BEFORE THE BALL!!!!(open to all)(haha...rhymage)

[Selena Tiber]

Arden was getting impatient. It was just before the winter ball, and he'd been waiting for twenty minutes. Of course, he'd been twenty minutes early, but he was still waiting. He stopped pacing and for what he counted as the twelth time, flopped into a giant, red chair by the fireplace. Drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair, he contemplated the evening. First, he'd meet Karia in the common room, and from then it was the dance floor, and from there.....well, that was kind of up to Karia. He smiled to himself and stood once more.

Looking in the gold-framed mirror above the fireplace, he studied his reflection. For once his hair was neat, slightly sticking up in the back...but that could not be helped. His dress robes were decent: navy blue with golden cufflinks and polished black shoes. He loosened his tie nervously, and pulled at the collar. Where was she? Was she coming? Then Arden's mind roamed to how beautiful she'd look and what his reaction should be. He needed to practice it, otherwise he might fall over. He pretended to be shocked...then tossed that one away, she might be offened. Then he tried out smug...no, that wasn't good either. Then he tried a friendly smile, raised eyebrows, a jow drop. No, no no, no, no. He sighed and walked to the other side of the room and back. Scuffing his shoes on the carpet, he moved to sit back in his chair, trying to stay calm. Then he missed the chair.

"Oof," He said as he fell to the fllor. Rubbing his backside, he tried to sit in it again, this time succeeding. Arden pressed his palms together, trying to ignore the sweat. And he continued to wait.

[Karia Sto-Helit]

Karia stepped down the stairs from her dormitory, glowing slightly. For tonight, she could be happy, and forget any and all troubles on her shoulder. She was robed in a sweeping midnight black dress, one long slit running from her thigh to the floor. It was a single strapped gown, dotted with tiny rhinestones along the bust-to-strap portion and swirling all along the skirted part. The tiny gems glittered from the slit to the floor, randomly placed, but angled diagonally in a general pattern.

Her hair was up in an elegant bun, a few stray tendrils falling to her neck and shoulders. She had heels on, but they weren't so high as to cause her any pain, but high enough to add some style. A single, tiny white jewel was at her throat on a delicate silver chain. She paused at the bottom of the steps, beaming at her date.

"Hey there, handsome," she said quietly, walking over to his side. For once his hair was neat, and though he was dressed fancily, he had a slightly casual demeanor about him. "You look particularly dashing tonight."

[Selena Tiber]

As much as he'd tried to practice, notihng could have prepared Arden for how she looked. What he wanted to say was "Wow Karia, you look gorgeuos Wanna go?"

Sadly, all that came out was: "Hubbujubbu...I...Hi...I.. wow...You--Pretty..erm. Yeah. " He took a step back and gave her a twirl, still in awe, but managing a small smile.

[Karia Sto-Helit]

Karia laughed lightly. She almost never dressed up; it wasn't her style. But tonight, she was letting it go, letting it all fall off. She could pretend to be something else for the night, and not have to worry about anything but stepping on someone's foot.

"Nice to see you too," she said cheerfully; he wasn't making much sense. She planted a quick kiss on his cheek and took one of his hands. "You clean up pretty nice, you know that.."

Pausing, her eyes met his, full of sparkle and shine. "Cat got your tongue?"

[Selena Tiber]

"I-I-I-No. Just, yeah. And you look...Thanks. I never..well, yeah. H-Hi. Erm...My tongue...fine. Yeah." Arden stuttered. He blushed and withdrew a muggle disposable camera. He raised his eyebrows as if saying 'Can I take a picture?' But that was all, considering that if he'd tried to say it, all that would've come out was garbage.

[Jeremy A. Laster]

Unready. Unprepared. Wondering why he was even going to the winter ball. Yes, that it all what Jeremy was feeling 30 minutes to the time the ball would open. He had been wanting to ask Kitty to the ball, but had just figured he would dance with her there. Now he knew he wouldn't and he knew he would have a rotten time though he would try not to.

