The Hat marries people, yo. (Open to those who signed up)

[ugly-old-hat.livejournal.com]

One bright Hogwarts morning, fliers with small, numbered Hat-shaped plastic tokens are sent out to a select group of students via house elf. “Your presence is required at an Awards Ceremony in the Great Hall tonight,” the flier states. “Attendance is mandatory. Formal dress is required. Prizes will be given.”

And so, at the appointed time, the students are ushered into the Great Hall. It has been lavishly decorated for the occasion: streamers, flowers, a champagne fountain, the works. At the front of the hall sits the Sorting Hat, likewise decorated in a wreath of flowers and lots of bling. It sits imperiously and waits until everyone has taken a seat and the beautifully decorated doors have been closed and barred.

“My dear students,” it begins, “we are gathered here today for a wonderful ceremony. A ceremony of magic and beauty, and it is my privilege to be here with you. Now, before you can get your wonderful awards--” here one of the Hat's folds dips in what might have been a wink on something with a face--”are you all carrying your special prize tokens?” It waits for a little longer while the attending house elves (all carrying bouquets of multicolored flowers) check to ensure that yes, everyone in the room has one on their person. “Wonderful! By the power vested in me by the Board of Education, I now pronounce you married!”

Before the shock and outrage can set in, the Hat rushes into the next part of its speech. “No use getting upset, it's legal now! This place has become a haven for loose morals, and you're helping to fix that! Don't worry about your belongings, you won't have to spend a second sweating and becoming undesirable for your new spouses! While you've been here, the house elves have moved your sundries out to your new homes for you, isn't that nice of them? They've even been allowed to charm your new homes so that you can't remove your objects from them! Let's hear it for the house elves!” It doesn't pause for applause. “Now, I'll let you happy newlyweds get to the business of consummating your new relationships in the name of duck waffles procreation. Your tokens are numbered with your new addresses, and a map has been provided at the door. Don't try to run, the ushers have been provided with cattle prods and given the permission to use them.” The Hat waves a strap at one terrified-looking bouquet-holding elf near the front, who pulls a cattle prod out of the flowers and waves it around. “And now, onward! Onward to happy families! Onward to El Mundo Del Sombrero!”

The doors open. The armed house elves swarm, herding the students to a tent village on Hogwarts grounds. Resistance is futile.

Once arriving at the tent whose number matches the number on their token, each student will meet his or her new spouse(s) ...



((The tents in El Mundo Del Sombrero are wizarding tents that appear to be one-bedroom houses complete with bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, etc. inside. Rearranging and addition of objects is allowed, removal of objects for the purposes of moving elsewhere or returning to the castle is not due to the charm on the tents. Players are allowed to NPC the house elves shocking their own characters if an escape attempt is made. Note that characters will not be barred from returning to the castle later to do other things, e.g., use the library; they just can't move back into the castle. Congratulations on your nuptials.

Feel free to RP in this post, or to post your own separate posts that take place within the dubious sanctuary of your brand-new tent!))

Comments

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx wasn't too thrilled either. As he remarked aloud to no one in particular when he arrived at the tent, "Isn't marriage supposed to involve love? 'Cause there's two problems right there. One, I haven't even seen whoever it is I'm 'sposed to be marrying, and two, I can't love them anyway." If he expounded any further on that subject, he'd probably be forced to explain the whole idea of being a Nobody again.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice said nothing as she was ushered into her tent. She only thought of what a mistake it was to come here.

Edward's a big boy. He could take care of himself. Why did I have to come looking for him?

She sat on the couch in the living area and simply waited for her shiny new husband to arrive.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

There's something not quite right about her, Demyx thought on seeing Alice. She's not a Nobody, but...

He cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, hey. I'm Demyx."

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

"Alice," she replied, not looking up.

He smelled very intriguing. Somewhat familiar, but there was something there she couldn't quite put her finger on...

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Something weird about her heart...

"Listen, we're not gonna go through with the whole marriage thing, really? I mean, the living together I can handle, but the, uh..." Demyx was, strangely enough, something of a prude. Talking about sex tended to make him uncomfortable.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice shook her head. She knew what he was talking about.

"We won't have to worry about the one bedroom issue either," she said, "I don't sleep."

