Magical Masquerade: The entrance

open to interactions

Outfit | Mask

Pyxis’ first ball experience was as mundane as the many galas he tagged along to when he was young. Of course, there was something new in the air - namely magic - that brought forward such beauty from the decorations and events, but when it came to actual conversation, the night hadn’t felt like anything different from interacting with his peers during classes. The experience made him less inclined to put heavy focus on the spring masquerade ball, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to miss it. Back home, the snake was a social butterfly, even when he didn’t want to be. A night like this would not be missed by him, no matter how little fun he imagined he was going to have.

He did the bare minimum when preparing his outfit for the night. Owling his parents for an appropriate fit was what he did previously, and even though Pyxis hated giving the Hellebores even more control over his life, they really didn’t steer him wrong where fashion was concerned. For this night, they’d sent him a brown fit similar to the one he was sent for the Fall Ball and they paired it with a black and gold mask to match. Pyxis wondered how much input his parents actually had on putting together the pieces. Have they just pawned everything off on the stylists? Wouldn’t be surprised if someone else wrote the letter it came with too.

As he began his trek to the training pitch, Pyxis became acutely aware of the fact that he was without a date again. At first, he thought it was only normal for a twelve year-old to go stag, but he’d recently come to realize that, while he had no problems talking to girls, asking them out was difficult. Maybe that’s why my first ball experience was a bit of a bore. And why I’m not totally excited for this one. Whatever, he would just have a good time next to the snack tables. Food cures even the worst of loneliness.

However, to Pyxis’ surprise, the organizers planned a little scavenger hunt for the attendees. Seems like the snack table will have to wait. He really didn’t want to wait, but from the looks of things, he didn’t want to be digging around in flower bushes either. As if the assault of colors on his eyes wasn’t enough, Pyxis realized that the clues given were about flowers and the different bushes held clues… No thank you. A new leaf had quickly turned for him since coming to Hogwarts, but he wouldn’t dare stoop this low… Literally. Still, the snake took interest in the clues. He thought the first one would be some gross-smelling flower since the clue was ‘toot-toot’, but he knew he had obviously misinterpreted that when he saw students exiting the bushes of Honking Daffodils to search for the next clue which was obviously hidden in a red rose bush. Or have I gotten that one wrong too?

Pyxis would let the rest determine that. He slipped over the the edge of the pathway instead, watching the rest of the attendees work at the bushes with his hands in his pockets.

Action: Standing around, watching the plebs
STA: 8 | EVA: 5 | STR: 1 | WIS: 7 | ARC: 7 | ACC: 7
Prodigal DADA

Chronology
//1//

The Masquerade Ball. That was all everyone had been talking about. She had planned a few things for certain. She was going with her bestie Kaya. Or well she was going to meet her bestie there.
Another thing was certain. She was not going to like this itchy dress. Although, she was surprised she had even found a dress. Like period. And she had been convinced to go to the ball. Without her previous ball partner. Times had changed.
This was going to be a different type of adventure. A type that didn’t include forests or pranking. She also knew her pen pal was here. Somewhere in the midst of things. Or maybe she was inside. For that she needed to find the key. Something about a Honking Daffodil. And for her to search she needed to find her friends.
After weaving through crowds she spotted Kaya with another girl she didn’t recognize. She smiled and went up to them.
“Hey Kaya and Kaya’s friend! You are?” I said. “I’m Amber Frost Hart, 2nd year from Ilvermorny!” They seemed to be looking inside the daffodil bush. I couldn’t find anything so I turned to look inside another one close by. I had found a friend. Step one, accomplished. Step two, an adventure. That would come when it wanted to come. I just needed to wait.

sta 8 • eva 7 • str 6 • wis 8 • arc 6 • acc 6
Charmer | Fearless
Open to interactions!

