She had doubts about coming and wondered why she decided to come alone. She should have just asked a certain person to be her date or anyone to be her date, but she didn't and now she was regretting it. She knew her sister would be coming, but she didn't know if she'd be with friends or with a date. Good gracious why did she do this?

Moving around the ship she found a staircase and started to walk down it. Stopping in the middle of the stairs she looked out. It was beautiful and she couldn't believe that Hogwarts had done this for them. It was so sweet of them and she hoped the Ilvermorny professors had done something nice for them for doing this.

Getting to the bottom of the stairs she moved to the small seating area and took a seat. She'd get up and dance if some of her friends came, but for now, she was enjoying the music and sitting a little out of the way.

A winter formal-esque event. Felicity really hadn't expected it, but it did look like Hogwarts had pulled out all the stops. She entered the ballroom, arms linked with Vivian's and grinned at her friend. "Wow."

Although sure that by the end of the night she would regret wearing heels and wished she'd worn trainers, just due to them being more her sort of thing, Flick was actually fairly happy with the outfit her Dad had sent her. It was weird to rely on your parents to dress you, but her father did seem to know way more about fashion than she did. And he'd put a charm on the shoes so at least they were physically comfortable. She didn't know where the other Slytherin Fourth Year girls were, but hoped they would enjoy themselves. And if things went awry with their dates, then it would be friend!dates Vivi & Liss to the rescue.

she felt incredibly unlike herself. The dress was a glove, black and silky. meant to grab attention but subtly- That's how Bastien had explained before. It wasn't her taste, or her scene and as the music swelled around her Aslan began to regret. She was used to parties, her family had held many but they were rowdy and uproarious and never this elegant or stiff. She had left her hair down, more to play with than for looks because her calloused and unpainted fingers were as restless as her mind as she walked through the grand ballroom aboard this absurdly large boat.

Rich People. she thought blithely, linking her arms together beneath her chest. her large, dark eyes were alight with an unusually alert gleam, but then again everything about the way she looked felt unusual to the Gryffindor.

Normal. That was it. She felt normal. the revelation brought a cool, ironic smirk to her rosy lips. what a strange and singular feeling, Aslan paused in her walk, leaning against a wall and half-watching the growing crowd as she explored the irony of her situation.

Kyle had an unfortunate - or perhaps fortunate, given one's perspective - tendency to look moody and sullen even when his mood was neutral or even elevated. He had, naturally, decided to attend the event without a 'date', given that there was no-one who captivated his interest, or vice versa. Kyle wasn't really one for big social events, not really, but apparently it wouldn't do for one of the Ilvermorny competitors to refuse to show his face; already he had started garnering a reputation, even here, for being brooding and unapproachable. It was the same story as back at Ilvermorny, and Kyle detested that. Perhaps tonight would be the opportunity to change things a little, maybe make a friend or two, if he managed to avoid insulting them too harshly right off the bat.

But then there was that whole 'sullen and moody' problem again. Kyle lingered, as was his nature, at the very edge of the room, hands in his pockets and blue eyes scanning those who had started to fill up the ballroom. Though he had made an effort in his outfit - as he was wont to do - the front of his hair was still just as mussed up in a 'deliberately-careless' fashion as it always was. He wasn't sure he really intended to do much dancing, but felt that any potential like-minded friends would be more likely to populate the edges of the room in any case.

And besides; dancing, though it tended to involve more than one person (but for the daring and the uncaring), was hardly a social activity in terms of communication. Even so, perhaps he should have opted to head for the dining saloon first, rather than the ballroom. It wasn't too late to duck out of here and locate some refreshments instead-- although, he was hardly committed to this room for the rest of the night, either.

Here he was again...another party and another set of dress robes. Bentley had lost track of the amount of those he had ended up acquiring over the years. Just recently his mother had donated all the ones that he had outgrown to an orphanage. And now he was in a new one. The upcoming holidays would also have him in dress robes almost every night.

The sixth year sighed to himself and checked his watch. His girlfriend should be showing up any time soon, until then he was content to people and maybe mix and mingle with a few familiar faces.

Seeing Aslan, he nodded and flashed a smile at the girl but didn't move. She didn't particularly look like she wanted company at the very moment, but he was sure he'd bug her for a dance a bit later in the evening.

