A small pond sits where none had been before, added by the decorations committee just for tonight. As the seasons shift inside, so does the pond. Benches line the perimeter and there are a few tables out here as well. Don’t worry about falling in; a protective boundary has been drawn to make sure everyone stays dry.

Nymphy walked out the pond. He had gotten fully dressed, but decided that the Grand Staircase wouldnot be a grand enough entrance. So he decided to dress quite plainly and "spiff up" out here and re-enter through the front doors.

He got his wand out of his coat pocket and proceeded to change his suit to purple and all his trimming (buttons, cufflinks, shoelaces, etc) neon blue. He then proceeded for the front door....ready for hhis entrance!

Aveira sighed and sat on one of the benches, glancing inside. There wasn't much for her to do here. She had decided to come, though no sure why, and was being rather like herself out here. Alone. If anyone saw her... Well, she didn't want to be harrassed by any of her old schoolmates. She had gone through seven years of that pain; she didn't want to relive it all.

Selena didn't like being in there. She felt really short and she hadn't even planned on coming here in the first place so she thought she might just enjoy some silence out here. Then she saw a tall person. Rawrs. Not another one. She smiled at her. She looked sad. "Hello," Selena said politely, "are you alright?" she asked.

Emma came outside dressed in her light blue dress. It was nice to get some fresh air. "Hello Sel!" she cried enthusiastically and curtsied. She then noticed another girl, who didn't look to well. "Hi. are you okay?" she asked concerned.

Torin figured that this was a good place for him to wander off to. It wasn't really crowded, so he had the advantage of not running into people that he knew. Or at least that was what he hoped.

He just didn't want to be laughed at anymore. Part of why he wasn't sure if he wanted to see Bordy or not. On one hand she always made him feel better, but on the other, he was still so embarrassed.

Ack!
Wobble.

Miranda was almost looking like an old lady, trying to walk in her high heels. She stopped for a moment, straightened up and trieeeeeeeeeed to walk normally. But seriously, she was wearing STICKS for shoes. She was WALKING ON STICKS. Liiiike, how DO YOU DO THAT!?

Ugh, nevermind, that problem was minimal. Miranda was out to find Torin, and find him she would! She had searched out-outside of the castle, but not here...so maybe...

Oh, there he was. Hm.

Wobble. Argh.

"Hey, Torin." Wobble. "You okay?"

Fallon had decided to wander outside. She wanted some air and to be somewhere where her dress wouldn't injure anyone. She was walking around the little pond that was outside when she spotted Torin. She remembered the look on his face when he had stormed off and wanted to make sure he was okay. She watched as someone else, apparantly concerned as well, walked over to him.

Fallon walked over to where they were and stood next to Torin. She wasn't going to attempt sitting down just yet. This dress was monstrous and she knew it would be difficult. "Hey Torin. You all right?" She didn't know if he had saw her earlier when he was in the dress. She was still concerned.

Bella stepped out of the castle, she felt very hot all of a sudden standing inside talking, she wasn't complaining, she had people to talk to all of a sudden. The highlight of the evening with Torin had been a blast, she still had a smile on her face.

As she stepped out, the wind bit into her skin, making her shiver. Pulling her sash closer to her shoulders she step forward, heading towards the pond. A nice walk to cool herself down before reentering the party seemed a good idea.

As she got closer to the pond, reliving the funny moment from before in her head, she noticed him, standing on his own. She knew he was really embarressed, and angry in a way for people laughing at him. Her included. The smile on her lips faded suddenly as she stepped up beside him

She looked out over the pond, not looking at him. She didn't know it he had noticed her, but she wanted to make it up to him for laughing.

"Are you alright?" She asked kindly, still not looking at him

Now there were people suddenly here to talk to him. People that had been laughing at him just before. Why were they here? To laugh at him some more? Because it seemed that they had rather enjoyed ridiculing him before.

He brought his knees to his chest and hugged them.

"Came to laugh at me some more?" Why not. It seemed to be the highlight of the night so far.

Bella looked down at Torin from where she stood. He looked really sad, and it pained her to know she had been one to make him this way. She sat down and crossed his legs.

"Im Sorry Torin, for laughing" She said softly.

Fallon felt so bad for Torin. She hadn't been there when everyone was laughing at him. She had only showed up to watch him storm off. She manuevered herself so that she could sit next to Torin. She listened as one of the other girls apologized.

"No. I only saw you storm off earlier. I wanted to make sure you were all right." She could tell he was really upset. That's why she made it so she could sit down. Now she was afraid to get back up though. Luckily, her dress was actually quite comfy.

Hmmmmmmmm. Miranda frowned, looking at the other girls.
Torin's question and their answers made her thiiiiiink. Had they laughed at him. That way SO not cool.

Okay, this dress was like...snug, and she really wanted to sit down next to Torin. Well...her shoes had not stopped her from walking, so HA!
Putting a hand to Torin's shoulder, it might've seen like a nice gesture, but really, it was to keep her from falling over as she lowered herself down and sat down next to the boy.

"No one's going to laugh at you." You know why? "I'll make sure they don't." She wasn't a badger for nothing, and badgers were a protective bunch. She eyed the girls, wondering what they would do next.

At least he wasn't being laughed at right now. "Well, I'm not alright." And he didn't care if he was being dramatic, he was humiliated in front of a bunch of people and teachers. He wasn't sure how he could ever go to class again. This was like when Reese told Bunz about his crush on her. And suddenly he wanted his sister.

Miranda was making him feel better even though it seemed she was having a real hard tome moving around in her outfit.

