A Winter Night's Dream (Kieran/everyone)

[Ellie Volkova]

Stopping at the door to the university ballroom, a shy smile graced Ellie's face as she smoothed her dress. A pair of doormen in black suits pulled the doors open for her and she entered. Tonight there was a masquerade ball being held and the university had gone all out.

A small intake of breath caught in her throat at the beauty of the scene before her. The ballroom had been decorated like the Great Hall during the Yule Ball. Couples in colourful costumes chatted away, some dancing, some drinking as 'snow' floated down every so often, giving the hall an ethereal winter wonderland look. Teachers glided through the crowd, obviously also enjoying their night.

'Snowflakes' settled in her hair as her eyes scanned the room for anyone she knew. There was one person in particular that she was searching for, one person that she wanted to see most. Maybe even get a dance, her mind dared dream for just a moment.

[Kieran Richards]

Kieran stood a little aside, chatting with a fellow professor. He had arrived pretty early that night, not wanting to miss too much of the ball. He had chosen to simply wear a tux tonight and upon arriving at the ball, he found his choice rather fitting.
A few 'snowflakes' were caught up in his hair and on his black tux jacket, but he didn't mind. The scenery they chose for that night was stunning, even he had to admit, but it felt like something was missing.
No... not something. Someone. As he stood and listened to the fellow professor he was talking with, he scanned the room for one person in particular, hoping to find her in the crowd.

[Ellie Volkova]

Heading over to get herself a drink, the smile remained on her lips. How she adored balls, especially masquerade ones. She loved seeing everyone dressed up, loved the mystery that such a ball had. The costumes - so beautiful; the atmosphere - relaxed yet buzzing with excitement.

Making her way through the sea of students, she suddenly spotted the person she'd been secretly searching for and her face lit up, beaming. Kieran was chatting away to Professor Brennan, and as always he looked most handsome in formal-wear. She wondered whether to go up and say hello, but then decided to nonchalantly walk past him and see if he saw her and would say hello himself.

[Kieran Richards]

He was about to turn back to Eleanor, when he finally spotted the one person he had been looking for. And she looked simply stunning in her dress. For a moment Kieran couldn't take his eyes off her and he wondered whether to excuse himself and walk over to her, or if he should stay and wait a little.
Seeing that Ellie walked past him, though he decided to stay with professor Brennan a moment longer and then excuse himself to follow the young lady he'd been secretely waiting for.

[Guest]

Eleanor had been chatting away to Kieran when a particular someone caught her eye. Normally she wasn't one for parties, but the school ball was something different. She enjoyed seeing her students dressed so beautifully and having such a wonderful time. She herself had dressed up to, wearing a gorgeous blue gown which brought out the blue in her eyes.

Everything about this evening was so magical. Not that Brennan believed in magic. To her there was a perfectly scientific for any magical happenings. And yet...

"Ellie!" she called out with a smile as she saw her favourite student and waved her over. "Wow, look at you. You look stunning tonight."

[Ellie Volkova]

Hearing her name being called, Ellie turned, a smile on her lips as she saw Professor Brennan waving her over. Her teacher looked absolutely stunning that night. The dress itself was gorgeous and it looked as if it had been made especially for Eleanor. Her eyes sparkled at the compliment. "Thank you, Professor," she replied. "You look very beautiful yourself. That dress is very gorgeous of you. Watch out, you'll be fighting off the professor-admirers with a bat," she joked.

Then she looked at Kieran and her green eyes couldn't help but sparkle even more. "Good evening Professor Richards. Wonderful to see you here tonight," she added softly, looking at him somewhat shyly from underneath her lashes.

[Kieran Richards]

Kieran showed a small, yet confident smile, when Ellie came back to them. She did indeed look gorgeous in her dress, that much was for certain.
"Good evening Miss Volkova. Pleasure is all mine." he replied, giving her a small wink, that only Ellie could see.