Etta walked down the staircase, her fingers sliding down the bannister. She'd been excited about this event since the day they'd announced it.. this was her first time at a proper party, after all. And on a SHIP! And, AND, most importantly, she was going to dance! How exciting was all of that? Her eyes sparkled as she reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the ballroom.

Wow.. she looked around, appreciating her surroundings. The room looked so magical. She sighed softly, slowly making her way around the room, absently fidgeting with the hem of her dress. What had she been thinking? She loved her dress ( Hufflepuff!pride, yo ) but she felt rather weird.. being so dressed up. How did people look or feel comfortable wearing clothes like these? Surprising!

Etta sat down after walking around the room for a bit, wondering if she should explore the other parts of the ship too.. but no, she could do that later with Levi.. For now, she was just going to enjoy the music. Oh, look. She spotted a fellow IMPS competitor. What was his name again? Kyle? She watched him for a moment, slightly hesitant about approaching him.. but decided to just go with it. She was waiting for Levi to meet her soon anyway.. so in the meantime, it would be fun to make acquaintances, right? She waved at him, giving him a bright smile. "Hey, there."

This was.... amazing. She had never been on a cruise ship before so this was something that the young Pukwudgie would be sure to remember for the rest of her life. Beautiful cruise ship with a gorgeous ballroom filled with wonderful people. Plus Irene had the cutest date. A Mr. Isaiah Collado. She felt incredibly giddy when she thought of him. Tonight was going to be spectacular and she knew it. It seemed like the perfect break to the competition.

Irene walked down the stairs feeling like a princess with a ukulele. She figured that it would be good to have on her so if she got tired of dancing she could always go play it on the promenade underneath the star filled sky. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she glanced around the room. She noted that there were two fellow competitors here Etta and Kyle who both got waves. She liked Etta a lot. Hopefully they would get the chance to talk later. And she would have to remember to go over to Kyle and congratulate him on a perfect score. It was insane! Good kind of insane though...if that made sense.

Her eyes continued to scan the room until she saw a very familiar face over in the corner. Oh hey! There was Madelyn. Wow!! Madelyn looked absolutely INCREDIBLE. "Madeyln!" she called out to her and made her way over to her fellow schoolmate. "You look stunning. Love the dress."

To be perfectly frank, the idea of spending a whole evening at a formal dance was unnappealing to Chloe. There were others things that were far better uses of her time than interacting with these American visitors who, by and large, spent most of their time being loud and disrupting lessons. But Bentley had seemed so excited about the prospect of this dance that she couldn't turn him down.

He was so cute. It was a problem.

She'd managed to transfigure one of her....clothes into a workable dress. Yep. She'd considered asking around for a dress but that would have been too hard to do at such short notice. So she'd elected to go for a dressed-up version of something she already owned. Feminism.

Chloe managed to spot her boyfriend and approached him with a kiss on the cheek. [B]"Hi."

MADDOX WAS HERE.

Dressed up and ready to take on dancing which was not something he was good at but well that was not going to stop him today and look at all the people here already. He had the best date and was yeah ready like he already said. "Madelyn you are lookin good! Same goes for you Felicity!". THUMBS UP. They all did but it never hurt to say it. There was Kyle being well Kyle and looking like he wants to be left alone in his own little corner and well back to the girls since Etta and Irene were both looking good as well.

.......Even Chloe.

Tonight was going to be fun

it was all surprisingly calm for a hogwarts evening, aslan found herself musing on whether Staff had taken extra measures to keep the night and the students from getting out of hand, but she doubted it. There wasn't enough incentive, the staff seemed to care very little for the actual student well being and although Aslan seemed to hardly care, she was a little on edge.

she tugged on a lock of her dark hair, twirling and pulling it taut before letting it go, only to start all over again. Aslan forced her attention to the incoming crowd of people. There was the red-headed champion with the sullen looks and deep set eyes, and Bentley Moore who she offered a nod in greeting, but her attention was anything but arrested.

shifting, fleeting, restless.

Aslan bit her lip.

Balls and formal events were a staple in Bentley Moore's life. His grandmother was a socialite and his mother was the managing director of a hotel chain. He grew up with it and actually quite liked them.

He was particularly interested in sharing moments like this with his girlfriend, who honestly came from a completely different world than he did. Take the fact that she didn't even let him get her a dress, even though she couldn't source one for whatever reason.

