Others at the ball..., Third-years

[Shenavyre]

-Merc-

Merc was inspecting himself in a grimy, ruby-encrusted mirror hanging on the wall opposite from him. He was currently leaning against the corridor wall whilst waiting outside the Gryffindor portrait, so he had the time.
Merc was wearing dress robes of a very dark blue which Bel had picked out for him.
He had asked for her assistance with the important matter of his attire for the Ball, and she had assisted admirably. She had even talked Merc into brushing his hair! It was now a somewhat neat wavy mess.

He raised his right eyebrow in the mirror and put on a ‘suave’ face. A group of first-year Gryffindor girls came out of the portrait, and he decided to test out this charming façade on them. “Hello ladies,” he said, deepening his voice. They ran away, after giving him some frightened looks. Merc laughed and continued his wait for Kit, growing rather bored as he twirled the white orchid between his fingers.

[Mononoke]

-Rod-

Rod and Bel approached the impressively tall doors of the Great Hall, mercifully standing open. People in various stages of merriment could be glimpsed from the outside of the transformed room. A mix of houses cheered at the front of the room where the Weird Sisters were playing.
“Time to make our entrance,” Rod proclaimed.

-Fenella/Zadiel-

Fenella cast a dazzling smile in Zadiel’s direction. Instantly, the smitten boy was at her side, offering her a crystal-stemmed flute of pumpkin juice. Fenella accepted the proffered glass and suggested they claim a table before the welcoming speeches began.
“Sure,” said Zadiel, smoothing imaginary creases out of his dark blue dress robes. Fenella looked stunning in a pale cream gown with her hair in an elaborate pearl coiffure, and he said so.

[Shenavyre]

-Belbel-

“Indeed! Let us make our grand entrance!” Bel chorused.
She lifted up her ivory skirts as they entered, marvelling at the ice sculptures scattered across the Hall.
“This is fun isn’t it, Rod?” She whispered excitedly in his ear. “I wonder where everyone else is. Let’s go find a table shall we?” Bel stopped to tug her ear thoughtfully.
“I must say, Rod, you do look incredibly dashing! Perhaps shower more often?” Her brown eyes sparkled mischievously.

[Tamare]

-Kittles-

Kit Swindon was in distress. Her dress robes were missing, her beautiful, plain navy dress robes. Note the key ingredients there - 'plain'. 'Navy'. NOT 'fancy' 'green'.

Which was what she was wearing, courtesy of a seventh year who thought she was doing the girl a favour, oddly enough. The fourteen year old trudged down the stairs to the common room and pushed the portrait to the side, narrowly missing Merc. "Oh," she said simply, staring at him and then looking down at herself. Navy dress robes much like what she SHOULD have been wearing, and so unlike her ripped up, short sleeved, green ensemble.

Her eyes were drawn towards his hair, which was - shock - brushed! Self consciously, she patted her own curly mop, which she hadn't even thought about, save sticking a bobby pin in the fringe. "Hello Merc," she said abruptly, trying to stop her hand from ruffling the tidy hair. Instead, it twitched by her side for a while, waiting for the boy to reply.

[Mononoke]

-Rod-

"I think we all know what the outcome of your suggestion shall be Miss Mycroft!" Rod responded cheerfully. His sister had picked out his dress robes anyway, a shade of red so dark it appeared black, rather like his hair colour.
He tugged on one of Bel's curls. "Did you try and straighten these?" he asked, noting that they took longer than normal to spring back into position. "Never mind. I do believe that you look absolutely spiffing my dazzling flower of angelic...ness!"

[Shenavyre]

Merc grinned at Kit upon her approach.
“You told me you’d be wearing dark blue – now we don’t match!” He said in a mock accusatory tone. He leaned in to tuck a stray, wild curl behind her ear, adding in a low voice, “But I think you look exquisite in this dress.”
He straightened and grinned, handing her the white orchid.
”Courtesy of Wyldren’s greenhouse,” he offered as way of explanation.
“So, shall we?” Merc asked, indicating to the Great Hall and proffering his arm.

-Bel-

Bel laughed at Rod’s assessment of her and did a little twirl for his benefit. Her nose scrunched up as she answered him, “I did try to straighten them, but it seems not even magic works.”
She sighed at the thought that she was doomed to a life of curly hair as they found an unoccupied table to seize.
"Wonder whether Kit and Merc have arrived yet?" Bel mused to Rod.

disclaimer ooc: i happen to love curly hair though!

[Tamare]

OOC: XD I have curly hair! But it's tied up (kinda) atm cause it's SO HOT!

Kit took the orchid from him, raising her eyebrows and wondering what had brought on this weird display of... romanticism? Eww, no. She rolled her eyes and took his arm, beginning to walk over to the stairs. "Please don't ask," she said, referring to the dress. She blushed and pushed her glasses further up her nose as she remembered his comment.

