welcome to chimera!

[Victoria Summers]

After a light breakfast because she hadn't particularly liked the main course, Victoria had left the Great Hall in anticipation of enjoying a quiet common room and first dibs on the best chairs. There was the morning class to attend, of course, but she had enough time that making her way back to the basement would be worth it. The hallway she had expected to be a breeze to get through, however, was instead crammed with students being held up by something or other she couldn't see. There was no other route available this close to the Great Hall and so she simply began to rudely shove forward under the assumption that if she couldn't see what it was causing the jam then it couldn't be that serious.

Infallible logic, really.

It wasn't that Victoria was impatient, it was perhaps some of her beater mentality and things in her way tended to irrationally infuriate her. Usually her temper was practically non-existent. There was little that would easily rile her besides comments about her father - most things, she simply let roll off her back best she could. People keeping her from where she wanted to go when she wanted to go there, though, and she had to fight the urge to cut a path for herself with her wand and a blasting spell.

When she heard her name called the first thing she thought was that she was in trouble for clearing that first year out of her way with her elbow. Something in her halted almost immediately and winced as she turned around and then outright glared when it turned out to be nothing more than Zonko. "You wanker."

[Edwin Zonko]

Generally speaking, Edwin Zonko did not find much of anything even slightly embarrassing. It was well known that it was seldom he hesitated - and blushing? Rumored of, at best. He behaved in a manner so large and ridiculous that he easily prevented anything from humiliating him. Even his own errors and mistakes were blown up hugely, exaggerated and giggled about obnoxiously; when Eddy thought he was going to make an ass of himself, he went all out with it.

This was perhaps one of those times, though it could just as easily been exactly what it looked like: Eddy being the immature little prick that he was. Wildflowers clutched in hand, other elbow up at chest height to help him make his way through the crowd, he met her wanker with an expression bordering on the refreshed. He responded loudly - extremely loudly - and rather aggressively. This was doubtlessly to ensure that he had the entire corridor's attention before he proceeded to drop down on one knee.

"I met a lady in the meads. Full beautiful - a fairy's child," he gestured broadly, offering the flowers to her now. "Her hair was long, her foot was light - and her eyes were wild," here he offered her a conspicuous wink. "I made a garl--"

Pausing and changing expressions with impressive rapidity, as only Eddy could, he shot a menacing look askance. "Shut the fuck up, will you?" It was, in contrast with the poetry and with his accent in general, rather more comical than usual. Clearing his throat theatrically, he turned dewy eyes back toward her; the shouting began again, vigor renewed.

"I made a garland for her head," he offered the flowers again, shaking them. "And bracelets too, and fragrant zone," Zonks paused, as though having forgotten. Then, wickedly, he smiled again. "She look'd at me as she did love," he lowered his eyebrows, "and made sweet moan."

[Victoria Summers]

Victoria stared a him for a long moment in open horror. The traffic in the hallway around them had stopped to line the walls and watch and he was reciting god knows what but she wasn't stupid enough to think it was sincere. There were a few options open to her; she could run off, could hit him and get angry, could just try to ignore him but all of these things were things he was expecting. Hoping for, even. The little fuck. Perhaps he'd stop before it got much worse; she took a step forward and hissed 'what do you think you're doing?', grabbing the flowers roughly so he'd stop shaking the fragrant bushel at her.

Still slightly paralyzed by it all, she glanced around at the openly staring faces and frowned a moment. What Zonko was playing at was beyond her. It was, perhaps, mildly amusing but it was much more humiliating for the both of them. Although, by now, she should be used to the fact that Zonko appeared to lack the capacity for such an emotion as shame.

[Edwin Zonko]

The many looks and uncertain giggles only made Zonks feel more confident. He was the sort who thrived on an audience, and - well, it couldn't be argued that he didn't know how to hold their attention. Raising his eyebrows in an amused manner, looking obscenely pleased with himself as she snatched the flowers from him, Eddy did not take a step back, nor did he seem even slightly deterred by her reaction. Voice lowering and sounding almost sweet now, he kept his crooked and maddening grin on all the while. "I set her on my pacing steed," he confided, recitation now a toss-up between sincere and parody, and then lowered his eyebrows, "and nothing else saw all day long."

There was hardly a pause before he spoke again, standing and offering her both a bow and his hand. "Victoria Summers," he repeated, almost formally. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Halloween ball?"

[Victoria Summers]

The little shit. She knew exactly what kind of reaction he was hoping to get from her. He was expecting either to anger or cow her and she stared at him a moment more, refusing to follow either path. Unfortunately the only other option was almost as horrible, it's only saving grace was that it would bewilder the poor boy so much as to almost count for revenge. Seeming to ponder his offer for a moment, she smelled the flowers and played with a leaf almost, it seemed, in an attempt to appear coy.

Eyes flashing wickedly to match the almost vicious grin that flashed across her face for a second, instead of running away she grabbed his hand as tightly as she could manage hoping just a little to grind bones and forced out a giggle. "Yes! Oh yes!" Victoria exclaimed in her most simpering voice and tipped off the performance by leaning down and kissing his cheek. "You darling boy, of course I'll go with you!"

As she pulled away, she forced eye-contact, winked and stuck out her tongue before standing up straight. "I'm beyond flattered!"

[William Wagstaff]

Willy, for his part, was near death. His laughter had by now almost suffocated him, and he was actually leaning against the wall for fear of falling down clean onto the floor. He was standing in the forefront of the crowd, having wormed his way through the throng of goggling people; he was good at slipping through cracks, both figuartively and literally, and had had little trouble easing himself to see the spectacle of a "madman" proposing love to Victoria Summers.

