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    I changed. It's hard for me to know who I was before all of this. I molded myself into a pretender. Now, every other version of me feels fake.

    - Written about herself






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Amity's smile deepened as Kaz moved to take a seat, thankful for more company. She had worried - no, needed to pretend to worry - that everyone would have a hard time getting along, however she had been proven wrong when she had convinced herself to stretch her legs and make herself useful. Others were beginning to make conversation with strangers but it had been a long trip, so she couldn't really blame them for wanting to take the time to sleep or otherwise. Some of these students were traveling far and it was quite a time change for many of them.

"Trouble in general or just trouble tuh-day?" Amity giggled, showing the glint of her teeth. She knew all about how students could be rascals or straight up dicks but she was lucky to be able to say that the students that came along with her were well behaved... for the most part. Ramona and Gavy were both sweet but Gavy was more prone to finding herself in conflict. She was an easy target because of the parts of her that were different but she, unlike many girls her age, had the backbone and smart mouth to tell others when to buzz right off. She brought trouble even without the intent to.

"Can't say they've been in any today," she confessed. "I think I brought two of my best scholars. One likes to misbehave but both are good girls at heart. I've got Gavy Sylvie and Ramona Bunker. I bet I'm the only one in here that can say that." She guessed aloud, looking both to Einar and Kaz to see if they would correct her or agree.

Amity knew she should be thankful for having two moderately well mannered students going on the competition with her, and she was. It was risky enough that she was going to be traveling alone without anyone to help her if trouble came from her past, but Gavy and Ramona were the least likely to get expelled from the competition or draw attention to themselves. Gavy was more likely to be interesting because of what she was, but it wasn't like she was going to be talking about a professor she didn't have in class for years. No, attention would only scrutinize Amity if something bad happened to one of her students under her watch. It would be easy to ask news reporters and journalists to shorten her name and things such as that. It would be just as easy to bring the spotlight back to her students, because she wanted them to get the attention they deserved but them getting it also benefitted her.



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Chahaya “Cha-Cha” Arif // “the Friendly Demon” // Male // Age 32 // Castelobruxo Professor // Legilimens
Cha-Cha stood before a floor-to-ceiling mirror in one of the curtained-off dressing rooms, combing his wind-tossed waves into submission. A feat easier said than done. He was dressed smartly but modestly in tawny khakis and a faded-blue button-down that had seen better days but was passable because it was mostly covered by a bold, pomegranate-red suit jacket. This ensemble was not completed with a tie; after having mandatorily worn a tie every day for the two years he’d been waiting tables in a fine-dining Creole restaurant, Cha-Cha had sworn off such fancy foolishness ever again. In fact, the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a small tattoo of two hands with interlocking pinkies in the hollow of his throat. Let them talk, he thought in regards to the revealed tattoo, knowing those words would probably be the least scandalous ones exchanged about him this evening.
The rose-gold cuffs with celestial engravings hadn’t come off, though they were concealed by the suit jacket. Cha-Cha had never had much affinity for wandwork, and he felt the bracelets gently humming with reserved supplies of magical power against his skin. The only times they ever came off were when he was bathing, because they fortified his Occlumency defenses while he was sleeping or his focus was elsewhere, making his mind all but impenetrable to the unwanted snoopings of another Legilimens. Cha-Cha knew that he was regarded as one of the foremost Legilimens in the Wizarding World, yet it was exactly because he could influence most others to do things against their natural inclinations that he was cautious. If he could do it, then who was to say that someone else couldn’t?
Accepting that his hair was as tame as he was going to get it, he pulled it back into a low ponytail, allowing two dark wisps to frame his face on either side. Cha-Cha took a few hits of his vape when he finished, realizing that this would be the last time he went unwatched for the duration of the Opening Ceremony. He sucked in his cheeks when he inhaled, and the flickering lantern light and its shadow conspired to highlight the fine bones of his face so that his reflection was all angles and dark eyes shaded by black brows. The ruby fabric of his jacket hung down on him like a curtain of blood. Red was a sacred color in Indonesia, representing the sacrifice and struggle for independence from first the Dutch and then Japan.
Knowing that a line for the dressing rooms would be formulating as they approached their destination, he pocketed his vape and exited quickly. The linen curtain swished behind him for only half a second before the room was reoccupied by a slight girl with bronze skin and a tiered purple dress clutched against herself. There was to be no break between arriving at the castle and the start of the ceremony, so a small fleet of blue-liveried attendants was seeing to the guests’ luggage. Cha-Cha always felt a little touchy whenever someone else handled his personal affects, but other than his Switch and PS4—and he doubted that half of all witches and wizards would even know what they were—there wasn’t anything of particular value among his belongings. He traveled lightly, and besides a few potted plants and snazzy gel pens and stationery, even his office at Castelobruxo was devoid of sentimentality. There were no photos or degrees or awards adorning the desk or tacked up on the walls.
In fact, within days of winning the Triwizard Cup, seventeen-year-old Chahaya, newly graduated at the time, had had the heavy silver-and-sapphire trophy appraised by goblins and pawned it off at the souk. It’d fetched a handsome price that, back then, was more money than Cha-Cha had ever seen together at once. He’d used the money to obtain the capital and necessary licensure to open up his own private practice, and then upgrade his mother and himself from their thatched-roof hut to a studio apartment in Bandung. Attachment to material things was not a luxury that a street urchin born into abject poverty–not even important enough to warrant a last name—could afford. Presently, Cha-Cha was making more money than he ever had, and he was oftentimes unsure how to spend it. Being comfortable middle-class in a comparatively rich country like Brazil was a novel experience for him. Westerners had repeatedly encouraged him to invest, but Cha-Cha had little interest in increasing the wealth that he already didn’t know what to do with. So he was happy to pay his mother’s rent on the studio apartment every month, and she’d refused his offer to move her into a nicer place.
Having had the foresight to beat the crowd to the dressing rooms, Cha-Cha was among the first passengers to disembark the train when it finally pulled into the station, the steam engine emitting a loud, exhausted sigh when the gears ceased to turn. It was the end of summer, but Cha-Cha had thought New York City was chilly, and Mount Greylock was located even farther north. He immediately shivered when he stepped off the train, empty-handed, drawing his insubstantial silken jacket tighter around himself to ward off the breeze. Stars peppered the dusky sky like straight pins in dark fabric. The horizon was dominated by rolling mountainous peaks shrouded in mist, rendering them a cool blue. Beyond the train station, unbroken masses of wilderness stretched almost as far the eye could see, dotted by pinpricks of light and hazy shapes where a small town inhabited.
A line of antiquated horse-drawn carriages extended away from the train station. A pair of lanterns dangled over each coach, bathing the dark wood in guttering golden light. It illuminated the sides of the carriage just enough to discern the large, ornate letter painted on the doors of each one in flowing script. Starting with the B for Beauxbatons at the head of the line, they went in alphabetical order, excepting the Ilvermorny hosts that brought up the rear of the caravan. Castelobruxo was the second carriage, flanked by Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
Ilvermorny would be the fourth of the eight main international wizarding schools Cha-Cha had visited. He’d attended Koldovstoretz as a student, and he’d spent his last year studying at Mahoutokoro for the Triwizard Tournament. Japan was an expensive country, which Cha-Cha had discovered the hard way when he’d balked at the price of a bowl of ramen and raked all his money together to afford the bill, going down to ten- and five-yen coins. As such, he’d rarely ventured off campus during his time there, really only doing so to go to the beach and play volleyball with a few guys from his classes. Even though the beaches were cold and the water was gray more often than not.
Cha-Cha wandered over to the Castelobruxo carriage with its fancy cursive C in pastel gold. Figuring that he’d be waiting at least a few minutes for Lisandro and Ricky to deboard in their ballroom finery, he examined the tall pair of Thoroughbred horses pulling the cart. One of them tossed his head impatiently while the coachwoman was engrossed in her phone, his tail flicking like a horse restless for the race to begin. I wonder if there will be reception at Ilvermorny, Cha-Cha thought. Most of the students at Castelobruxo with Muggle connections had cell phones, but the connection was so abhorrent that it bordered on nonexistent. Cha-Cha usually had to take a stroll off the grounds if he wanted to send or check his texts, and forget about making a phone call. It might be a while before he responded to the thirty XOXO’s that his mother had inevitably sent him and let her know that he was still very much alive.
With nothing better to do until he was joined by his student entourage, Cha-Cha approached the pair of Thoroughbreds, giving the coachwoman a short wave. “May I feed him?” he asked her. The woman blinked up from her phone, as if surprised to find another person talking to her. She wordlessly reached into a burlap sack beside her and tossed Cha-Cha an apple. He caught it and thanked her, but she had already returned to her phone. “Hi, there,” he said softly to the prancing Thoroughbred, who was giving the strange human a wary side-eye. “How you doing, kuda? You want a treat?” He balanced the apple on an open palm and slowly advanced on the Thoroughbred, holding it out for the horse to take. The Thoroughbred debated, and then deciding that the reward of the apple outweighed the risk of the stranger, he dipped his head and snapped up the apple with a wet crunch of mighty teeth. “Who’s a good boy?” Cha-Cha cooed, scratching the Thoroughbred between the ears and thinking fondly of Kepo, the unicorn that he’d cared for and raced illegally as a Koldovstoretz student. Cha-Cha didn’t ride too much anymore, but on afternoons where his last class ended early he discreetly paid the stablehand at Castelobruxo to take a horse or unicorn for a few laps around the forests.
 




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    I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were little. I would have iced the bruises on your back.

    - Written about Ramona






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Lanre stepped off the train donning his new attire for the evening, consisting of a gray suit with a white undershirt and black closed toe shoes. It was probably the nicest thing he ever wore and it was definitely not his, evident by the give in the pits of the jacket and the additional fabric that went a little further than his wrists. It was one of his dad's old suits from when he was a student and he had lent it to his son for the opening ceremonies.

His family wasn't poor by any means, but having as many kids as they did meant that their parents had to allocate their money differently. They were comfortable, but didn't go out to eat a lot or always have the newest gadgets and clothes. The money was spent on groceries, bills, and whatever sports or hobbies their kids were into. This was something the family, Lanre included, was fine with. Were there things he sometimes wanted and knew he would have to wait for it to go on sale or wait for a holiday to have it gifted to him? Absolutely, but he was patient. He knew there were more important things than getting shoes that cost more than his wand or blowing a lot of money to go out to dinner with his friends.

It did mean though that times like this, where he was attending something that was an honor to even be able to go to, that he was a little self conscious about his suit being too large - Vasu screamed money and if anyone else he met was like him, it meant that Lanre was probably the poorest kid there. He didn't want to stick out because of his appearance. He did enough of that back at home. No matter how many attempts he made at keeping his clothes in mint condition or how much he let one of his best friends, Poppy, accessorize his outfits, he always felt he looked funny. As if he was playing dress up.

And it was how he felt when his eyes struggled to adjust to the harsh difference between inside and outside of the train. While the lights inside the cabin had dimmed, it was still much brighter than it actually was outside. Really, the moon and starlight was brighter, but the contrast of it being pitch black outside of the sky and the warm glow of lanterns accompanying the horses was what was causing Lanre's oaky eyes discomfort. He stepped off the train quickly, making sure to step aside from the doors to take in the view before him.

He had high expectations for the competition despite being told by his few friends and family that he should go in with an open mind. He had always dreamed of seeing the world, and he was enthralled by just being off the train - it didn't matter that he hadn't even arrived at Ilvermorny yet. He was nearly on their school grounds though, and it was enough to stir excitement inside him. The only downside he saw, but knew well before the trip had started, was that Theodore West would be the other student from Hogwarts. He was a year older than Lanre so it wasn't like they were on familiar terms, but he was sure they would be before the end of the tournament. Honestly, the guy rubbed him the wrong way. Something always seemed... off with him. As if he didn't truly value the people around him. Granted, all of this were rumors that Lanre had heard about the older student; it felt right given the plastic looking smile Theo always wore around the school.

Lanre remained next to the exit off the train, waiting for their teacher and Theo.



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    I changed. It's hard for me to know who I was before all of this. I molded myself into a pretender. Now, every other version of me feels fake.

    - Written about herself






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The conversation with Einar and Kaz turned out to be a nice one. She generally didn't like to socialize because it meant having to keep a backlog of all the lies she told about herself, but she realized that she missed the challenge of lying on her feet and talking to new people. She had been a little more social in her school years, well before Keaton, but had not dipped her toes in a life that meant talking to others often in such a long time. It wasn't as horrible as it had felt when she first began teaching at Ilvermorny. Plus, the people she met were both fellow professors. And rather polite and funny ones at that.

