Closed Fall Ball 2023 Lanterns and Boat Rides

october 6th 2023; interacting with @Rodney Hughes and @Landon Matthews; mentioning @Madison Bennett and @Helena Rose

Outfit Reducio

Alyssea shook her head. "Duelling is cool! I have fun on the piste. But maybe after this year, I'll have a change of heart." She was still young, as her brother liked to tease. 'You're still young and got lots of opportunities to try out,' he would tell her. What would he think if she told him all the developments in her life, now?

When Alyssea heard about Landon joining Quidditch, Alyssea's face lit up. "You should try! It's really fun once you're on the team. Being on the waitlist is a good time to train." She took a pause as she found her lantern successfully turned blue and she dipped her paintbrush into a colour again. "I think Madi's on the Quidditch team. Madison, the girl we met earlier. She's a... Chaser, I think?"

They had talked about being on sports teams last weekend at their sleepover. Madison was following in her dad's footsteps while Alyssea was just trying things out when she liked.

Soon enough, her lantern was done. The lantern was blue with a broom in the centre, a few clouds in the sky, and a black-and-white badger on the broom to represent Hufflepuff. What did the Hufflepuff broom racers call themselves? The duellists called themselves the Blazing Badgers. Alyssea chuckled thinking about it now. She had her share of fire.

"Yup," Alyssea responded to Landon, "Light the tealight and the smoke... will make it fly off."

She turned to the boys and leaned over. "What did you guys paint?"

roleplaying as Daniel Tienzo from Castelobruxo
october 6th 2023; open to interactions

Flynn Montgomery was an interesting human. First of all, his name was like the male main character of the ball's supposed inspiration. You know, Flynn Rider. While Daniel's memory of the movie was hazy, he could remember the iconic boat scene. The thought popped into his head. "You guys go boat later?" He pointed towards the dock to make his point.

It was interesting to see how their interaction with each other changed upon learning their names. Had they not known each other properly before? It was truly interesting. His suspicion of them not knowing each other properly was solidified by Harmony's question of Flynn's interests. He smiled when she said she was making Flynn a lantern. Cute.

Daniel looked around. Lorelai had gone off with her date; he hoped he could still catch a conversation with her sometime during the evening. Honestly, speaking a foreign language that had so many exceptions to rules was a skill he would never be able to possess. People were beginning to pile in from the banquet. Maybe the festivities were finally cranking up.

He decided he wouldn't go on the boats. Nobody to sit with would be lonely and honestly depressing. Watching the lanterns from the shore was both safe and entertaining, he decided.

interacting with: @Harmony Hollins and @Flynn Montgomery

Dialogue: #03733b

@Landon Matthews

@Alyssea Brown

Friday, October the 6th, 2023

Alyssea started out by thanking Landon and I for our compliments and saying that she would tell the team about them. She then proceeded to begin answering Landon’s inquiry by telling us that she was painting her wish to become a broom racer. “You don’t want to duel anymore?” Landon asked Alyssea with a surprised look on his face. “Don't get me wrong, I'm not bad at duelling,” Alyssea responded as she began to explain her answer, “but broom racing just... calls to me, you know? I might step down from the duelling team if I don’t like it.” ‘That makes sense’, I thought to myself. “Good luck with becoming a broom racer.” I told Alyssea with an encouraging smile.

But thus far, Alyssea hadn’t actually answered Landon’s question, she just told us what she was doing, so now it was time for part two of her answer. “Paint anything you want. A quote, your favourite thing, your goals or wishes for the year. Get creative.” It was then that Landon gave us his own revelation: “I... I might try to join the Quidditch team. I don't know though... I might not be any good…” “Don’t worry,” I told him, “You’ll become good with time and practice.”

And now, it was time to drop my own little revelation, if you could call it that. “Personally, I want to join the duelling team. I mean, ever since my first duel with Alyssea, I’ve been very passionate about improving my spell casting skills and I’ve been in a number of duels since then, and it’s only been three weeks since then! Not that that necessarily means anything since my passion for duelling could easily die out sometime in the future, but for now, I genuinely want to join the duelling team, so that’s what I’m going to put on my lantern.” As I finished my sentence, I realized that I still didn’t have a lantern, and that reminded me about my question for Alyssea.

