Happy Non Denominational Wintermass (tag Chloe) on Pecari Commons

Ji-Eun Park

October 24, 2014 8:14 AM

Happy Non Denominational Wintermass (tag Chloe) by Ji-Eun Park

Ji-Eun climbed the stairs to her room, feeling full and sleepy, though rather happy. The food at Sonora was still all a bit odd to her but she usually liked dessert and the choice at the feast was always the best. She eyed up her trunk, not really in a mood to unpack this evening, although there was one thing she wanted to retrieve. She opened the lid, picking out the little parcel that lay on top and chucking it over to Chloe.

“Happy winter festival of your choosing,” she smiled, a nod to the fact that her own family didn't really celebrate Christmas, although over the years she and Ji-Won had worn them down on certain subjects. They were allowed to go to the parade in the nearby wizarding district, which was always a fantastic show, and they would get a present if their report cards were good enough. That one hadn't been much of a compromise. Her parents had always demanded good grades but had always been perfectly willing to use bribery to get them, especially out of Ji-Won. They also didn't object to her exchanging presents with her Western school friends, though they were reluctant to let her venture outside of their district to go shopping. Subsequently, Chloe had received any number of odd trinkets over the years. Their district was known locally as the melting cauldron as cultures from all over the world had settled there to hawk the magical goods traditional in their own countries, though most usually had a few odds and ends or household good on offer too. This year, she'd shopped close to home, finding a Korean wand-maker who also sold elaborate hair pins on the side. She'd opted for plain silver and clear jewels (or rather, silver coloured metal and glass jewel work) so that the ornaments would match whatever Chloe was wearing to the ball. She very much wanted to know about this but felt a general catch up was in order first. She knew things at Chloe's house could be stressful with her brother being sick and she didn't want to start a frivolous conversation about dresses if something horrid had happened, like Angel having to go into hospital. She had tried to keep up with her room-mate during the festive period but given the many days the owl office was shut, and the fact the post was slower in general, she hadn't had a chance to speak to her much about it.

“How was your break?” she asked, hoping that she and Chloe knew each other well enough that she'd get an honest answer to that question, if there was more to tell than the usual happy Christmas stories.

13 Ji-Eun Park Happy Non Denominational Wintermass (tag Chloe) 268 Ji-Eun Park 1 5

Chloe Jareau

October 26, 2014 11:29 AM

Yes, Happy celebrations of any kind! by Chloe Jareau

Chloe stretched out on top of the covers of her dorm bed. She was stuffed full from the food at the feast. She loved the school food. Her mother’s food was usually too healthy and her dad didn’t cook all that well, so the school food was usually her gluttony. She was happy that she still had a fast metabolism because the amount of food she ate, she deserved to be at least 300 pounds in weight. She certainly didn’t have a stop button when she was eating. Just as she rarely had a stop button for when she was speaking.

She looked over at her roommate and caught the parcel just in time before it landed on her face. With a laugh, Chloe thanked her and wished her a Happy winter festivity of her choosing back to her. Taking Ji-Eun’s example and took out her gift to her roommate. She never really knew what to get her roommate. Ji-Eun’s culture was so different from her own that she had no idea what her interests were. Well, minus the Korean Pop music, but Chloe didn’t know anything about that aside from what Ji-Eun told her that she couldn’t very well get her anything regarding that. So, she decided on a book of braids. It had over a hundred styles and how to steps for various braids. Chloe and Ji-Eun had started to do one another’s hair and Chloe’s knowledge was limited. Ji-Eun seemed to enjoy the braids and this books seemed like a good idea. Hopefully, Ji-Eun thought so too.

“Pretty uneventful.” Chloe answered. “Angel got an infection at the beginning, but the Healers were able to provide antibiotics early, so it didn’t cause too much of an issue.” Angel was incredibly ill. Chloe was surprised by how much strength he had to keep going. His immune system was non-existent, so he was always catching something. She knew that there will come a time when the Healers would not be able to help any longer. “Other than that, my mom helped teach me how to put on make up properly.” Chloe grinned. She did not wear makeup aside from lip gloss, so her mother taking the time to teach her techniques had felt like real bonding. “And, of course, shopping.” Chloe added. Finding a nice dress had been difficult. Chloe hadn’t liked how they looked on her, but they had eventually found a dress that she liked enough to buy.

