Monster Mash Ball (OPEN TO ALL)

Raven had once again out done herself when it came to creating the right atmosphere for the Halloween ball, she was unhappy of course that the English were coming to the event as well, just because the war had ended didn't mean that her resentments had after all, but she was under strict instructions by the Doctor, who had become oddly less annoying over the years she had come to know him. She didn't want to anger him, and ruin the hard work she had put into making the ship look as creepy as it did.

Clouds of smoke drifted around the wooden deck of the ship coming from the open door down into the main hull of the ship where the dance floor lay, the lighting was dark and red, with the occasional flashes of bright light shattering through it, like lightning, the music was playing, the usual muggle tripe, safe to say she did not choose that, but she was proud of the skeletons she had reanimated and chained to the wall to swipe and groan at the students as they passed.

Of course, there was also the lower deck of the ship beyond the dance floor, which she had turned into one of those...scare show things, it was tricked out like a maze, students and professors could go down there, and see what things might be lurking in the blackness below. Raven was rather proud of that new addition to the ball.

Leaning against the wall, she waited to see if any more of the Durmstrang staff were showing up in their costumes, and she wondered with a manic little grin, if any of them would be wearing something utterly stupid, which she hoped that they would be.

Briony was undoubtadly happy to be back the way she was before that god awful spell hit her, but she could still tell that her darker half was in there somewhere, just waiting to come out and take over once more, who knew, maybe that would work to had advantage in some situations? But now was not the time to think of that, now was the time to enjoy this halloween party Durmstrang was throwing.

Smiling gently, she picked up Raven and straightened out her costume, she had been more than making up for the time she had lost with her daughter, and things seemed to be getting back on track for her, which was a relief. Grabbing her clutch bag and Raven's little broomstick, Briony swiftly apparated them from home to the ship.

Once again it seemed that Raven had outdone herself, and the place was scarier than ever, even if it did scare her baby just a little, especially the way that Big Raven was dressed, her costume was almost as scary as the setting! With the blood on that white dress and the wounds...

"Hey there Raven." she greeted softly placing little Raven on her feet to toddle off and grab one of the sandwiches from the table of food "Nice costume, although I think little Raven is going to have a fit if this place gets much scarier." she joked.

Charlotte tottered into the Durmstrang ship, partly because it was still on water, and she had just come by portkey, and partly because she was wearing high heels that were about 6 inches tall and she wasn't used to them quite yet. Not daring to touch her hair for fear she would ruin her costume completely...Charlotte wandered down into the lower deck.

Wow it was awesome! There was blood splattered all over the wall and there were deep welt marks around the ships floor and ceilngs like someone had scratched their way around the room, the skeletons were just the perfect touch and she smiled happily when she saw Briony, and Little Raven.

Shyly she made her way over to them and waved;

"Hi auntie Briony, Professor Drake, this place looks amazing! I can't wait to see what everyone else comes dressed up as...I love you make up by the way." she muttered shyly, before asking "Where's Uncle Rich?"

Evangeline had been instructed to go to this ball by Jack, for some reason he wanted her to go and 'make friends' with other humans from her work place, although she was reluctant to go without him being here, she understood that he could not accompany her and came to the event anyway.

Her silver eyes regarded the room with mild interest, it had been altered to look more scary...she did not understand why humans would want to deliberately scare themselves, it was an unpleasant sensation from what she understood. Shaking her head, she sighed and stood over by one of the skeletons.

Tilting her head to one side she blinked, oh, it was Carl Martin, she had processed him not two days ago...and the skeleton turned to recognise her and swiped for her hair;

"I am sorry, but it is my job." she sighed remaining just out of reach of the angry spirited skeleton.

Lady Lilim Midday was invited to attend this ball, and chose to come rejecting all of her other invitations for events this year so she hoped that it was going to be worth it, but apparently the teacher in charge of organising it made a good go of creepy-fying the area.

As she wandered inside, her sequinned horns on her head, Lady Midday looked around, the party was not yet started and she thought that this would be the best time to take care of those emails she had meant to be doing. Then her heart stopped.

There was no signal.
THERE WAS NO SIGNAL ON THE GODDAMN BOAT.

Fuming, literally, she wandered over to the bar and ordered the strongest cocktail available, and plenty of it.

Senium had decided that she was going to go to this ball, it was the last week she was going to be human and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted, of course she was more than a little nervous about the process, but she wouldn't let it spoil this night, and she wondered if Humphrey was coming...she hoped he would do.