“Speaking of which…” I said as I turned towards Alyssea, who also seemed to remember what I asked. “Right, yes, we thought some people wouldn’t be able to craft a lantern from scratch and it’d end up being too frustrating, so now you only have to decorate them. Apologies for the miscommunication.” “Apologies accepted.” I said as I picked up a lantern and a paintbrush. I drew a head on top of a robe, with two legs and two hands coming out of it. In the person’s right hand was a wand. This was me. I then proceeded to draw pretty much the exact same figure on the opposite side of me. This was my opponents.

As I was finishing drawing my opponents robe, I heard Alyssea say “Colorvaria.”. I saw a flash of light coming from her direction. I turned to look at Alyssea and noticed the change the spell had caused: Her lanter was now mostly blue, whereas before, it was white. “Whoa, that’s a pretty neat spell.” I said before continuing to paint my lantern.

october 6th 2023; interacting with @Rodney Hughes and @Landon Matthews; mentioning @Madison Bennett and @Helena Rose

Outfit Reducio

Practising for broom racing hadn't been on Alyssea's cards yet. Yes, she bought a broom before the new year (a decent Nimbus 1001... somewhat pricey for a twelve-year-old) but saw hardly any use for it outside of Flying class. It's not like they allowed you to fly a broom in the Duelling Club.

Maybe she would take Landon up on that. And Madison, too.

Having been complimented on her spell-casting, Alyssea shrugged. "You learn it in Second Year Transfiguration. There's also two other colour-changing spells, but they only affect certain things." Just before continuing about them, she stopped. Not relevant to the conversation, she said to herself. Rodney would have to find out.

After waiting a bit for the boys to finish painting, Alyssea got up from the blanket and picked up her skirt to avoid tripping on it. Long dresses were sometimes a hassle to deal with. "Why don't we release it when we're on a boat? I think it would be magical that way."

She moved towards them and picked a large empty one. Surely this boat would be enough to hold the five of them. Alyssea slowly lowered herself inside and stood with one hand free to take someone. Balancing the body weights of five children would be a task to ensure the boat wouldn't tip. "You guys coming?"

Date and Time: October 6th 2023 7pm

Interacting with: @Alyssea Brown,@Helena Rose,@Landon Matthews and@Rodney Hughes

Outfit: Dress Shoes Hairstyle

Once Madison arrived at the lake with Helena, she waved at Alyssea and hugged her, waving at Rodney and Landon "hey guys, sorry we didn't follow you down to the lake to begin with, Helena and I got pretty busy talking together" Madison said with a smile.

Madison saw that the others had finished painting their lanterns already, whereas she hadn't even started hers. She grabbed a plain lantern and painted a panoramic Quidditch pitch, with herself riding a broom, though on the inside she wrote to be able to make my own decisions for my life, before walking over to where Alyssea and the others were. She saw Landon had painted a broom on his too and then the Hufflepuff colours. "Did I hear you say that you wanted to try out for the team Landon?" Madison asked before continuing, "cause if so, i'd be happy to help you. My dad used to play Quidditch for England so I learnt how to play from an early age" Madison explained.

She then held her lantern as she stood next to Alyssea and chatted with her, "woah Alyssea, yours is so cool, you're going to rock at broom racing, i can tell you are" she said with a smile, as she looked around and saw loads of lanterns already in the sky. Madison was getting kind of tired so maybe letting her lantern go up into the air, with one of her best friends and some new ones, would be a great way to start rounding down the night for her.

Wait. Harmony was talking to him? as in like a genuine question? and she was making him a lantern??? Flynn took a second to have a momentary mental reset as he rationalised the events unfolding in front of him. During this few seconds of cognitive refresh Flynn had entirely forgotten everything he enjoyed in life, Flynn couldn't remember what a bowtruckle was nor could he remember his favourite sport growing up, in response to this lapse in memory all of Flynns functioning brain cells converged to formulate a reasonable response, all this concentration had the consequence of not processing the sentence properly so Flynns usually rock solid grammar had suddenly been thrown out the window.

