Event Midspring Festival

@Judith Cohen

Hex Colour:#38b6ff
Relevant Abilities: Charmer
Open to interactions
|| Mentioning @Aaron Jones and @Flash Holmwood ||
Post Tracker: x | x | x | x | x

With a fresh crown of pink-and-white flowers newly bequeathed upon her curly head (by her own hands), Aly moved into the remainder of the courtyard, her eyes darting back and forth for a certain Hufflepuff with dark, silky hair and a heartbeat-quickening smile.

She had been over at the Crafting Table for much of the event so far, weaving some accessories for herself and waiting to see if anyone needed her assistance with mask-making or crown-concocting. But when it seemed as though everyone at the table was doing just fine on their own, and once she'd become impatient to find her date, Aly had set off into the rest of the courtyard, throughout which she now wandered with her green gaze seeking out the one friendly face she particularly wanted to see.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see other friendly faces - though, as she looked around, the only people she recognised within the courtyard were some other members of the festival-planning committee, and not really any of her closer friends. They were nowhere to be seen - probably inside, enjoying the Goblet announcements (which had almost certainly happened already, but since Aly hadn't put her name into the Goblet, she wasn't particularly married to the need to find out who had been pulled - she'd hear through the grapevine soon enough). For a moment, Aly debated heading inside herself: Should I go seek out Aaron? Or at the very least some friends? But as her eyes drifted to look towards the doors to the indoors, she shook her head in an almost imperceptible maneouvre and steeled herself once again towards waiting.

He promised he'd meet me here. And so he shall.

Hopefully.

The anxiety was rising in her like a two-headed hydra taking up residence within the pit of her stomach, asking if Aaron would come, because perhaps his sweet way of asking her to be his date down by the Training Pitch - and everything that had come since - had all been some sort of big, sick joke. But Aly tamped that down with her ever-present optimism, because Aaron had never done anything of the sort to deserve this sort of doubt from her, and hope would always be stronger than fear anyway. No, he would come, eventually - she was sure of it.

In the meantime, she eyed the effigy and all those writing sweet messages into it. It would be burnt soon - a pity, because she had truly been hoping to put something into it with Aaron, but alas, he hadn't quite arrived yet, and she was not about to do that alone. But as she watched Flash pull out his wand to light the giant dragon aflame, Aly made a little wish of her own in her head.

Please let today be as amazing as I've been hoping it to be.

OPEN TO INTERACTION

───Interactions─── Reducio @Marshal Mozor @Ivy Bellamy

OUTFIT Reducio Elie Saab Spring 2022 Collection

────Mentions──── Reducio Marion Davenport @Willow Anderson @Flash Holmwood @Howard White

How in heavens could it be that she had come here? Lost to her own thoughts, her mind spinning in an attempt to unthread the rational from what otherwise seemed a reckless and unprecedented situation, Evelynn found her gaze absolutely fixed to the silhouette of the promiscuous brunette across the way. Although, anybody following her gaze may very well have assumed she was simply taken aback by Flash's accompaniment of not only one, but two women at his side. Still, the last time she had seen that "girl", it had been at the fall ball where she'd been driven from their midst.

Well... driven wasn't quite the right descriptor. More like, she had allowed herself to be forced off, using that as a cover to lure them into the woods where she had very nearly finished off Collins and Lestrange. That she would so boldly enter into the sea of students without so much as an ounce of hesitation in her steps did not bode well. Where were the adults? Had none informed them at all? How could she move so freely?

Were it not for Anderson's fabulously impertinent opposition and withdrawal of her wand, Evelynn very well might have forgotten how to breathe. As it was, shoulders rose and fell in rapid succession as her body seemed to catch up from its period of stasis. The figure trailed away, retreating from the courtyard. And like a movie set to play after it had been paused, the touch of fingers wrapping gently around her wrist tugged the prefect back into the present moment. Her next breath brought with it the scent of fresh blossoms; stone assured itself firmly underfoot; a breeze tousled a few loose curls at her temples; and she felt warmth emanating from her companions nearby.

