Laila Kennedy
November 05, 2016 2:20 PM
Halloween Party! by Laila Kennedy
For three weeks, the following sign made in orange and black had hung in Cascade Hall and the bulliten boards of each common room (each room had a different element to it. Flying bats decorated the sign in Cascade Hall while dancing pumpkins adorned the signs in the common rooms) so as to ensure every student in the school would have a chance to see it:Spirit Club presents...
A HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY!
Please dress up in the costume of your choice and join us for a night of fun and merry-making.
Where: MARS room 1
When: Friday, October 31 at 7:30 pm
Events include: music, food, dancing, paper ‘jack-o-lantern’ making, a bake sale, and a costume contest.
Halloween had been one of Laila’s favorite holidays for as long as she could remember. There was just something about the spookiness and chill in the air that sent her spine shivering and that was a feeling that she found she craved more than anything. Her mother, superstitious as ever, had never fully embraced the less-religious aspects of the holiday but Joey Kennedy who had grown-up trick-or-treating around Turner’s Point had put his foot down and insisted his children get the full benefit of the holiday. Not one to be outdone by her husband, Leonora had painstakingly handmade Halloween costumes for both Laila and her brother because if her “angeli piccoli” were going to dress up (after all, if it was just a game, it couldn’t hurt anyone) then they were going to do it well. So long as they went to church with her beforehand and lit candles to pay their respects to the dead.
That year, with Spirit Club, Laila was excited to host a school-wide Halloween party. Since Halloween fell on a Friday that year, she had wanted to ask Headmaster Brockert if they might be allowed to dress-up for school as well, but she was a little frightened of the man and opted not to in case she get shot down. Besides, dress-up in costumes was a Muggle thing, it seemed, and Headmaster Brockert was a pureblood. Laila had been at Sonora long enough to know that while the purebloods tolerated her presence and participation in class (sometimes even her friendship) they were less tolerant of other things (like romantically mixing or forcing” her Muggle beliefs on them).
At the end of the day on Friday, Laila arrived to the MARS rooms as soon as class got out to start setting up for the party. She had decided that the water room would be the perfect place for the party, a night scene by a lake was such a nice setting and with the help of her Spirit Club and the prairie elves she was certain the whole thing would come together quite nicely. The finished product was, perhaps, not quite as polished as she would have liked since they were only schoolchildren and elves, but she was still happy to see that the general idea of her decorations were around.
The dark, quiet lakeside had been brightened with strings of fairy lights that now hung in the illusioned trees and tall stakes that poked out of the ground around uncovered picnic tables that held Halloween-themed treats whipped up by the prairie elves. Since the party was to take place just after dinner, Laila had thought snacks and desserts would be more appropriate, but had also asked for a few substantial items since some members of the Spirit Club had worked through dinner. In the ground were paper bags with faces cut into them put over candles (charmed with the aid of an older student not to catch the bags on fire) that she had taught the Spirit Club to make in lieu of jack-o-lanterns, and at another picnic table were more bags in case other students wanted to join in the fun. She had put out a couple of sharpies from her personal collection in case someone wanted to write their name on the back and take their creation home later.
Professor Ammon had graciously agreed to help Laila bring creepy Muggle monster tunes to the Halloween party, and so earlier that month, Laila had written home and asked Gabe-y to send her a mix CD which was now playing through an enchanted CD player hidden inside an old, broken cauldron she had found in one of the unused classrooms and decorated with fake spider web. She was really grateful for Gia and the rest of the Spirit Club’s help setting up the party and had made a mental note to talk to Gia about doing something nice for the members who had volunteered their afternoon to set-up for the event. She was also thinking about doing something for Gia who had agreed to be her right-hand woman in the crazy rollercoaster she was throwing together, but of course Gia didn’t need to know that.
Once the room started to look like it was coming together, she let the various Spirit Club members leave to their rooms to get ready for the party, staying herself until everything was set-up. She had worn her costume under her robes in case there wasn’t anytime to change later and was grateful that she had since she was putting the last candle to rights when the first guests started to show up. Her schoolbag she kicked under the table-clothed booth the Fundraising Committee had set up so that it would be out of the way, and put on a big smile for everyone. She was kind of sad that she hadn’t been able to grab her red cloak like she’d originally wanted to, but Laila was quite certain that the red dirndl dress her Mother had made was obvious enough as part of a costume that it didn’t quite matter if she didn’t have her cloak as well. And if the party seemed to be doing well, she supposed she could always leave it to grab the rest of her costume. It was just lying on her bed, after all.
