Magical Masquerade: The entrance

Tori looked very uncertain as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was constantly changing her hair. He was wondering if he should make it white or pink. When she realized it would look too pink, she wore her hair in wavy white hair. Just because she went to the prom alone didn't mean she couldn't have fun, after all. 'And if I don't talk to someone, at least there's Vick,' she said to herself. She put on his mask and picked up Vick, who was in his cage, and put it on her shoulder. She left the common room.

As she heads towards the Quidditch Training Grounds, she sees people looking at the bushes. She thinks it's weird. She tries to open the door but cannot. At that moment, the note on the door catches her attention.

This clue is very easy,
Though the flowers might make you quite queasy.
Toot-toot goes the car,
And so does this flower.

She looked at Vick. "Okay, now we know why people are looking at the bushes." She says it in a whisper. She went to a bush and started searching. She carefully guided Vick into the bush, thinking it would be easier that way. And as she searched, she tried not to lose sight of Vick. When she couldn't find it, she put Vick back on her shoulder. 'I think I could make friends with someone.' Thinking, she goes to a child.

"Hello. My name is Victoria. Victoria Lena Jones. This is my mouse Vick. Isn't it a very strange way of entering the ball. But fun."

Trunk:
Stamina - 5
Evasion - 6
Strength - 4
Wisdom - 5
Arcane Power - 4
Accuracy - 6
Abilities: Metamorphmagus
WC:267/200

Dress
Hair
Mask
Shoes

Action: Looking at the bush.
Interact with @Alejandro Garcia

Roleplaying as Mateo Yamamoto from Mahoutokoro

Japanese = green | English = white | Spanish = red | Thoughts = italics + #bc8f8f

Mateo Yamamoto was excited for the Spring Ball, and he was glad he had someone to go with too, even though he's just going with her as a friend. But, Mateo will still be arriving with his friend group, and maybe he'll find his date once he arrives at the entrance of the ball.

After getting ready in a black and pink suit, Mateo grabbed his mask and put it on, then waited for his friends before the group all walked over to the Quidditch Training Pitch.

When they got closer to the entrance of the ball, they saw a few people already there, but Mateo didn't see his date anywhere in sight, which was ok.

Mateo then saw a sign and noticed that it had a riddle on it. The riddle confused him a bit, since he forgot which flower honks like a car, but when he saw some of his friends going over to where others are, Mateo followed them, and began looking around the bushes for any clues which could lead them to unlocking the door.

Mateo knew this ball will be fun, anf it'll be very different from the ones he usually attended back home in Yokohama which he was either invited to, or his parents threw, which is how he had made so many childhood friends.

date: 04/13/2024

mentions: @Rowan Bellegno as @Maleïssa Nortundra

word count: 221/200

stats: Sta: 7 | Eva: 6 | Str: 6 | Wis: 4 | Arc: 6 | Acc: 6

abilities: The Sixth Sense

action: Entering and heading over to look at the Honking Daffodil bush and trying to find clues

Roleplaying as Akira Shimizu from Mahoutokoro
Outfit: Clothing Mask

The afternoon seemed tranquilly pleasant as Akira stepped out into the grounds. This time, the landscape was transformed into botanical paradise, and he was pleased that Hogwarts was once again welcoming its guests with a magical spectacle -- one that almost made it worth pulling the young Japanese boy from the blooming sakura back in Mahoutokoro.

He approached the quidditch training pitch on his own, preferring some respite from a bustling Mahoutokoro crew. Sharing a cabin with schoolmates was quite enough excitement, so he appreciated the solitude of walking through the blooming trees on his own for a few minutes. The afternoon sun cleared his mind and erased his homesickness as he found dappled bursts of soft pink similar to cherry blossoms, and brighter pinks similar to plum blossoms, here and there.

