Finished Cognitive Dissonance 101 PV Romeo

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Nec Temere, Nec Timide. Durmstrang Institute's

Romeo Giovanni Marchonné [6'6.5" | 199lbs]

"English." "Italiano. Italian." "Russian."

| Faint Scar on Left Eye & Mangled Right Ear | \ Fingerless Glove on Right Hand, Bite Scar on Forearm / | Lichtenberg Figure on Right Arm and Down Back |

Valentin Schnell
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

I had only just started getting used to the chromatic chaos that was the nightmarish Unicorn Cabin and its constant spewing of all things colorful and glitter; as such, I had tried by best to find a room which was accessible by ladders and passages at least four feet tall and at least three feet wide. This jungle gym of a cabin, while it was likely an gymnast's dream, was literally the bane of my tall and wide-set existence. Still, it was nice to be laying in a bed that I actually fit in; the near California King sized mattress allowed me to splay or roll however I wanted when trying to read or when I needed to grab something out of my trunk. I had to give this cabin at least a little credit to where it was rightfully due.

So, there I was just laying there and staring at the ceiling, wondering if I could make out a constellation-like pattern in the multicolored glitter that had probably been blown onto the ceiling by the work of a Ventus jinx, when all of a sudden there were three knocks that echoed in the cabin. Even before I could start in order to perk up and get to my feet, Valentin's voice rang through the halls; calling my name.

In a heartbeat I leapt off the bed and squeezed through the tighter corridors before taking the ladder by both ends and then sliding down like a firefighter as I nearly rubbed the skin off the soles of my palms. With a bit of a heavy landing as was the nature of my build, I caught my own momentum as I came to enter the entrance of the Unicorn cabin and a very, very rattled Valentin whose Silver Arrow (clenched in hand as if it were his last lifeline) was not terribly unlike a leaf shivering on a twig.

Breathing heavily, I looked at him with total concern in my eyes. "What!? What's going on?! Shh-tschhhhh shh! No, don't say sorry; slow down. I know you're so fast, but slow down and talk to me." I put a hand on his shoulder and pressed the other one to my lips as I felt my brow creased. Feeling a bit of his panic was causing me to feel my own; if Valentin was stressed over something, it happened to become my stress as well. It was almost a natural thing by now, something that came from being around one another for so long; from getting to know one another so well... and by sharing so much together... "Take a breath, one thing at a time." I looked Valentin right in the eyes; now both my hands were on his shoulders. "What's going on? Talk to me."

I was so focused on Valentin, so quick to leap up and get to him as quickly as possible that I had quite neglected my own appearance. A little disheveled I was from not really expecting company like this all of a sudden. I had been musing more about how we were going to face Team Hufflepuff and trying to mentally prepare myself for the upcoming game as opposed to actually being prepared to host company of... any kind, really. For one thing, I wasn't wearing a shirt.

Beholding Valentin as he seemed to spring ever so slightly on the balls of his feet, I got the feeling that a little bit more than that was on his mind just by taking a good, long look at his face and watching his eye twitch a bit. I gave him a bit of a sidelong look. "What happened?" I queried out of the impulsiveness of self-intrigue. "I don't have an issue with that proposition, but what happened?" Low concern laced my voice, a rolling rumble that always had that strange tendency to amplify the pre-existing Italian catch that liked to attach itself to the ends of my words or in the midst of my vowels. "I've not nothing better to do, and I want out of here... but..." Well, there was a saying that said that 'you play like you practice and practice how you play'. "Are you sure you don't want to try to calm down a little bit? Your hackles are very high. You won't practice well if you're stressed out like this, and I don't want to take you out before the game if your mind starts to wander when a bludger comes your way."

My brows creased in the signature "Mama Romeo" look, a stare that was intended to force someone to fess up the longer that I fixed them with that look. I expected answers, and by God I would have them. Recently a lot had happened to Valentin, a lot of things that I couldn't even begin to explain to a person who would just up and ask me about them... As bad a defender as I was for him (as recent history had shown), perhaps even at times being a detriment to his well-being more than a benefit... I had to at least try a little.

Reducio

Stats:

Ω Stamina 9 | Evasion 8 | Strength 17 Ω
Ω Accuracy 18 | Wisdom 10 | ArcPower 0 Ω

Abilities:

Ω Obnoxiously Strong | Perfectionist I | Martial Artist | Healing Sage I Ω
Ω Muggle Condition Ω

Once Romeo overcame the maze of obstacles presented by Unicorn Cabin and landed with a heavy but dramatic finish, he stood before Valentin with a full mane of bed head and baring his peak athletic condition with all the casualness essential for speeding to the seeker’s side.

“A-ah…” breathed Valentin, inadvertently falling back a step from the shock, only to be caught by the shoulder in one of Romeo’s massive hands. The seeker’s eye followed the boy’s other hand as he registered Romeo’s thoughtful and pacifying expression. Reflexively doing as his co-captain said, Valentin took in a shaky breath, only to watch that other hand join the symmetry of its partner on Val’s opposite shoulder. Still, the cerulean eyes commanded the return of his gaze as they spoke even louder than Romeo's request for an explanation. Meeting the Mediterranean blue rather than staring back at chest level, Valentin bounced on the balls of his feet as if that would unblock the words jammed behind his other words, but mostly he streamed back a flustered rapidfire clip of half-intelligible syllables. Romeo seemed to take the gist of the message, but the twitch of Valentin’s eye just couldn’t tell the full story, and the co-captain knew Valentin well enough to sense that there was much more afoot than a whim to practice quidditch.

