Closed Fall Ball 2023 Candle-Lit Banquet

As he entered, he had nothing but fire in his eyes. His desire had nothing to do with the goal to appease others, but rather to ensure the crashing defeat of those who dared to create a better ball than the one in the Spring in where he could've happily just shoved people in the Hedges and where they could disappear for who-knows-how-long. It wouldn't take him dreadfully long to make his own movement towards a boy of whom seemed to have brown hair- illuminated by the candlelight.

From behind, Clark looked forward with a malicious stare and tone in his voice that resembled grim things to come. "Aww, don't you look..." He took a brief pause before continuing on primarily to just potentially give the boy in front of him a chance to turn around. But even if he didn't, Clark continued. "cute." And with a crooked smile plastered across his face, he darted headfirst into the target's knees. He desperately hoped that he was far enough away to ram with his full weight into the leg-elbow-thingy. Sure, that wasn't the end of Clark, but he needed to make sure it looked like he didn't do anything to anyone. That said, Clark quietly laid down on the ground and then pretended to whine and moan and scream out in pain.

Clear Action: Ramming headfirst into Sherlock Dols' Knees and lying down on the ground faking pain to look innocent

Blue in English, Red in Korean

After the emotionally draining summer, Eun-ji didn’t really feel like socializing. She did not look for a date and she was not planning to go out tonight but somehow, like last year and every year before that, she still found herself entering the ball area. It didn't make sense really. The event would be filled with people and no doubt finish with yet another catastrophe so why was she here? Simple. The Ravenclaw needed distraction. Besides, it would be a shame to leave her beautiful dress lying at the bottom of her trunk. Also not matter how gloomy she felt, she had to admit the theme was quite appealing. She loved lanterns and attended a few festivals filled with them in Korea but never actually got the chance to make and release one herself. So why not do it today?

When Eun-ji first saw the posters, her mind immediately pictured the Tangled scene. Considering the outfits present, she obviously wasn’t the only one but unlike others, she didn’t hold onto that idea. If somebody knew how to do lantern festivals, it was Asians. Coincidentally it just happened that she brought hanfu traditional Chinese dress with her this year. When she was shopping for one to wear at Sato’s ball, the old owner made sure to add another one into her bag. She was very adamant and Eun-ji couldn’t bring herself to refuse the beautiful garment. That being said, she didn’t know when she would get an opportunity to wear it besides the ball so she ended up packing it without much thought.

The red and gold combination definitely wasn’t very subtle among the sea of pink and white dresses but there was nothing the Ravenclaw could do about that one. Surely, as long as she kept her solemn expression, nobody would bother her. She felt content on her own. In fact, Eun-ji was asked by Hiro to accompany him to the ball but she swiftly refused his offer. He was too enthusiastic. Just thinking about it caused her major headache. The only other boy that came to mind at the time, was Hanako however she felt like asking him would be crossing some invisible line that should not be crossed. Could I even handle his company for the whole evening? It was honestly hard to say.

Well no matter…let’s take a look around at least. While her primary goal was to make a lantern and quickly disappear, Eun-ji didn’t see any harm in exploring the area a little. The people organizing all this definitely deserved such courtesy. The place looked amazing. It must have taken a lot of effort to decorate everything so beautifully. It would be a shame not to walk around a little bit.

Action: Entering the ball and roaming around
Stats: STA: 9 ✦ EVA: 10 ✦ STR: 4 ✦ WIS: 12 ✦ ARC: 11 ✦ ACC: 13
Abilities: Healing Sage I & II ✦ Perfectionist ✦ Death Defiance ✦ Spell Spread
Mentioning: @Kim Sato as Hiro Bakugo and @Hanako Tone

H E L E N A

R O S E

*ੈ✩‧₊˚- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶♡˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Helena's Dialogue #aa8b00

Tags @Maddison Bennett@Landon Matthews@Alyssea Brown@Rodeny Hughes

*ੈ✩‧₊˚- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶♡˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -*ੈ✩‧₊˚

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•——————✧◦♚◦✧——————⋆•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Helena followed the older blonde haired girl quietly. Helena was not certain of what to do after all the ball started to become a tad bit more lively in a way.

The young golden haired eleven year old dusted off her golden sunflower yellow ruffled dress glancing around at everyone that seemed to start making an appearance. From a distance Helena spotted a certain small stature Hufflepuff boy the young girl knew fairly little of besides the fact he always seemed to bring trouble wherever he set foot.