Smoothing out her costume Senium tapped her glamour charm ring and made sure that the charm was extra strong for tonight, with all the dancing she might bleed a little more than normal and she didn't want any trace of it to be seen.

Stepping carefully down the steps of the ship after arriving by portkey, Senium smiled widely at the sight of the ships inside, it was so,...so AWESOME?!!

Giggling happily she saw that there was nobody here she knew yet and most of them were adults, so she slid over to the food table and helped a little girl get one of the swiss rolls that she couldn't quite reach. Picking up a drink of juice she wondered when the others would get here.

Shekel flitted to the edge of the shore and sighed a little bit as he looked down at the little devil's pitchfork that Lucian had insisted that he bring with him. Sometimes he wondered if Lucian was sent topside just to make him miserable. Even if they were friends the guy was not exactly above practical jokes and this sounded like a practical joke to him.

Sighing, he boarded the boat and too a look around. Everyone seemed to have put a lot of effort into their costumes. Of course there was a woman with just devil horns on but that was still more than he had. He had a thin plastic pitchfork. But had otherwise come dressed as he normally would.

It was times like this he wished he could drink. He would get so drunk that this whole idea seemed good. He was sure that was what Lucian had been doing when he agreed to come in the first place.

Cobalt popped onto the boat with his portkey and immediately got into character by grinning madly. Not that anyone would be able to see it through his face mask of course. But it was the principle of the thing. At least that's what he thought. And the little yellow boxes agreed with him,

"Paaaaaaaart-ay!" he joked loudly, zipping across the boat as fast as he could to the closest unattached woman. He shoulder-barged the skeleton over the edge and into the water, "He always did like to make a... splash at parties! Get it?"

Cobie rolled his neck a little bit as he entered the party. He glanced over and saw that his older self had put a skeleton through the wall and was currently repairing it in case a large wave hit the side of the boat. No one liked water in their alcohol in his experience.

Seeing someone he recognised at the bar, Cobie smirked a little bit and ordered the same as what she was having. He turned to Lady with a small smirk,

"Fancy meeting you here!" he chuckled a little bit and leant in to kiss her cheek but whispered in her ear, "You're going to love the evening's entertainment..."

Christi absolutely hated balls. She only attended balls whenever she really, really needed to. Attending the Halloween ball was optional, at least to her, but since Halloween was her favourite time of the year, she decided to attend the stupid ball, even if it meant having to interact with people. The thought of having to make friends made Christi shudder as she walked around the ship.

As usual, Lehrer Drake had done a marvelous job. There was blood on the wall and scratch marks. There were skeletons, too. She got closer, but as she did the skeleton swiped at her head. She raised her eyebrows and walked away sheepishly. That was surprising, but fantastic at the same time.

As Christi turned around, she noticed that the British were invited to the ball. She frowned as she walked over to a table filled with an assortment of food. She picked up a roll and bit on it, chewing really slowly. The sooner she finished, the sooner she had to talk to people. She chewed as slowly as possible, looking around. Christi nearly choked on her bread when she saw a girl who was around her age, drinking juice. She figured the girl was British, since she hadn't seen her around.

Slowly, Christi moved a bit farther from the girl as she continued eating her roll. She looked around cautiously, looking for anyone that looked like they wanted to talk to her. Talking wasn't really her thing. Obviously.

Lucas had used a portkey to get to Durmstrang, and it was his first time to use a portkey, so he wasn't exactly used to the sensation. That was why he was hobbling around the ship, trying to regain his balance. And he did, after five minutes of trying not to fall off the ship and into the cold water.

He straightened his hat and fixed his mask. It was a bit hard to see while wearing that mask, and he had to find out the skeletons swiped at people the hard way. Once he was close enough, a nearby skeleton swiped at his hat. Lucas walked away cautiously, hoping he wouldn't cause a lot of mess.

Halloween was certainly not Vlad's favourite time of the year, but he figured it would be nice of him to at least join the others. With that thought in mind, he Apparated to the ship and walked in like he was there the whole time. He also made sure to avoid the skeletons, because as he walked in, he saw someone get swiped by one of the skeletons.

He walked over to the food table and picked up a mug of butterbeer. He scanned the room as he lifted his mask a bit and carefully sipped on the butterbeer. The room wasn't really filled yet, but he was sure it would be, soon.