"Ehm.." A glance flicked itself in Bellamy's direction, and then to Marshal's, before setting itself forward once again, this time the vision void of any sign or sight of Davenport. "Yes.. yes of course." What was she supposed to say? How was she to know that Marshal wouldn't attempt to act the part of a fool's knight and rush headlong into trouble should she make mention of she knew to be true? Not to mention... she couldn't even be certain she actually really knew anything at all. There was nothing to do... nothing to say. Not yet. Not until she knew what was going on. "Everything is fine." She tried to put on a placating smile, and released Marshal of his imprisonment within her fingers' grip, pulling her hand to seek refuge within her other. "My apologies. I must have had something of a spell. I feel better now."

A lie, of course. And for the rest of the evening, her gaze would dart in and out of the crowds seeking for any sign of that wretched being yet again. Or for sign of shadows that ought not be there. She really did need to speak with Flash, to learn his account of what that was all about. Even as the sound of a voice, amplified to drift out from the great entrance and the hall within, Evelynn's heart sank. Promise of the champions' reveal could hardly compare with the thoughts that now snaked their way around her mind suggesting that she might ever have to levy her wand against her friend.

"Oh, listen there," she commented, trying to put on a brave face and direct Marshal and Ivy's attentions towards the announcements. At the very least, it might serve to distract them from any further inquiry. Perhaps not, of course, but she could hope. Plus, she couldn't deny her own curiosity to know who would be championing each of the schools.

"Surely they jest.." She balked, open-mouthed shock riddling her features at the announcement of the Hogwarts champion. "White? Our champion?" came the following hiss.

Howard. Their champions? He who had been one to lose his calm and control on more than one occasion, sinking his teeth into the like of Notrésvace? He who had recklessly and violently assaulted the Headliner office, burned their publishing, and made a display inclusive of threats for one T. Ruth during a meal in the Great Hall? He who cheated at Quidditch and had been rumoured to bully students of the school? Suddenly, she was all the more glad not to have put her name forward to the goblet if the criteria it used to select a worthy candidate could spew the likes of him.

And then, through remarks and awed gasps, her attention was drawn to movement along the outskirts of the courtyard. There, one of the shrubs seemed to have started... growing. Branches and leaves shot up, winding themselves in and out of each other, moulding and morphing until the flora provided an uncanny resemblance of the dhampir boy. Evelynn's demeaner chilled, her figure stilling, as she stared up at it. It may as very well been the real individual for as much ice was held in the challenge of her gaze. And it was with this soured mood, masked by cold indifference, that she met the rest of the champion announcements.

A polite farce of applause would be given to each name to hold up appearances, and she might even toss in a smile should someone comment positively and look her way. But none of them would reach her eyes and she would offer no further comment on the names. Not unless someone else spoke first.

ACTION: Getting caught in her thoughts, collecting herself after Marion's retreat, providing obligatory applause for announced champions

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Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - Korean
Interacting: @Aly Salinger

TL;DR: Arriving and looking for Aly, locating her and offering her a corsage
Action: Arriving from the Midspring Celebration
Stats: STA: 9 | EVA: 9 | STR: 9 | WIS: 4 | ARCP: 3 | ACC: 13
Abilities: Martial Artist | Muggle Condition | Calming Presence (allies when in range: Aly Salinger, Eun-ji Lee Hunt, all Hufflepuffs)

Aaron has a Calming Presence.

Your presence simply puts others at ease, if it is your carefree personality or the trust others have in you, the result is still the same. With you there, perhaps through your encouragement, your allies are able to better focus.

It was nighttime now, but the fiery light reflecting off the stone walls of the castle would make sure it was easy enough to walk around. There was still music for now, and as several students started herding towards the grounds to play some nighttime games with their friends, other would stay and continue to dance by the glow of the fire. Burning wood was not a bad smell, and when the effigy was lit, one might even imagine some ancient ritual was being completed, and their dreams heard.

