Event Midspring Celebration

Lovely banner done by Pea Elena Fowl and yes the quote is 100% of Hana's thoughts

And the time has finally come for him to ruin someone’s day. Wow, he hasn’t thought of spending his day like this in a while. He had to say this person, in particular, definitely pushed him to do things he wouldn't think he’d do just to satisfy his boredom. A truly fascinating specimen by name of Pea Elena Fowl. Or, ‘Argan’ for short. She was not the worst person that had wrong Hana. If we start a competition as to who Hana was pissed off at the most, Pea would have quite the long list of competitors.

Despite this, he went out of his way to ask her out very publicly and rather embarrassingly. He thought he just needed to get rejected and that was the end of it. But she had oddly enough accepted his horrendous proposal and here they are- in the Mid Spring ball- as dates. His ego would be thrown away until a predicted disaster struck.

Pretending to be in love. He would’ve been a better actor if he still had some of those cursed amortentia laced cupcakes from the tea party. But he will try his best, thinking he could be charming if he tried just a bit more. He listened intently as Pea told him everything about what he should wear as her date. Listening to History of Magic seemed more bearable than going through her yapping again. Why was he suffering through this again? Ah, yes, because he’s bored, he wants to laugh in Argan’s face when her dreams of the blossom ball explode in her face, and last but not least- because Percival disapproves. The last one was an extra.

And so Hana waited at the spot they planned to meet. Hair brushed back, blue tux embroidered with flower patterns and a corsage in his hand. Do you know what he looked like? A LOSER.

A loser that just got stood up by his date. The number of minutes he stood there idly and alone was unbearable. In addition to this, he couldn’t look too bored, or too anxious, or too frustrated. As time passed, he started having this thought. What if- he actually was stood up.

Pea clearly was not as infatuated as Hana is for her (or at least pretends to be). Whose to say she wouldn't show up at all. Oh god, did he come here for nothing? Flashbacks of the fall ball appeared in his mind. He had to wait for Alec as well. Was he the only person in here that bothered to be on time???

He tried his best to keep his mind from developing further undesired scenarios and glanced over at some of the other students that arrived. One that caught his attention the longest was his dear olde Hamster, Opeila Winters. And with.. Huh-? Was that who he thinks it is?@Opeila Winters

Mentioning: @Pea Elena Fowl who I hope stopped admiring herself already

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Interacting With: @Mathias Pride | @Kim Sato as Hiro Bakugo

Outfit: ꕤ

Mentioning: @Levi Drakos | @Avery Chen as Akira Shimizu

Date: April 2nd, 2022

"What? I only speak English and Gaeilge, not French!" Winnie quipped back. The saying was obviously Spanish, but how was the girl to know that? Her eyes scanned over his face to try and see if there were any cracks, any sign of regret over what he was saying to her. She had never seen him this cruel. Not towards her. She didn't understand why. Tears begin to well in her eyes as she took a step back from the boy, releasing the lapel of his dress robe. Her voice broke when she spoke. "W-Why are you being such as asshole to me? I didn't do anything wrong. I was a good girlfriend. I loved you." She dropped Pumpkin onto the ground, who made a ungraceful landing but managed to stay on his four paws. The cat didn't seem to mind too much, as he rolled over onto his back and stared expectantly up at the wizards surrounding him.

"I'm not just a muggle, I'm a half-blood witch. Muggle mother, pureblood father. I'm a child of two cultures, and I don't care what people think about me. Do you care what people think about me?" She tugged the layers of her dress up to just above her knee, sliding out of the flats that Mathias had given her. She tossed each of them in his direction (easily avoidable, up to you if they hit). "Here. I'll return the dress when I can. I thought you might have still cared about me after you tossed these at me, but clearly you're playing some sort of cruel game."

Hiro was whispering some nonsense in her ear about how this was her chance, how she could squeeze information out of the boy. Could he not see how upset she was? Why would she want to spend the evening with Matt after he was such a jerk to her? "Not interested. He's made it perfectly clear how he feels about me."

... The flowers were meant for her? For what? to hit him with? Did he want to be punched? Honestly she was tempted. She wanted to break his stupid handsome face after this, but she was trying to... Well, behave. Honestly the gestures were confusing and it was messing with her head, as well as her heart. She would do something drastic, but it wasn't going to be a punch. She burst into tears rather suddenly, a sob ripping from her throat. "... What the hell is wrong with you? Do you think it's funny that I still have feelings for you? Y-You're such a jerk!"

