Snatching two biscuits from a platter on the table, Avis daintily nibbled on one, whilst slipping the other into her satchel, her eyes constantly scanning those at her table. They all seemed to have entirely unhelpful answers to Avis rhetorical question. She didn't actually care who had made the cabins, unless it actually was someone trying to destroy them all from the inside out, but the chances of that? Slim. Slim to none. Nonetheless, she turned her attention to each member who seemed to have some brilliant observation about the point.

"I'm not entirely sure. Maybe the professors? I haven't met all my cabinmates yet, but the ones i've already met, I already know. Oh, I'm Mateo Yamamoto,"

First to speak was a slightly familiar Japanese boy. Avis squinted at him for a moment. Did she know him? Mateo Yamamoto. It sounded familiar. There couldn't be that many people with that name, right? Yes, she decided, yes she did indeed know him. But where, she did not have the slightest idea, nor did she care to ask. She had a feeling if he remembered, he would remind her. He seemed like the type of person who would do that.

But as to his answer, Avis rolled her eyes. He didn't know. She could have gotten that far on her own. Another member of the table chimed in with an equally unhelpful answer, and Avis seriously considered leaving the tea party.

Sabrina, on the other hand, apparently had forgotten that Avis was not an immediate family member of hers, and slung her arm over Avis' shoulder. She noticeably stiffened, annoyed. No, she wasn't annoyed. She wanted to be annoyed. She wanted to not act like the arm around her shoulder was a shield against the rest of the room. No, because that would mean Avis was too weak to handle the world. And if Avis was too weak to handle the world...no. She allowed Sabrina a few moments to get in her "hug" before gently pushing the Ravenclaw's arm backwards off her shoulder.

She offered another answer that was basically the exact same as the other two, but Avis left it alone as there was one very large difference: Sabrina was her friend.

"How badly do you want to take revenge on them?" Avis exhaled a slow breath. Contrary to popular belief, Avis wasn't one to get true revenge. Yes, she would retaliate if pranked, but if someone were to hurt her, she wasn't one for "getting even." But then again, she glanced at her hand, Gideon really had it coming.

Although once again, she cast her gaze toward Matthew across the room, if she were to prank anyone, the chances of Avis getting the last laugh were very, very low. Not because she couldn't pull a good prank, but because she wasn't mean enough to win.

"Badly enough that "getting revenge" would be a very bad idea." She accepted two chocolates off of the offered plate, eating one and slipping the other into her satchel.

A loud trumpet sound startled her, and Avis looked up, delighted, as she searched for the source of the noise. To her very dismay, it seemed to be the start of a play. Romeo and Juliet, if she had to guess. It was, it seemed, as it seemed to be a lame story about potions, of all things; potions are lame. Avis pulled her attention back to the goodies at her table, periodically slipping a piece or two into her satchel, only half listening.

@Tracey Bailey, @Sabrina Lyons, @Avery Gray

Action: Nonchalantly transfering subtle amounts of treats into her satchel

Tone had always been rather chatty, friendly and energetic by nature. But these days he'd been overly all of those and although those who didn't know him well wouldn't think anything was off about him, those who did know him well, would know something was wrong with him. He nodded when Tracey agreed with him and flashed her a smile. "I love all types of sweets. I actually like baking myself, although I'm not that good at cooking. I leave that to the professional chefs." Tone told her and then remembered the container in his backpack. "Ah, right. I made some brownie truffles to share with those at the event. Hopefully, you guys like them." Tone said and reached into his pack to produce the container.
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One of them. He'd brought two with him as the recipe had made more than he'd thought there would be. Picking up an eclair on his own plate, Tone bit into it to sample the deliciousness of France. Ah, yes. They tasted heavenly to him. "The cream is really good, not too sweet at all. I like that the best when the icing is sweet but the cream isn't. It's the best possible combination." He remarked to anyone who was listening to him at the time. The conversation around him switched to others as Tone ate until Tracey looked back over at him again after he'd introduced himself to them all. "Ah, yeah. Some of his friends wanted to throw him a surprise birthday party." The teen told Tracey with a little tiny nod.

He reached up with a finger to wipe some cream off the side of his lips. "I volunteered to go and drag him over." Tone said with a cheeky grin. It was around that time that everyone's attention was drawn to one location, as a symphony of trumpet music blasted through the air. Tone glanced around to spot what seemed to be actors and prop crew enter a large stage in the area. Ah, were they putting on a play of some sort for them? Interesting. He'd never really been into sitting still though in one place for an extended period of time. Unless he was in the zone. Many began to watch the play as it began but Tone just spent the time looking around the place and munching on his pastries. But they were almost gone so Tone needed to refill.
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Tone glanced over at the play every now and then, listening without really paying much attention. He was one of those types of people who could take in information while seeming as if he wasn't paying attention at the same time. Despite his personality, Tone could be very determined when he wanted to be. Getting up while the play was going on, the beater made his way over to the refreshment table. There were a few people there too but most were watching the play or doing things on their own. Someone accidentally bumped into him at the table and apologized before walking away but Tone merely gave them a smile. He was a pretty carefree kind of guy, or at least that was the impression he always gave others. Tone looked over the choices.

Selecting another eclair, Tone paused, trying to decide what else he wanted to try there.

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──────────────────⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅─────────────────── .─ STATS Reducio Sta 9 ❀ Eva 13 Acc 17 ❀ Arc 4 Wis 7 ❀ Str 8 ABILITIES Reducio Broken Broomshaft Fearless Evasive Maneuvers Statistically Relevant (ACC+2) TAGS Reducio @Dennis Tumberton, @Minnie Duke, @Tracey Bailey TRACKER Reducio I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X ACTION Reducio Tone tries to decide what to select from the refreshments table other than the eclair. . ── ──────────────────⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅───────────────────

.

Sabrina's brows creased, eyes still fixed on Avis as if trying to communicate a silent message which- all and all, was kinda exactly was she was attempting.

Frustratingly enough, Avis acted very much Avis-like: rolling her eyes at how everyone, including Sabrina herself, made obvious observations, no doubt suffering from her belief that she was smarter than everyone else, which to her credit stood on some solid evidence right now. She brushed her arm off, gave a completely leveled answer to her question and was now in the process of smuggling various items from the plates into her satchal

And yet. And yet, the feeling that something was wrong remained in the smaller Raven.

It wasn't like she could just ask: Hey, I am not sure why but you seem odd, is everything okay? Is this a casual-amongst-strangers conversation? How serious is this?

Correction: she totally could, but she had a sense - was pretty much positive - that her co-author wouldn't appriciate that. Then again, the most probable answer was that nothing was wrong at all. It was only one comment. One comment that she would've spared just a fleeting thought to if it was said by anybody else. She should drop this. And she would've, if it weren’t for what came next.

If she wasn't watching Avis so carefully, she wouldn't have caught the subtle glance she spared at her palm, but at is was, her own grey eyes followed the motion, widening at what she saw. A black stain. A black stain that stretched out like spider underneath her friend's skin. Too many thoughts filled her brain, creating a buzz in which she couldn't clearly make out one.

Almost impulsively, her hand clasped over Avis's, right at the spot where the stain was, preventing anyone else at the table from noticing it. Her touch was a bit quick but not harsh. She wasn't really holding the other girl, but she did give her hand a little squeeze. To anyone who might've noticed, it probably would've looked like she was just trying to get her friend's attention.

"Hey" she whispered, searching Avis's gaze. It didn't matter if she was overthinking this or not. There was a chance that something wasn't okay, and she'd rather make a fool of herself than leave her friend hanging. "There are abraxans somewhere on the grounds. Wanna go see them?" she continued in a hushed tone, the play - which she barely had time to register - making it hard for anyone else but Avis to hear "Now." she added, emphasising the word as if to give it a further meaning.

OPEN FOR INTERACTIONS!

Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 4 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 9 | ArcPower: 6 | Accuracy: 4

WC: 436| Interacting with: @Avis Marlong At the table with: @Tracey Bailey as Mateo Yamamoto, @Avery Gray and @Pamela Graham

Speech | Thoughts | Emphasis

Interacting with: Mateo Yamamoto (@Tracey Bailey) and @Pamela Graham and @Sabrina Lyons and @Avis Marlong Mentioning: N/A Date: 02/12/25

Word Count: 208

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Avery listened to the conversations around her. Not really knowing where she would fit in just yet. She listened to Avis and Rina talk about revenge. She was almost surprised that the topic had come up, but, then again, she wasn't. She was beginning to get used to the random conversations that she had either overheard or ended up in. That's when she heard Rina mention Abraxans. Avery had always been fascinated by the creatures, but she didn't want to risk getting in trouble because she went to see them on the first night. Instead, she decided she would visit with Mateo and Pam more since she hadn't seen Pam in a while, and she finally had the chance to meet Mateo! "Have fun with the Abraxans." Avery said nonchalantly as she plucked another chocolate into her mouth. That's when Avery realized there was a play going on. She watched it for a moment with mild interest. She didn't really know what was happening since she had missed a good part of it, but while she waited for her friends to respond, why not try and figure it out? It was more interesting than glancing around the room for her cabin mates that hadn't shown up just yet.

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@Dennis Tumberton as Maria | @Aamon Athanatos | @Linda Ramirez | @Meyra Lancaster

"That's impressive." Harvey complimented Maria as she informed him of her involvement with both calligraphy and music. Being surrounded by so many talented witches and wizards would always cause him a pang of jealousy. Though he would throw away the idea of fancy writing skills as frivolous it was only a front as he had no artistic talents himself. Just imagine being able to play an instrument as well. What were they feeding all of these children!

Perhaps it was the croissants as Harvey took another bite of his before washing it down with a sip of tea. He simply smiled and nodded when Maria denied any knowledge of the Tengu peoples. Her being from China and new to the magical community would have left her with little chance of meeting the Asian tribe of goblins. "I do hope to meet them myself one day as I am actually part-goblin." Harvey admitted in an attempt to make Maria feel more comfortable with being a muggleborn or so he assumed. Differences be damned, potential is all that really mattered.

Harvey would bid Maria a farewell as she excused herself, but just as she went another came. "Meyra. Hello! Please sit." He motioned towards the chair next to him as she made her presence known. Much time had passed since their last interaction, but she had left quite the impression on him as a potential ally. Aamon, Linda, this is Meyra Lancaster of Gryffindor." Harvey took the liberty of making introductions. Hopefully she did not mind. "Enjoying yourself so far, Meyra?"

The lad would turn his gaze to Aamon as he chastised him for being boring. A slight rise of the brow would be the only reaction Harvey would give. If not for the prominent surname Aamon would surely enjoy a thrilling career as the Knight Bus driver. "You'll see one day." He said with a smirk and shifted in his seat. "But that doesn't mean there's no time for fun." Harvey was all pointy ears as Aamon dished out his master plan. "A prank?" This was the type of nonsense that usually sent Harvey running for the hills, but he was still an eleven year old boy and he was on quite a mischievous streak as of late. Most of his roommates annoyed him, so why not. Plus making friends with an Athanatos couldn't hurt. "What do you have in mind?" He asked just before trumpets announced an acting troupe.

Harvey watched as the tale of a man never knowing true love unfolded. How French... Yet it was intriguing that the plot included assassins and poisoning. He watched on.

Stats: STA - 5 | EVA - 5 | STR - 5 | WIS - 5 | ARC - 5 | ACC - 5
Abilities: Gobbledegook | Extra Income
Action: Eat croissant and drink tea. Perception roll to see if Harvey notices anything?

