Skeletons Can't Walk PV Valentin closed

People were staring again, but this was not the kind that Val was accustomed to. It was common especially for Val to be recognized as Durmstrang's champion, quidditch captain, and flashy first-string seeker back in home territory or at sporting events. No, these eyes were more hostile, as if they knew that the foreign boys posed some kind of threat. Certainly the unnerving presence that Mikael exuded had a tendency to do that, but the wariness around them felt even more tense than usual. The strange, gnawing hunger in Valentin's eyes was not counteracting Mik's usual effect.

Even for someone as remote as the young Halldorson, it would have been hard not to notice the change in the pearl-skinned boy. Val had a staring habit as well, of a rather different variety than Mikael's. Usually it was when the seeker saw something he liked that he couldn't turn his eyes away, as if in a moment of fickle sunglare he could lose the one he was looking at. Now, looking into his amethyst-chip eyes one could feel the hunger of a starved predator trapped inside a cage. Like a man possessed, to see the person inside and not just the thirst would require looking past the monstrous gleam of his interlocking gaze.

"We have another stop to get off at. I'm going to buy you something nice to wear at the ball." Val's words came undecorated, but it was his eyes that did the most talking. With Mikael, Val's earnest affection underlied a manic sharpness that could find no satisfaction, had found none for almost a year now. The two had spent considerable time together from the beginning, and he'd seen Val have ups and downs before, but the passing of months seemed to steal away the upbeat playfulness that once defined him. No, now there was more than a few chords of madness in the air. Thrill seeking no longer satiated Val ever since the end of the last quidditch championship, but to attribute the changes to quidditch would be the mistake of a casual fan. Only rarely did people glimpse pieces of the puzzle around Val's seemingly imaginary friend, "Alexander." After all, the captain's own problems were all too easily buried under his concern for others.

"Listen, Misha. It's time we broke you out of that dark hole. It's nearly spring, and... I get the impression things have only gotten worse at your house. When's the last time they got you new clothes even? If they're not going to care for you properly then allow me." Based on words alone, Valentin sounded quite like himself. Still, a hissing and almost musical upturn and downturn of certain words made them feel like they carried more weight than normal. Why a capable young man like Val should almost sound despairing over something as simple as Mik's ball outfit... Well... He made it sound like the fate of the universe hung on its success.

"I want you to get some perspective away from that house. London is a good start, and it will be good to feel the different atmosphere out here... But ... when the summer games are over, even, I want you to stay with me. Come home with me to Kazan. Whatever your dad is doing, it's... It's not right. It would be one thing if I knew Fima were there to watch over you, but ever since that time at the lake... I don't want to leave you alone. I almost lost you to that lake... that haunted lake... Honestly... I can't afford to lose you, too. What have I got left? My mother, father, both murdered. Fima is gone. My other relationships are up in flames. At any time, another attempt on my life could... S-Ssee, it feels like all the house staff, even Sergei, especially Sergei, are manipulating my reality to have their way with me. The problem is that it's not just attempts to steal my inheritance. There's something darker at work but I don't have the perspective to see it. With you at my side, maybe it can help me understand what is broken in my home and I can help you understand yours. Please, Mishka, I'm... I'm not doing okay anymore."

Valentin's gaze darted away, brimming with narrowly checked rage at himself for even asking. He wasn't one to request emotional support. It would have all been much easier if Mik could just exchange blows with him again, like in their fight in the library. It would have felt more natural to speak physically, instead of almost admitting to needing Mik to keep him from being committed to a mental institution. Besides, Mik's situation also seemed to have deteriorated, and Val didn't know just how bad it had gotten, let alone why.

"Misha..." Val had always loved the cute creepy head turn Mikael did, however much it seemed to freak other people out. He might have even enjoyed it twice as much because of the reactions of others. "Why is your house always so... broken down? What's going on with your father?"

Tugging Mik by the sleeve, Val tried to get him to board a train and flow back to the quietest section of the caboose.