Laila let the party guests mingle for a few moments, wondering if she wouldn’t be able to get her cloak before she had to get up and greet everyone and point out the Fundraising Club’s booth, and wrung her hands in the skirt of her dress. When it was time, however, Laila climbed up onto one of the picnic table benches and projected her voice in the way she’d been practising for the Quidditch games.
“Thank you for coming to the party that the Spirit Club worked so hard to put on! Let’s give them a round of applause for coming here after class and staying until it was done!” Laila announced, showing her hands as she began to clap as a model for what she wanted everyone to do. “And now, if you could turn your attention to the booth over there, the Fundraising Committee is holding a Halloween-themed bake sale. All proceeds are going to a charity of their choice which Emmy will come up and talk about later on!” She clapped again, wanting the other students to join her. “There are paper bags there in case anyone wants to make a ‘jack-o-lantern’ to add to our ‘jack-o-lantern’ garden over there,” she raised her fingers to make quotations so the other Muggleborns would know she knew what a real jack-o-lantern was. “And for those of you who want to participate, there is a Halloween costume competition. Winner gets the joy and prestige of being applauded. Now please, enjoy the music and the company and sample the other treats we’ve laid out--you’ll notice there are no cakes, you’ll have to go to Emmy for those, and most of all, Happy Halloween!”
OOC: Feel free to respond here or at FnF if you’d like to bang out a quick Halloween party thread! If you’re part of Spirit Club (ie: posted there or meant to) feel free to mention whichever part of setting up your character did or, if you’d rather, Laila will need people to help tear down so your character could just mention that they planned to stay later to help with that.
Subthreads: What a brilliant illusion I bear [Tobi] by Makenzie Newell with Tobi Reinhardt
Two cakes and one companion for the evening, please by Araceli Arbon with Caelia Lucan
Cont'd from F&F (Jemima if you want) by Gia Donovan
Special Delivery. (Laila) by Kira Spaulding with Laila
All that jazz. [tag: Louis] by Arne Reinhardt with Louis Valois
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Laila Kennedy
Halloween Party!
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Laila Kennedy
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Araceli Arbon
November 08, 2016 6:41 AM
Two cakes and one companion for the evening, please by Araceli Arbon
Araceli had been on the fence about the Hallowe’en party. On the one hand, she sort of wanted to go. She was curious about the whole thing, certainly, and almost everyone was talking about it. She sometimes felt cut off from people here, and missing out on big events certainly didn’t help with that. On the other hand, it was all a bit Muggle, a bit garish and likely to be a very full evening of socialising, which sounded quite tiring. As usual, it was Makenzie who’d made the decision, and Araceli had sort of got swept along with it. She didn’t really mind that. It helped sometimes to have someone more decisive in her life, otherwise she probably would have spent all her time dithering and probably missing out.She arrived at the party with her friend, and Makenzie went off to get them some refreshments from the main table, whilst Araceli headed for the cake stall. Giving to charity was a generally good thing to do, and having some comfort food to get her through the evening wasn’t a bad plan either. As she paid for her cakes, she glanced over her shoulder to see how Makenzie was getting on, only to find her friend had been intercepted by Tobi… She guessed her drink might be a little while in coming then… She tried not to mind. She didn’t like to be clingy, and it was silly to be jealous of Makenzie for Tobi liking her… But it was all very easy to say and hard to do, especially as she wasn’t terribly sure about the party. She’d tried to keep those doubts to herself though, not wanting to be too much of a party pooper, so Makenzie couldn’t exactly be blamed for leaving her to fend for herself… Anyway, she would have plenty of society parties to attend where she’d have to do just that. Why not start practising now?
She adjusted her crown a little nervously - she hadn’t had many ideas for a costume, and had just gone with something that let her reuse an old ball gown and was thus firmly in her comfort zone, although she hoped no one thought she was up herself for choosing to be a princess. Given that there were unicorns wandering around, she didn’t think that reality or true aspirations had a strong bearing on people’s costume choices.
She wasn’t alone for long - perhaps more because the cake stall was bound to be a popular place than because of her particular lure as an individual - but even if they weren’t joining her specifically, she still tried to give the person a friendly smile as they came her way.
“Good evening. How-how do you like the party so far?” She was a society girl. Now that she’d got past the actual hurdle of speaking, she knew how to make small talk.