People weren't always shit.

What Amity chose to wear for opening night was the most skin she'd ever shown but still remained rather modest. It was a blue and brown dress, one that would shift colors depending on how the light refracted the fabric. Underneath the dress she wore black leggings, with worn brown leather boots. She had chosen to get dressed last to allow others to change first and to assist staff or students with whatever they needed. Thankfully, nobody seemed to need help and she was rather quick getting in and out. She had touched up her makeup in the room with Einar and Kaz as the three of them conversed, and seeing as her hair was always pencil straight, she really only had to rake her fingers through it to make it acceptable for the night. She was banking on not being interesting enough to be photographed - she had every intention of busying herself after finding Cha-Cha and bringing him up to speed with her unfavorable situation.

She hopped off the train, and after a brief conversation with one of the Hogwarts students to ask if he needed help finding his carriage (to which Lanre responded with a polite 'no', insisting that he was fine with waiting for his classmate), Amity continued forward, more than eager to find her horse and hopefully one of her better friends at Ilvermorny. Though she mostly kept to herself and felt that most of her friendships weren't any deeper than surface level due to her predicament, there were a few staff members that she liked enough to not internally dread speaking to.

"Amity Monroe!" A familiar voice called out across the clearing.

Ugh. Him.

A synthetic inviting smile slapped itself onto her expression and with expertice, Amity's eyes widened in false excitement at the professor she locked eyes with. Across the way, standing next to what she hoped wasn't her carriage was a large man, round in the stomach with short black hair and a large beard to match. She lifted an arm and waved, only to hear her being called again from the side of her. This time, it was a much more welcoming voice - her friend in question.

"Hey girl! Can you help me real quick?"

This time the warmth reached her eyes and turned, approaching the man she was actually alright with seeing. This one was a skinny man, standing at a looming 5'10 with wavy dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, dressed to the nines.

"Carter," She greeted, opening her arms and hugging her 'friend', thankful for it being his arms she was hugging and not Jack, the other person. "You're here to save me, right?" She asked quietly.

"Obviously. He's been camped out here longer than anyone. I think someone's feeding your horse right now so just look busy next to mine until we leave." He replied, pulling away after their hug and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Amity feigned relaxing under his touch, but fought the urge to shove him off. It didn't matter that she knew Carter was gay - she found that after Keaton, men touching her too closely triggered her fight or flight. But it was quicker to go away with those like Carter who she knew to be trusted enough to not kill her whilst walking among students.

"Thanks. It's been a long ride, I don't think I can deal with him at all tonight." Amity confessed, her southern accent remaining thick and coaxing.

"I get it. I have some other stuff to do, but if he gets too close I'll come over."

Now at his stallion, Carter removed his arm from Amity and after they exchanged cheek kisses, the potions teacher was off to do who knew what.

Amity turned to the horse, one that Carter had cheekily named 'Lord of the Reins', but was mostly called 'Rein'. It was a dark brown horse, and she could tell that he was not happy to be awake but glad to be socializing. The two were familiar with one another, so before she'd even gotten close to him the horse nudged its face into her hand. She laughed, stroking its face and giving it an affectionate scratch behind the ear. She didn't like other people messing with her horse, but seeing as she had the only other one that actually liked strangers, it wasn't very shocking that someone had already taken a liking to it. She didn't bother looking up to see who it was despite it only being a short ways down from her, instead pretending to be very interested in Rein in fear of Jack trying to make conversation with her.



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Ricardo

Castelobruxo Secondary







Mood:


Excited






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Cha-Cha










After a little bit longer spent on the train with Vasu, Lanre and Naomi, it was time to get dressed and for everyone to make their way outside. Ricardo could feel the anticipation building both in himself and the vehicle. The train was buzzing with newfound energy that he felt added to the new information that came to light when everyone felt the train slow to a halt and the intercom announced their arrival to Ilvermorny. Like his peers Ricardo followed the students into line at one of the few dressing stalls. He made quick work of switching from his more casual outfit into something his mom had worked hard to pay for.

Ricardo's family was a weird one. He was convinced his biological mom and dad were still in love even though she was married to his stepdad. Whenever he had asked about their situation when he was little all he had been told was that it was complicated and that love didn't mean people were destined to be together. But they made good coparents. His dad couldn't always be there for him because of work and other circumstances but he never let their family go without. However his mom had a lot of pride in being a mother and she didn't always accept Ricky's dads help. She had insisted on working extra hours to buy his outfits herself and pay for his travels. His dad pitched in on making sure he had enough money to eat and spend but because his mom was dead set on buying all the clothes herself he opted to send expensive jewelry and various other things Ricky was expected to know how to use but truly didn't know. Like hair gel or a razor so fancy that it looked more intimidating than his own wand had back when he was little.

And in true Marcia fashion, she had sent him with a letter for professor Cha-Cha about who knew what. Ricardo had found it when he had stuck his arm through the sleeve of his black jacket and his knuckles made contact with the wrapped paper. He knew that his mom was an honest person but that no woman was truly escapable from the charms of his favorite teacher. He rolled his eyes again as he made his way to his professor. Who was found feeding a horse an apple while someone stood by texting away on their phone.

"I think I'm supposed to give this to you." He said sheepishly. He stuck his hand out to hand to his teacher. Being the honest person he was the envelope was left untouched. He hadn't tried to open it. He couldn't imagine what it said but if it was anything embarrassing he couldn't hand it over as easily as he was with no clue what was inside. "It's from my mom."

His eyes darted around the scenery now that he was where he needed to be. Naturally he was drawn to the small town further away and the small lights that barely made out the buildings in the distance. He wondered if there would be time to explore. He wasn't a habitual rule breaker but he was known to pretend to not understand them or blatantly disregard them if he wanted to. But would it even be worth it if he did it alone? He doubted it. He'd have to find a friend or make one to get through this. He didn't like meeting new people and Cha-Cha had already warned him that he wouldn't be able to hold onto his sleeve the whole time they were gone.

"You clean up nice." He added after looking back at Cha-Cha. He didn't see his professor outside of the usual stuff he wore in rotation at school but it was nice seeing him in something a little different.

// You can have the letter say whatever you want, but it's basically a really thoughtful letter from Marcia saying thank you to Cha-Cha for keeping an eye on Ricky and Lisandro and that if he needs anything for either of the boys that she will send over whatever the three of them need. And that if Ricky needs knocked upside the head that Cha-Cha can lol















Raphael

Beauxbatons Champion







Mood:


Pumped






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Open










After spending the rest of the train ride hanging out with everyone and getting what photos they could thanks to Ramona, it was time to get changed. Raphael had been a little too eager to get off the train and in the process of getting dressed broke off the second button from the top of his shirt. As a result he had to wear his otherwise put together outfit with some of the buttons at the top undone. This was fine seeing as he hated constricting clothes anyway. It had been luck that he was able to thrift these a few weeks before names had been drawn at school. Really he only bought it because he thought he would need it for a job interview so that he would have somewhere to live after graduating school but now it was nice to have for the night ahead of him.

He was one of the first people off the train. Only second to someone wearing a red jacket and brown pants who was now tending to a horse. He thought it was weird a student wasn't immediately getting in the carriage and waiting for their classmates and teachers but otherwise he didn't give it much attention. Instead he looked around for Kiara and Naomi. When he couldn't find them he decided to ask a staffsmember for help finding the Beauxbatons horse and stood next to it while waiting for his classmates. Hoping that standing outside instead of being obstructed would help them find him if they found themselves in the shoes he wore minutes prior.







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  • Naomi Eun Hai (De Vries)
    Beauxbatons - Female - Muggle Born - Secondary


    Naomi had been rather at peace simply being among others for the remainder of the train ride. It had been pleasant getting to see Vasu again and he was just as compelling as she remembered from their brief yet memorable meeting at the International Schools Quidditch Final. While it had taken some time for him to warm up to her, Naomi found being around Vasu quite comforting, even when others might not. He was unpredictable, cautious of others and their intentions, yet had a charming quality to him that made it easy for her to fall into place beside him. That wasn’t something she often felt with others and due to their differing personalities some might question her sanity on the matter but Naomi didn’t. She liked Vasu, she liked his spirit, it almost felt as though she could see it when he spoke or showed off or even simply when he sat for her last year to have his portrait drawn. It was a comfort to have him among the competitors, not that she thought he would go easy on her or anyone else. Like many of the others, herself included, he was there to win if he were to be selected to compete. Watching him as he spoke with the others she blinked and silently hoped he would be chosen. Seeing him in a competition, in his element, it was like watching a dragon soar through the sky, it was beautiful.

    As the others chatted on about all different topics a few new faces appeared and Naomi made sure to politely nod in greeting to each one. She jumped into conversations as she felt the desire but mostly she sat and happily listened, reading the individuals around her. It wasn’t a strategic ploy by any means but rather a skill that had become as natural to her as breathing. Reading body language helped her stay safe and alive when she was younger, now it just helped her to get to know the people behind the words they spoke. A lot could be seen if you watched a person while they were speaking or listening to others. A simple twitch of the eyebrow, pull of the lip, tap of a foot, all of it could show exactly what another person was thinking or feeling. Naomi never really tried to use this to her advantage in any way, it was just something she didn’t know how to shut off.

    She watched and listened politely until the time came that others began to depart in order to prepare for their arrival. Getting to her feet she picked up her art supplies and gave Vasu a friendly smile and bowed her head, “Thank you for allowing me to join you Vasu. I hope we can find time to perhaps draw another portrait of you soon.” She spoke softly and while her words were formal she said them with a friendliness that showed she meant each and every one of them. Turning towards the others she nodded her head to them as well and gave a smile, “It was wonderful to meet you all, I do hope we have a chance to get to know each other better.” As she spoke to the group her gaze fell upon Lanre and much like Vasu she felt a draw to him as well. Perhaps the two of them would have a chance to explore a friendship among all the events in the year to come, something within her told her she would like that.

    Departing the train only a few minutes later Naomi held her small bag at her side and looked around the station for her schoolmates. It took her a few moments to spot them through the crowd but eventually her eyes fell upon the towering build of Raphael. Flitting through the crowd the pale haired young woman waved towards the boy as she approached, “How was your trip Raph?” She asked him, having not really seen him since the train started moving. “Were you able to meet any of the other students?”



    Mentions: Vasu Aviator Aviator Lanre pearjuice pearjuice Raphael captaindanger captaindanger



    TEMPLATE © BOKEH
 
secondary
location
ilvermorny
mood
uneasy
mentions
naomi and raphael
sasha golubev
Not long after Sasha left the group did she decide to take the teacher's advice and get changed. She always got nervous before big fancy events such as the one that was going to take place later, and she knew her bundle of nerves was only going to get worse as the night went on. Why? Because she was positive the events would be highly anticipated around the world. Any witch or wizard would have to be living under a very distant rock to not be captivated by the tournaments and not have an interest in knowing what was going on with it. She didn't like to be the center of attention and wanted the extra few minutes to tend to her appearance on the off chance she was pulled aside for an interview or photographed. Besides, Vasu was there. Her crush on him may be much smaller than it was before, but she still knew that he and the other students were rather attractive. The four from the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton lived up to their reputation of being absolutely ethereal in comparison to the rest of the wizarding schools. Sasha wanted to look half as nice as they did.

Sasha and her mom went shopping for about a week to try and find the perfect dress for the opening ceremony and landed on a pretty pink and orange number a day before she and Vasu were announced to be going to the tournaments. They had already planned on Sasha being picked to go because why wouldn't she? She was a scholar student, an ideal companion for such an event, and a great role model. She wasn't sure what she would make of being picked as the champion but she was going to be far more comfortable being a secondary. Which felt like what she was going to be since Vasu, the boy in her school with a reputation for being just as smart but far more daring, was attending with her. There was no way he wouldn't be named champion.

She used a spell in the room to curl her hair and after making sure that she looked okay in the reflection of the mirror, she left and headed outside, unsure of what to do until she found Vasu and Kaz. She was shy but sometimes she felt comfortable walking up to strangers and starting a conversation, but usually it was the influence of something definitely not allowed on school grounds that made it so. She was suddenly wishing she had something to take the edge off. It may have made her trip too hard from worrying about being too high to focus on dancing or making sure she was acting like the role model she was seen as, but for now it sounded nice enough that she wished she'd had half a gummy.

After stepping off the train she noticed two students standing together and talking. One of them was the pretty korean girl with dyed blonde hair and pale skin that she saw sitting next to Vasu earlier. The other was a muscular blonde haired boy with bronze colored skin. Immediately she knew they had to be from Beauxbaton or Durmstrang. The boy was for sure, and the comfortable way that he conversed with the girl hinted at them knowing each other for longer than the duration of the train ride. Sasha bit her lower lip in thought. Before she could lose her courage, she approached them with a timid smile.