A soft breeze wafted through his amber montsuki as he strolled, billowing the hem of his formal traditional robe that bore his family crest, or mon. Underneath, he wore a black kimono and a pleated hakama. As he walked, he slid the a kitsune (fox spirit) mask over his pale face. The wily spirit seemed appropriate for a magical evening with unexpected events awaiting him. He had opted for traditional Japanese clothing, as he usually did for balls at Hogwarts. Especially when traveling, the boy felt a sense of pride of being Japanese -- of being different, and in inviting others to experience the little bit of his home culture that he carried with him.

Most people did not know who he was, here, and it was both a curse and a blessing to leave behind family politics, academic rankings, and social pre-conceptions.

He glanced at the board presenting a short poem, and knit his brows together in both concentration and mild annoyance. Why was it that the organizers felt they had to work for their entrance to the ball? What hosts would lose the keys on purpose and force their guests to -- heavens forbid -- dig through bushes to find them? About the riddle... the third line was the clue. It took him a moment to realize it was talking about Honking Daffodils, since herbology wasn't his strong suit, and he briefly wondered if Hiroi-san (@Pax Zhang) solved the riddle in the first half-second.

He looked to the other attendees around him, almost all of whom were meeting up with friends or wandering intently amongst the bushes. With a sigh, he headed towards a less crowded area that was not much quieter due to the cacophonous flowers. As he scanned the bushes without yet approaching them, he noticed a girl with dark brown hair that spilled over a light pink dress, who seemed to be searching alone. She looked to be about his age, with a slight scowl on her face that mirrored his own so well. Eyeing the flowers, and glancing towards her in his peripheral vision with a wry smile, he casually spoke to her as he approached from the side. "Some say that the honking of daffodils is a welcoming, jovial sound inviting spring to come, but I think it would just scare the pleasant weather away, so it can seek solace elsewhere," he commented softly with a small smile, hence politely, but his dissatisfaction with their current situation was clear.

He approached some bushes near hers, but didn't quite touch them. Instead, he was somehow more conscious of the wand strapped to his holster, thinking how confident he was at whipping it out with his dueling arm, should he need it. It was Hogwarts, not Mahoutokoro. Who knew what awaited here?

EmmaLee pulled her dress over her head and straightened the flowing blue skirt before using her pale arms to pull her wavy, white hair out from being confined inside of it. The last two balls, she had chosen elaborate hairstyles to bundle it up in, but this time let it flow freely down her back. She let her hair fall down from her arms like an avalanche over the lacy top of the dress and observed herself in the tall mirror in her bedroom. The girl turned to and fro in front of the mirror, noticing that her hair, even in curls, had gotten so long that it was about midthigh. She wondered briefly if she should consider cutting it soon. She hadn't ever really thought about how long she was going to let it grow. She was blessed that it was easy to manage and the length had never really bothered her.

She fluffed her hair and dress a little and then leaned over to the vanity and picked up her mask, a delicate thing covered in various butterflies. It had a clever pair of hooks to go around her ears like glasses so that it was more likely to stay on through the night. She looked at it, turning it over in her hand before putting it on and wondering what Stephen had chosen for his mask. Because of the theme, they had chosen to arrive separately and see how long it would take to find each other, which was more than ok for EmmaLee and her still lightly churning bundle of nerves.

After almost a week of deliberation and avoiding as many meals as possible so that she could think over her feelings for Stephen more clearly without the distraction of his physical presence, EmmaLee had decided to take her parents' original advice and just let their relationship? lay where it was. She didn't really know if she could call it love because she was still struggling with what that meant to her in the context of someone other than family, but she clearly felt something more than friendship for Stephen and if he felt the same or not she couldn't really do much about it on her own. The forming of something more than friends required both parties to make a move and so far he had not even hinted at doing so.

In fact, Stephen had made moves to be further away from her instead of closer by taking on more school work. Which she didn't mind. Honestly. She had asked in one of their letter exchanges what about going to Ilvermorny was stopping him from being an astronaut and she had always hoped that he would find a way to pursue that dream. She really was extremely happy about and supportive of his pursuing this passion, but it left anything too deep happening between them in the wind. Maybe something would develop after graduation, when they both had a little more time and she was free to go back to the States. Wrong timing and all that.

