Closed Corner of the Sky OPEN

IC Date: November 26, 2023 Interacting with the radio Mentioning @Alyssea Brown, @Rebecca Lark, @Raizel Voltrouz, @Zach Zaphiere, @Siobhan McCarty, @Helena Rose, @Landon Matthews

Astra Speaking: #136323 Thoughts: Italics Others Speaking: #theirhex

Astra smiled as the current waltz finished and the dancing girl gave her a curtsy. Astra flourished her bow hand and bent at the waist in her own flamboyant take on the bow.

The next song to play was Strauss' "Emperor Waltz." Astra was not sure she would be able to play it to completion, it was an eleven minute waltz, and though "Waltz of the Flowers" was short, it still took a lot of mental energy to remember it. She did, however, reset and begin playing the opening notes.

A boy entered, now a second male figure in the sea of femininity. What was the ratio of girls to boys in this school? It seemed like every other person Astra met was of her own gender. The boy offered his hand to dance, and Astra smiled again, more secretively, a simple little tick up of the corners of her mouth.

She was interested to see how the newcomer would match against the girl's elegant dancing. If he was offering, he was probably quite good. Maybe the others will dance as well? She glanced at the girls and boy against the wall. None of them looked much like dancers, but then again what did a dancer even look like?

Astra's thoughts were soon dragged back to her playing as she began to fall behind tempo. One two three, one two three, ah, yes, there you go. Once again, the young Slytherin marveled at the acoustics of this place. Her small violin was magnified, blending so well with the radio's music, the professional orchestra. It felt almost as if she were playing beside them.

OOC: If anyone doesn't like/wants a different song, I will change it

⋄ November 26th, 2023 | Ballroom ⋄
⋄ Interactions: @Raizel Voltrouz, @Zach Zaphiere, @Helena Rose, and @Alyssea Brown ⋄
⋄ Mentions: @Astra Norrick,@Landon Matthews, and @Siobhan McCarty ⋄

𝓣he thing about procrastination is that it's like a bag of chips: who can ever eat just one? 'It'll just be a slight diversion' is just a lie we tell ourselves. Once you commit to veering even slightly off course, it's a long, long way down to the bottom. As such, what was meant to just be a quick in-and-out event, one where she'd ask Alyssea about the radio and go, was fated to be a far larger affair than either of them could have ever imagined.

It turned out that Alyssea's secret dancing spot wasn't actually so secret, as mere moments after Bex sat down to wait for the older Hufflepuff, she was joined on the ballroom floor by her first ever duel partner and new friend. Raizel looked to be all healed up from their duel, which was nice. While logically she knew that magical medicine was often far more successful than muggle medicine, a seed of deep, resentful mistrust of magic was beginning to grow inside of Bex, one that would prove difficult to shake off.

"Hi Raizel!" She whispered as softly as she could manage, smiling up at the other girl. She waved, in case she ended up speaking too softly to be heard. She had never been the best at moderating the volume of her voice, so she supposed that it was probably better to go under than over in this specific case. It was nice to have a little reunion here with the three of them, one that would hopefully be less likely to end up in the hospital wing (though, admittedly, you could never be too sure at Hogwarts.)

And wouldn't you know it, in true Hogwarts fashion the next few minutes would end up being some of the most confusing of the semester for Bex, as by some mystery of the universe the ballroom would slowly fill with everyone she had ever met, as well as one she hadn't. Maybe it was magic, maybe it was destiny, or maybe it was just Alyssea's actually rather loud radio. Regardless of the cause though, the end result was the same: the children were multiplying.

First came Zach Zaphiere, the leader of her favorite club, who, upon opening his mouth, immediately began speaking far louder than was conducive to not interrupting Alyssea. What he actually said though is a mystery to Bex to this day, as she began frantically shushing him the second he began to speak.

"Shh, Zach, we have to be quiet." She whispered. gesturing to where Alyssea was still dancing, oblivious to the interruption. Only when she turned to look at her, Alyssea wasn't alone anymore: she had been joined by a red-headed girl who seemed to have brought a violin with her, and was playing in harmony with the song emanating from Alyssea's radio. The new arrival seemed familiar somehow, and Bex squinted in thought as she tried to place her, only to gasp softly in affront when her identity clicked into place. It was the accomplice of the evil man from Helena's broom race. Well, she could play the violin beautifully all she wanted, but Bex was on to her games.

Unfortunately, the violin music, beautiful as it was, absolutely got Alyssea's attention, and she waved at the three of them on the floor. "Hi Alyssea!" Bex yelled, happy to finally be free of the curse of the inside voice. She did not, however, know how to dance, and looked around her to see if anyone else in their mottled group did. And lo and behold, their motley group was growing motlier by the minute: there in the doorway was Helena and another girl that she'd never seen before.