"Hi, excuse me," she greeted quietly, a blush already beginning to grow on her pale cheeks. Merlin .. why was she so incapable of talking to strangers when she was the one initiating? "Naomi, right? I don't want to stand alone and wait, is it okay if I hang with you guys for a minute?" Not wanting to be rude, she turned to the boy and gave him what she was sure was a smile that conveyed exactly how out of place she felt. Not used to seeing such attractive men up close, she quickly began to feel embarrassed solely from him looking at her. It was bad enough that Naomi was beautiful, and now this dude was towering over her as she spoke. She shyly broke eye contact for a second before bringing her gaze back to his. "My name is Sasha. I'm from Koldovstoretz. Um, the same school as Vasu, I think you drew him or something?" She added, looking back again at Naomi.
coded by natasha.
 
secondary
location
ilvermorny
mood
fine
mentions
nobody
zuri osei
Zuri had no desire to join any conversations when she knew she would have to talk to everyone later, so when the boy Aurelia was talking to offered her a smile, she offered an uncomfortable one back but stayed where she was. She didn't mean to come across rude or unnerving but it was her default. She had rather bad RBF. What could she say? She was just tough and didn't care about some of the same things her peers did. She didn't like to dress up, she didn't go out of her way to make friends, and she cared more about being a good catholic than she did being accepted by the people around her. She wanted friends but at this age where she had been at school for so long, how was she to wedge herself into already established groups?

But back to not enjoying dressing nice. Zuri was very much a tomboy to the despair of her parents. It was one of the bigger things they fought about. Her mom and dad always tried to get her to wear long skirts or dresses to church but it was always in vain. She never showed up in anything other than (at best) dressy pants and some sort of jacket that covered her like a snow coat. It was technically appropriate and they were not able to force her into anything with frills after Zuri made that point. But now that her name had been called to go to the tournament, she could no longer avoid the expectations that she must dress up. After all now the stakes were higher. She was representing far more than herself and even she could agree that that meant getting comfortable with the uncomfortable. When her mother packed additional clothes, clothes that Zuri would never have picked for herself in a million years, she did not complain.

She waited outside in a dark blue dress, one that thankfully was long and had long sleeves. She didn't like showing her arms and always hid them under jackets or hoodies. Unlike everything else she wore though it was more fitted. Zuri preferred her baggy clothes. This dress wasn't overly tight but it was tighter than what she was used to. She was going to have to remind herself to not move her arms suddenly otherwise she might rip the dress.

Zuri looked around with a blank face. There were two people each petting separate horses; a group of two girls and a boy talking; and more students filtering off the bus and looking for what she assumed to be their friends or classmates. She chose to stand off to the side alone and wait for Aurelia or their teacher to find her if she didn't spot them first. She couldn't remember what teacher they had been sent with but it made no difference to her since she wasn't close with any of her teachers anyway. She never really talked in class outside of raising her hand to answer or ask questions. She enjoyed her classes but didn't bother with getting on friendly terms with her teachers. They were there to do their job and she assumed it was nothing more than a paycheck for all of them.
coded by natasha.
 







Raphael

Beauxbatons Champion







Mood:


Pumped






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Naomi and Sasha










Raphael looked up when he heard his friend call for him and greeted her with a bright smile. "Hey Miun." He greeted with a wave while using her nickname. He was happy to see her. He could still remember when they met in Herbology class and how patient and sweet she had been with him in spite of his lack of ability to deal with Mandrakes. She had been his first friend at school. She had a heart of gold and he knew that she was a saint to be able to put up with his antics and occasionally dramatic and wild personality. And it didn't scare her off. That alone was enough to convince Raphael that Naomi was probably going to be named the champion if it wasn't him. She had a sharp tongue too. One that he considered lucky that it was sparsely aimed at him.

"I did!" He beamed proudly as if he should be proud of it. He was. It was hard for him to make friends. Naomi was his first one at all and Kiara was a newer one. He was a little closer with Kiara than he was Naomi but Kiara had a bunch of other friends so they didn't hang out all of the time. That never hurt their friendship. "There's this dude from Durmstrang that's pretty cool. Uh, and a girl with blonde hair from here. Ilvermorny. Oh! And the photographer girl too! Her name is Ramona, I think. There was a lot of people." He admitted. Raphael was normally rather nonchalant about his surroundings if it didn't have to do with food or fights so it was rather out of character for him to be excited just from meeting people. It was indisputable that he was fond of these strangers already.

Beside him came a voice so quiet he almost didn't hear it. He looked down to see a shorter blonde girl looking up at him and Naomi. He smiled at her and leaned his head down a little to listen to her talk. She wasn't super short but she was two inches shorter than him give or take. He wondered when Naomi had time to meet another student from -

"Vasu? Is he that guy you did a sketch of at the Cup?" He asked abruptly. He sort of remembered seeing Naomi sitting down with a boy and drawing him. But she drew a lot of people and Raphael had a bad memory if it didn't pertain to anything he thought important. So there was a high chance he was wrong.

"I'm Raphael." He introduced himself to Sasha. "And that's fine." He answered with a shrug. It made no difference to him if she was there or not. He pointed a thumb to himself and his more art inclined friend. "We're both from Beauxbaton."







 


  • Professor Birger Einar
    Durmstrang - Male - Pureblood - History of Magic Professor


    Einar had found he rather enjoyed the two professors he met along the train ride. They seemed familiar but at his age most people had a face he had seen once or twice in his lifetime. If he knew them from a time before now, or even recognized them slightly, he would chalk it up to international conferences rather than the darker parts of his past. He had not delved into the world of dark wizard for many years now, except on very rare occasion, thus he did his best not to let his mind return there. He was not naive, he still had internal caution and wisdom, but nothing he would let show. Kaz and Amity had proven only to be delightful company and professors who clearly had some attachment to their students, he could and would appreciate that.

    During the discussion of students Einar himself had chuckled and spoken fondly of the twins whom he was escorting on their international adventure. He had grown quite fond of the Winter twins over the years and while Cosmo and his relationship had only grown, Clara had pulled away though Einar always did his best to look out for her. He had been to the headmaster's office more times than anyone knew in order to advocate for the young woman when trouble came spelled in her name. In fact during his discussion with Amity and Kaz he had even pointed out that he was rather fond of troublemakers as this was the time in the students life when making trouble helped them figure out the person they wanted to be. Later in life mistakes and mayhem could lead to disaster but in the years his students were in school Einar would defend their right to errors and misconduct as it was their right to explore all paths and see what they learn and where they land. If a situation ever became too dangerous he would step in of course, but pranks and attitude were tools for the young to survive and honestly they brought a bit of life back into his old bones as well.

    When the time came for the passengers to disembark from the train Einar stood politely as Amity and Kaz left. “I look forward to sharing war stories with you both as we embark on this great adventure.” He chuckled to them and held his cane in a way to give the illusion he needed it for support. Once they had all made their way off the train Einar made his way across the platform and stood beside the wall, his piercing blue gaze searching the sea of faces for the twins he had brought with him. Despite his age and the cane in his hand he was still an imposing figure among the crowd. He might not be as young as he once was but even now he took up enough space to be easily spotted within a crowd.

    Finally his eyes locked upon a dark haired girl he knew all too well as she stepped off the train and he knocked his cane against the ground in triumph at his find. “Clara!” He called out to her and waved her toward him as he did another pass through the crowd searching for Cosmo. When the girl made her way towards him he smiled at her, “Did you enjoy the train? Far different than our ships, wouldn’t you agree?” He chuckled. “We didn’t happen to lose your brother between stations did we?” He asked jokingly as his eyes searched the crowd once more.



    Mentions: Amity, Cosmo, and Clara pearjuice pearjuice Kaz irregular-neptune irregular-neptune



    TEMPLATE © BOKEH
 




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    You are worth finding. Worth knowing. Worth loving. You and all your one million layers. I know you think yourself to be full of poems and rage but you are more than your anger. I miss the girl who was really happy.

    - Your big bro






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Clara's conversation with the pretty boy - whose name she later learned was Theo - had gone more or less as expected. Not much else was said between them though she hoped for another chance to talk to him further. She knew the night would be rather busy and aside from having dance partners for the duration of the dancing events at the party, she hoped to have the opportunity to sneak off and go do her own thing.

She used to like big parties. She thrived at them. She flourished when the attention was on her and it didn't always feel like she was putting on a performance when stranger's eyes were fixed on her. She loved working the room, meeting new people, and gathering information off of those who were flattered enough by her attention to allow her to pry for whatever she wanted. Though that hadn't always been her intent - before she became focused on that, she just wanted to hang out with her friends. But she didn't have much friends anymore, and big parties felt too stuffy, too big. She was still good at parties and could play the part well, but it wasn't as much fun anymore. Especially when she was forced to watch Cosmo have real fun and not include her in anything. Did she want to be included? Yes, but she didn't want to only be included because he welcomed her either. She missed the days where they shared some friends but still were both equally invited. It wasn't like that anymore.

When Clara changed into her dress and redid her makeup, she was happy enough with the result but knew that if she had been able to pick her own outfit, she would have done something far different. Part of being a thicker girl at her age meant having to adjust to what people would see when they looked at her. She never cared enough about getting dress coded to begin with, but she knew that because she was built how she was that certain things looked differently on her than they did her peers. That meant she couldn't have a crazy looking dress if it was too tight or the neck line was too low. She knew she was lucky to have assets that others longed for - but to grow into them so young felt more of a curse. Despite her ability to use them, she had also grown to learn when to hide them. Fortunately she had a solution for this dress her mother picked out, but it would only work if her shawl wasn't deemed too dressy for the event. Her dress was a safe option - something that Clara herself never went for. But she had to admit that it was easy to dress up or down. It would only take a few adjustments to her outfit to match the other students that evening if she felt her first attempt wasn't the right one. In her clutch she had an assortment of jewelry to do just that as well as makeup to fix her appearance throughout the night and anything else she thought would be nice to have on hand. For someone as unpredictable as Clara, that really meant anything.

She had stepped outside right when the familiar noise of something solid hitting the ground a short distance from her. Her brain registered the noise before her mouth or eyes caught up - the noise of Einar's cane hitting anything was as identifiable to Clara as her own brother. She turned and made her to her teacher, scowling at the rather loud way he had caught her attention.

"The ride was with Cosmo, how do you think it was?" She grumbled, not really wanting to make small talk with a teacher she was still feeling rejected by. Really, if he already brought Cosmo, why was Clara necessary? Were the two of them just rubbing it in her face? Her eyes left her professor's face as she pretended to survey the crowd, looking for her brother. She really didn't care where he was - plus it would be obvious because he would be the loudest, largest, most irritating person in the crowd. "Maybe we got lucky and he fell off. The ride did seem a little smoother at the end."

Though it sounded like she was making a fat joke about her twin, it was actually an ongoing joke between the two of them that had started while they were still getting along. Cosmo was always seemed as something of a heavy rock because of how often he ate. He was in on the joke and completely fine with it, though his twin wasn't entirely confident that he would approve of her saying that she hoped he fell off the train altogether.

"Hey, if I give you som-"

Naturally, as soon as Clara tried to have a serious conversation with her professor did they finally catch sight of Cosmo, who was quickly making his way over to the two of them. She clamped her mouth shut and muttered something along the lines of "Nevermind.", clearly not wanting Cosmo to hear whatever she had been about to say.



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    I don't understand muggle music. The 12 days of Christmas is completely unrealistic. There is no way that you're still accepting gifts from someone after 4 days of birds. Anyways, happy holidays. Don't forget my gift.
    - Yours truly






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After a while longer of Ramona cleaning up the mess on his shirt and the group taking photos, Cosmo and the others decided it was time to get changed. He was happy to wait in line with his friends, and made sure to keep everyone company as they all took turns getting dressed and then did the final touches of their looks. This time Cosmo did his best to carefully put on his suit, as instructed multiple times by both his parents and his sister that if he somehow ruined this one, he would not have enough outfits to cycle through all of the events that would transpire during the duration of the tournament. He thought they were being a little dramatic - it wasn't like he ever purposefully messed up his clothes. He knew they were expensive and besides, they were just clothes.

He had been one of the last students done getting ready. Unlike Clara who either wanted to be one of the first arrivals or the last ones arriving, Cosmo preferred to just show up whenever he felt like it. Clara's habitual lateness came from a place of making an appearance or doing whatever best suited whatever she sought out, but Cosmo just did whatever he felt like in the moment without any ulterior motives. Right then he was excited to get to Ilvermorny but wasn't quite ready to part with his new friends yet and took the chance in line to spend as much time with them as he could.