Word Count: 216/200

EmmaLee giggled as Kaya also apologized for not writing or meeting at the ball. Sometimes things just slipped a mind when you were so far apart. It sounded like Kaya had been as focused on her own date as EmmaLee was about hers. Well, they definitely had a moment to catch up now during this scavenger hunt. "No need to apologize. We can definitely pick up from 'ere." She said with a wide smile as she righted herself and pushed up her lacy sleeves so that she could reach deeper into the bush.

"Thank you for your care." EmmaLee said genially, as she gently moved branches aside to look within the bush. "My mother is an accomplished 'erbalist, in both magical and non-magique plants, so she 'as taught me well how to 'andle them. I also 'ave a first aid kit in my pocket if either of us is injured. It seemed a prudent thing to bring to a 'Ogwarts ball." She said with another small giggle. She loved her school, but it would be foolish to deny that it wasn't the best at keeping students uninjured sometimes. Whether that was because students learning magic was inherently dangerous or because 'Ogwarts was especially unwatchful EmmaLee wasn't sure.

As EmmaLee searched the bush, she heard Kaya's name being called from behind her and turned around to see another girl in a dark purple dress and a half-butterfly mask.

"'Ello, my name is EmmaLee LeDames. It is nice to meet you as well, Amber." She said, wiping her hands together to get some of the leaves off and offering a shake to the girl. "I am a second year 'Ufflepuff from 'Ogwarts. I adore your butterfly mask." She finished with a wink under her own butterfly covered mask.

MODERATED ACTION:
Searching through the roses for the box.

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.

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE DUVAL

April 13th 2023 Amber Frost Hart (@Reyna Evergreen), Open

sta 6 | eva 5 | str 6 | wis 6 | arc 5 | acc 7 fearless

french | english | thoughts | others

action. talking to and meeting friends

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Aurélie blinked. Then blinked again. Was she late to the ball? If she was, it had to be only by a few minutes. But still, the amount of people who had already made it to Quidditch Training Pitch surprised her. In her family, it was believed that being fashionably late for everything was proper. Her parents, who cared not for parties or pureblood-exclusive events, had obviously not taught her that. It was her grandparents, her beloved grandmère grandmother, Anaïs Océane, and her loving grandpère, grandfather, Henri, who had taught her this whenever they had taken her with them to socialise with everyone who they called the wizarding elite. To think that no one followed the same rule made Aurélie feel awkward.

Stop standing around at the edge of the group,she chastised herself. She definitely wasn't one for large social events that required dressing up and being fancy, hence her choice of gray stylised boots over wicked heeled creations, yet she had still chosen to come to Hogwarts to see this masquerade ball that they had planned. One, what was the harm in leaving Beauxbatons to explore a little bit? Maybe she would even make some new friends. And two, masquerades meant costumes, and that was most definitely her thing. Aurélie had used this opportunity to dress up as a gray dove, with a flowy gray dress with birds on it and a feathery mask. She'd fashioned her hair into a simple bun, as she usually did for fancier occasions.

Looking around, Aurélie noticed that many of the others were on their hands and knees, looking for something in the bushes. Fewer people were standing like she was, and even fewer were standing without someone to talk to. Feeling lonely all of a sudden, she approached a girl closest to her. If she'd been wearing her school robes, Aurélie would've been able to tell exactly which school she was from, but without the robes, the girl could been anyone. Oh well. She had others next to her, but Aurélie didn't mind having a group to talk to. Taking a breath, she began to speak as if she'd known the girl her entire life.

"Hello there! I'm Aurélie, from Beauxbatons. It's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand, confident that the girl would shake it.

