Fall Ball 2021 Fall Ball

OUTFIT: Reducio

MENTIONING: @Aurora Ranvier

INTERACTIONS: @Nigel Read | @Kelsey Brumby @Tuesday Jeremiah Irons | @Nicholas McCowan Closed (moving to the festival)

Orion raised a brow at Nicholas' explanation. An owl had managed to break the young girl's finger? They might have been capable enough to do so, but to attacking when ordered... Interesting. Either that or the animal had gone rapid and it was just a coincidence. Regardless of the severity of the attack, Orion could not allow a rabid animal to fly freely through the sky, not near his children, that was. "Stay here for now, it should not be able to get into the tent that easily and if it does... It will make it easier to shoot it with a spell." He explained to Aurora before turning towards her date. "You will stay with her, yes? Enjoy the music... Dance." She might have been fine, but she was likely a bit shaken up. Nothing a nice dance could not fix.

It seemed that Nigel wanted to question the boy further, so perhaps that would keep him at the ball portion of the night's festivities. Listening to the Gryffindor's statement could have been beneficial, considering they could hunt the bird down quicker, but Orion didn't want to wait until it had attacked again.
"Ah, that is true, Kelsey, but it could have easily taken out a child's eyeball or something more severe. I think perhaps you should stay with Nigel and enjoy the night, I will go check on things in the festival." He nodded towards Tuesday, as if to silently ask the man to accompany him.

It was unfortunate for Santario that Rion would not hear her screeching in part due to the howling of a lingering storm and the lovely music the ball provided. The frenchman sighed; a perfectly lovely opportunity to dance squandered. Oh well, there was always next time. Until then, he had a rapid owl to catch. Whether or not Tuesday followed him, he exited the ball's area to head back to the festival.

Outfit: Pink Plaid Suit

Inventory: Wand, small lockpicking knife, wizard tight, corsage (for Winnie).

Action: Talk...Talk... Talk...

Interacts with: @Winnie Harper

Mentions: @Flash Holmwood, @Erin Ryan & @Vladimir Athanatos

#274782 Blue in English, #a62b2b Red in Korean

Eun-ji was happy. That much was probably obvious just by looking at the joyful sparkle in her eyes. She didn't realize how stressed she felt until this very moment. She thought she was handling things relatively well but apparently, she was wrong. Perhaps she wasn’t as good at handling stuff as she was at hiding it. That was a thought for another day however. Tonight she wanted to dance to the lovely tunes and forget everything else. Aaron also seemed to relax after she told him he was doing a good job. There was still occasional looking down at their feet but that much was to be expected and the witch honestly didn't mind at all. He was still learning and she was okay with that.

"Really?" The ballerina smiled when Aaron mentioned his sister's newfound hobby. "Well, I just hope she has fun with it and I'm sure if she wants to take it more seriously in the future, your mom will come around. It took a bit of time for my family to understand as well." Really…it was a pretty common reaction unless the parents danced themselves. And even then, knowing the downsides of said art, the adults often weren't fans of the idea. Aaron's parents sounded like good people though. Eun-ji was sure they would do the right thing in the end.

Soon the pair slipped into a pleasant conversation about classes and other small things. Learning a bit more about each other in the process. Eun-ji had all "O"s so far but she didn't mention that when Aaron started talking about his essay. She was not a show off and was just genuinely happy to hear her friend being enthusiastic about the class. History of Magic wasn't her personal favorite but she liked it well enough. She would eventually share that she liked Charms and The Care of magical creatures the best but she generally enjoyed most of her subjects. She was a true Ravenclaw in that regard. Overall, it was a lovely evening...until that question came.

To be perfectly honest Eun-ji knew she revealed more than she intended back then but she assumed Aaron forgot about the statement by now. Well...she was wrong. Then again, she shouldn't have been so surprised. The Hufflepuff was plenty attentive to other people so it was not out of character for him to keep this at the back of his mind. "Ah…that." She was stalling. Eun-ji wasn’t sure what to do. Should she lie? Avoid the question altogether? Then again, she promised to send him a video of the performance so he would see it happen…well at least until the point when her father dropped his phone. Seeing that would bring questions, cutting it out might do the same. The Ravenclaw wasn’t sure why but she decided to be honest with the boy. She never talked about this with anyone outside the family except for Charles and he only knew because he actually witnessed her situation first hand. Perhaps it was the strange calming effect Aaron had on her or the fake sense of security in the fact that they spoke a different language. Or perhaps…perhaps she just really wanted to complain to someone for once.