But now fully clothed, he got off the train, his eyes wandering around the area. Both siblings missed each other, as well as Einar, which is why Cosmo was alone long enough to come to two surprising conclusions.

One, that his best friend, Ricky, was standing across the way talking to what appeared to be another student.

And two, that Clara was absolutely going to love this.

Cosmo knew his sister pretty well, better than most siblings knew each other their entire lives, but sometimes he really missed the mark. It was infuriating for Clara to be related to someone who could be so smart if they weren't too hopeful and optimistic to be a genius like her. Cosmo knew that Ricky and Clara and him had always been friends but that Ricky and Clara were always closer. Their relationship was different. Where the two boys liked to shoot the shit and hang out, Ricky and Clara had more in common that they did together one on one. They got each other in a way that Cosmo could never understand either of them. He thought it was great that his sister had someone like that in his life and if Cosmo was being truthful, he always felt that Ricky was the only guy good enough for his sister. He had hoped and prayed that they would eventually deal with the chemistry he thought that they had - but Clara always claimed to not have feelings for him. Eventually, they all began fighting, and as a result their dynamic changed for the worse.

He really thought they were 'over it' by now though, that them pretending to still be mad was a way to deal with the uncomfortable and new dynamic between the two of them. That they were still friends. After all, he and Ricky never fought, so why should he and Clara? Maybe it was delusion or maybe it was an unacceptance to allow them to fall apart and grow distant; regardless, Cosmo knew that he had to take the opportunity. What were the chances of their Ricky being brought into the competition? It had to be destiny or something else bigger than them showing Cosmo that he needed to unite the two once again.

But before he could cross the way to talk to Ricky, he made eye contact with his sister. Thankfully she didn't appear to know what he'd seen, so he instead made his way over to Einar and Clara, hoping that he could keep a straight face long enough to make it to the castle.

"What's wrong with you?" Was the first thing she asked as soon as he was next to them.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied. Unable to control himself, he began to giggle.

Clara rolled her eyes. He felt as her hands moved to the collar of his shirt and jacket, fixing it while talking. "Whatever. You need to be careful. I'm not going to be cleaning up all of your messes if you get anything on this."

"I could be saying the same to you. I gave mom my word, you need to play nice tonight." Cosmo warned, smacking her hands away with his only free hand. With the other, he held out two masks; one being one their mother gave him, a beautiful mask passed down from generations. It held the family crest on it. The other one was one Clara made by hand. Personally Cosmo thought it looked way cooler, and it matched her dress, but of course all she had cared about was not being 'honorable' enough to represent the family name on top of not being champion. "You almost forgot this."

Clara snatched the mask from his hand. "Don't speak on my account." She snapped. Cosmo knew he had hit a nerve but suddenly he realized that might work in his favor.

Instead of continuing their fight like he normally would have, he looked up to professor Einar. "Is there time for me to say hi to a friend real quick before we go?" He asked, a hopeful look in his eye. He knew he was cutting it close but he really wanted to say hi to Ricky before they left. What if he couldn't find him later when everyone was wearing their masks?

"Merlin, please say yes." Clara grumbled.



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© weldherwings.
 
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Kiara Ophelia Sinclaire // Female // Beauxbaton's Secondary // Pureblood
Interacting with: Raphael captaindanger captaindanger Naomi Sanctuaryforall1 Sanctuaryforall1 Sasha thundercloud611 thundercloud611

In retrospect, Kiara should definitely not have worn heels. As she rather ungracefully made her way off the train, she visibly winced in pain. The arch of the heels did nothing to support her, and she wobbled precariously for a moment before regaining her balance. Her light blue gown was almost precisely the same color as her irises and draped all the way down to the ground, the satin material clinging to her curves as she walked. Had Kiara realized that nobody would even be able to see the damn heels, she likely would've opted for footwear that was a bit more comfortable. But in reality, she seriously doubted these shoes would remain on for the entirety of the night anyways. After scanning the growing crowd of competitors and professors, her eyes finally landed on a couple familiar faces, and Kiara did her best not to look like she was suffering in agony as she walked slowly towards them, exceedingly careful not to lose her footing on the uneven ground. Raphael was already engaged in conversation with Naomi and another blonde, whom Kiara did not recognize as she approached the group. She held a small, silver clutch in her left hand, which had nothing in it except for a mask, and her small, green leafy companion, Twiglet, a bowtruckle who rarely left her person. "You're from Koldovstoretz?" she asked the unfamiliar blonde as she approached. Rather in character for Kiara, she failed to introduce herself to the stranger.

As if hearing the name of the rival school had summoned him, Twiglet peaked his head out of Kiara's purse, rather loudly blowing a raspberry of disapproval at the competitor. "Keep it up Twig. I'm pretty sure these horses would love a leafy green bowtruckle for a snack." she teased playfully. With a small squeak of disapproval, the bowtruckle disappeared back into the safety of her clutch. "That's just Twig, don't mind him. He's very competitive." Kiara laughed softly, before turning her attention back to the blonde. "You look amazing! Where did you get that dress?" Kiara gushed over Sasha's colorful ensemble, her friendly demeanor was inherently welcoming and sincere. It was part of what made Kiara so good at making friends. Despite the fact that she came from a different school, the Beauxbatons trio welcomed Sasha into their little group with open arms. It made Kiara proud to be part of such a kind and genuine group of competitors.

As enthralled as she was with the conversation though, she found her eyes wandering over towards the other carriages, looking for familiar faces and analyzing new ones. She was rarely the type to feel self conscious - certainly not over anything as superficial as looks or clothes, but some of the other students looked like they could quite literally tear the flesh off of her bones with their teeth. She couldn't help the shudder that trailed down her spine as she pulled her eyes away from an especially tall and hulking young man standing by the Hogwarts carriage with a sinister glare shadowing his features. Before long, Kiara was saved from her introspective spiral as the Beauxbatons professor informed them that they should start getting in the carriages so that they could make their way towards the castle looming in the distance. For the first time, Kiara felt the flush of nerves bring color to her face. She was normally quite at ease under the public eye, but something about the formality and spectacle of the opening ceremony made her hesitate. She was no stranger to attention, in fact, she was quite accustomed to it as she usually caused quite the scene at quidditch games with her excessive cheering. Mostly, she just didn't want to disappoint anybody. She knew that many people, including her family and peers, held high expectations for her... whether or not she would live up to those expectations was the real cause of her anxiety.

Still, she brushed off that unease relatively quickly, setting her mind towards the intimidating challenge of climbing the steps to the carriage without falling on her ass. Using her better judgement, she reached a hand out towards Raphael's shoulder to steady herself as she began pulling off her heels. She would put them back on in the carriage before they exited, but for now she wasn't going to risk breaking an ankle before the big ceremony. Holding her discarded heels in her hand, Kiara made her way over towards the horses that were saddled up in front of their carriage. One was a dazzling white mare with a bronzy mane, the other a dappled grey stallion who nickered at her softly as she approached. "Hello, handsome" she beamed, running her hand softly up and down the bridge of the stallion's nose. She had always had an affinity for animals, she enjoyed their company more than most humans in all honesty. "You guys almost ready?" she asked Raphael and Naomi over her shoulder, though she wasn't trying to rush anybody. Mostly, it was because she suspected she'd need help climbing the steps to the carriage in her gown.




 
secondary
location
ilvermorny
mood
flattered
mentions
naomi and raphael and kiara
sasha golubev
Sasha was thrown off by the cheery girl who approached, but was thankful it was someone nice. Sasha smiled brightly at the praise she received, feeling rather beautiful. Whether it was because this girl was so pretty herself and paying the compliments to Sarah or if it was because she looked like she really meant her compliments, Sarah wasn't sure. But she was appreciative of it nonetheless. The people in front of her were nice to look at, and she hoped that she fit in and didn't stand out.

"Thank you!" She gushed, watching as the girl steadied herself on Raphael's shoulder and kicked her heels off. Sasha glanced down at her shoes. They were white sandal heels, but much shorter of a heel than what the nameless girl was wearing. "What size shoe do you wear?" She asked instead, pulling up the skirt of her dress to reveal her shoes. "I'm sevens. If you fit we can trade. Yours are way cuter and I'm comfortable in tall shoes. I have a bottle of nail polish too if you need it. I don't like to show my feet unless my nails are painted, I don't know why. I keep a bottle on me when I do."

It was a random offer, but Sarah knew that if the roles were reversed and she were literally in Kiara's shoes that she would want someone to be kind enough to offer such a thing to her. Besides she was telling the truth. She never dressed anything other than modest but she had been determined to be prepared to wear anything for the competitions and had practiced wearing taller shoes at home. But she was a lot shorter than Kiara, so there was a fat chance she didn't wear her size at all.
coded by natasha.
 







Raphael

Beauxbatons Champion







Mood:


Pumped






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Naomi, Sasha and Kiara










Raphael looked to Sasha as he spoke. Taking in a good look at what she was wearing since everyone was dressed for the event. She was pretty, with curly blonde hair and a vibrant colored dress. The pinks and oranges and reds really brought out the rosy tone in her face and he thought it suited her. But before Naomi could answer his question he heard a familiar voice and moments later a soft hand was digging into his shoulder. He remained still to make sure that he didn't accidentally knock Kiara over by shifting his weight or moving too fast as he was prone to doing.

He watched as the two girls conversed, this time taking a moment to look at his friend Kiara. She looked like Cinderella with her blonde hair and baby blue dress. It was a nice color on her but he could tell the shoes were making her uncomfortable. Eventually she kicked them off and switched to carrying them. He thought that normal because he preferred to be barefoot too. If he had his way he would probably forego a shirt every day too but society deemed it awkward for a teenager to show up to class not fully clothed. He didn't like how constrictive shirts were. Raphael looked for any excuse to take his off because of how much he disliked it.

"He's coming with?" Raphael asked when he noticed the little guy in Kiara's bag. He leaned his head over and gave a cheesy smile to Twig. He didn't get the appeal of bowtruckle or most pets but he didn't have to. People never understood the muggle things in his world or some of his bizarre habits and way of life. So he never tried to understand it and just took Kiara's word for it when she said she liked Twig.

When it was time for the group to leave he hung back with Sasha for a moment longer just to make sure that her offer was heard by Kiara before eventually following her and Naomi to the carriage. Raphael did not have the instincts of being a gentleman or chivalrous but he was aware enough of Kiara's discomfort to know that she probably wasn't going to make it up the stairs. In true Raphael fashion, the most normal reaction to that didn't come to mind.

"Wanna piggy back ride?" He asked with all the sincerity in the world.