"I don't have an issue with that proposition, but what happened?… Are you sure you don't want to try to calm down a little bit?" Fixing that “mama bear” look back at Valya, the combination of Romeo’s tactics (inadvertent or intentional) blew a hole through the dam holding back the torrent within Valentin. Like a cobra enchanted by the melody of a flute-playing snake charmer, Valentin’s answers would flow so long as Romeo’s spell of physical touch, eye contact, and soothing voice wove around him unbroken.

“Look, Romeo, just… I…” Valentin’s eyes were the first to confess, strained and desperate and aflame with fervid heliotrope purple. “I haven’t been doing my job as captain, as seeker, as champion. My head isn’t in the game. Instead my thoughts shoot at lightspeed through another dimension every single day and late into every night. I’ve been… distracted since late April and I know I’m simply not going to be enough, haven’t trained right, and will fail everyone in the big game because I just can’t hunt the snitch right anymore. I can’t see the players anymore. No one has faces. I’ve lost my mind. I tried, Romeva, you must believe me – I went to the broom racing match today wanting to fill the hole in our roster with someone, but I couldn’t see into people like I used to. My eyes have turned inside out, looking forever somewhere else, at someone else. Obsession has consumed me and I just can’t be a seeker anymore like this, let alone captain, let alone champion. The sky is empty because my eyes themselves are burning from within in blinding liquid gold.” Shaking his head, Valentin knew he was doing that thing again where he was speaking such pure truths through poetry that it would be incomprehensible to any common person. Squeezing his eyes shut as a grimace ripped across his face, Valya tore words from somewhere buried deep down.

“Please, understand. I have to practice with you right now to start making up for all the hours I’ve spent daydreaming instead of doing what I owe the team, the fans, the world. I just… can’t do it alone. When I’m on my own, all I can think about is…. B-b-b-boy th-thingsss… Sss-so, please, help me help the team, and help me help you. Make me play the game. Make me train quidditch. If you don’t, my mind will wander back to wh… F-… Help me, please.” Burying his hands in his white hair and pulling at it, Valya hissed in frustration before raking his fingers from his forehead over both eyes all the way down to his collarbone. A growl of pent-up passion emanated from low in his chest, and Valentin just couldn’t get himself to look Romeo in the eye anymore.

Base Stats: STA 8 - EVA 20 - STR 3 - WIS 15 [17] - ARC 1 - ACC 15
Total Stats: STA 11 - EVA 23 - STR 6 - WIS 20 - ARC 4 - ACC 18
Abilities:
Keen Eye / Charmer / Evasive Maneuvers / Fearless / Comprehend Languages: Parseltongue
Broom: Silver Arrow (+3 to each stat)

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Nec Temere, Nec Timide. Durmstrang Institute's

Romeo Giovanni Marchonné [6'6.5" | 199lbs]

"English." "Italiano. Italian." "Russian."

| Faint Scar on Left Eye & Mangled Right Ear | \ Fingerless Glove on Right Hand, Bite Scar on Forearm / | Lichtenberg Figure on Right Arm and Down Back |

Valentin Schnell
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

My eyes continued to search his, hackles still a little bit higher than normal. It wasn't until I finally learned that this was not a physical immediately life-threatening matter that I finally uncoiled my tension ever so slightly, still keeping my hands on Valentin to keep him standing in place so that I could continue to fix him with an even stare.

As he divulged his troubles to me, my eyes softened ever so slightly in empathy. I felt that I knew that feeling all too well; the sensation of never being good enough for the team, the thought that I was somehow failing them even when I was trying my best...

Yet... I think that with the addition of the month in which Valentin started feeling this way, I realize exactly the event that likely prompted these emotions. My eyes darkened ever so slightly and my grip tightens ever so slightly as I shift minutely with a sigh and then a rolling of my eyes. "The... right. Yes. I'm... I'm not surprised." Yet I continued to hear him through without any further interruptions, resigned to temporary silence as I mulled Valentin's words over.

After a pause of consideration, I asked quietly. "Can you see my face, Valentin?" Despite myself a small lump formed in my throat as I wondered the implications of these words, of these confessions. "Because I'm still here." 'I can always be here...' "Who did you have in mind? Who else do your eyes see? You wouldn't look at them without a good reason; I know at least that much about your mind... I do believe you." Somehow and in some way, I always did. I supposed I was simply that gullible by nature. "I do trust you."

An echo of that day ringing softly in my ears. "I trust you, Valentin."

I nodded along with Valentin as he expressed his need to practice, though the moment that Valentin mentioned his solitary thoughts I flushed deeply and glanced away for a moment as if slightly embarrassed to consider my own thoughts. Still, the way that Valentin cringed into himself, the way that he was so broken up over... whatever distraction either physical or philosophical... It did call back to me and cause me to revert to what I always felt most natural being; a healer and defender first. He couldn't even look me in the eyes anymore as he raked his fingers from his frosty hairline all the way down to his collarbones. I took his hands from where they laid, holding both of his delicate seeker's hands in my own; hands that were larger and a little calloused from working with my hands and by nature of athletic, outdoorsy practices. Valentin was a creature of touch, of physical expression. He needed human touch now, something that I was more than willing to give to him when he needed it.