"Well, the truth is I only got to meet my mother’s family about a year ago and they are not very fond of me?" It wasn’t a question but it sounded like one due to her initial hesitance. The fact that they were dancing should have made this difficult but Eun-ji found it quite soothing. "My grandparents…" Have use for me….no that sounds wrong. Technically correct but still. "…need me." She decided finally. "My aunt on the other hand does not and she is not a very nice person so we…fight a lot." The witch admitted. It must have been a strange concept for her friend, considering no one at Hogwarts had ever seen her angry. She was always the calm one, almost frustratingly so to some people. The Hunts managed to bring the worst out in her however. Would Aaron think less of her now? People seemed to think her composure was unbreakable. Many came to her for advice as if she knew better... but did she actually? It didn’t matter now. There was no time to dwell on those thoughts. She still wasn’t done with her explanation. "She just REALLY didn’t want to attend my performance that night but Mrs. Hunt made her go anyway hence the stage light situation." The witch cringed a little as she said this. She used to tell herself it was not a big deal but saying it aloud made it sound like it was. "It probably wasn’t intentional though and I have good reflexes so there were no major injuries. Everything ended well." She tried to salvage the situation. It was honestly unclear to her whether her aunt meant for it to happen or whether the emotions got the best out of her. Eun-ji wouldn’t put it past her but it also meant she would be defying her mother, which sounded almost unbelievable. Then again…that whole family was unbelievable in many ways so what did she know.

ACTION: N/A (waltzing and talking with Aaron)
Stats: STA: 7 | EVA: 8 | STR: 4 | WIS: 10 | ARCP: 8 | ACC: 8
Abilities: *Healing Sage *Perfectionist *Death Defiance
Inventory: Wand, tissues, plasters

Interacting with | @Henry Knight | Loki | @Lindsey Springhall as Maximilien de Fostoncy | @Lucia Fox | @Eun-ji Lee Hunt as Ye-Jun Lee
Mentioning | Pericles, Squirt
Closed to Interactions, unless already interacting
Loki is Henry Knight's cat, and I have been given permission to godmod him

The next Frog Choir song started. Rose had the second solo, this time. Better to get it over with, right?

Santario started, and she went right after, feeling incredibly cool.

"It's been three hundred years,
Right down to the day.
Now the choir's back,
And there's hell to pay!"

She grinned slyly. Rose watched Henry do his solo. She was really proud that he had taken up a solo. They had both been super nervous for their audition. Even though Henry was extremely hard to read, she knew that much when they were auditioning. She didn't doubt that he was anxious then, as he did his solo, but she was very proud that he did it. She was very proud that he took up two solos even though it must have been hard. She would have told him so, if it hadn't been so awkward and sappy to say.

Right after his solo, Rose, Henry, and Starlee sent sparks up in the air. Two green sparks charms and one red. "Periculum," she said softly, watching the sparks shoot up.

Then, at the end of the song, they all finished with a bang- literally. Fireworks and sparks were sent up into the air. Rose grinned. Exceptional. Their performance was exceptional. The ball was going really really well so far. Maybe her luck would improve compared to the other balls?

She helped put the frogs away, and said a thank you to Pericles for congratulating them on their performance, then moved away from the stage.

Henry had told her beforehand that he was going on a romantic date with Alexa instead of going to the ball with her. Rose thought that was a pretty good idea. The balls could be chaotic, and could ruin their entire night together if they weren't careful. He came up to her, and told her that she did a great job. "Oh, thank you! You did wonderfully as well." Loki brushed against her, and she smiled. "I'll watch him, don't worry." Loki then tried to climb up on her shoulder, and she let him. It would be a little bit harder to balance there than on Henry's shoulder, since Rose's shoulders were a little less broad, but he managed to do it.

She bid Henry a farewell to get off to his own adventures, and then went off to stand by the side. Well. What was she going to do? Loki seemed to like his perch on top of Rose's shoulder, so she let him stay there. It probably wasn't as high as it was for perching on Henry's shoulder, but he seemed to like seeing everything. She inhaled a deep breath, and wondered where her own cat was. Chaska might be around here somewhere, or maybe she was off on her own date with some other fancy feline. Rose really wasn't sure, but if Chaska wanted to come to her, she would know where to find Rose. Not that she knew where she was. But just because she always seemed to be able to find Rose.