Helena bit the inside of her cheek following Maddison closely. Helena did not wish to lose track of the older girl after all the young blonde seemed a bit scared of actually mingling with the other students that seemed to pour into this ball after all. Sea blue eyes glistening with uncertainty staring up at the taller blonde Helena thought quietly to herself as she listened to Maddison speak.

Madison seemed quite helpful and fairley kind after all; she barely knew Helena and offered to help the girl out if she ever had any problems. Helena could not help but shy away slightly in embarrassment after all that was rather nice of Maddison to offer to the smaller of the two girls.

“Thank you Madison that is rather kind of you.”

Helena spoke quietly slowly getting comfortable with the older girl after all Maddison seemed rather kind, something Helena was still adjusting to. Her soft sea blue eyes examined the area as she continued to listen to her companion. Helena moved a tad bit closer to Maddison after all the older girl reassured her it was alright.

Helena sighed softly looking around their surroundings due to the crowd thickening the young girl seemed to lose sight of the rest of their group. Though as the student body seemed to slowly flood the ball area Helena stayed a bit closer to Maddison worried she would lose her as well.

As the young girl turned her attention to the older girl who spoke once again mentioning that they would find the rest of the group later and to find a calmer spot in the ball area to chit chat, Helena quietly agreed and followed the taller girl close behind. Helena was uncertain of what to do but she was not angry or upset; she was just overwhelmed with the many people that seemed to be surrounding the young girl.

Helena tagged along with Maddison quietly; it was not like Helena wanted to stay quiet or anything; she was just uncertain of what to say or do in all honesty. The young girl was just intrigued with everything going on around her from the students chit chatting about from the lively music it was a tad bit overwhelming for the smaller shy girl. Overall Helena really was uncertain of what she should be doing.

The young girl stayed quiet for the majority of the walk with Maddison nodding her head nad chiming in every so often. When the older girl asked the younger of the two about quidditch Helena seemed to grow a thoughtful look. She was a tad bit uncertain it was not like the girl disliked Quidditch on the contrary she sort of admired the way the brooms would glide across the sky. After all she used to cheer her cousin on when he would play with his old bewitched broom. Not only that every now and then she would get coaxed into trying it but the young girl always chickened it.

Helena felt like quidditch would be a fun game to play but she preferred watching others glide around and race past each other. It was better that way.

“I rather watch Quidditch though I do envy the players seems a tad fun, but not my kind of fun.”

Helena spoke quietly as the duo made their way to a quieter area. Helena glancing around paid more attention to the older students. They seemed to be having fun or some cases causing mischief, but it was something of interest to Helena after all the young girl was slowly getting excited besides her nerves eating away at her stomach she just could not help the mixed feelings that she felt inside.

Mentions: Nate Hawthorn @Estelle Nyx, Kaya Rose Bennet @Linda Ramirez

Outfit: Reducio "English"|Thoughts

06/10/23 OOC Note: Reducio Abilities: Charmer | Fearless

Amber was excited and nervous for the first ball of the second year. For one, she had traveled all the way from America to get here and two, she was going with her friend and date Nate. Amber had pulled a prank on Nate in her first year and the two had become friends afterwards. As she waited to enter the ball she scanned for her date. And of course her bestie Kaya. Kaya had been her best friend ever since she had moved to Canada. Amber had been lonely and anti-social but now she was different. And she had Kaya to thank for that. I finally spotted Nate hanging around somewhere, probably waiting for her. Kaya was also there with her date. I smiled. They seem to be having fun together! Because of this, I decided not to bother them. I would find her later. I walked up to Nate, he was facing the other way. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey! How’s it going?” I smiled. Nate looked good. He was wearing a gray suit and had on glasses. I didn’t think they were real but they did match his look and made him look smart. Amber took a peek inside the ball and scanned around. The place was finely decorated and so beautiful. There were candles everywhere and plenty of decorations. The food stands seemed to have plenty of food and drinks. And there were lots of people, from many cultures and all with different styles. It was a wonderful sight to see and Amber knew she would enjoy her time here meeting friends old and new.

Word Count: 270/200

OUTFIT

Reducio

SPEECH
self | thoughts | "others speaking"

INTERACTIONS AND MENTIONS
@topaz november
open to other interactions

◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥

Social gatherings weren't Ophelia's favorite things. She was, unquestionably, an introvert. But that didn't mean that she wasn't curious about wizarding gatherings and events. Mostly, she couldn't wait for the food. Still, she didn't want to be thought of as alone. As soon as she'd heard of this ball, she'd known that she didn't want to go alone. And Ophelia had found the best person to go with in a house she'd never interacted with.