It was just a request to practice, and also an excuse to spend time together, and also something that would help to put Valentin's mind at ease... I hoped... "Yeah. I've got time. Let's stop your own thoughts from being your worst enemy, alright?" I said reassuringly. "I need to grab my things, but if you want to wait outside I'll be out in just a few moments." I massaged his knuckles with my thumbs, still holding his hands in my own. "Tell me all about it. Tell me everything, okay?" After a moment longer I let him go and ruffled his hair once with a single large sweep of my hand. "Let's get you into game-time-mind, mhm?" I offered a faint smile before retreating back up the ladder and into my room to snatch the ebony Firebolt and my maple beater's bat. Snagging a quaffle (it would have to do for a bludger for the time being; couldn't very well have wild iron ricocheting balls flying around in a cabin), I made my way out of the cabin to meet with Valentin. By now I had finally collected a shirt.

"How about... there?" I pointed to a wide-ish clearing that would allow for me to bounce the quaffle off of trees if need be. "Let's try to stay low to the ground, though. I don't want you to fall far if I do manage to hit you to begin with."

Despite myself, I felt my heart lighten a little bit. I couldn't quite explain it, a sort of feeling that everything was clicking into place; a sort of sensation that really brought home the feeling that this was something that was very very good. It was like old times; sparring and practicing... only this time there were no other quidditch players to get in the way or have to be worried about asserting some level of dominance over. It was just mono e mono. Captain and captain. Valentin and I.

So why was it, then, that something was gnawing in the back of my mind, even as we made ready to take flight and to begin warmups before I would try to swing a few hard blows in his direction? Why did something here scream danger to me like an unearthly shriek that only dogs could hear? Perhaps I did find myself worried about what reduced Valentin to this state... or maybe I was worried about where this strange almost-relationship between us was supposed to go.

Because... truthfully...

I didn't know.

And maybe that was why my mind started to wander and I forgot where I was. Forgot just long enough for disaster to strike.

Reducio

Stats:

Ω Stamina 9 | Evasion 8 | Strength 17 Ω
Ω Accuracy 18 | Wisdom 10 | ArcPower 0 Ω

Abilities:

Ω Obnoxiously Strong | Perfectionist I | Martial Artist | Healing Sage I Ω
Ω Muggle Condition Ω

"Can you see my face, Valentin?" asked Romeo quietly. "Because I'm still here." Val raked his lily-white fingers down his own face, holding his breath for a moment as he found himself unable to look into Romeo’s cerulean eyes any longer. "Who did you have in mind? Who else do your eyes see? You wouldn't look at them without a good reason; I know at least that much about your mind... I do believe you. I do trust you." Val’s face contorted, but no answer came. His eyes might as well have been concave as they looked back in time onto what could have been a glowing, ethereal moonscape. What words could possibly describe the music he still heard, echoing from that day as if forever beckoning to his very soul?

The tall co-captain took Valentin’s hands into his own, knowing well how much the niffler needed physical touch in order to function. Romeo went on to say he'd be happy to oblige with a practice session, but there was more to it. Massaging the delicate knuckles of Val’s hand, Romeo persisted.

"Tell me all about it. Tell me everything, okay?"

Pulling away from the other boy’s tender caress, Valentin inhaled a sharp knife of air. He’d never rejected such an offer of physicality before, let alone from Romeo. It was unthinkable, surprising even Valentin himself. Romeo deserves nothing less, the seeker explained to himself. He trusts me. The beater peeled away to gather some equipment, and for every second it took, Valentin burned in the lava pit of his own silence. It was all on the tip of his tongue, threatening to drop and shatter so irreparably that no magic could hope to repair the certain fallout.

"How about... there? Let's try to stay low to the ground, though. I don't want you to fall far if I do manage to hit you to begin with."

Once they were outside, fresh air welcomed Valentin back to the vaulting sky where he'd always thought he belonged. Yet, he couldn’t fly – not until Romeo heard it all, like he’d specifically asked to hear. Thus, for this moment, Valentin remained earthbound.

“Romeo, I’ll tell you.” Waiting until he could lock his heliotrope eyes onto the beater’s Mediterranean blue, Valentin stood only inches away. “First, I’m sorry about what I did to you on that day in Hogsmeade. You know I was drugged, but I was the one reckless enough to drink that potion in the first place. It was my fault and I was just… chasing the thrill without thinking of what consequences it could have. That’s always how it’s been with you. I thought I’d learned at last that we’re so fragile, so mortal, on that day I scarred Mikael forever… but I’m a fool that keeps forgetting. I should have been more careful, especially because it put you on the line, and now I took something from you that no one can give back. I’m really sorry. Every time, I charged forward as a blind believer, trampling the truth under the hooves of my ardor, ignoring the signs that you didn’t want me but were just trying to keep the peace. I see now that the team needed that, and it was probably in their best interest for you to suffer my advances so quietly. Please accept my apologies, as I shouldn’t have persisted in the first place.” Clenching and unclenching fists and rolling his fingers in waves as if limbering up for a big game, Valentin drew in a slow, full breath.

“Now, you asked me if I can still see your face.” Valya’s amethyst eyes stared back into Romeo’s, but something was missing. Although not quite like the voids of Mikael’s gaze, Romeo could almost feel the seeker’s keen stare fall upon him. Soft and quiet, cold and remote, the captain's eyes seemed to emit the sound of falling snow audible only once a record had finished playing. The usual whirling charms of Val’s eyes froze in place as he regarded his co-captain with all seriousness. “Romeo, I can’t even see your face anymore. You look like a painting, a representation. I don’t hear your music because my heart isn’t in this plane of reality anymore. Surely it is traipsing through verdant fields overflowing with wildflowers, for as I stand before you now, I feel no more corporeal than a zephyr.” Removing the Silver Arrow from his back, Valentin laid down to stare up into the apex of the sky. “The winds don’t whisper to me about the whims of the snitch anymore, for every day they chorus a single name that never ends. Every position I take and movement I make curls in orbit around a player who’s not on any quidditch team, but who teaches me that true seeking is actually an act of forever finding. When once I saw people as raindrops from a storm, now each droplet contains no less than the full storm. How am I to explain, Romeo? What words can I say that will reach you when everything ssseems as otherworldly as the the sighs of moonstruck serpents?” Rising to his feet, Valentin looked at the old lightning-scarred Silver Arrow laying in the grass, but all he could see was a crescent of sterling gleaming off a pair of murky green eyes.

