Magical Masquerade: The entrance

MODERATED 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

Interacting with : Reducio open for interaction

Outfit: Reducio

Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics

Today was the big day. The Spring Ball. Kaitlyn was apprehensive. She took her time throughout the day. To style her hair and apply her minimal makeup. All by hand, the muggle way, her vastly preferred method. Just like with her regular appearance, she took the time to make sure she got it right. Her makeup was indeed minimal and highlighted her freckles. Her dress hugged her body, swaying just right. Her sandals were comfortable. Her hair looked amazing, tightly styled.

Kaitlyn was not a big fan of crowds. She was naturally introverted and kept to herself, a lot. Through her social interactions so far in her first year, she was slowly growing. Growing to be less shy and more comfortable talking to others. Yet, she was still apprehensive about crowds. They made her want to clamp up in a ball to hide in a corner.

Yet, the socially shy Slytherin knew appearances were important. A fact stamped on her brain from her etiquette classes at St. Ann’s all-girls Catholic boarding school. From the training, they attended parties at local, and some not-as-local, venues. Despite her shy nature, she knew how to act at these parties. Here at Hogwarts, however, she didn’t think she’d be reprimanded for failing to be polite. Yet, it was burned into her soul, figuratively.

Kaitlyn walked out to Quidditch Pitch for this ball. Her movements were slow, due to her apprehension, and yet still as graceful as ever. Her blue eyes passed through the crowd, not acknowledging any mine yet. A light flush bloomed on her cheeks, in addition to the applied blush makeup. Her freckles popped even more. She read the clue on the board. ‘Easy, honking daffodils. Then again, the large group already searching through them likely gives it away, too.’ The shy Slytherin approached one of the bushes not already claimed by another and began to search for the key.

Reducio

Note: 318 words

Action: Searching a honking daffodil bush for the key
Stats: Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 7 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 5
Ability: Muggle Condition

Open to interaction

Action: Standing around at the archway into the practice pitch looking glum.
Stats: Sta - 4 | Eva - 3 | Str - 2 | Wis - 10 | Arc - 10 | Acc - 6
Abilities: Perfectionist

Reducio

Today was the Spring Masquerade Ball. Sullivan had been looking forward to this dance since he first found out about it at the beginning of the year. He loved attending social events, and dressing up was one of his favourite things to do.
He had his outfit picked out for months, and getting ready now - his excitement level was beyond control. No one was in the dorms yet, but he wasnt about to wait for them to put his outfit on. He almost wore it the whole day, but his roommates convinced him against it.

Sullivan was one of the first students to arrive as he made his way down the grounds to the training pitch that had been set up for the Masquerade Ball. The bushes and trees were in full bloom, and in amongst the array of flowers were a multitude of colourful fairy lights. They lined the path towards the centre of the pitch, Sullivan was in awe as he followed them further along. He stopped every so often to smell the different flowers and of course didnt pass up an opportunity to gather a sample of petals, or leaves, or twigs.

Sullivan wanted to see the rest of the ballroom, so he took a lazy lap around the perimeter of the pitch. There were more bushes and fairy lights, and the soft sound of birds chirping filled the evening air as the sun sunk lower casting streaks of yellows, reds, and pinks across the sky. This was his favourite time of year, and his favourite time of the day, everything was perfect and beautiful.

As Sullivan made his way back to the front entrance, he noticed a familiar head of bright blonde hair, Lorcan, he was pouncing on a daffodil bush. Sulli chuckled to himself as he watched for a few moments before walking up to his roommate.

"Have you had any luck finding anything yet?" He asked, joining in on the search that Lorcan was deep into.

Actions: searching a honking daffodil bush
Interaction: @Lorcan McCoire

DATE & TIME ♡───────────♡ April 13th Masquerade Ball

OUTFIT ♡───────────♡ Reducio

TAGS & MENTIONS ♡───────────♡ @Leaf Shard as Irya Volkov

Lately, the spring Masquerade Ball was all Élodie had been thinking about. She was excited to see what the students at Hogwarts put together, but she was even more excited to get all dressed up, be at a ball without her parents' watchful eye, and meet new people. So almost five hours before the ball started, Élodie began to get ready.