@Percival Rainwood

⋅ Inspiration ⋅ Outfit ⋅

Mikael blinked solemnly at the boy's words, long had the tradition of the other forcing him into extravagant outfits stood between them. The boy could still remember the stiff collar of his outfit as he had drowned in the cold waters of the lake. Swallowing thickly as he tried to relieve the tension in his throat that made it difficult to breathe. In situations like this, when the other looked so determined, there seemed no reason to fight it. He hardly had much of a choice anyway. It was something that was becoming abundantly clear these last few months. Once it had been nothing more than a kind gesture, and now. The boy's brows furrowed slightly. Now there was a sharpness where the blade had once been dull. Who had taken the time to sharpen it? A part of him did not mind it, being pulled around and used for whatever the other needed. Though, holding onto a knife did nothing but cut his palms. If he looked down would there be blood?

The boy looked toward Valentin with muted confusion as the other spoke. Had things gotten worse? It seemed so normal to him. His mind drifted back to his dream, when his room walls had bright colorful paint and the windows held out the ever-seeking wind. He had been so young when he had last received new clothes. Beyond that, it was a blurry mess of white cotton and old clothes found. Memories seemed to be drifting through him than he was far used to. If he thought hard enough he could taste the smell of the air as he stood clad in white and holding a cross. It seemed so distant and yet it confused him how he could have ever forgotten. Mikael's brows furrowed as he focused back on the boy's sentence. "The winters tend to cling onto the landscape in Norway." he justified. Not that he really knew what his argument was. "I can take care of myself Val. I have done so far before you existed." he spoke plainly. Right, because Valentine did not exist outside of him meeting him. The boy grimaced at his words hoping the other wouldn't think too much into it.

Mikael's eyes widened, his gaze flicking toward Valentin as if he had simply grown another head. Words stolen from his throat as the boy stuttered between simply dismissing the other or growing defensive. Defensive... Why be defensive for the thing that lurks in the shadows as he listens to it weep and whine. An injured dog that just needs to be put down. Far past its prime. Instead the boy blinked sourly at Valentin. "Valentin, my Father would worry if I simply disappeared." he breathed out far quieter than he would have liked. A pained look crossed his features at the mention of the cold deep lake. "It was a means to an end, Valentin. To see far clearer than I ever had." he hummed out blinking vaguely. "Do not worry Valentin, I can see clearly now." he said a vague smile on his face.

A frown wormed his way to the forefront at the mention of Yefim. Something had been lost the day Yefim had been whisked away. The boy seemed to speak on and on, and the boy could not help but wonder if the other was trying to guilt him into giving in. Yet, the other must realize his cries would fall on death ears? He needed to stay at his home. There...there he had a chance of understanding fully what happened in his past. If he left now.... His throat tightened up with emotion. That was not a possibility. Valentin would simply have to make due without him. His brows furrowed as he glanced away, "If you do not trust Sergei then what is stopping you from getting rid of him?" he asked. "If a dog has no use then you put it down." he replied indifferently

As the boy called out his name with tenderness and care, Mikael's gaze caught upon a figure that stood across the subway. Standing stock still on the other platform. To any other person it would have been just another figure among a sea figures. Though to him, his eyes widened as he took in black hair and sharp blue eyes. A deep knowledge held in their depths that bore through his soul. How similar it was to the being, cold and regal. "Why is your house always so... broken down?" How laughable that the reason stood in front of them, not that the white haired boy noticed. It hurt, like a deep ache that spread through the back of his eye. He was seeing a ghost. He was dead! He was supposed to be dead! "Ja-" he mumbled out spilling from his lips like a prayer.

The smell of fire filled his nose. Screams melted into the sound of a train horn. As a train rushed by and with it so did the figure who seemed to disappear. Mikael blinked wildly, had he seen that? Was that real? It was insane to wonder such things. How far gone was he that he could not feel concrete in reality. Mikael blinked in confusion before shaking his head letting the other pull him onto the train that had pulled up in front of them. The boy worked his tongue open to reply to Valentin. "My Father has been that way for awhile now. I think my Mother's death drove him further off the edge." he replied callously.

Interacting with: @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Mikael’s disjointed justification sliced Valentin quite like the knife in the Norwegian’s mind.

"I can take care of myself Val. I have done so far before you existed."