Thankfully a distraction would come in the form of Akira. Although it was doubtful he had any interest in conversing with a girl who was in the middle of crying. "Y-Yes, I dressed him up..." She sniffled, "He was such a good canvas, s-so pretty..." Now he wanted her Mathias!

"Oh, so I'm not even allowed to let him borrow clothing?" It was that moment that Mathias seemingly decided he wanted to emulate the step-sisters in Cinderella by using a spell to rip apart the dress that she had allowed Hiro to borrow. "My dress..." She mumbled in protest, but she was too shocked to properly use her pterodactyl voice and curse the boy out for destroying a perfectly good ballgown. She hoped she could use a charm to repair it. "Why... WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" She finally screeched at Mathias, apparently this was her boiling point as the anger of being treated terribly and her heart ache bubbled up and blew the lid clean off.

✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ Mention:@Simon Corbin @Emma Wynn Interaction: Mandy Corbin, Emma Wynn

✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ Date: Saturday, April 2nd, 2022 Time: Sunset

✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ Outfit Hex: #52C9A4

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Trix turned at the tap on their shoulder, smiling when they saw Emma. She looked so pretty in her dress that looked like the night sky! But before they could answer, a voice called out to them. Looking over to where the voice was coming from, they recognized Simon. No, Mandy, right? They immediately felt their heart jump into their throat. She looked beautiful. She had said something to them, but they didn't hear it, too busy absorbed in their thoughts to realize they were being asked a question. They stared at Mandy for a long time, then realized they were staring and blushed a deep scarlet. "You.. You look... Amazing!" They studdered out, feeling incredibly stupid after hearing themself. God, why did she make them feel so nervous all the time!? Noticing they were still staring, they broke out of their trance and looked toward Emma. "Oh! Emma! This is Mandy! The bestest Gryffindor! And Mandy, this is Emma, My bestie in Hufflepuff!" They smiled awkwardly as they realized they had said that super loud for no reason. They cleared their throat and looked away, embarrassment making it hard to talk.

After they regained composure, they realized that their stomach was growling fiercely. Giggling they looked over by the tables, seeing all the different options for food. They looked at Emma
and Mandy hopefully. "Have you guys eaten yet? I'm starving!" They could smell all the different cuisines and their mouth began to salivate. "Everything smells so good!" Hoping their friends would follow them, Trix made their way to the food tables. They piled on food from every school represented, taking extra helpings of the sushi options. They started to feel a little self conscoius, knowing that they had only made a stew while everyone else went all out, but they tried not to let it get to them.

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Actions:

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Introducing @Simon Corbin to @Emma Wynn and getting food

James smiled at Bailey's thank you after he had finished tying the corsage onto her wrist. He folded the container and placed it in a pocket inside his vest. The container was a cool trinket his father had made. It was a foldable container. When unfolded it would stay shaped like a small box until you pressed the small button that would automatically make it collapse so it could fit in a pocket.

Bailey asked what they should do now. James was honestly unsure. This was his first Ball after all so he didn't really know what to expect. He followed her gaze as she looked around. Noticing the craft table and something on fire he was shocked. Is that...Is that even safe? James thought to himself quite confused. Would the fire burn if you touched it or was it enchanted to cause no harm?

James shook his head "No i'm not sure actually. Oh there is food! I made something earlier today and had a friend place it down for me so I could find you. If you want we could go get some?" James smiled. He had gone down to the kitchen to make some Cullen skink which was a thick soup that was made up of smoked haddock, potatoes, and onions. He made a big dish of it that way multiple people could have servings of it.

Word count: 231
Interacting: @Bailey Glade
Mentioning: None
Open to any interactions

A few minutes passed by, the sound of music and laughter reaching her ears as she waited. Her knee bounced under her dress as she silently hummed to herself. She didn't really mind the wait actually. It gave her time to ponder and made her nerves relax. On the other hand, when a hand tapped her shoulder her anxiety shot up, a yelp almost escaping her only for greetings to be exchanged with none other than Marius. Luckily he introduced himself so she didn't have to play a game of Guess Who with someone. She let out a sigh of relief, a small smile making it's way on her face.

"Oh hi Marius! Please, don't thank me for coming here with you. It would be a lot more uncomfortable by ourselves in this massive crowd and I think I will end up enjoying your company." She spoke to the boy, trying to make light chatter with him to hopefully make their night together more relaxed and less nerve-wracking.