❀ 02/12/25 Roleplaying as Mateo Yamamoto from Mahoutokoro ❀

クィディッチ
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Japanese = green | English = white | Spanish = red | Thoughts = italics + #bc8f8f
After Mateo had complimentIt seemed that once again no one was talking to him, but he didn't mind. Mateo just listened in onto the conversation that was happening between Avis and Sabrina. Oh, wait, now that Mateo realizes it, he actually does know the girl! In fact, he had met her when he had last visited Hogwarts, but he didn't want to interrupt their conversation, so he didn't say anything.

With the mention of Abraxans, Mateo looked confused. Yes, he was a pureblood, but that doesn't mean that he knows every single magical creature in the wizarding world. Perhaps someone would know, but he has a feeling it's a magical creature native to France, and if so, he'll definitely have to see it, but not now. He'd like to spend more time with Avery and Pam and to get to know them better.

All of a sudden a play began to play. Mateo wasn't interested in plays, but he watched wondering what it was about, but honestly, he didn't entirely care about it. He was mostly interested in exploring the castle and getting to know the two girls who are still with him at the chocolate table.

Mateo plopped another piece of the sweet into his mouth as he watched the tragic ending of the play, it was tragic to him, but he didn't say anything about it.

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Sta: 8 | Eva: 7 | Str: 7 | Wis: 4 | Arc: 8| Acc: 7
Sixth Sense | Chasers Interception
@Avery Gray | @Pamela Graham | @Sabrina Lyons | @Avis Marlong
Action: eating chocolate, standing at the chocolate table, and somewhat watching the play

Instead of going straight to the arrival tea party, Aly first took a few moments after arriving at Beauxbatons to wander through the gardens. She was perhaps not the floral cognoscente she had once been anymore, but the Ravenclaw sixth-year could still appreciate a lovely garden, which the French wizarding school clearly had. After spending the first bit of the party admiring the statues and plants, wandering through the hedge maze and finding a particularly beautiful specimen of a fountain in the centre, Aly heard trumpets from the main hall and begrudgingly tore herself away from the outdoors to head inside.

She managed to get back to the dining chamber to view the majority of the play put on by the troupe of actors, who she viewed with the joy of a small child watching their first theatre production; other than small plays here and there put on by her fellow Hogwarts students, she had never seen anything of the sort, and certainly not anything performed by real adults who had made this their career. Watching one of the characters brew a love potion stung slightly, and Aly glanced away from the actors just long enough to see her friends @Haven Bohannon and @Winnie Harper nearby at a table - Haven handing out flowers, and Winnie sitting alongside her fiancé @Mathias Pride. It was still strange to Aly that she was now so willingly able to think of Mathias as Winnie's betrothed, since they were so young, but she was slowly coming around to the thought - especially after having seen Mathias's reaction to the fifth-year's fall from the Astronomy tower at the end of the previous semester. Winnie deserved someone who was going to love her that much, and though it was strange to find that person at fifteen or sixteen, who was Aly to judge? She waggled her fingers in hello at her mates from where she stood, but didn't make any effort to go and join them - their table already looked full enough.

Aly looked back at the troupe on-stage just in time to catch the end of the play, a confession of love and a peaceful, sad death. Tears pricked at her eyes, though luckily none fell, and she joined many of her fellow students in clapping hard for the actors. Still, the idea of someone being murdered in a joyous party made an odd prickling sensation tingle down the back of her neck; she didn't like that they were in a very similar setting right now, and took a glance around the room just to pacify her anxiety and make sure that no one was sneaking up on her with a stomach-stabbing sword in hand.

gorgeous banner by Aurelia Valentine

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BEAUXBÂTONS
2025-02-12
@Aurelia Valentine

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A nervous laugh escaped Mamori, barely hiding his disappointment as his first getaway strategy crashed and burned. Plan B — the classic loo excuse — would be too obvious this early. Plan C — finding another savior — faced the obstacle that he barely recognized any faces in the crowd. And Plan D... well, that was still in the works. Left with no options, Mamori could only go along as Aurelia hauled him to a nearby chair and firmly planted him in it. That smile she just flashed him was straight out of a villain's playbook, and 30 minutes? Who needed 30 minutes for light snacks? He could demolish an entire meal in 15 minutes flat, small talk included. What was she planning, brewing potions in her stomach with tea as the base and pastries as ingredients? Hell, even his actual potion brewing took less time, everything bottled and done by the 27-minute mark. Reverting to his "questioning every life choice" expression, Mamori halfheartedly loaded his plate with an assortment of colorful refreshments, the frustration of having no say in his own fate transformed everything in his field of vision into a source of mild irritation. The room was filled with students in elegant outfits, which frankly all blurred together after a while. He much preferred events like the Fall Ball where people could actually unleash their creativity and bring some diversity to fashion. Taking another bite of his éclair, his gaze ping-ponged between Aurelia's plate, her tea, and her face for several cycles before he finally cracked. "I honestly don't get you—" And then he stopped dead. Five full seconds of silence followed as his brain raced through a rapid cost-benefit analysis: make a few witty comments to survive these 30 minutes but risk triggering Aurelia's lecture mode where she'd play the role of a nagging single mother with three kids for the next three hours, or hit the brakes now and endure 30 minutes of awkward silence, which was its own special kind of prison since sitting quietly for that long would drive him insane. Two equally delightful versions of hell to choose from. He opted for option one, but with some careful multiple layer filtering. "I find it... interesting... that we're at this elegant French gathering, hosted by French people, in France itself, yet here we are at a corner table, and your selections seem to have traveled straight from a London tea shop." Seriously? Earl Grey and finger sandwiches? If there had been scones on the plate, Mamori had no doubt she'd have grabbed those too. What's next, hunting down shepherd's pie and beef wellington for dinner? Full English breakfast tomorrow morning? "Wouldn't you say part of the experience of visiting somewhere new is sampling what they have to offer? Even just a little?" Gesturing at the plate before him — which had somehow lost four pastries to his unconscious snacking — Mamori continued. "At least try some of these colorful local specialties," he pointed to his macarons and éclair, then casually picked one up and offered it to her, "or that shell-shaped whatever-it's-called, or any of these tarts." Damn the French and their addictively good sweets, dinner was definitely a lost cause now. Two seconds after the words left his mouth, Mamori realized his tactical blunder and instinctively brought his hand to his forehead in a gesture of pure regret. He'd actually admitted, out loud, in Aurelia's presence, that he didn't know the name of a signature French pastry. Having dodged the lecture only to sprint headfirst into encyclopdia mode, he braced himself for the inevitable flood of information about every dessert in the room — their names, origins, history, preparation methods, and at least seventeen utterly useless trivia facts. Salvation arrived in the form of a sudden trumpet blast announcing the beginning of a stage performance. Mamori caught a ray of hope and quickly raised a finger to his lips with a gentle "Shhh," before turning to focus with complete intensity on the stage. The acting was decent enough, the plot, however, was another story entirely. The protagonist's brilliant solution to rejected love was apparently spiking everyone's drinks with some love potions — and he wasn't discriminating either. Anyone. All of them. At once. When the blade finally met the protagonist's flesh, Mamori felt oddly sad. Not that he particularly cared about Antoine — the man had earned his karma — but because his fall meant the assassination plot would succeed, spelling doom for the other guests as well, or at least a good number of them. "The other party guests got the absolute worst deal," he whispered to Aurelia, unable to contain his commentary. "They showed up for a nice evening, got drugged without consent, and then got killed by random assassins who appeared out of nowhere. Worst social event of the century." Despite the joking tone, he felt genuine sympathy for these fictional extras whose tragic fate made his current tea party imprisonment seem almost pleasant by comparison. What was he supposed to take away from this absurd play anyway? Don't accept drinks in France? Avoid fancy parties entirely? Mamori shrugged off the thought as he reached for what remained of his éclair, prepared to demolish it in a single decisive bite.

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STA 5 | EVA 8 | STR 5 | WIS 7 | ARC 3 | ACC 7
Action: attempting to finish the éclair he'd set aside when the performance began

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