He smiled weakly as she put her hand on his shoulder even though he was sure that it was for balance more than anything. "You will?"

Fallon felt so bad for Torin. That was probably one of the most embarassing things that could've happened to him. She put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. She moved it away and just looked at him.

She really hadn't had to deal with a situation this bad. And she knew a lot people had seen him in the dress. And it wasn't something that a lot of them would ever forget.

Bella smiled lightly towards him, it was really was prt her fault he was upset. She had simply gone to chat with him, and she had upset him. She looked out over the pond, watching the little ripples of waves move.

She looked at him, and without thinking she leant over and hugged him. "Im sorry" She simple said before going into her preivious state of silence.

What could she say? She didn't know, she was still shy around boys.

Miranda eyed the girl's hand as it was put on Torin's shoulder. Heh. They were sorry. Well, in Miranda's opinion, they should've thought of that before hurting his feelings. Ofcourse Torin didn't look allright, who would be after the embarrassement. But it was over, and everyone should forget it happened - because really, it hadn't been that fun.
"Yes," Miranda turned to Torin, linking arms with him, nodding once at his question. "I will." She squinted at the girls again, wondering when they would just go off and dance the night away. "Yes, yes, girls. You are sorry. Why don't you let Torin here get some space to forget the awful business before he goes back in and hopes that no one will laugh at him again. Yes?" Ooooooooooooooooooooooh, aint she bossy and another b word.

She opened her purse (that had magically appeared! *gasp*) and took out a sugar free chocolate frog. "Here, this will make you feel better." Nod.

It helped a little to know that at least Fallon hadn't laughed at him. Because she was his friend, and having friends laugh at you hurt more than it did with strangers. "At least not everyone laughed at me." And that was nice.

But now the other girl was hugging him. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, but she was sorry at least even if she had laughed at him and he didn't really know her, so it wasn't too bad. "It's okay," he told her. It wasn't really, but he forgave her at least.

And Miranda was officially the most amazing person ever. She needed t-shirts and a fanclub, she was so awesome.

She was being so nice to him and giving him Chocolate Frogs even though he was sure that they were sugar free. It didn't really matter to him because she was a good friend.

"Thank you," he said as he hugged her now.

Fallon smiled at Torin. She did feel really bad for him.

Then one of the other girls wanted to chase her and the other girl off. She figured it would probably be best if she left. The girl that was chasing her off was kind of scaring Fallon.

She carefully pushed herself up from the bench. "Well, I'm gonna go back inside now. I'll see you later on the dance floor Torin." She wasn't going to forget that she needed to see his awesome dance moves.

With that, she headed back into the castle to socialize.

She kept her arm linked with his, as if she was ready to take off in her invisible broom if the girls did anything else. Hehe. And now a girl was hugging him. Sigh. and rolling of the eyes. She could say the girls were still young, but they weren't THAT much younger than herself....so, they should've thought about the consequence before they did the action.

Hmhm. That girl. Miranda would keep an eye on her. Hehehe.
"Byeee." she waved, watching the girl walk off even though she hadn't addressed her.

Torin sure had a big heart to be able to forgive that easily. A true Badger, wasn't he? Miranda smiled softly, taking out a frog for herself.
"Anytime." Nod. Returning his hug, Miranda hoped he was feeling better. "Sugarfree." She said amused, focusing back on the candy. "But they're really good!" Whenever the word sugar free was brought up, it usually meant the food was not so good, but these were. Miranda could imagine Torin tought the same. "I'mma eat one to prove it!" Hehe. Quickly unwrapping the frog, she took a bite of it and wiggled her eyebrows. "Mmmmm. Scheee? Yummeh." Totally.

Selena smiled at Emma. "Good evening Miss Emma," she said as she curtsied to one of her best friends, "you look lovely tonight," she said gracefully. Surprising since she usually wasn't like this. But tonight she would be absolutely pleasant.

Emma laughed. "Why thank you Miss Selena! You do look beautiful!" she cried, 'So you came after all! I'm so happy! Do you have a date? I don't!" She wondered if her best bud had a date. Hmm.., she thought.

Selena gave a small smile. "Thank you as well Emma," she said with a curtsy. "Yes, I did come, Miss Leilani forced me to do so, and no, I do not have a date for this evening," Selena said. She had to prevent herself from drawling out every sentence like she usually did at formal gatherings. "Do you, Miss Malfoy, have a date for tonight?" she asked.

AY...that was pain!!! Even in her ballerinas, Annie was dying in pain. Though, she quickly had an idea. She excused herself from being with her boyfriend for a bit of time, since she would come back very soon and ran to the pond area. Maybe if she put her feet in water for a bit, her feet wouldn't go swoollen again.

Landing after a run all the way from the dance area, she saw a crowd of people and in the center, was Torin. He seemed UPSET, like smoke was coming out of his ears. As she approached, she waved to the guy. "Are you okay?" Annie thought this was going to be an epic day for Torin, since he was going to see Tammy and be with Brody all night.

He wasn't sure what to say to Fallon now as she told him she would leave and see him inside the ballroom. So he just nodded and watched her walk off. He was still glad that she hadn't laughed at him, but he was sure that she had been amused. Miranda seemed to be the only one that hadn't been.

But what did that matter really when she was giving him a Chocolate Frog? He wasn't sure how he felt about sugar free and Chocolate Frog together in the same sentence, but since she managed to eat one okay, he figured that it couldn't be that bad. And he was right. "This really is very good." And that made him feel a bit better still.

But Annie was here now? And she was asking if he was okay. He only shook his head at her. No, he wasn't okay right now.