16 Feb 2023, 03:22
Dear Romeo (14/2/2023)
A white Ural owl soared up to Romeo, carrying Valentin’s personal stationery of light sky blue. It was rare now that Romeo received correspondence from any of Val’s many other owls. As to why, the only information Valentin had yet volunteered was that this one, Amet, was his favorite. If Romeo had inquired further, Val replied that he knew the scrappy loyalist Amet would fight to the death to deliver correspondence un-intercepted. The fact that Val saved the slightly slower Amet for his most private correspondence was a trait that only the observant would pick up on without active inquiry.
This time, Valentin’s enchanted wax seal was in a fiery rose red, displaying his personal sigel: a three-headed Yilbegän with an orb in each mouth. Closer examination would reveal the orbs to be the three types of ball in quidditch: the bludger, the snitch, and the quaffle. Upon breaking the wax seal, making the letter magically un-resealable, Romeo would find a letter in Valya’s handwriting. Valentin’s quill strokes were florid occasionally but more often rapid and angular, diverging from a typical pureblood scrawl with blatant disregard for ostentation.
Romeva,
Please find enclosed a blackthorn rose, as grown in Kazan at my place. You see, after the last ball, I asked my friend Aida to identify the plant you seemed so interested in. I’ll never forget how it suited you. Anyway, Aida made a cutting from that plant and explained to me how to grow more of it. Now there’s a large section of the rose garden preserving this species, which the wix tells me is apparently quite special. It’s there in white and red, and I want you to take branches from there any time you may need them in your whittling. What am I saying, I mean, – I’ll send you some if you can’t make it over there anytime, or I’ll have Sergei help if I’m away. Please treat it as your own permanent supply, if it suits you. Come any time to take of it, freely. I’m never quite sure where you’ll end up living, but I want you to reliably have everything you need for your work.
There’s also another matter. Forgive me for not telling you this in person, but I wanted to ensure I couldn’t put pressure on you about the decision I’d like for you to make. Rather than have me standing over your shoulder watching, I want you to have space to take your time to really consider what is best for you.
Romeo, I… really… respect you as my co-captain. I couldn’t do my work as captain as well without you there – not even close. I need you, like that, so that I can serve our team. Certainly I ask a lot of you for quidditch, and I really value your academic performance as well. I know you must be busy. Still, now that I’ve been elevated to the position of Durmstrang’s champion, I believe that, again, I could better serve our people if I had you close to me, by my side. My co-champion so to speak, or perhaps even better, a sort of special person: my special person. No one can fit that title better than you.
Please don’t take on more than you really want to, not even for my benefit. Especially not for my benefit. I just… would like for you to consider it, please, and if it would be fun for you. I remember what you said about doing something as much for oneself as for others. Therefore, please don’t do this for me. Do this if it would also make you at least just as happy. As for me, I’m… trying what you said again, the doing something for myself, too, part… and that’s part of why I’m asking. I want you with me in whatever way I am welcome. In fact, I...
Stribog, why don’t quills come with a means of erasing…
If this sounds like what you want, then maybe we can chat about it more after dinner tonight. Otherwise, I’ll just see you at practice in the morning and won’t mention it again. I always want to treat you with the utmost respect. Just... I want you to know that I... cherish every moment with you.
For always,
Valentin
Last edited by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood on 26 Mar 2023, 05:47, edited 3 times in total.
16 Feb 2023, 05:12
Dear Romeo (14/2/2023)
The letter was delivered an hour before dinnertime by way of the larger black and tawney Kostroma, but one of the race owls that Valentin had bred to be fast, intelligent, and tough. Well, Kostroma checked each of those boxes with an aggressive flair, that much was certain. Fast, as her large wings beat the air around her with a force paralleled by few other breed of owl; intelligent, as she always remembered past flights and learned the names and faces of her assigned recipients unerringly; and tough... well...
Kostroma was a known brawler in the Italian Durmstrangian's books. Sometimes she liked to fight other owls for the letters and packages that they carried in an attempt to bring them to him instead; as if she thought that anything any owl carried belonged to Romeo and not the rightful recipient. Suffice to say, Romeo had already had to return three or four separate packages and letters simply because Kostroma was so dedicated to her cause of delivering him things in general.
Compared to the fine envelope and seals of Valentin's letter, Romeo's was plain white and secured with a simple, thin red thread tied in a neat bow. On it was written in the plain writing of Romeo (neither neatly cursive or messily scribbled, but a strange mixture of print cursive) was written 'Champion Schnell', and only a simple wax seal was put upon it; so plain that it didn't even have a pressed emblem into it but was simply the melted wax drips pressed down by what appeared to be a thumbprint to ensure that the envelope stayed sealed.
More Legible Version:
Valya,
This is a gorgeous sample of the spliced blackthorn. Now that I've had time to sit down and do a bit more research on the plants that were at Hogwarts' ball, I discovered the genus as well, but I can't help but marvel at this sample because of that (as your friend Aida rightly mentioned) dual red and white blooming pattern. If you'd be willing to have me, I'd love to see them growing in a more natural and free state. Blackthorn has very interesting properties in wandmaking lore, properties that I feel are worth studying as I feel that I may be in need of a new wand soon; my current one has never been quite as powerful as it once was ever since it was forced to attack its identical twin last year.
What I plan to do someday still has some time to come together, but I feel that the art of wandlore has interested me ever since I first started looking into it. I don't believe there are any wandmakers in Italy as far as I know; many of them seem focused in northern Europe and the UK, but there are none around the Mediterranean area. I find it odd, but perhaps it's simply an opportunity in disguise.
