Quidditch Spectator Durmstrang vs Ilvermorny-Beauxbatons - Summer 2024

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speech • #427c9a thoughts • italics others • #ffffff

august 3rd, 2024 • date london quidditch stadium (summer camp) • location spectator • thread

Ophelia felt her mind wandering through the endless possibilities of a birthday party. Emily replied with her answer quite quickly. Chocolate. Not the Ravenclaw's favourite-- her personal love was lemon cake-- but she could manage with chocolate.

"Then a chocolate cake it'll be!" Almost as soon as Ophelia had said her, her brain was already somewhere else. She wasn't usually this absentminded. Maybe she was too into organisation for her own good. She felt bad as the Quidditch match that she was supposed to be observing, the one from which she was supposed to draw inspiration, ended and the stands erupted in cheers. Meanwhile she didn't even know the two foreign teams that were playing, let alone which one had won.

Shaking herself out of her subconscious, Ophelia squinted at the players who seemed to have won. One of the teams was Ilvermorny, and the other was Durmstrang, she realised, now that the Ravenclaw was paying more attention. By the way the Durmstrang students were celebrating, it was clear that they'd won. Shouts and cheers were going off practically everywhere.

"I suppose the game has ended and it's time for me to go." Ophelia glanced over at Emily, her acquaintance turned friend. She knew that they'd probably need to talk more about their party idea, whether it was actually going to work, and how it ever would. But that would be a conversation for another day. She pulled her purple trench coat tighter around her, and stood up. Her body yearned for the relative warmth that her star-themed tent offered her. "See you soon, Emily!"

interactions • @Emily Shephard mentions• @ stats • sta 7 | eva 7 | str 6 | wis 9 | arc 6 | acc 6

242 • word count xxx • outfit perfectionist, paragon of health • abilities

Ophelia leaves thread unless stopped

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Valentin Azat Schnell grew up wild and free. His famed musician parents were often away on tour, but even when present, they encouraged their ambitious son at every opportunity to push his own limits. Never did they tell him to set his sights lower or to stop dreaming. Rather, the family believed that in order to be secure and excel, one needed to progressively confront tougher issues and learn skills necessary to not only survive, but thrive. Although he was the harshest over matters of self control, Val’s father Hugo was quick to usher his only son and heir onto a broom from the earliest age – after all, he too had been a quidditch player for Durmstrang and knew that great things became possible especially when one started young. Once Valentin entered the Institute, embracing risky challenges became doubly assured as a basis of his survivalist education. It was not for a lack of experience with dark magic and combat that Valentin maintained an aggressively all-loving, optimistic attitude. No, the freedom to explore sides of the world that were left out of the curricula of other schools for being grim and dangerous was precisely why Valentin’s compassion was able to run so deep and true. To limit oneself from seeing from such perspectives was to forever blind their own eyes. With perception being Val’s greatest strength, the captain knew that maintaining only a selective understanding shackled liability onto not just himself, but onto anyone who depended on his insights, leadership, and ability to connect.

High above, where Valentin’s keen eyes could see to the horizon in every direction and the familiar songs of Stribog gave early warning of his environment’s changing temperament, the seeker was at home. Yet, to be a lone cosmic snowball shooting across the sky was an isolating experience. Even before Valentin experienced such intense solitude himself, the folktales of his mother Zinoviya explained: it was because the colddrake wanted a home that it fell upon the Earth. It was because the entity knew the silence of dark space all too well that it longed for the wishfire of a blazing heart. The drake’s hypnotic gaze and long claws drew in one’s longing soul because it desired the union it could not achieve alone in the sky.

By the time his parents were gone, Valentin had grown accustomed to life as an extroverted free spirit and so fought to maintain his way of life even as other figures filled the resulting power vacuum. Sergei, his butler and defacto guardian, presented the greatest threat to Val’s freewheeling lifestyle while Schnell’s formal guardian, Leonid, held legal restrictions to the heir’s wealth until Valentin reached adulthood. Such constraints were the primary source of household drama back in Kazan, especially as Sergei’s personality began to shift with his newfound acquisition of power.