“I would tell you this is all because I am madly in love, but it’s bigger than even that.” Pulling the mercury-tone broom into his palm, Valentin observed its surface rippling in a wash of fluid light and darkness, but he might as well have been stargazing. “No boy’s name could sum up the universe I see inside him. This must be why the winds never finish their invocation. He’s… He’s infinite, and there is no point where he ends and I begin.” Valentin’s broom began to levitate, and like watching himself inside a moving photograph, he observed himself straddling the Arrow. “So you see, the gravitational center of my universe is… inside out. This is why I need you to make me practice quidditch. The team still needs me. The fans need me. The rest of the universe needs me… and he would need me to do this, too, because he is no less than everything.”

Turning his hyacinth gaze to Romeo to indicate he was ready to begin, Valentin did not even bother to nod.

“He calls himself Alexander.”

Base Stats: STA 8 - EVA 20 - STR 3 - WIS 15 [17] - ARC 1 - ACC 15
Total Stats: STA 11 - EVA 23 - STR 6 - WIS 20 - ARC 4 - ACC 18
Abilities:
Keen Eye / Charmer / Evasive Maneuvers / Fearless / Comprehend Languages: Parseltongue
Broom: Silver Arrow (+3 to each stat)

¤ | Ω | ¤

Nec Temere, Nec Timide. Durmstrang Institute's

Romeo Giovanni Marchonné [6'6.5" | 199lbs]

"English." "Italiano. Italian." "Russian."

| Faint Scar on Left Eye & Mangled Right Ear | \ Fingerless Glove on Right Hand, Bite Scar on Forearm / | Lichtenberg Figure on Right Arm and Down Back |

Valentin Schnell
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Val's silence to my question did very very little to soothe me; if anything it only made my concerns heighten ever so slightly more than before. Something very serious had happened, indeed, for Valentin to have compressed inwards tighter and tighter as a neutron star surpassed its own gravitational field and compacted into a perfect mote of infinite gravity and infinitesimal space. Something he couldn't bring himself to tell me right at this moment.

Or something that he wouldn't tell me, perhaps. For my own safety? But since when had that ever been a concern of mine when it came to Valentin himself? Since when had I ever stopped or slowed down when it came to my attention that Valentin's well-being and safety was on the line? Had I not inflamed others against me before because of my hardheadedness, because of my distrust when it came to their conducted presences around Valentin? To the point, perhaps, that I was pushing Valentin away, or forcing him down a path, from myself as well.

Valentin pulled away from me and I let my hands slip off, crossing my arms to do something with them before turning away for myself before collecting my equipment. Still, that didn't prevent a small crease from forming between my brows; a bit hurt, was it? Surprised, maybe... maybe for once Valentin just needed space; perhaps all I could do was be here with him. Not that I was complaining. No complaints from me at all. I just wanted to make sure he was alright... and that... well...

That this wasn't over anything that I had done; anything that I had done to ruin the relationship that I felt that I was straining myself to the maximum to comprehend and to cope with on my own, let alone with the prying eyes of others upon me. I wanted to believe that I hadn't been the thing that had caused this to happen to Valentin, to cause him to throw himself into this state. If I had done that, if I had done this to him without knowing it...

Still, as we stepped out into the field to practice, before Valentin took to the skies as he always so magnificently had, everything was spilled out to me; starting with the almost tabooed event and then proceeding into much more desperate territories. Valentin seemed so small as all these words tumbled from his lips, words familiar to me as they followed the cadences of his speech; a message spoken over and over again almost to the point that it seemed that there was indeed a spinning top that refused to topple over itself when it came to the persistence of the nature of the relationship between us. It could neither settle itself this way or that, but rather trembled violently; teetering here and there like a tightrope artist balancing to their best abilities high above the skies and in perpetual fear of slipping just enough to take a spill that was uncatchable even by their best precautions and their safety nets. It was a curious thing, the way that I felt about the events of that April day... and how I had reacted afterwards to both Valentin himself on that day and to my own brother directly following later on in the week. A shiver went through me as I fully allowed what Valentin was telling me to sink in. He thought... he thought that...? Mikael's scar... he had...?

No, that wasn't a question that I would ask. Perhaps that one would be answered when there was a better time for it.

'I didn't stop you, though...'

"I wouldn't willingly suffer anything that I didn't want to, Valentin." I said softly. "Faith is a beautiful thing that can move mountains; having no faith is more damning than having so little as a crumb, and truth holds hands with her. I accept your apologies, but only if you forgive yourself too." Carrying around so much guilt, so much grief, these things could weigh a man down more than a whetstone about the neck.

