Being | Bytiye Solo Closed

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••••Being | Бытие ••••Only a Professor with his set of skills could have advised the Director of Koldovstoretz School that it was a bad idea. Jora Korotkin and Natasha Pavlova never completely saw eye to eye. She was of a different generation to him, she only saw the tail end of the Soviet Era, whilst he lived through its thawing; and its end. They agreed mostly during the early years of their tenure, but as the times changed so did his relationship with her. Each of them began to see things differently. Frankly, she had begun to move with the sands of time, whilst he seasoned with age, rooted himself into the sand with a pillar he called; experience. Each new change she brought to the school also brought with it risk that Koldovstoretz would lose that which made it Koldovstoretz, the heart of her people. There was always to be some risk, but it had always been Jora's role to minimize it or mitigate it entirely. That which was the subject of their latest and final debate, was another of such risks, a trip to England. He, having been a Professor of Defence Against Dark Magic for some many years now, had fallen out of the old Soviet intelligence circles he had made his name in; but there are some connections and skills that just don't leave you. Whispers of the political landscape in magical England had come through the cracks, across the old root-networks that had once upheld peace in the world; and somehow reached the ears of this particular member of the old guard. He had urged the Director to change tack, to reconsider the offer for a chance at international cooperation in light of the risks- but she had been swayed by the pressure and consequences she felt would come from being the odd-school-out. Jora, of course, cared nought for the opinions of sheep but in the eyes of an ever-changing world, that had a growing dependence on material things and image, she had been cowed by the weight of judgement and Western assurances; dismissing his concerns as fringe conspiracy, the views of a crazed elder longing for 'the old days' where this kind of tension was common. The dreadful news that had reached him before it had hit the papers, caused some amount of discomfort and distress, but chief of all he had felt enraged, maddened by the idea that such loss of life could have been avoided at many points, that the lives of the children they safeguarded had been jeopardised and in the instances of five; been fatal. Before the news had time to percolate, several members of the board of governors had contacted him to make him known of their intent to install him as Director following details of Pavlova's extensive injuries. Some of the board had been strong supporters of his, people that he had become close to as time marched on, as people of their thinking became fewer and far between. In classic fashion, the stage-hands behind the curtain had already arranged the next set and relevant performance, by the very next morning. Yegor's appointment was pushed through on the backs of tragedy and loss. It was argued that there was no other option than the strong-man that was sure to keep the interests of their school at the top of his list of priorities. It was a political move designed to draw on emotion, and in doing so it would define the next era of the school. Publicly, Jora had never appeared to want the role; as that was generally poor taste within his world, but he had been waiting a long time for this opportunity to come along. The optics aligned, Koldovstoretz and her students needed someone like him to champion them, to defend them and to show the world that magical Russia was more than a desolate tundra full of hardened, unpalatable people. This meant that he was going to have to be flexible in his personal beliefs; to bank on some western ideas in order to strengthen the hand given to his people. Shutting themselves off from the world was one response to this crisis, but it was not one that the dwindling population of Koldovstoretz could afford if it wanted to survive into the future as he was sure other institutions of its kind, would. Whilst the opening of the world's longest game of chess had finished, the work began now. Ground needed to be gained in many areas; the image of the school needed to be raised beyond Yak farming and frostbite- and whilst Yegor privately held the belief that image was not a priority; their school, their people, had become weak. Both, the students and professors needed to be a part of a school they could be proud of; only then would the foundations of greatness follow and strength sprout in spring. Yegor's militaristic manner was yet to be seen as a success or failure, but the only thing that was known for certain was that Koldovstoretz wasn't quite prepared for her newest Director of Studies.

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─Notes | BYTIYE - (n) meaningful existence

Russian Proverb | A bear may be known by its den─