Topaz November was a friendly, outgoing sort of girl. And while Ophelia and her were polar opposites, they went well together. They'd first met at Flourish and Blotts over the summer when they were buying their school supplies, not knowing that they were going to end up friends. After that, they'd interacted a few times at Hogwarts, finally getting close enough to go with each other to the ball as friends.

Ophelia waited near the Great Lake for Topaz as she'd said she would. Her spot was perfect. She could easily see the people enjoying themselves at the two activities that the ball was spread across. Lantern-making on one side, and a beautifully decorated candle-lit banquet on the other, where she was hoping to go first.

The gown Ophelia wore was something special in her opinion. While other students were wearing trendy or stylish dresses that symbolized nothing except their fashion choices, she wore something that had grown in sentimental value for her over the last few days. Her mother's best party gown. Midnight and navy blues mixed with lovely baby blues and off-whites to form a masterpiece that no one could recreate. It had flowy sleeves and delicate embroidery. And all of it had been altered by Ophelia herself. Days after days spent working on the thing to the point of insanity, but it had all paid off in the end. The dress fit her perfectly and she couldn't imagine wearing anything else to a ball this fancy.

As she waited some more, she felt a light tap on the shoulder. Spinning around, and almost tripping on the large heels that she wore, Ophelia smiled at her friend. Topaz looked stunning in a green gown and sparkling silver jewelry.

"You look great, Topaz." She gestured towards the Great Lake path. "Shall we?"

◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

OOC NOTES

Reducio

Dialogue: #03733b

@Landon Matthews

@Madison Bennett

@Alyssea Brown

@Helena Rose

Friday, October the 6th, 2023

“Um… I mean… I’d be interested in looking, but if you would rather I stay here, I can do that too.” Landon said in response to my question. “I don’t want to get in the way.” I looked at Landon, and a smile formed on my face. ‘What a nice kid.’ I thought to myself, before beginning to speak. “I get how you feel Landon, and I admire how you put the comfort of others in front of your own, but Alyssea and I are just friends so you’re more than welcome to come along. I mean, think about all of the fun you’ll have looking around, or even making stuff with us!” As I finished my sentence, Alyssea finally began to speak. “It’s a very lovely watch.” She started. “Thank you.” I said as I turned to face her. “As for the craft tables way over there, they’re for making lanterns. It’s more fun to make your own instead of just throwing some already-made ones into the air.” “Oh, I completely agree. Besides, pre-made lanterns could run out pretty fast.”

When I finished speaking, Alyssea came over to Landon and began whispering something to him, probably to convince him to come with us. As she spoke to him, I walked a bit towards the arts and crafts tables and looked at the lanterns on them, as well as at some of the people over there who were making some. I admired the beauty of the lanterns, and then I turned back to Alyssea and Landon. Alyssea had just finished speaking to him, and she turned to me to say “Let’s go get the other girls and see if they want to make some lanterns, too.” “Sounds like a plan.” I said, before turning towards the place where Madison and Helena had gone, only to see that they weren’t there.

I scanned the area in an attempt to find them, and as I did so, I said “Although to get them, we’ll have to find them first.” I had remembered how Madison and Helena looked like and what dresses they were wearing, and I assumed that Alyssea and Landon had done so as well, to some extent anyways, so unless they had gone to a place that was blocked from our field of vision, finding the two girls wouldn’t be too hard.

Action: Going to the Lantern-making area.

october 6th 2023
the great lake
19:00

It seemed the theme was quite popular with many members of the student body. It was still too early for any real party to start. Rest assured, nobody had spiked the punch yet so everyone was safe to drink it without any weird effects.

Nobody said you couldn't bring pets to the event, so there were a few already who brought their critter partners. As @Marietta Griffis continued to sit and pet her cat, @Piérre Marchonné entered the ball, set his cat free, and attempted to surprise Marietta with his arrival.

piérre tries to sneak up on marietta using cat's grace, +75 means success
[d100 : 14], fail; Marietta notices him

Unfortunately, she would hear his footsteps before he would even have a chance to say hello.

figaro (piérre's cat) scouts the place, attempting stealth using cat's grace
[d100 : 14], fail; people will notice the cat

Also, if anyone happens to see a cat roaming around the place, don't fret! It's just Piérre's cat, Figaro. I'm sure the feline doesn't bite.

