Closed Fall Ball 2023 Lanterns and Boat Rides

6 October 2023
Fall Ball

“Yes, I guess so,” Harmony gave a small smile and looked back down to her lantern.
Surely that wasn’t it, right? She couldn’t help but still feel bad for the terrible communication over the past month, but if she was going to attempt to bring it up even further, she would need quite a bit of time to pluck up the courage.

Harmony painted a slightly wonky snitch above her forest of bowtruckles and hesitantly looked up. “Are you finished with your lantern?”
She watched Flynn paint a big “H” in hold on his lantern and glanced back down at hers before using the leftover gold paint on her brush to write “Flynn M.” in swoopy letters above the bowtruckle trees with her previously-drawn snitch framing the name.

“Yes, let’s go before the boats are gone,” Harmony agreed. There were plenty and she didn’t think there would be any awkward boat-sharing, what with the very few people showing interest in the boats at the moment, but she did not want to be left on shore either way. She carefully lit the tealight inside her lantern so that her master-peace-offering didn’t catch fire and stood up, keeping a firm grasp on the lantern so that it didn’t prematurely fly away.

Reaching the boats had her realising that she was about to have a very inconvenient job getting in. She had her lantern in one hand, a floor-length skirt to watch out for, and a boat on the water to get into. Ah well. With her free hand, she gathered her skirt as best as possible, not caring that it ruined the illusion of elegance to have it bunched up in her arms, and carefully stepped a foot into the boat, thanking herself for having chosen shoes with chunky heels. With her foot safely in the boat, she shuffled to get her balance before twisting slightly to lower herself backwards into a sitting position and hauling her other leg in. She arranged her skirt to look graceful again and then she was ready for takeoff.

Interacting with: @Flynn Montgomery
Summary: Finishing the lantern and getting into a boat, ready to push off

Entering & being dragged into a boat by @Piérre Marchonné AKA the 'hyummer Gondolier'
Stamina:8 | Evasion:8 | Strength:3 | Wisdom:7 | Arcane power:7 | Accuracy:7

The infamous Hogwarts ball. Miharu doesn't exactly know what's so good about these balls. Sure they get to visit Hogwarts again and she will admit that she is curious about the people that she might meet but with her attitude and all, she doubts that she'll be able to actually make friends. Not to mention, she isn't exactly in the mood for parties. So why is she here when she'd rather be at home, practicing Quidditch or even studying? Her parents, that's why. They wanted for her to at least experience what it was like to be in a Hogwarts Ball.

To be honest, not like it's no different from the formal balls that her pureblood family attends back in Japan. For someone who doesn't want to disappoint her parents even further, she has no choice but to comply. Her Quidditch match last summer was already a disappointment and she could see it in her mother's eyes the moment she found out. Never again, hopefully.

This should've been a great way for her to relax a bit and forget all about those but after that failure, she feels like there is no time for leisure. Then again, this is her parents' wish. She doubts that it was because they wanted for her to relax though. This is all for experience and learning.

Miharu looked around the great lake, watching as people come and go. Hanging light decorating the vicinity, shining upon the path so people won't accidentally find themselves going for a night swim. The water glistens as the glow from the lanterns reaches its surface, small ripples forming for every disturbance that reaches its still figure. So far, no familiar figure could be seen from where she is right. She began to wonder if there were other people from her school that attended this fall ball.

Perhaps checking out the lakeside was a bad idea. Then again, the banquet might just be a lot worse. At least here she could enjoy some peace and quiet while gazing at the lake.

WC: 341/200

INVENTORY

Outfit Reducio

Items Reducio + Wand

Action: Entering the thread

Interacting with Achille Lévesque-Auclair (played by @Rhys Read) as Zendra Blanchet

The last ball that Zendra had been to at Hogwarts had been a magical, if not a bit confusing, experience. And well, it had mostly been who she'd met who made it magical. She'd chosen to go alone, and right off the bat, she'd gotten lost. After entering the enchanted maze that was supposed to lead the attendees to the banquet, she quickly realized that it seemed to be leading her in circles. Everyone else seemed to be doing fine, and for whatever reason, the maze seemed to be purposely stopping only her from finding her way out. Why Hogwarts chose to put a literal maze in between the entrance and the castle was anyone's guess, but fortunately, Zendra found help (if you could really call another completely lost and befuddled person that). His name was Achille, and he, too, was from Beauxbatons, though she had never seen him before. Eventually, they did find their wait out, but not without Zendra developing some feelings for the handsome and unexpectedly kind boy.

After the ball was over, she didn't really expect to see him again, but much to her surprise, he was the one to reach out first. And to ask her to the Fall Ball! It had been quite an endearing and, well, awkward invitation, but she, of course, accepted his offer immediately. Zendra hadn't told her mother yet about anything, as normal, but this time she swore to write a letter sharing all the second she returned to Beauxbatons. If her mother didn't like it, that was her problem, not Zendra's. As long as Zendra went to a boarding school, her mother couldn't control a thing she did, and Zendra planned on enjoying that as much as she could.

For example, the dress she chose to wear tonight would have been blasphemy in her mother's eyes. It had a deep neckline, puffy sleeves, and a skirt that exposed the front of her legs (terror!). The dark blue complemented her grey eyes and matched her laced shoes. Zendra felt quite beautiful in the dress, and it was a far cry from the one her mom had picked out for her the year prior. Now, don't get her wrong, she quite liked that dress, but finding one for herself that didn't abide by her mom's "fashion laws" was somewhat liberating. And the boots were really perfect for the event. After wearing heels at the Spring court, she learned her lesson not to repeat the mistake a second time.

Glancing around, she mentally scolded herself for arriving so early. While many people had already arrived, Achille wasn't set to show up for several minutes at least. Before he did, Zendra would have to wait, but, to be honest, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. She was super tense, and perhaps a few minutes to herself would help calm her nerves. She considered heading over to the banquet area to grab a quick bite but decided against it. After all, Achille could show up at any minute, and she didn't want to leave him alone. Inhaling, Zendra took in the cool air, leaned against the post behind her and tried to smile self-assuredly. It was so bewildering to think that anyone, much less someone like Achile, would want to spend the banquet with her again. And as his actual date this time! Maybe it was just a dream, but even if it was, she thought it was a pretty darn good one.

580 words. #44505f

Actions: Waiting for Achille.

october 6th 2023
the great lake
19:00

With the boats on the move and the lanterns in the air, the fairy tale night was in full swing. More people started trickling in from the banquet while others had freshly arrived. Whatever their situation was, they would witness the array of glowing lanterns flying into the night sky to join the stars.

But just when things could've gotten any better, the boats took a turn. @Estelle Nyx was likely excited to join in on the festivities she and the planners mulled over for weeks. It seemed her excitement would tip the boat over the edge and she would meet the icy depths of the cold lake.

Of course, she wasn't the only one who fell into the lake:

boat fall checks, 20% chance, success on 1-4
@Renelle Dalton and @Astra Norrick's boat - [2d20 : 2, 19], Renelle falls into the lake and takes Astra with her
@Piérre Marchonné and @Marietta Griffis - [2d20 : 13, 7], nobody falls
@Alyssea Brown, @Rodney Hughes, @Helena Rose, @Landon Matthews, @Madison Bennett's boat - [5d20 : 14,20,6,16,14], nobody falls
@Flynn Montgomery and @Harmony Hollins' boat - [2d20 : 13, 19], nobody falls

It seemed Astra's night just couldn't get any worse as she fell into the lake with Renelle. You'd think the torment ended once she'd received the flowers and escaped that plum-coloured suit guy from the banquet. Shame the flowers would be lost to the Great Lake; they were quite pretty. The two also met the icy depths of the lake along with Estelle.

grindylow vs renelle and astra - str checks
Grindylow 1 str [d20 : 9] + 4 = 13
Renelle str [d20 : 14] + 3 = 17, Renelle is not grabbed

Grindylow 2 str [d20 : 16] + 4 = 20
Astra str [d20 : 5] + 5 = 10, Astra is grabbed by a Grindylow and dragged 2m down

While Renelle would recover from the fall and break the surface, Astra and Estelle would not resurface.

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

Reducio

1. Your character must be indexed. If you are not yet indexed, please register here
2. There are two activities you can partake in this area — lantern-making and the boat ride
3. Moderation will occur once a week on Saturdays. Clarification is below
4. Your character is allowed one moderated action per round. Please specify these actions in your post
   
   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.
5. If your PC is moving between the banquet and the boat rides, please specify your movement in your post
6. Please follow all normal H.io site rules while participating in the ball.