Forcibly limiting Valentin was a quick path to wounding and even angering him, but while interactions with Sergei and Leonid provided a new kind of political education for him, there were only so many battles the champion could fight. The struggles of Durmstrang’s student body proved more important to Valentin, and so it became easier to seek refuge in the sky or the backcountry instead of having to engage with authority figures unnecessarily. After all, Valya’s heart had remained forever wild. Still, to bind himself in blood to another was a step beyond alliances to his teams and ring brothers. The gravitational pulls on the comet’s heart were now undergoing dramatic shifts and, in such unbroken territory, outcomes remained unknown.

- | -

Hanging like two stars in the sky, Valentin and Nikolai faced each other astride the old Oakshaft. Accustomed to orienting himself in different alignments with the sun as a matter of basic quidditch seeking, Valentin angled his taller frame to shade Nikolai’s eyes from the blinding orb. The seeker’s head cast an umbra onto his companion’s face, ringing Val’s silhouette with a backlit halo and setting the edges of his white hair aglow. Holding Nikolai’s hands, the last of his kind offered up irreplaceable sacred texts and heirloom knowledge Valya was always supposed to keep secret and within the family. Yet, Valentin knew the shadow of fear as it crossed his counterpart’s face. It meant that Nikolai was taking his offer seriously, but it was also an unwieldy emotion that could block out the finer points of reality.

Valentin was patient with what truly mattered to him, and few topics were as weighty as carrying forward his family’s legacy, let alone when tied to his dearest one. Thus, the captain simply observed the flickers passing across Nikolai’s face without a word, waiting as lovingly as a sailor watching the sea. When his thoughts had resolved, the Vol’ka then raised his voice:

“To me our love is already immortal, but I would do anything to see you burn forever, to burn alongside you. If you are as certain as I know your heart to be then I am with you in every aspect.” Sweeping up the seeker’s hand and gripping it tightly, Nikolai knew exactly how to communicate with Valentin to maximum effect.

“But. I need you to promise me something. If my family were ever to discover our workings. I need you to promise me you would destroy everything.” Pressing Val’s hand to his heart, Nikolai emphasized: “Everything.”

It was clear from the sorrow filling his eyes that Nikolai did not want to limit Valentin, especially so forcefully. The seeker’s eyelashes beat like feathery white wings as a wash of emotions and questions and an unspoken plea struck him like a blow across the head. His gaze lolled to the side just so. Yet, with his hand held to the other’s chest, Nikolai had tethered Valya to precisely where the drake had no desire to leave. It was like an inborn gift that Kol’ka so effortlessly intuited how to handle him. Few conditions ever remained simple for long, however. Closing his eyes to conceal his fears, Nikolai completed his train of thought.

“I wish to tell you everything Valentin, but I won’t put you in danger. The darkness in my family runs far deeper than their hatred of my heart’s desire. It is a stain that couldn’t be washed away in even immortality. I wish to tell you everything and if you asked me I would but to do so would be to mark you for death and I couldn’t bare it.”

It was Valentin’s turn to pause and consider the half-cloaked revelations, but there was no satisfaction in trying to make such a blindfolded decision. How was he supposed to make a real choice if he didn’t know the full meaning of each option? It felt like a forced dichotomy threatening to tear them apart – should he accept ignorance of Nikolai and his situation forever or insist that the boy keep his promise of truthfulness and openness no matter the cost? Val’s face twisted with the bitter realization that he had revealed intimate and privileged family information, only to be denied equal reciprocation seconds later.

Val had told Nikolai clearly that his own offer was extremely dangerous, and yet the Hell-Chaser offered it anyway with the faith that his counterpart would still choose what felt right to him. Yet, the most damaging of Kol’ka’s words – ‘I won’t put you in danger’ – felt like alien authority levied against Valentin, denying the two unity and pinning him down in a way that not even his parents had imposed. Such wording was not a question, not an invitation to collaborate, but only a stark foregone conclusion. Valentin pulled his left hand from Kol’ka’s in order to rub at his amethyst eyes and scrape at the wrinkles gathering in their corners. Yet, he made no effort to remove his right hand from over Nikolai’s heart. Returning his gaze and placing his hand back into the other boy’s, Valentin drew in a long breath.