“How was your break? Do anything fun?” Chloe asked.

6 Chloe Jareau Yes, Happy celebrations of any kind! 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Ji-Eun

October 30, 2014 10:22 AM

How about celebrating happiness? by Ji-Eun

Ji-Eun let out a squeak of excitement as she tore the wrapping off Chloe's present.

“Wow, this is fantastic,” she beamed, “Thanks Chloe, I can't wait to try them out,” she thumbed the edge of the cover wistfully, wanting to dive straight in and discovered some new styles but she instead placed the book on her pillow, so as to be able to give her room-mate her full attention. “I never knew there were that many,” she added, looking forward to some pre-bed reading.

“That's good,” she nodded, feeling a little sad that 'uneventful' was a good holiday for Chloe, “I'm glad they got it quickly.” Even though she asked about her family and she tried to comfort her if Chloe showed she was sad, Ji-Eun still felt like she couldn't really get it. She had never known anyone to die, not even grandparents or old people. She couldn't imagine what it was like knowing that your brother could die really, really easily. For all she hated Ji-Won at times, and wished she could cast every curse she knew on him, she wouldn't want him to die. It made her a bit uncomfortable to talk about Angel because she always felt that she didn't know how to, and was worried that something she would say would be accidentally inappropriate or hurtful. Still, she always asked because... well, it was the right thing to do as a friend, even if the subject scared her a bit.

“Shopping too!” she replied, with a wide smile, relieved that Chloe had moved the topic on, meaning that it must be ok for her to do so too.. “It was amazing - I got to go out into real New York stores. Not the big, famous ones or anything... just the ones near us,” it wasn't like they could have afforded to shop at a store anyone had heard of, plus they couldn't get around by magical means and her mother didn't trust the subway because the train doors opened and closed without anyone pointing a wand at them. “But shops! Dress shops! Purchases from beyond the Metling Cauldron,” she giggled. Her opportunities to venture out were limited – as her mum insisted, what need did they have to go anywhere else when everything they wanted was on their doorsteps? School supplies had become the annual trip beyond their network of streets, and occasional clothes shopping, though there were a few places selling basics near enough their home. But, for an occasion dress, even her mother had had to concede that the cheap Asian fashion shops, where most of her t-shirts came from, weren't going to cut it. The only other clothes available were Hanbok, or the traditional dress of the other countries represented in their district, and those were reserved for far more solemn occasions than an American school dance.

“I think I tried on the whole shop, and I felt like a princess all day,” she chattered, heading over to her trunk. She supposed there was one more thing in there she wanted to see safely and carefully put in its place tonight. “What did you get?” she asked, hesitantly, holding her dress in its carrier, not sure she wanted to be the first to show and tell.

13 Ji-Eun How about celebrating happiness? 268 Ji-Eun 0 5

Chloe

November 03, 2014 9:24 PM

That sounds like a nice idea. by Chloe

Chloe grinned at her friend’s enthusiasm over the gift she had given to her. Chloe was equally impressed with the pair pin that Ji-Eun had given to her. It would look lovely in her hair with her dress. Now she just had to decide how she was going to do her hair so that the pin could be seen plainly. “I’m sure most of them are probably variances off of one main braid. You know, how to get this braid three different ways, etcetera.” Chloe commented. “But, I figured, at least you could have some variation of styles that you can play with instead of just the ones that I showed you.” Chloe explained. Her knowledge on braids were limited to what her mother could teach her in short periods of time.