EmmaLee took a deep breath and let it go as the turned and smiled brightly at her cat, Minx, lounging on her bed. She threw out her arms in a "ta-da!" gesture and giggled a little. The cat gave a trilling mew and a flick of her tail in what felt like appreciation to EmmaLee. The girl slipped on a pair of white Mary Jane style shoes and, with a wave to her to her animal companion, she dashed out the door and headed for the entrance to the ball.

EmmaLee came up from the Hufflepuff common room with a crowd of other students and they all headed down to the Quidditch training pitch to be met with a locked door and a cluster of various flowers. EmmaLee moved over to the wooden sign that detailed that they were to find the key, keys?, to the door and gave the first riddle. She wondered if one key would open the door for everyone or if everyone had to find their own key. She really hoped that it wasn't the latter or this was going to be a very long night.

Regardless, she set about thinking through the riddle and while a couple of the flowers around the door would make someone ill if ingested, probably only one would "toot" like a car, or honk, rather. So she moved over to the honking daffodils and searched with quite a few others for anything that could be found within the bush.

MORDERATED ACTION:
Searching through the Honking Daffodils for the key.

STAMINA: 7 | EVASION: 7 | STRENGTH: 3 | WISDOM: 8 | ARCPOWER: 8 | ACCURACY: 9
ABILITIES: Fearless | Calming Presence
INVENTORY: Wand, Lavender Honey Candies, Blue butterfly embroidered handkerchief, first aid kit

Yasha Volkov stood in the Koldovstoretz cabin and finished buttoning up his shirt, trying to buy some amount of time before he could be at the ball. Letting out a heavy, annoyed sigh the boy put his wolf mask on and assessed himself in the mirror. What was he doing at this horrendous school again anyway? It seemed a complete waste of his time to attempt any kind of interschool associations in a dangerous place like this. Yasha would much rather be home and either studying or doing literally anything else that didn't require him to be here.

However, when his father had found out that he had not attended the last two balls, Yasha had received multiple howlers, because Olexei's rage could not be contained in just one. One stumble in being the perfect son of Olexei Volkov because the boy would really just rather study than attend these ridiculous and again, obviously dangerous, ventures. No amount of discussion over the winter break or spring break would convince Olexei that his son's time was better spent anywhere but Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yasha sighed once more and turned from his reflection to exit the cabin and head up to the place where they had been told the ball would be.

Only the threat of his father's continued rage could have possibly kept Yasha there once he was read the wooden sign posted in front of the VERY locked door to the Quidditch training pitch. Yasha whispered a few choice words in Russian as he turned to the obvious answer to the childish riddle. He was expected to root around in bushes for a key to the door and from the look of it, everyone was expected to find their own key, so he couldn't just wait for someone else to find the key and open the door for everyone.

Yasha groaned with a sound that could have convinced anyone that he truly was a walking wolf and moved over to the honking daffodils. The Russian boy hung back patiently until there was a space in the gaggle of searching students for him to search for his own key. All he needed to do was find the key, get inside, mingle a little, and leave. Then he could tell his father that he had attended and had a decent time. That was all that was required of him. One hour, tops, and he'd be home free, so to speak.

ACTION:
Searching through the Honking Daffodils for the key.

STAMINA: 9 | EVASION: 9 | STRENGTH: 3 | WISDOM: 4 | ARCPOWER: 3 | ACCURACY: 7
ABILITIES: Keeper's Catch
INVENTORY: Wand, Black handkerchief

This was not Klynn's scene, not at all. He was never one to enjoy big parties or events, preferring to stay away from all that. But alas, he felt he had to for his date. The one and only Tracey Bailey. So, he got out one of the few non-casual outfits he owned, bought a simple mask, and got mentally ready for the dreaded night.

