[MP] Knives out [Klyk Vampiras]

It was late at night, but Adonis wasn’t sleeping. In fact, he was far from it. Not sleeping was relatively normal for the duelist. He typically preferred staying up to all hours reading and drinking wine in his study, but tonight wasn’t the night for reading or wine, it was for preparations for the dueling tournament coming up. Since the Drakonya Krovs had full range of the dueling room within regular operating hours, he had been careful about his instructions to the dueling captain, Zoya. She was a feisty young girl, a bit young for the title but with all the promise of a great duelist. She would do well, and he hoped that he could help her and the other Klyk Vampiras do just as well as the Drakonya Krovs.
 
He hoped she had understood his carefully-worded plan. He had reminded her that Zoya was unable to use the room under normal operating hours, but had mentioned that there was nothing stating they could not use the room after dark. Now, this was blatant favoritism of his part, but he considered that it was only fair that they got a chance to practice as well. It was well past lights out, nearing midnight, but he had left the lights on and the room unlocked for them. Shrouding himself in illusion, he kept quiet at the edge of the room, waiting for students. He was not meant to be seen. He was not, strictly-speaking, allowed to give them all hall passes, and would be in trouble with Sevastyan should he be caught by other professors NOT giving detentions for being out past dark.
 
This said, he thought that this was worth the risk.
 
The room was set up for dueling practice. The floor was padded, there were seats around the edge of the room for observers, and he was there to ensure no one got hurt. He couldn’t exactly, in good conscience, just let them practice without a supervisor. This said, he was blending with the wall as best he could. His illusions skills wanted for something, but he was passable at the practice, being far from an illusionist within his own right.
 
He heard footsteps. It was showtime.

@Klyk Vampira

"Keep quiet, or I will hex you into next week," Zoya hissed, threatening her teammates through the darkness of the corridor. She held up a hand, motioning for them to stop moving (and, of course, someone in the back tripped over someone else), and peered around the corner. Her back against the wall, and her mind on the plan, the Dueling Captain nodded and led them across the hallway and finally into the dueling room they were not technically supposed to be in. Whatever. The professor had hinted, and Zoya had picked up the clues, and now here they were. The team needed to practice, they needed to win, and what was a little rule-breaking in the grand scheme of things.

Once everyone was inside, and the door was securely shut, Zoya gave a sharp nod to the upperclassman she had tasked with soundproofing the room the minute they were all inside. Being bossy was sort of her default, so telling older students what to do was just another Tuesday. "Okay, pair up," She barked as she looked around for the professor. She felt that tingling sensation on the back of her neck like they were being watched, but the corners of the room were still dark, and she didn't see him anywhere. "No, Asen, you can't pair with Julija every time," Zoya said as she spun around in a circle, she tightly weaved red braid following seconds behind her, "Pick someone else," As the debate came, she shook her head and held her thin hand up, "Because if you fight the same witch every time you don't learn anything, and! because I said so!"

Zoya was really not the sort of person who should be put in charge of anything. The power went straight to her head.

Sometimes Stasya wished she’d stand up for her beliefs a little more; that she would not follow Zoya’s lead all the time. She loved her best friend dearly and she was proud that Zoya had been made duelling captain but did she really have to join the club as well? Stasya had been reluctant at first, tried to fight it but wasn’t assertive enough to actually be successful. She’d have felt guilty and as though she’d let her friend down anyway. So the student librarian and member of the newly founded artistic flying club found herself trying to fit the duelling club into her packed schedule as well.

She admired Zoya, thinking that her friend was a born leader but also thought that, maybe, just maybe, her role as a club captain went to her head a little. However, it was not that bad yet that Stasya would pluck up courage to say anything about it. In fact, she believed that Zoya did well, she was only a fourth year, after all. It certainly was a challenge to boss older students around. Stasya, at least, knew that she could never do it. She was still struggling occasionally at the library when she had to tell older students off for not treating the books well. She usually refrained from reminding others to put their books back after using them because she’d rather do that herself than confront others.

Following Zoya through the dark corridors, Stasya was honestly a little worried. She did not mind breaking rules per se – there were things that were totally worth it – but the duelling club was not that high up on her own list of priorities. Besides she wasn’t fully convinced that Zoya had really got the hint quite right. It could not have been professor Hristofis’ plan to let them practise at night…

They reached the room and Stasya watched as the older students cast some charms to make the room soundproof. As Zoya demanded that everyone should team up, Stasya was reluctant. She was not good at this; not at all. She almost hoped to find a first or second year to team up with because, quite frankly, that was where she saw her own skill level.

She kept in the background and wondered if she could just take a seat at the edge of the room to watch the others. Looking around, she thought that she saw a slight movement near the wall. Blinking a few times, the girl shook her head. She might just be making things up. Nonetheless she approached Zoya, thinking that, maybe, she should at least tell her friend her observation.

Zoya, however, seemed quite busy and she didn’t want to risk being paired up with Asen or Julija and so she just turned around again, curiously looking at the wall again from a safe distance.

Ruslan really wasn't sure about this. His biggest concerns when starting at Durmstrang had been how he would be able to fit in sufficient artistic flying practise and whether he would understand any of the lessons, not whether he should sneak out after hours to support his house's duelling club.

Normally he would have asked Zina what she thought but...Zina was a Krov. He couldn't let either of his sisters know what was happening and he realised he couldn't ask Rodion either, because he was afraid his big brother would tell him to just go to bed and pretend he knew nothing about it. Ruslan hated the thought of that and realised his fear of missing out on all the fun meant that he just wasn't going to tell anyone that he was planning to go. Rather than try to stay up, the first year had deliberately curled up behind a chair in the Klyk common room to catch a few hours' sleep, confident that he would be woken by footsteps at the appointed time.

Sure enough, whispers and soft footsteps alerted the small boy and he sat up, stretching to relieve his limbs from the awkward position he'd been sleeping in. He yawned deeply and for a moment considered the virtues of just heading to bed, but...no. A moment later he was quietly following his housemates down the corridor, hand firmly clenching the wand in his pocket. Ruslan had no intention of joining in tonight - so far he could successfully cast precisely three spells - and as he entered the room he sidled quietly over to the edge of the room where he could watch. The seats looked comfortable but as he stifled another yawn, the first year decided he had better stand for a little while instead.

There was a girl looking at him. He wasn't sure of her name - Bulkova perhaps? - but she was... staring. Feeling self-conscious, Ruslan looked quickly to one side and then the other, but he was the only one there. Did she want something? She looked like a fourth year at least, and he really hoped she wasn't going to ask him to duel with her!