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OUTFIT

Reducio

Roleplaying as Akira Shimizu from Mahoutokoro
Outfit: Clothing Mask

A small smile of amusement tugged at his lips this time, when the girl knew exactly what he meant by the daffodils welcoming the spring. He was impressed by her knowledge of flowers, and even more by her poetic response when she compared the yellow blossoms to fallen stars. Even though they were not speaking his native tongue, somehow, the deep meaning behind her words brought on a sense of familiarity within him. "Well, if that's the case..." he responded, shifting his dark brown gaze to the now-unfortunate stars who were scattered amongst mere shrubs instead of clinging proudly to the sky, "...maybe we should commend them for gathering the strength to protest instead of merely succumbing to their fate as wallflowers. Perhaps we can remember their voices in our times of need, to stand up against what we think has been unrightfully taken away from us." It was unexpected, but the cacophony of the flowers now seemed to have a different meaning entirely. It reminded him of the time he had protested so strongly in the presence of Aryaan Shamsi (@Fang Hui-Ming), when he had believed that the title of Mahoutokoro Champion was wrongly given to the carefree Indian boy instead of someone disciplined like himself or Hitoshi-senpai. Ah, those were the days.

Just as he was about to introduce himself and ask the girl her name, a boy who seemed familiar with the girl skipped towards them. Akira didn't quite understand everything he was saying, but he could tell by the sound of his voice that the boy was glad to be here. His outfit had a certain air of a wild forest sprite, which complemented his wolf mask perfectly, though Akira felt the mane of hair and bare feet didn't quite suit the formality of a ball. He chose to comment on the former. "I like how your mask and outfit complement the flora very well. I really wasn't creative enough to dress for our surroundings, like you did," he complimented the boy.

The boy's bow was certainly up to standards, and Akira bowed back in response, reflexively. In response to Colin's question, he considered it for a moment before responding. "I'm here to observe the chaos -- hopefully not to cause any -- and wouldn't mind joining in the dancing when there is some." Going through the motions of a social dance was not foreign to him, though he was hardly expressive. "What about you? What are you looking forward to most?" he asked the boy in return.

It was here when a girl in a green dress joined them, who he assumed was the first girl's friend. When she greeted Colin, Akira detected her uncertainty. Was she not a fan of Colin, struggling to find a compliment, or was it the opposite? He studied her curiously, perhaps fixing his dark brown gaze at her for a bit too long as he tried to decipher what she meant. If he conversed with them longer, perhaps he would learn more about them all.

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Fang," he returned the greeting with a small bow in return, choosing to address her more formally to avoid being impolite, because she did not yet specify how she preferred to be called. "I should probably introduce myself. I'm Shimizu Akira from Mahoutokoro," he responded to everyone present, choosing to put his surname first as Miss Fang had. "But, you can call me Shimizu." He paused for a moment as he thought he remembered something. "Your name sounds familiar. Were you at summer camp last year?" Perhaps she was at one of the sporting events, but he held his tongue in case he was wildly off. He peered at the girl, through his mask and hers. These darned masks. “Surely you'd have no objections if we take these off?” He suggested, not knowing that she may prefer to keep hers on.

He had all but resigned himself from the search at this point (not that he was very enthusiastic about it, anyway), so it was no wonder that the perceptive girl in the champagne dress found the box first. He considered the riddle but wasn't too familiar with Greek mythology, so he decided let those who were more knowledgeable find the solution. A resignation he wasn't too proud of.

POST TRACKER ♡───────────♡ Post 1- Élodie Post 2- Irya

OUTFIT ♡───────────♡ Reducio

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

Looking through the honking daffodil bush apprehensively, Élodie sighed when she saw nothing inside. Taking a step back from the bush, Élodie brushed the non-existent dirt off the skirt of her dress, a feeling of relief washing over her and the fear of her dress getting ruined leaving. Watching everyone else search their bush, Élodie almost didn't realize that a boy had crouched a few meters away from her, searching the same bush she was.

He wore a navy suit, tailored with an expensive-looking material. His black mask was quite simple and not too flashy. His hair was tidy and neat, despite the few strands that refused to be flattened. Looking away, Élodie wondered what school he was from.

Taking another step back from the bush, a noise of excitement was heard as a student found the next riddle. Élodie watched as students began to flock towards the rose bushes after a minute or two, searching for either the next clue or the key to the ball.

