I'm walkin' walkin' walkin' outta here alive [Jurgen]

Milos had been out with some friends in the bustling seaside town of Dottrar Vik, soaking up the last remaining days the outgoing seventh year had before it would be inconvenient to come back again. They'd gone shopping, had a bit of a nibble at a cafe, and now were just dispersing elsewhere because of one reason or another. Milos remained in the town, wandering the streets he'd grown to know so well. In a lot of ways, this was as much of his hometown as Prague was. Although, maybe the same could be said for Bulushya Gulba too, but that place was stained with bad memories, and he in many ways tried to shed himself of whatever thoughts he had of their old set-up.

His hands crept into his pockets out of habit, his fingers finding various loose coins, receipts, and other junk he'd stuffed in there over the course of the day. They'd been talking about the exciting things they'd be doing after school, and again, Milos had to be evasive about what he was going to do. Not because he was indecisive, but because it wasn't set in stone yet. Why hype himself up about an opportunity that was only at this point just conjecture between two friends? He knew it was silly, keeping his excitement close to his chest, but he'd been taught to manage his expectations and be extra cautious of things that are too good to be true.

He was almost too in his head to notice a familiar figure coming at him in the opposite direction. Just before they collided, he stopped suddenly, inches from the younger male's face. "Jurgen!" he exclaimed to Jurgen, giving him a familiar handshake and hug. "I haven't seen you since the last practice, I'm sorry..." he said, as he truly did lament the fact the quidditch team didn't hang out together out side of school hours more often. "How have you been?" He said, standing back a little bit from the German boy. "Promise me you and Linnea will help Kal out with the new students, they're quite a handful, I've heard."

He grinned towards Jurgen at this statement. The German boy was always a reliable beater, and very talented. He knew that Jurgen would be a good role model for the new students and would, with Linnea's help, keep Kalevi from running from his responsibilities. Moreover, Kal was unpredictable at the best of times, so having witch watchers in place was probably the best Milos could do without being there himself.

With the end of the school year upon him, Jürgen felt a sense of relief, both glad that his duties as Tsar had come to a close for the year and at the prospect of returning home. He wondered if his siblings would visit him at home and if he would have the opportunity to talk to them in detail about his future plans, though it was a topic that he was still wary about. Jürgen would be entering his seventh year after the summer and though he had plenty of time to finalize his plans, the thought of waiting too long to make a detailed plan did not sit too well with the otherwise very meticulous young man. With Quidditch, his social life, and studying, it felt as if Jürgen had little time to do anything else.

He usually used his daily jogs around the castle and sometimes into Dottrar Vik to really think about the topics that he often neglected when he was so wrapped up in his school life. This time, however, he took some extra time looking around the seaside village, peering into the small shops to see if he could spot anything that he wanted to take home as a gift for his parents and his siblings, particularly his sister Maja. He was relatively close to all of them, of course, but felt particularly drawn to his older sister—she was his favorite after all. He wondered if she might enjoy something like a leather-bound planner, or possibly a trinket, something that was native to Sweden. For his friends back home he had already picked up some small snacks, but there was still time before he headed home, and he would be sure to return to the village a few more times to make sure everyone was accounted for on the gift list.

While in town, he came across a couple of his friends and stopped for a spot of lunch but soon enough was again off on his own little journey around the town, never much of a talker to really spend hours in conversation. It felt like a bit of a waste of time, especially when he would probably not be returning to Sweden for several months. Jürgen was surprised at how well he had adjusted to Sweden and though he loved Durmstrang Institute when it was situated in its previous location, there was something particularly refreshing about the new town.

He was deep in thought when a familiar voice called out his name, embarrassingly almost colliding with Milos. “Milos!” he greeted in enthusiasm, shaking his hand and hugging him with a smile on his face. The two were housemates and often worked together on the Quidditch team but had never had much time to get to know each other. Now that he was graduating, Jürgen wondered if the two would stay in touch, but he certainly wanted to. “Yeah, don’t worry, I know with this being your last year and all, you’ve probably got a lot to take care of,” he said in return. “I’ve been great, ready to go home, just trying to figure out what souvenirs to get for everyone, if you’ve got some suggestions, I’m always open to them,” he added. He figured Milos might have spent more time going into town than he had but he could never be sure.

