undergrounds | Night Tournament Opening Ceremony

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Every four years the Night Tournament is held in London as a celebration of the physical, mental and magical prowess of its supernatural inhabitants. Over three weeks the chosen competitors will take on various challenges in an effort to be crowned Champions of their species. Tonight, the grand opening ceremony is taking place at the Redbright Institute, where guests can expect a spectacle of magical wonders and of course the parade of this year's competitors.

The ceremony takes place from 8pm-11pm Sunday 6th August. It is being hosted by the school's Chancellor, Sylvia Redbright, accompanied by event organisers Alexandrie Belrose, the Dean, and Yasmine Merad. Guests must have purchased a ticket in order to attend the event, unless of course you are one of the competitors or someone involved in organising the tournament.

Rules of entry
• No weapons. Any weapons or objects that could be used as weapons will be confiscated.
• No drugs or alcohol except that provided at the event. Don't try to sneak any in.
• No violence.

There is security present on the grounds during the event. The school itself is shut. (In fact, if your character is a member of the Redbright Institute, you could have them acting as security if you want.) They will respond to and put a stop to any trouble.

Order of events
The entirety of tonight's ceremony takes place outside in the grounds, namely the football field. There are stands around the field where the audience can watch the show. A number of stewards (student volunteers) will check tickets and direct guests over to the right place. They are also selling a variety of drinks and snacks to cater for all supernatural tastes. Vampires without daylight jewellery are directed through to the "shade zone": a section of the stand which is completely shielded from the sun.

8pm-8.30pm: Redbright Choir
Led by the Head of Music Ms Sandra Ng, the Redbright Choir is comprised of a variety of students representing all supernatural beings coming together to sing in harmony. They are accompanied by a live band.

8.30-9.30pm: Welcome to the Night (nb. sunset is at 8.45pm)
Settle in for one hell of a show. The hour's entertainment, proudly organised and performed by students at the Redbright Institute, features a showpiece from every supernatural type, from witches performing a spectacular light show of magic, meta humans showing off their powers, to werewolves and shapeshifters dancing in fur costumes. The theme again is harmony: the show ends with all performers joining hands in a giant circle on the pitch before performing their final dance.

9.30-9.45pm: Sylvia's Welcome Speech
As the host and sponsor of the Night Tournament, Sylvia will then step up to a podium to say a few words. She talks about (you guessed it) peace and harmony and coming together to celebrate supernatural diversity. She speaks proudly of the Redbright Institute's record of welcoming and teaching any supernatural student, no matter their background. The one thing that does get all the journalists scribbling furiously, however, is a brief mention of the Night Council's new President. Though she doesn't mention him by name, she does say that she welcomes the President's stance on promoting peace and unity.

9.45-10.15pm: The Parade
At last the 16 competitors are introduced one by one. Dressed in spectacular costumes, each competitor gets their own float which makes one round of the field before they all meet in the centre of the pitch. The parade is accompanied by inspiring music and showers of glitter (or is it pixie dust?). Smile and wave, everyone. Smile and wave.

10.15-11pm: General Mingling
Finally, the audience are allowed to invade the pitch where they can mingle with the competitors as they please. Stewards walk around serving more drinks, and there is a live band playing until the end of the event. Stick around to catch some gossip, place a bet on your preferred competitor, or offer support to your favourites.

[OOC: Please see the information post for more details on this event and to ask any questions!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Holy crud, that is a nice hat. Cole spends a good portion of the parade just staring at Lydia's headdress, a bit distracted by how elaborate and slightly over the top it is. By the time the mingling's started, he's worked up enough courage to tell her that much.

Unfortunately, Cole still hasn't wrapped his head around the fact that people don't like to be surprised and suddenly appearing behind someone is kind of surprising. As such, he suddenly appears behind Lydia and simply says,

"I like your hat."

He's wearing a slightly ridiculous and a bit too large floppy hat of his own--though there's a difference between 'the hat you died in' and 'a big elaborate headdress worn for a parade.'

"Oh, thanks!" Lydia turns around and grins at Cole. She's not really surprised by the sudden manifestation: it takes a lot to surprise Lydia, really. In all honesty, she's more interested in talking about fashion, and herself, than waste time being surprised that this stranger is a ghost.

"It's not really my style, but someone thought it'd look good for the parade." Lydia looks glancingly at Cesare over on the other side of the field, but just as quickly, her gaze is focused back on Cole. She preens. "I'm glad you like it though. Yours isn't that bad either. What are you supposed to be dressed up as?"

"Um. I'm dressed up as me?"

Cole's a little awkward and a little confused but she asked a question, so he's going to answer. When you can't actually wear clothes, it's a bit hard to get dressed up as something. "They tried to give me a costume but it wouldn't stay."

