hecate] [Orpheus] [Hermes] [Persephone] [Apollo]

It came of no surprise that Persephone’s area was strikingly beautiful. Well-lit and splendor, Phaedra would have opted to spending the rest of the evening in here, but it was never that simple. As the crowd pushed through to line up before Levi for instructions, she clasped her hands and took it all in. Make Persephone a bouquet, eh? Yes, she could do that.

The host handed her a slip of parchment with six flowers and their appearances. Considering the ball’s theme and the previous trials, she had expected to see Asphodel listed, given its association with the Underworld. Instead, there was quite the diverse array of botanical options; some she was certain she’d never seen in person. Phaedra paid little mind to flower language and their symbolism. They often contradicted between individual and culture anyway. To Phaedra, a lovely flower was just that, no strings attached, but now that she thought about it, perhaps this mental approach explained her marks in Herbology.

“Trust me. I’m well aware,” she noted, already forming up a plan on how to grab flowers near the forest edge and leave before anything ridiculous could happen. Peering back down at the parchment, she took a step into the grass as she reread to herself, her chiton scraping against the blades.

The list seemed to prioritize genus names over common, much to Phaedra’s dismay. Aster was basically just a daisy; Narcissus, a daffodil; Dianthus, a carnation. Anemone was poppy-like…and then there was the Red spider lily. Raising a brow, Phaedra analyzed this one in particular. Were these native to Britain? No, she would’ve known if so. Well, the name fit the look, at least, its petals jutting out like a hungry creature. It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Left for last was the most notable; the distinctive and aromatic hyacinth. Perfect. She knew hyacinths well.

Like most in Greek myth, the story of Hyacinthos was a tragic one. One of Apollo’s many male lovers, Hyacinthos was accidentally killed during a game, though some interpretations held the jealous Zephyrus responsible. From his blood, the hyacinth bloomed by Apollo’s grieving. It was bittersweet, in a way; beauty birthed from hardship. Phaedra folded the parchment in half and kneeled down near a garden. She just hoped no flying discs would come barreling out of the sky. Standing this close to the woods was risky enough. Now, where could she find a Spider lily…?

Action: Pick flowers.
STA: 7, EVA: 8, STR: 1, WIS: 15, ARC: 10, ACC: 10
Perfectionist, Perfectionist II, Spell Spread, Advanced Casting

Reducio

IMPORTANT: I have recently changed my character’s name but the IC change is in effect from July so at this time I’m still using the old name, which was Carolyn Hunt.

At first, Carolyn was excited. She loved flowers and this trial seemed to be all about them. She remembered a lovely errand she attended not a long time ago. She met Lucia there as well and here they were, conquering the flowers once again. “Good Luck,” she smiled at her friend encouragingly. She knew out of the two, she had far better knowledge of flowers but she doubted it would be only about flowers here. Surely, there must be something else going on, her brain supplied distrustfully. “Well, I suppose I will have to see about that,” she muttered under her nose. For now, she had a task to do, she would just have to be extra careful.

Looking at the parchment the young Ravenclaw received was supposed to be an easy task and in a way, it was. She knew all those flowers. Some from her time gardening with her grandma, some she saw elsewhere. No, the actual plants weren’t at fault here it was just the second name that almost made her sick. “Anemone,” she uttered her maternal grandmother’s name as if it was poison. That woman was not worth such delicate flower. Perhaps the sea Anemone…I might believe that one. She snorted, probably looking slightly crazy to any onlookers. Well, I guess I’ll enjoy plucking that one out especially. The witch shrugged as she started walking.

She would do so swiftly but also carefully in order not to accidentally stomp on any of her targets. Come on Carolyn….where could they be? You must have seen them around. You spend so much time on the grounds. That much was true. She enjoyed her walks here and she came out to paint the surroundings occasionally. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find everything, right? Aster…Ah yes, the one that grew did best on well-drained, loamy soil and right under the sun. There was even one called Jeju Aster according to her grandmother. There should be more of them in one spot. The Ravenclaw slowly started to recall any information her grandma ever gave her. Carolyn never thought it would be very useful and yet here she was…

WC: 348

For Moderation :
Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 10 | ArcPower: 7 | Accuracy: 7
Abilities : Perfectionist, Healing Sage
Action :Doing the trials with @Lucia Fox.

posts i. ii. iii. iv INTERACTION───────────── @ info─────── Reducio action | completing the trial health | 600/600 stats | sta 6 eva 7 str 0 wis 7 arc 4 acc 6 (first year stats) abilities | seer year 1 • 10% autododge, 10% autohit

trials i. ii. iii. iv ────────────────MENTION @ Reducio link ───────outfit

Of course, it had to be flowers.