Flash casts Fire-Making Spell on Effigy (WDC 9)
Flash's cast: [d20:9] +15 (success)

The small flame of the first year spell would be enough to begin the blaze, as the beast was created with the intention of being as flammable as possible. Once the fire got going, it would have a lot of fuel to eat through, and no doubt the incineration would last long into the night.

One odd occurrence happened, especially confusing to those who had chosen to stay in the festival, uninterested in the drama going on inside the Great Hall. One of the statues, that of Matthias Pride, would significantly morph and change, until it was clear it was another person. One of the champions had stepped down, something only possible due to the new rules of the Hexwizard Tournament. Now Aryaan, a young boy, perhaps too young, would take his place.

There were plenty who were not pleased about those who were chosen, and though the shrubs had been enchanted in order to honor them, as well as make the announcement more accessible, the frustration of not being picked would drive Charles Alluring (@Henry Knight) to vandalism.

Charles cast Fire-Making Spell on Shrub Yefim (WDC 9)
Charles cast: [d20:13] + 4 (success)

As the shrub would not do anything but mock him with its cocky smile, it was not a hard target to hit. Now, reflecting reality unbeknownst to Charles, the shrub was fully on fire. It would not take very long (next mod post) for the magical fire to burn the wood into ash. Would the champion himself have the same fate?

OOC

* Aida’s feelings do not reflect those of their author’s

Open to interactions with anyone.
Free actions: Trying to enter Charles’s personal space for intimidation factor while shouting at him.
Action: Casting the extinguishing charm at Shrub Yefim.
Interacting: Charles Alluring by @Henry Knight
Stats: Stamina 10, Evasion 6, Strength 1, Wisdom 10, Arcane Power 10, Accuracy 11
Abilities: Blindvision, Sixth Sense, Beast Master

Banner by Liana Kerr

❝ Interacting with: @Pea Elena Fowl | Mentioning: @Hanako Tone ❞

French dialog: #4d6284 | English dialog: #262d5e

the ency

Once Enzo had the attention of the girl, everything seemed as if it was falling into line. As far as he could tell there was no threat of becoming drenched in juice just yet, and that was already quite a good start.

However, there was a bit of an unexpected twist, one that gave Enzo an odd feeling as soon as he had met the gaze of the girl. His eyes studied the expression of the girl before him intently, and she quickly became his sole focus in the courtyard. He did not know what was happening to him, or what this strange feeling meant, but he felt unexplainably drawn to the lass in front of him.

Not even her response fully pulled him out of his hazed stare, though upon her questioning his choice of words, he corrected his previous statement as per her decent-ness. "As it so seems"
Clearly, she was much more decent than Hanako's last date, so that must count for something. Plus, he could not shake the feeling that there was something especially interesting about this girl, or ignore the fact that he still felt as if he were about to give her a compliment or whatever it is people do when they want to be nice and give a good impression.
Was he sick? Was he coming down with a fever? For never in his life, had he wanted to be tolerable towards someone without even seeing whether or not they were worth the effort.

"What a kind heart you have. To take pity on someone such as Tone, is nothing short of courageous" Oh right. He had nearly forgotten about wink boy for a second there. It was truly unfortunate that wink boy was incapable of normally procuring a date and had to stoop down to begging for one. Not that he would admit it, but Enzo had had higher expectations for him, and once again he came to doubt the realness of Hanako's boisterous attitude at the summer duel.

"Indeed, I suppose you could say familiar" Enzo said as he exhaled a small snort of indignance. To him, the word 'familiar' implied that there was some friendliness between them, and obviously that could not be any more far-fetched.

He then could not help but stop and smirk slightly at being called dapper. Though he only was able to bask in the feeling of his inflated ego for a couple of moments before he had to reply again.
"I had the pleasure of beating him in the duelling tournament last summer" Enzo finally carried on, conveniently leaving out how he also had the pleasure of ruining (or at least attempting to) wink boy's last ball date and also that coincidental run-in near the lake. Neither was relevant of course.

