June 22, 1893 — Spirit Ball

Oh but this was absolutely wonderful! A ball full of spirits! There seemed to be a little something for everyone, at least musically. There was also intermissions that consisted of poems. Winston drifted around the ballroom, talking to any spirit that would let him. He also thought he saw a familiar face or two but had not yet been able to pin them down to speak with them. All in all, he thought a Spirit Ball was a wonderful idea. "Are you going to recite a poem?" He asked the nearest person, no matter whether they looked the sort to be reciting poems or not.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

It was a point of suitably poetic irony that a ghost writer should find himself at a function run by ghosts.

Since meeting one of their number, Natty had become set on penning a new novel about ghosts, thus he was here for research. But he didn't know quite what was expected, so the question put to him came as a surprise. He turned to regard the speaker, and paused a second; the young man was alarmingly pleasant of face. Almost ethereal himself, if not an actual ghost.

"Is that to be expected?" he asked, not keen on the concept.

  

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"Not if you do not want to," Winston said after a moment of thought. "I just heard they will be having performances of song, dance and poetry. This was done a lot in olden days so it is something a lot of the much older spirits might enjoy." He was very excited to see that happen. He didn't know if such a thing was typical of general society balls or were unique to a spirit ball. He had been roaming for far too long to have an idea of how local society was these days (not that he had much of an attention span to have paid attention even if that were not the case). "Do you come to a lot of spirit balls?" He rather liked the aspect of this being primarily for spirits with the Living being the ones invited to come partake.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

Natty looked at the fellow curiously, still a touch taken aback by how much he noticed the stranger's unique appearance. But he took it in his stride, and listened, and learned. "This is my first Spirit Ball", he chuckled. "How about you? You seem to have knowledge in the area... maybe you could educate me."

  

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"It's my first as well but I know a lot about ghosts and stuff. I wrote papers and books," Winston shared with a slight laugh. At the very least, if he had attended one before it was not something he remembered. Winston did tend to forget such things though he was a little better about it now. "There's a pile of rotting ghost food because ghosts don't eat but they can kind of taste it," Winny said, his two toned eyes shining with excitement, taking no heed that this man was a literal stranger as he took hold of the others wrist and made an attempt to drag this poor man to check out the table piled high with stinky, rotting food.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

He knew about ghosts? (And stuff?) That was interesting, and Natty was primed to inquire further — only to find himself being led away to a destination that was being understandably avoided by the other living people present.

"Right..." he replied as he let himself be led over, half bemused, half amused. "That's another thing I didn't know about spirits, then. But I suppose if they can see and hear... then why not taste?"

  

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"Yes! But the food has to be really rotten and they float through it. Isn't that fascinating?" He asked as he peered up at the taller man. As was typical for Winston, however, his mind jumped tracks as another point of interest came to him. This man was quite tall compared to himself and Winston wouldn't personally consider himself short. "Were you given a lot of milk as a child?"

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

"It is fascinating", he agreed vaguely as he watched the morose form of a floating spirit drift through a plate of vegetables so old they smelt fermented.

He returned his gaze to the young man, only to be met with a very curious set of eyes gazing up at him with unabashed interest. Natty blinked. "A lot of... milk?"

  

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Winston giggled, unable to help it. Was the man trying to keep secrets about how he had gained his height? "You're bigger than me. I don't think my hand even went all around your wrist earlier either." That was probably an exaggeration though it was true that Winston seemed to be rather slim compared to the stranger. "Did you know ghosts can write letters to one another?" It did not occur to him that his current companion might get a little head-spinny from Winstons tendency to jump from topic to topic.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

The ghostly stranger giggled — an endearing sort of sound. Natty was on the brink of analysing his reaction to this charming young creature... but for now he simply went with the flow. It was all he could do, really, given that the fellow was leading the conversation at the speed of a magic carpet.

Natty was indeed bigger than him, but he had no idea how to respond to that, so he considered the next topic; which was a very interesting one. "I didn't. How do they manage that?"

  

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The way the other was looking at him did give Winny some pause. But aside from a brief flush of his cheeks, he didn't dwell on it all that long as he was asked a question. "I haven't met a spirit yet that could or was willing to fully explain it but it seems to come from the same place that some ghosts can produce instruments and the like. The letters they write are translucent, unreadable by living people such as you and I. But they can see it." He was rambling a little passionately, really. He couldn't help it though. Ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists, anything considered positively goulish had always fascinated him immensely.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

Distracted as he was by... well, by the one saying all this, Natty was also earnestly interested in the subject at hand. He planned to pen a novel in which ghosts featured heavily, and this idea of covert ghostly messages was flooding his mind with ideas. "How did you come to know so much about ghosts, hm?"

  

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Winston found himself unsure how to actually answer the question asked of him. A look of concentration passing over his features as he considered how to word things. "I was just always interested in them, ever since I was at Hogwarts. I did a lot of research and wrote academic papers and books. I traveled a lot of places to learn from all sorts of people, both living and dead." And he would soon be going back to Hogwarts which he felt would be fun. He was going to be teaching the class that he had heavily favoured as a student. "Do you like ghosts?" Winston personally figured this stranger must to be at a Spirit Ball and to seem interested in what he was saying about them.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

It could be safely assumed that the other was older than he looked (much like Natty, to be fair) as he spoke of his travels and his book-writing. But judging by what he was wearing, perhaps he was a gentleman of leisure, with no end of free time. Regardless, Natty knew well the energy and patience needed to write books. In fact, Natty had read a book on ghosts recently, and wondered if this could be the author...

"Do you like ghosts?" was such an innocent question, and Natty was not entirely sure how to approach it. Again, he was slightly endeared. "I suppose I do like ghosts", he eventually conceded. "I find them fascinating."

As if to prove his point, an enormous spirit — who looked like he might once have been a duke, or something to that effect — floated towards the food table, apparently planning to walk right through them. Instinctively, Natty put an arm around the fellow's slender shoulders and guided him a few steps backwards so he wouldn't experience whatever it was that happens when a ghost walks through you.

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Winston smiled as the older man answered in the affirmative. Added to his smile was an expression as if the tall stranger had just unlocked some secret. It was as easy as that for Winston to consider the other a friend. Never mind the fact that it had yet to occur to him that he had no idea what the others name was nor had he provided his own.

Before he could say anything else, however, he found himself being guided away from the table of food, his only reaction being a surprised "oh". An enormous spirit floated through the food with the most satisfied look Winny had ever seen on anyone, living or dead. "Thank you. I was enjoying our conversation so much that I did not even notice him approaching." Of course, anyone who knew him well would probably say that was a usual occurrence. However, this was a trait about himself that Winston himself stayed blissfully ignorant of.

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Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.

Natty smiled slightly at the charming remark, but pointed out; "you're the one contributing anything interesting to this conversation. But I'm certainly enjoying learning." That was why he was here, after all. He sought insight into this most mysterious of mysterious worlds.

  

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