He could not help but to chuckle at his next statement. Kal and Jürgen were not particularly close, the other boy avoided following the rules like the plague and Jürgen simply did not want to get caught up in all that type of irresponsibility. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll keep him in line. But if he ends up captain next year well---I suppose that’s a disaster we’ll have to deal with when we face it,” he grinned. “Are you on the way back or you wanna hang out for a bit, go to a café or something?” he offered. As the boy had said prior, they had not had the chance to hang out. Maybe this was a good opportunity as any.

"Ah, suggestions on shopping, you've come to to the right Krov." he grinned playfully at the German boy, "Okay, almost former Krov, but technicalities." He did an about face as he said this, and they walked back towards the town square where the shops were. Some were "tourist" shops, consisting of objects of questionable authenticity selling for prices sickles more than it cost to make them. Other shops though, the good ones, were local artisans to the seaside. He beelined straight to a shop he knew had some great silk scarves made by the owner, as well a small artisanal fire-whiskey side-business. The owners were this lovely older couple, Sven and Helga, and their mid-twenties daughter Lena who managed daily operations.

"If he does, I'll pray for the team. Or alternatively you could bring about a change by planning a coup d'é·tat if he becomes to much." He looked back at Jurgen, a crooked, but apologetic smile on his face, "I believe in you guys, so it might not come to that." He thought they'd have the best chance to be winners next year because a lot of the good players on the other team were leaving, and he didn't think that Klyk had as a strong of an up-and-coming reserve as Krov did.

"We're here." he said as he pushed the wooden door open, the bell jingling softly as they stepped through. "This shop is awesome, it sells a little of everything, but its all local artisans," he plucked up a a bath bomb and held it out to Jurgen, "Sniff it, it smells exactly like watching bed of lilies after midnight, in the middle of the winter, with crackling fire in the background." He should have noted that it bloomed a lily in the water, then set itself on fire. "They really captured it." He had to laugh at the super specific stuff. "Probably good for a sister or mom?" He got his mother one of them and she seemed to like it.

Jürgen was genuinely happy that someone, particularly Milos, was going to give him a few suggestions, eager to hear what the older boy had to say on the manner and what sort of advice he could offer on the matter. The sixth year did not know too much about Milos but it seemed like he was a particularly popular seventh year, it seemed like he was friends with just about everybody. As a Tsar and just as a person, Jürgen kept his circle of friends small and very limited, not particularly comfortable with being friends with too many people at one time. He also liked to believe that while he was mildly well known since he was on the Quidditch team, he wasn’t nearly as charismatic as what he believed Milos to be.

“I’m sure we’ll all agree in kicking him out if he can’t do his job,” he stated, probably a little more boldly than he should have. Jürgen wasn’t even that great at Quidditch but he also wasn’t crazy about Kalevi, no matter why he had been chosen as co-captain, which was beyond him to be quite honest. Whatever he had in talent was severely overshadowed by his lack of responsibility, something that Jürgen had often written him up for in the past. Out of all his write ups that year, Kalevi had probably gotten the most number of infractions. “But I guess for now we gotta do what we can with what we got,” he added as an afterthought.

Jürgen turned to look at the shop he stood in front of, never having thought to visit this part of the village nor really having any idea that a place like this even existed on this side of the small town. “I didn’t know they had shops this side of the village,” he confessed, walking in after Milos and looking around the interesting little place with much awe. He leaned in to sniff the object he had picked up and the younger boy grinned at the scent, it was a nice one. “What do you do with this, exactly?” he asked, not really sure what one did with it but certain that his mother or even his older sister Maja might enjoy it. “I always struggle with gifts, do you normally get your family something, Milos, when you go back home I mean?” he asked curiously, wondering if the older boy had any siblings at all.

He actually really enjoyed Jurgen's company at the present moment. Spending time in his final weeks of school with the German brought a calm over him that his loose-cannon best friend didn't. He loved Kalevi to death, as a friend, but the younger Krov could be too much for even Milos to handle. Milos wondered just how many times Jurgen had written him up this year alone, or how many times Linnea had to yell at him for something Quidditch related. He briefly smiled as he thought of the hell Linnea would have raised.