She took a step towards the boy, figuring that he was also there alone, just like her. Élodie spoke to him softly yet loud enough that he could hear her voice, "It seems quite silly, doesn't it? To have to solve riddles and search for clues to get our way into the ball." she said, speaking in English as she voiced her opinion, her soft voice accompanied by a French accent. Normally, when her family attended a ball, they were instantly let in. There was no riddle to solve or key to find. The idea of purely having fun at a ball was completely foreign to the young French girl.

After a small pause, she decided to speak again, "Though, I'd rather get into the ball sooner rather than later, and the more people we have looking for the key or next riddle, the quicker we can get in." she pointed out as she began to slowly walk over to some roses. "Want to help me look?"

Action: Walking over to some roses and inviting Irya to help look through them
Stats: STA 6 / EVA 5/ STR 5 / WIS 8/ ARC 4/ ACC 7
Ency: Right Here!
Abilities: None Yet

Malin listened along quietly as River stated her hobbies. She had a look of keen interest in her eyes as the dragon-masked girl spoke.
She smiled at the descriptions of River's magical creatures and grinned at River's elegance. Even when doing something so casual as a shrug, River could look like the most powerful heiress, even if she was just a first-year.
She was interested in River's love for art and reading, as she also enjoyed those, though she much preferred painting over drawing.
Then the inevitable question arose.
What about you?
"Well," She started. She rarely spoke about herself for fear that other people would laugh at her interests.
She felt comfortable around River, however. Even though they had only recently become friends, Malin could tell their friendship would last.
"I like to paint," She said, her voice only slightly louder as if it were a statement rather than an answer to a question. "And play the violin, of course." She thought back to their violin-piano duet only days ago. "I do lots of reading, believe it or not." She said, the 'believe it or not' being a jest at her own inability to stay still for very long, "Mostly about Astronomy or history. Sometimes poetry." She elaborated airily, smiling brightly at River as her blue eyes gleamed with happiness as she spoke about the things she loved.

STATS

(Stamina - 5 | Evasion - 6 | Strength - 4 | Wisdom - 6 | ArcP - 8 | Accuracy - 6)
ACTION: Talking with River and searching through the roses.

"She is delightfully chaotic; a beautiful mess."

══════════════ Roleplaying as Uagadou iNPC Reuben Garcia ══════════════

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The Spring Ball had finally come and Reuben had heard that this one would be even more fun with a treasure hunt to start the night with. He entered the area. Apparently, he was a little late and the treasure hunt had already started with a few clues being found.

Reuben had played Spin the Bottle earlier along with Lorelai and a few others and he couldn't get Lorelai's face out of his mind. He was so so excited to see her again looking as pretty as ever in her ball gown. Maybe he would confess, maybe he wouldn't. He was really scared what impact confessing would have on their friendship. He was pretty sure Lorelai did not like him back, and if he did tell her what he actually felt about her, there was a high chance that she would just say no and what little was between them would break.

Reuben took a deep breath and decided to leave his thoughts out for later. He looked around for Lorelai, and after being sure that she was not already there, he decided to participate in the Treasure Hunt till she came back. After a bit of observing and asking, he discovered that the next clue seemed to lead pretty clearly to the rose bushes. Sure enough, when he got to the bushes, he noticed that there were quite a few people surrounding them. He too joined the crowd and started searching through the bushes. Hopefully he would find another clue or the key hiding there.

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STA: 6, EVA: 10, WIS: 8, ACC: 10, ARC: 2, STR: 4
Calming Presence | Evasive Maneuvers

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She'd never been to a Hogwarts Ball. There hadn't really been an event like this when she was a student. Hogwarts had looked more inwards than outwards in her younger years. But it felt good, no, fabulous to be able to dress up for the evening. Usually she was too busy running around the Hospital Wing or making sure her stock was in order for her to do anything fun. Especially since she wasn't about to ask a certain Potions Professor for their help.