[Ellie Volkova]

Ellie sank into a curtsey, keeping in theme with the evening, blushing when he winked at her. She rather hoped that Eleanor didn't notice her blush. The two had become good student-teacher friends, but Ellie didn't want Professor Brennan to suspect anything. "I wonder, Professor, have you promised any dances away yet?" she joked lightly, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.

[Kieran Richards]

That was question that Kieran didn't expect, yet he hid it behind a smile and slightly shook his head. "Didn't meet the proper lady yet, to promise a dance." he replied politely. In fact, he might just promise her a dance, but not in front of a fellow professor. Too much was at stake for him, to rise any suspicions.

[Guest]

Eleanor let out a laugh at Ellie's compliment. "Hardly, my dear. But thank you all the same for the sweet compliment."

She noticed the blush. How could she not; after all, tiny details hardly ever escaped her attention. Came with the anthropology degree - you noticed every tiny thing. But she made no remark, nor ventured any guess on the matter further than 'of course a female student would blush in Kieran's presence'. He was after all a rather handsome professor.

When Kieran replied to the girl that he hadn't promised a dance, she looked at him giving a tiny fake gasp. "What about the dance you promised me, Mr Richards? It is not very seemly for a gentleman to forget when he promised a dance to a lady," she teased him.

[Kieran Richards]

Kieran looked at Eleanor and made an almost shocked face. "Did I?" he asked, wondering if she was only teasing to make him feel uncomfortable, or if he indeed forgot about it. Unfortunately not, he would never forget something like that, but should they think he might have. "A shame for a gentleman indeed." he added, watching Ellie out of the corner of his eye.

[Guest]

Eleanor gave a chuckle, before flashing a smile. "I'm only teasing, Kieran. Relax. But I would like a friendly dance at some point in the evening."

Suddenly she spotted another fellow professor. "Schneider!" she called out, giving a slight wave to one of the German professors. "If you'll excuse me," she said with a smile, giving a curtsey of her own before going off to join her fellow professor.

[Kieran Richards]

Kieran grinned a little, but didn't say another word about Eleanor's teasing. "That might be arrangeable, dearest." he replied and then watched as she left to join a fellow professor.
He then looked at Ellie.
"You look lovely tonight." he said in a low tone, only for her to hear.

[Ellie Volkova]

Ellie smirked at his choice of words. "Dearest?" she repeated, her eyes glinting with mischief. "Ooh, I sense a steamy professor romance going on here. Professor Richards and Professor Brennan, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," she teased, taking half-steps closer to him with every teasing word.

She blushed at the compliment. "Thank you, Kieran," she said softly, a pretty smile on her lips. "You look very handsome tonight."

[Kieran Richards]

"Do I now?" he asked in a low tone, his eyes sparkling mischievously as he looked at Ellie. "Guess we're pretty much alike tonight, you and I."

Kieran had decided to let that teasing comment about him and Eleanor slip. He knew it wasn't meant too serious, she knew better than that. At least Kieran hoped she did, though he was pretty sure about that.

[Ellie Volkova]

Looking into his eyes, those beautiful brown eyes that she always got lost in, a tender smile graced her lips. A wave of caring washed over her and she fought the urge to give him a cuddle right here. But of course, she couldn't do that. Not yet anyway. The hall had eyes and despite this being out-of-school time, they were still teacher and student.

He was so handsome. And wonderfully amazing. And all hers, even if she couldn't publicly announce the fact. "Not just tonight we're alike," she replied softly, an equally soft chuckle escaping her lips. Everything was perfect tonight: she was at the biggest ball of the year in a dress she'd been dying to get, with her boyfriend.

Nothing could go wrong, except...no mask... Her heart sank as she realised she'd forgotten her mask in her dorm. How could she be at a masquerade ball without a mask?

[Kieran Richards]

Kieran looked right back into Ellie's eyes. He'd seen many beautiful eyes before, but her greenish eyes were most beautiful ones he ever saw. Especially because they had that special spark and whenever she would look at him, it seemed like they were shining even more.
Sometimes he wondered if he actually deserved that kind of attention, but then he simply shrugged it off, most of the time. He wouldn't want it any other way. Even though he couldn't admit that in public, but at least he could think it for himself.

