Intriguing

[Satchel Howard]

Satchel's dress robes were, of course, impeccable. He was a Howard after all. He was somewhat curious as to what his family members would be doing for this event. He hadn't arranged to meet any of them, assuming they would attend. It wouldn't make sense to avoid such a chance to assert oneself. The Howards were so concerned with power. At times it tired him, he couldn't truly understand why they filled themselves with so much hatred for their fellow man. His patience for his family was wearing thin. There were people in the world who worked so hard to make life comfortable and beautiful for others, but he seemed to be tangled up with people who desired precisely the opposite. He stood in the corner, silent, but content, watching the swirl of colours in the Great Hall. Everyone looked so wonderful, so put-together. It pleased him to think that all of those attending had put aside extra time to compose themselves that evening. It made him want to draw. He knew that should one of his cousins or siblings appear, they would believe he was scouting out an opportunity for mischief or some-such, and he would not contradict them. They all thought his feelings toward the world were the same as their own, but it wasn't true. The world filled Satchel Howard with wonder.

 

[Tuesday Palmero]

Even though Tuesday had no date or interest in finding one at the ball, she had decided to attend the event anyway because she wanted to wear one of her favorite dresses, even if it wasn't as fancy as all the others. Tuesday had tired herself out while dancing on the dance floor so she grabbed a drink for herself and went to go find a place to sit. There were either people sitting at tables or purses or things left on the table indicating that they were taken so Tuesday had to search further out to find an empty seat. When she finally found an open table she breathed a sigh of relief but she saw a boy from her year standing beside it so she hesitated and stopped. "Is this table taken?" she asked politely. She was still rather tired from standing on her boots all night so she hoped she could just sit already so she would even barter with the boy to let her sit here if she had to, but she hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.
​

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Tagging: Satchel and Tuesday
Wearing: Yule ball outfit
House/Year: Hufflepuff / First Year

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Minerva Khulik had meant to stay in her room, had every intention of doing so - after all the noise level of the Yule Ball would have driven her quite mad but with each of her mother's letters spread out before her on the bed, all telling her to go out there, make a friend, get out of her comfort zone ...Minerva had for an insane moment in time, hastily gotten dressed and left her dorm and ran down flights of stairs before she could change her mind. In her hands were the headphones that would drown out any noise if it got too much but already she could feel the pulse of the music pushing out to meet her from the open door way of the great hall. She had almost turned then and ran back to her room but instead, her feet had propelled her inwards as if someone had summoned her against her will.

She put the headphones on instantly so that all about her was muffled silence, like this she could take in everything else - the faces, the many faces with make-up and without, with hair shining and done up or looking neat and pristine, dress robes, dresses, suits, all manner of lovely outfits that made Minerva shrug her shoulders and glance upwards. Her own sense of dress style was ... eccentric to say the least, she wore many colours together and did not care if they suited or not, if what she wore made her happy, then she simply wore it! The decorations were beautiful and Minerva was glad in a sense that she had come down but the crowd was a bit much and she promised herself that she would stay away from the dance floor. She danced like a octopus tipped over the edge of sanity with sugary drinks, all arms and legs, no coordination but she didn't care, it was freeing to dance the way her body wanted to and not the way others thought she should.

However, she didn't feel like dancing right now, all she wanted to do was see if there was anyone she knew or more to the point ... didn't know! That list was so much longer than the other. She wandered between tables, lifting a goblet and trying the punch before placing it back again after making a face at how tart it tasted. At another table she took a bite of a bun but it was so crumbly that barely any made its way to her mouth, so she put the rest back again. Glancing about she saw students behind her, some leaning against the wall, others hovering near tables. Minerva kept her eyes somewhat down cast as she walked by them all before finally coming herself to lean against a spot on the wall that was thankfully student free. Tentatively she lowered the earphones from her ears to see how loud the room was now, she was tempted to put them back on directly but heard a girl beside her asking if a table was taken.

She glanced and saw two students she knew to be first years, only because they had been in her flying class and Charms class. The boy looked extremely well dressed, immaculately turned out for the event and the girl looked absolutely stunning. Minerva would never have thought to wear a dress like that without at least throwing on twenty other items with it! She didn't want to appear as if she were eaves dropping or anything but instantly her mother's words were replaying in her ears 'put yourself out there!', 'get out of your comfort zone'! Her insides were a knot of apprehension but she found herself trying to smile anyhow.

"Hi ... enjoying the ball? I know it's not technically a ball because that is a round object used for various pursuits either academic or extracurricular but ... this ball ... I mean, it's more of a dance really ... with people propping up walls ... a lot" she trailed off, knowing she had rambled way too much but couldn't have stopped her mouth no matter how desperately she had wanted to. The earphones were hung around her neck now and slowly she turned her gaze to look back out at the students all dancing and enjoying themselves, her hands starting to creep up to put the earphones back on. She would count to twenty, she told herself and that should be sufficient time to turn on her heel and walk with as much dignity as she could muster back to the door and high tail it out of here!