“Dear Kol’ka, please understand my pain when you pull away from me like this. There’s no need to hide your eyes from me. It’s okay to feel afraid. Let me have all your feelings: your fear, your pain, your hate, your love, your everything. I love all of you unconditionally, and I will continue to tell you all of my truths without restrictions, as I swore to. Know now that my heart is still wild and answers to wishes, not rules, not control. Through our blood oath, I swore myself to you, and now you have power to continue using me even if you opt to disown the promises you made. Yet, because you claimed to wish for my happiness and to remain family, I must explain how this can still be done.” Squeezing Nikolai’s hand, Valentin felt pain lancing his own heart.

“Consider what you said – ‘the darkness in your family’ runs deep. Are we not family, now? Do you know how it wounds me to hear you speak of these hurtful and egocentric relatives as your family, only for you to suddenly exclude me from it and therefore the darkness in your life? Or, perhaps, is ‘family’ really such a threadbare relationship for you that it is acceptable to pick and choose when to keep your vows?” Breathing out, wincing, Val tried to focus back on his point without dwelling too long on the suffering fomenting within his gut. Hugo would have told him to focus on the objective, to not succumb to such weaknesses as held by his mother…

“Please – I see the difficult position you are in. You believe you have conflicting wishes, but I want you to relax for a moment. Set down the assumptions you have at least long enough to consider what I have to say.”

The hand on Kol’ka’s chest clenched into a handful of cloth, pulling ever so slightly towards Valentin as if to demonstrate that the tether between them went both ways. For all the pain welling up inside, the Hell-Chaser was not about to let go.

“Let us start back at the beginning. I do believe that you’d do anything to see me burn forever and to burn alongside me if I so asked. You asked as a condition that I would destroy everything if ever our work was discovered by your family. You offered to work together with me on a goal, showing where you think there should be a limitation. I know the value of self-imposed limits well enough that I am still alive today despite all the risks I have taken. You are no fool, my Kol’ka, and I do not wish us harm either. Yet, when you say ‘destroy everything...’” Val’s voice trailed off as a memory drifted through him about ‘a calamity from the skies…’ “Even immortality itself cannot hold a candle to you. What good is eternal life if one cannot also pursue the call of one’s heart?” Pulling more at Kol’ka’s shirt until the boy’s face was only inches away, Valentin locked eyes with the lost Volkov.

“You ask me to be willing to destroy everything, and if it would best fulfill your wishes, I shall. I would obliterate the sacred inheritance of my family line and therefore wipe out my very own ancestral legacy – a significant part of myself – and therefore a portion of my immortality. Yet, ‘everything’ means a bit more. Certainly, I would willingly die for you if it would accomplish your greatest wish. If it were the answer to all your wishes, I would dedicate myself to annihilating the entire world for you. Yet, would you also ask me to destroy you?” Looking Nikolai up and down, Valentin’s indigo irises cast the boy’s reflection back at him.

“You might be asking me to destroy you now. If you deny me understanding of the dangers posed by your family, how am I to defend you? If you deny me the darkness in your life, how am I to help? You wished to tell me everything. You wished for me to be family. You even wished for my happiness. Yet, when you say you won’t put me in danger, how can I fulfill my promises? My greatest powers are those of perception. Would you blind your seeker? Would you keep strategic information from your captain? Would you tell the one who loves you more than any other just to stay out of it and never truly know you? It is more dangerous to strip your knight of his armor and blade, leaving your champion clueless, when you know his purpose is to follow you into battle. Either with sword in hand or as naked and vulnerable as a babe in the woods, I will fulfill my oath.” Releasing both hands in order to press them to the sides of Nikolai’s face, Valya stared down into his icy eyes, dauntless.