"But enough about him, he is not worth wasting any more breath" Enzo continued. After all the distractions, it appeared as if Enzo's initial goal for this interaction was slipping away rapidly. While he had approached this lovely young lady with the intent to passively sour her date, apparently now he was far more interested in her than he had so anticipated.

Gosh, there was no question about it, he was certainly falling ill.

With the sudden realization that the girl likely had no idea who he was, he piped up again, not so subtly making sure to add a touch of charm to his usually cold tone.
"Ah forgive my manners, I have not yet introduced myself. My name is Enzo Delcroix. I am most honoured to meet you"

Action: Being entranced by Pea's veela-ness xD
The Outfit↴

Reducio

With Adelaide just behind them, they walked over to the courtyard, which Pax grinned at. The detail in the decorations was clear, and the time and effort that must have been put in to achieve this must have been immense.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" They commented as they walked past several activites set up. They weren't bothered if Adelaide was going to comment or not. The scene just felt so nice and serene.

Spotting the fire, Pax instantly couldn't help but beeline towards it. Being careful to not get too close, they let the warmth of the flames spread over their body. They had what could be seen as an unhealthy interest in fire and flames. They didn't know what it was about the dancing flames that made them so enticing, but they could stare at them for hours.

"Isn't it nice?" They said, not checking if Adelaide had wandered away or stayed with them (probably for their own safety). "The flames are so pretty. Ooh, if they have food then maybe we could make s'mores. I don't know if you have those in the wizarding world, but they're really good. It's a gooey mess of chocolate and marshallows with a graham cracker for more of a crunch. If you haven't, you need to try one at some point."

Action:
Standing by the fire and talking (maybe at Adelaide, maybe at nobody)

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

Ability:
The Muggle Condition

Word Count: Reducio 269

Mentioned: Reducio n/a

Interacting With: Reducio @Adelaide Barlowe

Interactions are open

Blue in English, Red in Korean

Ye-jun looked disappointed when she refused another dance. He was really doing his best to cheer her up and she appreciated the gesture but she meant what she said. She didn’t want to keep Lucia waiting. “Come on, let’s go craft some flower crowns.” Eun-ji smiled at the boy, who simply sighed and picked up her shoes. “Fine.” He muttered before offering her his arm once again and promptly navigating them back.

Now closer to the centre of events, the Ravenclaw finally noticed a familiar face in the crowd. Oh? Slowing for a moment, her cousin immediately noticed the falter in her step and asked what was wrong. “What? Nothing's wrong. I just saw Aaron.” She nodded towards her friend. “I see...” Ye-jun hummed. “It might be best not to approach him right now.” Eun-ji glanced at the boy one more time to assess the situation a bit better. “Yeah…I think you are right.” She agreed eventually. Whilst she was happy to see him, Aaron seemed more flustered than was usual for him and the witch couldn’t help but wonder whether he got himself an actual date this time. She recognised the girl pretty much immediately. They didn’t really talk but they were in the same House and same year so it was inevitable that they would know each other. Aly seemed nice. Hopefully, she would be a luckier companion to Aaron than Eun-ji was. He deserved to have a nice time for once.

“Oh…look they are setting the Effigy on fire.” Eun-ji was distracted once again. Now that she paid more attention to her surroundings, she recognised Flash as the very person casting the Fire-Making Spell. The witch wondered whether the flames slowly eating away on her wish could soothe the darkness that settled deep into her bones recently. Probably not. Things were never that easy. “I might go and say a quick hello. Do you mind fetching Lucia and meeting me there?” Ye-jun shrugged and handed her the shoes, which she promptly put on. They could go together of course but Flash was one of the students that put this whole thing together and she didn’t want take too much of his time. Just a simple hello and thank you would do. Patting Ye-jun’s shoulder gratefully, Eun-ji started walking in the general direction of the Effigy. If Aaron noticed her passing by, she would wave at him in greeting but didn’t stop for a chat. He could find her later if he wanted to though she assumed that would not happen tonight if things went well.

