The Law of the Instrument OPEN Finished

"You're right. That does sound dangerous, but however dangerous destroying all limits may be, it sounds as though that is also your ultimate goal in pushing them. Is that right?"

“My ultimate goal?” Valentin’s eyes drew down Ginyami’s neckline until resting where the two wings of his black-and-gold robes met. “Yes. Yes, the hunger drives me to break all the limits, but why?” Valentin stopped in thought, his forefingers wedging into the nooks between the boy’s knuckles. “It calls to me, the edge, but why, why does it call…” Long strands of Valya’s hair fell to the side with a candlelit shine as he angled his face towards the fox’s bicep. He wanted to rest his cheek against him, but barely managed to hold himself back. “Why does the music summon me? I… You…”

What was going through Valya’s head? Colors. Symphonic, blindingly fast streaks of polychromatic feeling. He simply did not know the words to describe it, not in English, nor in Russian, German, nor Tatar. Swallowing, the seeker wondered if he could show Ginyami how it felt. “What drives us on? There is more to this life than just continuing to exist. I push people, push myself, to transcend, for more than survival. Challenging people to grow stronger, smarter, faster, to work together as one… isn’t it all for the power to go home, to one’s true home? Like music, listen.”

Valentin released Ginyami’s hand as he quickly stripped off his gloves. This time, though, he did not place them on his own shoulder. Taking the Mahoutokoro boy’s hands with a squeeze, Valentin slipped the lustrous folds of silver leather into Ginyami’s grasp, and off he went. Long pale fingers flew across the piano, plinking out a new melody like a patter of rain. After two passes across a sweeping musical landscape, the rising notes swelled and receded, then began to rise once more – before Valentin stopped, freezing in place with his fingers hovering above the keys.

“Do you feel it? It wants the power to go home.” Valentin’s left hand flitted to Ginyami’s shoulder with a firm but gentle grasp. “It wants its true home. Even if it still goes on little trips, it’s trying to find the place to always return to.” Right hand continuing to play as Valentin closed his eyes, his left squeezed softly into Ginyami’s shoulder as if drawing the music out of the fox, through himself, and out from the piano. “The need, the hunger, it summons the power so that the music finds the right path there. People can use me, my strength and energy and sight, to find where they most need to be… and how to get there. They’re all different, such colorful people, the chasers, the beaters, the keepers, and each one unique. To do what they each must to find their matching, sublime state of being, I have to push them past the confines of what they believe is possible.” The music surged from Valentin’s hand as his face radiated exquisite pleasure. Descending from its crescendo back into the stable state of its chorus, a contented return to repetitions of swirling harmonies evoked reunion. Peace emanated from Valentin’s smile as his left hand slid down Ginyami’s back while his right rounded out the composition. Slowing down with a delicate affection tinting his playing, the final notes fell relaxed into silence. “Let me give you this power. Take it from me and use it to soar in your own truest way.” Valentin’s right hand slipped from the keys and came to rest on his leg as he opened his argentium eyes, turning to Ginyami.

"I think I understand, now…Whatever your goal may be, Valentin, however dangerous, I will endeavor to help you reach it. That is what friends do, is it not? …And I do still wish to be your friend."

The White Seeker of Durmstrang blinked. For all the longing he’d put behind his invitation, he hadn’t thought Ginyami would respond to the offer of power with his own. Certainly, people on Valentin’s team did as they were asked, no matter how gruelling, and this made Durmstrang a force to be reckoned with in the stadium. Yet, other than following directions, what did people really do to try to help Valentin achieve his own, personal dreams? Mikael – had he ever even asked what Valentin himself wanted, despite taking from him as ruthlessly as a black hole? Yefim, the champion, took care of Valentin as one would a sword or an eyeglass, consumed by his own goals to the exclusion of asking about his ring brother’s. Romeo? The Italian hadn’t asked, either, but Valentin gave in to his own greed and outright told him one of his secret dreams. Romeo simply responded that his time would come and to take his goal by the horns and accomplish it. There was no offer of help on that crystal ledge. Even making him promise to take something for himself was not offering anything of his own, let alone making Valentin's dream his own. Struck by the understanding that Romeo never really seemed to care about Valya’s inner world, his silver eyes dulled and began to stare back at the piano’s empty rack. Yet, here beside him, an anomaly glinted with the invitation to take on his power to fulfill any goals he had. That’s what friends do? Furrowing his brow, Valentin began to wonder why his friends were almost always on the taking side. If the seeker had been so quiet about his own dreams, why was it that none of them asked about them while Ginyami had only just met him but was already, without being asked, reciprocating?

