have my back [august]

[julieta marie santos]

julieta marie santos

julieta was not too proud to admit that she loved a good party. she was far from too proud, actually; she had no problems proclaiming it. she was in her early twenties, after all. part of the fun of traveling as much as she had was meeting all the new people along the way. part of meeting those new people was staying up into the early hours of the morning in dodgy bars across the continents. she sought out excitement like it was nearly as essential as air, so it was no surprise that when she received the invitation for ivan alucard’s masquerade ball she was absolutely thrilled.

it wasn’t the normal party she may have attended, but it didn’t dull the excitement any less. the extravagance and refinement of such an event had her practically bubbling as she had gotten ready earlier that evening, not long after excitedly telling hector and aryan of her plans. she had gotten invited to a real, proper, masquerade ball. that was the sort of thing written about in books, but apparently, they actually happened here in london. that was one point in favor of this city- though it still had a long way to go if it even wanted to come close to some of the others she had been to. all in due time, of course.

dressed in a sleek blue off-shoulder dress that cut up to her mid-thigh before extending closer to the ground, julieta hid her child-like excitement under a calm, confident exterior. she adjusted the clip of black lace mask, quite simple in design to preserve the elegance, one last time before stepping off into the depths. immediately, she let herself get pulled into the ambiance of laughter, conversation, and frivolity. she spotted zekiel amongst the fray, and gave a small wave to who had easily become a friend. somewhere along the way she spotted one of the order seconds, aelizia, and piper- both looked too caught up in conversation, so she had moved on without a second thought. eagerly, she chatted with faces familiar and completely unknown alike. julieta easily felt at home. there was something comforting in the chaos.

eventually, she decided to try and fetch a drink. she waved goodbye to her conversation partner, a lovely individual whose name she had never gotten, and slipped off to the side. she was nearly there, too, when someone quickly moved in front of her and she was forced to side-step. in doing so, she brushed up against another individual.

“lo siento,” she quickly apologized, spinning around. “didn’t mean to brush you…wow.” the breathless half-finished compliment left her lips before her mind registered, staring at the man who had very easily captured her attention. quickly, julieta shook the intrigued look from her expression and replaced it with a smile. “i didn’t spill any drink or anything on you, did i?”

august frank longbottom

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE

[august frank longbottom]

but there's a light if you dare to believe it

❝

It was utterly freeing to be unrecognizable. Masquerades afforded August one thing he couldn’t really get at any other point in his life: the opportunity to be anyone but himself. Not that being himself was bad, necessarily, but he knew what everyone thought of him. It mimicked what he thought of himself, too. He was awkward at best, and a disaster at worst. But tonight, he was neither of those things. He was anything and everything else.

If his mask hadn’t made him unrecognizable - and he had carefully, painstakingly made sure that it covered the most recognizable features on his face - his posture certainly did. He was not hunched, not standing in the corner and cowering from the people that swarmed and swirled around him. No, tonight, he was in the center of it all, sweeping dancing partners around the room, tipping drinks into his mouth far more frequently than he ever had, and laughing without abandon.

He saw her from the corner of his eye, moving - no, moving was far too inelegant a word for the way she glided about the party - with an ease and confidence August had always seen her have. Julieta was breathtaking, and for a moment, his composure slipped and he felt a wave of awe and insecurity crash into him. She was beautiful. So, so beautiful. And since their heart to heart in the Great Hall, when everything came crashing down around him, he felt himself slowly falling more and more under her spell.

Deftly, August swept his dance partner into the arms of another, slipping around the outskirts of the partygoers. He was about to reach out and place a hand on her shoulder to sweep her onto the dance floor with him when she sidestepped someone else, bumping into him.

Lo siento. Didn’t mean to brush you…wow.

August couldn’t help the smile that crept up his face. Usually he was the one left speechless. As it was, he took a moment to compose his words, unwilling to let the confidence that his anonymity presented him.

I didn’t spill any drink or anything on you, did I?

August looked down at his suit, plucking the glass from her hands and setting it aside.

“If you did,” he said, taking her now-empty hand and tugging her close, sweeping his other arm around to the small of her back. He led them with surprising grace backwards until he was back in the thrall of the dancing couples. “You can make it up to me with a dance.”

julieta marie santos ● the rare sighting for confident august mask ● 422

MADE BY MIZO

[julieta marie santos]

julieta marie santos

perhaps it was the surprise that kept julieta unaware of who she was talking to for as long as she did.

she was far from an imperceptive individual, and her familiarity with august likely should have tipped her off to the identity of her dance partner immediately. and yet, between the mask and his uncharacteristic confidence, she was left reeling. the slight tinge of recognition was quickly washed out by her intense interest in this dance partner and his, admittedly decent, segway into a conversation. she’d heard worse, at least.

a gentle laugh spilled from her more quickly than she cared to admit, but she didn’t fall behind for more than a moment as the stranger coaxed them into a dance. this she could easily do.

“normally i tease people for their pickup lines, but i’ll admit, that was rather smooth. now all you have to do to impress me is not step on my feet. so far, you’re in the clear.” julieta pursed her lips into a hum and searched his face, looking for the source of that familiarity. it wasn’t zekiel, the voice would be entirely different. another member of the order, perhaps? though, she’d only met a handful of them.

“how do you know ivan?” she posed instead. those eyes- she knew those eyes. a thought surfaced, slight, but she held onto it as they spun across the dance floor. it was something about their color, and the way they looked when they hit the light. it reminded her of a friend far less forward than the one currently guiding her in circles. “i’ll admit, i’m only vaguely familiar with him myself, though delighted at the invitation.”


she glanced between his hair and his eyes, and felt almost certain. still, the confidence was enough to warrant her hesitation. it was a unique feeling: julieta santos was many things, but uncertain was rarely graced that list.

august frank longbottom

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE