Blossom Ball Dancefloor Event Closed

Arc Perscivious had never been to a Blossom Ball before. Like ever. In fact, he had never been in any kind of party in his short life. So, he really didn’t know what to expect. This was certainly not his forte, or his alley, or whatever the hip cool kids were saying.

The scrawny kid entered the Campgrounds with as steady a gait as he could muster before stopping to gawk at the transformed yard. There were dozens of tables, warm lights twinkling off the ground, and that smell… The smell was a little hard to take for his sensitive nose but it was a nice little touch. What kind of scent was that? It smelled a bit fruity. Was that strawberry? Or…

Arc snapped out from his reverie and pretended to tidy his formal grey suit up before moving towards a table with confectioneries. Ah. Arc immediately realized what was in front of him. The cupcakes in front of him were no ordinary cupcakes. They had all kinds of flavor, from strawberry to sulphur. Em. He was not sure he was brave enough to take it. But this was a party! Everyone else had taken the cupcake. Even the Headmaster probably had one! Arc realized that his gaze had met with Professor Lear and he bowed a little. The armor-wearing man was sort of intimidating but his presence also guaranteed safety. The dark-haired boy could certainly rest assured that nothing bad would happen here, tonight.

With a deep breath he finally steeled his resolve. Ready or not, he would party tonight! The boy took one of the cupcakes. It was red. But color could be deceiving. He still wasn’t sure he should do this.

“Ah, screw it,” muttered the boy before taking a big bite from the cupcake.

It was salmon. The cupcake tasted like salmon. Arc liked salmon, but not in a cupcake form. Disappointment happened when there was a gap between expectations and reality. And this was one such occasion. Arc tried to gulp the chunk that was already in his mouth but he was having trouble doing it. His mother had drilled him since he was very little not to waste food. ‘Kids in Africa were starving,’ she always said. He never understood how that correlated with him not finishing his food. It was not like there was some magic that could transfer all the food he didn’t eat to the kids in Africa, right? Right? But the lesson had been drilled too deeply within him to puke the food in his mouth.

Arc hurriedly went to the large communal fountain and took a glass of punch from it. He gulped everything down in a single sitting before taking a breather. The boy didn’t even know what kind of flavor the punch had for him. He just knew that the ball didn't start out great for him. Arc Perscivious sincerely hope it could only get better from here.

INTERACTIONS!
Alexx Helm, Finley McGill and Erin Ryan.
MENTIONS!
Adam Harringtom and Elena Jones.
NOTES!
Anatole departs this thread for the Cabins at the end of the post.

"Alexx! Nice to meet you," Anatole politely commented, rocking back and forth on his heels and keeping the tablecloth folded up like a waiter's napkin. He kept himself as best poised as he could when he talked to the others, trying to brush off the mental scarring of this place and the last fire he had just experienced. "Slytherin Prefect? Good for you!" Anatole said with a smile. "Anatole Evans, Second Year as well, ha..." This point in the conversation is where it got a little awkward for the two of them. Finley was still enjoying the Pygmy Puff and partly ignoring Anatole, but of course he was alright with that. Alexx was the one he was more interested in. Just the look in her eyes let him know she had something to say. Why else would she come to see him?

Anatole replied to Finley next. "Why thank you, Finley. The small fire was...unexpected at the least, and this was the same outfit I wore for last year's Ball. Still not that dusty, I suppose. It's fine about the name, people mess it up a lot..." Finley seemed to follow wherever the Puffball went, so when Alexx let it jump into her hand, it finally captivated the interest of all three people in the small circle of the party. "She's...uh...adorable. I'm not really a pet person, sorry..." Anatole nervously scratched his head and smiled again, looking back at Alexx.

"I'm...that Anatole? Well, I am the only Anatole in this school I've heard of, I'll be honest...but, you've heard of me before? I mean, I was Head Boy a few months ago." Anatole was confused of how Finley, a perky First Year, knew of his deeds. Maybe he did leave a bigger mark on this place than he thought. "Alexx, I'm fine to leave..." he muttered, rotating to Adam dancing with that redhead. Just looking at them being all happy made him want to puke. "I think I know where you mean, though."

A slick snake slid in between them and promptly asked if the boy's name was that one marked in infamy. Thankfully, this new girl's name was also marked in infamy. Erin Ryan was part of that terrible toilet plot on the chubby kid that Anatole just happened to bust. "Yeah...? I thought you should know this by now, Eri--"

"Dance with me." Oh, crap...