That's when a boy [Maxi] approached her. She froze as he started talking in French. She opened her mouth. "Uh- I'm sorry, I don't really know French," she said, blushing pink. "Do you speak English?" she asked.

Loki climbed back down, coming towards Maxi to sniff his shoes. He then backed up, giving Maxi an untrusting look. If Maxi moved towards the cat, he would give off a hiss, pinning his ears against his head. He then promptly sat down next to Rose, watching the boy out of the corner of his eyes. Rose didn't really mind. Loki wasn't going to hurt anybody. "It's okay, Loki," she said softly to the cat.

He apologized, and began speaking English, to her relief. "No, no, it's okay!" she reassured him. Her voice carried a gentle American accent. She was aware that her accent was slowly fading. Growing up with her mother, she had always had an American accent, just like her mother. But now that she was spending less time around her mother, it was fading a little bit. Her voice was also a few shades quieter than most people's were. "No need to apologize." She did feel like apologizing for not knowing French. Well, at least she knew a few things about him now. There was a ninety percent chance he was either from Beauxbatons or a pureblood. All purebloods seemed to speak French, anyway. "You're not disturbing my peace," she said.

The conversation fell into silence. She took a moment to take him in. His French accent further pointed to him being from Beauxbatons. He had dark hair and his suit was very sharp. And his eyes... were grey. Most people's eyes weren't grey. She found that incredibly interesting.

She was about to ask him his name, when he commented how the night was. "Yes, it is quite lovely," she said in response. Then, trying to move on from small talk, she said, "I'm Rose. From Hogwarts. A third year." Was that it? Was there anything else she could say that could identify her? "Uhm, what's your name?" she asked him. Maybe she could learn a little bit about him.

"Oh- and this is Loki. He's my brother's cat," she explained, gesturing to the orange cat. "He probably won't like you, but he doesn't like a lot of people, so I wouldn't take it personally."

That's when Lucia Fox decided to come in and ruin stuff.

Oh come on! Rose just wanted one single ball in which it wasn't absolutely ruined. Did Lucia just have to march in here and ruin everything?

"I'm so sorry, just give me one second," she whispered to Maxi apologetically, as Lucia came into earshot.

She raised her eyebrows. "Lucia Fox." There was a guy [Ye-Jun Lee] by her, following her around. She nodded to him, saying in reply, "Evening."

She started explaining why she had come over, and Rose narrowed her eyes a little bit. Lucia wasn't too good at explaining, but she got the gist of what she was trying to say. "No need to get aggressive, Lucia."

She glanced to Maxi. For some reason, she didn't want the boy thinking that Henry was some kind of boyfriend or "friend" or something. She wasn't really sure why, she just did. He was one of her best friends, but she didn't want this boy to think she was romantically involved with him, since she wasn't. So, how to solve that? She would refer to him as her brother. Which he was. He was her step-brother. "I don't know where my brother is. I do know that he intends to meet Alexa tonight and he wouldn't abandon her." Henry was kind, and he wouldn't just leave Alexa tonight.

Speaking of Loki, the cat stepped forward to rub against Lucia's legs, not making any sound. He would accept pets from her if se gave them. She completely ignored the boy next to Lucia. Traitor, she thought jokingly.

"He asked me to watch Loki. Is there anything else you need?"

For Moderation-

Action: preforming, talking with Maxi, being confronted, looking around

Abilities: Keen Eye | Lovely Creature | Healing Sage Allies: Henry K Inventory: Wand

Stats: Stamina- 8 Evasion- 8 Strength- 5 Wisdom- 9 ArcPower- 8 Accuracy- 7

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There were merry or gossiping dancers a-plenty, enjoying a night of carefully curated ambience and festivity. Only a couple ball-goers would notice the darkened clouds and rolling thunder that was approaching, but it was a night of joy and companionship, after all. Dreary weather, begone!

Nevertheless, a few house elves could be seen carefully closing the tent flaps at either end of the structure and manning them for people who wished to come in or exit, exactly as they had been instructed by the Fall Ball Committee to do so, if there were any signs of bad weather. It was perfect timing, since a howling wind had picked up. Hopefully, the tumultuous weather would die down soon. You would trust that the Committee had picked the right date, wouldn't you?

Above the din, Aurora Ranvier could be heard recounting a dramatic tale of defamation, loyal friendship (surely no punches were thrown, no!), and a fierce owl attack to the professors that had gathered. Professor Orion, curious as to whether a rabid owl was still on the loose, would leave the Ball to the Festival to investigate. A house elf would raise the flap of the tent to allow him to exit into the gray clouds and rising wind outside.