“Take from me so that I can take from you. The more we give, the more we get, and the more we can give again. This must be what the auguries meant by ‘infinite’: such a feedback loop leads to transcending the limits of conventionality. If I can restore the music of my ancestors, I believe this can unlock eternity itself, my ultimate gift.” The seeker’s hand slid off Ginyami’s back and joined with its scarred twin atop Valentin’s left thigh. The winter chill was already beginning to sink in again. Yet, a pocket of warmth glowed at the frost captain’s side, beckoning him to take up his offer.

“Let it be so, then – call upon me whenever you wish, for we are in this together now.”

Banner by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

It seemed Valentin confirmed that Ginyami was right about his ultimate goal in pushing his limits, but when he asked why, the Mahoutokoro student had no reply. He watched the other boy's fingers press between his knuckles as he listened to him ask more questions that neither of them seemed to know the answers to. Hearing Valentin audibly swallow in the quiet room, Ginyami heard him ask what drove them on. Then, interestingly, he seemed to try to answer his own question. He seemed to believe that challenging himself and people to transcend their limits was 'all for the power to go to home, to one's true home'. Like music, he'd said, and asked his companion to listen.

Ginyami felt the other's hand leave the warmth of his as Valentin pulled off his soft, luxurious gloves. Then, taking his hands again, the seeker squeezed them before placing the gloves within their grasp, freeing his own hands up to strike piano keys once more. Running his fingers across the leather fabric in his possession, Ginyami listened, attempting to hear what Valentin was trying to demonstrate to him. During a pause in the melody, he was asked if he felt it; that the music wanted the power to go home. What he felt was the hand on his shoulder and the surprise that suddenly Valentin was playing with only one hand. Soon, it was also with his eyes closed, Ginyami observed, and he wondered what it was like to simply feel the music out like that.

"Its true home..." he repeated softly, trying to reconcile abstract ideas. The way the notes rose and dropped did remind him a little of what Valentin might have been referring to as 'little trips' the music was going on. The white-haired teen continued, explaining that 'the need, the hunger' summoned the power so that the music found the right path there. He likened that to people being able to use him to find where they most needed to be as well as how to get there. Ginyami could only assume Valentin meant he was referring to being able to help people find and achieve their greatest potential - said greatest potential being the 'matching, subline state of being' Valentin was talking about, especially when he said he had to 'push them past the confines of what they believed was possible' to do it.

The Japanese student beamed at the expression on the musician's face as he went on playing, clearly enjoying himself. Ginyami wondered if this was a pre-arranged song or yet another piece improvised as he went along. If it was the latter, he couldn't help but think that Valentin was quite the composer. As the music eventually came to an end, Valentin asked Ginyami to let him give him this power; to 'take it from him and use it to soar in his own truest way'. Then he opened his eyes and looked back at him as the noiret stated he thought he understood then. That he wanted to help Valentin reach his goal and that that was what friends did. That he still wanted to be his friend.

Valentin blinked. He seemed to think a while before asking again that Ginyami take from him so that he could take from Ginyami. The way he described giving and getting, the Mahoutokoro boy thought he was finally able to know what he meant. They could help one another, replenish each other, and support each other in continuing to grow. If the exchange was equal, it was true that it could be infinite in a way. Perhaps that had something to do with the eternity that Valentin spoke of unlocking.