As he looked at Ellie, he noticed that, despite it being a masquerade ball, she didn't seem to have a mask, but then he had hoped that she wouldn't. Because he had a small gift for her, in a small, matching box, just inside his inner suit jacket. And it just came back to his mind, that he did, so he carefully glanced around, making sure that they weren't being watched, and then got the small box with a mask for Ellie out of his pocked and handed it to her.
"I figured you might need it." he said in a low tone, only for Ellie's ears to hear.


[OOC: I know you once sent me a link with a pic, but I kinda lost it, so... I'll just go without one for a while ]

[Ellie Volkova]

Ellie's eyes sparkled curiously as he handed her the box. She loved surprises, though half the time she ruined them with her impatience. She fought the urge to rattle it, like with a Christmas present. Instead, giving him a smile, she opened the small box and looked in on it's contents.

Seeing the beautiful mask within, her green eyes widened in surprise and her hand flew up to her mouth to conceal her delighted smile. "Kieran, this is beautiful. Thank you," she replied softly. She wanted to pull him close and hug him for the beautiful gift, but she couldn't. Not here. Not yet. "It's gorgeous," she murmured, carefully taking it out of the box. "Could you tie it for me?" she asked, holding the mask up to her eyes.

[Emma Noel]

Emma hadn't planned to find herself there at all but her adorable brother had decided to pull her out of home. She suspected he'd spotted her dancing somehow and gotten too devious.
But it was a sweet gesture for a brother. Not everyone had brother like this- fun, careless partying type with million sneaky ideas and so gentle and caring towards his loved ones at the same time.

So now Emma stood in the hall's doorway contemplating the ever present 'run and hide' or 'dingle and tangle' prospect.
Though her outfit wasn't anything that fancy. It was just her deep blue dress with small glitters that gave the feeling that dress was actually sparkling like sky in the twilight.

Of course, somewhere between crowd her brilliant brother was hiding between piles of cookies and handful of vodka or tequila shots.

[Juliette Carlson]

Julie walked down the path towards the ball room. This was a special thing, a Winter Night's Dream, as it was called and she's been looking foward to this all week. Not that she was one for big parties and such, but the last few months had been good for Juliette and she really started to enjoying herself a little bit more again.
She had worked hard to save enough money for her dress, shoes and jewelry. She wore her long red her in loose curls, that were bouncing around her shoulder with every step she took and a soft smile was on her lips as she walked through the door, hoping that Ryan would come, too.
But with her mask already on, she wasn't sure anyone would actually recognize her. But then... her red hair and her pale skin was always the give-away.

[Ryan Sheperd]

Ryan looked over and saw Julie from were he stood. A slight smile came to his face at the same time. He finished his punch, then walked over to her. "Good evening Lady Carlson" he said to her, holding back a smile at the same time. Maggie looked over and watched him, smiling at the same time. She knew that Julie had a good guy in Ryan.

[Juliette Carlson]

Juliette had seen him coming, but she was surprised that he could tell it was her that easily. She had thought it would took him a moment longer, especially since she hadn't shown him the dress before the ball. She wanted it to be a surprise and she wanted a bit of fun.
"Evening, Mr. Sheperd. Wasn't expecting to be uncovered that easily." she replied with a slight smirk on her face.

[Ryan Sheperd]

Ryan smiled a bit, then took her hand. "Your red hair gave you away." he said to Julie in an honest tone before kissing her hand. After doing so, he looked up and into Julie's eyes. "You look beautiful tonight Juliette." Ryan said to her. It was clear that he was taken by how she looked.

[Emma Noel]

Emma looked around and spotted some probably familiar forms.
Then she spotted one especially sneaky, snooping through the crowds and most likely scooping up drinks.

[Patrick Noel]

He squeezed his way through few people to get to table full of drinks with sleaky ease. He felt satisfied about making his shy girl to come over. A little whining, bit pleading, some demanding and hearty dose of threatening had done it.
His lovely sis was here and hopefully will enjoy it. And get some fun.

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