"I'm sorry for Kalevi," he said suddenly, not sure why he wanted to apologize for his chaotic Estonian friend. "I know Kalevi's a handful and you have to chase after him way too much." He offered an apologetic grin, "But who knows, maybe Linnea gets Quidditch captain next year, and you step up to Co-Captain, it'd be pretty cool having you two coaching the younger players." He really felt bad about talking about Kalevi like this, but it disappointed him to see Kal flirting so passionately with danger.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, "That's a bath bomb, you put it in your tub and it bubbles kind of like a cauldron and turns different colors." he said, remembering what the shopkeeper said it did when he bought it for his mum. "It's a neat little thing that's made right here in Dottrar Vik." His eyebrows raised when Jurgen revealed he hadn't been over here. "Yeah, it's a little slice of local life over here," he grinned to Jurgen, who then asked whether he got his family gifts when he got back to Prague.

"Not every year, but most years I've gotten little trinkets like bracelets, salt-water taffy, and firewhiskey." he gestured over to the edible goods table which housed the salt-water taffy along with other things like cheese, various animal jerky and the like. "It's nice to bring home a little bit of school for my family, I think." he said as he set the bath bomb back with the others, milling about to the various stands and handing him things to feel, smell or taste.

“Don’t apologize for Aare,” Jürgen said but his tone wasn’t really firm; the Geman boy was done trying to reform his housemates behavior, it wasn’t his fault his parents didn’t discipline him when he was younger or that he didn’t know how to act normally or whatever was wrong with him. Jürgen simply could not understand, maybe it had something to do with the way in which he was raised, his father had impressed on him the importance of making a good, lasting impression and that meant not only being a good citizen but most importantly, being responsible. But maybe that was just his upbringing, not the general public’s opinion. Milos’ comment about him becoming co-Captain surprised him immensely and when he looked over in the boys direction he grinned, “You’re joking, yes?” he started, “Linnéa absolutely deserves Captain but for co-Captain? No way, don’t think I could do it,” he confessed.

Jürgen did like the idea of holding the position but realistically, he felt more concerned with not having the talent nor the ability to handle it. Unlike what some people believed, the young man did not take on the role of Tsar just for the sake of doing so but it was a position that he truly felt capable doing. The best person should be chosen for the job, after all, and the Krov felt confident that was him. Co-Captain, on the other hand, not so much.

But he didn’t have an opportunity to linger on it for long as Milos moved on to explain what a bath bomb was. Jürgen was positively entertained, he would have to try it himself. “That sounds fun, I bet Lea would love one as well,” he noted. He turned around, picking up a basket before placing a few of these bath bombs that he had pointed to, taking an extra for himself just for good measure but not saying much of it because he wasn’t really sure if it was something boys were supposed to use too. He certainly wasn’t about to ask Milos.

His eyes followed Milos’ hand as he pointed towards the treats on the table,  walking over to check them out as he tried to think of what his family members might like. “So what are your plans after graduation?” he asked casually, “Got something lined up or are you thinking of taking time off?”

"I'm not joking in the slightest Jurgen." he grinned at the German boy, "You are capable of much more than you give yourself credit for." Jurgen would be the calm to Linnea's strictness, and it would be the the most beautiful environment to leave the reserve players. He knew the Tsar loved his current job, and wouldn't trade it in for being the quidditch co-captain. "But, if you honestly feel you couldn't do it in addition to your Tsar duties, I totally understand. I'm going to be candid with you, I contemplated failing on purpose so I could retake a year."

He really did intend on failing all of his classes just enough so he would have to take classes next year. Mostly due to previously not having a plan after school. However he'd being going to Scoarta either right after he finished this school year or if he went to this thing in America he'd be doing it after that. It really depended on what Mihaela was planning to do. He took a piece of dragon jerky from the taster jar and ripped at it with his teeth. He really liked this stuff and had a bag of it with him when they did drill day at practice.

"Well," he said between bites, "I'm going to research dragons in Scoarta." he said with some certainty, "There's a bunch of cool things there to do other than that, so I guess what I'm saying is," he chewed and swallowed another piece, "I'm a gigantic nerd whose basically going to nerd camp for magic and creatures." he said with a wide smile, his teeth probably had strand of jerky poking through them.