In turn, the seeker’s gem-tone eyes narrowed, sharpening. Long before Val existed? Weren’t they the same age? Even with all the disturbing suspicions Sergei and others had relayed about the champion losing his mind, surely it was something about Mikael’s comment that was broken… or was that just another excuse? Certainly the other did not seem at all concerned with Valentin’s state of being, and for that, Val felt relieved.

“Misha…” Val stared back into the other’s blue eyes, standing as still as a marble statue. He wasn’t about to give this up. Yet, before he could address Mikael’s points, the other seemed transfixed on something—or someone—across from them on the platform. Valentin looked but couldn’t understand what his friend was looking at. Whipping back to watch Mik’s eyes open wide, as if beset by a vision, the corner of Valentin’s mouth twitched.

“Ja-” emitted a sound from Mikael’s lips, and Valentin became as absorbed in trying to grasp what the boy was experiencing as Mikael was being overtaken by it. The Norwegian’s wild blinking followed with an expression of confusion. Was Mik hallucinating, Val wondered, or was he seeing what he himself had been seeing despite being told by others he was wrong?

“Misha, I wonder if we’re… Maybe we’re both seeing what others can’t see. I, too, have… no, not here. Let’s get inside.” Pulling the dark-haired boy into the train car and edging towards the quietest back-end corner, Valentin drew the vestibule curtain behind them to block them off from view to the rest of the cabin.

“I don’t know if I should dismiss Sergei because I don’t know if he’s right. I see a face on other people that he says isn’t real. It’s like a phantom is following me that no one else experiences. He says I’ve been duped by some seductive water spirit and that it’s making me lose my grip on reality, but I still see His face. What did you see, Mishka? Whom did you see on the platform?” Lowering his voice into a whisper, Valentin’s white eyelashes fluttered. “You say you see clearer than ever after being nearly drowned in that lake. Maybe the lake did the same thing to me.”

Leaning in close, Valentin’s gaze traced the contours of the burn scar over Mikael’s face. An overwhelming impulse to touch that warped skin passed over him. Crinkling his nose as the smell of Mikael’s sweater permeated Val’s awareness, the seeker bit his lip. A newly familiar churning in his gut returned, and Valentin could not pull his eyes away from Mikael’s. Has the lake’s curse taken me over, contaminated me, filled me with some… what is this feeling inside? What is this gnawing ache, so like hunger but even more demanding, delirious, and mind-bending...

“You don’t have to just disappear; you don’t need to worry your father. I can explain to him that you need to stay with me in order to train better. Use my political power as Durmstrang’s champion and help him understand that the school needs you to improve, both for the sake of the Hexiwizard team and for your academic future. I would actually be happy to study with you more.” Cocking his head to the side, a slight smile rimmed the edges of Val’s face. He did not want to have to be separated from Mikael. Mikael could dull the pain he carried about Romeo, and then he would not be consumed with nightmares of the deathly lake tempting Mikael away into its depths—not so long as he kept the other boy close. The closer the better. “Think about it. We could practice martial arts. I know you’ve been getting stronger, I can see it. I’m sure the results of my training will make for a challenge as well. It could be like old times. Look, even if you really can’t get away, invite me to live with you as your training partner. One way or another, let me be with you.” Being apart could only leave the mysteries buried like treasure chests decaying at the bottom of the sea, unsolved. He had to know, to feel and understand, what Mikael was going through. Valentin needed to live it through him, just as Mikael lived it, to know if indeed they were the same. Only then could Truth be illuminated...

God mods of Val by Mikael are universally permitted.

@Percival Rainwood

⋅ Inspiration ⋅ Outfit ⋅

Mikael blinked feverishly at the white-haired boy, brows pulling together slightly in a distressed manner. He was not too sure what he had seen. Jakob. Oh when had he last uttered that word in the ever expanses of his mind? Had it just been a trick of his mind? Even thinking such a thought felt wrong. It had all felt so real. Like he could have reached out to touch him. As Valentin grabbed him and pulled him into the train car he let out a breathless sigh. Walking down the aisle, Mikael would glance through the window looking for any possible glimpse of the skeleton in his closet. Though, no figure would stand out amongst the crowd of people walking past the train. A weird feeling washed over him that did nothing but confuse him. Was he really disappointed that it wasn't real?