And I hadn't been drugged, and still... "That day was one of the best days of my life." The words spilled before I stopped them. Mad. Totally mad! I stopped entirely as I realized what I had spoken, considering what I had said and then trying to figure out what exactly I had meant by that. It had been... there had been many emotions associated with that day: anger was foremost in my mind thanks to the fact that Piérre had done this so blatantly, confusion and surprise mostly at the things that had transpired, but one part of that confusion had been dark and swirling in my core. That confusion had caused me to spiral into trying to comprehend exactly what it was that I had been feeling during that short span of time... and in the silence that had followed Valentin's departure, I had had so much time to think. So, so much time... I glanced away for a moment before trying to return my gaze. I shied away too much, I tried to push away things so frequently... ". . ." Say something?! "Ah..."

But whatever lift I had to my positive thinking slowly crippled itself and shrank down again as Valentin... Well...

Despite myself, I could almost feel my gaze sparkling ever so slightly with the curiosity of the student even as every word rained blows. Little by little, I felt a small inner smile no larger than a seed begin to blossom; something that only revealed itself with a small external raise to the corners of my lips, hardly large enough to be seen as I seated myself beside where Valentin lay looking up at the skies. 'Ah... so there is another...' I felt the realization roll over me, even before Valentin spoke the name of the boy. Yet, that conscious knowledge didn't seem to be enough to prevent an arc being sliced through what seemed to be the deepest parts of me; something cut in and whatever had done it cared not enough to remove it again. 'Perhaps I had been right to be hesitant. Hadn't I avowed myself to be a stepping stone for him from the beginning, a means to his success?' There was no twist. No further pains. 'There was once a time he spoke of me in such a similar way, wasn't there? Last year, beyond the stretches of the Earth and the Seas; this early spring, to capture the comet and to become one with it... But if what he's telling me now is... then there is so much more for him here. More than I...' So, it lay there both heavy and numb, in the midst of the destruction that it had wrought.

I should have expected this, surely. What kind of idiot wouldn't have seen this miles away?

I shifted ever so slightly, trying to cross my legs in a comfortable way with the ebon Firebolt laid across my lap. The unknown weight stirred too. "Words are nothing compared to actions." I replied softly as well, my voice more choked than I would have liked it to be as I continued to consider the knowledge that had been given me. "What good are words to describe the worlds and the heavens if you cannot see its movements or feel the things worthy of description that it does around you?" Perhaps a philosophy that I had followed in my youth; a time when my hands flew from me without consent in retaliation to the things that I could see and feel all around and within. Words came later, persuasions and quiet; but even persuasions and consideration could not alone navigate the world. "You have found your immortality, then." I ventured to ask, glancing down at him after tearing my empty gaze away from the treeline. "Not with me, but with him?"

A stab lashed out in vengeance at my question, but nothing was allowed to reveal itself to Valentin. I wouldn't let it, not if it meant that... that there was some way in which he could be happy, even if I couldn't...

After a few moments, I took a deep breath, feeling the burning at the bottom of my lungs before closing my eyes. Why was there such an acrid smell in the air now, like that of smoke and blood? A bitter tang of the medley of war... Bitter enough, pungent enough to cause tears were it not for the knowledge that none of it could possibly be real. "I'm..." What was the right word for this? What could I possibly say in this situation when the thing in my core keeps twisting in on itself and acting as a heavy stone and yet... for Valentin... For someone that I would do anything for, would fight for blindly without a moment's hesitation; that I've... perhaps to the point of gatekeeping... kept him protected from those that I felt to be the greatest threats to him...

Alexander...

"I'm happy..." It came from me after a long pause of consideration and something trying to snatch it back before it could be spoken aloud for all to hear. "... for you."

And what of me? "Is he really as true as you say he is?" I wanted to make sure. I wanted to be completely sure that if Valentin chose another that... that they would not break his heart, that they would not hurt him, that they would not take and take and take until nothing was left. I didn't doubt Valentin, nor his ability to defend himself, but his heart... A heart that raged and overflowed with passions upon passions for things as quickly as the wind caused a vane to spin about itself over and over and over again... I was not so worried about Valentin weathering the storm when he was the storm himself, I was worried for those who tried to resist it, or those who were foolhardy enough to think that they could turn it to their will; to bend it and to attempt to will it under their control. A maelstrom did not so easily permit itself to be tamed, not without one willing to bend and to let those winds scream and howl to its heart's content. To weather the storm until it whispered into curiosity at the things that it left behind, and to be one of the things left behind that it could marvel at; this was the victory, a victory not through cunning or viciousness in battle against the creations of God but through endurance and will alone to withstand it.

If "Alexander" believed that he could face against the storm... well, I would have to at least conduct a proper interview myself. Too many had been found lacking, those who tried to crush the storm or to bend its winds only to perish in the process either by it or by myself. For all I knew... was it not possible that perhaps Valentin had found another Ginyami to present his rawest heart to? It went unspoken, the obvious statement that would have naturally followed after my question as to this boy's nature. 'Is he really as you first see, or will he eventually become something else that you couldn't foresee at the very moment you can no longer retreat?'

Still by now Valentin had finally willed himself to take to the skies, it seemed, which left me upon the ground for a few seconds longer to mull over all that had been told me. After a moment, I too readied up; though the questions and the thoughts continued to swirl as frustratingly as they always did. I never could seem to be rid of my own thoughts, could I? There was always something there to nag or to chastise or to tease and mock. As much as my heart wanted to lighten itself with new knowledge, with the explanations that I had been given--good explanations, beautiful poetry of words that sang by themselves in the ears of the listener--still that weight refused to lessen itself; it refused to leave my leaden core. "Then I'll help you." I tried to reassure both Valentin and myself in the same promise. "No matter what is going on around us. Nothing else matters right now in this moment. Nothing. Now we practice Quidditch, and I will help Valentin Schnell in whatever way he needs; because Valentin Schnell is the only one here in this moment with me, and he came to me for help. And I'll be damned before I turn away Valentin Schnell whenever he calls my name."