And here she was....wearing...a dress. It was an interesting choice...definitely nothing that he had seen before but he knew better than to question it. He offered her a warm smile and dropped a kiss on her cheek in return.

"You look lovely."

Olivia was feeling incredibly nervous about this whole event. She liked hanging with friends and dancing and all but the whole dressed up aspect made her tummy start doing somersaults over and over again.

As soon as she had gotten on board and saw what her fellow schoolmates were wearing, she felt a little worried about being underdressed. She remained at the top of the stairs for a few minutes as she took a deep breath, reigning in her nerves. Olivia was fine. Everything was fine. She was more than fine. Tonight was going to be amazing. A smile tugged at her lips. She was ready. Squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin up a little, she slowly and somewhat gracefully (for a professional gravity tester) made her way down the staircase. This time she didn't trip. She was glad that she had opted for ankle boots instead of heels. Merlin knows that she would have made quite the entrance and hurt herself in heels.

When she got to the bottom of the staircase, Olivia paused, glancing around the huge room as she took every little detail in. Wow. Her blue eyes widened to the size of saucers. The ballroom was absolutely breath-taking. She decided to take a step back from the centre of the ballroom, to get out of incoming visitor's way. Olivia then glanced around the ballroom looking for a familiar face. She found Etta speaking with a fellow IMPS competitor. She gave Etta a quick wave before walking over towards the edge of the dance floor.

Maybe she ought to make a song suggestion?

But what song... That was the question. Hmm..

She appreciated that he didn't say anything. Because, honestly, she was always down to preach about feminism. She basically carried around a soap box. Just, uh, not actually. Well.....maybe actually. She had a wand. She supposed she could conjure one.

She slipped a hand in his easily, "You don't look so bad yourself. I like the cut." Chloe wasn't surprised it was perfectly tailored to his body. Bentley got a lot of use out of a suit between everything his grandma dragged him to and general galas/balls.

"Did you talk to your mother?" About the holidays and such.

Jer had told Aurora that he would meet her on the dance floor because how could there be a formal even and there be no dancing? After managing to ditch Sam (who wanted to have their older sister tag along with them all the time, anyway), he had located the ballroom.

He, however, remained indifferent to the surroundings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was fancy. Fancy didn't cut it for him though the props for the photoshoot did. But where was Aurora? Was she dancing with someone else? Had she even arrived there as yet?

After debating several times over, Althea had decided that taking a night off studying would do her some good. Possibly. Not entirely sure if she wanted to even stay the whole time, she figured that she might as well make a good entrance and then leave, dramatically, like a phantom in the night. Thankfully, her parents had elected to sending a little bit extra money her way so that she could purchase a dress of her choose; and even though her father had reminded her to keep herself moderately covered up, she chose to disregard that gentle warning - she refused to give up on a chance to be dramatically glam just because her father didn't approve of her dress.

In a terribly cliché sort of move, the fifth year found herself wandering into the ballroom. It was ornately decorated and Althea could appreciate all the attention to detail; it had a very ostentatious 20th-century-romantic-night-on-the-water sort of vibe. She noticed a few familiar faces - was mildly surprised that Etta could manage to walk in her shoes - and she wondered if she should go and socialize or just hang off to the side by herself. Not too far away, the Hufflepuff spotted Aslan. The older girl was an even bigger enigma than Derf, and Althea found herself drawn to her. She decided that being around Aslan was much more interesting than being alone.

It didn't take her long, but she managed to walk - without tripping or doing anything remotely embarrassing - over to the Gryffindor, but not before catching sight of Bentley and Chloe. Without realizing it, her eyes had narrowed, and she turned her face - no need to get upset, she could talk to him calmly later, maybe - and smiled at Aslan. "I love your dress," she said, trying not to gush - because she did, the dress was beautiful - "did you come alone, too?"

Breathe

Heels were not Noelle's forte. She liked her comfy clothes. She liked being comfortable and cute. Now... she was cute... and not so comfortable. Noelle was dressed up thanks to her mom who had taken her shopping during Hogsmeade weekend.

Noelle came out to have a good time. She was here st the dance alone. Proud of that fact too. She'd been asked but ultimately decided she needed to be by herself for a bit. She'd made the right decision. Smoothing her dress, Noelle maneuvered down the steps. She didn't look up from her shoes until she had made it down the staircase. Clutz in heels probably wasn't a good thing.