"So tell me, is this your first ball? Is there anything you want to do. I heard there might be games hosted later on and there's also a craft booth where we can make masks and crowns if you'd like. Might be less chaotic than here as it's held in the Courtyard." A thing about Annie, when she got nervous or excited she talked. A lot. And it just so happened in this case she was excited. Her eyes sparkled lightly as she mentioned the craft booth, the urge to still make a flower crown grew inside her and even potentially making one for Marius to wear made a small bubble of laughter escape her.

"Or we could dance here, cause y'know that's what we are supposed to do at balls." She paused sticking out her tongue. "I'm not an amazing dancer by any means but maybe if you don't know how to I can teach you so you can show off your moves to a lucky guy or gal later on in the night." Annie wiggled her eyebrows teasingly, finally getting comfortable in his presence. Hopefully she wasn't scaring him off with all her chatting.

"Oh my gosh I forgot it was a potluck- I totally didn't bake anything although it probably wouldn't have turned out great." She'd nearly facepalm as soon as delicious scents invaded her senses. "Maybe we could get some food and then decide on our first activity? All up to you though." Annie shrugged, grinning lightly.

"Just let me know and lead the way captain!" She'd link arms with him carefully, this was easier for her so she didn't get separated and it wasn't as intimate as holding hands. Annie didn't want to make him uncomfortable by any means but she did want to have a good night while the night was still young and no chaos had ensued yet. Or at least any that would involve her and her partner.

Stats: Stamina | 9
Evasion | 8
Strength | 10
Wisdom | 7
Arcane Power | 8
Accuracy | 13
Items: Wand
Health Tracker: 900/900
Abilities: Obnoxiously Strong | Blindvision | Perfectionist | Catch
Action/Interactions: Chatting with @Marius Brown | Open to Interactions!

Semi-Open To Interactions (planned/current ones and anyone that is injured/at or needs the healing corner
Interacting: @Logan Baird | @Adlai Rod | @Emma Wynn
Mentioning:

Seeing Mandy enter the room, Pax hurried over to her. "Mandy! I'm glad you could make it! And you look so beautiful, the dress really suits you."Pax handed over the bouquet in their hands, presenting it to them like an award.

"Sure, I'm kinda hungry." Pax agreed, following Mandy over. As they selected food and put it on their plate, Pax chuckled seeing Mandy sneak glances at her good friend Trix. "Trix, huh? I'm gonna tell you this bluntly, but also as a friend, your looks aren't subtle."

Pax nodded their head, again following Mandy to the sign-up sheet. "This looks fun," They noted. "I think the fire adds to the danger of the games. And that seems slightly hazardous, but you know. Fun." Leaning over, they signed their name under Mandy's on the Flying Torch Tag sheet.

Seeing Mandy walk over to Trix, they quickly smiled and hurried over, excited to make some more friends. "Hey, Trix, right? I'm Pax Zhang, a friend of Mandy's. My pronouns are she/they, but I prefer they/them." They held out a hand for a classic handshake.

Glancing sideways towards Mandy, who had just blurted out the most random thing and then squeaked, they gave her a gentle nudge and smiled. "I think that Mandy means, do you like fire games?"

Feeling a little awkward and shunned as Trix began a conversation with Mandy and their date, Pax scanned the room for someone else. Spotting a familiar face awkwardly standing at the other end of the food tabl, Pax whispered to Mandy that they were going to go talk to another friend, wished them good luck with Trix, and then walked over to a familiar Ravenclaw, Adelaide Barlowe.

"Adelaide! Hey, great to see you here! In all honesty, I didn't think you'd make it today. This doesn't seem much like your scene."

Stats:
Stamina: 8 Evasion: 6 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 3 Arcane Power: 6 Accuracy: 7

Ability:
The Muggle Condition

Action:
(Previously) Signed up for Flying Torch Tag
Attempting to make conversation with Adelaide Barlowe