"Bloody creative," Alatheia thought to herself as she emerged from the water. "I go as my naiad self." She swam from Lake Nais to Germany, which took days. Lucky for her she left Lake Nais five days ago, and she arrived just in time.

As usual, her dress wasn't wet at all once she was on the ship. It had been slightly wet moments ago, but thanks to her naiad powers, she isn't soaked and shivering.

Alatheia absentmindedly touched her face lightly. It had been years since she took form of a full naiad. Now she looked slightly different - beautiful, even, and not a single sign of evilness appeared in her face.

Once she took in the things she were seeing, Alatheia noticed that one of the men looked quite familiar. The man was carrying a... plastic pitchfork? She had probably seen him somewhere, but she couldn't quite remember...

As she got nearer to the wall, she noticed that there were skeletons there. The one nearest her groaned and swiped at her, but she shrugged the bony hand off and lurked in the corner of the ship.

Haley walked through the halls of her house, pretty content with how her costume had turned out. Of course, she hadn't been brilliant enough to do it all on her own without some magic. She grinned a bit and then touched the portkey that took her to the deck of the Durmstrang ship. Her first thought was 'awesome', and then came 'spooky'. She grinned like a child and looked around.

Her golden, shining eyes, looked around and landed on a girl with complete black eyes and hair standing straight up. Charlotte. Haley's smile widened and she walked over with a freaky smirk. "Hey there, Char," she said and dropped the freakiness. "How are you?"

Essantha walked from her office and down to the lake in the costume she had chosen. She was pretty pleased with it, being so very easy to make and so very okay to walk around in. She honestly felt pretty good about herself at that moment, not wearing anything too scary or anything, just wearing a costume. She wasn't so psyched about Halloween, not really getting all the fuss about it, but when the ball was said to be, she didn't want to not go, so.

There she was. And the ship was amazing. She felt pretty awesome when she walked through the smoke at the deck and she moved calmly through it with a wicked grin on her face. Then she saw the Sweeney, and she figured she'd go over and congratulate the woman with a work well done.

"Hello, Sweeney. You've done a splendid job here," Essantha said, "It gives me the exact right creeps for Halloween."

Lucia apparated to the village near Durmstrang and then walked calmly up to the ship where the party was located. She smiled, holding up her dress when she walked in hills as it was so long that she stepped on it. Somehow it annoyed her and made her happy. When she saw the ship, she was sure it was a ghost ship. It was epic. She walked aboard and looked around.

Her eyes landed on Briony and she instantly walked over. "Hello Briony," she said with a smile, and then her eyes landed on the two others there. "This is brilliant work, really. I don't quite know who made this happen, but wow," Lucia said kindly.

Charlotte turned when she heard the familiar voice of Haley, happy to have someone else here who she actually knew and was her age, although the adults were cool to hang around with sometimes, it was feeling a little bit awkward between them at the moment, maybe there was something that happened and she didn't know about it?

Shrugging the thought off she turned and smiled at Haley, her costumed looked brilliant, and she was even a little freaked out until she stopped the act that went along with her outfit.

"Hey there Haley, you look awesome! Great job on your costume." she grinned "It's pretty spooky in here isn't it? Maybe later on we should go and check out the maze on the lower deck together? I think I'm too scared of what Raven might have put down there to go alone."

Richard came aboard the ship and went down below to the party dressed as a mad scientist. It was rather appropriate since he had just finished making a much more effective version of the hangover relief potion. One gulp and your hangover was completely gone instead of one bottle making it less severe.

Cackling for effect, Richard made his way over to Briony, lil Raven and her namesake. He grinned and shook his head, his mad hair shaking from side to side in it's mad spikes,

"So what do you think? Appropriate no?" he joked before kissing Briony on the lips gently. He bent down and wrapped his daughter up in a hug, sitting her on his shoulder with an arm keeping her secure, "And how's my little terror been doing? Got any good sweets yet?"

He bowed his head slightly to the older Raven,

"Good to see you Raven." he smirked, "Love what you've done with the place. Who'd have thought you had skills in interior design?"

Aquila picked up her green dress - the heels were hard enough to walk in, add in the frills of the dress and it was a cry for disaster - and made her way delicately over to the banister which she held onto for dear life as she tried not to fall over. Brilliant idea, Aquila, you should've just gone as Red Riding Hood like your mother wanted you to, but nooo, you have to be independent, she mentally scolded herself.