ALERT
• Estelle Nyx and Astra Norrick have fallen out of the boats and have been grabbed by Grindylows
• Every round, they will be dragged 2m underwater and will slowly lose health
• The Grindylows have 600 HP

Note: please don't describe anything extra that hasn't been stated in the mod. If you're dragged under, your actions must be moderated.

• • • •Finnish •Swedish •Russian •English • • •

•Word Count• 534 •|Valentin Schnell @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | Open to Interactions |•

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A smile spread across Maila's lips as Valentin told her he was waiting for his date. She thanked him for his compliment and watched his features attentively. Her smile became wider when he said it was nice to see her. She agreed. It was wonderful to see Valentin again and perhaps they could enjoy each other's company as long as Valentin was not swooped up by his date. „It is nice to see you too, I have been meaning to reach out, we should catch up some time.” Maila's brown eyes tried to meet his vibrant ones, catching on to his grin and warm tone of voice. He indeed made her feel quite comfortable and she was happy that neither of them were alone in this crowd of students and occasional staff. When he spoke again, leaning in for a side hug, Maila returned it and listened to his words. „It would be nice to meet your date, he must be great to have scored you as his partner to these festivities. Is he from Durmstrang too?” Since the day Maila had met Valentin, she had always felt that the people he surrounded himself with were always important to him, which was why she felt like this would be a good opportunity to see more of the humans her friend spends his time with. „Have you been waiting long?” Maila knew it had not been a long time since she arrived but the festivities had started a bit earlier. Hopefully Valentins date would not stand him up, a kind person such as the white haired boy would not deserve any kind of mistreatment.

She chuckled at his words and gave him a small side glance as she watched the first lanterns go up. „As far as I am aware, there have been no violent plant attacks and therefore no fire either. Although there are probably always some students that believe it is a good idea to try out their skills of the fire making spell at a time like this. Perfectly reasonable of course.” Her voice was mirroring the humor and slight sarcasm behind her words, as both of them knew how the last ball had turned out. „To answer your other questions, nothing of interest has happened other than meeting you here,” Maila paused shortly, a smile interrupting her words, „and I am feeling good. It is nice to be back here, don't you think?” The Finish girl crossed her arms over her stomach and gazed upon the lanterns that continued to fly up. Until her eyes fixated on the boats beneath, filled with chatting happy students. „What have you been up to this evening?” Out on the lake it was indeed quite dark and Maila could not fully make out the figures. There was enough time for Valentin to finish his answer as well as some silence, before Maila decided to speak again. „Do you think you and your date are going onto the lake at some point too? It must be nice to see the lanterns set off from so close.” Squinting her eyes, she tried making out the boats before looking back to Valentin and up to the lanterns again.

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Action • Enjoying the lanterns, talking to Valentin and trying to decide if a boat ride sounds fun (looking at the boats)
Moderated Action •

Inventory • Wand, Tissues, a contagious laugh and a good time

Stats • stamina • 9 | evasion • 9 | strength • 1 | wisdom • 9 | arcane power • 2 | accuracy • 10
Abilities • The Martial Artist | Evasive Maneuvers

Mentions @Piérre Marchonné, the grindylow victims

From his post on high, Pericles awaited the mass lantern release, skimming the crowd to pass time. A boisterous figure snagged his attention: Piérre, another animagus and duellist to boot. As the Gryffindor flitted between bird and human form, the eagle's eyes squinted, the closest he came to smiling with a beak. It was always a treat to see the jester up to his antics.

Nearly time, now. Boats were drifting out across the black water, the reflections of lanterns dancing across its glass-like surface. Braced for takeoff, the eagle shuffled on its perch and bent its wings, only to seize at the distinct sound of students hitting the water. There it was. The inevitable disaster. He lingered up at his vantage point, if only for a moment to watch and wait. When bubbles surfaced instead of students, Pericles recognized that the window to act was closing quickly. He launched from the spire with a warning cry, dove towards the docks, and transfigured into a more familiar form with a thud of boots to planks.