Word Count: Reducio 358

Mentioned: Reducio @Emma Wynn as Trix's date

Interacting with: Reducio Mandy (@Simon Corbin), @Trix DeLuca, @Adelaide Barlowe

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It was finally, finally the date of the ball. Actually, Juniper wasn't even sure she wanted to go to the ball. Last ball was chaos. Well chaos was an understatement. Last time, Juniper had to witness people stab someone and creepy slugs that everyone seemed to be scared of. She didn't know what the problem was, but they really freaked her out and she didn't want that to happen again. She knew the slug problem was gone, but she didn't really know anything about what was happening. She didn't know why or when or how or anything really. So, she didn't know it was going to happen again. Draven was her boyfriend now, she knew that she had to go because she wanted to spend time with him. She wanted to look really nice for him because she knew that he came from a pretty wealthy family. Even though she knows that he likes her as she was, she wanted to look presentable for him because she could look nice. Besides, his parents probably wouldn't enjoy the fact that he was dating someone who wasn't exactly as fancy as an average pureblood. Then again, she wasn't even a full pureblood or full human at all but that was for another time. She received an owl from mother a few weeks before the ball. Enclosed in the parcel was a lovely blue dress. The dress belonged to an older cousin who had wanted Juniper to wear it.

interacting: None, but open!!
mentioning: @Draven Mirador
action: food and signing up for the Flying Torch Tag

Interacting with @Erin Ryan, @Howard White and @Bloom Silverton

"Silence is unsettling? Is that because you feel anxious in the quiet because you are left with your own thoughts?" It took a moment for Serena to fully understand what Erin was talking about. The second part of the sentence, in fact, lessened her confusion and caused her eyes to widen a little.

"I-" Serena opened her mouth to respond but words did not come out. She did not really know how to reply to Erin's questions but the girl was... right. The silence was kind of unsettling for her. It made her think too much and thinking made her more anxious or angry or confused... How did Erin know that? She had not really spoken to her. The Hufflepuff stared at the other for a moment before looking down, "Yeah, I guess I prefer external noise," She mumbled, not entirely sure what else to say. Turns out that one way to shut Serena up was to call her out for talking too much. At the very least, external noise made it harder to hear the internal even if just for a moment.

She did not really have an answer to the "Why?" though. Why, what? Why was she giving her food? Why was she there? Why was she talking to her? Assuming they were about the food, she continued, "I just thought you might like them. I brought them for everyone and well uh I like them so... I thought I'd share, I guess," Not entirely sure what more to say to that as she awkwardly lifted one hand to scratch the back of her head a little, fidgeting as she searched for a better answer. Maybe it was just because she saw Erin to the side, alone and something about that was very relatable. Maybe it was because Erin had been through something Serena could not even fathom but even just a small taste of it that night was awful, so she had a lot of... something for Erin. Was it sympathy for the pain she went through? Pity? No, perhaps it was just... respect. One day of dealing with hag slugs had Serena ready to give up. Perhaps it just boiled down to the fact that she had respect for how incredible strong Erin must have been to get through whatever hell that was and survive. "Why am I not yet dead?" Serena blinked at her.

"What? You- what?" Everything Erin said threw Serena off. Why would she think she would die? Wait, did she forget what happened back at the ball? Or was she referring to that? Or was it the food? Was it that bad? 'Tastes' was not exactly a compliment. Maybe Erin hated the food. That probably made the most sense, they had met since the ball after all. Hugh had even made references to it. "O-oh sorry, I thought you might like it..." She mumbled some more, awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do now. Serena looked around for other food, wondering if she should offer something else to Erin that she might appreciate more and could wash down the flavour of the samosas that she hated.

Serena shifted on her feet, making awkward conversation as she spotted the goblet, in the hopes that this would change the conversation. "I mean, you're dress is pretty as is your hair" Instinctively, she touched her hair, making sure it fell properly and was not uncovering anything. "Oh, uh thanks," She mumbled, not entirely sure if this was a compliment or not. Did Erin consider her hair pretty or was she trying to say that her hair was ugly and so was her dress? Serena could honestly not work it out but it kind of did not matter. Compliments in general made her a little awkward, mostly because she did not believe they were truthful when it came to her. So, she did not bother asking. If it was an insult, then that was fine too. She would have expected as much, really.

"Yes, I put it in... there are not that many capable purebloods in this school. I am more durable than most and really have nothing to lose but everything to gain."

She frowned a little as Erin casually mentioned something that was so specific. Purebloods. Right. This whole debacle was always about purebloods and how superior they were to everyone else. The tournament was just that too. A chance for purebloods to show their superiority. She stared at the goblet for a moment, perhaps... she should have put her name in. Serena did not expect to have been chosen but a part of her disliked the thought that it would only go to a pureblood. It was true, perhaps, but that did not mean she had to like it. But there was more to Erin's words than just a casual comment about blood. She had nothing to lose... A sinking feeling entered Serena's heart as she stared at her.