"I will remember to call upon you if you will do the same with me," Ginyami told his peer, offering the silver gloves back to their owner before the cold seeped too deeply into his elegant hands. "You seem quite used to being called upon, but have you any experience calling upon others?"

Interacting with: Valentin Schnell (@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood)

"I will remember to call upon you if you will do the same with me. You seem quite used to being called upon, but have you any experience calling upon others?"

Valentin looked at the gloves Ginyami held out, but the boy’s hands looked far warmer than even the enchanted leather. Still, the seeker held back.

“I’ll be honest with you. I… stopped asking for what I want after I lost my parents. It was not long after our London defeat in 2020, and after I… hurt Mikael. My friends, Yefim and Mikael, started undergoing… changes. Dark changes, and they wouldn’t tell me about them. Maybe they didn’t understand what was happening either, but after they left the team, I felt more and more excluded even though I followed them everywhere. Since the quidditch team almost entirely disbanded, I started carrying more burdens by myself. I became captain to try to piece everything back together, but people started treating me differently after I had power. Then my mother died, and when they took my father on Christmas day… I felt truly alone. All through 2021, my eating problems became worse, and I remember running myself into the ground, literally, right before the next game. Yefim had to pull me out of the dirt and reset my broken jaw, tried to carry me back to camp… but even then, I turned it around and made it about him. I had to. It was my only chance to get him to tell me what was wrong.” With a shiver, Valentin closed his eyes.

“I know I can’t do everything by myself. My teams show me this every day, how we have to depend on each other. It’s just… I haven’t had the courage to ask for anything beyond what ultimately benefits the group. Every day, I go without, instead using my time on others… but even after what I saw in Death’s eyes, I…” Valentin looked away, a blight of terror shimmering over his face. “Am I not truly, fundamentally alone in this world?”

Pain shot over the boy’s face, sending his scarred palm over the piano to sink weight into the keys with a discordant clatter.

“I tried. I really did. The one who saved me told me to take something for myself for once, and so I tried this summer. After gathering my courage, I finally asked for what I wanted, but he shot me down. Like before, when I tried to open up to him about my wishes, he made it about himself. The one thing I wanted above all, I couldn’t have. Now, here I am next to you, wanting to take the warmth you offer, but I am afraid. Part of me says it must be an illusion, and that I’m not destined to be happy in selfishness. Maybe it’s irrational, telling me that taking from you will only bring calamity, as it did with my ancestors. Don’t misunderstand, please. I hunger, I grow cold, and I long for my greatest fear to be banished forever. What if, though… what if I start taking and then can’t stop myself? My greed could destroy you.”

Valentin’s amethyst eyes whirled to meet Ginyami’s, and the seeker’s recurved-bow lips pulled taut. Muscles tensed as if to descend upon the fox at any second, and the captain felt his internal resistance slipping.

“You want me to do the same? You would offer to help one who would break apart the limits meant to safeguard? Do you not understand how much you tempt me, offering help with whatever my goal may be? Ginyami. No one does this, and this is why they are safe. Enabling my power, you…” White hands bolted at the other boy’s wrists, and Valentin’s eyes flickered like ravenous wildfire as he squeezed.

“Not even I know what I’m capable of.”

Slipping his fingers down into Ginyami’s peach-colored hands, the captain plucked his gloves away before he could succumb to the desire to interlace their fingers. Valentin looked down at the metallic leather folds as his lips slackened with temporary acceptance. By trying to focus on the burning in his veins and the pounding of his heart, the seeker diverted his attention to feeling the intensity of the moment, only inches away from the black-haired fox.

“If you’re sure… then I will accept your offer, completely. Many years have passed since I asked for what I want without it backfiring, but if you think it is time to try again, then I will accept your will. Teach me how to take again, please.” Slipping the gloves back on, Valentin licked his vivid pink lips with a hint of curiosity curling at their edges.