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx chuckled. "And here I was gonna be gentlemanly and insist you take the bed. But, uh... don't sleep?" What sort of creature looks human but doesn't sleep?

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice finally looked up at him, "I can't," was all she said.

She wouldn't admit to herself that he was even a little handsome. All she could think about was how much she loathed him for replacing her beloved Jasper. Even if it wasn't his fault, really.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

Can't sleep? What the...? The Nobody puzzled for a bit, but he couldn't think of anything that might mean.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice stood up and looked at him, her golden eyes staring him down, "I'm a vampire. That's why I don't sleep. I won't kill you, I promise, but if you want to run and scream now, feel free."

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Vampire? I'm starting to think that hat has a sense of humor. A bloodsucker and someone with no heart. Demyx flopped into a chair. "I'll pass, thanks. Guess I have to tell you I'm a Nobody now, huh?"

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice sat back down on the couch, a slightly puzzled look on her face, "I'm sorry, a what?"

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"I haven't got a heart. Lost it." He tapped the inside of his wrist. "If you don't believe me, feel free to check - there's no pulse."

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice reached her cold, marble-like hand out to touch his wrist. She waited for the beats to come that would make her mouth start to water. They never came.

"Sorry about my hands," she apologized, folding her arms. It was difficult to have toasty skin when when you haven't had blood in your veins for over a century...

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx shrugged. "Eh, I should've expected it." It's easy to take most things in stride when you haven't got emotions. And weirder things had happened to him.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice turned from him and stood up, "I wonder if our clothes are here," she thought aloud, desperately wishing to get out of the fancy dress she had put on for the "award ceremony".

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"I hope so." Normally, Demyx would wear regular clothes under his Organization robe, but in the middle of August, outdoors... In any case, he wasn't about to wander around in a black robe all day.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice left the room to go look for her possessions elsewhere in the tent, trying to hold in her tearless sobs. She didn't want anyone to see her at the moment, especially not the person she'd be spending a very long time with.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"Man, something is seriously up," Demyx muttered to himself. "I don't think even the Hat's usually this crazy..."

He was rooming with a vampire. An honest-to-god vampire. He tried to put the stories out of his mind... good thing he didn't watch many horror movies. But still...

He shook his head. "I worry too much. I'm not gonna wake up in the middle of the night with a hole in my neck."

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice ventured into the lone bedroom. After a quick look around the room, she spotted her bright blue duffel bag on the floor.

"I found our clothes," she called back to Demyx in the living room.

She opened her bag and began to dig through it. She was just about to zip it back up and and flee to the bathroom with her clothes when she spied her tiny, silver cell phone lying at the bottom of the bag. She snatched it up and flipped it open. No bars.

Wonderful.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"Great!"

Demyx cast about as he entered the bedroom. Of course, his clothes were just the way he'd left them - in a pile on the floor. Closets were for people who had nothing better to do than hang up clothes. "Clothes" in his case meaning a garish Hawaiian shirt and some jeans. "You wanna take the bathroom, or can I?"

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice stood back up and chucked her cell phone against the wall of the bedroom, where it promptly smashed to pieces and made a neat little dent where it hit.

"Bathroom's fine," she replied evenly, sulking off with her clothes under her arm.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx stared after her. "Whoa." Memo to me: don't get the vampire angry. He changed quickly. Predictably, he left his cloak in a corner.

Striding back in to the living room, he sat down, summoned his sitar, and started to play a song he thought was awfully appropriate right about now. "Now I might have joined the merchant marine if I hadn't learned how to sing, And on top of all that I got married to early, cost me much more than a ring..."

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice was fuming as she changed in the bathroom.

I'm barely here for a week, and they marry me off to this person I don't even know! And I can't call my Jasper and tell him to help me, nor can I send him a letter because GOD KNOWS WHERE HE IS...

The sound of tearing fabric snapped Alice out of her thoughts. She had ripped her shirt right down the middle in anger.

Oh, perfect. Just absolutely SPIFFING.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx paused. What was that noise? Oh, well. Prob'ly nothing I'd be much help with. Nevertheless, he dismissed his sitar. Not that this really stopped the music much - Demyx tended to hum when he was nervous.