"Alexx, watch my back," Anatole whispered, "I'll give her a turn and then just start running..." He cleared his throat and raised his voice. "Erin, I'd love to." Anatole noted, sticking out a hand for her and keeping their torsos a safe distance away.

As they began dancing, Anatole's gut began to swirl more. This feeling reminded him of another girl in his time here: Rosie Parker. His dance with her felt just like this, but not outside. Let's also note the fact that Rosie Parker would never have an evil smirk on her face. He held up his hand for Erin to turn under, but his stomach began to swirl more. He swore he saw Adam, spiffily dressed, in the distance. His head was pounding, so while they were rotating around again, he gulped at Alexx and ran for his life. "I'm sorry, I have to go." He quickly mentioned to Erin, gripping his gut and sprinting off, one shoe of his being left in the grass as he sprinted into the woods. Cindertole was now on the loose with a tablecloth deep in his hands and a gross feeling in his gut.

Summer hardly knew what she was doing at another party. Despite her lack of friends in this new environment- something she had never been used to -she had been drawn to the grander social settings that the school was offering. The beautiful lights strung above the tables added an effect to the scene in front of her, giving Summer the feeling that she had stepped into some sort of fairy tale. The tables were decorated with flowers in bright and pastel colors. Summer was glad she had chosen something a bit more formal to wear this time- a short black skater dress that allowed her to move freely, paired with a small silver necklace. She hadn't bothered doing anything with her hair, save for tucking a small white flower behind her left ear.

A tentative smile graced her lips as she wandered the tables, finally stopping beside one with an array of cupcakes. Ah, perfect. Her true love... sweets. She was unsure what type of cupcake to pick, and she settled for just taking a random one. After all, with such a beautiful setting, she couldn't help but assume the food would be just as delightful.

The one she had chosen was a light brown, with a pale cream frosting. She gave it the frosting a small lick first. Nothing seemed too bad, so she pulled down the wrapper and took a bite.

The smell came first. Summer's nose wrinkled and she gagged slightly as the odor and acidic taste overwhelmed her senses. The blonde forced down the small piece of cupcake before coughing. She reached for a tissue at once, in case her lunch from earlier decided to come back to haunt her. "What the-? Onion?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a boy doing the same thing with another cupcake. He had rushed off to the punch nearby and she figured it would be best to do the same. Who would want their breath to smell like onion for the Blossom Ball? Trying to calm herself, Summer marched over to the fountain and served herself a glass. She took slow sips, trying her best to rid herself of the taste. She was surprised at the flavor of the punch, it hardly matched with the color. To her, it tasted like mango citrus, flavors bringing back memories of her summers in the United States.

Deciding it was best to make some conversation with the boy she had seen earlier, she walked over to him and gave him a grin. "So... that was wild, wasn't it?"

“Um. Ugh. Ah,” stuttered Arc when someone -probably a girl from the sound of their voice- suddenly talked to him. She was talking to him, right? Man, he didn’t even realize that the girl had already came so close to him. He needed to focus.

Arc looked back at the source of the voice. His heart was still thumping from the cupcake fiasco and this girl surprising him like that made it even worse. She was right though, that cupcake was wil…

“Yeah, it was wild indeed,” Arc said before he even finished thinking about it.

Ah. That was weird.

He blinked a few times before finally taking a good look at the girl standing next to him. The grinning girl had a blonde hair that fell down in waves with pink hues at the end. It was very pret…

“You have a beautiful hair,” said the boy without meaning to, “the white flower makes it even bolder.”

Err…

What?

Came to think of it, she had a nice smile as well.

“You have a nice smil…”

Arc immediately clasped his mouth with his left hand and looked away from the girl. His eyes widen and a blush coming to his cheek. Why was he saying all these stuffs?! This was so unlike him. He tended to overthink before and while speaking. Sometimes, he even ended up not saying anything because he was too busy thinking what he should say and how others would react to what he said.

And, in this particular case, Arc didn’t want this lovely girl to think that he was a creep.

“I’m sorry, I usually think things through thoroughly before speaking,” continued the dark-haired boy again, still looking away, “I certainly don’t want you to think I’m a cre…”

Stop! What was he doing? Had he been cursed or something? He just said whatever came to his mind. This sounded a lot like…Veritaserum? Had he ingested that darn potion? When? Was it the cake? The punch? Those two were the prime suspects. He hadn’t had anything for the past five hours and that potion usually had an immediate effect. Unless, this was not Veritaserum and he was just nervous talking to a pretty young girl. No, that couldn’t be it. Arc never had problem talking to his peers, even the one from his opposite gender. Now, he was way too impulsive, his words unfiltered. Five other possibilities came to mind, but he hadn’t felt any nausea, marked increased of bodily temperature, unnatural sweating on his heels, or sudden obsession to someone. He hadn’t been bitten by any creatures as well.