“Thanks,” Jürgen said meekly, “That means a lot, Milos,” he added, not the sort to really take a compliment without a fight but he had to admit that it was nice hearing that he was doing alright and had the potential to do better. He wasn’t accustomed to complimenting himself when it came to fulfilling a task, finding it much easier to get motivated behind negative reinforcement. You can do it! was nice but for some reason Why can’t you do something so simple? gave him the right amount of drive to improve his circumstances. “Being Tsar isn’t that bad really, you get to know who your friends really are,” he joked, that very fact being proven time and time again when some of his friends asked him to spare them punishment if they broke the rules. He simply couldn’t do that.

But he did not dwell on it for too long, as Milos’ next statement made him look at the other boy in surprise. “Really? If I failed any of my classes, Maja would probably kill me,” he said with a side smile, as the statement was mostly said in truth. Not that the thought had ever crossed his mind. Jürgen felt responsible for doing his best at all times, something he believed he owed his family. The last thing he wanted for them to believe that he wasn’t taking his studies seriously. But it didn’t seem like this was Milos’ intention at all, the future felt scary, even Jürgen was unsure of what seventh year would bring or if he would have enough time to figure out what he wanted to do.

He reached into the jar for a piece of dragon jerky himself, deciding after a bites that it was a little saltier than he expected but not bad at all. His father might like some, he decided, and made a mental note to purchase on before he went home, if not today, next time. “That sounds great, Milos,” he responded enthusiastically. “So you’re going to study to become a Dragonologist? I think I’d like that kind of work but my family might be expecting me to go into the Ministry,” he explained, feeling a little discouraged by the possibility. “Probably safer and much less expensive,” he added. Those were always relevant concerns. “When did you start thinking that you might want to go into that field? How did you know?”

"You deserve it... Being the backbone of our team and all. Don't tell Miha or Linnea they'd have my head on a pike!" he laughed, as he listened to Jurgen speak once again. He moved toward another little stall, this one a locked glass cage of bottles of varying sizes and shapes. He knew this section was where they kept the selection artisan meads and other select drinks that were made right here in the town. He gestured lightly to the wares, and simple explained if he had a person in his life that liked small batch drinks, he'd find something here.

"Understandable, I feel like Ivo, my brother, would do the same." he couldn't actually think of his brother getting mad, just more disappointed. Ivo was probably the reason that Milos wasn't bouncing off the walls, or getting caught up in Kalevi's schemes. "It's simply because I didn't feel like my work in school was done, too many loose ends, but I ended up deciding I could manage them outside of school." he said candidly, looking towards Jurgen.

"But yeah, I'm going to be a Dragonologist. I love dragons and old magic, and Scoarta is full of both. Do you think I've been cleaning the dragon stables for fun for several years?" he chortled, tapping on the glass to indicate a favorite mead of his and his brother's. "I've always been interested in the flying reptiles of the old knights tales. I want to be the guy who finds out something fascinating about dragons, or a way to be able to talk to them." he spoke rather animatedly, using his hands to talk. "Also, I mean its pretty appropriate after spending my life in the house of dragons?" he said, "After all people call me Mama Dragon for a reason."

Jürgen smiled appreciatively, it really felt good being complimented by an upperclassman, even if Milos was only about a year older than him. It wasn’t everyday that he was called a “backbone” of anything and it made him feel important. Though he silently made the promise to not tell Linnéa or Miha, the idea to reiterate the words to someone like Kalevi did cross his mind briefly, Aare needed to hear that though he might be a good player, there was no such words for someone of his level of irresponsibility. But, Jürgen would keep the words to himself and use them as encouragement later on. He looked over the meads thoughtfully, before choosing to pick up a few for his father, almost certain that the man would find then enjoyable. Or at least he hoped so, the man was still an enigma, even to his own son.

“I wasn’t aware that you had any siblings, Milos,” he said, surprised that it was the first time he had ever heard of an Ivo but at the same time, hardly shocked by the fact. Jürgen spent too much time in his textbooks when he wasn’t spending time with his closest friends, though he had a tendency to gather little details from the stories his friends or classmates told every once in a while, he hardly went out looking for people’s personal information. “But yeah, that makes sense, at first seven years felt like an eternity but now that I’m almost a seventh year myself, I feel like there’s a lot of thinking and exploring I’ve still left to do,” he explained, “Not to mention the change in campus doesn’t really help makes things any easier, I’m just starting to feel comfortable with Swedish,” he continued. The challenge of learning new things had been fun but the idea that he had not fulfilled much of anything yet was worrying.

