Uncertain Waters Open to any Koldovstoretz iNPCs Closed

A tall, dark boy stepped out of the Ibza, his mouth a thin line in intense thought as he headed out over the grounds to find a place to study and relax after the long school day. His uniform was neat and well kept. If one didn't know any better, they might have said he had ironed it somehow. Maybe he had. Yasha was definitely the type to figure out how to do something like that here without magic.

A stray gust of cold wind whipped his black hair up for a moment, causing him to reach up and smooth the longest locks over his right eye. He continued over the grass towards the walkway that would lead him to the greater Koldovstoretz grounds, holding his hair down gently against the wind.

His thoughts were on the impending Hexiwizard tournament, as was everyone's. As much as he thought it was a terrible idea, considering the long and terrible history of the entire thing, he was sad that he wouldn't be able to be a part of it aside from the side events surrounding it. Being a spectator and going to balls was not as fun as participating, but maybe once he had racked up a few spells he would be able to participate in some other kind of event later. It would make his family proud. Anything to lift the Volkov name.

Glory aside, why Hogwarts kept insisting on dragging other schools into their dangerous tournaments and drama was beyond him. It was like they were trying to kill off everyone who wasn't attending their school. The last time they resurrected this silly game, one of their own had been taken and they had unintentionally been the vehicle for the rise of one of the world's most egotistical evil wizards. The only real power to Voldemort had been his unwavering charisma, at least, that was Papa's opinion of the man.

As Yasha approached the walkway, he saw a boy skipping rocks and watched him for a moment. The boy was at least a foot shorter than him, but Yasha was sure that he wasn't younger. Yasha had gathered a lot of information in his seven days here and knew that the other boy was in Group 3, but didn't know his name. Because the other boy was in Group 3, Yasha had never interacted with him before so he didn't know much more about him.

Yasha was always quiet with his steps, causing him to come up on people and surprise them accidently. Was there a point in alerting the boy to his presence as he passed him, or should he just walk by like a ghost and continue his search for a study spot? Would the boy be shocked enough to fall into the water if Yasha didn't say anything and just walked past or would he be more shocked if Yasha did yell? All of a sudden, Yasha was feeling rather impish and so, shoving off all the other options, decided to shout, as loud as he could, "Hey, young one, be careful not to fall over the edge. The best rocks are on the other side anyway."

After which, he put the book he had been holding under his arm and his hands in his pockets, before proceeding across the walkway and towards the boy. With his height, he was certain that the boy would assume he was older, as everyone else did.

Open for interactions

Russian: ✕ | Thoughts: ✕ | English: ✕
iNPC: Maskim Levin

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The moon hung high above the grounds. The day was full, and full of stressors, always more to think about. What sort of a man you were to be. How much more training could you sneak in before your body crumpled under the pressure. Holding up the family Honour, as one must do when they are a Levins. It all grew to be too much.

Normally Maksim was able to brush off any anxiety, or fear, making them problems for another point in time. But on some occasions, there was no brushing off, and it all swelled to a mass of immovable emotions that had to be delt with. Though, clearly never fully delt with.

Maksim took away to the only spot where he could find solitude. The only place where pressure didn't exsist and he could simply...float.

The water was quite cool, perhaps too cold for a dip, but he didn't care. The icey chill brought a certain relief to his body, the numb felt relaxing. The stars shimmered off the surface of the water, only Maksim's face broke the endless black void that swarmed underneath him.
He could hear the faint swishing of fish as they swam below him, the odd bubble traversing to the rim of the lake. The gentle breeze offered some movement to his floating being, though not enough to pull him from his trance. His heart beat in the depths of the water, the sound simply fading from existence, making it clear how alone he truly was.
Though it wasn't to last.
Just as he could feel his eyes drifting, as sleep beaconed at his being, a splash of water graced his face. Hardly moving at all, Maksim simply sat up, locating the source of the splash. The ripples in the water revealing a small stone as it sunk into the water, reaching out catching it before it sunk too deep. Looking up, Maksim saw a fellow student, sitting on the dock. Fairly certain Maksim wasn't noticed, he considered returning to his place of near slumber... or, perhaps it was time to make his way shoreward anyways.

Sinking down into the water, using all limbs to propell him forward, he soared through lake. As he drew near the dock, he heard a muffled sound... Perhaps the boy talking to himself?

