Open An Ever Chaotic Evening

[Seraphina My]

Seraphina couldn't believe she had been coerced into signing up for a blind date. Especially with any of those brotherhood guys. She had never even been to one of the dances at school and suddenly felt severely underdressed as she entered the Great Hall. Knowing her nonna, they would have gone dress shopping if Seraphina had told her she wanted to go to a dance. Her mother, on the other hand, didn't see the need in purchasing the Gryffindor a new dress because she really didn't think the girl would go. And somewhat out of spite, but also a little curiosity, Seraphina had ended up at the Yule Ball. The jacket had been a last minute addition, as she hated the dress her mother had bought for an occasion a few years ago. But it was the only one she'd been forced to bring to school in case she needed to "make appearances." She knew what the boy she was supposed to be going with looked like and kind of stood on the edge of the hall until she saw him, walking up with a very large frown on her face. "It's really loud in here," she said to Isaiah, wondering if it would bother him as much as it was her.

Open after @Isaiah Thompson and @Tilly Drage

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah had signed up for the blind dates thing last year and had gotten a pretty cool evening out of it, so there hadn't been any reason for him not to sign up this year. Sure, he probably could've asked one of his friends or just made sure he could hang out with a bunch of them but he figured this could be as much fun. He had plenty of time to hang out with his friends anyways. After seeing the complete list he couldn't help but to have been a little disappointed that he hadn't been paired up with El though, knowing that if that had happened he was guaranteed to have a fun night. Right now, he didn't know a lot. He knew who he was paired up with and had some idea what the older girl looked like but he didn't know much about her personality wise. Which was kind of a gamble. Then again, that was pretty much the whole idea behind signing up for a blind date. After having felt a little like a monkey dressed up by his cousing last year Zay had made sure to pick his own outfit this time around. He was wearing jeans but he had tried his best to make it look formal by wearing a button up and a blazer. What probably ruined the whole idea of trying to look representable was him grabbing his cap at the last second. He reckoned he could always ditch it though but for now he was fine with how he looked.

Isaiah had been walking around the entrance hall a bit lost in search of Seraphina, deciding to enter the great hall and look around for a second to see if she had already gone in as he wondered whether it might have been good for them to decide on a spot to meet up. Perhaps he should remember that for next time. He looked up when he had entered the hall and noticed her walk up to him though. At least he was pretty sure it was her. "I guess it is." He answered in response, giving a small shrug. The loudness didn't bother him all too much. Especially not since it kind of felt like the room being loud was an essential factor of going to a party. "Cool jacket." He grinned appreciatively when he noticed her outfit, feeling like if she was wearing that she'd probably be fine with him wearing his cap.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly wasn’t the type of girl to get fancy, but here she was, dressed up for her first Yule Ball. Just like at the Fergusson wedding this summer, she was pleasantly surprised at her own reflection in the mirror. She’d chosen a knee-length lilac dress and her roommates had helped tease her dark hair up into a loose braid.

Once she arrived at the Great Hall, Tilly found Rita quickly. They were soon scoping out the desserts. It was a shame that the two were in different houses. They had become friends during the last year, and Tilly had agreed to spend the holidays at school with Rita. She couldn’t say no, even though she knew her parents would be disappointed.

Tilly served herself a slice of the chocolate yule log, offering one to Rita. “Wish they had lemon,” she said, although she didn’t mean to complain, not really. Any treats were good in her book- except maybe blood-flavored lollipops. She wondered what her sweet-toothed friend Lillith would think of the spread.

@Rita Smile

 

[Rita Smile]

Rita Smiled stressed to Tilly that she should arrive at the Great Hall early. She remembered how harshly she scolded Jake for being late to Brightstone, and Rita didn't even need to open her mouth to do it. Rita absolutely hated waiting, and, to make it worse, the anxious Ravenclaw was early to everything. Rita clutched the edge of her dress that was nowhere near her knees like Kengi had promised. Rita could hear her brother now.

"How was I supposed to know you grew five inches?"

The third year could only sigh. Her hair was in cornrows, and the braids were a misty blue that contrasted beautifully with her pitch-black hair and matched her flowy blue dress. She wore sparkling white gloves that went past her elbows. They originally had been connected to the dress, but she cut them to invent the current product. She kept had a camera at her side because, If I don't take pictures, Kengi will drag me to Hell and won't bother to bring me back. Rita had no time to yell at Tilly for making her wait alone for "so long" because there was now chocolate bark in her hands? "...what's this?" she asked quietly. Rita's volume changed often. When the girls were by themselves throughout the school, Rita talked loud enough, but the Yule Ball had practically the entire school. She didn't need to bring any attention to herself, which was already hard enough for a pretty and awkwardly tall girl like Rita.

 

[Seraphina My]

Seraphina wasn't enthused by the Gryffindor's response, hoping he might sulk with her rather than seem at the very most indifferent about the whole ordeal. "Mhm. I didn't realize hats were a thing," she said, wondering why he decided a ball cap was the right direction at a formal event. At least she tried. Scrunching up her face, she pulled the sleeves of her jacket around her hands as she looked around, hoping she wouldn't have to stay long. Until she saw her least favorite person nearby.