Zonks' declarations had all but left him disarmed - but it was Vicky's acceptance that truly got to him. It was, if nothing else, purely unexpected, and exactly threw all the awkwardness of the gesture back at Eddy himself.

Gasping and wheezing for breath, clutching his stomach, he made to regain himself and steady himself on his feet. Stepping forward just a touch, he raised his hands magnificently - and clapped.

It was a slow clap, the kind where the starter expected the crowd to follow. And he was lucky in this regard, for a cluster of eager first years happened to be behind him, and in their confusion, gladly followed his lead. With one domino came others falling, and soon, at least hald of the crowd was in applause.

"True love!" decalred Willy loudly, and as exuberantly as Eddy's faux-passion from before. "What lucky man, eh? Congrats, congrats."

And, waltzing up to them both, he slapped Zonks on the back and offered his hand for a formal handshake of celebration.

[Edwin Zonko]

Indeed noting her overly tight grip on his hand, he at least had some hint as to what on earth she was doing by accepting. Even if his grin did become forced ever-so briefly, he kept it for a long while - er, well, until she kissed his cheek. Grin fading off, replaced instead by a rather comically bewildered look, Eddy had to resist the urge to duck his head and wipe his cheek on his shoulder. There was, as was obvious in his behavior toward most girls, still some lingering schoolyard attitude toward girls in Eddy yet. The whole ordeal had him feeling like he might blush, though, of course, he did not, rather holding his head a bit higher.

Also resisting the urge to show any skepticism, Zonks instead found himself glancing over his shoulder as he heard a clapping begin. Eyebrows raising again - quite comically - that wicked grin was soon back in all its former glory. Eddy, as he always did, positively thrived on the attention he was receiving. "And sure in language strange she said, 'I love thee true'," he added cheekily, to the corridor at large. His spirits were apparently recovered fully by now.

"The luckiest," he agreed, standing up a bit straighter to give Willy a firm and friendly handshake that he surely did not deserve under the best of circumstances.

[Victoria Summers]

Relishing in the pause she'd given the boy, however slight, Victoria continued to attempt to look as effusively happy as possible, despite Willy's cackling. She pressed her face into the flowers for a moment to hide her grin, swallowing her own laughter as she fluttered her eyelashes at Zonko. "That was a lovely poem. You didn't right it yourself, did you?"

The crowd she could ignore. She wasn't, perhaps, as confident or easy-going about it as Zonko as she would much rather they all bugger off and stop with the clapping, but she was focused on maintaining her composure anyways. Once she successfully fought off the giggles, she pulled the flowers away and smiled sweetly at Zonko. "What would you like to go as?"

[William Wagstaff]

"Oh, it's gotta be somethin' matchin'," trundled off Willy merrily, completely blithe in his interruption. "Somethin'...cute, y'know? Like maybe flowers or sommat."

He grinned obscenely, looking from one face to the other as though he had given voice to a marvelous idea. To all public appearances - and the crowd was still lingering, apparently in the wake of the spectacle - he was an obliviously happy third wheel.

"But 'ey, nevermind me, eh? I'm sure Zonks got all this planned out, his perfect night." He elbowed Eddy bonily in the shoulder, looking him askance. "Go on then, let 'er know your wonderful ideas, eh?"

[Edwin Zonko]

"I did, in fact," he told her, eyebrows arching slightly. Though he, of course, had not, it seemed that Eddy was incapable of holding back the smart ass reply. Even if a joke was all his own to giggle at, he was unable to resist it.

His expression smoothed out as he listened to Willy - the only difficulty he had was not cracking a grin. Though elbow to his shoulder nearly made him reach out to automatically shove Willy, he resisted, and instead smiled. Tilting his head thoughtfully, still very easily ignoring the students who lingered to stare, he held out his arm to Victoria in manner as polished-looking as it was out of place on Eddy. "Ah," he said, waving a free hand dismissively. "Ignore William here. He's just jealous that I asked you before he did," he explained, failing completely to answer her question.

[Victoria Summers]

"Not flowers,' she insisted, pulling a face and perhaps not ready to go that far. "I've already got my costume figured. I wasn't planning on the great honor of being asked - so close to the dance too!" Really, she was much more tempted to harm him psychically than take her arm but she resisted the impulse and slipped her arm through his, glancing at Willy's amused expression and feeling rather trapped even though it was by her own stubbornness. "It's a much better poem than I would expect from you,' she admitted.

At least glad that they were moving out from the still-watchful crowd, she again resisted the very strong urge to dig her nails into his arm. It wouldn't have hurt much - her nails were short, stubby affairs, but there still would have been some satisfaction in the gesture. "Oh I'm sure Willy's got some doe-eyed girl conned into going with him. Probably she's paid for his costume as well."

[William Wagstaff]

"Oi, real flatterin' here, hearin' what you lot think of me," said Willy, with a wheezing laugh that would befit a child. "'s though I weren't anything but a honest, noble guy. Give me a pain to my heart when you say otherwise."

Unceremoniously, he slapped Zonks' back again, as heavily as he could manage (which, however, was not much). "But eyyy, not gonna intrude any further, yeah? Zonks got it right, I'm just a jealous ol' snake, hangin' round cause I ain't got no love like this o' my own."

He grinned widely, stepping back as they advanced. "Might as well leave ya lovebirds by yarselves, 'fore I get run away with my passions."

And with that, he offered a jaunty wave to disappear through the crowd. "Enjoy, eh?"