She'd spent forever styling her hair to perfection, adding in small silvery-white butterflies where she deemed fit. She looked through all her jewelry for what seemed like hours, searching for a certain pair of earrings and the perfect necklace. She'd added just the right amount of mascara onto her eyelashes, blush onto her cheeks, and highlighter to give her a glow and enhance her natural features. But her favorite part about getting ready was her dress. The blue ballgown was truly stunning with its off-the-shoulder sleeves and silvery glitter. Élodie could spend hours just admiring the dress alone. Finishing up her look for the evening with her silver heels and her silver mask, Élodie then made her way down to the Quidditch Training Pitch where the ball was to occur.

The pitch had been beautifully transformed. There were trees and shrubs around the pitch, the ones in the middle decked out with fairy lights. Élodie presumed they led to the entrance of the ball. Birds were chirping and there were different types of flowers in their little clusters adding a touch of vibrant color to the green.

Approaching the entrance to the ball, Élodie tried not to wrinkle her nose in distaste as she saw various students digging around through some of the honking daffodil bushes and others standing by, just watching. She had no clue what they could've been doing until she saw the board and what had been written on it. A riddle. Reading it over twice, it then clicked why everyone had been digging around through honking daffodil bushes. One of them held the key to get into the ball.

Reluctantly, Élodie walked over to an unoccupied bush. She couldn't believe she was doing this. Moving the skirt of her dress out of the way with one hand, she used the other to peek into the bush briefly, not wanting to ruin the appearance that she'd worked hard on.

Action: Reluctantly searching a honking daffodil bush
Stats: STA 6 / EVA 5/ STR 5 / WIS 8/ ARC 4/ ACC 7
Ency: Right Here!
Abilities: None Yet

Post 1

Colin was super energised after playing spin the bottle earlier! Snogging was so much fun! Colin was all smiles as he headed back down towards his dorm to get his stuff together for the ball. He'd been to a couple balls already in his time. He didn't really understand the concept. As he observed the kids planning and getting ready, you'd think that a ball was supposed to be some kind of fancy dress party with fancy food and dancing!

Hah!

Colin knew better by now. Last fall, he and Clair didn't dance at all! They got as far as the boats in the lake and just ended up kissing each other the whole time! He heard later that kids were drowning and being eaten by grindylows or something all the while he and his girl were floating along. Colin just shrugged. And the year before that, he and a bunch of brave kids got involved in a battle against the Hag Doll. Colin narrowed his eyes. That Hag Doll had tried to kill his cousin --- well, now his sister! --- Lily! He could not let that happen!

So. Once Colin heard about the spring ball coming up, he began to make his own plans. He was kind of sad that Clair wouldn't be going. After all, there would certainly be some kissing! He rolled his eyes. And maybe some dancing too! He sighed as he sorted through the detritus of his trunk. Chaos and fighting evil monsters with Clair was so much fun! This time, Colin reckoned he'd have to go it alone.

And so he got his supplies ready, chucking everything he'd need into his bottomless satchel. Broom. Walking stick cudgel. Bruise paste. Cheese. Chocolate. Bottles of water. Lastly, it was time to get himself ready. That would be easy enough! Colin really wasn't that into fancy dress. Plus, he was well known for utterly destroying almost any article of clothing he owned. With the exception of his plain old drab green kilts. He already scourgified them up, and he thought they looked pretty good! A loose white shirt, a cool pendant that hung next to his wolf mark, and some silver ear cuffs completed his look.

Oh!

Colin smiled as he got one more thing from his trunk. Still wrapped, it was a really spiffy silver wolf mask with coloured gems on it!

The Slytherin boy strapped his satchel around his narrow waist and slung his mask over his shoulder. Nodding to the mirror, he determined it was time to head out! Leaving the castle at last, Colin loped along the pathway that led down towards the quidditch training pitch, his bare feet and long legs bringing him down to the place quickly. Greebo scampered along at his side, as eager as Colin for an adventure! A number of kids had already arrived he saw. Pink dresses and blue dresses and high heeled shoes and a horrifically stinky cacophony of perfumes and colognes wafted on the breeze.

Colin sneezed.

He sniffed. Drat. Why did people have to make themselves so smelly!