So, the most likely suspect was indeed Veritaserum. If that was true, then he just needed to focus on thinking of the important stuff. Simple. He could do this. Arc knew he could.

The scrawny boy looked back at the girl and focused at the words he was trying to say before he spilled anything else he didn’t want the pretty lady to hear, “hi, you are very pret…” By Merlin’s glorious beard! Focus Arc! “Em, I mean, my name is Arc Perscivious, and I think I’ve been influenced by Veritaserum. It’s most likely in the cupcake or in the punch. Should we alert this to the Headmaster or should we just yell it for everyone to hear?” The boy said in one breath.

Thank God he could say all the things he wanted to say without any stray thought.

“I must say, that black skater dress was a perfect choice for this eveni…”

Holy shiatsu! He had to be stopped!

The first compliment about her hair came as a surprise to her. Her strict grandparents had always scorned her hair. She smiled a bit more at the boy, reaching up to touch the flower slightly. "Thank you. Though some people don't really like the pink. Meaning, my grand parents." Her grey blue eyes widened ever so slightly, and she felt bad for saying such a thing.

Coughing a bit to cover up her last comment, she turned back to the boy. Her cheeks turned a bit pink as he complimented her smile, and then he looked like he had just said something he hadn't even though he was going to say.

“I’m sorry, I usually think things through thoroughly before speaking. I certainly don’t want you to think I’m a cre…”

Summer laughed. "I don't think you're a creep. But the compliments are a bit strange. And based on what you said about thinking things through... maybe I just have that effect on people?" She rambled, before rubbing her forehead. What kind of stupid joke was that? Get it together, Summer!

The boy was silent for a few seconds and Summer wondered if it was because of something she had said. She rubbed the back of her neck, biting her lip to keep from saying anything.

"Hi, you are very pret… em, I mean, my name is Arc Perscivious, and I think I’ve been influenced by Veritaserum. It’s most likely in the cupcake or in the punch. Should we alert this to the Headmaster or should we just yell it for everyone to hear?"

"Aha!" She exclaimed without meaning to. "That makes a lot more sense. I read about the serum once because I really want to be good at potions... and apparently it's extremely strong. But then I ended up getting lost in the halls again... and great. Now I'm saying everything I'm thinking."

She stuck her hand out for him to shake. "Summer Hearst, apparently a Slytherin from a bloodline filled with all Ravenclaws on one half, and so called muggle blood on the other." Well that had been embarrassing! Stupid truth serum! Making her say everything she shouldn't.... and she hadn't even answered his question yet!

"We should yell it out! More fun!" And there it was. Another impulsive decision.

Something hurt, and he didn't know what it was. His guts had probably gotten all twisted, or something. That, and the entire front of his body was sore, although he did know the cause of that. It wasn't relevant now, though, so he pushed the pain away as best he could. The girl had something off about her. It was her disappointment, although the boy had no way of knowing that. It was funny, there should have been nothing stopping him from leaping at the chance to gain power.

The boy's mind finally grasped that concept, the idea that he was acting strange, and paranoia began to surge in powerful waves. Well, if he didn't want to learn how to draw what did he want to do? That was a question he sometimes asked himself, but it always had a rather straightforward response. He wanted to survive. And if that response wasn't enough, and lately it often wasn't, he would search for something beyond that.

But a reason wasn't there. And it scared him, a bit. What did he usually do with his time? He usually worked on his book, worked on the present, worked on growing stronger. But he didn't have a reason to do any of that now, did he. So what did he have? A job, mission, goals? He could feel tears start to well up out of nowhere, making his vision blurry. There was only one explanation for this.

A curse, he had been hit by a curse from a death witch, a silent curse sent from above, no doubt. He would simply find another mission later. For now, his job was to escape this place. As he felt a tear slip down his cheek, he bowed quickly to the girl, turned around, and ran as fast as he could, headed back towards the castle. He needed to find what he was going to do with the rest of his year, and he needed a place to feel a modicum of safety. Somewhere that wasn't this crowded

Kaegen vamooses out of the party

♥𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴!♥

Talia Piper liked to think of herself as a bit like Cinderella. So naturally, when she'd heard of the Blossom Ball, the little girl was already wishing for the day to come faster and faster and faster!