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Araceli Arbon
Two cakes and one companion for the evening, please
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Araceli Arbon
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Caelia Lucan
November 15, 2016 12:31 AM
One cake and I’ll happily take the company. by Caelia Lucan
Caelia loved parties. She had grown-up with three boys and as such had held many a doll’s tea party by herself. Once she got old enough to attend her grandmother’s parties, she found that she enjoyed spending time with other people at parties even more than she liked to host and attend her own private ones where she was the only living being in attendance if the various kittens her mother’s parents fostered weren’t counted, that was.The ball Sonora had hosted the previous year had only served to further fulfil Caelia’s party desires and when the poster for a Halloween Party made its’ circuit around the school she found that her thirst for parties had only deepened. Kelsey didn’t seem as though she wanted to go, and Kira wasn’t the sort to like parties much, but Caelia was tired of living life by other people’s rules. She wanted to be a good witch and live by societies rules, but she was also young and wanted to have fun. They were at a school where muggleborns and halfbloods made up a considerable portion of the population, and some of them were not half-bad looking. Besides, Laila Kennedy seemed like the nice, harmless sort of girl and so Caelia had made up her mind to attend the party regardless of what anyone thought.
It was a bold move for the young Crotalus who had only ever done what she’d been told before, but for a party, she felt like it was an acceptable thing to do. So, Caelia cast a color charm on her winter cloak to darken the pale cornflower shade to a lovely midnight blue and charmed her light pink ball gown from the previous year to the same cornflower her winter cloak had been only moments before. She had written Emrys, asking for help with a charmed mask to cover half her face and complete her look and her darling older brother had more than helped her by sending a beautiful jewelled mask which covered one eye and arched in lovely blue swirls high over the other. Thankfully Kelsey was out when Caelia departed their shared room—she wouldn’t have wanted to have to explain herself to her best friend, but perhaps Kelsey had decided to go too? Wouldn’t that have been funny, Caelia thought to herself. Running into her best friend and roommate at a party where they might have each been afraid to tell the other they were going.
Once she got there, however, she didn’t see any of the people she usually talked to. Perhaps the costumes they were wearing covered their faces—she wasn’t the only one with a mask on and hers was rather on the revealing end when it came to showing off facial features. The mention of a cake stall, however, did get Caelia attention and she wandered over in that direction, hoping there might be a delicate cake for her to eat since she was still full from dinner but did like to indulge in sweets from time to time.
A crowned Araceli greeted Caelia and she smiled in return. The older Crotalus was on the quieter side, but she was quite ladylike and her presence there made Caelia feel utterly at ease being there as well. After all, if an Arbon girl was in attendance than surely the presence of a Lucan wouldn’t be shocking either. “Hi,” she replied. “I think it’s rather nice to far. Some of the costumes are a bit odd—” there was a second year girl stomping around as a man, after all “—but other than that everyone looks lovely!” She twirled a corner of her re-purposed ball gown with her right hand to show it off to Araceli. “I re-used my gown from last year too, only I made it blue so that it would look a little different. I’m not really anything though, just…a masked witch?” The last bit of her sentence lilted up into a question as though seeking Araceli’s approval even though it really was a statement.
“How about yourself? You look really pretty, by the way!”
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Caelia Lucan
One cake and I’ll happily take the company.
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Caelia Lucan
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Araceli
November 15, 2016 11:30 PM
That sounds good to me by Araceli
“It’s a very nice outfit,” Araceli complemented Caelia. She especially liked the mask. She had always wanted to go to a masked ball. In stories, the heroines were always free to be themselves once their faces were hidden. She had felt a little like that when she’d paraded around as the family’s made up distant cousin Amelia shortly before returning to Sonora, although that had had the pressure of being practise, being a test. She didn’t want to give her face to anyone else again, but the thought of hiding it for a while… Getting to pretend to be someone else who didn’t care, who could laugh, who could confidently dance with anyone they chose… That sounded appealing. “Especially the mask,” she added.“Thank you. I suppose I’m a princess,” she added, gesturing to the little paper crown, “But really I’m doing the same as you. Just finding a way to use the clothes I’m used to wearing at parties.” The emphasis was slight but noticeable. She was glad Caelia was here, and that she seemed about as familiar as she herself was with the whole idea. She didn’t feel so totally out of place.
She wasn’t sure what to make of the party itself. Some of the decoration was a little odd - why was a cauldron decorative when they used them every day? And then she remembered things she’d been told by her tutors about how the muggles perceived witches. Apparently they were all evil and ugly with warts on their noses. Hallowe’en was a celebration where this negative idea was pushed to the front. She looked away from the cauldron. Was this whole party designed to make fun of people like her and Caelia? That’s what she would have assumed before, but it certainly didn’t seem that way… For starters, no one she’d seen so far had dressed up as a witch, or a muggle version of one.
“My mother always tells me a party’s what you make of it,” she added with a slight shrug. “I suppose it’s more about who you talk to and spend time with than the other things, like decorations,” she explained, giving the cauldron another confused glance but giving Caelia a friendly smile.
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Araceli
That sounds good to me
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