As he rose up, drawing in a breath, he saw there were now 2 on the sore, "Evening gentleman - Lovely night for a dip." He launched himself up on the dock, water dripping from his hair, and splashing on the wood surface. Maskim smiled at the first boy who was sitting on the dock, pulling out the small stone in his pocket. "I think you dropped this."
Now out of the waters, the full embrace of the Russian wind encircled Maksim, rushing past the boy on the docks, he went to some near by bush where his towel and clothes were, wrapping himself in the warmth, and dryness of the towel, he let out a sigh, watching it catching in the air, "You two looking forward to the travel to Hogwarts coming up? Think we got a shot this year for the Hexiwizard tournament?" If he was emerging from the water, he was going to at least engage in some level of conversation, how his father had raised him.

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Open to Interactions

| Interacting with |
|@Avery McCall as Nikolai Ryzhkov | @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov|

Date: 09/07/22 | Language: Russian / English | iNPC: Nikolai Ryzhkov
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─────The sudden loud voice that rings out abruptly startles Kolya from his thoughts. Enough that a small, startled yelp breaks free before he can rein it in. He spins to look towards the source of the shouting fast enough that he nearly loses his footing on the wood planks, carefully rebalancing himself after a split second of dangerous teetering.

The source of the voice is made immediately apparent at the sight of the tall boy casually strolling over. As Kolya waits for his heartbeat to slow back down, he takes a moment to examine the other student. He was much taller, that's for sure. But then again, it was hard most days to find someone who wasn't. Part of his hair hung down in a way that fully covered his right eye, though the boy didn't seem bothered by it at all. He had vague memories of seeing him around the island before, but had not yet had the chance to actually meet him. He'd never been entirely sure just what year the other boy belonged to.

"I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes there for a moment," he jokes, his cheeks having since darkened slightly at the realization of his surprised outburst. His head is craned upward slightly to be able to look the other boy in the eye. "I'll be sure to check the other side next time to see if that's true or not." He offers a bright smile, already shaking off some of the previous embarrassment. "I don't think we've met yet though, I'm-" Before he can introduce himself to the other boy a new voice rings out from behind. In the lake.

Kolya quickly turns his head to look back towards the water, fully expecting some sort of magical creature to have been sitting in the shallows. Instead, he's greeted by the sight of another student lifting himself out of the lake and onto the dock. As he goes to lift a hand to wave in greeting, the first year only lifts the arm halfway before it pauses at the sight of a somewhat familiar rock being pulled from the other boy's pocket. ...wait a second. Abandoning the wave of greeting, Kolya instead reaches the hand out to accept the offered stone. "Oh. I guess I technically did, thanks!"

His eyes follow the newest arrival as he moves towards a bush and retrieves a dry towel. Just looking at him makes Kolya shiver at the thought of taking a swim in the lake in this chill. Tossing the small stone up and down in the palm of his hand, he looks between the two boys. "Nikolai Ryzhkov, but you can just call me Kolya," he introduces, using his free hand to give a small two-fingered wave. Blue eyes turn to the boy from the water. "I've never left Russia before so I'm excited to travel in general. A little nervous that it's Hogwarts of all places after all I've heard of it, though." His shoulders rise in a slight shrug even as a grin breaks out. "But as far as the tournament itself, we've definitely got it."

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𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov & @Monica Evans as Maksim Levin
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Open for interactions.

Yasha put a slender hand to his pale cheek in a kind of fake concerned surprise when Koyla yelped and stumbled just a bit. The fake part was not exactly apparent. He would admit to himself that he was a bit sad that the tiny boy hadn't fallen into the water, but only to himself. He knew the boy would just be a little cold and wet, unharmed, which is the main reason the fall would have been funny. Well, he was in a conversation now, regardless of the way he had entered it.

As he continued to walk over to the other boy, he did catch, in the corner of his eye, a boy who was in the water and was swimming closer to their little meeting. A blond head bobbing in the water.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you that much. Short little life to flash, though." Yasha said, casually. Not that his was any longer. He continued to walk over and moved the hand from his face in order to offer it to the other boy, bending at the waist in a peculiar way so that his and the other boy's faces were closer. He did this often when talking to his younger cousins or really anyone shorter than him. It saved both of their necks.

"Yasha Volkov. I'm in Group 4 and also only arrived at the start of September, so we haven't had the chance to meet yet." He continued with a charming smile. He righted himself and stood straight as the blond swimmer arrived at the dock and pulled himself out of the water. Yasha couldn't help but snicker just a bit at the way the chilly wind hit the wet boy and made him rush for his towel. It was a nice night for a dip, but maybe not quite nice enough to get out of the water.

This boy was older than them, but Yasha was unsure of which group. He turned back to Nikolai, rather, Kolya, as the boy introduced himself and gave a nod to the smaller boy's wave. Lastly, to turn to the older boy who was yet unnamed.

"I think Russia has the upper hand in a lot of things compared to Britain and Koldovstorez especially has significantly more concern with the welfare of its students and guests. All Hogwarts has done with this little tournament is bring more competition to prove what a real magic school is." Yasha said, partially spouting his father's words, partially his own. He really had a low opinion of Hogwarts as a school, though the students would probably be fairly resilient in a school where they were constantly in danger. "I could say that I am looking forward to the travel, but not to finding out what Hogwarts has decided to kill someone with this time." He finished putting his hands in his pockets and rolling his eye. As interesting as it might be to meet students from around the globe and engage with them, maybe Hogwarts should stop hosting anything.

Russian: ✕ | Thoughts: ✕ | English: ✕
iNPC: Maskim Levin

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Drying himself off, he believe he heard the two introduce themselves, "Levin, Maksim. I've had the pleasure to visit outside of Russia before, my father had tours for various quidditch matches...But I have not been able to visit Hogwarts as of yet." He threw his towel over his shoulders, gazing out across the water. He took a breath, creating a small cloud in the air as he breathed. "That to say, I'm not too worried about our chances... we have some good players in this tournament." He took a pause, picking up a stray rock as he did, "I should know I am one of them." He threw back his arm, before launching the rock forward to the waters surface.

one...
two...
three...
four...
five...
six...
seven...

The stone kept going, the skips becoming smaller, melting into one another. Maksim never failed to take the chance to show off, if he could. He listened as Volkov and Kolya shared their peace about the 'saftey' Hogwarts had to offer, as well as the chances for winning the tournament."I could not agree with you both more. See I have been suspecting Hogwarts is just a lot of talk. The 'biggest school'. Having the most famous wizards in and out of it. But that is all it is, show. What real skills do they have with perfecting magic?" He threw back his hair, as if that added some sort of point to what he was saying. "As far as the saftey goes, it doesn't bother me too much, what part of magic is safe anyways? You mess up a word, or the way you hold your wand and you could backfire a spell." He picked up another stone, tossing in along the waters surface, only this one didn't travel quite as far this time. "You guys on any teams? Or signed up to play in the tournament?"

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Open to Interactions

| Interacting with |
|@Avery McCall as Nikolai Ryzhkov | @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov|

Date: 09/07/22 | Language: Russian / English | iNPC: Nikolai Ryzhkov
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─────Kolya's eyes follow the taller boy as he bends at the waist and extends a hand to introduce himself. He releases a quiet snort of laughter at the sight even as he reaches out to take the hand in a firm shake. "Good to meet you, Yasha." He elected to leave off saying his assigned group aloud, despite the fact that it would be obvious he wasn't in group 4 alongside the taller boy. It was still a bit of a sore spot that he didn't have better control over his magic just yet.

The older boy's introduction breaks Kolya from his disgruntled musing and brings his attention back to the other boy. His eyes widen ever so slightly at the casual admission to being on the Koldovstoretz team. The knowledge warrants a slightly more critical once over of the other student. He certainly had the confidence down. He's just about to open his mouth to speak when Maksim winds an arm back and absolutely launches the rock in hand across the surface of the lake.

Kolya's attention quickly shifts to watch the progress of the rock. The boy lets out an impressed whistle as it seemingly just keeps going. His gaze remains on the water for a moment longer as Maksim speaks before finally looking back to the other two boys. "Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is with Hogwarts considering all of the problems they seem to have there. Pretty consistently at that." He gives a slight shrug, idly tossing the returned stone between both hands. He was tempted to give it another toss but didn't want to risk embarrassing himself with a bad throw now that he knew there were others nearby.

"I've joined up with the broom racing team. I've watched some of the practices before, and it looked like it could be a lot of fun," he explains, breaking out in a small grin. It was definitely one of the things he'd been looking forward to most in this coming year. "And I offered my name up for the tournament in case we needed to fill up the team some more, but," he states, shoulders lifting in a nonchalant shrug, "I'm happy as long as Koldovstoretz puts up a good team."

It would definitely be an honor to represent the school in such a large scale event like this, but he couldn't lie to himself that the thought of having to participate made him at least a little nervous. Regardless of whether or not it would be a good way to try and prove himself to his new peers. He had grown used to being underestimated over the years, so he'd absolutely take whatever chance he got, dangerous or otherwise. "How about you, are you on any other teams?"

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𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov & @Monica Evans as Maksim Levin
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Open for interactions.