"Helena!" She exclaimed happily, making grabby hands towards the other girl. "Hi! Come sit by me, your friend can come, too." So distracted she was by the arrival of her first friend here at Hogwarts, Bex hardly even noticed the arrival of Landon, though the transition from one song to the next, Accomplice's violin playing following suit, gave her pause as she considered Alyssea's question.

"Do any of you know how to dance?"

OOC: Raizel and I have an inside joke about Raizel not knowing what Bex's name is! Please try to avoid saying Bex's name in front of Raizel. Thank you!

Interactions ❯❯ @Rebecca Lark | @Zach Zaphiere | @
Mentions ❯❯ @Alyssea Brown | @Helena Rose | @Astra Norrick | @Landon Matthews | @Siobhan McCarty

❂《 ⌜ November 26, 2023 ▎ TBA ⌟

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"Yo!" The girl grinned, shoving the thoughts that she had earlier to the back of her mind. They are unnecessary for what she needs is the strong front that she always lets others see. Her eyes were on… ah, she is still drawing a blank when it comes to the girl's name and she is not gonna be asking that. Too embarrassing, especially when she knows her name too. Lucky for her, she gets to shift her attention when another Ravenclaw had found his way into this room.

Zach happily greeted them but was quickly shushed by the other Ravenclaw which is a good decision as they don't want to disturb Alyssea now that she's in the zone. "Keep your voice down or you'll make her slip." Raizel added, gesturing towards Alyssea's dancing figure with a point before crossing her arms, leaning on the nearby wall to watch. What happened after that was surprising as she found the room easily filled with other students. But before she could even see who those are, Alyssea was already done with her dancing so she gave her a wave when she greeted them. "Heyya." Raizel greeted her before answering her question. "Not really. You might just hurt your toes." She'd rather not step on anyone's toes right now.

As the ballroom got more busy with Alyssea now about to dance with a Hufflepuff boy, Raizel took that time to observe who is in the room now, not after that race. Aside from Zach and the Ravenclaw girl, most people were pretty much new to her aside from Helena of course, she wouldn't forget her now, not after that race that is. There's a Gryffindor with her but someone that she barely knows. There's also a Slytherin girl playing the violin but she doesn't know her either.

Lots of people yet so many that she doesn't know. While usually she doesn't feel overwhelmed by it, right now it is different. She sits down on the floor, pulling her knees closer to her while letting her head rest on them, staring blankly at what is before them. She just got here so it'd be rude to leave immediately so maybe a couple more minutes or so, she can excuse herself. "So, what brought you guys here?" Her question was mostly for the two Ravenclaw students.

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⌜ Corner of the Sky ⌟ | ⌜ WC: 390/200 ⌟
««««« Dialogue | #800000

'Thoughts' "Speech"

Ballroom

26thNovember, 2023

Elisa was just walking by with a book about pranks in her hand which she had knowingly or unknowingly stolen from the library, as she walked past the different rooms on the fourth floor, suddenly some kind of music hit her ears, 'Why would there be music in this floor?' she wondered, Elisa did know that this floor was home to the duelling club and rehearsal room which was popular among students but she had never heard music in here, after minutes of thinking and battling with her brain, Elisa clutched her book tightly and started running towards the direction from where the music was coming from, she followed the music as fast as she could while bumping into a couple of students, who she simply mouthed a sorry, after a few minutes she finally did find the place where the music was coming from, The Ballroom.

The music was coming from the Ballroom, this was a fact that surprised Elisa, as she was sure that no event was currently occurring in Hogwarts, "Is this some kind of prank, I'm not aware of?" she mumbled while making up her mind to turn around and go back to wherever she was planning to go a couple of minutes ago but something was pulling her into entering the Ballroom, after some minutes of yet again battling her thoughts, She finally decided to enter the ballroom, when she slightly opened the door of the Ballroom, she saw some students dancing, while in the center a Hufflepuff girl dancing as lively as possible, Elisa was sure that she knew none of the students in the ballroom but she felt curious to know what was happening, she slowly slid inside the room and kept on looking around, after some minutes of observing she mumbled yet again
"What is happening here?"", her whisper was a bit loud, she was sure that some people did hear her but she simply kept on looking at the dancing figures with a curious look in her eyes, a part of her wished to go join them, it had been a long time since she had last danced.