“If you cannot trust me, then trust the spirit of Durmstrang. Our training strengthens our survival skills, but only by exposing us to threats. They teach us combat and the dark arts because the world is more deadly when we are oblivious. Duelling is risky, just like quidditch. Nearly everything we do at Durmstrang could kill us if we did not try to do it right. At graduation we form no army, but disperse as free individuals fit to protect ourselves and others. With my freedom, I chose to bind myself to you. Now I am your warrior, your diarch, your explorer, and the one who will love you more deeply and unconditionally than any other. I will not demand that you tell me of your ‘family stains’ now because what I seek with you is a true unity of wills, not unilateral coercion. Our kingdoms are one, but if you chain up my mind with secrecy, you might as well burn down all of our libraries while you’re at it. Knowledge is power and therefore dangerous, but willful ignorance is suicide. Empower me with your endless truths, and then use me. For our mutual protection, trust me when I say that your family stains are my own now.” Lowering his hands, Valentin took Nikolai’s scarred palm into his own.

“This is my devotion: I love you more than life itself, even if that life would have been an immortal one. I know you are struggling because promises are dangerous, and there can be so many, but I am here with you now. You say that your wish to tell me everything would mark me for death, but I already accepted that risk the moment I took your blood into my veins. Your burdens are no longer solely yours. Tell me every one of your many beautiful desires and look beyond assumptions that they must conflict. Let me break your limits. You are capable of so much more than you know.”

Raising Nikolai’s palm to expose the curve of its scar, Valentin pressed his lips into its indentation. Lingering for several seconds as he memorized the feel of the wound’s shape before lowering the boy’s hand, the seeker’s eyes glittered up with a damp sheen.

“Besides, you had to go and wish for my happiness, so I can’t afford to neglect my own dreams anymore.”

Did Kol’ka really know what Valentin wanted? In so many ways it seemed that the other could read him like a book, but how much was as assumption and how much was real?

“I love you, Kol'ka. Tell me what you think is best now.”

Godmods between Val and Nikolai are consensual across threads.

3rd August 2024
Goodbye Until Next Time with @Ophelia Northwell
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

Emily can't remember the last time she planned so thoroughly for her own birthday party. She wasn't going to complain since she wanted this to be as special for Ophelia as it was for her. It just seemed like they were planning more on the lines of a wedding or something as opposed to a young teen's birthday party.

Emily was trying to read Ophelia, determining her preferences. She was asked what she would like but she hardly recalled any of Ophelia's own input aside from the venue. That was something to keep in mind for getting her birthday present, she decided. Something neutral and neither leant towards one or the other in terms of style. Emily could think of a few things already that could compensate.

It was then that she noticed the stadium was unusually quiet. Following Ophelia's lead, Emily looked down to see that the match had ended. If this wasn't proof enough that Emily wasn't a sports person then nothing was. At least she could say she finally went to a Quidditch match next time she was asked.

She watched Ophelia get up and get organised. Of course, she most likely had other things to do. With what they talked about, Emily had an idea or two to contribute to their little birthday get-together when they'd be back at Hogwarts in September. Emily got packed up slowly as she watched Ophelia walk away, but not without a final wave with a promising smile of meeting each other again.

"See you around, Ophelia!"

Emily leaves the thread, parting ways with Ophelia

_{Word Count: 299}

Stamina: 7|Evasion: 6|Strength: 6|Wisdom: 8|Arcane Power: 7|Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast|Cat's Grace

✦✦Discourse/thoughts|@Kyra Banuelos|3rd August 2024|✦✦

It didn't take long for Mari to arrive at the stadium, the first day of the quidditch game had finally arrived, which Mari had been waiting for since the beginning of the camp.

Mari hurried out of her hut with a comfortable and fresh outfit that matched the expected weather, her heart was beating fast as she took a few quick steps to get there early, and there was no doubt that they would be in the best seats, she saw a lot of quidditch games, all she could go, but each time it was as if it was the first time, But it would be her first time not to see a game alone.

The minutes went by and Mari saw more and more people coming out of their huts heading to the same place as her, when she arrived Mari looked around, even on a summer day the lights were visible and the game atmosphere was incredible, she hurries to enter and sit in the stands where she could see the players getting ready to start the game "Come on Kyra..... quickly the game is starting Mari thought, Mari would finally see Kyra again, and the two agreed to meet there I hope she comes to the correct bench She thought, Mari didn't really want to miss this moment with Kyra, they considered meeting outside the stadium, but it was better this way so that if any were late at least we would have a good seat.