“Tell me, now, Ginyami. Please. You were congratulating Hiro on the color of his robes, and afterwards I learned of their significance.” The frost captain’s eyes gleamed with an iridescent sheen, barely containing their appetite, as he looked back at the Japanese boy. “What did you have to do to earn your colors?”

Banner by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

There were so many new questions running through Ginyami's mind as Valentin answered the one he had asked. How had he lost his parents? This Yefim and Mikael had left his quidditch team? Did they return to it eventually? What did he mean when he said 'they' - whoever 'they' was - took his father on Christmas day? Still, all those seemed besides the point that the other boy sounded like he was trying to make and Ginyami felt like it wouldn't have been the right time to ask them. He kept them in mind for later, though.

The noiret nodded slowly when the pale musician mentioned he knew he couldn't do everything by himself. At least he realized it. And at least he realized he didn't seem to be able to get from others what he gave to them, but that particular realization seemed to frighten him severely. His question, about whether he was not truly, fundmanetally alone in this world, lingered in the still air and Ginyami dared not answer it. He had his own thoughts on the matter, but he kept them to himself. Right then, he didn't wish to add to the pain plainly visible on Valentin's countenance.

The Durmstrang seeker went on to say that he tried and that the one who saved him - whomever that might have been - told him to take something for himself for once, but that after he had tried that, the very same person had shot him down. Ginyami frowned at that. What could he have wanted that caused someone who supposedly cared enough for him to ask him to take something for himself had shot him down? 'The one thing he wanted above all'? That answer, too, though, seemed to be beside the point being made, so Ginyami resolved to find out what it was at a later date.

The voiced idea that Valentin's greed could destroy Ginyami caused both his brow and a corner of his mouth to rise in a sardonic little smirk, but only for an instant. Not wishing to be impolite, he quickly recomposed himself and his features into that of neutrality when mithril-lavender eyes darted to meet his. He eyed the way Valentin's muscles tensed, though for what, he couldn't begin to guess at. In truth, Ginyami couldn't imagine Valentin causing him harm even if he'd wanted to, so the idea that he might ultimately end up destroying him was something the Japanese boy found secretly laughable. He stared at the white hands that shackled his wrists all of a sudden, squeezing them, and watched Valentin's eyes flicker when he mentioned that not even he knew what he was capable of.

"Believe me, I do not offer to help without expecting you to accept, Valentin. You keep mentioning that I would be in danger, but I will kindly ask you to let me worry about that rather than concerning yourself with my safety. I am not completely defenseless, you must know."

The musician took back his gloves and gazed down at them before stating that, if Ginyami was sure, then he would accept his offer completely. The fox-faced teen beamed at that, pleased at his companion's choice. "I will give it my all," he replied when he was asked to teach him how to take again.

As he donned his gloves yet again, Valentin requested that Ginyami tell him what he had to do to earn the colors of his robe. The question took him by surprise, as he didn't think it had much to do with what they had been previously discussing, but he quickly sought to sufficiently answer it. "The colors of our robes change according to our academic and extracurricular standing. All I had to do to earn my colors was to pay attention in class and work hard at my studies in order to obtain good grades. It was actually very simple. Perhaps not easy, but simple." He paused then, recalling something.

"I am sorry...you originally said you wanted to ask my opinion on something, did you not?" His dark, narrow eyes shone inquisitively. "Was that still the case?"

Interacting with: Valentin Schnell (@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood)

So that’s all it takes for Ginyami to hold such status? Paying attention and working hard? Guess he really is a smart one. I hope he’ll teach me many things. Valentin began to rub one thumb against its forefinger, trying to focus his mind on something, anything other than the previous topic. Yet, the simplicity of the Mahoutokoro’s answer ensured the seeker’s ploy at self-distraction couldn’t last long. Valentin began to slip again. Eyes flowing over the gilded edges of the other’s robes, the seeker leaned a little closer.

“I’m glad for you. I’ll admit to hearing some consider you intellectually gifted.” A smile began wyrming its way back into Valentin’s face, but he couldn’t help getting the sense he wasn’t being given the full story. There’s more to this boy than he seems, but what is this feeling?