The Great Lake had been among Peri's primary patrol zones back in his prefect days. When assigned to the grounds, one practically had to learn to be a lifeguard given the frequency at which students fell into the water, or were thrown in by bullies, or jumped in not realizing how cold the loch could be. His features had been set in stern concentration, but he grimaced at the thought. Merlin... this was gonna sting. As he hastily worked off his overcoat, aspen wand already in hand, Peri glanced around for his fellow fifth-year. It wouldn't hurt to have a peer involved if he was in for more than he bargained for.

Action: Transforming back to human at the docks. Removing his jacket and readying his wand.

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

Outfit Reducio

Just before Alyssea could hear any of their responses to her question, the splash of the water caught her attention. She expected it to be some items falling into the lake like a failed lantern or something; she did not expect it to be three people.

Alyssea's eyes widened seeing Estelle hit the water. "Oh my god," she muttered loud enough for the rest of the group to hear. Then followed two girls who Alyssea had never seen before which meant they could be First Years or someone in the years above. Either way, whether Alyssea knew them personally or not, three people fell in. She was relieved to see someone resurface, but when two of them didn't, the panic set in. Oh my god.

She knew of things going wrong around the place, mainly the Hufflepuff fire a few years back. Now, it seemed the world decided it was her turn to experience those disasters at Hogwarts.

Alyssea quickly grabbed her wand from her pocket (her dress had pockets! It was awesome!) and leaned over the edge, careful to not tip it over and follow the same fate as the three girls who fell in. She turned to the other boats and then to the docks to find a familiar silver-haired senior. Some of the dread dissipated from her chest but she knew the clock was still ticking. At least the odds of recovering from this disaster quickly would increase.

The lake was dark. She wouldn't be able to aim her spell towards whatever dragged Estelle and the other girl down. With a deep breath and a few seconds to think, she shot her wand to the sky, hoping the red sparks would catch the attention of those at the banquet. This was beyond her abilities.

action: casting periculum to grab everyone's attention

Date: October 6th 2023

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

Outfit: Dress Shoes Hairstyle

Well, from pushing her lantern up gently into the sky, to three people falling into the water, this ball had certainly taken a turn for the worst. Madison was relieved to see one girl resurface, however when two others didn't, she knew it couldn't be good.

As Madison looked up into the sky and saw the lanterns floating in the gentle breeze above the lake, she watched intensely as she saw Alyssea sit back down in the boat and shoot the red sparks up. As the red sparks went into the air, Madison hoped that an adult or at least, an older student, would come and assist in rescuing the other two girls. Madison turned to Helena, whom she was sitting next to on the boat, and placed a hand on her shoulder, knowing that she'd probably be quite nervous for the two girls in the water. She smiled at her softly and said, "Don't worry Helena, an adult will come and rescue the girls, it wouldn't be wise to put ourselves in danger by moving or trying to help, there are other creatures in that water besides Grindylows" Madison said, knowing this from what her older brother had told her.

Madison was trying to stay calm, especially for the others in her boat, she was normally very good at staying calm in situations that were normally quite stressful for most people. She didn't dare take her wand out, it was beyond her own capabilities and besides, the last thing she wanted to do was to get her beautiful dress or shoes wet. It was very dark by now, and so Madison could only see the people in her boat, plus faint outlines of other people in their own boats. Hopefully this night will get better and those girls will be ok, right now though I hope we get back to shore soon Madison thought to herself.

Reducio

It was funny how in distressing situations, something more serious could switch everyone’s focus in an instant. Being sullen and unreachable toward her snake friend’s continued attempts to repair their friendship had been the one thing on Renelle’s to-do list for the rest of the evening, but the events that happened in less than a minute out all that into perspective.

Call her naive, but when the Ravenclaw boarded one of the many boats parked there at the harbour, she had not, even in her wildest dreams, expected such a thing as ‘falling overboard’ to happen. The school really needed to do better on their boat-building capabilities- it shouldn’t be too hard, they literally had magic to help them.

Perhaps not all of the blame could be placed on the lack of sturdiness of the boats themselves, however; none of the other students had met the same fate, after all. In her anger and frustration at Astra seeing and following her when she wanted nothing other than to be left alone, Renelle had stood up just about as the boats set off. She wasn’t sure what she had been thinking- it wasn’t like she could go anywhere else at the moment, and being on one’s feet on a moving boat could never be an extremely bright idea. Nevertheless, what was done was done, and- oh, surprise!- she’d fallen into the dark, icy Great Lake.