And then it came, and Tal could hardly believe it. Was she finally going to achieve her dream of going to a fancy magical ball? It seemed so, yes, even if it was something out of her wildest imagined fantasies. And even if she ended up a bit late to the party because she was busy writing a letter to her mum and dad back at home, nothing could dampen her enthusiasm for the day! After all, nothing could stop Cinderella!

What made the whole experience seem even more unbelievable and unreal was the actual decor of the ball. As she slowly walked through the crowds of people to adore the setting, Tal discovered that everything seemed to have come right out of the pages of a fairy tale book, and she was living for it. Even her own getup, from the gown to the tiara to the shoes, seemed so beautiful and royal!

Wandering over to dawdle around the snack table, the girl allowed herself to drift into her peaceful fantasy daydreams! And she just hoped she wouldn't lose her shoe.

"Yeah...? I thought you should know this by now, Eri--"

Formal introductions were not really her thing, not then and not now. He was more important to her after he had disappeared these past few months. Being a Prefect and then the Head Boy at such a young age before she simply likened to him being a kiss ass and a Gryffindor. Gryffindor was the hero house after all. She was after something, something that he had that she now wanted. Little did she know he had nothing because the very thing she sought did not even exist anywhere but in her paranoid mind. 

She demanded a dance from the Prefect. She had a pair of questions for him, she wanted to know if he followed the same pattern as Howard. He came back different. If he knew where the other Prefects went. Why all of the Prefects were first and second years. Anatole whispered his plan with Erin standing right there. She was not going to react to what he said beyond a quirked eyebrow and a smirk. Ass. The word never left her mouth, but it could be seen in her eyes and she made no attempt to hide it. And she would not have it any other way. 

She took his hand. Erin had Anatole in her grip. Well, awkwardly at the very least, Anatole could not get any more space between himself and the Slytherin had he tried. Erin would try to yank him closer to her in a less than graceful manner, almost akin to 'give me your milk money kid' but the boy was steadfast in his block of wood stance. 

She would spin and while her back was turned, his hand would slip from hers and she would hear him announce quickly almost as if it was a single word:

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

By the time she had turned around, Anatole had scrambled off the dancefloor leaving one of his shoes behind as he apparently ran for his life. "Dammit," Erin muttered. He was like a gimpy antelope running off, she could catch him. She considered chasing him down, tackling him to the ground and then dragging back her kill dance partner back to the dance floor. But he was there... she was here... she had these pointy shoes on that were terrible to run in... 

He would escape this day...

She would be forced to find a new victim dance partner. Her boyfriend was a no-show, although she really did not expect him to show unless she dragged him there. His presence was more out of duty from what she could sense, not that it was fair of her to expect more but there was a twinge of disappointment perhaps. It came in drops as of late, a splash here and there. These splotches of color in a sea of otherwise grey waves. It was odd and unpredictable, disconcerting at times. It was something she had envied in others and now that she had it she found her lack of certainty and control over the sentiments felt frustrating. She needed to take back control.

She would look around the space. Who was left alone. @Andrew Vance, first year Gryffindor. Not that she knew his name. He was standing by the table looking busy stuffing his face with cupcakes. He had nobody to protect him. He did not know any better. He was likely uncomfortable, feeling out of place, yearning to feel like they belong. He would do.

Unless prevented, Erin would recover Anatole's shoe. She wondered if having an article of his clothes could be used to divine his location. She would place the shoe on a vacant chair for safe-keeping and keep moving towards the desert table. The table was loaded with cupcakes, many of them labeled with strange flavors that did not belong in a cupcake. She was not going to eat any of them, she saw the delighted as well as the soured faces on the others. There were probably more gross flavors than good ones.

She would try to grab the hand or arm that was not attached to a cupcake making him look busy. "You," she would announce with an initial tug. "Dance," she commanded as she would attempt to drag the perfect stranger onto the dance floor.

Nobody has interfaced with you and you seemed alone. If you wanted to remain such, by all means just reject my advance and I wont be offended. You did not leave any opening for interaction in your RP so I am creating an interaction.

Arc shook Summer’s stuck out hand as he listened to her introduction. He couldn’t help not to notice her soft hand. “Summer, you have a soft hand.” Ugh. That one was on him. He should’ve seen that train of thought coming from miles away and he still fell for it. He retracted his hand and made an embarrassed smile. “I mean, I’m a Ravenclaw, half-blooded like you as well,” said Arc trying to steer his thoughts and conversation to the right place. If he was going to spill his secrets, it could at least be something mundane or harmless. It was working.