Why was she here, anyway? Everything was creepy - it was halloween after all - which was awesome, but she had no one to talk to. She didn't have friends, that just wasn't really her scene. She didn't like letting people close to her, because she was going to die after all. Pleasant, the voice in the back of her head chimed in and she scowled at it.

Melody wore the same outfit she wore last year.She knew it wasn't very original but at least she could walk in it this time.Besides some people found black cats scary.

Lucian was wearing something that couldn't really be said to be a costume, he had come as his older adult self and he was wearing one of those masquerade masks, it was kind of mysterious and just enough to be considered a costume without being too much of a stick in the mud.

Wandering into the venue he grinned when he saw Shekel and he hugged the man around the shoulders from behind;

"Shekel you old rogue! I didn't honestly think you'd come. Wow..." he grimaced looking at his costume "You're outfit sucks man. What the hell are you supposed to be? Trent Reznor with added pitchfork?"

Then his eyes landed on Aquila and he smiled widely, finally his best friend was going to meet his lovely lady, hooking his arm around Shekels he tugged him along to where Aquila was standing and waved at her. His boyishness was out now he had his friend with him.

"Well hello there Aquila, you look positively lovely this evening," giving her a little kiss on the lips he introduced Shekel "This is my old friend Shekel Umec, Shekel this is Aquila Wilson, my girlfriend."

Aquila leant against the banister and turned her head slightly to admire the room. It really did look magnificent, but she wasn't in the best of moods. Her mind had decided to be mean to her, so she was rather grumpy with it in return. Her eyes flickered upwards as she heard a loud exclamation in a familiar voice and she spied Lucian.

She snorted with laughter at his 'costume', which was really just his older self. She rolled her eyes and rested her elbows on the banister, holding herself up in a casual position. Urgh, this dress was a monstrosity but she did like the green colour. It brought out the green-blue in her eyes.

"I love your, erm, costume, Lucian," she eyed him with a grin on her face, her mood immediately brightened. Her eyes soon fell on the other person who was introduced as Lucian's friend and she smiled hesitantly at them, her walls drawing up around her. "Nice to meet you," she greeted stiffly, nodding her head slightly.

Lucian could tell that Aquila was probably not loving her costume, she didn't love anything that was really feminine after all, or that was what he had come to think in the time that he had known her, maybe she would be able to change it through the night, or make it less...awkward to walk in.

"Oh I can sense the sarcasm dripping from your voice." he grinned waving her comment off "I know my costume is amazing, unlike Shekels, at least I made myself older and got a mask, this thing is pitiful."

Gesturing at his pitchfork Lucian merely grinned and noticed how Aquila was a little bit stiff and awkward now that Shekel was here, he knew she might be, but hoped that her and his friend would be able to get along together.

"No need to worry about Shekel, and, he knows pretty much everything about everything, including myself." he scowled "So no asking him embarrassing questions okay?" Lucian teased.

Lucian's bubbly happiness was infectious and she found herself grinning back at him despite the presence of the other person. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, if Lucian trusted him than she had no reason not to, even if she was still a little hesitant. She was still defensive around other people, no amount of bubbly Lucian would change that fact.

She rolled her eyes at the comment about Shekel's 'costume' and she shook her head at them both. "Oh hush Lucian, you're just as bad as him. At least I put some effort into my own," she motioned to the dress, and then looked back up at both of them with raised eyebrows, challenging them to say their costume was better than hers.

"Embarrassing questions? Like what, pray tell?" She pursed her lips and regarded Lucian curiously.

Lucian raised his eyebrow and he looked at Aquila;s costume again, he assumed that she was going as someone from a show or a film or something, but to him she just looked like a Victorian woman, the dress was of that sort of period he thought, of course, he wouldn't want to undermine her effort, it could be someone really obvious.

"Oh yeah?" he smirked "And just who are you supposed to be then Aquila? At least everyone's know's who I've come as, it's hard to forget a body like this one."

Flexing his biceps Lucian posed in several different ways before smirking to himself, oh, he didn't half end up acting the fool when he was happy, and being with Aquila and Shekel, well it was certainly a happy occassion to him. He wished it to happen more often in the future.

"Uhm, nothing nothing! Nothing at all!" he stammered "Shekel just tends to embarrass me and make things awkward by talking about girls I dated in the past, hes an ass like that."