She smiled pleasantly when Ji-Eun commented on her brother. Chloe knew that their life was different from most people. There were others in this world who had a loved one suffering, but Chloe didn’t think any of them resided in this school, or, if they did, they weren’t as open to discussing it the way her family was. Chloe tried not to bring her brother up often. It had been a very different first half of the year last year because of her inability to communicate with her family outside of the school and so, she had feared the worse for her brother. But since this term she had still remained in contact with them, her brother had remained more of an internal worry than an external one. She knew that topics like Angel made people uncomfortable and sometimes she did try hard to prevent that from happening.

Ji-Eun’s excitement at the involvement of shopping was a bit of a surprise to Chloe. She sometimes forgot that Ji-Eun liked to do normal things that other girls liked to do. She had her dancing and her hair stuff, but shopping hadn’t been something that crossed Chloe’s train of thoughts. Chloe liked shopping well enough, but it wasn’t something that necessarily excited her. She was better about dressing like a girl instead of a boy (although she still wore her sneakers with most everything), but Chloe still had issues with understanding what went best with her long body.

“Oh…” Chloe mumbled, her face lighting up as she went to her trunk to pull out the protected dress. “It was fun shopping for them. I think my mom liked it more than me.” Chloe joked. Pulling out the dress and carefully unzipping the cover, Chloe pulled out a royal blue a-line chiffon dress with a wrap ruffle v-neck top and spaghetti straps that fell to her toes. “When I tried this on, I felt like I was wearing a waterfall.” She knew it was a stupid statement to make, but this had been the dress that made her feel pretty.

OOC: Here is the dress, the actual dress is shorter than the one Chloe is wearing, but the style is the same: dress

6 Chloe That sounds like a nice idea. 0 Chloe 0 5

Ji-Eun

November 16, 2014 6:25 AM

What happy things do you have to offer? by Ji-Eun

“Definitely! I’m always up for having more choice of hairstyles,” she grinned, in response to Chloe’s comment about the book. She was glad that her room-mate was interested in teaching her the styles she knew, and letting her practise on her. Ji-Eun loved styling her hair and painting her nails and she was keen to play with more types of her make up, but her mother had a very limited interest in these things, so it was helpful to have someone who could advise her.

She gave a long ‘ooh’ as Chloe pulled out her dress. Even though she seemed a little less excited about the shopping trip, her comment about the dress suggested she was still really looking forward to getting prettied up for the ball. Maybe shopping trips were less of a luxury for her, Ji-Eun pondered, though she still thought that getting to buy fancy party dresses must be a bit of a novelty. Although she and Chloe were both from magical families, it wasn’t like either of them was that kind of Pureblood, heading off to parties all the time. Maybe Chloe had felt embarrassed at parading around in front of the shop assistants… There had definitely been dresses she had tried on that she didn’t want anyone to see her in, and she had felt a little self conscious feeling them watching her.

She didn’t find Chloe’s comment about it being like a waterfall odd at all. Dresses, especially ones like this, were supposed to make you feel strange and different and magical. She unzipped the carrier, pulling her own out slightly shyly. It was a pale purple colour with a halter neck and sequined flowers covering the bodice. The skirt was wide and flared, thanks to the built in petticoat. It stopped just below her knees. She knew ball dresses were traditionally longer but it had reminded her of the outfits one of her favourite bands had worn in the animated photo shoot for one of their singles, only better because of the sequin flowers. She had always dreamed of owning clothes as cool as her idols and to find a dress that exceeded those expectations had been beyond a dream come true.

“Is it ok?” she asked, having worried and doubted since she bought it that everyone else would be wearing full length, “There’s not a rule about having to wear full length, is there?” she asked. She was sure the guidance was just that they were formally attired - though what it formal implicitly meant floor length and she just didn’t know these things? She hugged an arm protectively across her beautiful dress, not wanting it to be the wrong thing to wear.

OOC - Ji-Eun, being a witch, clearly listens to entirely different K-Pop bands to me, and so the dress/song she is referencing is most certainly not this. Also based slightly off this, for length/shape/sequins but with a lot less flesh on show(!) and in the shade of purple from the first video (or Ji-Eun’s chatzy colour).

13 Ji-Eun What happy things do you have to offer? 268 Ji-Eun 0 5