“My dad was, is, a Gryffindor. But I hear my grandfather was a Slytherin. An old snake full of ambition, as my dad likes to endearingly call him.” A bit to close to comfort but it was still an 'okay' detail to spill. “My mom is a muggle, so my father’s family, a pureblood supremacist that they are, didn’t approve of the relationship.”

Arc had to take a breather before continuing. And he must steer his thoughts away from how nice the girl was smelling. “My mother is amazing, though, she’s like crazy smart. She’s a medical doctor, geriatric medicine, super tough subject, or so I heard. Sometimes, he could even solve a magical problem my father could not. Theoretically, of course.” Well done! He was getting the hang of this. This might actually be a good exercise or trial run if for whatever reason he was drugged by Veritaserum again. Not an encouraging thought...

Summer suggested that they should yell out about the Veritaserum, but he had another idea now. People really didn’t like when they were told not to do something directly. Or being told that something was a bad idea. Especially, kids or young adults. They tended to want to try the stuff even more. So, they had to try a different approach.

“Um, maybe not yelling per se, but,” said Arc, intentionally hanging his words for dramatic effect, his grin getting bigger before turning into a fake shock expression.

“What? There could be Veritaserum in our cupcake or punch?! No wonder I could not stop saying what I was thinking! Ah!” Arc clasped his mouth with both hands to make it even more dramatic. The dark-haired boy had said it so loud, everyone should be able to hear it even through the music. Hopefully, it could at least deter a few students that were already inching closer to the punch. Okay. One last push.

“But the potion is illegal! Who could have done such a thing? We should…we should tell the Headmaster!” The kid continued with his loud talking. Wait. Should it just be called yelling? Screaming? Whatever. He sincerely hoped Professor @Solomon Lear had heard the whole thing and did something about it without Arc needing to talk to him directly under the influence of Veritaserum.

That sounded terrible.

Even more terrible than bunch of kids getting drugged by a truth potion.

She noticed how quiet the Ravenclaw had become. She carefully looked up at him trying to find the answer in his face. But what she saw worried her. Right before he stormed off, she saw that one of his cheeks had become wet. His eyes seemed sad and distraught. He had bowed and then left the scene.

Nico didn't get a chance to say formal goodbyes but what did it matter... It was clear that she somehow scared him off. Why did she hope and expect a different ending to this Ball. Her first date... Maybe she should've offered him some food but she was scared he'd think it was poisoned. It wouldn't have made a difference. That thought kind of made her smile a little. It was a sad smile. Somewhere she didn't want to give up. Was she being selfish for wanting so? All she wanted was...

Nico turned to the buffet and tried her uttermost best to be invisible. She was alone now. Focussing on one cupcake in the tray, she dissapeared in her own mind. The purpose for being here left as quick as it got here. The music and voices seemed far off. Usually, she didn't have much problem with feeling this way... But she had expectations this time. And that hurt even more... It was foolish of her.

Huh? Her hand felt wet, just like her cheeks... She was crying... in public. No sound, just tears. Nico sniffled embarassed. The dark cloud came again, seeping into her thoughts. 'This is fine..' She muttered softly. 'There's no need to keep you out..'

Squeeeeek.

'H-Hm?' Sniff. Something soft climbed up her dress with the utmost speed and elegance. The Purple Pygmy Puff hopped onto her shoulder and rubbed against her cheek. 'P-Pip!' Nico's head cleared up. As if Pip could sense her darkest moments, he had arrived just on time.

'Pip, I.. I didn't know you could.. How did you even find me?' She giggled with teary eyes as he licked her cheek softly. 'Squeek.'

Pip looked at her worried, as he licked away her tears. 'No more crying, I'm here.' Is probably what he said. She held him in her hands, his soft furr brushing against her.

'W-would you like to try a cupcake, Pip? Hopefully you'll get something tasty.' Nico randomly picked an yellow colored cake and held it in her hand close to the puff. He bit off a big piece. Slightly afraid about what would happen next, Nico watched Pip closely. He seemed to be lucky. Curious, Nico took a bite too. Oh! Cream Puff

The lights and music seemed to be colorful and bright again. They had been abit grim, but Pip managed to shoo away the dark cloud that followed her around. Like a tiny knight in shining armor.

She sighed and rubbed the tiny puff head with her finger. 'How does exploring the campgrounds sound to you? I've heard some... stuff about the cabins so I'd rather not go there. Maybe the edge of Lake would be nice.' Nico smiled warmly when Pip nodded in agreement.

'Alright. Let's go.'

Placing her Purple Pygmy Puff on her neck, the Slytherin and the creature left for the Lake.

Nico Shymane leaves to the Lake