Erin was strong. She had seen that time and time again. Serena knew how much it hurt to be bitten by a single slug for a few hours and Erin had been experiencing that internally for months, maybe longer - and with three of them. She could not even imagine the amount of pain Erin had been in the entire time... Not only that, Serena knew what facing her in a quidditch game was like. It was kind of scary. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of one of her bludgers. Her aim was good and the impact of the bludger hurt like hell. Serena knew very little about her other than those things and yet, there was likely far more crap that Erin had gone through in her life. There was no doubt in Serena's mind that Erin was strong and capable, durable too. But did she truly have nothing to lose? Did she really just sign up for an event thinking that she had nothing to lose when it was dangerous? The desire to say something built up inside of her but if she was honest, she had no idea what to say. They barely knew each other.

What caught her most off-guard was the words Erin said next though. "I heard the last two times they did one of these, people died. Maybe I am also a bit hopeful. Better for a silly reason than none at all." Her eyes widened a little, slightly taken back by the whole thing. The honesty threw her off a little, she did not expect that. Or rather, the vulnerability of the entire sentence. Her eyebrows furrowed, as she opened her mouth to reply. Serena had no idea what to say but she had to say something. "Erin- are you-" At least, she attempted to before Erin started to speak again, "This is pretty good you know." Serena stared at her, almost flabbergasted by the change of topic. Did she mishear something? She must have done. It seemed like something that no one casually just mentioned before talking about some random food that was irrelevant to the entire conversation. "Erin-" She started again a little more forcefully, trying to find some words.

"Serena, hi! How nervous are you guys about this tournament coming up?"

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by another person before she manage to find the right words. There was a desire to just hug Erin and tell her she was not alone but... she was not entirely sure that would be appreciated. Turning her attention to the newcomer, she smiled as her gaze hit the familiar face of a friend, "Hey! Oh uh, well I didn't enter so I dunno. I guess I just plan to avoid the whole thing," She admitted to Bloom, having no intention to be anywhere near the tournament anymore. Of course, she did consider entering but she could not bring herself to do it.

"He is staring. You gave me food, I get you beef."

Serena blinked, confused as to what Erin was talking about. However, she followed her finger to see Howard. Howard White. Her eyes widened a little. Why was he staring? Wha- Wait, what? She did not want to eat beef! What was going on? Before she could say anything, she felt her hand being grabbed and she was being tugged in his direction. Serena definitely attempted to struggle to loosen the grip but Erin was definitely stronger, "No no, I don't want to eat anything- I'm fine- I'm pretty sure he was staring at you- We don't need to go-" She quickly started to protest, shooting a look towards Bloom whether or not she followed the pair.

Standing in front of Howard, she blinked. "O-oh urm, hi," She mumbled as she stood there, dumbfounded. Her eyes flickered from him to Gary. Why did he have to have such a cute pet? It just made him seem sweeter and more adorable and made her swoon even harder! Argh. Why did Erin think this was a good idea?!? Okay, now Serena wanted to kill Erin! What the heck! Her heart was pounding, this was so awkward. What did Erin expect her to do- "Howard. Serena made this for you." Serena stared at Erin, blinking. "N-no, I- Well- I mean, I guess so yeah- It was uh, for the thing- I- yeah-" She quickly corrected herself. Saying no felt mean. In theory, she had made it for everyone and he was someone so... she supposed she did but Erin was making it out worse than it was! Serena had literally signed the cupcake she sent Howard for Valentine's Day as 'anonymous' because she did not want to admit she made something for him and now, Erin was doing just that!

"You don't have to eat it- I don't know if you'd like it. It might be too spicy- I-" Serena shut up, after rambling quickly to give Howard an out in case he did not want to eat it. The awkwardness and nerves were eating at her as she waited with bated breath, unsure if she wanted him to take one or not now. This was so awkward! Serena just stared at the box of samosas intensely, not wanting to look at him. "You know- Imma just... go get some food for Pizza. And Gary. Right. Yeah-" She started to mumble as she pointed to the table of food, backing away from the cute guy and this awkward mess that Erin was forcing onto her to try and get their pets food.

ACTION: Brings in Samosas for the potluck / for Erin Howard apparently

Stamina: 10 | Evasion: 13 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 15 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 10
Abilities: Part-Goblin, Evasive Maneuvers, Beastmaster
Fifth-Year Armour: +10% auto-dodge on attacks [=20% auto-dodge overall]

Outfit of the Ball