'Sei un terribile bugiardo. You are a terrible liar.'

'Zitto. Shut up.'

After one more pause, making completely sure that Valentin was ready for me to begin, I gave him a head start before tossing the hard-skinned practice 'bludger' into the air and then spun quickly to engage in a Bludger Backbeat. The teams would not be pulling punches in the game; I didn't want to hurt Valentin, but I had to make sure that we would be able to avoid even the worst of my shots if he had to. With a spin of the quaffger that hissed and sizzled in the air [Accuracy d20(15) + 18 (Acc) + 3 (MC) + 4 (Firebolt Buff) + 5 (Backbeat) = 45 - 1 (Charmer) = 44], even with a brilliant maneuver from Valentin more elegant and entrancing than I had ever seen [EM d10(9), Evasion d20(20) + 20 (Eva) + 3 (Silver Arrow Buff) = 43 Critical Success], the hardened ball still managed to clip Valentin hard in the shoulder that had not quite been able to twist out of the way. Any more peripheral to his body and it could have potentially dislocated his arm [Damage = 75 x (17 (Strength) + 15% = 20) = 1500/2 (Backbeat) = 700 Damage, Valentin HP 1100 - 700 = 400]. With a small cringe as I heard the hollow thud of the leather-bound item bounce off of him, I rushed to intercept the ball only to have a sudden flash of guilt roll through me.

Wasn't this what I had always done to Valentin? By pushing him away and by turning him away at every confession so clear and so pure? Wasn't this my fault, for bringing him to this moment and to the brink of what seemed to be his very sanity; crippling him enough that he had become nothing but his own anxieties and fears? Was this what I had done? Was this all that I had ever done to Valentin?

With a wide swing and a miss, the tip of my bat tipped the very edge of the ball and caused it to hurtle for a tree at mach speed. A thick branch near the base of the tree easily seven inches in diameter suddenly spewed splinters as the blow caused it to let out a CRACK of agony at the blow [Accuracy d20(1) + 18 (Acc) + 3 (MC) + 4 (Firebolt Buff) = 26 Critical Failure] and then send the item of destruction spinning directly for Valentin.

Eyes widening as I realized the dangerous blow no longer under my control [Accuracy d20(19) + 18 (Acc) + 3 (MC) + 4 (Firebolt Buff) = 44 - 1 (Charmer) = 43], I could only do one thing as I prayed that Valentin would somehow veer away from catastrophe. "VALENTIN! ATTENTO! LOOK OUT!" A scream split away from my throat, louder than thoughts and louder than sensations as I threw out a hand for Valentin. As if I could somehow catch this dangerous and destructive orb of my raw strength gone rogue. Vocal cords fraying as my cry had slipped into my falsetto, I didn't care how ridiculous I sounded to the casual observer; I only cared about watching the precious moments before Valentin would become aware of the disaster that was coming his way. While swift, it seemed that his swiftness had for once failed him [EM d10(1), Evasion d20(8) + 20 (Eva) + 3 (Silver Arrow Buff) = 31]; even in disaster I was too strong... I... my strength... [Damage = 75 x (17 (Strength) + 15% = 20) = 1500 Damage, Valentin HP 700 - 1500 = -1100 KOB]. Like watching a train crash in slow motion, I watched as the ball struck true, as Valentin's white head snapped back in recoil as the quaffger struck him in the temple and threw him gracelessly from the seat of his broom and to the ground.

"VALYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Came the second tearing cry from my throat as I plummeted to the ground after him, throwing my bat aside and focusing on the broken white bird that had collapsed to the ground as if dead.

Hands hovering over his body, unsure of what to do; how to assess for the immediate moment, all I could do was watch over him with widened eyes and hitching breath at the violence I had wrought. I couldn't move his head, I didn't know if his spine or neck had been affected by the blow. "Val? Valentin? Valya? Il Niffler?" I asked, my words almost running into each other as I tried to elicit a response, any response, from the senseless albino. "Valentin, ti prego, parlami. Ti prego, lasciami... Valentin can you hear me? Please, please talk to me. Do you know where we are? Can you hear my voice? Can you...? Valentin, please talk to me. Please let me... I clenched my jaw, remembering his words only minutes prior to this terrible turn of events. "Can you see my face? Can you see anything?" Please, Valentin.. please... "Please tell me you can hear me; please talk to me... Please... Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I'm so..." I didn't want to touch him, I didn't want to risk hurting him more than he already was. On impulse, I took a trailing hand in the grass in my own, pressing it to my lips and rubbing the back of his hand with my thumbs. I was rocking back and forth, eyes wide, eyes swirling with clouds though the skies were clear and bright. I tried to pinch the tendon between his index finger and his thumb, hoping to elicit some sort of pain response. "Valentin, please don't die... Don't die because of me... Oh my God... Oh my God..."

Breaths catching in my chest, in my throat... Was there blood or was that just a large bruise? I couldn't tell anymore, my gaze was misting and warping before my very eyes. Hunched over Valentin, bent over myself I felt tension in my back... No height of mine was visible anymore as I tried to cater to Valentin...

I had... I had to find someone; someone who could help. Who could correct this damage that I had done... I had...

I had...

Had I finally killed someone? Had my strength... had I finally...?

I had to find my wand. I couldn't leave Valentin here like this alone. I had to find it... I had to...