Concerning Hexwizard, I first congratulate you on your ascension to the Champion role. It doesn't surprise me at all, to be honest, but I already know that you will not only make Durmstrang proud but will also excel in the new responsibilities that I'm sure that you are facing right now. Just remember that as the poet John Donne said in his poem "No Man is an Island":
"No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less..."
Remember that you are not alone in this endeavor; just as in any team sport, Quidditch and otherwise, the entire collective is behind you and ready to fight for both you and each other. I know how hard you throw yourself into such things without a second thought for your wellbeing in pursuit of the betterment of others. Don't burn yourself out. If you need anything, I'm right here for anything you need, got it?
Between the above and because I too am eager to represent Durmstrang as best as I can (and of course because I do think that such a challenge would indeed be fun), I would be honored to be at your side in this effort. Consider my strength yours. If you still want to talk about the odds and ends related to this... I'm all ears whenever you want to talk; during or after dinner any time. Don't be afraid to speak to me about anything; I will always be honest with you and try to offer my best advice whenever possible, Valentin.
Ciao until later,
PS. I know exactly what you mean about wishing quills had an eraser; I wrote at least two or three (now-crumpled up) letters before I was finally satisfied with this one...
Reducio
Valya,
This is a gorgeous sample of the spliced blackthorn. Now that I've had time to sit down and do a bit more research on the plants that were at Hogwarts' ball, I discovered the genus as well, but I can't help but marvel at this sample because of that (as your friend Aida rightly mentioned) dual red and white blooming pattern. If you'd be willing to have me, I'd love to see them growing in a more natural and free state. Blackthorn has very interesting properties in wandmaking lore, properties that I feel are worth studying as I feel that I may be in need of a new wand soon; my current one has never been quite as powerful as it once was ever since it was forced to attack its identical twin last year.
What I plan to do someday still has some time to come together, but I feel that the art of wandlore has interested me ever since I first started looking into it. I don't believe there are any wandmakers in Italy as far as I know; many of them seem focused in northern Europe and the UK, but there are none around the Mediterranean area. I find it odd, but perhaps it's simply an opportunity in disguise.
Concerning Hexwizard, I first congratulate you on your ascension to the Champion role. It doesn't surprise me at all, to be honest, but I already know that you will not only make Durmstrang proud but will also excel in the new responsibilities that I'm sure that you are facing right now. Just remember that as the poet John Donne said in his poem "No Man is an Island":
"No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less..."
Remember that you are not alone in this endeavor; just as in any team sport, Quidditch and otherwise, the entire collective is behind you and ready to fight for both you and each other. I know how hard you throw yourself into such things without a second thought for your wellbeing in pursuit of the betterment of others. Don't burn yourself out. If you need anything, I'm right here for anything you need, got it?
Between the above and because I too am eager to represent Durmstrang as best as I can (and of course because I do think that such a challenge would indeed be fun), I would be honored to be at your side in this effort. Consider my strength yours. If you still want to talk about the odds and ends related to this... I'm all ears whenever you want to talk; during or after dinner any time. Don't be afraid to speak to me about anything; I will always be honest with you and try to offer my best advice whenever possible, Valentin.
Ciao until later,
PS. I know exactly what you mean about wishing quills had an eraser; I wrote at least two or three (now-crumpled up) letters before I was finally satisfied with this one...
This is a gorgeous sample of the spliced blackthorn. Now that I've had time to sit down and do a bit more research on the plants that were at Hogwarts' ball, I discovered the genus as well, but I can't help but marvel at this sample because of that (as your friend Aida rightly mentioned) dual red and white blooming pattern. If you'd be willing to have me, I'd love to see them growing in a more natural and free state. Blackthorn has very interesting properties in wandmaking lore, properties that I feel are worth studying as I feel that I may be in need of a new wand soon; my current one has never been quite as powerful as it once was ever since it was forced to attack its identical twin last year.
What I plan to do someday still has some time to come together, but I feel that the art of wandlore has interested me ever since I first started looking into it. I don't believe there are any wandmakers in Italy as far as I know; many of them seem focused in northern Europe and the UK, but there are none around the Mediterranean area. I find it odd, but perhaps it's simply an opportunity in disguise.
Concerning Hexwizard, I first congratulate you on your ascension to the Champion role. It doesn't surprise me at all, to be honest, but I already know that you will not only make Durmstrang proud but will also excel in the new responsibilities that I'm sure that you are facing right now. Just remember that as the poet John Donne said in his poem "No Man is an Island":
"No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less..."
Remember that you are not alone in this endeavor; just as in any team sport, Quidditch and otherwise, the entire collective is behind you and ready to fight for both you and each other. I know how hard you throw yourself into such things without a second thought for your wellbeing in pursuit of the betterment of others. Don't burn yourself out. If you need anything, I'm right here for anything you need, got it?
Between the above and because I too am eager to represent Durmstrang as best as I can (and of course because I do think that such a challenge would indeed be fun), I would be honored to be at your side in this effort. Consider my strength yours. If you still want to talk about the odds and ends related to this... I'm all ears whenever you want to talk; during or after dinner any time. Don't be afraid to speak to me about anything; I will always be honest with you and try to offer my best advice whenever possible, Valentin.
Ciao until later,
PS. I know exactly what you mean about wishing quills had an eraser; I wrote at least two or three (now-crumpled up) letters before I was finally satisfied with this one...
Jesters do oft prove prophets. 𓀚
I am the brother account to Romeo Marchonné & Zyva Hel Fae Skógrwight