 

[Satchel Howard]

The sound of a newcomer drew Satchel's attention away from watching the dancers. "Hello, no of course it's not, please be my guest." His eyes took a moment to take in the girl. She was very pretty, dressed well, if the outfit was a little risqué. He doubted any of his relatives would've dressed that way, though he knew his father sometimes disapproved of how aunt Danielle dressed. Her husband didn't seem to mind. He extended his hand, "My name is Satchel Howard, you are?" He was pleased by this girl, she was very well dressed, and while Satchel was far too young to be interested in anyone romantically, boy or girl, he was definitely interested in beauty. "You are very pretty. The dress you chose is a very good colour on you." The next interruption was somewhat more unexpected. The girl who rambled wore an eclectic assortment of clothing, and seemed quite nervous. Sensing this, Satchel simply nodded along with her words. "You are quite right, I think the word ball when referencing a dance, comes from the latin to dance, like with ballarina. Today, though, it isn't very correct. I'm Satchel Howard," Again, Satchel reached to shake her hand. "Would either of you like a drink? I could get us some punch?" There, peace would hopefully be restored, and perhaps the odd girl would feel better.

 

[Tuesday Palmero]

Tuesday smiled when the boy said the seat wasn't taken and was even happier to note that he wasn't annoyed by her intrusion and was actually rather friendly. She stepped forward to shake his hand and glanced down at her dress as he complimented her. "Oh thanks," she said rather hastily, tugging on its hem, "I liked it because it reminds me of Gryffindor," she said, smiling happily at the thought. "I'm Tuesday by the way," she introduced herself in return. When she finally let go of his hand she took a seat at the table only to have someone else join them.

Tuesday took in her attire and smiled to herself, chuckling a little at the girl's ramblings, but the boy responded to the girl much better than she could've. She wondered if they were in Ravenclaw for a moment as she sipped on her drink. When the boy asked if he could get them some drinks, Tuesday put down her half empty cup and nodded. "That would be great, please!" she said truthfully. She was still rather thirsty from having danced earlier so she knew she was about to finish the rest of the drink in her hands currently. She turned to the other girl and asked, "You said a ball was a round object used for various pursuits and mentioned academics, how can a ball be used academically?" She figured the girl would know a lot because she seemed smart, and Tuesday had only ever thought of a ball to be an object for sports so she hoped it would be okay to ask her.
​

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva heard the girl and boy introduce themselves to one another, the girls name was Tuesday - another anomaly for Minerva to deal with. What a strange name to give to a person, she mused to herself, a day of the week no less and there was a girl in her own house named after a month! People did change language around in the most peculiar of ways that intrigued her no end. The girl, Tuesday was speaking about her dress now, the boy Satchel obviously liked it and Minerva understood why, it was very beautiful and it did remind her as the girl suggested of Gryffindor. A wise choice, the young Hufflepuff mused again before the boy turned to offer his hand and name to herself.

Minerva found herself staring a moment at the proffered hand before quickly doing the polite thing and shaking it with a good firm grip before then releasing it.

"I'm ... Minerva Khulik" she told them both, giving them what she hoped was a decent enough smile. She wasn't very good at small talk, she fell desperately short in it and knew she should try to practice it a lot more for it seemed to break much in the way of ice amongst her peers. Propriety told her not to mention how intrigued she was by the girls name, so instead she latched on to the only other thing she found compelling and that was the word the boy chose, punch!

"See, that's what I mean. Ball means more than it lets on to mean and punch... some would say it's a cupped fist let fly at another thing or person but in this context, it's a drink. Most peculiar the English language, most peculiar. Kiwi is far easier to grasp I think but ... no thank you, I took a sip earlier and it tasted a little funny" she told him politely.

She stood a moment more, not sure if she should take a seat with them at their table or remain standing against the wall. Her reverie on this matter was interrupted by Tuesday asking her about what she had meant. Minerva found herself naturally smiling at the girl now, her pale green eyes lit up a fraction.

"Well, in divination they use a crystal ball for predictions and a ball more commonly known as a globe is used for marking out the countries and rivers, then in astronomy they use more balls as indicators of the various planets" she paused and looked at the girl again, "sorry, that's not a great topic for a dance setting is it?"

She heard the music as if for the first time then, the strange pulse beginning to pick up in her blood stream like an old familiar rhythm and she found her foot tapping along to it's beat.
"Are you both ... enjoying uhm the evening?" that was a normal thing to ask surely, she thought.

 

[Satchel Howard]

Tuesday's response prompted a smile, "I'm in Gryffindor too! My family aren't particularly happy about it, because they wanted Slytherin, and my cousin got Hufflepuff; she's very annoyed. I don't see the problem particularly other than she's probably a bit violent compared to others in her house." Sybil can be quite volatile." That was an understatement. the girl had no problem hurting and torturing her own family members, he doubted she'd draw the line at people who were in no way connected to her, especially Hufflepuffs. "Minerva is a pretty name. Are you in Gryffindor also?" He didn't recognise either of them particularly, but Satchel hadn't the best memory for faces. Exiting for a moment to get a drink for himself and Tuesday, he watched the girls become somewhat more animated. When he returned, they were talking about... globes? "What is a globe?" Satchel had never seen them. Muggle objects didn't feature particularly in the Howard household. Placed a glass in front of Tuesday, he took a seat, leaving one in the middle for Minerva should she choose to take it. "Well, I'm not not-enjoying the evening. I'm not really one for dancing. Waltzing and things like that I can do, but all the weird jumping and stuff.." Unable to accurately express his distaste at the ridiculous nature of modern dancing, Satchel could only shake his head. "I came, because, well, it's what you do isn't it? If you don't come, people will think you're upset and sad, and all of this," he gestured with his left hand, "Is quite lovely to look at, so I don't mind spending an evening looking at well dressed people," he rose his glass to Tuesday, "And perhaps learning some new things." With these words, his raised glass switched toward Minerva. Finally, he took a sip and then fell silent. That was perhaps the longest speech he'd made since coming to Hogwarts.