"I am sorry...you originally said you wanted to ask my opinion on something, did you not?"

Oh… Here I was trying to not relapse into the previous topic… thought Valentin, turning to look at the piano once more. Wasn’t it time to play that one traditional piece for Ginyami, as he’d intended? Shouldn’t he see if the black-haired boy really was capable of coming through for him, if he would succumb, or if he would finally take up a sense of self preservation in light of Valentin’s warning?

“There’s another piece I wanted to play for you,” slid Valentin’s silver tongue with an almost beguiling melodic quality. “I…” He didn’t say anything. When you asked if you’re alone, he didn’t… didn’t respond… You’re going too fast. You could destroy him, and it’s not a fair test until he understands that the danger is real… It’s not right, Valik. You can’t do this yet. “I want to play it for you but I’m worried. The anxiety is overwhelming, telling me that this must be an illusion and I can’t be happy in asking for what I want. My ancestors’ curse could… listen… can we… go for a walk until I can calm down at least? I’m sorry. I do want to play for you but… can we just have a walk through the courtyard tonight?” Swallowing hard, Valentin felt beads of sweat forming at the back of his neck.

Why would you let yourself consume this boy if you don’t even know what he is capable of?

Putting both hands on the piano’s fallboard, Valentin’s violescent eyes shuttered themselves in thought.

Just… slow down. If I don’t slow us down, I won’t be able to stop myself.

“Ask me again later, please. I really do want to. It would be so sweet to know that you remembered and cared enough to ask.”

Closing the protective wooden cover over the piano keys, Valentin stood up, shaking from the adrenaline of only barely stopping himself from committing an act he couldn’t take back.

“I’d love it if you would tell me more about your school during the walk?” The seeker backed up slowly, telling himself that it was okay and that he was finally doing the right thing. It was the right thing, wasn’t it?

Banner by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

"...Did you?" Ginyami appeared briefly puzzled when the seeker mentioned hearing that some considered him intellectually gifted, wondering how Valentin could have possibly heard of him prior when they had known each other such a short time. Unlike Valentin, Ginyami wasn't famous as far as he knew. Then he remembered their mutual friend and wondered if it had been Hiro who had told him that. He wondered what else Hiro might have said about him - hopefully not too much. There was a great deal Ginyami thought Valentin was better off not knowing about him lest he decide he wanted nothing more to do with him and Ginyami wasn't ready to cut ties with the seeker just yet. They had only just agreed to become friends after all.

When he asked about Valentin wanting his opinion on something, the Durmstrang boy looked back at his piano and Ginyami wondered if that had something to do with it. The musician then stated there was another piece he wanted to play for him but...he was worried. He seemed to be worried that this - their newfound friendship? Ginyami's offer to help him? - must have been an illusion and that he couldn't have been happy in asking for what he wanted. He began to start saying something about his ancestors' curse, but instead of finished, asked if they could go for a walk until he could calm down. The black-haired boy had had his interest peaked, but he wasn't about to push Valentin to elaborate on a subject he didn't feel comfortable dwelling on. Perhaps that was why he had asked the seemingly random question about the color of his robes - for a change in topic.

"I will, then," Ginyami answered when Valentin said to ask him again later. "Along with a few other questions I have from what you have told me. But for now, let us take that walk through the courtyard. Hopefully the fresh night air will help in calming your nerves."

He watched as his peer closed the cover over the piano keys and stood along with him, surprised to find him shaking. He might have asked what was wrong, but he supposed it had something to do with the subject Valentin wanted to change for the time being, so he said nothing of it.

Instead, he smiled and said, "It would be my pleasure to tell you more about my school. But I would also appreciate hearing more about yours in return." Moving toward the door of the room, he paused to wait for Valentin to put on his boots as he himself slipped on his wooden clogs in preparation for their walk.

Interacting with: Valentin Schnell (@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood)

Exiting the thread with Valentin