Usually, she felt a sudden surge of anger or resentment everytime she saw the Hufflepuff, but this time, she didn't feel angry. Seraphina felt herself staring at Tilly longer than normal and hoped she didn't catch her. Her chest felt tight, and she cleared her throat looking at Isaiah. "I don't want to stand here anymore," she said, not really offering a solution to the problem as she glanced back at Tilly, noticing a few fly aways surrounding her face.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah was a bit surprised with Seraphina's response to his hat. She was wearing a leather jacket after all, which didn't seem super formal either. Nevertheless, he was trying to behave and make sure she had a good time. Signing up for the blind dates kind of made that feel like his responsibility after all, to try and make sure the person he had gotten paired up with had a good evening. "I mean I could take it off? If you want?" He asked her with a sheepish grin. He liked his cap, but taking it off would be an incredibly small gesture and if she'd prefer that than he guessed he wouldn't really mind.

Zay nodded when Seraphina suddenly stated she didn't want to stand around anymore. So far, he found the older girl a bit hard to read. She wasn't anything like his friends but that didn't necessarily mean that she couldn't be fun. "Right. Yeah. We could get some snacks? Or sit somewhere or uh, go dance? I do have to warn you I'm a terrible dancer though so if you get embarrassed easily that might not be it." He tried his best to think of every possible thing they could do rather than stand around. Snacks sounded good in his own head but he wouldn't mind dancing either but he wasn't sure Seraphina would appreciate that very much. He really was a terrible dancer and whilst he didn't mind and wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed to show off his terrible skills he had a feeling she might not appreciate that all too much.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly lifted her plate, inspecting the yule log. “I dunno, it looks like a swiss roll.” Grabbing a fork from the table, she stepped off to the side, cutting off a piece and taking a bite. Although she was dressed nicely, she wasn’t exactly delicate in her movements. She could doll herself up, but it wouldn’t change the fact that she’d been raised on only the most basic of manners. She at least managed not to chew with her mouth open.

The dessert was a pleasant mixture of chocolate, cream, and something that tasted faintly like coffee. “Whatever it’s called, it’s delicious,” she said. The house elves always outdid themselves. If any students went hungry at school, it was their own fault.

Tilly was more than happy to stand around and indulge with Rita. She watched the other students engage in the festivities. “Do you wanna dance later?” she asked casually. Tilly wasn’t much of a dancer, but she wasn’t exactly embarrassed about it.

@Rita Smile

 

[Seraphina My]

Seraphina shrugged and eyed Isaiah for a moment. It wasn't the hat that bothered her, in reality. It was the fact that she'd been paired with someone who was obviously on her level in some way. It would have at least been better to be paired with a boy who tried to up their appearance. She could never send her mother a picture with her date, not that she really desired one anyway.

Vaguely listening to Isaiah, she noticed Tilly again, enjoying some kind of dessert and saw how pretty the girl's dress was - and how pretty she looked tonight. Well, no, not pretty. Or at least, Seraphina couldn't think that. It didn't make sense. She hated Tilly. They were enemies. Shaking her head, she looked back at her date. "What?" she asked, completely oblivious to anything he had said, looking back at Tilly who was seemingly enjoying herself.

All of sudden, Seraphina felt frustrated. And confused. But mostly, a little angry. She didn't know why she did it and didn't register the incident until 60 seconds after it happened, but suddenly, the Gryffindor was moving across the floor towards Tilly, her arm outstretch as it made contact with the plate in the Hufflepuff's hand and quickly tipped up from Seraphina's force into Tilly's dressed. And asa her hand continued to move the plate, ruining the dress with chocoalte and probably Tilly's evening, Seraphina's focused softened, recoiling back to her body as the plate clattered on the floor. "Merlin," she muttered, realizing what she had done as she made eye contact with Tilly.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

So far Isaiah wasn't sure whether Seraphina liked him very much. Or whether she even really wanted to be here. It didn't specifically seem like it and she didn't exactly seem to be paying much attention to him either. Except for pointing out that she didn't like his hat. She didn't literally said that he knew, but still he couldn't shake the feeling that she was just not enjoying herself in the slightest so far. He wanted to keep trying, obviously, to at least get her to have some sort of fun but he'd be lying if he said it didn't bother him a little that she didn't even listen to all of the ideas he had offered. He was definitely used to getting more attention than he was getting right now.

"I said we could get some sna-" Zay started repeating what he had said before when the older girl suddenly made off. Not knowing what she was planning at he followed behind her, coming to a quick stop when she out of nowhere decided to ruin some other girl's dress and her food. "Woah, dude, not cool!" He exclaimed in surprise. He wasn't sure what had gotten her to walk over here or why she had suddenly decided to do what she did. It made him wonder for a second if the older girls had some longer running issues and whether it would be smart to interfere with that but if there was one thing he disliked it was rude people. And what Seraphina had just done was pretty much the embodiment of rude. He watched as she just seemed to stare at the other girl, quickly grabbing a bunch of napkins and holding them out to the girl with the now chocolate covered dress. "Uh, here." He offered, unsure of what was even going on or what else he could do to help.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly was distracted as she ate her chocolate yule log. Liusaidh, Natalia, and Giselle were in some sort of heated discussion across the room, and they didn’t look happy with one another. Part of her wanted to get closer, but she knew that would be idiotic, and Rita might not appreciate it. Best not to jump into a pit with three snakes.