This was inevitable, though. She knew that. It was practically all over those positively dreary flyers that had spread across the school like a plague. From what Everly remembered, a whole bunch of them mentioned 'Persephone's rising from the Underworld' and 'the arrival of spring' and Persephone, being the goddess of spring... with the flowers being her whole theme and all... thus, flowers.

For the trial itself, though, they were to find some flowers. It did not seem that hard, until Everly realized she would need to know what these flowers were. And Everly was not all that familiar with flowers. Sure, she did find them very pretty, and she knew some, she wasn't sure if her knowledge reached that far. And, to make it all much worse, they were only given so much time to find all of the flowers. But, with the mention of bonus points came determination. She would have to find these flowers, and fast.

These flowers, Everly had heard at least most of them before. She could vaguely remember them. Asters, beautiful flowers that she could most prominently recall that some were purple. Narcissuses, flowers named after the man in Greek mythology who was oh so famous for being in love with his own reflection. Red spider lilies, obvious by their name, red flowers that looked an awful lot like spiders. Hyacinths, flowers of purple and white and red and lots of others, that looked sort of like cake icing to Everly. The last two, anemone and dianthus, were both vaguely somewhere in her head. She had heard of them before, but without a clear picture in her head, it would be a bit more difficult. Still, she would persevere.

And with this in her head, she began.

Trial of Persephone Moderation

The Trial of Persephone had passed by. Blurs of people, both strange and familiar, wandered the ball with flowers balled in their fists—however, not all of them were correct. And some, much slower than others. Levi had found it interesting to observe as they glanced to a sketch, then to a bloom, comparing the two, rubbing his knuckles when they visibly chose wrong. Joyous when they returned quickly, minimizing his concerns that someone would fall off into the woodline and never be seen again. Off somewhere as a student-kabob. From there, questions would arise, and he would—well, no need to get into that now. Let’s just hear about the results.

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The Results

Irina Afansyeva iNPC Lavinia Cloven Reducio The first to arrive on the trial performed decently, with a perfectly average score. Perhaps she was slightly hindered by that extremely long gown? d20 = (8 + 7) = 15 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Xailah Alptraum Reducio Despite seeming rather sour, Xailah's irritation would fuel her to give one of the best Persephone performances of the night! What's her secret? Spite? d20 = (20 + 10) = 30 she found the flowers immediately! +4 points	Yefim Rumyantsev iNPC Flash Holmwood Reducio Yefim was perhaps the most horrifying man Levi had ever seen. Informing him that his performance had been average, he would say a quiet goodbye in case the massive guy killed him. d20 = (4 + 10) = 14 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points
Elena Jangleton Reducio While her approach of speaking to the inanimate objects was slightly weird, who could argue with results? She did end up finding them, so. d20 = (8 + 10) = 18 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Anja Murtaja Reducio Her confidence did her well! Levi wasn't sure the flowers symbolism granted her many favors, but eh! d20 = (9 + 8 ) = 17 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Pericles Dralt Reducio Another nerd, eh? Er, I mean, person who likes flowers. Regardless, while his keen eye didn't come in handy, his enthusiasm served as a power, and Pericles performed exceptionally. d4 = 3 (no keen eye) d20 = (15 + 7) = 22 he found the flowers during the first round! +3 points
Adlai Rod Reducio For someone using a trial (hehe) and error method, Adlai blew many of the participants out of the water! Luck was on her side. d20 = (20 + 5) = 25 she found the flowers immediately! +4 points	Mikael Halldorson iNPC Percival Rainwood Reducio Mikael was sort of creepy to Levi. There was something distinctly off about him, but it bred a fascination. Perhaps he was put in some sort of trance when he informed Mikael of his outstanding performance. d20 = (20 + 9) = 29 he found the flowers immediately! +4 points	Dan Palmer Reducio This guy had a strange vibe. For some reason, Levi was a bit more worried about him than he was the rest. d4 = 4 (no keen eye) d20 = (4 + 9) = 13 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points
Evelynn Decipio Reducio He'd recognized this girl, a prefect of his house. Sadly, his silent wish of luck did not do any more for her than anyone else. She seemed a little frustrated, anyway. d4 = 2 (no keen eye) d20 = (8 + 10) = 18 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Cassie McGregor-Martin iNPC Lucia Fox Reducio Well, this student was quite dressed to theme. It was nice to see, perhaps this would give her some unspoken advantage in a trial based on her muse. Or not. d20 = (6 + 7) = 13 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Charles Alluring iNPC Henry Knight Reducio This student seemed to believe, alongside his peer, that racing would improve his performance. What a shame. He was not correct. Still, suppose no harm was done. d20 = (4 + 10) = 14 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points
Jayden Holt iNPC Andrew Vance Reducio Hag problem. Levi would shudder. That was not something he needed to be thinking about on top of the... the... anyway. d20 = (9 + 10) = 19 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Elisabeth Erner Reducio Another very smart girl, and this would improve her performance. Levi was delighted to tell her the hard work paid off. d20 = (18 + 7) = 25 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Dealla Prince Reducio Part of Levi felt a connection to this girl. Like, maybe, she knew what he was talking about. He'd resist the urge to further explain, but any caution she used would do her well. d20 = (16 + 8 ) = 24 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points
Scarlett Aden Reducio Scarlett made him a little nervous. That's just the bravery of a lion, he supposed, yet his knuckles would tint deeper red. d20 = (18 + 8 ) = 26 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Gregori Erkens iNPC Ginevra Tsuchiya Reducio Someone who didn't quite know what it meant to "dress to theme". Though Levi would wish different, his negligence would not slow him down. d20 = (16 + 8 ) = 24 he found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Florian LeRoy iNPC Starlee Kennedy Reducio Faith restored! This fine fellow seemed to be having a jolly time. Shame he didn't do better. d20 = (13 + 6) = 19 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points
Melody Westmoore iNPC Calypso Starling Reducio A rather pretty girl. She knew speed was key, and in the end, she did better than she could've. But what was she missing? d20 = (6 + 5) = 11 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Arjan Oberoi iNPC Serena Towers Reducio Alright, this bulky dude didn't even need proper dress to pass as a Greek god. Hot damn. d20 = (13 + 10) = 23 he found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Marshal Mozor Reducio This student, vaguely familiar, seemed determined to impress. Not Levi, though... who was so worth it? d20 = (16 + 7) = 23 he found the flowers during the first round! +3 points
Lydia Cooper Reducio The first person of the evening to take three rounds to locate their flowers. A shame, she was a pretty girl. Levi may remember her. d20 = (2 + 5) = 7 she found the flowers during the third round! +1 point	Andrew Lycan iNPC Rose Moon Reducio A talkative guy. He appeared determined, though. Perhaps if he'd focused he would have been quicker? d20 = (6 + 6) = 12 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Anastasia Beckett Reducio He'd met a horrifying beauty like hers before. He'd be wishing her luck; a shame if something messed up a face that pretty. d20 = (3 + 8 ) = 11 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points
Santario Martin Reducio He'd remember her. There was something undeniably... enthralling. He'd trip over his words when he reported her score. d20 = (19 + 11) = 30 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Lily Cawthi Reducio Oh, goodness. Poor girl. He'd been rooting for her, too. d20 = 1 - crit fail she picked the wrong flowers! +0 points	Serena Towers Reducio Admittedly, he was charmed by her devotion to nature. However, when her spell failed, he really had no choice but to fail her with a disappointed frown. d20 = 1 - crit fail her spell failed! +0 points
Starlee Kennedy Reducio Another participant to blow them all away! He wondered how she managed that. Maybe it was the good mood. d20 = (20 + 5) = 25 she found the flowers immediately! +4 points	Lucia Fox Reducio She was perhaps too busy swooning to focus. If only that romantic tendency could've been put to good use! d20 = (9 + 6) = 15 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Ami Procoppio Reducio The next hero looked like she could crush Levi with her pinky. He hoped she'd pass just so he didn't have to inform her otherwise. d20 = (14 + 12) = 26 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points
Rafael D'Spacito Reducio Moderating this trial had taught Levi one thing if nothing else: there are people who are conventionally better looking than you. d20 = (10 + 8 ) = 18 he found the flowers during the second round! +2 points	Alan Vanes Reducio There is was again. An odd sense. A connection. A wish of luck, and off he went. d20 = (19 + 6) = 25 he found the flowers during the first round! +3 points	Phaedra Stavrou Reducio Well aware? Once again, he wanted to ask further. In the midst of the trial wasn't the time, however. He'd remember her face. d20 = (15 + 10) = 25 she found the flowers during the first round! +3 points

Eun-ji Lee Hunt Reducio She came in alongside another, prepared to defeat. Sadly, that wouldn't go quite as planned. d20 = (5 + 7) = 12 she found the flowers during the second round! +2 points

Everly Charlton Reducio Everly! A familiar face. He'd been meeting to meet with her again, perhaps not under the circumstances of telling her she'd picked the wrong flowers. d20 = 1 - crit fail she picked the wrong flowers! +0 points

thank you for participating!