Spotting Olivia standing by herself, Noelle made her way over to her. "Well don't you look fantastic." Noelle told her friend with a grin. "So, did you end up asking Ace to be your date?" Was he getting her something to drink? Or possibly meeting her here? Or... he didn't say no did he???

Hey! She knew the person coming down the stairs! It was Noelle. Yay! She was glad to see another friend here. Olivia grinned when she saw Noelle come down the stairs so gracefully. She looked so beautiful in her dress. Blushing at Noelle's compliment, she nodded. "Aw thank you. I feel a little underdressed," she said with a small smile. Seeing everyone's beautiful ballgowns was wonderful but a little nerve-wracking for the young Gryffindor. "You look absolutely stunning. That dress will be fun to twirl in."

And then there had been a question she hadn't been expecting. Had she asked Ace to be her date? Olivia got very, very awkward. Erm.. Well... Erm... She struggled to find words for a couple of seconds. "....No, I didn't ask him. I.... I chickened out, Noelle," she said, glancing down at her hands momentarily. "Not very Gryffindor-esque of me." She wished that she had the courage too but she was failing at being a Gryffindor this particular day. She was afraid of reading too much into things and what if her perceptions had been wrong about it. She'd have to wait. She brought a smile back onto her lips. "Do you have a date?"

Sometimes, being a student here at Hogwarts amazed her. Vivian was intrigued with the amount of aesthetics there was aboard the Merlin's Pride. Even the mere notice about the event at the Slytherin Common Room had placed the blonde on the balls of her feet, bouncing. She had hoped to have a guy accompany her tonight, but obviously her first and only option wasn't from either Hogwarts or Ilvermorny. It was quite sad, really, but Vivian was sure she'd still have a SPLENDID time with her friend!date, Felicity. Queens don't need kings, yeah? "Wow, indeed!" She took a moment to bask in the beauty of her surroundings.

"Also, you look absolutely lovely, friend!date," the blonde complimented her dorm mate. It's not everyday you see the people around you dress up for formal social events like this. "Should we go look for Skylar and Junia?" Vivian pondered on that for a moment. "Or probably not. They're old enough to handle themselves." The fourth year was still adjusting to it, especially with Skylar finally getting a boyfriend, but she didn't want to spoil the night for the other two she-snakes. She'd just have to trust that their dates won't ditch them. "Sooooo... should we dance first or grab a bite?"

A pair of pink heels with a fabulous matching fluff on the toe made their way down the grand staircase. Pan up and you'll see those magnificent pumps belonged to a very tailored and put together Miles Jonesy.

The shimmer on his eyes matched the dress of his date, who's arm he had in his. Girl won her right to show him off for the night. He was feeling so FIERCE. This is what Dr. Frank-N-Furter might've felt when when he came down the elevator for his grand entrance. BrooOOOO, he should've come down an elevaaatoooor. Later. If there's even an elevator in this place.

He should stop daydreaming. Next thing you'll know, he's jumping overboard to perform "Don't Dream It" in the lake. Miles turned toward Maesi and whispered, "Look at me like I'm the dreamiest thing to ever grace this planet. It'll make them jealous."

Jesús was indubitably out of his element. He'd been to formal events, yes, but never at this scale. It left him feeling a bit inadequate, to say the least. But, for the sake of putting on a good show, he left those doubts behind, and made the executive decision to actually attend the event. He didn't actually think that people would be doing the whole "bring a date" thing. Jesús, not entirely a novice to the art of dating (but not exactly an expert, either,) had fully intended to simply go and sort of mingle with his peers. He also did not expect to find himself seeking out a very particular person, to ask said person if they might want to attend the event, and possibly, perhaps, accompany him to said event.

It was all so very new and strange and Jesús did not like feeling out of his element; especially when he technically shouldn't feel any sort of awkwardness. Except he did feel it. A lot, at that.

Clearing his throat, Jesús took a glance around the ballroom before settling his eyes on Valerie. There were plenty of places they could've gone, but Jesús, in the spirit of getting out of his comfort zone, figured the best place to be, at that moment, was the ballroom. Something about the space felt strangely mystical; he reminded himself, again, that he wouldn't get caught up in frivolous moments just because they were in that sort of setting.

