Fall Ball 2021 Fall Ball

Haley stood there, trying to get her tears back under control and finally look forward again. To be the Haley who was always laughing and having fun. She quickly calmed down, put her smile back on and turned around. Where Simon and his friend had just been dancing was now an empty spot. Now they were heading straight for Haley, had Simon seen her yet? or was he just ignoring her? Her eyes fell on them again, she saw them cross their arms as he carefully moved her hair back into place. "C'mon you've got to be kidding me right now." Haley cursed so softly that only she could hear.

How was she going to get back to her old self like this? If she was going to give it a chance, go to a ball and really intend to finally have fun again and another knife landed in her back. And then from none other than Simon Ezra Kincaid. That couldn't have been true. But it was.

She stood there rooted to the spot, wishing she were back in her dorm room by now. She couldn't take any of this seriously, she couldn't take Simon seriously anymore, and especially not what he was telling her. That he was her Secret Keeper, that she should confide in him,... that he loved her. She tried to swallow her anger and jealousy, not to let it come to the surface but the moment Simon offered his lady a drink, turned around and the only words he had for his GIRLFRIEND were "Oh" and "Sorry", she only saw red.

She was pissed and sad and with each additional thought she only got deeper into the downward spiral. It felt like she had been wrong about Simon for over a year now. As if she had been taken advantage of again and not taken for serious. She took a deep breath in and out, trying not to let that anger inside her surface, and ignored Simon, turning her attention to Emily. While one might now expect Haley to take her anger out on her, he didn't know her. Even if Haley was jealous, Emily couldn't help it. It was entirely her fault. She had been living at a distance for the last few months and she had put too much trust in Simon, at least that's how she felt at that moment.

She looked at Emily and smiled at her, a smile the likes of which hadn't been seen from Haley in a long time. "Hey Emily, it's nice to meet you!" replied Haley to her, not a bit of anger to be heard in her voice. She shouldn't suffer for what was between Haley and Simon, and she was sure she was a great person if Simon was friends her.

"Oh you know, why don't you two go. I have to go somewhere for a minute." now Haley replied to Simon, ignoring his smile. "Enjoy the ball." she now turned back to Emily with a big smile before turning and leaving.

Slowly, she just walked somewhere without a destination. Where were the restrooms here? To have to go somewhere meant in adult language, after all, that you had to pee. Gosh, she hated this adult behavior, she wanted to finally just be a damn stupid kid. She had not even noticed, but in the meantime, two small tears had flowed from the corner of her eyes again.

At one point she stopped haphazardly at the edge, aggressively wiping away her tears and taking deep breaths in and out. Just like she did during her panic attacks. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm down. She didn't want to be mad at Simon, after all she was the reason they were at this point in their relationship. Still, she was, she felt betrayed and screwed over. How could he possibly mean anything he said when he was now acting like this? She shook her head and snorted contemptuously.

Action: /

Mentioning: @Simon Kincaid @Emily R. Brewer

Emily smiled as they were dancing. It was lovely, and she was glad that after the dance lessons, she didn't mess it up anymore. The lessons were quite useful and she was very happy to have them. She smiled when Simon tapped his forehead against hers.

She smiled as Simon gave her a compliment about her dancing skills. "Well, what can I say, I got reached by the best, didn't I?" She said, she had really been enjoying herself, the company, the dance, the music. It was all so beautiful. It was even better than how she had imagined Hogwarts to be, and Simon, they had known each other, from London, but until now never got so close.

Emily smiled again as he had said they were a great team, and she could not disagree, they were a great team, there was friendship, trust, and loyalty, and more wasn't needed. They had fun together and were happy, and that is all that counted to her. "I cannot disagree on that, we are a great team!" She said. She started brushing when he had told her that he was proud of her, and tucked her hair pack in place, she moved her hand following the movement he made. "uh, how that, on my dancing you mean? Well thank you for teaching me, without you, I would have been a disaster!" She said and smiled.

Emily turned around as Simon called out Haley's name, it was unexpected, but not unpleaced. She was happy that Haley had shown up. She left how bad Simon seemed to feel when he talked about her, he clearly missed her, and so she was happy that he got to spend some time with her."I am so happy to finally get to meet you! Simon has told me so many things about you, good things!" She said and smiled. "I can leave you two here if you want to? You too have lots to catch up too!" She said to them.

She knew that Simon had had rather flirty behavior tonight, why? She had no clue. Maybe he just missed Haley, or he likes to flirt with friends. She didn't know, but she saw on Haley's face, that she didn't really enjoy it, and that she was rather jealous, which was totally understandable. She would have felt the same way, probably, if she was her.

She was shocked as Haley wanted to leave, she felt bad, she ran after Haley and grabbed her arm. '[color=#0054d]Are you okay?[/color]" She asked. Emily had always been extremely empathic, seeing someone cry could make her cry as well in a second. She saw a tear rolling down Haley's check and tried to put aside her own emotions. "Please stay, i insist. You should talk to Simon, really." She said and gave her a soft smile, trying to comfort her.

Wordcount: 477
Intercating with: Simon Kincaid and Haley Rose
Stats: |Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 6 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 7

Haley finally wanted to get back to her old self, her old life at home and here at Hogwarts. She wanted to give it all a chance, but the way the evening had started, there was no good chance that today would be that new beginning. She had never thought it could go like this in just a few minutes. She had come here really optimistic, but the tide had quickly turned. And now she was standing there again, just wanting to lie alone in her bed and not hear anything from anyone or anything.

But she wasn't surprised when she looked back, startled, and saw Emily holding her by the arm. Are you okay. Tears coming. No Haley. No, not now. You're not going to start crying now. The redhead kept admonishing herself internally and took a deep breath. "No -." She cleared her throat and tried again. "No worries." Haley answered and knew Emily wasn't buying it or she wouldn't have followed her. If she had, she wouldn't have asked if everything was okay. In a way, she remembered herself. Haley was also someone who always had an open ear, who was compassionate and could laugh with others as well as cry. But talking to someone was not in her strength. Occasionally there were people she found it easy with, but there were only a few of them.

Haley looked Emily straight in the eye and smiled her thanks, she knew it made no sense to talk everything up, to claim it was nothing, so she didn't do it. She just wanted Emily to know that she was grateful for her actions. But she didn't have time to answer anything, because Simon was already close by and calling for Emily. Haley couldn't hide it and rolled her eyes. She took advantage of the brief moment of distraction and wanted to continue on her way, she really didn't feel like this confrontation.

But Simon was faster, of course he was, he is a Dhampir. And even though he had called out to Emily first, it was Haley he was addressing now. Can we talk. You've got to be kidding me. Haley clenched her fists, anger rising again, he couldn't be serious now. But what would be worse than this exact situation? Exactly, freaking out here in front of a bunch of students, losing control and making a scene. But then she would finally behave childishly.

But she didn't want that childish behaviour, so she tried to suppress the anger as long as she could. She clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her own flesh. Her muscles tensed, you could see her slight biceps move under her skin, but she continued to remain calm. She breathed in and out.

"Three." She replied as their gazes locked together. It took her a brief moment to break away from this one. "Emily, sorry. Just three minutes and then I promise you'll get the drink he promised." She tried to sound as polite as she could, not to take her anger out on Emily, because she didn't deserve that and, after all, Haley didn't want that. But with each passing minute, she found it harder to keep her cool.

After Simon and Haley were alone, she turned her gaze back to him. "Three minutes, as you wished. Let's talk." She replied coolly. She didn't want to talk, she wanted to leave. To be alone, where no one could see her, and let her feelings out. Scream into her pillow, cry, alone.

The more she thought, the more the knife in her back hurt. It bored forward into her heart and while she had firmly told herself not to cry today, she was now on the verge of breaking that a third time. "Let's talk." She said again, this time softer, not so cold and with a crack in her voice.

Action: /

Mentioning: @Simon Kincaid @Emily R. Brewer

She was happy Haley wasn't too upset with her, this was never what she wanted to happen. She gave her a soft smile. She understand her, Emily was never one to talk about her feelings as well. She always kept them for herself but was always there for her friends whenever they needed her. But talking about her feelings was something she barely did. " I'll leave the both of you then." She said and smiled. Despite the horrible feelings of Haley and Simon, she felt quite okay. She turned around and took a step back.

She looked around, at all the people, dancing, happily. That is what she wanted for Simon, and for Haley. As she saw all the people dancing happily, she thought about her brother, where would he be? She hadn't heard from him in a while, which reminded her to write to her parents as well, she hadn't done it in a while and really needed to go for catchup.

She turned around, to see if everything was fine between Haley and Simon. It sure was going fine. Simon was kissing Haley, and not just a kiss of comfort, no, it was a passionate kiss, a kiss that showed that he did love her, and she loved him. For some reason, She felt as if a rock had burst into her chest. She felt cold, maybe even lonely. Everything she heard was just background noise, the only thing she could clearly hear, was her breathing. Which was raised by the seconds that passed. She had no idea why she felt this way. What made her, it was obvious it was because she saw Simon and Haley kissing, but why was that bothering her.

She took a step back, still looking at both of them. How could she have, and how could she have never noticed herself? She had liked Simon, without knowing, and she had been here, while he was flirting with her. How could she do this to Haley? Doing with him to the dance in the first place. Her breathing only started to raise. She had been the cause of them fighting, she. Altho it looked like they fixed it up pretty well but still, How could she ever hurt anyone like that? She turned around, slowly trying to walk away, so no one would notice her disappearing, wiping one of the tears away, trying to control her breathing.

Wordcount: 404
Intercating with: Simon Kincaid and Haley Rose
Stats: |Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 6 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 7

Haley gave Emily another thankful look and nodded gently at her. She was sorry and at the same time uncomfortable that Emily had to witness all this. But she was all the more grateful for her understanding; Haley didn't take that for granted. Something inside her told her that the two of them were not so different on an emotional level and perhaps that was the reason why the two of them played up a feeling of understanding to each other. She looked after Emily for a moment, watching her give them both some space. Space for three minutes.

Three minutes, and they're off. Three minutes, which she gave Simon to say what he wanted to say. She reckoned with everything. With everything good and with everything bad, so she could no longer be disappointed. Three short minutes, in three minutes not everything could be good but everything could go down the drain. Three minutes, was a lie, because to listen to Simon, she would also stand here for three hundred minutes.

Three minutes, but they didn't speak. They just stood there, she looking at him and he at her. There he stood, Simon Ezra Kincaid, well dressed as he was for every ball. Handsome as always. Carefully he wiped the tears from her face. Damn it Haley, no tears! A small smile came to her lips at the gesture, she looked down in shame but at the same time enjoyed Simon's gentle touch. Gosh, how could she be mad at him? It was as if he was the trigger, but at the same time the antidote to the raging anger inside her. The rage that had been gone since the point he had touched her so gently.

Haley didn't answer him, she didn't know what to say. She merely straightened her gaze and looked him straight in the eye. The pain and also the uncertainty was clear to see, but at the same time she was glad of his words. As much as she had doubted the trust and sincerity of his words, she could not stand by it. She couldn't help but believe him, whether intuition or naivety she might find out eventually. All she knew now at this moment was that she didn't want to be anywhere else.

The kiss was intense, it was as if all the feelings that had been repressed over the last few months were suddenly pouring in on her and sharing themselves over this connection. But only the good feelings, she noticed the tingling in her stomach and put her hand on Simon's. At that moment, no three minutes were needed, and no words either. For the first time in months, the two of them understood each other without words, maybe today would be the new beginning Haley had hoped for. An evening that she seriously did not want to spend alone, but with Simon and also with friends. Dancing, laughing, feeling joy and love in a way she hadn't for the last few months.

It was as if the kiss went on forever, probably the entire three minutes and only a few seconds at a time. It was such a moment of losing all sense of space and time. When their lips parted again she looked up at him, into his eyes and just smiled at him. She took his face between her hands, stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the nose. "Let's get Emily a drink and if you don't mind...we could go for a short dance." She giggled and let go of his face again.

Haley turned and tried to find Emily, after all Simon still owed her a drink and she was owed something by Haley. She had followed after her, even though she didn't know Haley, and wanted them to talk. It took her a while to find her, but from a distance she could make out her blue dress from behind, moving further away from the two of them. Haley quickened her pace and this time it was she who grabbed her arm gently. "Let's get you finally a dr-." Haley laughed until she saw the sad expression on her face. "Luv, what's wrong?" she asked, looking worriedly at Simon. Haley hadn't realised if and what had happened in the meantime and was at a loss for a brief moment.

Action: /

Interacting: @Simon Kincaid @Emily R. Brewer

Roleplaying as iNPC Valentin Everbone - Ency
Beauxbatons | Second Year
English - French

The tent was not at all like a tent on stepping inside, it was as if Valentin had entered some kind of event one of his parent's connections would likely put on, and so of course he felt right at home here. He looked down at his outfit whilst stood close to the entrance of the tent, whilst his tie wasn't exactly in need of fixing, it couldn't hurt to straighten it up more than it was.

With a quick brush down of his jacket, Valentin walked into the main open space of the tent, he walked over to stand in front of the stage area where a group of students were singing some kind of Halloween song. They were pretty good, even if the whole performance was a little dramatic, what with all the hooded capes.

The low rumble of his stomach then drew him to the tables lined with an array of different food and drinks, all the while scanning the tent for Enzo. He didn't think anyone else had started on the food yet, and figured he would wait for his friend before tucking in himself, so for now grabbed a glass of what turned out to be juice.

There was no point walking about trying to find to Enzo, besides he had a good view of most of the room from where he was stood, as well as the entrance, in case his friend was still to enter for some reason. Valentin reached a hand back to the table of food and grabbed one of the warm potato wedges, quickly popping it in his mouth, his friend better hurry up and show himself before Valentin's stomach took control over his actions and he made a proper start on the food.

Open to Interactions
Interactions: None
Mentions: Enzo Delcroix (@Akari Kato)

Action: Entering the Fall Ball
Stats: Stamina - 9 | Evasion - 10 | Strength - 7 | Wisdom - 4 | Arcane Power - 2 | Accuracy - 10
Abilities: Interception | Statistically Relevant

- Outfit -

Reducio

Emily tried to walk away. Thinking of what she had done. It wasn't the guilt that was crushing her, it was the thought of being so utterly stupid, to not even notice, to never notice that she actually liked him. How could she not notice? And why, how could she like him, altho that question was answered quickly with another question. How could she not? He was stunning, sweet, kind, caring, and she had fun, it was safe.

As she walked away, she felt a hand grabbing her arm, she shivered as she never expected anyone to grab it, and she wasn't really feeling sane at the moment as well, she felt as she was wandering around on another planet, the loud voices around her had converted to small whisperings. She turned around and saw Haley, holding her arm, standing in front of her. She felt like looking right through her. "I..." she tried to speak, but only continued stuttering. "I just need.... I need some air" She said and tried to turn around. She felt the guilt eating her, it was eating her alive and there was nothing she could do.

She turned her head, trying to calm down. Don't be such a baby Emily, get yourself together!"She said to herself. She took a deep breath, turned around, and smiled. "I'm fine, i just need some air. I'll be quick, you too have a dance!" She said and smiled, hiding the guilt, as she always did. She didn't show emotions, it wasn't her, she never did, and she was(t planning on changing that any time soon.

Wordcount: 239
Intercating with: Simon Kincaid and Haley Rose
Stats: |Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 6 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 7

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In a pitch where once countless bloodshed battles between houses occured, now it turned into a beautiful place with glimmering lights. Nothing in particular, as in chaos, happened at the moment, probably they were too fixated by the beautiful singing of the choir and the frogs. Or maybe it was the lovely faces of the performers, or the charming dance of the skeleton. Obviously, it was a fake pile of bones, but would people know about that fact? We are living in Hogwarts, surely getting one set of real human skeletons would not be so hard.

Arriving on the scene, among the sea of students were three adults of the school. The magnificent new defense against the dark arts professor, Orion Lecuyèr, looking as snazzy as always, the stylish astronomy professor, Nigel Read, dressed in a nice black suit, and the amazing very on theme school nurse, Kelsey Brumby with his adorable teeth gap, which was performing along with the frog choir bunch. If anyone would do the unthinkable, they should think twice, if not thrice, because the trio adults would lecture them with their high wisdom. Either that, or they would do something else. Find out more in the next round.

Just a friendly advice, it would be better to listen and admire the frog choir’s next song before anyone decided to do something rather dumb and impulsive because those cool people and their frogs and toads will blow everyone’s mind with their second performance.

Frog Choir Second Performance

The Frog Choir began its second song: Pericles Dralt, Santario Martin, Serena Bowen, Rose Moon, Starlee Kennedy, Henry Knight, and Koko Riddle, this time joined by Xailah Alptraum and the amphibian handlers Juniper Kelly and Della Barfield.

Reducio

[Santario] I put a spell on you
And now you're mine
You can't stop the things I do
I ain't lyin'

[Rose] It's been three hundred years
Right down to the day
Now the choir's back
And there's hell to pay

[all] I put a spell on you...
✺ [Juniper Kelly casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
✺ [ Della Barfield casts the Red Sparks Charm (Periculum) ]
✺ [ Santario Martin casts the Purple Firecrackers spell (Violaceous) ]
And now you're mine!

[Pericles] Hello, Hogwarts! We are the Frog Choir

[Serena] I put a spell on you
And now you're gone
[all] Gone, gone, gone, so long!
My whammy fell on you
And it was strong
[all] So strong, so strong, so long!

[Henry] Your wretched little lives
Have all been cursed
'Cause of all the wixes working
We're the worst

[all] I put a spell on you
✺ [ Starlee Kennedy casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
✺ [ Rose Moon casts the Red Sparks Charm (Periculum) ]
✺ [ Henry Knight casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
And now you're mine
Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! We ain’t lyin’

[Starlee] If you don't believe,
You better get superstitious
Just ask the choir:

[all] "Ooh, we're vicious!"

[Pericles Dralt] We put a spell on you
A wicked spell!
We put a spell on you...

[all] Ah say into pi, alpha maybe upendi!
In comma-coriyama...
Hey, hi, say, bye-bye-i-i-i-i-i-i-i
Bye, bye!

✺ [ Pericles casts the Blue Sparks Charm (Caerulimillious) ]
✺ [Juniper Kelly casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
✺ [ Della Barfield casts the Red Sparks Charm (Periculum) ]
✺ [ Starlee Kennedy casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
✺ [ Rose Moon casts the Red Sparks Charm (Periculum) ]
✺ [ Henry Knight casts the Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious) ]
✺ [ Santario Martin casts the Purple Firecrackers spell (Violaceous) ]
✺ [ Xailah Alptraum casts the Purple Firecrackers spell (Violaceous)

The choir's performance featured pyrotechnics, of a sort: a mock fireworks show utilizing the Blue Sparks Charm (Caerulimillious), Green Sparks Charm (Verdimillious), Red Sparks Charm (Periculum), and the Purple Firecrackers spell (Violaceous). The Tarantallegra'd skeleton attempted to do a stage dive. If not caught, it would scatter into many plastic pieces and be still at last. A collective bow by the Choir marked the end of their songs, and the robed singers would drift back behind the curtain, shedding their creepy garments before dispersing into the party.