Time was passing and the game was less than a minute away from starting, until someone starts to approach Mari, Mari squinted because in the crowd it was difficult to understand who it was, but soon she realized "Kyra!"

✦✦Discourse/thoughts|@Kyra Banuelos|3rd August 2024|✦✦

Mari waved to Kyra after she realized where Mari was, Mari takes her things from the chair next to Kyra to sit down "Yepp, sorry to have chosen a place of such difficult access, I wanted to choose the best seats, I hope the wait was worth it" Mari said with a slight laugh, the truth is that everything was complete with people, and Mari decided to choose the places that could best see the stadium, not being covered by the crowd of fans.

"Soooo, how are you since last time?" Mari Asks Kyra, crossing their legs, the two girls hadn't seen each other since the day of the stories around the campfire, which had been a few weeks ago "Have you seen games here, who are you rooting for?" asked Mari again, she wasn't rooting for any team since, naturally, it wasn't from any of them, but she preferred that Ilvermorny win.

The seconds were counting quickly, there were about 10 left for the start of the match, and Mari looked down and could see the players getting ready and starting to enter the field on their brooms, the game started, and even with the unexpected uproar at the beginning Durmstrang was undoubtedly dominating the game right from the start with the difference of 5 points to the other team, As the game went on, it was clear that it would undoubtedly be an interesting game, and not only the game, but the conversation of the two Slytherin girls would also be,Decidedly.

✦✦Discourse/thoughts|@Kyra Banuelos|3rd August 2024|✦✦

Yes, I love watching the games from here!” Mari replied, resting her fingers on her legs as the game started, Mari used to watch as many games as she could, her parents always made a point of buying the best seats, a little higher up than where the two girls were, but Mari thought it best to stay in those seats with Kyra, even though they didn't have as many perks, at least they could see the game from a good perspective!

The minutes went by and Kyra answered Mari's question “Ah you have a cat, nice, I don't have one yet, I'm undecided between a Bewitched Midnight Stalker , and a Chartreux , I'm in love with these two species, not to mention the snake, if I could it would be the animal I would bring, but since I can't, patience!” Mari replied, ending the sentence with a shrug.

” We're in agreement then, I'm also rooting for ilvermonry, even though durmstrang is very strong, do you think ilvermonry could be more... agile!” Mari said, from her experience of the games she had seen, she thought Ilvermonry would be well able to win, but nothing is completely certain in Quidditch.

A few minutes later, Mari was surprised by Kyra's question: “Honestly, I don't know, I've never seen you ride a broom, something we'll clearly have to deal with when we get to Hogwarts, but Quidditch is definitely one of the more complicated sports, and every year there are dozens of students on the waiting list, and to be one of them, you have to be at least... good.” Mari replied, she had never been on the waiting list, but when she could try to get back in, she had no idea what would happen, because every year there are lists of students who end up being left off, ” But if that's what you really like... don't give up!" Mari added

✦✦Discourse/thoughts|@Kyra Banuelos|3rd August 2024|✦✦

Mari smiled slightly when she heard Kyra: “I'm glad you're enjoying all this and, yes, now I'm curious to see you play! Mari said, “Maybe after our special trip to our beloved forest... you haven't forgotten, have you?” Mari asked ironically, already knowing the answer, but not afraid of being overheard. With all the noise, I'm sure no one would care what two girls were saying in the middle of thousands of people!

The minutes were passing too quickly, and we were almost at the end of the game, the whole game had been won by Durmstrang, so with every Ilvermonry point the two girls celebrated, Mari stood up a few times, but part of her was in an uproar, since it was difficult for Ilvermonry to score, but she went right back to her seat, but when Kyra stood up celebrating another point for Ilvermonry, Mari couldn't help but laugh “Uhuuu” Mari shouted between laughs.

There were only a few, very few minutes left to play and the result was all but over for durmstrang, which made Mari very frustrated, but Kyra was important to her, and Mari didn't want to infect her with her bad mood “I'm happy to be here too, even though Ilvermonry is losing,” said Mari without lying.