Yasha raised an eyebrow at Kolya's giggle, but did not comment. Instead he straightened to his fuller height, crossed his arms behind his back casually, and turned as the Levin boy walked over and introduced himself. He smirked a little at the fact the he was taller than this boy as well, but again, kept his mouth shut. Since coming to Koldovstorez, he was beginning to understand why his father's friends could never guess his age properly and decided to file this information away for future trickery.

It wasn't that Yasha ever meant to trick or deceive or, well, prank people, it was just so fun to do so, and so incredibly easy. Just how much could he get away with if he just let people think he was older.

"It is interesting to meet both of you." He said, somewhat mechanically, as he was pulled from his thoughts by the continuing conversation. "It does seem that we have a very good team on our hands," Yasha shrugged with a slight smirk, seeming to really come back into the conversation. "including you, Levin. From what I've seen of your chaser skills so far at least, it seems like you can hold your own in a competition. I concede that you might have been too preoccupied by your own tryout to notice that I've been named the keeper for our quidditch team." Yasha grinned widely and moved his hands to his pockets. "Now that I have met you officially, I look forward to working with you as teammates."

He turned to Kolya and nodded when the other boy talked about the broom racing team. "I thought about broom racing for a moment, but I don't think that I am quite aerodynamic enough for it," He gestured from his shoulders to his feet before putting his hands in his pockets again. "and I am pretty sure that my father would have me murdered if I didn't at least try out for the quidditch team." He continued with a dry laugh that made it unclear whether he was really joking or not. "I am sure that you will have a lot of fun with it though and I will be cheering you on."

Russian: ✕ | Thoughts: ✕ | English: ✕
iNPC: Maskim Levin

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Smiling at the taller boy, he slowly lowered his head, "Oh my mistake, now that you mention it, I thought you did look familiar." He could feel his body shake in the cool air, still a little damp from his swim, she continued to dry himself enough, to put his shirt on at least, the warmth of the fabric was a welcome to the chill his skin felt.
"Well happy to be working together on the team, my father is the same way, I think if I didn't do quidditch I wouldn't be allowed back home." He laughed, but knew in his heart the statement was nearly true. Maksim's father was a kind man, but very proud, and wanted the best for his sons... even if it was what his ideal was over theirs.

Turning his attention back over to Kolya, [color=#002f61d]"Hey we also need good broom racers,"[/color] he looked over the boy, "seems like you would be good, fast, nimble." A drip of water fell from his hair, landing on the back of his shirt, he could feel the cold soaking into the fabric, just gracing his skin, though not enough to cause him to react, just a reminder he was still pretty wet.

"So either of you have dates for this ball coming up? Or seeing what comes up once you're there?" Asking the question, Maksim knew himself he didn't have a date, he much preferred going single, and free to meet anyone of his choice, picking some one now felt so, official, and hard to really get a feel for the other schools, and potential competition.

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Open to Interactions

| Interacting with |
|@Avery McCall as Nikolai Ryzhkov | @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov|

Date: 09/07/22 | Language: Russian / English | iNPC: Nikolai Ryzhkov
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─────The first year allows his attention to shift back and forth between the other two boys as they discuss the Quidditch team and their fathers. A part of him felt the smallest spark of jealousy that he had never, and likely never would, known his father. The ember quickly fizzled out, though. As a young child it had upset him more, but over the years he’d begun to slowly accept the realization that that was just how the reality of it would be. He couldn’t say for certain he’d ever be fully accepting of it, but the bite had at least lessened.

“I will definitely be watching some Quidditch games at some point, so I look forward to seeing you both out there. I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to see a live game before,” he muses, offering up a small shrug of indifference even as a thrum of excitement at the prospect threatened to break free. As both boys gave him a once-over at the revelation of his sport of choice, Kolya flashes a bright smile. “Thanks! That’s certainly the hope. Gotta try and use what you got to your advantage, right?”

The rock in his palm is idly tossed once more into the air to be caught again. The repetitive motion helps him to focus in on the conversation. At Maksim’s question, Kolya immediately offers up a shake of his head. “Nope, no date. Just planning to go and see where all the night takes me. I kind of enjoy leaving it all up in the air, never know what might happen.” The boy offers a nonchalant shrug. “I do already have a suit lined up, at the very least.” Courtesy of his mother, but he decides to leave that little tidbit of information out. “I’m a little excited to meet students from other schools. Do either of you know anyone who will be there?”

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𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @EmmaLee LeDames as Yasha Volkov & @Monica Evans as Maksim Levin
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Open for interactions.