The boy sighed as he followed the boy to the back. Taking a seat on the plush bench seat of the small cabin. Watching Valentin vaguely as he drew the curtain closed. Isolation. Something that felt as sweet as honey on his lips. Reminding him of the dreary house that hade become his home during his later years. Mikael licked his chapped lips as he thought of what to say to the white-haired boy. Not long ago he would have found it funny to be in the same cabin with him. To interact with him solely, alone. A lot of things changed after Yefim left. It was a defining characteristic of his departure. Change. As brutal and painful as he always remembered. "Water spirits? he mumbled in confusion.

Mikael was not too sure when Valentin's struggles slipped through his fingers. He had never been one to care, and yet he found himself staring at the boy with a mixture of surprise and confusion underneath his ever-present stifled appearance. Would he not have at least noticed something was wrong? Had he broken the other? Finally snuffed out any bit of light with his dark depressing manner. He had no understanding who this Sergei was or what Valentin meant by dismissing him, or the faces he spoke of. "You..see faces? he mumbled out. Mikael's brows quickly furrowed at the boy's questions. His gaze drifting down to look at his hands that sat clasped in his lap."I...thought I saw someone I used to know." he said with a dreary voice. It seemed funny to say. Someone he used to know. As if he didn't blow everything up that fateful day.

Mikael's brows furrowed as he looked at Valentin with a renewed interest. "What do you mean you see clearer?" he asked his confusion evident in his voice. What was the other talking about? When was the last time he had spoken to the boy that he did not know the manner he was speaking? Mikael was not inept to the understanding that the boy was staring at his scar. Lighting it up with phantom pain and making him want to shield it from view. With a frown, the boy would turn to look out the window as the train began to move. The boy's furrowed slightly before turning back towards Valentin as if he had grew another head in the span of a second. "What do you mean?" he asked. Live with Valentin? Away from his home? Away from where his Mother's soul was put to rest?

Mikael swallowed thickly, away from the answers that he seeked with bated breath? His brows furrowed downward as he bit the tip of his tongue. Face resembling cold stone on a mountain top. "I can't leave Valentin. My Father would not allow such things to happen." he spoke slowly. His brows rose up at the desperate sound in the white-haired boy's voice. Why was the other so suddenly enraptured with the idea of being with one another? The entire situation made him feel uneasy and lukewarm. As if he had sat in the bath for far too long, and the water had gone cold and his skin pruned."Does the sun come to live with the moon among stars? Does the cold fog have any place in the warm sun?" he responded absently. "The winter is harsh where I live Valentin, and my house is no home. Why do you wish so much to go where you surely would not flourish?"

Interacting with: @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Mikael’s confusion was palpable, and Valentin wanted to explain. He wanted Misha to care, wanted him to understand, and he wanted to understand Mikael’s situation deeply as well. Valentin wanted to be closer to him, no matter how warped Mikael’s life may have been deep down. The dark-haired boy was dear to him – not just one of his most priceless treasures, but his own ring brother. It didn’t matter if no one else saw the gold inside of Mikael’s voidling eyes. Valentin had never forgotten what he saw in the other boy.

“Alright Misha,” whispered the alabaster-skinned seeker. Valentin’s Asiatic Tatar facial features had always been smooth like the polished stone of a statue, and now even the creases at the corners of Val’s eyes and mouth smoothed as he continued to stare at the scar of Misha’s turned-away face. If only he could… If only…

Misha turned back towards Valentin when asked to move into the Schnell Estate, biting the tip of his tongue as he stared back without expression.

"Does the sun come to live with the moon among stars? Does the cold fog have any place in the warm sun? The winter is harsh where I live Valentin, and my house is no home. Why do you wish so much to go where you surely would not flourish?"

Valentin’s tongue caught in the back of his throat, bound up in a tangle of emotion. It was never about Val, himself, flourishing. Why couldn’t Mik see that? The whole point was to see Misha liberated from the dark waters that seemed to eternally suffocate him. No one seemed to understand – Valentin needed to go into the deepest darkness he could find. Anything else was a superficial pretense of living someone else’s life.