And yet I was frozen to the spot, as petrified as a child in the midst of their night terrors. Unable to move, unable to act at least for this moment. Valentin's cold knuckles were still pressed to my lips, my fingers sensing for a radial pulse as I felt my breath shuddering still. He had to come around... he had to... he...

He had to...

"Valya please come back..." I croaked, my jaw clenching and unclenching. "I... I didn't... please don't make it true... that I... that I..." The thought was too terrible to bear, to consider, to even imagine... The possibility that in this moment I had killed my... that I had killed Valentin...

Reducio

Stats:

Ω Stamina 9 | Evasion 8 | Strength 17 Ω
Ω Accuracy 18 | Wisdom 10 | ArcPower 0 Ω

Abilities:

Ω Obnoxiously Strong | Perfectionist I | Martial Artist | Healing Sage I Ω
Ω Muggle Condition Ω

"I wouldn't willingly suffer anything that I didn't want to, Valentin," Romeo said softly. "Faith is a beautiful thing that can move mountains; having no faith is more damning than having so little as a crumb, and truth holds hands with her. I accept your apologies, but only if you forgive yourself too."

Valentin paused for a moment. He’d always been bad at forgiving himself.

“Only because you asked me to,” smirked Val with a laugh. He didn’t have to like it, but to an extent, it was co-captain’s orders. Still, it was Romeo’s next admission that wiped the self-critical sass clean off Valentin’s face.

"That day was one of the best days of my life." It wasn’t the words, but rather, the way he said it…

“……” What? Had that day with the amortentia meant something to Romeo after all? Lash after lash of skepticism sliced through the seeker’s mind, unable to reconcile that anything could have genuinely changed so suddenly after years of disinterest. How could #4 even know how much of it was brain-washing from being drugged, anyway? Worse yet, perhaps this was a reflex now that a chance with the captain was finally slipping out of the Italian’s fingers. It would have been typical human behavior – not wanting to miss out on something, even something they didn’t really want that much. Surely it would have damaged even a modest ego for a door to close on him, even if Romeo never intended to walk through it in the first place. To suddenly sense pain coming off the Italian now that someone else had laid claim to Valentin, well… maybe this wasn’t really about keeping Val’s heart at all, but hurt like an insult, challenging the beater’s superiority as a partner.

"Words are nothing compared to actions," continued the russet-haired boy. On this, of course, Valentin continued to agree. What had been Romeo’s actions – up to and including this very moment? What had Romeo ever done to win Valentin over? Nothing tainted by the recent effects of his manipulative brother’s amortentia could provide solid evidence. Trying to think back through all the years, nothing came to the Frost Captain’s mind. In the end, hadn’t it always been Valentin making such efforts? In the end, the seeker could only conclude that this kind of reaction was actually about Romeo’s sense of self rather than about losing Valya.

"You have found your immortality, then… Not with me, but with him?"

The Tatar boy could feel the ache lancing through Romeo’s voice. Looking over at him with his violet eyes, Valentin took a moment to read the other’s expression. It wasn’t even like a game, since it never really felt like Romeo had been playing it. Still, like any loss in quidditch, surely Romeo would get over to the blow to his self esteem soon enough.

“Yes, I’m his now, with all of my mind, body, and soul. The axis of my life is different now, and nothing will ever orbit the same way again.”

"I'm... I'm happy... for you."

Romeo’s words crawled out only with effort through the knots of his throat. It must be a bitter pill, indeed, for Durmstrang’s champion, captain, and famed seeker to now be stopping his overdramatic and childish advances. He knows how rich I am, now, too, so… even if enjoyed only secretly, he’s lost control, lost the clout of receiving my amorous attentions, and that must sting. This is why I tried so long to keep quiet about myself. If he had never known any such details about my social status, it wouldn’t hurt him now to let go of some lanky half-breed of an albino. Really, if he is truly this attached to me now, it was surely because of Mother’s charms living on through me. Poor Romeo, pawn of his witting brother’s mind control and the accidental recipient of my ancestral hypnosis. I really should have stayed away.

"Is he really as true as you say he is?"

“You said faith is a beautiful thing that holds hands with the truth. Well, my heart demands that I surrender my entire self to him without holding back, and so I shall. Recklessly, as if falling into my first ever spiral dive without knowing if I’ll make it out alive, I entrust myself to him. Only time will tell what becomes of me now. I’m more worried for him, given my… heritage. I have to… no, no… forget it.” Valentin shook himself out of an entranced stare at a distant log full of acorns. Somewhere, a red squirrel chittered with warm summer cheer. “It will feel good to practice, right? It’s what the team, what everyone needs from us…”

"Then I'll help you. No matter what is going on around us. Nothing else matters right now in this moment. Nothing. Now we practice Quidditch, and I will help Valentin Schnell in whatever way he needs; because Valentin Schnell is the only one here in this moment with me, and he came to me for help. And I'll be damned before I turn away Valentin Schnell whenever he calls my name."

It was all a bit surreal, hearing himself spoken of in such pained terms, as if Romeo were splitting open from an internal fissure. Had the white king made a pawn out of the legionnaire after all? What could be done about it now? With a somber, sympathetic look, Valentin bit his lip and gestured heavenward.