She'd heard whisperings of these Balls. Of how they turned to ruin the minute students entered. There was just something about the sweet, enticing fun that had made Dusana pause, and common sense rule her head, when she had first heard about the event. Hadn't students nearly died, at frankly, too many of these things to count? It was a wonder Hogwarts still ran them. It wasn't her place to judge though (who was she kidding? She would). She would offer her skills and position as School Nurse and hopefully that would be enough that no one died tonight.

Fixing her shoes just so, and checking with her assistants that the Hospital Wing and its patients would be fine if she stepped out to the official school event, she grabbed her wand and held out her arm for Asclepius to slither up. His usual perching place was coiled around her neck, and with the incantation of the feather-light charm, "Agero Pondus," he was able to stay up there with no trouble. This was advantageous since he was so big and hefty now as an adult. With her mask in place, Dusana hoped having her companion with her would even be more of an impact. And possible a security measure.

As she made her way down towards the Quidditch Training Pitch, bright gold dress shimmering in the warm light, the woman could hear students buzzing about. Much like little bees dancing in the florals. She stood still near the start of the path, watching as students flitted here and there, pollinating the flowers with their knowledge. There were tens of students, from all different schools and a pang filled her chest. What it would be like to be a student again with all the carefree attitude? No responsibilities. No job. No annoying people infiltrating your life. Dusana closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. It didn't matter. She wasn't here tonight. And Dusana would be able to enjoy herself. Perhaps even a dance or two. All she had to do was find another adult to keep her company as she watched the students search the flowers. Which...was odd. Glancing around, her eyes came upon the riddles sign swaying in the night air. Ahh, so that was why they were all searching. She shrugged lightly to herself. They would get in eventually. She would still enjoy herself in her pretty dress with her best friend keeping her company.

Dusana

STA 10 | EVA 9 | STR 5 | WIS 13 | ARC 12 | ACC 16

Parseltongue Adept | x | Pet Snake | x | Pet Snake Attacks | x | Dark Heritage

Items: Wand, Bruise Removal Paste, Calming Draught, Deflating Draught, Swelling Solution, Pet Snake

Action: Watching the students look for clues. Open to interactions.
@Méabh Regan @Mateo Sáez @Sereia Clairmont

Asclepius 240cm Emerald Gazer Abilities: Spy | Venom | Constrict | Consumption Action: Sitting upon Dusana's neck

OUTFIT Reducio This cool mask is made by Alyssea Brown

INVENTORY Reducio Bottle of Water Chocolate Bar HVS Papers Omniculars Potions: Reducio Antidote to Common Poisons Bruise Removal Paste Burn Healing Paste Murtlap Essennce Tyty (typewriter) Wizards Camera

Nope. He didn't find anything. The boy frowned up, disappointed, and dissatisfied. But he forgot. He might not have been able to find the key because he didn't wear his glasses.

Then, the rest of the students were moving. “Eh?” Zach tilted his head, wondering why these people moved. It turned out that one of them had found the next clue. “Clue after clue?!” Zach palmed his face. It was a fun game, really. But not if you played it when your stomach was empty. Zach decided to walk in a different direction from the crowds.

The fox saw a familiar bobcat and wolf. He walked faster towards them. “You guys are already here!” He greeted them enthusiastically. “Don't you want to look for the keys?” he asked, wondering why they just stood there.

His stomach growled. The boy just wanted to go inside and eat some food there. While he rubbed his belly, a flash of thought appeared in his head. What if he just cast a spell for convenience. Maybe it would make them enter faster. But what spell would be appropriate for this? Diffindo? No. It might cut someone. Incendio? That's worse.

“I was thinking of something.” He pulled out his wand from the cape. He somewhat made such an evil smile unconsciously. “Why would we look for the keys in a muggle way when we can make it easier in a wizard's way?” Then he started to cast the spell.

Series of Unfortunate Shenanigans Interacting with @Alyssea Brown and @Raizel Voltrouz Action: Casting Ventus attempt towards the rose bush Statistics: STA: 7 | EVA: 7 | STR: 3 | WIS: 9 | ARC: 7 | ACC: 10 Abilities: Prodigal Charms Learner | Blindvision