“I have!” he retorted with a laugh, “I actually like spending time in the dragon stables, don’t think I’d make it as a Dragonologist but that’s probably because I’ve never considered it,” he explained, reaching out to pick up the brand of mead Milos pointed towards, variety was always a good thing. “Yes, of course,” he smiled a little at the nickname, “I look forward to reading about you in the papers, where are you planning to go to school? I heard the training itself can be pretty intense.”

"I don't normally talk about my family, I guess?" he said, an admittance he realized was sad on the surface. He wasn't exactly ashamed of his family, but he did find it weird to talk about his family. It was like bragging or showing off, because he came from a pretty well known family. His father came from an influential Czech family and it was a little bit embarrassing to mention him so casually in conversations. He supposed that Jurgen had no problem talking about his family, it was a mundane conversation for him.

"Yeah, theres a lot of still unraveling things for me here, but I feel like I can manage it outside of school." he answered candidly, his eyes briefly wavering from Jurgen in thought, "Good thing I have you here to keep things in line for me, right?" he remarked, clapping the German boy on the back. He felt good about leaving, but he really felt guilty about leaving everyone behind. The thought had never left his brain, the thought that he was abandoning everything he liked, to become an adult. He almost wished he did have another year to figure things out. "Good thing you have another year to figure everything out, Jurgen?" his eyes returned to looking at Jurgen as he spoke.

He laughed as Jurgen did, relieved that the blonde boy found humor in his awkward statements. "What do you plan on doing after Durmstrang, young Dorfler?" practicing his Swedish as he did so, "You're really good at a lot of things, so the world is pretty open to you, friend." He really meant it, looking at Jurgen rather fondly before he took his purchases to the till to be rung up. He set it on the wooden counter gingerly, trying not to break the fragile objects he bought. "I think this is all, Lena."

He gestured at his Jurgen, "His first time here, Lena." he said, laughing a little at the fact the he hadn't been here before. The shopkeeper, Lena smiled briefly over towards Jurgen, as a gesture of welcome, but got to pricing his purchases. She told him the price and he pulled out his coin satchel and paid.

"Its fifteen percent off for first timers, young man." Lena said towards Jurgen, smiling a little.

Jürgen understood the sentiment, he supposed that he didn’t really talk much about his family either. It certainly wasn’t from lack of desire to do so but he preferred to play the role of the listener rather than an active talker, it kept things much more interesting from his perspective, and that way he didn’t have to talk too much about his private life. But with his closest friends, Jürgen was much more open, often relaying tales of his relationship with his siblings and talking about how much he admired his sister Maja.

“Well definitely come visit us once in a while,” the young wizard said with a grin, already looking forward to hearing tales about what life was like as a dragonologist if Milos was willing to keep in touch. Though Jürgen could never imagine himself doing such a job, it definitely didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be interested in hearing about all of the adventures that came along with such a prestigious occupation.

“One year doesn’t really feel like a long time but I guess it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?” he shrugged a little, figuring that in the grand scheme of things, one year of soul searching would be adequate enough to figure out what he wanted to do with his life and how he intended to do it. The biggest issue at hand was that he simply did not know where to start or who to look to for advice on a career. The good thing was that unlike some of his friends, Jürgen was a little more realistic about his abilities and what would be a reasonable, not necessarily fun, career path for himself. “I’m still figuring things out, I think, but maybe Ministry work or something related to travel,” he confessed when Milos asked him what he planned to do after school. It wasn’t as exciting as Dragonology but it was certainly better than nothing.

Jürgen smiled at Lena, the shopkeeper, as she rang up his purchases, nodding with an appreciative thank you when he was told there would be a fifteen percent discount. Paying the woman then picking up his belonging, he turned to Milos. “Thanks for bringing me here, Milos, I’m pretty excited about these bath bombs,” he confessed, smiling widely at the older student, very grateful for the shopping experience and the little pep talk. “You want to go get some coffee or something or do you need to head back?” he asked, wanting to at least get him a drink in gratitude if Milos had the time and interest for it.