Everything else was just fine and dandy. Enjoy the ball, everyone!

✭ "Fall is a time when nature dresses in its many beautiful colors" ✫

Outfit: [x] [x] [x] [x] | Date: 10/29/2021

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"You must learn a lot as a pureblood. Magic and traditions and all that." She noted. "I mean, my mum talks about wizarding culture and other events, but we sometimes don't have the time to celebrate it." It's hard to spend quality time with a mother who works in the Ministry of Magic from 9 to 5.

"Your parents sound really cool. And writing books about their amazing adventures is a bonus. They honestly remind me of Jane Goodall, except they're the magical version of her." People who worked with animals sure had a thing for writing about their adventures.

What did Americans think of the English? They did stereotype them as "tea drinkers" and high-class citizens (and the most annoying, that the people of England apparently said bri'ish instead of british, but Lani decided not to pend on that for too long), but it never came to mind that they probably stereotyped looks, too. "Well, I guess we look just like Americans, physically. And we're like them mentally, too. It's just the culture and all that is different." She gave him a sly smile "And I caught that compliment. Thanks."

Lani could've danced with him for hours, just talking about their day-to-day lives and dreams, but she then noticed that the stormy weather was starting to clear up, revealing the pitch being illuminated by the moon, lighting up the grass spotted covered by water droplets. The scene was breathtaking, and she knew Miles would love it. "Hey, in a few minutes do you want to go explore the pitch? It looks better outside than before. Emphasis on better."

Dancing with Miles Thatcher@Simon Kincaid

Outfit

Nicholas froze, his fidgeting hand forced to stand still as stone, the fingers that had been so regularly extending and closing halting mid-motion. The full story of the incident? That would require providing information and context as to the fact he’d punched the American prior to him siccing his owl upon Aurora. The boy grimaced ever-so-slightly, the gears in his head turning rapidly as he tried to figure out a way to cut out the more self-incriminating parts of the story. Fortunately, Aurora came to his rescue. As she was so wont to do, the girl launched into a long-winded tale, coloured with side-effects and dramatisation. Slightly taken aback by the sheer level of detail that the explanation had brought with it in the first instance, Nicholas soon found himself rapidly nodding as she provided the entirely true recollection as to why the owl had attacked them. Granted, his nod ceased for a moment when she almost spoke the forbidden word of ‘punch’ but returned in full stead not soon thereafter.

With the explanation as to the vicious assault by the raptor provided to the professors, Aurora then took to winning over the men with gifts of sweets. In a rare moment of self-realisation, Nicholas held back from commenting, he was well aware that where charm and people skills were concerned, his date was leagues ahead of him. Granted, her particular charm was entirely pastel and rainbow, and could be considered to be overbearing by some, Nicholas included on occasion, she was a fair sight better at communication than her near-always slovenly date.

From his place of relative silence, the boy was able to discern that the degree to which each professor cared about the injury was entirely mixed. In particular, the nurse seemed to have deemed his role complete once he had healed the girl’s finger. The inquiries of the teaching staff were not quite as desirable a solution, especially seeing as if they did come across Zuheir, his wounded visage would be a telltale sign that the interaction had not been as one-sided as the Hogwarts students would wish their teachers to believe.

“Yeah, we’re all good,” He answered rather hastily, as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor left the ball to seek out the owl that had attacked Aurora.

Nicholas’s concern was rather visible on his face as he shot his attention back toward the nurse and Astronomy professor, “Thank you very much, for checking on the finger and the healing and the…” He trailed off, “Yeah, the healing.”

The boy nodded his head toward the blonde girl, “She pretty much summed it up. He started an argument about how rich he was and got quite upset when we shot back.”

Nicholas nodded sagely.

Stats: STA: 12 | EVA: 6 | STR: 8 | WIS: 6 | ARC: 4 | ACC: 6
Abilities: Foulplay | Statistically Relevant
Interacting with: @Aurora Ranvier, @Kelsey Brumby & @Orion Lécuyer
Mentioning: @Aurelia Notrésvace
Action:

outfit: [x][x][x][x]

29th October, 2021

Gabriella didn't immediately notice that someone was approaching her; she was still too mesmerised by the many wonders of the marquee: the delicate green of the curtains, the elegant statues positioned right in the centre of each table; the fairy lights that glittered from the ceiling and cast a beautiful - yet strangely eerie - pattern on the dance floor. It was all incredibly romantic, Gabby thought, imagining herself and one other - at this point a nameless, faceless entity - alone in this room in the twilight hours, all its splendours reserved by God, if he existed, only for them and their love. Gabby let her mind wander into a fantasy: she and this mystery companion wordlessly catching eyes across the dance floor, silently sweeping up to each other and holding each other in a tight embrace, as close as if they had known each other for a million years. String music in the background: faint at first, but gradually getting louder as their dance quickened, as their hands reached for each other's shoulders, as their eyes finally met. As the tiniest of smiles appeared on Gabriella's mouth, triggering an enormous grin on her partner's. And then they'd both laugh, Gabby and the mystery companion - whoever he happened to be.

Then she saw him.

Gabriella made a double-take - it wouldn't have been the first time she'd imagined something, after all. The hallucinations the Ravenclaw's wandering mind created were often disconcertingly realistic. A boy her own age stood in front of her, his dark eyes glittering, his every feature irrevocably handsome. Gabby had seen this boy before, of course - he was a Hogwarts student, she was fairly sure of that - but she had never seen him in this light before. In fact, she had never seen anybody in this light before. Gabriella tried to find his name in her head - what it begin with: C... K... Kay? Possibly? No, that wasn't right.

"Do you like to dance?" asked the boy. Gabriella's heart leapt - this boy had a voice! "Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you. I just... noticed," began the boy, but either he didn't finish his sentence or Gabby had been turned temporarily deaf by the jubilant sound of the fireworks that were currently exploding in her head.
"Just noticed... what?" asked Gabriella, a teasing smile wandering playfully onto her lips. "I suppose I do like to dance, yes," she said, wistfully. She could leave it there. It would perhaps be more effective if she did; perhaps she would, by leaving things unsaid, prove herself the mysterious enchantress she so desperately wanted this boy to believe she was. But, Gabby being Gabby - and not in any way a mysterious enchantress, despite what her fantasies led her to hope - she did not stop there. "I mean, I'm not very good at it, but I like to dance, yes. But my feet trip over themselves. A lot. And like, I'll probably end up punching someone in the face or something, you know. By accident. My limbs. Flail around. A lot." She caught her breath, staring hopelessly into the boy's eyes. Well I just messed up, she thought to herself. With a pained face, she waited for the mysterious boy to make the next move: would he stay and prolong this awkward encounter any longer, or would he turn away and leave Gabby to wallow in regret? Personally, Gabriella hoped it would be the latter.

STATS
Sta - 8 | Eva - 5 | Str - 8 | Wis - 7 | Arc - 5 | Acc - 7

action: being a hopeless romantic

631 words @Cade Darkbound

Howard entered the tent with Alan in disguise as Millie. A seemingly normal pairing as the two would look just like any other date for the evening festivities, but he did wonder if anyone could see through it. As the moments passed Howard would do his best to ignore the mental images of what he had seen at the festival and instead he chose to focus on the show at hand. He wasn't much of a music lover nor was he inclined to the art form, but even he had to admit that the choir was top notch. Wizarding music always sounded a touch silly to the boy who grew up a Muggle, however, as the years went by it began to grow on him. Soon enough his foot would tap along with the tempo and he offered a hearty applause when they concluded their number. "Nice one." Howard called out to the group as the exited the stage.

"Pretty good." He offered to Alan before he eased into the rest of the evening. Music and refreshments would fill the time, perhaps even a dance if Alan was willing and comfortable, but soon enough things would begin to shift. It was as if the gods called to his darker nature as the skies began to darken and the winds began to swirl. Like a cigarette smoker attempting to ignore the urge for nicotine Howard would try to shake the images from his mind. He had vowed to ignore the impulse to seek out conflict, but he knew who was out there and he partly knew what was happening. Something horrible was happening to Erin Ryan. Something he had actively avoided as the darkness that surrounded her threatened to stoke the darkness within him. He couldn't go down that road again, but perhaps he had no choice. It seemed like fate always pushed them together regardless of how hard he tried to avoid her. Or maybe there was something else this time? The changes that had slowly crept their way through Howard could offer a different choice. When so often he had been driven to violence maybe now he could act out of an urge to provide aid and protection.

His movement was almost automatic as he could no longer avoid his inner voice. "I have to go." Howard offered to Alan with a quick squeeze on the shoulder before he made his exit.

Action: Leaving the Fall Ball to return to the Samhain Festival.