Why? Well, a few days ago he received a letter asking him to attend the winter ball with a girl by the name of Renescance (or something like that). Not knowing how to say no, Jeremy said yes. It was like agreeing to have a rotten time at the ball. He wouldn't even have to go to this stupid ball if he could have gone home to visit him mum. 'God I wish mum's ok...' Ever since that unfateful supper surprise from the headmistress informing him that his mother was extremly ill and contagious he had hidden his hurt and worry from the rest of the world.

Anyways, there was no point of figuring out how to get out of going to the ball with a date less the thirty minutes to the ball. So now all he could do was get going and get ready. Jeremy rushed around his dorm and got himself ready, until he realized, he hadn't got a gift for whoever the girl was he was going to the ball with. Thinking to himself on where to get a gift at such short notice he ran over to the main common room.

He flung open the door to see people inside, which was quite normal. He summoned a few pieces of wood from the fireplace as he sat down before it. Transfiguration was Jeremy's specialty. Only because it was his mothers. Mum... The word caused pain through his head. Jeremy blew away his thoughts and concentrated on what he would transform this wood into... He needed a corsage. That was the first item of buisness. He looked at the wood infront of him and hoped that one of those pieces of lumber had contained flowers before it met it's fate...

((FEEL FREE TO IGNORE JEREMY))

[Selena Tiber]

Arden forgot his stutter. "Well hello there chap? Going to the ball? OOH! Flowers? Who's the lucky girl?" Arden was in nosy mode. "Why don't you just get her chocolates? Girls love those, don't they, Karia? Lovely lovely chocolates," He sang.

Then his face dropped and his smile faded. His hands moved randomly around his jacket, obviously looking for sometihng. In despair he dropped to the floor and crawled around, searching.

[Jeremy A. Laster]

Jeremy glanced over to the 5th year boy that had appeared at his shoulder suddenly, without notice. Quite direct infact.... Jeremy turned his head and didn't bother to wonder how the boy knew what he was about to do before he did it. His song of lovely lovely chocolates made him think that chocolates would be a good idea. Until it dawned on him, chocolates that were made from wood wouldn't taste that good.

"Why don't you try eating some chocolates that are made from firewood? Do you think they would taste good?" He said quite sarcastically. He saw the boy go down on the ground and seem to be looking for something so Jeremy pushed the boy out of his mind. Jeremy would need to be calm if he was going to do magic. It was one of the first things he taught Cierra. He pushed out the noise from the other people in the room and bent over the 3 pieces of firewood.

He concentrated himself to muttering a spell his mum had taught him as he moved his wand over the 3 pieces of firewood. He made three little triangles with his wand above the wood and then stopped muttering. He leaned away from the firewood and observed his spell go into motion. The three logs started to expand, one became a bush. No flowers. Another became a small christmas tree. No flowers. The final became an apple tree. Jeremy remembered how those trees would blossom before making apples and focused on the time of year that apple trees would blossom. Almost immediatly the tree removed all it's apples and replaced it with a bunch of flowers. Jeremy stood up and picked a blossom from the tree. A real replica of a real flower. After all, all the spell he cast was change a dead object into a frozen replica of it's past.

Jeremy miniturized the bush, the evergreen and the apple tree until they were big enough to fit in his pocket. And that is where they went, into his pocket. Satisfied with his corsage, he shoved that as well into his pocket and looked around the common room wondering what gift he could get this girl.

[Karia Sto-Helit]

Karia smiled and nodded at him, allowing someone, for once, to take a picture of her. But, before he could, he was distracted by the arrival of a Hietus she didn't know. Balls always sent people into a flurry of activity; she'd nearly made Arden faint simply by changing her appearance. There was always the asking a date to begin with, and that always led to both amusing and troublesome ends. Counting herself lucky to be with Arden, she stood silently, watching him.

"Looking for something?" she asked, bemused when he dropped to the floor. He seemed a bit upset...

She watched with interest as the Hietus boy Transfigured some wood into a corsage. "Wow, that's lovely. And very impressive. I'm sure whoever you're going with will be pleased."

[Selena Tiber]

Arden stoped searchign for a moment to look at Jeremy. "Well, no. But I've eaten wood, and I bet chocolate covered wood wouldn't be that bad. Ish." He grinned, then stared in awe at the magic.