Then, finally, it came. He got dressed into his purple tailcoat with a simple black collared shirt underneath, some simple black pants, and placed the mask in his pocket for now.

He then made his way to the Quidditch training pitch, the entrance to the ball and came across a riddle which stated:

This clue is very easy,
Though the flowers might make you quite queasy.
Toot-toot goes the car,
And so does this flower.

... ... ... The line was right, it is easy. At least, easy enough. So, Klynn made his way towards the Honking Daffodils to try and find the key. What he found before hand, however, was a redhead that was all to familiar to him. The date he was coming with. So, he slipped on his mask and made his way to her.

✯𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚢 𝙱𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚢✯

✯There is nothing scary about naturally talented people, hardworking people are the ones to be afraid of ✯

As Tracey was looking for the key in the Honking Daffodil bush, she saw two familiar people, one attends Mahoutokoro, whom is her childhood friend, and the other, is her date. Tracey then thought,
"Cool, Mateo is here too. I wonder if he has a date. Maybe one day I could introduce him to Klynn. I wonder how the two would react, hopefully they could become friends, I know Mateo doesn't have that many friends from other schools,"

Even though everyone had their masks on, Tracey recognized both Mateo and Klynn as soon as she saw them, but she didn't walk over to Mateo, since she saw Klynn walking over to her, from the corner of her eye.

Tracey then began to wonder if the key was even inside of the bush, since she had been looking for a while, but couldn't find the key. She frowned and decided to stop looking. She noticed that Klynn was beside her now, so she smiled at the boy and said,
"Hey, Klynn. I hope I didn't make you come here. If I did, I'm really sorry! D'you think the key is here? I gave up with looking,"

Tracey knew that not everyone loves balls, but since this is her first time going to a ball, she wanted to go with Klynn, since, she didn't know who else to go to, also because she heard so much about balls from Mateo, she really wanted to go to one, so she's glad Hogwarts was hosting one.

𝑀𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈: @Klynn Seacrown	𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒: 04/13/24
𝔄𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰: Looking for the key, but gave up and started talking to Klynn Seacrown	𝒲𝒞: 252/200	𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔰: Sta: 6 |Eva: 3 | Str: 4 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 4 | Acc: 6	𝔄𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰: Metamorphmagus

Date: 13 April 2024 Time: ~16:00

Interacting with: @Irina Shevel (well, waiting for, anyway) Mentions: @Astra Norrick and Rai and Ren

English | French Thoughts

It was hard to believe it'd been a full year since Mahlioz's first ball. Even harder to believe that this one was to be her third. And hardest of all was the fact that finally - finally - the Slytherin would be attending with their best friend. After one ball without a partner (though having met a certain Raizel Voltrouz there), and a second with the amazing Astra and not-exactly-as-amazing Renelle, it was about time she invite Irina. Hogwarts Balls were not known to be very peaceful or even enjoyable events, but Mahlioz now could not wait.

And it was a masquerade ball. Hogwarts had a lot of pretty people, but when they all got dressed up for an occasion like this one, it was quite the sight to see. Especially when they put so much effort into the costumes. They got to wear masquerade masks this time!
Mahlioz's outfit was quite pirate-like, with long puffy sleeves and a green vest (because they couldn't miss the chance to have some snek pride, of course), but it was adorned with a whole bunch of pink flowers and green leaves. Her mask was the coolest. They'd found it at a small muggle shop in Aberdeen, and it had fit the aesthetic perfectly. She even had some cool hand accessories that had been magicked to be comfortable enough that she could barely feel them.

Mahlioz was ready, outfit-wise. Mentally, maybe not so much. That was part of the reason Astra had decided not to come to this ball, they imagined. The first year had obsessed over Mahlioz's outfit when they'd shown her, but admitted she wasn't planning on coming. They couldn't blame her. The last one had been... something. But Mahlioz had had good luck in avoiding the danger and chaos in her first two balls, so maybe it would last! She could only hope.