The Hufflepuff was mid-bite when her plate smashed into her chest and smeared cake and cream all down her torso. It took her a moment to realize the culprit wasn’t her own clumsiness after all. In shock, she stared back at Seraphina, wondering how in Merlin’s name she’d provoked the Gryffindor this time.

Tears stung at Tilly’s eyes, but she fought them back as hard as she could. A reaction was what Seraphina wanted. And as justified as she would be in knocking the girl to the ground for round two, she couldn’t risk it. Elliot had been very clear with her. If she got into another fight like last year, she was off the team.

With her hand trembling, Tilly accepted the napkins from the Gryffindor boy. He'd made up a song about her with his guitar once, and she wasn't sure what he was doing here with Seraphina, but he seemed kind. Tilly wiped at the dress. Unfortunately, the only thing it did was smear more chocolate into the light purple fabric.

She looked away from Seraphina, pulling her wand out of her pocket. “Mistakes happen,” she said flatly. She waved her wand at her dress and remedied the situation with a quiet and decisive, “Scourgify.” Even though her dress was as spotless as before, the Yule Ball had suddenly lost its appeal. Tilly then looked to Rita, silently pleading with the Ravenclaw to get her out of there.

 

[Rita Smile]

Rita had to pick her jaw up off the floor. Just as she was responding to Tilly, a random girl had smashed Tilly's plate on her dress. "What the hell?" Rita glared at the girl and set her plate down. She grabbed Tilly's hand and pulled her to leave the Great Hall. There was nothing to say about the situation, and Rita was not prone to violence. Tilly had already gotten in trouble for fighting before, and she did not need to be sorted in Ravenclaw to know fighting would get her off the team. She looked back at Tilly once they made it far enough away from the Hall, and cupped the girl's face in her hands. "Are you okay? Do you want to go to the Kitchens? We can have the house elves teach us to make something!" Rita smile gently. She didn't want to see Tilly cry, and the girl looked close to tears. "Or how about we go to the garden? I've been meaning to go and find some ginger and nettle to practice a potion!"

 

[Seraphina My]

Seraphina felt frozen, like she couldn't get body to move or her mouth to say the words that were piling on the tip of her tongue. She had no idea what she just did or why - it almost felt like she'd blacked out, and now everyone was making a big deal out of it. As they should. She had never seen Tilly be visibly upset, or at least, never interpreted it that way. Angry, sure. Even physical, but she could tell from the moment they had made eye contact that this was different. She had crossed a line.

She didn't know what to say or do next, still feeling trapped inside her own body as Isaiah, Tilly, and the other third year continued to fix the mistake Seraphina had made, and before she knew it, they were walking away. "I'm- I'm sorry," she mustered out, but the girls had moved too far away, and Seraphina just felt, well, guilty. She looked back at Isaiah, feeling bad that this boy had been matched with a completely miserable date. "I have to go," she said, barely looking at the Gryffindor before rushing out of the Great Hall. She could only imagine what her nonna would have said.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah watched as the girl whose dress Seraphina had seemingly ruined took the napkins he offered, grimacing when that only seemed to make it worse. He could've figured that would happen but at least he had tried to help out in a way. The girl's trembling hands didn't go unnoticed to him though and he was impressed with how she seemed both so calm and yet anything but at the same time. He looked on as she fixed her dress, shooting her another apologetic look before she got dragged away from him and Seraphina by the girl she was with. He knew it wasn't his fault, didn't even have anything to do with him, but still he felt guilty for the situation happening in the first place.

Zay looked back at Seraphina as the other girls had left, a bit speechless about whatever had just happened. Even more so when she managed to get out an apology when the other girls were long gone already. He was having difficulty trying to read Seraphina before but after her actions just now it seemed like she was a book written in a foreign language whilst he only spoke english. He had been cracking his mind over anything to say when Seraphina turned to him. She didn't give him much of a chance to say anything at all though as she barely excused herself before rushing out the hall, leaving him standing there like a lost puppy who now had to somehow figure out what to do with the rest of his night when most of his friends were preoccupied with their dates.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly was more than thankful for Rita as the girl pulled her out of the Great Hall. She squeezed her eyes shut as the Ravenclaw put her hands on her face. A few tears slipped out before she could stem the flow, but she had it under control in moments. As a result, the pressure behind her eyeballs led to a dull headache.

“I’m- not hungry anymore,” she said quietly, “but going outside sounds nice.” Tilly didn’t even care that foraging for potion ingredients in their fancy dresses would look ridiculous. “Which potion do you want to make?” Tilly asked, trying to get her mind off of Seraphina My. She thought they’d had some sort of- truce?- after their detention together last term. Tilly supposed she’d been wrong.