"I uhhh... BOWTRUCKLES... cough yes sorry animals I love animals especially magic ones and the bowtruckle is well my favourite..." next time think more before you speak. "I love animals and I've always enjoyed sports I'm trying to wrap my head around quidditch my mum taught me the best she could but nothing beats seeing it in person" this was a longer response then necessary but thats what friends do right? making seemingly simple questions painstakingly long, "well how about yourself I'm no artistic genius but if your making one for me I'll make one for you" if Flynn was being honest with himself he had completely forgotten Daniel as apart of the conversation as the striking foreigner now taking up the mantle as spectator as Flynn edged his bets to strike up an actual conversation with Harmony.

"You guys go boat later?" this felt like a faint whisper crawling over his shoulder as he felt so lost in his response that any other piece of dialogue felt like background noise.

"I mean I'm game for it eventually but right now I want to see how I go making a lantern, how about you... Harmony" yea it still didn't feel right.

Interacting with @Harmony Hollins and Daniel Tienzo @Alyssea Brown

Blue in English, Red in Korean

Eun-ji sighed upon hearing the boy’s answer. He sounded awfully naïve but she wasn’t someone to put people in the box based on a few meetings. It was very much possible that he had a lot going on in his personal life as well however, the Ravenclaw didn’t want to know. She had enough of her own problems and couldn’t take on any more...even if they weren’t hers. “Yes, I heard that saying but it’s hardly ever actually true. It’s more likely one will be annoyed, hanging out with someone that doesn’t match their personality.” It was a bit hypocritical of her to say this since she had been hanging out with Hana recently and they somehow got along quite well, despite being a complete opposites. Hiro didn’t know this however, so she could say whatever she pleased. Speaking of Hana…

Eun-ji turned to her right side to look for the right decorations for her lantern when her eyes caught a familiar figure. Speak of the devil… For a moment, her eyes lingered on the Slytherin and his companion. Was she his date for the evening? She recognized Bailey of course. They weren’t friends or anything but they were both Ravenclaws and she seemed to stick to Kim like a glue. To be honest Eun-ji assumed they would be attending the ball together. So why Hana of all the people then? Also…why was she even wondering about this? The boy could go to the ball with whomever he wanted. The two of them were simply having fun together, nothing more. It was none of her business, who he hangs out with. Shaking her head to clear her mind, the witch turned away from the strange pair. If she was feeling a bit bitter now…well…nobody would know.

The raven-haired girl resumed her crafting activities without any further delay before she was once again interrupted by Hiro. He really wasn’t going to leave, was he? “I’m not hungry. You made it so you should eat it or give it to one of your friends.” She refused though her tone wasn’t as harsh this time. Clearly, he made an effort for her and she really was fond of Korean food but she still couldn’t bring herself to accept anything from him. It would only give him hope.

Looking around once again, Eun-ji noticed the boats were about to leave. She was not planning to join the activity herself but it would no doubt be a magical experience. Well…assuming nothing went wrong of course. “You sure you don’t want to find a friend and go for the boats? It’s one of the main events after all.” She suggested calmly.

Action: Crafting a lantern and talking to Hiro since he refuses to leave :-D
Stats: STA: 9 ✦ EVA: 10 ✦ STR: 4 ✦ WIS: 12 ✦ ARC: 11 ✦ ACC: 13
Abilities: Healing Sage I & II ✦ Perfectionist ✦ Death Defiance ✦ Spell Spread
Interacting with: @Kim Sato as Hiro Bakugo
Mentioning: @Hanako Tone and @Bailey Glade

Mentions @Eun-ji Lee Hunt, @Qrowley Beithir, general attendees

As the animagus soared over the event, he spotted no blatant signs of chaos nor calamity. Pericles knew better than to believe it would stay that way, but one could hope, while continuing to keep a keen eye out all the same. Satisfied for now, the eagle swerved back towards the mainland. With a few fluttering beats of his wings, he slowed his course and came to land, perched on a decorative bit of metal atop the boathouse spire. A handful had already taken to the water, but he would wait for the rest to release their lanterns. Sailing beneath them would have been a beautiful sight. Flying among them, on the other hand, would a be a one-of-a-kind experience.