There were so many people already at the ball. Most of them were found in a magical-looking pathway made of trees and flowers and plants (Mahlioz had apparently chosen the exact right fit for this), though there was a smaller bit on the side that seemed to be full of crafts and fun things to do. Of course, Mahlioz's introverted mind wanted nothing more than to race away from the crowds and hang out over there, but they hadn't found Irina yet and they knew she would do the opposite. Besides, there was a riddle pinned to a tree. She might as well look into it.

The clue itself stated that it was easy, and though Mahlioz was not one who had a passion for Herbology, exactly, it didn't take her long to get an idea of what they were looking for. Honking daffodils were found all over her back yard (much to the dismay of her parents) and she recognized them all too well. As long as there wasn't any trickery involved (which - this was Hogwarts, so they doubted there wouldn't be), they knew where to look for the key.

Irina wasn't here yet, but while they waited, Mahlioz might as well search a little.

Actions: waiting for Irina by looking through some honking daffodils for the key Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 9 | Arcane power: 7 | Accuracy: 8 Wandmaker | Perfectionist

Today was the big day of the Spring Ball and Lorcan McCoire was not prepared one bit! The day started off just fine, but things took a twist when he couldn’t find the outfit he picked out for the ball. He frantically scavenged through the closet in his dorm, while beginning to panic about the whole situation. "Uh oh!" He was so scared that Lorcan actually said the words out loud! There was no doubt in his mind that the outfit was somewhere within the dorm. The question was, where did the young Slytherin keep it?

As Lorcan continued to dig through the entire dorm, he noticed a sparkle from the corner of their eye, which caused the child to jerk their head in that general direction. There it was! The outfit was hanging from the back of the door the entire time. Now, he felt really dumb for not remembering where it was. The worst of it all, Lorcan tore apart most of the room, so he had no choice but to clean up and put everything right back where it was. "Oi! I hope Sullivan and Emily don’t get mad at me for bein’ late!" He muttered, while quickly trying to clean up the dorm.

Just when the room was finally spotless, Lorcan picked up the outfit and began to get ready! The ball was something Lorc was excited for, even if he didn’t really understand what it was all about. All he knew was that there are going to be a lot of people to make friends with and to hopefully get a large game of tag started before the night's end! That thought alone had the young child grinning from ear to ear. There was something about chasing others around that got him all rowdy and more hyper than ever.

When Lorcan was just about to leave the room and make their way to the ball, he spotted the broom leaning against the wall and began to think for a moment. “Eh, ya never know when it may come in handy!” He grabbed the handle and marched off towards the Quidditch Training Pitch. First, he would have to get through the hectic maze known as Hogwarts itself. It was always the changing staircase that had him confused. When he thought he was going one way, Lorcan would end up in the total opposite direction. The stressful life of a first year student!

Lorcan McCoire placed the wolf mask on and made it outside the castle with time to spare. When he thought he was going to be late this whole time, the young boy ended up being there before Emily and Sullivan. He didn’t care one bit! The decorations and lights, everything that was new to him had caught Lorcan’s eyes, almost causing him to forget about the ball altogether. The innocence was adorable and uncontrollable to say the least. He had no control over his own emotions, he just knew to go with it and have a great time regardless of the situation.

Students were already flooding the training pitch and reading whatever was on the board, while others were searching through the flowers and bushes. At first Lorcan thought it was weird, but then he finally made their way to the board to read what was on it. It was a riddle! “I don’t know what this means! But that does look like fun!” He stated with excitement, and pointed at some of the other students digging through the bushes. It wasn’t something he saw every day, or ever really for that matter, so he knew that they were on to something! Within a few short seconds, Lorcan was off to a sprint! He ran as fast as he could until the young lad came across some Honking Daffodils, which caused him to sniff into the air, then quickly pounce onto the flowers with no care in the world.

Word Count: 655
Mentions: @Emily Ramirez @Sullivan Olivier
Interactions: @
Actions: Pouncing the Honking Daffodil bush!