"Dude. Do you know what you just did? That was so COOL!" Then in another quick change of expression, he contemplated his gift once more.

"AHA!" He exclaimed. Jumping up and rushing to the couch at the far end of the room, he began to rummage underneath it.

[Arlene Sainz]

Arlene came wandering into the common room, looking as if she'd stumbled in by accident. She was no longer wearing the skirt and t-shirt she usually wore, but was wearing - and quite against her will - a dress. It was blood-red completely, with an elbow-length sleeve on the right and a single strap on the left. The soft fabric stopped at her waist and descended into half-ruffles that swept down to her feet. A garnet pendant was hanging from her neck, glinting in the light of the common room, while her hair remained loose and tumbling down with a soft shimmer.

She stopped when she sensed people in the room. Arden was on the floor for some unknown reason, Jeremy sitting in front of one of the fireplaces, and Karia standing over her boyfriend. Arlene was still angry with Karia for the ambush she had taken part in earlier that day, but decided to let bygones be bygones. She walked over to where she and Arden were, wishing for all the world that she could see what everyone looked like.

"Hi, Karia. What's Arden up to?" Arlene had actually come up to get something that Cierra had forgotten, but that could always wait. In her opinion, the less time spent at the ball, the better.

[Selena Tiber]

"Arden," Arden replied, "Is looking for sometihng." Then in some insane form of intuition, he sent Arlene pictures telepathically of what they all looked like...because he knew she'd want to see.
He looked up. "By the way, You look gorgeous," He mumbled, his hand still grapppling with some unseen object beneath the couch.

[Arlene Sainz]

"Erm...thanks," Arlene replied, a little unsettled by the compliment. "You have Karia here to thank for that. Her and a bunch of other little demons who kidnapped me to go to this ball." Arlene tried and failed to glare at Karia. "But it happened, and I guess I'm going."

And thanks, she added silently to Arden. Though the pictures could never show her colors or anything more than basic shape, they were very helpful. "You look really nice tonight, Karia," she told her friend, smiling. Having not seen Karia in regular clothes, seeing her in a dress didn't shock her very much.

[Jeremy A. Laster]

The older girl in the room spoke to him. Jeremy didn't want to be spoken to. He was quite busy. Though her compliments were nice, he needed to find a gift for her. He muttered a small 'Thank you.' and turned away.

Meanwhile, the excited boy that was looking for something stopped looking for his thing and was looking at Jeremy. He obviously didn't take clue to the sarcastic remark's true intention of 'LEAVE ME ALONE!' but nevertheless, Jeremy couldn't help but reply kindly... "Yes I know what I just did, thank you very much." Or what he thought was kind...

Then the blind girl entered the room. 'Great, just great, a girl who can read my thoughts in here... And I am not any good at Occlumency any more, am I?' Then Jeremy realized she would be able to see what he wasn't discussing at the moment, his mother's sickness condition. Well whatever he did he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible before she would meet him. Clutching the shark-tooth necklace around his neck, he looked at her. 'Wait... a necklace!' Jeremy quickly stood up. He had everything he needed in his dorm... "I need to go, get my present ready... Nice to meet you both." He said to the boy and the girl who he didn't know their names yet... or would at that time as Jeremy bolted out the door to reach his dorm.

[Vissiand Morgale]

Vissiand Morgale walked down the steps, in his unusual formal wear (which he never used, so it was amazingly clean)--a black jacket over a blood red shirt, as opposed to the usual white. Black pants and black shoes that shined with an eerie darkness. But most fascinating of all was the black bat wing against a red diamond that was embroidered on his back. It seemed to be a part of the suit, but it also appeared to be made of magic...or anti-magic, one couldn't tell by looking at it. This was Morgale's special outfit, he only reserved for special occasions...and he assumed that this night would be special. He glanced over at Karia and her date, nodded briskly, and walked over to Arlene.
He thought to himself, so no one but the psychic could hear, Have you seen Catherina?
He fingered the pendant around his neck, and could feel Ziltik still trying to locate the mind waves of the girls dragon. He only hoped Arlene knew why she was so late.