 
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Vasu Saini // “Shiva’s Heir” // Male // 5th Year // Koldovstoretz Champion // Parselmouth

The arrival to Ilvermorny couldn’t have come at a better time. As the light outside the window turned to shadow, one by one the other students in the compartment peeled off in search of a dressing room. Until Vasu was the only one remaining, having boarded the train in his ceremonial attire at his grandmother’s insistence, as if she thought the luggage containing it would conveniently go missing during the train ride. Which isn’t a half-bad idea, come to think of it, Vasu thought, feeling overdressed and stuffy in his formal Sherwani. It was a long-sleeved outer coat with a buttoned front and fitted waist that fell just below the knees. While it could be used for a variety of formal occasions, the Sherwani was most famously worn by grooms on their wedding day. Many Sherwani were bold, flamboyant colors, but Vasu’s was more subdued, a neutral brown like desert sands with a winding black swath of fabric curling around his neck, over one shoulder, and across his chest to the opposite hip. The black shape was vague, but it had a distinctly serpentine feel to it. A subtle allusion to the Saini family’s reputation as children of Shiva, who was often depicted with a snake coiled around his neck.
Left alone in the compartment after everyone had vacated, Vasu turned over Sasha Golubev’s words in his head like a phrase of music he couldn’t forget. In the wake of his humiliating showdown with the demon boy—Cha-Cha—she’d leapt to his defense, advocating on behalf of his Quidditch skills. It was true that the season before last the Red Court had advanced to the International Cup, but it had been Vasu’s first year playing on the team. He had been the most inexperienced player, lucky to have made the team at all as a third year, and his efforts hadn’t been enough to stop Papillionlisse from winning the Cup. Perhaps Sasha had meant the praise genuinely, but the words felt more like empty consolation than anything. She’d tried to be kind, yet it had felt like being smothered with a compassionate pillow as the other faces in the compartment looked at him skeptically.
As the train passed below looming mountains that put everything into proper scale, Vasu was left to turn over Naomi Eun Hai’s parting offer to draw another portrait of him. He wondered whether anyone ever offered to draw her. If such an experience was what had kindled her passion for drawing others. Vasu wondered what was so compelling about most people that they were worth drawing. People liked to think that they were all different from one another and that made them special, but they were all flawed. They all made decisions out of fear, all watched their bodies erode to disease and old age. In his opinion, individual people weren’t special; their legacy or lack thereof determined their worth. Whether they had fought for what they believed in even against impossible odds.
When the train finally pulled to a stop with a great hiss of steam, Vasu, his clothes straightened and hair finger-combed, left his luggage for an attendant to handle and climbed down the short set of stairs to the platform. Vasu was not a fan of heights, especially while drunk. The fact that the steep slope of these stairs didn’t send a twist of vertigo through him told Vasu that he had truly—and unfortunately—sobered. Not that he was surprised, when the train ride had lasted about six hours in total. Refusing to be handled by anyone other than her owner, Zoya darted out from her cover beneath a seat at the other end of the compartment and raced after Vasu. She twined her lithe body around his ankles affectionately, as if supremely glad to have her owner’s attention all to herself again, and almost tripped him in the process. Vasu cursed and clutched the railing for balance. Zoya seemed to have mistaken his frustration for a term of endearment, as she brushed up against him some more. Thankfully her Siamese coat was too short to leave much furry residue on his pants.
The air smelled earthy and rich, like molding leaves and pine needles and clouds pregnant with rain. A crisp sort of loneliness hung over the forests sweeping away from the train station, as if Mount Greylock were a refuge that solitary humans sought out when their dreams of youth had dried up and they had nowhere left to go. Contrary to the drab name, the mountains towering over the wilderness were rich hues of heather purple. Vasu’s father had been fond of nature retreats; his parents had owned a cabin on the edge of the Assam Rainforest where they resided for two weeks out of the summer. But the rainforest had never been quiet; there was always the cawing of bright-feathered birds and the humming of cicadas, moisture dripping through broad leaves. Comparatively, the trees around Ilvermorny were more pointed and angular, looking almost black in the half-light and permeated by an eerie quiet, as if the forest were holding its breath like a predator concealing itself from prey.
When Vasu deboarded, some of the early birds to the dressing room were already socializing in smiling circles, giddy with anticipation for the Opening Ceremony. By the Beauxbatons carriage at the head of the line, several plumes of color exchanged niceties. Among them were Sasha and Naomi, the latter of whom was wearing an explosion of lavender silk as if she had stolen a cloud from the sunset and fashioned it into fabric. Now more than ever, she looked ethereal, like an angel who had been awakened from a dream. The other two faces gathered at the Beauxbatons carriage were unfamiliar to Vasu, a girl encased in ice-blue folds like an expertly wrapped present, and a golden-haired boy dressed in striking black from head to toe.
Standing close to them yet not part of the conversation was Cha-Cha, dressed in devil red as if he meant to steal the show. If he’s not the devil, he damn well made a deal with him, Vasu thought, watching as Cha-Cha fussed over a horse and privately hoping that it would chomp his hand off. With his hair pulled back into a ponytail, he looked a little older, more refined, and—though Vasu was loath to say it—more handsome than the disheveled wannabe gangster in the white leather jacket. Ricky, dressed in charcoal gray, beelined across the platform to Cha-Cha, as if he couldn’t go a minute without the company of his best bro. Sickening, really.
Behind them was an elderly man with longish gray hair swept back from a creased forehead and equally lined eyes. Although the square-shouldered man looked as buff as a senior citizen could hope, he carried a silver-headed cane in one hand. He had an authoritative stance, commanding such attention that Vasu almost failed to notice the two students in his charge. A bolt of disbelief shot through him, and then a smile like the voracious edge of the sea tugged at Vasu’s lips. Well, I’ll be damned, he thought, unable to tear his eyes from the pair of siblings that he almost hadn’t recognized over the passage of time. As always, Cosmo Winter wore that dimpled, vapid smile, as if he were so absorbed in how cool he looked that not a single substantial thought passed behind those eyes. Next to him, his sister, Clara Winter, was polished like a dark mirror in an olive-green sheath with a daring neckline, revealing significantly more curvature than Vasu had remembered her with.
The twins hadn’t noticed him, and Vasu would leave it that way. He’d surprise them with a showy entrance at the Opening Ceremony, though probably only Clara would appreciate his approach. The last time he’d seen Cosmo, Vasu had broken his arm at a Christmas party for reading Clara’s diary aloud to the room. Of course, twelve-year-old Vasu hadn’t intended to break the other boy’s arm, but he did believe in happy accidents as they’d wrestled for possession of the journal. At the end of the match, Cosmo had gotten all sniffly and red-eyed and puffed himself up with restrained indignance, as if Vasu weren’t worth shedding tears over. The image was Vasu’s favorite way to remember the German boy.
His sister, however, was another story, and thank heaven for it. Or hell, more likely, because that’s where Clara would probably be going. Clara and Vasu had been childhood partners-in-crime, pulling pranks to liven up the dull country club dinners where the adults clad their crystal-glassware finery prattled on and on about stocks and bonds and the radical Muggle-born agenda and their darling children who’d made the dean’s list for the fifth semester in a row (to a chorus of polite yay’s!). During one sleepover, Clara and Vasu had poured a mild sleeping draught into Cosmo’s fruit juice to keep him from waking up in the middle of the night and spoiling their ploy. Then, with some Perma-Polish they’d “borrowed” from Vasu’s parents’ shop (lifetime supply guaranteed, or your money back!), they’d painted Aditi’s Nimbus 3000 a rainbow disco of colors. The next morning when she saw their art project, Aditi had gotten so livid that a spidery black vein had popped into her forehead, and it was one of only two occasions where Vasu had ever heard the pious woman devolve into profanity. It was the last time that Vasu had seen Clara for several months, his grandmother forbidding the “little pale-faced monster” from setting foot on Saini property ever again.
Stealing past the twins like a shadow, Vasu waltzed past the Hogwarts carriage and finally came to the fifth carriage in the line, denoting Koldovstoretz with a fancy, looping K. Having gotten his fix of socialization for the day, Vasu clambered inside, wanting time to himself to plot. To scheme. Make one last impressive move at tonight’s ceremony that might tip the scales in his favor before the Goblet of Fire made its choices for champion. But what could he do that might stun the audience, make them root for him? Vasu rubbed his thumb along the ridges of his lucky coin as he thought. Zoya leapt up onto the bench beside him and curled into a ball, her cheek pressed up against one knee of Vasu’s crisscrossed legs.
He didn’t have much time to ponder before the carriage door opened. In came Kazimir Vinogradov, Transfiguration professor at Koldovstoretz, his mouth set into the mildly disapproving half-frown that he always seemed to adopt in Vasu’s presence. The distasteful look reminded Vasu of his grandmother and the way her own snakelike lips thinned whenever she saw something she didn’t like. It didn’t matter that the Wine Man (Vasu’s name for Vinogradov behind his back, as the first part of his name was Italian for “wine”) seemed more perpetually glum than angry. Vasu was tired of adults telling him how he ought to behave and pretending to care what they thought. At Koldovstoretz, Vinogradov was fairly popular among a handful of students. Of course, they tended to be the sorts of students who attended Sewing Club and baked oversweet cookies in their free time that they handed out to the class and wore Uggs for every occasion. Vasu had nothing in particular against the Wine Man except that he sometimes reeked of coffee and spoke too quietly in class. He taught one of Vasu’s worst subjects, but Vasu knew he had no one but himself to blame for the B+ he’d received last semester.
“Hello, Professor,” Vasu said tonelessly, more a mumbled script line than an actual greeting. “I think the Beauxbatons team has poached one of our students. Sasha hasn’t pried herself from the Naomi girl’s side since the train, and I haven’t seen Alekseev all day. Guess you’re stuck with just me now.” He said it blandly, boredly, a half-assed call-out to the fact that he knew Vinogradov didn’t think too highly of him, just to see how the professor would react. “Did you hear this nonsense that the ball is supposed to be a masquerade? They didn’t tell me until late last night, and I had to scramble to find some cheap thing that looks like what the tourists wear to Carnival. I mean, what’s the point of a masquerade when we saw half of everyone else’s faces on the train already? And then we have to go to class with them for a year, so it’s not like anyone’s identity will remain a mystery for long.” Vasu rolled his eyes, feeling foolish at the thought of wearing a mask to a semi-formal event like a child playing dress-up.
For the first time, he was hit with a sudden pang of homesickness. He missed the mural of 1950’s American pin-up girls his roommate, Andre, had tacked up on the wall of their dorm. He missed sipping Svedka with his friends at 2am and going all-in on a queen-three shit hand because they were all drunk and it seemed like a fun idea. Russian food had nothing on Indian cuisine, yet Vasu wished he had eaten more on the train, because right now his stomach was yowling for pelmini and black bread and overcooked potatoes and sour cream on everything. Somehow he even missed the annoying sixth-year who lived above him with the massive service dog who ostensibly liked to play fetch in the wee hours of the morning, because the mad clicking of nails on hardwood floor had woken Vasu up more than once. He remembered Lanre’s bright-eyed enthusiasm to explore new parts of the world. But Vasu had already seen much of the world, America included. In that moment, he yearned for the familiarity of Koldovstoretz.
 
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secondary
location
ilvermorny
mood
uneasy
mentions
kaz and vasu
sasha golubev
When Sasha's offer to trade shoes was rejected (Kiara had insisted she would be fine but Sasha made her promise to track her down if she later changed her mind), the fair blonde caught sight of her favorite Quidditch player. He didn't appear to be talking to anyone, in fact he was certainly standing alone, but the brief moment she had looked at him he was smiling. Wondering what he was plainly so merry about seeing, the girl followed his stare and was surprised to find he was looking at a pair of twins. More specifically, the girl.

Where Sasha might have or should have felt envy she felt something else. The girl stood strong and beautiful even with the way she glowered at her teacher and the boy she was with. She realized they must be related if they weren't twins because they looked so similar even though one wore a smile and the other looked like she wanted nothing more than to strangle him. Sasha was about a foot taller than the other girl but she was far less intimidating than the Durmstrang student who looked like she could command a room simply from walking into it. Sasha, however, never went detected even when she tried to catch another's attention. She was far too timid. Sasha realized that at a glance, she reminded her of some of Vasu's friends from their school back home at Koldovstoretz. Just the way she carried herself with shoulders back and how both the men were facing her instead of each other was enough for Sasha to go off of. It was staking a lot just from one glance but Sasha had checked out, or admired, Vasu enough from a safe distance to know 'it' when she saw it.

She didn't want to be caught staring for too long at someone she didn't know so when the group of Kiara, Naomi and Raphael went over to their carriage Sasha made her way over to where Vasu and professor Kaz had already boarded. She stepped on, taking care to lift the skirt of her dress enough to ensure she did not step on it before taking a seat on the bench across from Vasu. She gave him a meek smile. From the sounds of it she had come in as he was ranting about the ball. How typical.

"I think it will still be fun." She replied. She knew he wouldn't agree but she didn't like silences in conversations. She always had to fill it somehow. "I've never been to a dance before." She admitted. "I went once with an ex boyfriend, but I bet it was nothing compared to whatever is ahead of us."

Wow, Theodore. She had almost forgot about him. One or two summers ago when she was still trying to break out of her shy shell (both attempts failed, but third time was always the charm, right?) she had managed to begin dating a boy. He was handsome, with brunette hair and brown eyes to match, but they were too different. Sasha would have liked to see where the relationship went but she thought him too insecure to stay with long term. All it had taken for their relationship to be nothing more than a thought in the breeze was that he had been mad she was talking to another guy at a party he invited her to. She didn't want to have to repeatedly prove herself to be trustworthy and so they were no more. They had only lasted the summer but it did lots for her personal growth. Admittedly, it took her a while to get over him. When she cared about someone she cared a lot. It didn't matter that they weren't in love. And after that it had been Vasu, but that was more accident than intentional. The only thing intentional about it was her determination to friendzone him in her own mind.

It was why she was careful to not take the chance to look at her acquantiance any closer than she would a tree outside. Her eyes remained respectfully fixed on his eyes, only daring to stray up to his hair and not lower to his mouth or the curve of his jaw and chin. It was easier said than done but she managed just fine.

"Do you recognize anyone?" She asked casually after looking out the window and seeing the siblings again. The girl was attempting to fix the boy's shirt but he smacked her hands away. The two did not appear to be having a good conversation. At least she thought. It was hard to tell when the boy was constantly smiling and the girl wasn't. It wasn't out of the question to think that Vasu knew her somehow if she was related to anyone special. Sasha didn't live under a rock and she knew that Vasu came from a successful family.
coded by natasha.
 














  • lisandro valencia
    castelobruxo champion



    W
    ith the train approaching Ilvermorny, Auri and Lis wrapped up their conversation (they had ended up mostly talking about books), and parted their ways to get ready for the Opening Ceremony. Lis returned to his train car and allowed himself a brief moment of panic. Though talking to Auri had given him a few moments of peace, and had put him more at ease about the other students being scary, he was still very nervous for the dancing and being in the spotlight of the ceremony. After briefly panicking, Lis took a few deep breaths and got in line for the dressing rooms. He was trying to be early, but there was a bit of a line for them, which didn’t help his nerves.

    He reached up and turned his hearing aids down a bit, turning the assault of sound to a quiet background roar. He also started biting his nails, an automatic response to being mildly uncomfortable. Often, he didn’t even notice he was doing it until his fingers were bleeding – it was an unfortunately comforting stim that he was trying to stop doing because of that.

    After finally changing, he frowned at himself in the mirror as he briefly studied himself. He worried that the suit that he had donned was a bit too formal. It was blue, with intricate silver detailing on the lapels and an intricately decorated white shirt underneath. It was a tiny bit ill-fitting – a hand-me-down from his father, not out of necessity but more because his mother had wanted him to wear it, they had gotten it tailored but it was somehow clinging to him and too big at the same time. The arms were too long, ending at his knuckles, but the silk shirt underneath felt skin tight. He pulled at the collar of the shirt, hoping for some relief but unfortunately no slack was hiding there.

    Lis gave in to the fact that he would just be uncomfortable (technically, the suit fit, he just liked his clothes fitting *just so* and of course his mother wouldn’t have taken that into account when getting them tailored) and left the train, hoping to find the Castelobruxo carriage quickly. There were a lot of people on the platform, and he wondered where all of them had been when he was looking for someone to talk to. Giving the platform a once over before he became overwhelmed by the people, he found Cha-Cha and Ricky standing beside their carriage and made his way over to them.

    Cha-Cha was petting one of the horses and Ricky was talking to him. Honestly, Lis was relieved to see Ricky. He didn’t know where he’d been while on the train, but Lis had hoped to find him so they could talk more about what had happened over the last month and a half or so with his parents. Ricky had been there for him when he’d found out about his brother, but they hadn’t spoken since Lis’ parents had come back from their trip (it had been a busy few weeks, both with the fight and getting ready for the Tournament). They would have plenty of time to discuss it later.

    For now, Lis smiled and greeted the two casually, smiling and fidgeting with his silver mask in his hands.
    “Hello! Are you two ready?”










    location:
    outside the Castelobruxo carriage








    interaction:
    cha-cha and ricky







    feeling:
    nervous, talkative


    sugar coded ♡
 







Ricardo

Castelobruxo Secondary







Mood:


Excited and lovelorn






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Cha-Cha and Lisandro










When Ricardo handed his mother's letter to Cha-Cha he looked up and noticed one of his friends had approached the two of them. Lisandro stood wearing the nicest suit that Ricky had ever seen on him or anyone and made sure to sing his praise for his friend who he could tell was nervous. "Wow, you look great!" He exclaimed with a smile. "How do you feel?"

He felt bad that he hadn't been able to find Lisandro on the train. Ricky knew that he had a lot going on with his family and that the summer break was hard on him. He knew Lis didn't want to compete in the tournament too but here he was. Ricky didn't want to be a champion either but seeing how nervous his friend was he wished he would be named it just to take the pressure off of his classmate. He liked Lis. He was a good friend and they didn't share a lot in common but it made for good conversation and he liked to think that it was good for them to listen to different takes on various topics. Ricky didn't like to talk about his own problems but if there was someone in the entire school that was a student he felt comfortable talking to, it was Lisandro.

While he was admiring the embroidered details on his friend's suit he looked up. Not intending to find anything but because he saw someone move in the distance behind Lis' shoulder. He looked away then did a double. No. A triple take.

It didn't matter that he couldn't see her face because he knew her like he knew himself. Fabric the shade of sea green wrapped around her stature and a white scarf thing protected her chest and shoulders from the attention he knew she hated when she was too exposed. Her hair was straight as he remembered it to be. He liked it better curly but Clara didn't listen to anything she didn't agree with. The intimidating man standing next to her he deduced was that Einar teacher Cosmo talked about.

And then there was Cosmo standing across from her. Ricky knew he had been made because of the ear to ear grin his best friend wore. Ricky didn't know what it felt like to be cherished until he became friends with Cosmo and Clara. They were always so happy to see him no matter how much time had passed. But he wasn't friends with Clara anymore and hadn't been for years. It was exciting to see that they were both there but he knew that Clara wasn't going to take well to Ricky being there.

But was this the chance he always longed for to fix things between them?

The downfall of their friendship was his fault. He knew it was and he no longer tried to deny that it wasn't. But he knew what a tool he had been to believe anyone other than Clara. She had never really given him a reason to not believe her and it was her that he hurt the most. Ricky's face that had been in a smile for Lis and Cha-Cha contorted into one of longing. His eyes softened as he looked at Clara and his face turned hopeful even though he knew there was probably no chance at all he would be able to fix things with Clara. He couldn't bring himself to tear his stare off of her and until someone brought him out of his trance she was all he thought about.

Her infectious laughter. The trouble she brought with her. The way her hair would turn curly if left in the hot summer weather for too long. How her eyes shined in the crisp of the morning with the sunrise illuminating her like an angel. How she began to tug tightly at her fingers in his presence. How she couldn't hide her feelings when he began to scream at her. In the end she avoided being home at all when Ricky came over so when he says he hasn't seen her in years he means it. The last time he saw her like this was their last fight.

Ricky was rendered breathless. His throat was dry and his pupils were blown wide from the love he still held for Clara. He licked his lips.




 




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  • /* ------ sticky note letter ------ */
    I changed. It's hard for me to know who I was before all of this. I molded myself into a pretender. Now, every other version of me feels fake.

    - Written about herself






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Amity had busied herself with Carter's horse when out of the corner of her eye she saw a familiar afro bouncing with her steps as Ramona made her way to the Ilvermorny carriage. The professor dared to take a peak, and once she saw the coast was clear of Jack, she walked across the clearing to meet with her student, taking care to avoid her horse, who she just barely saw was surrounded by now three or four students.

Though she did a doubletake on her way there, she realized with alarming clarity that Cha-Cha was among one of the few next to her horse. She hadn't seen him, but his aura was enough of a tell for her to know that it was indeed him. She took care to avoid eye contact, ducking her head as she walked past in front of the horse. She pretended to rub a spot behind her neck with the hopes that her arm and elbow would obstruct his view of her. It seemed to be successful because moments later she was boarding the carriage and offering a warm smile to Ramona.

"You look great!" She gushed in her southern accent, shuffling inside and taking a seat across from the student. Amity admired her student's green outfit, feeling jealous that she herself didn't think to wear something more comfortable. Amity didn't let her eyes draw upwards like she wanted to, but she could sense that Ramona was feeling a little uneasy even without looking at the swirl of colors above her head, only noticeable by empaths such as herself. "You know, I always thought it'd be nice to have curly hair." She thought aloud. "It's just so pretty, but I bet it takes a lotta work to take care of, huh?"

Amity knew that curly hair required a lot of maintenance, but seeing as Ramona had such hair, she thought it might help to ease some of her nerves if she could get her student talking about something she had more knowledge about. However, she realized that hair wouldn't hold a conversation for long, so she was quick to change gears in case the girl could only offer a 'thanks' in response.

"Did you get to meet any of the other kids?" She asked instead, remembering about some of the students Kaz and Einar had told her about. "I heard there's some pretty wild kiddos here, crazier than even Gavy. I got to meet a few of the teachers, and they all seem nice."



/* ------ credit -- do not remove ------ */
© weldherwings.
 
633e9d0378cef4d4ddc2a9cee842a973.jpg


Chahaya “Cha-Cha” Arif // “the Friendly Demon” // Male // Age 32 // Castelobruxo Professor // Legilimens

Due to his gifts, Cha-Cha was a difficult target to sneak up on unawares. Also due to his gifts, he was sometimes put in awkward social situations where he pretended to know less than he really did to preserve the illusion of polite, surface-level conversation, as much as a normal person without an affinity for reading minds would know.
He sensed Ricky approaching him from a diagonal, somewhere behind him and to his left. It was an angle that was outside of the field of view of a person positioned as Cha-Cha was, with his back turned and his gaze fixed on the horse in front of him, who was nickering softly and leaning his head into Cha-Cha’s palm. Yet, despite not being able to see Ricky, Cha-Cha felt him coming closer in a series of flashes, fleeting impressions. A warm pressure in the air like an impending summer shower. The tart burst of juice as teeth broke an orange’s flesh. The feel of fingers gliding over coarse, slightly frayed rope. An emotion like a bloody sun as it stains the horizon a violent red, like anger that never quite vanishes. While minds might have similar compositions or genres, common trends to the data, no two were identical, much like a fingerprint. Without trying to probe, Cha-Cha could sense another person’s presence, or roughly calculate the number of people in a general area without counting. As such, the more familiar he became with a person, the more that he learned to pair impressions with identity, so that eventually he could recognize someone else just by the tempo of their thoughts, the melody they produced as they went about their daily activities.
He’d had enough conversations with Ricky to pick out his individual presence from a distance. That rain-laden midafternoon air was steadily becoming heavier the closer that Ricky approached, at a continuous rate that informed Cha-Cha he’d have company very soon. “We’re gonna go up the mountain now, boy,” he told his horse by way of farewell, giving the Thoroughbred a parting pat on the head. “Isn’t that fun?” It was too soon to tell whether this comment was an ironic one. Cha-Cha was happy to offer his guidance to the Castelobruxo students and watch them grow as wizards as the contests challenged everything they knew, but he knew he’d be the subject of many sideward glances, of much gossip whispered behind gloved hands and masks on sticks at the ball.
And more than that, it felt strange to be on the other side of the curtain this time. Appearing at a tournament as a professor rather than the champion. When he was chosen to represent Koldovstoretz at the last Triwizard Tournament, there’d been no entourage of students accompanying him on his travels, no drawn-out suspense of who would be selected champion. This black-tie horse-and-pony show of an opening-night ball felt very—for lack of a better word—choreographed, and Cha-Cha was horribly grateful in hindsight. Had a suit been required to participate in his tournament, Cha-Cha would have been disqualified right off the bat, as the outfit that he likely would wear only once ever would’ve cost him several months’ pay at the stable. He knew that he was here on Ricky and Lisandro’s behalf in a supportive role now, but it was difficult to stop his mind from drawing comparisons, especially when Cha-Cha knew his victor status was what the decision to appoint him as Castelobruxo chaperone had balanced on.
All of this went through Cha-Cha’s head in the time between when he’d sensed Ricky lurking some ten, fifteen meters away, and by the time one of his favorite students was hovering at his elbow, lingering uncertainly for half a heartbeat before he spoke. I think I’m supposed to give this to you, Ricky opened with. Cha-Cha inferred that the brief pause before he’d spoken was to pull something out of his pocket. “So formal of you to jump straight to business,” Cha-Cha commented drily. “No ‘Hi,’ ‘Hello,’ ‘How was your summer, Professor?’ ‘Fuck you and fuck your mother’?” Cha-Cha turned with a wide smile to show Ricky that he was teasing. “And here I thought we were friends, Ricky. Guess I’ll go find someone else to play Smash with.”
He accepted the white envelope that Ricky extended to him. The fact that it wasn’t a parchment-wrapped parcel with an ornate wax seal indicated that it was a letter from the Muggle world, not the wizarding one. Cha-Cha was mildly relieved when Ricky declared his mother as the author of the letter; during the first year he’d been out of prison, he’d received piles of mail every day. Mounds of letters, delivered mostly by owl and a few by Muggle postage. For the first few weeks, Cha-Cha would guess whether they were hate mail or fan mail before opening them. Some of them death threats, pompous Who-do-you-think-you-are-to’s, and promises to send him back to Azkaban from victims’ family members. And the others were worse. They called Cha-Cha a hero for destroying that lab of Obscurials and killing everyone inside, unethical experimenter and helpless child subject alike. For cleansing the Indonesian Ministry of corrupt officials. A few times Cha-Cha had received written marriage proposals and tins of cookies, as if he were a rockstar and not an ex-con. Until Cha-Cha had decided that he could never reintegrate into the Wizarding World and started over in New Orleans, where he’d lived as a Muggle for two years.
Casting aside the habitual dread that rose up in him when he read his full name in looping cursive on the front, Cha-Cha wedged a pinkie under the envelope flap and slit it open. Penned in black ink on a lined note with blue-and-pink flowers printed on the bottom corners, he read in English:

Professor Chahaya Arif,

My sincerest thanks for accompanying Ricardo on the tournament! Ricky tells me that you are one of his favorite professors and you direct the video gaming club that he enjoys so much. I’ve instructed Ricky to keep in touch with me at least once a week, but he is a silly teenage boy inclined to do silly teenage boy stuff. So, if you’d be so kind, I would appreciate you keeping me updated on his activities every so often, just so I can rest easy that he’s staying out of trouble. You’ll find my address and phone number on the back of this sheet.
I hope the Castelobruxo team has an exciting and safe stay at Ilvermorny! Ricky told me that he’s friendly with one of the other boys going on the trip, Lisandro. Should you guys need any food or toiletries at any time during your travels, please do not hesitate to contact me, and I will chip in to the best of my ability.
I understand that Ricky has a knack for landing himself in troublesome situations, and for that reason, I am all the more grateful to you for keeping an eye on him. Should he stir a ruckus, I trust you to knock him upside the head if he needs it. Please don’t hold back; his skull is sometimes too hard for his own good.

Best wishes and thank you again,
Marcia


A slow smile spread over Cha-Cha’s face as he read the letter, imagining the blood that would burn Ricky’s cheeks if he were to know its contents. That, and he thought Marcia’s well-meaning concern for her child to be cute and oddly charming. Here was a mother who clearly loved her son and wanted only the best for him, maintaining as active a role in his life as she could from a whole continent away.
“Apparently you’re not the only one who thinks that,” Cha-Cha mused in a low voice when Ricky complimented his appearance. He looked up from the letter suddenly, head cocked to the side, a small frown on his face. “You didn’t tell me that your mother was on the market for a new husband, Ricky! Tell her that I appreciate her offer but my heart belongs to someone else.”
Understanding Cha-Cha’s implication and not immediately disbelieving it, Ricky wore an expression like a man facing a firing squad. His throat bobbed with a hard swallow as he fought for a reply.
Cha-Cha smiled at him then, a wry twist of lips that had too much wolf in it and not enough sheep to be properly sheepish. “Just messing with you, man. Your mother sends her regards and is rooting for you. She’s also given me permission to teach you a lesson if necessary, so please don’t give me reason to and we’ll forget she ever said that. I’d rather spend the tournament as your mentor than as your policeman.” He folded up the letter in its envelope with a crisp motion and tucked it inside his suit pocket, planning to keep it in the hopefully unlikely event that he indeed needed Marcia’s address or phone number in the future. In class Cha-Cha typically got a kick out of lighting unnecessary textbooks or horribly failed tests on fire, but he thought it would be callous to do it to something that Marcia had put so much heart into.
There were lines that crossed the boundary of professor duties to fatherly ones, and Marcia’s letter, while touching and meaningful, tested his. From his point of view, Ricky was too old to be babied, and as much as Cha-Cha wanted him to excel, he had no plans to coddle his students. Cha-Cha would be there to guide them through the tournament, but in the real world, they’d either sink or swim, because there were some life lessons that just couldn’t be taught until they happened to you. So long as Ricky had the good sense not to smoke weed or get into a fistfight in front of him, Cha-Cha wouldn’t bust him, because he was a professor and not a father. There was a reason Cha-Cha had no children of his own; one day the prospect might seem an appealing one, but today was not that day. Most days Cha-Cha felt like he barely had his own shit together and some days he didn’t at all. He couldn’t imagine micromanaging the activities of a small, squishy being who had no concept of the ways of the world.
Ricky clearly liked the idea of his mother encouraging Cha-Cha to play enforcer no more than Cha-Cha did. As a child, Cha-Cha had been part of a youth gang that sold drugs in red envelopes on street corners for profit, and as a Koldovstoretz student, he’d been racing unicorns for money in illicit gambling rings. Sometimes breaking the rules was necessary to get by.
Fortunately, Ricky was spared from having to reply by the appearance of Lisandro Valencia. Unlike Ricky, Cha-Cha was not close enough with his other student to pick his unique psychic aura out of a crowd. Although he was sure that he’d get there over the course of this year. Face to face, Lis radiated the smooth feel of velvet, insects singing over the surface of a nighttime lake, and soil underneath nails or graphite smeared along the side of a hand. “Happy belated birthday, Lisandro!” Cha-Cha exclaimed upon seeing him, remembering from the student files he’d been given over the summer that his birthday was August 26th. When Lis was close enough Cha-Cha briefly wrapped him up in a one-arm hug, also remembering from class that Lis had a texture aversion and may not appreciate too much interpersonal touch. He drew away quickly. “It was yesterday, right? What did you do to celebrate?”
With their team assembled, Cha-Cha opened the door to the carriage and held it as his students entered. Amid a lot of stammering as if he were bashful that Cha-Cha had remembered his birthday, Lisandro entered first. While Ricky remained rooted to the spot, the lantern light played in patterns across his profile, his gaze latched onto something in the carts following the Castelobruxo one. Cha-Cha cleared his throat. “As much as I love posing for the cameras, it’s cold out here,” he said drily, still holding the carriage door open. With a jolt as if he’d forgotten all about Cha-Cha standing next to him, Ricky withdrew from his reverie and dutifully followed Lis inside the carriage. He sat on the bench next to his fellow student. Cha-Cha and Ricky were close enough to consider themselves friends, but Ricky still reverently left space for the professor. Perhaps because of the formality of the tournament. Perhaps because his thoughts were still elsewhere, and he wanted to keep as much distance as possible from the master Legilimens, which wasn’t a lot in the close confines.
But whatever had so captivated Ricky’s attention for that minute was none of Cha-Cha’s concern; ever since his release from Azkaban, he’d set new rules for himself, and invading other people’s minds without reason was against them. Let Ricky keep his secret wishes and desires. Relishing the small shelter from the cold that the carriage provided, Cha-Cha climbed in behind Ricky and shut the door. He nodded respectfully at his students, one of whom was fussing with the cuffs of his jacket and the other who still looked like he’d seen a ghost. “That is indeed a lovely suit, Lisandro!” Cha-Cha bubbled, knowing that it probably looked better than it felt on the short, broad-shouldered boy of unique proportions. He didn’t know Lis too well on a personal level; he just knew that the student came from a lofty, pureblood family, and as such, he was impressively uptight and prone to worry for someone so young. Given the way that Lis was constantly fidgeting, Cha-Cha inferred that it had been his parents to pick out the navy-blue suit without consulting Lis as to his comfort in it.
“Anyway, it’s Tuesday now, and in light of Lis’s birthday and your arrival in a new country, I’ve decided to postpone the due date of your first homework assignment from Friday before class to Sunday night. It’s nothing complicated, don’t worry; just a three-to-five page essay on Dark practices. Specifically, delve into three of them, explain a historic usage of them and why they are now considered taboo, and your opinion on whether they should be fully decriminalized or not, with evidence to support your argument, of course. For your information, examples of a Dark practice are deeds not outlawed by the international Ministry but may be punishable by federal courts, such as hatching a Basilisk, drinking the blood of a unicorn, or usages of Necromancy. Any questions on your assignment?” There was a snap of reigns, and the carriage began to pull forward—or backward, from Cha-Cha’s position inside—heading toward the base of the mountain range that dwarfed the train station. He gave Lis and Ricky a beatific smile, as if they would get just as much pleasure out of writing the essay as Cha-Cha would reading and grading it.
 
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  • Gavriel Sylvie
    Ilvermorny - Female - Half-Blood - Champion


    The moment the group began to break apart as others went to get dressed and prepare for arrival Gavy knew in her gut that they would all find their way back together again. Yeah, it sucked to have the party end so suddenly but she understood it took time to get ready for events like this opening dance that they were all preparing to attend. Normally she might just adjust her features as she wanted, changing her eyelids, lips, and cheeks to whatever looked best. Tonight however Gavy felt drawn to approach the evening like many of the others and put true effort into her appearance. She found her way to a dressing cabin with a vanity that was lit up nicely and with a well practiced hand she began to apply her makeup. There was something beautiful about the time and precision it took to blend eyeshadows and outline her lips, something she seldom left time to experience. She wasn’t a stranger to makeup, she was well practiced, but as she developed her metamorphamagus abilities it had just become easier to…change. If she was in a rush then it was as easy as a thought for the perfect neutral smokey eye to appear on her lids. If she was out and about without her lipstick then she could just will her naturally lush lips to become whatever shade she desired. And yet, despite the ease of it all, Gavy never stopped loving the feeling of a brush on her skin and the joy of cracking open a new palette to create works of art upon her face. It was fun and tonight it filled a void in time where she wished to be back among the others but was bubbling with excitement upon seeing each of them dressed for the dance.

    Despite her best efforts Gavy’s excitement only grew and when mixed with the creative bug that overcame her while making up her face the young blonde’s hair had become a rainbow of light neon blue and mystical purple shades. While she had intended to sport her natural platinum blonde locks for the nights events she knew the moments her eyes became a colorful heterochromatic display of purple and blue that those plans were out the window. She was too excited, too inspired, and she refused to allow herself to be ashamed of how her emotions presented themselves. It wasn’t always easy to have her feelings on display but after years of suppressing them and herself it was also incredible to feel freely and wholly so tonight she would wear her colors with pride.

    When it came time to disembark from the train Gavy appeared like an iridescent comet that sprang onto the platform and gracefully cut through the crowd in search of her group. The dress she wore was long but flowed elegantly around her, allowing her to move freely and changing color with every shift of the fabric in the wind. Gazing around Gavy spotted several familiar faced and gave appreciative glances towards several of the other students including Cosmo, the girl he stood with who must be his sister Clara, Raph, and Kiara. Finally her multi-shaded gaze fell upon the familiar features of Ramona and Professor Monroe. “Hello, loves!” She greeted with a brilliant smile as she approached the duo. “Ramona you look dashing! I almost wore a jumpsuit so I could book it away from trouble if needed but Anna found this and I couldn’t say no.” Gavy admitted as she gave her classmate a wink, hoping they knew her compliment was genuine. Looking at the professor standing before her Gavy smiled, “And it seems Aphrodite herself has blessed us with her presence tonight in the form of Professor Monroe.” She complimented, speaking before thinking as she almost always did. She was in a great mood and complements came easy when among people she found herself enjoying the company of. She and Ramona didn’t exactly know each other as well as some of the other schoolmates but Gavy had always liked and respected them. She was delighted to finally have a chance to hopefully get to know them better as the year progressed and she would either be filling in for them or Ramona filling in for her. Professor Monroe was another story due to her status as a teacher. Gavy had been outspoken in her class before but never did so to truly cause trouble which luckily she believed the professor understood. In all reality Gavy truly did appreciate the woman and wished she performed better in her class. She wasn’t AWFUL but it also wasn’t her strongest subject, not for lack of effort though.



    Mentions: Professor Monroe pearjuice pearjuice Ramona irregular-neptune irregular-neptune



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    I changed. It's hard for me to know who I was before all of this. I molded myself into a pretender. Now, every other version of me feels fake.

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Amity looked up just as she had finished talking to Ramona and was thankful to find that Gavy had shown up. She looked marvelous in her dress, and the dark haired witch noticed that the fabric of it dazzled and seemed to shimmer into new, fascinating colors depending on how the light reflected on it. She was secretly thankful for her chattier student to have arrived, as she wasn't sure if she would have done a good enough job with bringing Ramona out of whatever anxiety she was feeling. Amity was feeling a similar amount of emotions, but for entirely different reasons.

"Aww, thanks Gavy!" She thanked with a smile, watching as her second student took a seat next to Ramona. "Your dress is so pretty! We'll have to make sure we all get a photo together at the ball so we can have evidence of all of us being dressed up at the same time." She said, already knowing exactly where in her classroom she wanted it hung. She didn't consider herself to have any friends, but keeping up the appearance of being a down to earth girl who loved everyone was difficult. One of the things she did to make herself seem that way was to get a lot of pictures with her students and coworkers - she had a part of the wall behind her desk that was a collage of pictures with all of them. Secretly she thought she was beginning to like it. She enjoyed adding more photos to her collection and she knew her students got excited when she got more to hang. It was a great way to get class talking to if it was the beginning of a new year and people who weren't already friends were paired together for projects or whatever.