He shook his wild mane of silvery hair. Oh well! He was here for the chaos and the adventure, not the perfume. He determined to shut that out and push forward. When he got closer, Colin saw some kids looking at a posted sign of some kind. He pushed by a couple of tiny first years, looking over others' heads. It was a poem! A veritable rune to be riddled! Colin chanted the poem in a sing-song voice:

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

Colin cast his gaze around at all the flowers and shrubs. Kids were searching for something in them. Must be the key! Many had trumpet shaped flowers, but none of them would work on a motor car, Colin thought! He caught scent of several familiar kids, but also many others that were completely unknown to him. Sure most of those were from the other schools! Colin strolled among the bushes and the trees. Lorcan had been by here. He wondered if his younger brother would solve the riddle. That would be revealed soon enough!

Colin smirked.

He caught sight of a really cute girl a distance away. A lad was talking to her. He must be from Mahoutokoro, Colin thought. He wore a long black kilt and a kind of orangey robe and a foxlike mask. Apart from the talk, his ears picked up the music of a certain kind of flower.

"Toot toot and daffy hoot! Hoot and toot the daffy-dilly-os!" he chanted as he skipped over towards Bea. Prefect Dupont. He crouched down to check around the honking daffodils. He was pretty sure the key would be found somewhere in the vicinity! He stood and raised his eyebrow in the girl's direction. "I reckon you two have also solved the rune of the hooty-tooty flowers?"

Colin gave them both a bow that might seem to some almost incongruous with his half-wild presentation. "Prefect Bea! Sir Mahoutokoro!" Colin's neck chain and pendant tinkled delicately as he stood back up straight, shaking out his long hair. "Colin, at yer service!" He nodded towards his midnight black cat. "This here's Greebo! Are you here for the chaos, lad, or the dancing? And what about you Bea? Say, where's yer cute twin, Ying? I'm surprised she's not here yet!"

Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 6 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 9 | Arcane Power: 6 | Accuracy: 9
Actions: Searching the honking daffodils for the key.
Interacting with: @Beatrice Dupont | @Avery Chen | @Fang Hui-Ying
Mentions: @Lorcan McCoire || Binding Mark! @Clair Fernandez

Gear: Vailerama, his broom; Naur an Edraith, his wand; Cernestaff, his shillelagh. Colin also carries some bruise paste, a hag stone, some cheese, chocolate, water and cat treats! What appears to be a wolf tattoo is visible on his chest, as well as his heart shaped birthmark and a variety of truly awesomé scars!

soon to be bumping into @Quinn Root
mentioning @Xailah Alptraum
English | Parseltongue
outfit: dramatically different than she usually looks, will not be recognized by most

Reducio

A sense of renewal. The spring wind gently brushed against Della's dress. She couldn't believe that she was here at this ball willingly—by herself. Her ball experiences in her first and second years made her write off the idea of going ever again. She wasn't sure what did it, what made dances particularly dangerous at Hogwarts (not that regular ho-hum of classes were that safe though)—maybe it was just the sheer magical pubescent giddiness concentrated in one spot. It must attract something sinister to the table, some cruel narrator that wished to put them through the gambit.

But last fall she had allowed herself to get talked into going again by her older teammate, Xailah. And they had fun! Just normal, good ole fun. No magic necessary (apart from flying in fashionably late on their broomsticks). Her third year was beginning to feel like a renewal period, resetting friendships, rewriting experiences, and rediscovering wonder outside of broom racing. So over the spring break, she got in her head that should come to the masquerade. Her mom even helped her assemble a proper gown and mask. They spent hours practicing hair and makeup. Even without the mask, Della looked nothing like herself. She never wore makeup, and her hair was usually a long, nearly tangled mess draped down her back. Now it was bundled up with curls on the top of her head.

She truly felt transformed.

She was even early to this ball. As expected, everyone already here was dressed to the nines. Della didn't see anyone she knew immediately—it was either because of the masked attire or the infiltration of foreign students. The ball hadn't even opened yet, and students were mingling around its entrance. There was a flurry of activity like people were searching for something. Her stomach dropped. Was something already happening? Before people had even begun the festivities? But no, upon closer inspection, it was a game. No one was screaming, some might even be laughing. There was a note, a scavenger hunt. Della regained her composure. This would be fun.

She made her way over to the flowers she thought best matched the clue and began rustling through the leaves as much her as her elaborate dress would allow.

Action: looking through the honking daffodils
stamina 6 | evasion 13 | strength 3 | wisdom 9 | arcane power 5 | accuracy 10
Parselmouth [speaks the language & has an advantage with snakes] & Evasive Maneuvers