____timewarp

They entered the Great Hall and Kit stoop on her toes, looking for Rod and Bel. Where were they? "You saw Roddie earlier didn't you?" she asked Merc. "Did he say where he and Bel were going to be?"

[Shenavyre]

ooc: GIVE ME YOUR HAIR (please). lol. lucky luce!

-The Merc/Isabel-

Merc snorted. “Well Roddie was too preoccupied with getting ready for the Ball when I last saw him, so…” his voice trailed off as they went further into the Hall, drowned out by the riotous screams of the Weird Sisters. He spotted Bel and Rod – it seemed as if they too had just entered. Bel turned and saw them approach.
“Kit! Merc!” She called them over, beaming at the latter – she felt rather like a proud mother at seeing Merc dressed so well, after she had helped choose his outfit especially. Bel made room for them at the table and turned to Kit, “Kit, where did you get that dress? That green material is beautiful. Seen Ray? Or is she still in the Gryffindor common room?”
Meanwhile, Merc was discussing the eternal topic of soccer with Rod.

[Mononoke]

-Fenella-

Fenella laughed softly at Zadiel's compliment, brushing his shoulder lightly with her fingertips. Her escort blanched at the contact.

-Roddles-

"I still say that was the best quarter in the entire season!" Rod insisted passionately. Switching topics suddenly, Rod extended the arc of his attention to include the others. "Are we eating? I'm starved," he announced. He grinned wickedly. "Who dares me to have haggis?"

[Ariadne]

Rayven stood nervously in a shadowly corner near the doors of the Hall, trying to pluck up her courage enough to go in. She made a move to push her glasses up, but poked herself in the nose, as she'd put contacts in, instead of wearing them. Rubbing her nose, she shifted, causing her dress to rustle. Her grandmother had sent it to her. The note that had come with it had told Rayven that her own mother had worn it to one of the balls of her school, which made Rayven feel like her mum was there with her. The dress was a lavender colour, with tiny violet colour flowers embroidered on the skirt. Rayven had fallen in love with it the minute she'd seen it, but now she thought that she should probably just go back up to her dorm room and skip the ball.
Pacing a bit away from the doors, she shook her head. No, she couldn't wimp out on this. Her friends were expecting her, and if she gave into her shyness now, all the courage she'd gotten would disappear. Squaring her shoulders, she walked through the doors. The sight of all the people made her quail, but she grit her teeth and looked for her friends. Seeing them at a table, she hurried towards them. "There you guys are!" Her eyes reflected some of her panic and she reached over her shoulder to twist a lock of hair around her finger. She'd used two combs to pull it back, so it fell in a wavy stream down her back.
She placed herself beside Bel and tried to remeind herself that being around so many people was actually okay.

[Shenavyre]

Bel almost didn’t recognise the girl without her glasses.
“Ray!” She shrieked happily, giving the girl a quick hug before letting her sit down. Their group were all assembled at the small, round table now, and she smiled contentedly. Making a face at Rod’s mere mention of haggis, Bel enquired of the others, “Dance now or eat first?”

[Ariadne]

Rayven gladly sat down beside Bel, but felt panic rising again when she mentioned dancing. There was no way Rayven was getting up there, in front of all those people, and dance. No way. It didn't matter that there where lots of other students dancing.
She took a deep breath and tried to think of something else. "Ma...maybe we should eat first."

[Tamare]

OOC: I'm terrible at this, eh? I'll try to be more active. Meanwhile... IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY IN 7 DAYS NIC! I think.

Kit was just about to open her mouth to say 'dance!' when Rayven muttered that she would rather sit down and eat first. She shrugged and grabbed Merc by the arm, pulling him away from Rod mid sentence. She rolled her eyes at Bel and brought one hand up in a 'chatterbox' gesture, pointing at the two boys. She wasn't exactly one to talk, but that wasn't the point.

"What are you going to ha-" Kit broke off in mid-sentence as a whip of cream-coloured material caught her eye. "Oh." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Fenella and Zadiel. "Guess who's here to ruin the evening... no," she said to Rayven. "They're not going to ruin our fun!"

Turning around, she beckoned to the others. "Come on, we may as well eat now and then be able to dance when they put all the good songs on later!"

[Mononoke]

-Rod-

Meanwhile, Rod was busy extolling the virtues of haggis to anyone who would listen. "...chopped up and cooked in a sheep's stomach-"
"Who are you?" asked the unfortunate one he had managed to hypnotise briefly in conversation.

[Shenavyre]

Merc allowed himself to be moved around by Kit. He noticed Fennella and Zadiel on the far side. Zadiel! He drew Kit in to murmur in half-hearted outrage, "Look! He's wearing the same dress robes as me!"

Bel meanwhile, had just poked Rod in the shoulder. Hard.
"Noone wants HAGGIS, Eachann!" Unfortunately for Isabel, she had unwittingly yelled this painfully obvious fact which was only oblivious to Rod into her own plate...
A steam now rose from the haggis there.