The rush of coldness was numbing- almost instinctively, she gasped for breath only to swallow freezing water. Panicked, she flailed around desperately- it was funny how one’s senses could completely go out the window in times like this, and she could not, for the life of her (literally), remember the basics of simple swimming. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of red- though it was hard to tell with how dark it was. Had Astra fallen in too?

But she had not time to tear herself up wondering about her best friend’s potential fate, for she had pressing matters herself to deal with at the moment. As she struggled, a thought flashed through her mind- were the rumours of the giant squid and grindylows true? The thought did not reassure her.

Somehow, after what felt like an eternity, Renelle managed to fully break surface, maneuvering herself so that she gripped the sides of the treacherous boat. Gasping and coughing up water, she pressed her wet cheek to the wood, attempting to catch her breath. Suddenly, she realized just how cold she was.

Just as she had just about managed to calm herself down, the first year remembered something that made her blood run cold- well, even colder than it was right now. Astra. She glanced up at the boat, and what she saw made her heart beat faster in dread. Oh no. It was empty. Which meant-

Very carefully, she turned so that she was facing the dark murky waters, one hand still gripping the side of the boat like a lifesaver. She could not see anyone, but that did not make her feel better. There was no other logical explanation to where her redhead friend had gone, and this, along with the red hair she had seen earlier while flailing around in the water, only really suggested that Astra…. Hadn’t come back up.

Her breaths quicker, and Renelle suddenly felt lightheaded, like she was about to pass out from the shock of it all. No, no, no….. Tears threatened to spill, though it was near impossible to tell, what with how drenched she already was. Astra couldn’t die! She blinked furiously as if to hold back tears. She couldn’t loose her best friend. And why had she been so horrible to her from the very beginning of this evening? If only she could turn back time, she would change it all.

As she stared at the murky lake waters in front, she tried to gather her wits, to come up with some sort of solution. It was ironic, really, that Astra was the one to have been pulled under, for she would have been much better in this kind of situation than Renelle, especially with her mastery of so many spells. The Ravenclaw had never wished to have paid more attention in classes than now.

Honestly, if the girl had only just cleared her head and thought normally, like a Ravenclaw, she would have done something much more sensible, like look for people for help, shoot sparks from her wand to signify distress, or something or the sort. All of those options would have been arguably much more reasonable than what she actually did, which was dive back under the water in an attempt to rescue her best friend herself.

Perhaps part of her poor reasoning here was due to guilt at Astra’s predicament- in her mind, it was easy to see that everything which was happening to Astra right now was entirely her fault; if she’d never been moody and difficult and jumped on a boat to avoid her companions, Astra would not have followed her here, and would thus not have been kidnapped or ensnared in whatever was in the lake.

Funny that Renelle was the Ravenclaw, for Astra would no doubt have been much more rational and skilled at handling this situation than her. Maybe Gryffindor would have been a much better fit for the girl, with her penchant to fail to think before she acted rashly, and the ridiculous willingness to jump right into a potentially lethal situation for a friend.

And that was precisely what she did. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Renelle let go of the sides of the boat which was all that stood between her and an icy death, diving into the murky depths of the Great Lake. The fact that she had no idea where Astra was was something that only came to find after plunging into a freezing, seemingly endless lake. Wow. Getting more and more Gryffindor by the second. And in her book, that was not a good thing.

Urgently groping around her in a desperate attempt to find something, anything that might give her some idea of where Astra was, Renelle hoped that she wouldn’t fall to the same fate as her friend. A dead Renelle would not be a very useful Renelle, and certainly not to Astra either. Suddenly, she felt herself touching something soft and flowy… Astra’s dress! But when she tried to pull her away toward the surface, Renelle found that there was a force seemingly stopping her from doing so. She had no idea what it was, but there was no time to try and figure it out. She just pulled her friend, hoping against hope that she would succeed in saving Astra, and not become a very stupid victim to whatever Astra’s kidnapper was.

Interacting with @Astra Norrick

Moderated Action: Attempting to pull Astra from Grindylows

Reducio

OOC note: Not sure if pulling Astra from the Grindylows counts as godmodding, but just in case, Renelle and Astra’s writers have standing consent to godmode each other.