Despite it still being too early to be a real party, all sorts of chaos would go down already. Aside from a few familiar (yet strange) faces showing up, two people were out to make a scene. The first would be @Mathias Pride spilling his drink onto @Astra Norrick's lovely ombre dress.

mathias pride spills his drink on astra norrick
Matt auto-hit, success on 10, [d10 : 10]
Matt acc [d20 : 18] + 11 = 29
Astra eva [d20 + 6] + 5 = 11
29 > 11, Matt successfully spills drink on Astra

It was a good thing most of her dress was dark-coloured, but the fabric would turn out sticky once dried. That will be a pain to clean later. Surely this wouldn't deter her from participating in another ball; she was only a First Year.

On the other end of the ball, resident chaotic goblin, @Clark Baird, decided to head slam into Sherlock Dols' knees. (Someone ought to tell tall people that their knees are never safe.)

clark headslamming headfirst into sherlock dols' knees
Clark acc [d20 : 4] + 8 = 12
Sherlock eva [d20 : 9] + 4 = 13
12 < 13, Clark misses Sherlock's knees

But Sherlock's knees would remain safe. Of course, even though he was unsuccessful, Clark decided to play it off by falling to the ground and crying out in pain. There might be a few side eyes and eye rolls, but it's certainly turned out to be more interesting for the beginning of the ball.

Just a reminder that eating, drinking, and dancing aren't the only things you can do at this year's Festival of Lights. It might be time to make some lanterns before the boats head off.

OOC Information
Welcome to the banquet! Before you enter, please read the following:

1. Your character must be indexed. If you are not yet indexed, please register here
2. Moderation will occur once a week on Saturdays. Clarification is below
3. Your character is allowed one moderated action per round
   
   Reducio

   A moderated action is anything requiring rolls e.g. casting a spell (at someone), punching someone. If the action is only between PCs and is consensual, it will not require rolls e.g. asking someone to dance.
4. If your PC is moving between the banquet and the boat rides, please specify that action in your post
5. Please follow all normal H.io site rules while participating in the ball.

Enjoy the food and have fun dancing!

[ october 6, 2023 ] ♥ outfit

It was a rather peculiar feeling, really, to be suddenly standing so close next to a boy. She seemed to shy away from him, like an innocent baby deer fidgeting with a corner of her shawl. Her cheeks were rosy, a nervous smile lingering on the corners of her lips.

He seemed rather freaked out by this 'warm greeting', clutching his chest dramatically and playing along with her childish antics.

Pyxis was a friendly, outgoing sort of boy. And while Xin and him were definitely polar opposites, they went well together. They'd first met at Camp over the summer as acquaintances, and interacted a few times during Hogwarts, finally to the state where the Gryffindor would call ‘friends’. He was one of the few she could open up to, really.

“Mmm, same.” Xin simply nodded carefully, a faint smile on her face, “Don't you have a date?” she poked wryly, lightly shoving at the other. “And what on earth are they doing?” she wrinkled her nose upon glancing over at a couple blushing so hard they wouldn't look out of place on the Gryffindor banner.

Tough luck she'll ever have a crush. the girl shuddered at the very thought of staying alone and miserable for the rest of her short life, with only WALL-E for company. Perhaps one day I'll be someone's girlfriend, Xin thought wistfully, it must feel like the world...

She suddenly became very interested on the chocolate cauldron in her hand, cheeks red and pausing in her thoughts, “You too,” her voice tinged, it was playful but matched the same shyness in her eyes. “Reminds me of an old school gentleman,” teased the Gryffindor, regarding him with a smirk.

“It's called a shawl,” Xin answered proudly, “I'm wearing a traditional Chinese hanfu,” she showed it to the boy, the fabric rubbing against her palms.

She kept her eyes fixated on the blur of light ahead as her stomach lurched with every lantern floating in sight. Illuminating the night sky, outshining the stars. She could almost make out the words written on the paper.

Brother.

She froze. Brother. It seemed so far away. ringing in her ears. Yes, he was annoying and loved Genshin Impact just like any other boy, but he was always there when she needed protection. It would be a lie to say the girl didn't care for Chen.

Sometimes the memory of him makes her sad, elder brothers can get you like nothing else. But she had to stop thinking of him now. The wish for Chen to be here fills her with such rage and bitterness that she thinks she will explode. There’s part of her that will never believe he won’t come bouncing around some corner to laugh at her for falling for some elaborate joke.

Maybe she should write to Chen a bit more often. After all, life wouldn't be the same without a brother.

@pyxis hellebore –––––– ♥