In no time the pair was airborn, and as Romeo’s projectile whirled towards Valentin, the seeker saw a vision of the moon reflected off a pair of murky green eyes. With a playful twirl, Valentin executed the most skillful dodge in his life [20+20+3=43 EVA Crit Success], and yet, not even perfection was good enough to evade Romeo now [44 ACC]. As the ball clipped Val’s shoulder, the seeker laughed with surprise and approval. Of course there was substantial pain, but it was nothing compared to the swelling pride in his chest. They really had made #4 monstrously good at his job. It was beautiful. Not even perfection from the international school leagues’ most evasive seeker could outdo Romeo. Yet, amethyst eyes turned back up to the clouds as Valentin’s mind began to drift. He would have liked for Alexander to have seen how beautiful that maneuver just was, even if it ultimately failed to spare him the full blow. Why wasn’t it perfect when it should have been? How could he be perfect? Brows knitting together, the pale boy tried to understand… and with that, Val would not notice the ricochet of the quaffle off a tree until it hit him mercilessly in the head and knocked him from his throne in the sky.

After that, everything was a blur. Valya could swear that, although he wasn’t lucid enough to question it, Alexander was hovering above him shouting in Italian and telling him to come back. Come back… but… did I leave you? Did I leave? Who…? Blinking over and over, the world seemed to be spinning all around him but leaving Valentin behind.

“…???” Laying flat on his back, the broken bird tried to move his hand to his head to cover his eyes from the sharpness of the sun directly above, but it did not respond. He had to come back, though, right? The voice told him to. The voice… whose voice? Wasn't everyone's voice, that one voice — everyone's face, one face? The sunlight was so blinding… was it the pain that was talking, or... talking to him or to everyone? Everyone was… no… I can’t… I can’t remember. Why am I here? What, who… am I?

With the last of his strength, Valentin closed his eyes to shield himself from the shrill brilliance blasting into the depths of his skull. For quite some time, then, there was only darkness... but was he really alone in that great black inner void?

¤ | Ω | ¤

Nec Temere, Nec Timide. Durmstrang Institute's

Romeo Giovanni Marchonné [6'6.5" | 199lbs]

"English." "Italiano. Italian." "Russian."

| Faint Scar on Left Eye & Mangled Right Ear | \ Fingerless Glove on Right Hand, Bite Scar on Forearm / | Lichtenberg Figure on Right Arm and Down Back |

Valentin Schnell
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

"Valya...?" I whispered down at the unmoving corpse of the albino. I couldn't stop shaking, my eyes were wild. Was I even breathing, or was I dying or dead just as much so as Valentin himself was in my arms? I shook him ever so slightly, even against my better judgement to just let him lay. "H-hey... please Val, you gotta talk to me at least... You can't just... If your heart and mind is someone else's, you have to be alive for them too... A-and if..." Would I end up going to prison for something like this? It had been sheerly accidental, there had been no malice of intent or of desire to cause bodily harm. If I was, though, how long would it be? What was I going to do? My brother... Valentin...

"Just a twitch... please?"

As if the silently pleading prayer of mine had been answered, Valentin did indeed move upon the ground. Almost instantly I swooped down on him, trying to assess his condition in conjunction with his reactions. He was confused, severely injured. Speechless for a moment, my lips moved wordlessly before my vocal cords caught up with what I was trying to say. "V-valya, oh my God I thought you were gone... Hhhholy sssh..." I fussed and fussed, pushing the soft hair out of his eyes and gently yet firmly trying to lightly control his movements so that he didn't fluster too much. "Here, hold still. Just... just stay for a moment. I-I..."

And just like that his amaranthine eyes fluttered closed again. Senseless to the world, it would seem. "Valya? Okay, I'll just..." I hissed through my front teeth ever so slightly. "God I hope you don't have a neck injury... I'm gonna try to fireman carry you..." It was unfortunately the very best that I could think of doing for the moment. Picking him up and putting him on my shoulders thusly would be the easiest way to transport him, transport him to someone who could help him better than I. "Oh God, oh God..." A hasty and terrified prayer.

Well, Valentin couldn't speak for himself anymore, and I had to make assumptions based on the best that I knew. What I knew was that I couldn't leave him here like this and that I wasn't built to handle the extent of injury that I himself had given to him. I had to get him to someplace that could, and quickly at that. I had to take that necessary risk, I had to make that bold leap and act for the best interests that I could identify: the health and the potential risk of life currently posed to Valentin.

So saying, I did safely perform the actions necessary to ensuring a stable fireman's carry: lifting Valentin under the arms until his knees locked out and then subsequently kneeling him on them, raising him up against my body to the fullest safe extension, and then swooping beneath his body to take his right arm in the crook of my left arm and taking his right ankle in my hand, balancing him on my shoulders and then slowly rising... making sure that he would not fall. I could not let him fall. I could not hurt him further, could not let anything else befall him like this. With haste I struck out, running as fast yet as smoothly as I could for the sake of the comfort of the niffler on my back.

Stopping before leaving the clearing, I glanced back at the fallen Silver Arrow and Firebolt, the maple bat that I had left behind and the leatherbound ball that had been its counterpart in the machinations of destruction. Before I could think twice, I turned away and continued my lope at top speed. I would come back for them. I could come back for them when Valentin was totally safe and secured. These could stay behind for now, to be fetched when the time was right for them to be fetched.

Just as the time would be right for many other things in this world; the time for things to begin, and the time for things to end. A time for war and a time for peace. For reaping and for sowing, for love and for hatred. To speak and to be silent. A time to pick up stones, and a time to scatter them. A time to hurt and a time to heal.

A time to remember...

And a time to forget.

Romeo Exeunts

Reducio

Stats:

Ω Stamina 9 | Evasion 8 | Strength 17 Ω
Ω Accuracy 18 | Wisdom 10 | ArcPower 0 Ω

Abilities:

Ω Obnoxiously Strong | Perfectionist I | Martial Artist | Healing Sage I Ω
Ω Muggle Condition Ω