While he waited, the bird began to browse those in attendance. They were scattered below as a sea of unfamiliar faces, save Eun-Ji from the duel team, who seemed to be spending "quality time" with a student he failed to recognize. Peri made the comedically uninformed mistake of assuming she was having a lovely time socializing, feeling pleased for his heckled comrade. A glint of gold off of a skeletal accessory snagged his attention away. As Qrow decorated their lantern, the bird wondered over the choice in colors, presuming they were a fellow Ravenclaw he simply hadn't noticed before.

The thought was sobering: how much had he missed, holing himself away for his fourth year? When he was a prefect, he had gone out of his way to shepherd first years all over the grounds, taking pride in acting as a guide. Since stepping down, he had been so lost in his studies and experiments that he hardly spoke with any old friends, let alone familiarized himself with new students. Shifting his stance, the eagle's talons tinged against the metal finial. Gray wings were drawn in tight to his sides so that feathers might stave off the cold.

Action: perched on the boathouse as an eagle, mimicking a rooster weathervane, waiting for the lantern release. Observing

Dialogue: #03733b

@Landon Matthews

@Madison Bennett

@Alyssea Brown

@Helena Rose

Friday, October the 6th, 2023

“And then we add the tea light and the lantern flies away?” Landon asked after a while. By this point, I had finished painting myself duelling my opponent, and I had begun painting myself as a healer. “Yup,” Alyssea said, “light the tealight and the smoke... will make it fly off.” “Cool.” I said as I finished drawing the healing spell I was casting. Then, Alyssea asked us a question. “What did you guys paint?” I looked up and said “I painted myself as a duellist here, and as a healer here. As you guys can tell, I’m clearly not an artist, but what matters is that I know what these paintings are about.” Indeed, my work was comparable to that of a five-year-old, but I was okay with that. After all, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Alyssea had already told us what she was painting: Herself as a broom racer. I took a look at her balloon and saw a broom in the centre with a black-and-white badger flying on it. For the background, Alyssea had turned the lantern blue, and she had painted on some clouds as well. “That’s a good drawing Alyssea.” I said before looking over at Landons lantern, and saw that instead of a painting, there were two words, among other things. “We all want to be on teams.” Landon said all of a sudden. “Different ones too. Could be fun. I want to feel like a good Hufflepuff. I don't have the best house spirit... and I want to make more friends.” “Landon, you already are a good Hufflepuff.” I said. “I can tell.”

Suddenly, Maddison came rushing over with Helena. She came up to Alyssea and hugged her, before saying “Hey guys, sorry we didn’t follow you down to the lake to begin with, Helena and I got pretty busy talking together.” “Hello Madison.” I said with a smile. “Don’t worry, you didn’t miss much. All that happened was me saying that I want to become a Duellist, Alyssea saying that she wants to become a Broom Racer, and Landon saying that he wants to become a Quidditch player.” Well that sent Madison talking, telling Landon that if he wanted to try out for the Quidditch team, she could help him, and that her dad used to play Quidditch for England so she learnt how to play from a young age. I remembered how Alyssea said that Madison was a Quidditch player for the Hufflepuff team.

As she talked, Madison quickly painted her lantern. I looked over and saw that she was painting someone riding on a broom on a field. There were three hoops on each side of the field, so I assumed that it was a Quidditch pitch, which would make sense considering Madison’s background in Quidditch. It was then that Landon said that we had better art skills than him, which caught my attention. “I mostly just painted a broom and then went all Hufflepuff colors. I want to do Quidditch and also have better house spirit.” He reached for a tealight and used his wand to light it. “Shall we release them all together?” he asked. “Why don’t we release it when we’re on a boat?” Alyssea commented. “I think it would be magical that way.” “Yeah, I agree.” I said as I stood up. “Mind lighting mine?” I asked Landon. “I’d do it myself, but I left my wand in my dorm.”

Alyssa went down to the lake to get us a boat while Landon lit my lantern. “Thanks man.” I said “You guys coming?” Alyssea asked from inside one of the boats with her hand out. “Yup!” I said. I walked down to the boat with my lit lantern and took Alyssea’s hand. She proceeded to let me in and I sat down in one of the spots. “Thank you Alyssea.” I said as the rest of the members of our group came in.