Now that everyone was on the carriage she felt the front of it shift weight - a second later, the rider was peeking over to make sure that everyone was ready to go. Amity gave a plastic smile and an enthusiastic thumbs up to let the man know they were ready to leave. Once he got situated, Amity felt the carriage began to be pulled, and outside her window they were heading towards the Ilvermorny castle.

As a younger girl she had wondered what it would be like to visit the other schools of magic, but she never thought it would be possible. But she didn't think she'd be on the run from the Ministry of Magic either. Or that it would be so easy. Amity had gone through lengths to ensure that they couldn't easily track her to her new location, but they had to know she was somewhere in America, right? And she'd even brought her wand with her until she got a new one; she didn't think they couldn't not track her use of magic as they had to catch other criminals. Or, she supposed, criminals, because her only crime was wanting to start afresh without her ex boyfriend making an attempt on her life.

She glanced over at the two students in front of her. She hoped they never found themselves in her shoes. Being young and in love and naive enough to think a man would change from her felt like such a lifetime ago, yet sometimes she still wondered if she made a mistake leaving her old life behind. Deep down she knew Keaton would not change, after all he landed himself in Azkaban, but it was nice to delude herself into thinking she was once worthy of a better ending. It was why she was so protective of her students, especially girls that had begun dating. She didn't want to see them get hurt by the people who were supposed to cherish them.



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Ricardo

Castelobruxo Secondary







Mood:


Panic






Location:


Off the train






Outfit:






Interactions:


Cha-Cha and Lisandro










Mobile reply. What should Ricky have bought Lisandro for his birthday?

Ricky was unaware of the world continuing to prosper around him because he was still focused on his standing in a pretty green dress and arguing with her brother. It hurt to see her and know that she rejected all of his apologies or attempts to make things right. He had sent letters. Showed up at her door. Sent Cosmo with gifts. Ricky had gone to great lengths to make his regret known to Clara but she didn't have any of it.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Ricky was supposed to tell them as soon as he found out he was going to be a part of the tournament. They were supposed to be excited together about all three of them going. They were supposed to sit together on the train. It was supposed to be Ricky who helped fix Cosmo's tie and Ricky who told Clara she looked great. Because she did. But it wasn't happening how it was supposed to.

Cha-Cha had to clear his throat twice for Ricky to remember that life was continuing around him. He got on the carriage and wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs after he sat down next to Lisandro. Ricky got nervous but never like this. Clara had that hold over him still. Was he manually breathing? He had to tell himself to take deep and slow breaths as Lisandro talked about his birthday. He never had anxiety like this but Clara did. He had talked her through enough attacks to know that he had to breathe and hold his breath and breathe and hold his breath so he didn't sweat through his suit.

"Oh right! Happy birthday!" Ricky said as he gave Lisandro a smile. He didn't think it was convincing but he did hope he had a good celebration. "I have your present with my luggage so I'll give it to you tomorrow." He promised.

Cha-Cha's not so great gift to Ricky and Lisandro went over his head as he craned his neck to get one last look of Clara before she inevitably faded into a speck so small there was no point in him trying to look. He turned back around and kept at his breathing patterns. Ricky knew Lisandro and him had a lot to catch up on with his family but he didn't know if he would say any of it in front of Cha-Cha since he was their teacher. But Ricky didn't know what to say. He was better at talking when his head wasn't drowning in thoughts of Clara. Funnily if he had been listening he would have thought Clara might have liked the assigned homework. She taught him so much back in their younger days.

"Do you know all our dance partners?" Ricky asked in one breath with the words jumbled together. He repeated himself slower and hoping Cha-Cha wouldn't point out the truth wasn't the whole truth he said too "I'm not good at dancing. I just want to hang out with Lis. Celebrate his birthday together."

It wasn't a lie because he did want to hang out with Lisandro but it wasn't why he was asking. He didn't meet Cha-Cha's eyes out of guilt. Ricky was hoping that he and Lisandro could talk and catch up at the dance after all of the announcements were made. He missed his friend over the summer break and was excited to see him back at school. It helped that Lisandro could help him find a way to talk to Clara. He was okay with hiding in the bathroom and faking a stomach ache too. Lis might hide in the stall with him to avoid meeting everyone else. Could Ricky ask for Cha-Cha's Switch without explaining he was hiding from Clara so that he and Lisandro could game at the ball?




 
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Theo James West // Male // Hogwarts Secondary // Pureblood
Interacting with: Clara, Cosmo & Lanre pearjuice pearjuice Sasha (mentioned) thundercloud611 thundercloud611

Theo was one of the very last to exit the train, his demeanor tepid and seemingly unbothered by the fact that he was late to the party. Pausing on the last step off the train, his dark chocolate orbs scanned over the few people still lingering outside their respective carriages. His gaze landed on the girl from the train earlier, Clara, he remembered after a brief moment. Her sage green dress shimmered in the fading light of dusk, and he took liberties allowing himself to take in her curves and just how well the dress showed them off. Earlier on the train, Clara had wondered if they had met before, and Theo surmised that it was quite possible. They both frequented upscale international wizarding clubs, coming from wealthy pure blood families whose lineage held great reputation. However, if they had met before, the meeting had been brief. Her face just barely danced on the edges of Theo’s memory, but no specific occurrence came to mind.

Before long, he became aware that his gaze was being returned, not by Clara… but the male standing next to her. He looked a bit like Clara, and from the glare he was currently receiving, Theo surmised that this must be a protective older brother, one who was all too unhappy with the way Theo’s gaze roamed over his sister. Mildly entertained by the other boys disapproval, a smirk tugged at the edges of Theo’s lips. From a distance, one might’ve guessed that the Hogwarts student was snickering… almost. Clara turned just in time to catch the tail end of the silent interaction between Theo and Cosmo, and in all honesty he couldn’t tell whether she was more annoyed by Theo’s stare or Cosmo’s reaction. With a casual, playful wink at Clara, Theo was on his way towards the Hogwart’s carriage.

Theo was dressed in a well fitted, wine colored suit, his undershirt almost the exact same color, perhaps a shade darker. Everything about his ensemble screamed wealth and aristocracy, oozed confidence and seemed meticulously put together while simultaneously casual and effortless. Theo prided himself in his ability to present himself as whatever he wanted others to see him as, and today, he wanted to be seen as a threat. Approaching his fellow Hogwarts peer, Theo noticed that while the suit Lanre wore was nice enough, it didn't fit the other boy quite right. He silently approached with his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowing just the slightest as if he were trying to ascertain the answer to a complicated mathematics equation. Lanre's suit was of a nice material, the colors complimented him well and all in all he looked good. Theo, though, knew that the devil was truly in the details, and before he uttered a single word to the other boy he removed his wand from where it was hidden on this inside of his suit.

"Reducio" with a simple flick of his wand, Theo had reduced the length of the fabric of the suit, allowing it to sit better on Lanre's figure. The sleeves no longer draped over his wrists and it clung better to the shape of his torso. Inspecting his handiwork, Theo made a small circle around the other boy. "It's a nice suit." He remarked, though it was more of an observation than a compliment. He could tell that Lanre had put effort into attempting to look nice for the ceremony, and if there was one thing Theo respected it was effort. He had no quarrels with the other Hogwarts student... yet, so his demeanor was relatively docile. Perhaps if he had perceived Lanre as a threat, Theo would've been a bit less friendly, more hostile, but for now his companion was safe from his temper. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of blonde hair boarding the carriage marked with a large K for Koldovstoretz and he knew without seeing her face exactly who it was.

He had seen her on the train earlier, though he was fairly certain she had yet to notice him. Theo had met Sasha Golubev at the international quidditch tournament the summer prior, and the pair had connected quickly over their shared love of the game among other things. Like most summer flings, the romance between them burned exceedingly bright and exceptionally fast. The two had been infatuated with each other... so much so that it had begun to scare Theo. She had started to unintentionally snake her way into his mind, plaguing his thoughts every second of the day... haunting his dreams with her sweet, shy smile. He couldn't ever stop thinking about her, and he had hated it. He had hated the control she had over him without even knowing it, hated how easily she could understand him... almost like she was in his head. He recoiled at the thought. Among other things, Theo had realized that year that he was entirely uncomfortable letting someone else know the intimacies of his soul. He didn't trust anybody else to understand the way his mind worked, didn't want anybody else to know what made him tick.

So, naturally, he had surmised a way to rid himself of her. Seizing his first opportunity, Theo had caused quite the scene at a party that August. When another boy had attempted to start up a conversation with Sasha, Theo had puffed up his chest like a threatened lion protecting his pride. Punches were thrown (mostly by Theo) and accusations were made... accusations that Theo knew were entirely untrue. That was what he regretted the most. More so than the collateral damage of the innocent boys broken nose, Theo’s heart twinged at the thought of what he had said to Sasha, accusing her of flirting with a stranger just because he refused to admit the actual truth. But, Theo would rather admire her from a distance, content to let her hate him if it meant that he could protect himself from falling harder for her. Loving someone was a weakness, he had decided, and he had absolutely no intentions of making that same mistake again. With a shake of his head, Theo silently boarded the Hogwarts carriage, brushing his suit off to rid it of some non-existent lint, and quietly prepared himself for the night ahead.
 
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  • Aurelia Quansah
    Uagadou - Female - Pure Blood - Secondary


    Speaking with Lis had been a delightful experience that allowed the train ride to pass swiftly. They had done the usual introductions and then fallen into a comfortable conversation about the different books they enjoyed. It was always nice to find a fellow reader and get recommendations on which world to delve into next. She had learned over the course of many years that you could get a good idea about a person based on what they read, what captured their attention, what world they wished to walk within from the comfort of their own mind. It wasn’t all telling but it did help to fill in the fuzzy image that was someone she was just getting to know. Plenty of fuzziness still existed, the image of the person before her not fully formed but at least growing more defined. She hoped to have time during the course of the year to perhaps fill Lis’s blurred image better. She could physically see him but the image of who he was in her mind had still yet to fully develop and she was eager to see what became of it. Perhaps in the morning if she had time she might stop by the Ilvermorny library to pick up one of the books the young man had recommended to her.

    For now though her main concern was putting on a good face for the formalities of the night's events. After departing from the dining cart Auri found her way back to a dressing cabin and went through the more than familiar motions of preparing for a formal event. Throughout her life she had attended more formal engagements than she could remember and helped to host a likely equal amount. Mauritius Island was a sanctuary to all magical beings thus it often became the perfect location for diplomatic meetings between creatures of magical origins, wizarding governments, and even those who were in a questionable relationship with the law. So long as the island's guardian welcomed you on the island you were safe from all outside forces. Mauritius Island, as far as the wizarding world was concerned, existed as its own governing entity. It was not truly tied to any other nation and represented itself when among the governing bodies of the wizarding world. It had been this way for generations and while some nations made a fuss about it from year to year the squabble never lasted long, her grandmother made sure of that.

    Navigating the political waters of diplomatic balls and other such formal events was as natural as breathing to Auri by this point. She spent many long nights by her mother and grandmother's side learning how to speak with people from all walks of life. Watching her grandmother in action at one of their famous balls was like watching the sun. People gravitated towards Asha Quansah and her grandmother knew how to handle each one with such grace and poise. She hoped one day to be just like her grandmother, The Lioness of Mauritius Island, but for now she was still a cub, watching and learning and striving to be the best.

    By the time the train pulled into the station Auri had secured her last touches and was patiently awaiting the moment she could step onto the platform. She was adorning a silky sleek gown the color of dusty rose with a draping neckline. As she walked the gown fluttered behind her and her long toned legs were visible, as were the golden strappy gladiator heels that were seamlessly laced up her shins. Her heels were not the only touch of gold she had added in preparation for the dance. Several of her beautifully woven braids were now decorated with golden hair jewelry, not too much but enough to bring together the goddess-like style.

    Looking around the platform it took but only a few seconds for her to spot her classmate Zuri standing off to the side. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long. You look lovely, blue suits you.” Auri greeted with a smile as she approached the young woman she had gone to school with for several years now. “And I’m sorry, I should have been more engaging on the train.” She apologized, meeting Zuri’s gaze and hoping the girl wouldn’t look away. “I just didn’t want to force you into conversations with others. I hate when people assume I want to jump into conversations simply because I am in the room and I wasn’t sure if you were the same.” She added, acknowledging her fault and hoping it hadn’t made Zuri feel as though the two of them couldn’t be unified. It was pretty well known that Aurelia was proud but not so proud that she couldn’t acknowledge her mistakes.



    Mentions: Zuri thundercloud611 thundercloud611



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