“Misha, you ask me why? Why?” Breathing in deep, Valentin steeled himself as if preparing for an onslaught. “The only home for the sun is in the sky with the moon and stars. There could be no eclipse, no stellar alignments, no orbits whatsoever if they did not move together in the dance of giants. There is no music of the spheres at all without the gravity between them. Misha, why, why do I insist on being with you no matter how it would be for me?”

Amethyst eyes wild with passion, Valentin’s lips parted on either side of his gritted teeth. Then, like lightning, his hand shot towards Mikael’s. If the other did not evade, Valentin would grip the boy’s hand, curling his fingers around the others, as his lip began to tremble.

“Misha, don’t you understand? I…” Squeezing the other’s hand if he held it, Valentin’s eyes wished for Mikael to just know what he really longed to say. “I need to be with you. I can’t be free until you are, too. Something haunts you, and I can’t pretend to be separate from that. It haunts me, too. You’re no less than another part of me. Take me with you. Take me to where your ghosts are lurking so that we can at least understand. My problems can wait. You almost died in that lake, Misha, and I’m terrified to let you out of my sight. We have to solve this. We can do this together.”

Val leaned closer to the blue-eyed boy, his own gaze locked on with an unshakable will. The seeker's problems could wait. If Mikael spent the summer alone, Val was not confident that the other would return to school alive.

God mods of Val by Mikael are universally permitted.

@Percival Rainwood

⋅ Inspiration ⋅ Outfit ⋅

Mikael's brows furrowed slightly in contemplation as the boy seemed to regard him with almost an eerie sense of calm. How strange for the sea water to be still before the threat of a storm. He imagined himself on a small boat, clutching the side and peering into the blackest of waters. Something that should be constantly moving, and yet completely still. For what lurked below did not require any swells to strike fear in the hearts of many.

The boy was brought to a pause as the boy rebuked his words far too quickly for his liking. How much he wished the other would let him be amongst his revelations, and yet the white-haired boy's persistence shone brighter than any star. Though the boy's questions left him more confused than not. Why did the other feel the urge to remain tied to him despite his own nature? Could the other not feel that he was the sun? And that he was merely the moon? Destined to slowly blot out the light of the other until the end of time. It seemed unlikely that it was all because of their tie with Yefim. He wondered why the other felt such a pull toward him. Like two planets that had caught one another in their pull. Despite his wish to feel none of it, he could not help but feel the same pull. Yet, he could hardly understand why.

Like a snake, the boy watched as the other boy reached his hand out quickly toward him. Mikael's eyes widened in surprise, his mouth opening slightly as he thought to rebuke the other. Yet, he found he could not bring it within himself to try to evade the other's grasp. As the other held onto his hand, he would dully note the contrast of temperature between them. Something that confused him to no end, and filled him with dull questions that itched at the back of his neck. Mikael focused on the boy's face, a shot of surprise filled him to his core as he noted that the boy's lip trembled.

Mikael was unsure what to do as the other stared into his very soul. He was unsure what to tell the other, because he was correct. He was being haunted by something that should have been far removed from himself. It felt strange when the other claimed that he was a part of him. Something that reminded him of Yefim, flashing hurt throughout his entire being. He wondered when he would stop missing the dark-haired boy. Though he guessed one cannot simply get over the departure of one's god. "Valentin.." he softly mumbled, his face twitching in discomfort as he forced himself to speak.

"The lake..was a mistake. he tried lamely. How badly had he fallen to make the other worry like this? It filled him with a deep sense of dread that spread from the hand the boy held, up his arm, to course down through his torso. "I would be a cruel thing to worry you any more." he contemplated glancing away toward the window with unease. As the boy leaned in closer, Mikael's gaze would flick back towards him. "Soon Valentin. But...not yet. I am uncertain if the ghost I saw was even really there." he said, mumbling the last sentence mostly to himself. He felt dumb as he tried to evade the other's worry. Oh, how he wished he had Yefim's tactfulness. Broom racing had left him rather a dumb brute.

Interacting with: @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood