Open Icebreaker

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata felt quite strange dressed so...drab. She should've been used to it from robes, she supposed, but it was still quite the change in look. Still, it was much better than being coated in chocolate pudding, so she was happy to take the small victory. She intended to stay quite clean at this event, in comparison to the last. Although there were plenty of Halloween games to try out. This felt a little more like making a fashion statement than anything. Not as much as the balls, at least. But it still felt like appearance mattered a lot, so Renata had tried to be fashionably gothic, at least.

She was earlier to the feast than she'd planned to be, but it was still nice to have a wander around, to see what was set up, and to see if she'd run into anyone she knew. She suspected Eugene would be pretty busy, and Jordie would probably be busy in a far less helpful way with the Head Boy, but for the moment she was happy to just wander and people watch, admiring the costumes as people entered the Great Hall.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene didn't tend to have costumes to wear for the Halloween feast, he sometimes tried to put some effort, but given that he was pretty busy, this year there had been next to no time. This year he had no costume, just his muggle clothes. However, he knew and trusted his team a lot. He knew that they had things under control, and he could allow himself a bit of a break between everything else he was doing. He could take moments to just have some fun, and maybe find Charlie in this crowd. Eugene hoped the other boy would've come, and regretted not making specific plans with him to meet up at a certain point. It was in his looking for Charlie that Eugene spotted Renata. He hadn't been able to see her in a little while, being pretty busy with everything else, and he knew he'd feel a little bad if he took up too much of her time. But still, he went over. ”Hey Renata. That's a cool costume, have you come as Wednesday Addams?” he asked, then immediately realizing that that was a muggle thing he'd just referenced. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata's face immediately lit up upon seeing Eugene, though she realized she was supposed to be playing up the angry goth look and tried to turn it down. She couldn't help but want to smile when she saw her friend, though, and gave up on trying to frown pretty quickly. "Hi, Eugene! Taking a break?" Eugene hadn't dressed up, but she figured he would be busy with yearbook work, as usual. There wasn't any problem with that, though - Renata was just glad to see him take a break now and then. She did, however, look a little confused at the reference, before she remembered. It was something her nonno had also mentioned when she'd packed the outfit for Halloween, which she'd borrowed from her mother's wardrobe. Renata gave a small twirl while she thought, giggling. "Oh, I've heard of that! I don't really know it well enough to say I'm dressed up as her though," she admitted, a little bashful. Renata was glad her mother's family knew a little more about muggle culture as she found it really interesting to learn more about. There was so much exciting music and entertainment that wizards just didn't have. "How is everything?"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene gave a little nod, ”I am indeed,” he replied, since that was what he was doing. He didn't feel the need to go into the details of how things were going or why now was the time he was taking for a break, just letting things be calm since everything was absolutely in hand. He was surprised that she knew the reference, though clearly not well. ”So, you're dressed as a goth?” he knew that was the closest thing to describe part of the Addams family style. ”Things are good. The team are working away, and I'm enjoying being able to relax for a night. These OWLs are killing me a bit,” he joked with a smile, knowing that he was exaggerating just a little. Though he also knew that he was going to get busier and busier as the semester and year went on. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

"I guess so," Renata admitted. She'd thought less of what and more of just trying to be somewhat stylish with what she had. That seemed to be what was important to fitting in better, after all. "I guess it's from my mother's wardrobe, so I could say I'm dressed up as her. That would be really scary." She raised an eyebrow and gave Eugene a small smirk. Renata loved her mother, but they had a pretty complicated relationship at times. Her face moved in to more of a pout when Eugene said the OWLs were full on. "Well, you are not allowed to die," she said, insistently. "I'd be very sad." She supposed she was getting the look a bit more down, before her lips curved into a small smile anyway. "I'm glad you have some time to relax. Do you want to look at any of the games? Hall of mirrors? Er...not the apple bobbing." Renata gave a mock shudder, remembering the three legged race. It had been fun, but overall pretty awkward.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene didn't know much about Renata's relationship with her mother, but gave a little chuckle as she spoke. ”You look nice,” he assured her, ”Definitely scary,” he added, in case she was more interested in being scary over being nice. Eugene laughed lightly at her insistence, ”I'm glad someone would be,” he joked, and he knew it was a joke, he had plenty of people who would miss him, he didn't doubt that really. ”Maybe I should tell people I'm dressed as the OWLs, that's particularly scary,” Eugene told her. He glanced at the different games that were about. He didn't always get the opportunity to take part in them. ”The Hall of Mirrors sounds like good fun,” he said. ”let's do that,”​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

A faint hint of colour tinged Renata's cheeks at the compliment and she looked away for a moment to let it calm down before looking up, giving a light shrug. "Mama is...intense," she figured was probably the best way to explain it, without going into it in great depth. She laughed a little more at his OWLs comment. "Some people might be afraid of being in photographs, so that might be scaring someone," she teased. Renata didn't mind Eugene not being dressed up, as far as she was concerned he looked good anyway. "Yeah, that sounds like fun!" Halls of mirrors were pretty weird and she didn't like looking at herself much at the best of times, but spending time with Eugene was a bonus and so she, without thinking, held out her hand for him to walk with her towards the hall. Only after she did it did she dimly realize that might be awkward, but wasn't sure if she should withdraw her hand or not at this point.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

All of Eugene's recent experience of people and their parents was a little negative, with Nolan and now with her. But he didn't know anything personally, so he just nodded at her words. He laughed lightly at her statement, ”Don't know if I should actively seek people out to scare them with my camera,” he joked. But the hall of mirrors seemed like a good and fun thing for them to do. He glanced down as she outstretched her hand to him. He looked at it for a moment, almost in surprise, before he took her hand. ”Be prepared for me taking pictures of how silly we look in these mirrors,” Eugene joked, trying his best to really ignore the fact his hand was in hers and how that felt.​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata immediately realized she'd probably done something incredibly silly but it would have probably been more awkward to withdraw her hand and run it back. So now she just had to pretend that this was totally a normal thing to do and there wasn't any weird motivation behind it. Completely. She gave Eugene a rather bashful smile as they walked over to the hall, trying not to think about it too much but inevitably finding it was the center of her thoughts. "As long as you don't show anyone else the really silly ones," she said, lightly. She hoped he wouldn't put any weird pictures in the yearbook but it didn't seem likely, this was more for fun than anything serious after all. Renata turned to the first mirror she came across and almost jumped on the spot, giving a somewhat startled laugh. "Merlin, that is so weird!"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene had held his friend's hands before. He'd held his cousin's hand, he was sure this should be no different, and yet…it did feel different. It didn't feel wrong, but it was perhaps just a bit odd. He didn't want to let go, in case it insulted her or something. ”Of course not, that'll be for us,” he joked, he would of course never put a picture into the yearbook that wasn't agreed to. He looked to the first mirror as she did and laughed lightly. He stood on the tips of his toes to see how it looked before laughing lightly. ”I think evolution missed a trick if we could've looked like that,” ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata was not at all sure about the protocol in this situation. She realized she was actually liking holding Eugene's hand more than she was supposed to, and unlike what had happened at the end of the legged race this had been more of a deliberate action. Thankfully the mirrors were distracting, and she shifted onto her toes to angle herself in such a way it was almost a flattering shape...although distorted, and excessive. "Finally, I can be pretty. My mother will be so proud of me," she joked in return. "Do you think you can filter school pictures like that?...maybe that would make the camera even scarier."