"Yeah..." Lydia muses. She tilts her head, considering. "I suppose it'd be hard to dress up a ghost... God, it'd suck to be a ghost. I am so glad I am not dead. Can you imagine wearing the same clothes every day forever? It'd be so boring."

She frowns, not realising how insensitive she's been. "Hmmmm... I bet there'd be a way, though. There must be some sort of magic. I bet no one's ever even tried properly. No one's interested in ghosts that much. No offence, or anything, but you can't really do much, can you?"

Likewise, Cole has no idea how insensitive Lydia's being. Because it is a bit boring wearing the same clothes every day, especially if there's something like this where everybody else is dressed up in such a dazzling way.

Though he does get a little bit offended as she points out he can't do much. Because...he really can't.

"I can usually do more," Cole grumbles, a little bit annoyed. "I'm just less now."

"Less what?" Lydia is surprised by his grumble. She really doesn't get that she might have been offensive: the thought doesn't even cross her mind. "What can you usually do?"

"Travel further. Leave faster. Tell what people are feeling. I can still do some of that, but it's harder."

After all, Cole's without an anchor at the moment. His ghost powers (and unfortunately for Lydia, also his mental state) aren't...exactly top form at the moment.

"Why can't you do it any more?" Lydia hadn't realised that ghosts had those sorts of powers to begin with - or maybe she'd heard it somewhere, vaguely, and not paid attention.

"I didn't know ghosts could do anything much, except talk to witches and stuff. I always thought it'd be dead boring to be a ghost. But you know, it'd be pretty cool to see what people are feeling?" She half turns her head to glance at Cesare. "I wish I could tell if people actually meant what they said."

"I don't have someone to latch onto. It's...hard to do that if I'm by myself." There's not much he could do without an anchor to begin with.

Though, as Lydia looks over at Cesare, Cole follows her expression, watching him as well. Was she looking at that man? He seemed important, whoever he was. "I can tell you what they mean, if you want. The words can lie but the feelings shine through."

This is a bad idea but like heck Cole realizes this is a bad idea.

"Oh." Lydia doesn't quite know what to say. It crosses her mind to say that Cole can anchor himself to her, but then, would Cesare be pleased? She's fairly certain that it'd piss Samantha off too, and whilst that is tempting, she's not sure she can be bothered with the drama. Or Cole's drama. He's sure to end up bothering her, right? Boring!

"Can you?" Lydia looks back at Cole, considering the possibility of what the ghost is offering.
"What would you want in exchange? I'm like, totally skint right now!"

He would spend ALL his time bothering Lydia if she was his anchor. Smart choice.

Though what would he want in exchange? The question baffles Cole a little bit as he frowns. Should he want something in exchange to begin with? He honestly just wants to help. She hurts, he can help, so of course he's going to. But since she wants something in exchange...then he should offer something, right?

"Visit me?" Cole asks. Is he doing this right? "My haunting is a bit out of the way, alone in an alley. I like seeing people but it's hard for that to happen."

"In an alley?" Lydia wrinkles her pert little nose. "Ew. That's disgusting. Couldn't you at least haunt somewhere a bit more pleasant?"

This ghost is turning out to be a right drip. All lonely and woe is me. He's totally harshing Lydia's mellow, and she's not impressed.

"Maybe if you actually went somewhere good, people would want to see you."

"I can't help it!" Cole whines, pouting a little bit. "I'd leave if I could but that's where I died."

And he couldn't choose where he haunted, not right now. Not while he's still not at his strongest. Maybe later he could, maybe later he'd haunt a park or something lovely like that, but right now he's unfortunately stuck.

"Then maybe you should get someone to decorate?"

A thought takes her and she squeals. "Oh, I know the perfect person. Morticia Addams! She is great at the whole mournful decor thing. She'd love to do it, I bet. I think you'd need money though? Do ghosts have money?"

"I don't know if other ghosts do, but I don't." And he never really did. This is something the fashion-conscious Lydia might be able to pick up on. Cole's stupid floppy hat is...well, stupid and unexpected, but the rest of his clothes (long-sleeved brown shirt, khakis, scuffed up tennis shoes) are all around ten years out of date and exceedingly threadbare in certain places.

However, Cole does get an idea, face lighting up as he puts the pieces together. "You get money if you win. I can use that to hire her!"

Now he just needs to win the Night Tournament. Which...might be a problem.

"No offence, but how are you going to win? You can't do magic and you can't even touch anything." Lydia laughs. "You've got less chance than me!" And lets face it, Lydia has next to no chance of winning.

As for his outfit, Lydia just thought he'd died ages ago, when his clothes might have been at least vaguely fashionable. What? Ripped jeans are in now, why not ripped khakis a hundred years ago?

Night Tournament Opening Ceremony

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Sorry I've been in Paris/ill

no worries! :)

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