Leaving the rest of her friends behind, she slowly directed her steps towards Flash. As fate would have it however, the Ravenclaw’s attention was snatched away before she got a chance to reach her destination. Aida was a hard person to miss in the crowd and the burning bush wasn’t necessarily subtle either. The raven-haired witch heard the Extinguo before she even saw them move. Her own hand slipped into her pocket, clutching the wand in a steady grip, fully prepared to do the same in case her fellow duellist failed. She doubted that would be the case but they sounded quite angry. Emotions could get the better out of anyone; she knew that far too well now. In all honesty, Eun-ji couldn’t care less about the Durmstrang champion but the “setting things on fire just because I can” was getting real old, real fast. Seriously, why do some people have to be such drama queens? She sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. What was it this time? A revenge? Jealousy because he was picked as a champion instead of the caster? Or perhaps the good old classic aka desire to be in the centre of attention at all times? Possibly a little bit of everything.

Eun-ji was not reckless though... She was not about to jump into somebody else’s conflict without knowing anything yet she couldn’t simply turn away and leave either. Aida wasn’t her friend but they were, at the very least, teammates and she respected them as her senior. It felt like she should have their back. Well…let’s calmly keep an eye on the two of them, shall we? For now, Eun-ji decided not to intervene, rather she lingered close enough to see how the situation developed. Her friends and family were in the area. If the boy wanted to start unnecessary trouble, she was ready to lend her moon kissed classmate a hand. What are the chances that he will just leave?

*Healing Sage *Perfectionist * Death Defiance • Sta 7 • Eva 8 • Stre 4 • Wis 10 • Arc 8 • Acc 9
Inventory: wand, tissues, band aids

Violet in English, Red in Korean and Blue in French

It was somewhat disappointing to leave after just one song but Ye-jun knew better than to argue with his cousin. Bending down to pick up her shoes, he promised himself to keep her spirits up otherwise. Flower crowns would have to do, he supposed. She’ll have to teach me everything all over again. That ought keep her mind occupied. His planning was interrupted when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. “What’s wrong?” The boy turned to check on Eun-ji, who seemed to slow down rather unexpectedly.

“What? Nothing is wrong. I just saw Aaron.” Ye-jun followed her gaze. It wasn’t hard to spot the boy in question. Unfortunately, beyond helping with the whole tent situation couple of months ago, Ye-jun didn’t really have an opportunity to talk to Aaron himself. He was pretty sure Eun-ji introduced them briefly amidst the chaos but then they got separated and that was it. Still, he didn’t have to know him well to recognise that now was not the right time to change that and he told his cousin as much. So it really wasn’t a date then. He should probably tell Lucia. She seemed much more set on that one than he was to be honest. Speaking of Lucia... “Sure I can fetch her. We’ll be there soon. Don’t get yourself into trouble, okay?” Eun-ji huffed at that before smiling and patting his shoulder. Yes, he knew she was not a troublemaker that was not what he meant. He was simply worried because last time she sent him away, he found her alone and looking quite shell-shocked. Nah, now you are just overthinking everything. The boy reprimanded himself before redirecting his steps towards the food tables.

Thankfully, Lucia looked perfectly fine when he found her, which was a nice change of pace. “How’s the food? Tried anything nice?” He asked with a grin. Ye-jun wasn’t hungry but he thought it might be still polite to ask. “Eun-ji went to the Effigy. Her friend…” He paused, realising he didn’t know the name. He was there during the entire tent fiasco as well but it was too brief and stressful encounter for Ye-jun to remember all the names. “Well…she went to say hello to someone. We are supposed to meet her there.” The boy explained briefly. “Probably don’t have to rush if you want to eat some more though.”(godmodding approved by Lucia due to her absence/lack of time)