Mentioning @Alyssea Brown, @Rebecca Lark, @Raizel Voltrouz, @Zach Zaphiere, @Siobhan McCarty, @Helena Rose, @Landon Matthews

H E L E N A

R O S E

🙤 · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · ꕥ · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · 🙦

Date 11/26/23

Helena's Dialogue #aa8b00

Tags @Alyssea Brown@Rebecca Lark@Siobhan McCarty@Raizel Voltrouz@Zach Zaphiere@Landon Matthews@Astra Norrick@Elisa Shakestra

🙤 · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · ꕥ · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · 🙦

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ────── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

A quiet peaceful afternoon just wondering by herself seemed to turn into being surrounded by a swarm of random students a few that Helena recognized and some she had no idea who they were and why they were in this vast ballroom type area. Though even Helena had to admit she was drawn because of the music that seemed to spill from the brims of the large thick oak doors.

Helena glanced at the young girl that was still standing beside her in the doorway.

Another familiar figure seemed to walk past the girls that seemed to be slightly blocking the entrance. First was a young girl who started to play the violin, next it was a certain Hufflepuff boy who Helena recognized quite quickly.

Remembering that she was holding the young girls hand that was beside her Helena sent a small smile towards her as a familiar young Ravenclaw spoke loudly towards the duo.

Sterling blue ocean wave eyes catching sight of the familiar brunette. Helena awaited patiently she did not want to force the other girl into the crowded room incase she was nervous or scared.
From where she stood she could hear many conversations going on around her of course Rebeccas’s voice was the one that seemed to pull Helena out of her train of thought. Thinking softly.

“Would you like to go in? The girl over there yelling towards us is a good friend of mine. Plus we could dance if you like. I would not want to leave you by the door alone it is not rather fun.”

Helena spoke softly towards the young girl that was beside her genuinely trying to be kind, smiling a soft gentle smile towards the other girl. Before turning her attention back towards Rebecca waving her free hand over to the girl just waiting for a response from the other girl beside her if she was ready to enter or not.

She watched as several other people filtered into the Ballroom, one after the other and could hear the happy sounds of them joining up with the others who had also been present in the room. What she'd give to have a friend group like that. She wasn't expecting anything but she hoped that maybe out of this encounter she would make one friend.

Even if she was just allowed to sit in the ballroom and read her book she'd be happy. Music and reading was always her go-to activity if gardening or exploring was out. Besides. She didn't want to interuppt the group within the confines of the room.

"Aye, I want to go in. I just wasn't sure I was allowed in." Siobhan started as she clutched her book to her chest. Not to mention she looked a right site. She'd just been wandering the corridors back to the tower after a delightful day out in the grounds scavenging for magical plants and collecting lake mud for her garden in Killarney. Her shoes were caked with dried dirt, her jeans covered in grass stains, and her long sleeve shirt was misaligned with one sleeve pushed all the way up and the other hanging well past her hand, both soaking wet from shoving her hands in the cold water of the lake.

Inside the ballroom, some girl was yelling at the both of them, encouraging them to make their way inside but the Hufflepuff didn't budge from her spot. Siobhan could tell that the Hufflepuff girl wanted to go inside, but that she wouldn't be leaving without an answer from Siobhan. Tentatively Siobhan nodded and opened the door to the ballroom to walk inside smiling happily at the Hufflepuff girl.

Realizing that perhaps calling this girl "The Hufflepuff Girl" was wrong, Siobhan quickly turned back to her, in order to introduce herself.

"My name is Siobhan... I hope its ok that I found this place... I um didn't get your name." She mumbled as she stood half in and out of the door. From opening the door, the music began to spill out into the hallway, filling this portion of the castle with its lovely tunes. Siobhan looked into the Ballroom and saw a lovely sitting area for people who didn't want to dance, practically calling to her and asking for her to sit. One of the people within was playing a lovely rendition of the "Emperor's Waltz" on the violin and it was absolutely beautiful.

"Go deas, tá tú ag cur isteach ar an tsíocháin." Siobhan mumbled to herself as she made the full decision to step into the room. She held the door open for the Hufflepuff girl to step through as well, with a happy smile on her face.

Time: Reducio November 26, 2023	Tag: Reducio - open, due to Kaitlyn's shyness -
Outfit: Reducio a light blue blouse, a black skirt, and black low-heeled sandals. She's wearing tulip earrings in Slytherin green and silver that she made.	Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics

To Kaitlyn, two things mattered the most. First was how well she did in her classes and with her abilities. Being a muggleborn, she admittedly struggled in this department. She needed to practice a lot and take plenty of notes, with multiple revisions. While it was a lot of hard work, she actually enjoyed it. So, it wasn’t like she was particularly bitter about it. Rather, she just felt like she was not up to the standard of her peers.

The other major important thing for Katie was how she appeared to others. She took considerable time to perfect her appearance, often spending more time than the other girls to get ready. The end result being that her appearance looked impeccable. Like now, for example. Her blouse looked ironed. Her skirt looked freshly pressed. Her sandals were polished. Her fingernails and toenails were painted with a clear coat of nail polish to give them a slight shimmering look. A small amount of pink lipgloss adorned her lips. Her brunette hair looked recently washed. She even tried a new hairstyle, French braids framing her face. Her tulip earrings, in Slytherin colors, looked freshly polished. Despite how she felt on the inside, her outward appearance made her look confident, a trait she wished she had.

As Katie made her way to the ballroom to practice dancing, she could hear the waltz playing. She knew how to dance the waltz and would love to find a girl one day to dance to it. And maybe even try a move she saw performed once. Where the man dipped the lady. It looked like it required a lot of attention and trust between the dance partners. She wanted to do that with a girl.

Katie’s cheeks flushed as she heard other students inside the ballroom. Her eyes drooped down to her feet shyly, as she slowly made her way inside. She refused to look anyone in the eye due to her shyness. ‘Merlin, they’re all so pretty,’ she thought, as she passed by the girls in the room. She went to one of the corners of the room not currently being occupied. She began to dance. A hypnotizing display of jumps, twirls, and spins. Her movements were graceful, poised, and well-rehearsed. She moved like a girl who had danced before, showing rare confidence in her abilities, and yet she was too timid to ask one of the girls to dance with her.

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Outfit: Here | CC: #1f5cc6 | Words: 331 | Graphic by Helena Rose
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─────Landon knew it was a little strange for him to be so forward to ask Alyssea to dance, but he liked dancing and he wasn't terrible at it. He had wanted to dance during the last school event, but with the whole falling into the lake and being snatched by grindylows, he just wasn't able to even ask. He had been too exhausted as it was. Landon didn't feel shy when it came to dancing, just shy about asking someone to dance. But he knew Alyssea well and it wasn't nearly as scary to ask her as it would be someone else.

Landon smiled as Alyssea bowed and offered her arms to him. "I'm not an expert, so I don't mind if you aren't perfect," he said kindly. He flushed a little as he looked around and noticed people watching them. He hadn't really thought about that part before he offered to dance with Alyssea, but he was going to do it anyway. He wanted to dance with her.

Landon hadn't really danced with a girl who wasn't much smaller than him, since his usual dance partner was his little sister, but he was sure he could handle this. He took a deep breath and steadied his nerves before starting to lead Alyssea through a dance. He kept it simple, not wanting to do something and make himself look bad. He didn't want to make a mistake while so many people were walking.

Landon smiled at Alyssea. "So, you dance?" he said, a little bit surprised. "I didn't realize you were a dancer," he added. He led her through a turn gently, trying not to throw her off balance or anything. "I learned some dance skills to make my little sister happy," he admitted. "I don't know if I'm great at it, but I do enjoy doing it. Her smile made it worth while," he added. He knew he was sounding a little sappy, but he really loved his youngest sister.

IC Date: November 26, 2023 Interacting with the radio Mentioning @Alyssea Brown, @Rebecca Lark, @Raizel Voltrouz, @Zach Zaphiere, @Siobhan McCarty, @Helena Rose, @Landon Matthews, @Kaitlyn Conner

Astra Speaking: #136323 Thoughts: Italics Others Speaking: #theirhex

Her blue eyes were closed now, desperately focusing on the swells and notes and- was she doing it? Oh she was doing it. She was playing Emperor Waltz by ear. No sheet music or memory of notes presented itself in her head, she simply listened and played.

It wasn't perfect, by no means. Astra scrambled to rectify a sour note just moments after her realization. But by jove, she was doing it. Wouldn't Ms. Ellington be so pleased?

Her blue eyes flew open, and remained glued to her strings and her bow dragged across them, producing a song quite unlike anything she had ever played. It felt so... natural. It felt like music, not just an imitation of notes on a page. Her subconscious was engaged, leaving her objective brain free to notice the new dancer and the skill of the paired dancers.

Her eyes closed once again, not squeezed shut like before, but simply resting. Her fingers moved smoothly, falling behind here and slipping slightly there, but contrary to the norm Astra didn't care. She was playing music. And that was all that mattered.

She shifted her weight, stepping forward, relaxing her posture, feeling more and more natural with every sweep of her bow.

OOC: I totally didn't forget it was my turn TT