The outfit wasn’t anywhere near her usual attire, and there was always the chance some adult or another would have felt like reprimanding her for the midriff cutouts, but Ambrosia was Ambrosia. And if she was going to be here by herself, she wanted to make someone regret it. She just hadn’t decided who, even if there was a short list to begin with. At least, there would have been if she’d seen one of the three who had chosen to abandon her even more than she’d ever felt Lorcán had when he’d dared to get himself a girlfriend. Either way, she wanted to look good. Possibly even stand out, with or without joining in on any random singing performances.

Walking as elegantly as she could down the staircase into the ballroom, she let her blue eyes scan the people who had arrived before her, more to just take stock of if there was anyone she could bother than anything else. A faint grin crept onto her face as she saw the dour expression on Kyle’s face, and she made sure to walk past him as she made her way into the room proper. “You know, one of these days someone might actually believe you hate being here, Kyle,” she offered lightly, even as she only paused a second before walking on.

There were several Hogwarts students milling around…Jeremy…Irene…Jesús...Her dark head had turned slightly toward the staircase at the sound of heels only for her to nearly laugh at how extra Miles was being. Very theatrical. Maybe her outfit was going to escape scrutiny after all…the Cunningham sisters, and unsurprisingly, the third of her little trio of boys.

“Are we all going to have to be careful to avoid your two left feet?,” she said dryly, appearing at Maddox’s side nearly as if she’d simply Apparated there, giving him a nudge. Even if it was more just her natural feline grace, and maybe the fact he seemed to always think she’d appeared out of nowhere.

To say Maesi was excited would be an understatement. Not only did she get to go to this amazing formal event, but she looked f a b u l o u s and she landed herself a hot date. He was even considerate enough to coordinate his attire with her own. Did everyone see how they sparkled? Of course they did because Miles had the brilliant idea for them to be fashionably late, and now everyone could watch them descend the grand staircase with her arm in his.

Oh, look! She spotted a few friends in the ballroom and she gave them little waves. And there was her sister. It was too bad she couldn't find herself a date, and Maesi felt a little bad. Down deep. She had her own date to focus on that she really couldn't dwell on any negative feelings right now. But it looked like she had plenty of other dateless friends here that hopefully Madelyn would still have a good time. Like.. that mysterious Kyle Baker standing off by himself. She glanced at him before resuming her focus on Miles.

She smiled to herself when he leaned to whisper to her, but.. oh. Was she not already doing that? She did think he was pretty dreamy, okay? Clearly she wasn't giving him enough attention though. "Okay," she returned as softly as a Maesi could, still smiling. "I thought I was, but I'll make it more obvious." And she let out a dramatic sigh, nearly swooning as she turned to look at him, dreamy smile in place. Good thing she was holding onto him. "They'll really be jealous when they see you dancing with me though." Wink.

She had surprised herself in accepting his request that she accompany him as his date to this affair, but she had her reasons. She always did. None of which she would ever admit to aloud and particularly not to the likes of Jesus Rodriguez who was likely to read into such motivations and cull from them advantageous and favorable means. Correct in assumption as his interpretations may be or otherwise.

This scene was entirely foreign to Valerie. More foreign than the European soil which her combat boots were still growing accustomed to. She had attended her share of small weddings and her cousin's Bar Mitzvah, but none were neither as lavish nor as grand as this. Her uncle and aunt had insisted she pack a formal gown with her in anticipation of such a party (which at the time she had reluctantly accepted but now was admittedly thankful for) and was trying not to dwell on the cost. Doing so would make the fabric weigh heavily off her shoulders with whispers of guilt each time the lush red fabric swept across the floor.

Which was why (although she would deny it if asked) she was grateful to be on Jesus' arm at the moment. He was familiar and clearly just as much a fish out of water here as she felt. "Do you even know how to dance?" she asked with a mischievous gleam to her eyes while twirling herself to stand in front of him and guiding one of his hands to her waist in attempt to take the lead.

Bentley gave her hand a squeeze as she slipped it into his. If there was one thing that he had learned (finally) over the six years of knowing Chloe, was when to pick his battles and where to pick them. All in all the dress...thing..she was wearing was pretty...it's just....

He nodded in response to her, but as he was about to make a verbal reply he looked up in time to catch Althea's narrowed glare. Okay so what exactly was that about?

She did look beautiful though, which was a natural thing for her he supposed.

Turning his attention back to Chloe he smiled and gave her hand another squeeze.

"I did. She said it's fine..." She also said but there were rules. He didn't need to tell Chloe that little bit however Heh.