[ttd] There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be (Justýna)

His life was going to change.

Zviad had gone through some life changes in the past. Having grown up entirely unaware of magic, the revelation that he was a wizard had changed everything, in particular his self-perception. Starting at Koldovstoretz had meant a drastic change of his life circumstance and environment. After he got used to that, Koldovstoretz and Durmstrang had merged and his life had been turned upside down again. What had seemed like a bad thing at first, had turned out to be a chance for improvement. He had made friends, found that he could start anew at Durmstrang and actually learn something worthwhile. He had discovered his ambition and studied to become an animagus. Being able to turn into a magpie at will was something that was a big deal. It set him apart from his peers and made him feel special.

That he had had to repeat his seventh year at Durmstrang had been unplanned and at first it had seemed like a setback. However, maybe that, too, was another chance for him. Maybe there was still something left for him to do at school. Something to figure out about himself.

Zviad felt a little silly having thoughts like that. However, so far it seemed like fate had always had a plan for him. He dropped his quill on his parchment leaving an ink blot on there. His final exams were coming closer and the Georgian was determined to pass them this time. He didn’t think he needed his N.E.W.T.s in future, it was not like he was hoping for a career at the ministry, as a healer or anything like that. However, he wanted to prove himself that he could do it.

Thoughtfully he looked around and spotted Justýna in front of a bookshelf. Since he had tried to woo Rumjana in his fifth year, Zviad hadn’t really been too interested in any other girl but had sometimes envied Lev and Mihaela for their relationship. What if fate had made him repeat the year so he’d get another chance to learn to appreciate the fellow former Rayasov. He shook his head, an amused grin spreading across his face. Clearly he had spent too much time studying. His brain was playing tricks on him. Besides, he didn’t even know if Justýna was already seeing someone.

Nonetheless he got to his feet, pushing his chair back noisily and approached the Czech girl. There was nobody else anywhere near which was convenient. “Hey,” he said as he reached her and when she turned to look at him he leaned forward and spontaneously pressed his lips on hers to steal a little gentle kiss.

@Justýna Tesaříková

Justýna was on a mission.
Her N.E.W.T.s and graduation were just over a month away, and she was determined to take every last advantage of her access to knowledge by means of the library. She’d applied for a few different positions as a Potioneer’s apprentice and in various apothecaries, and needed to do more research on the objects of her potential future employers’ marketing niches. One of these employed runes to help strengthen some of their potions and she was less familiar with this concept than she would have liked, were she to be granted an interview.

Justýna was so absorbed in her task that she didn’t hear approaching footsteps, though she did glance up reflexively at a warm greeting in very close proximity. It took a fraction of a second to register that it was Zviad – but before her brain could process anything further, his lips were on hers.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she’d nearly dropped the book she was holding. The kiss was astonishingly light and gentle; not rough or pushy like she might have expected from him. Not that she had ever really imagined kissing him before…
Nonetheless, it was like being electrocuted; she felt frozen, too stunned even to reflexively shove him away. And by the time she regained the presence of mind to be able to move her limbs voluntarily again, he had already pulled away. Her lips still tingled where they’d made contact with his, the unexpected surge of adrenaline setting her ears to roaring and leaving her a bit lightheaded.

But as the initial shock began to wane, she felt a flare of annoyance mixed with a hint of guilt. Who did he think he was, kissing her without asking? Sure, they had spent more time together since SASI last summer and now might actually be something like friends, but Justýna was certain she hadn’t given an inclination that she was romantically interested in him – at least, not that she’d intended or was cognizant of doing. It was Anders that she had feelings for… though, to be fair, she wasn’t sure that Zviad knew that. In any case, he had no right to just kiss her out of the blue like that! She’d thought he’d become less arrogant over the past year or so, and would be disappointed to learn if she’d been mistaken.

“What are you playing at?” she demanded in a forceful whisper, reluctant to speak any louder for fear of attracting attention – and also because her voice felt so unsteady that she was certain it would break. Her blue-grey gaze swept the immediate vicinity, relieved to find it temporarily empty, but a dull flush crept up her neck nonetheless; she felt the heat of it and crossed her arms over her chest pointedly, annoyed as she realized he might misconstrue the reason for it and ready to correct him if he did.

She did not push him away. Did not slap him right away. That was a good sign.

The kiss was… okay, interesting. Zviad hadn’t expected internal fireworks or anything like it anyway. Her lips felt warm and soft and thus quite pleasant, though. Besides, he thought that she smelled nice.

“Sorry,” he said, a grin appearing on his face that revealed that he wasn’t really sorry at all. In fact, he felt that he’d do it again if there were no consequences.

What was he playing at?

Truth be told, Zviad didn’t know it himself. He hadn’t given this a lot of thought. He hadn’t planned it. It had been a spontaneous impulse. He had thought about fate and how everything happened for a reason but he was not going to share this much with Justýna.

“I don’t know,” he said, not whispering but keeping his voice down so that nobody would overhear them anyway. “We had to do this once during our school time, don’t you think?” He teased her.

His expression became a little thoughtful and then smiled at her. “You know what? I’d like to draw your portrait,” he said, blushing a little. “You might not see it that way but I think I’ve come to consider you a friend and I’d like to make up for this unwanted approach that way if you’ll let me.”

He’d had at least some decency to apologize… though he didn’t look very sorry (or even sheepish) about it.

He was looking at her a bit strangely, and Justýna couldn’t be sure if he was going to try to sneak another kiss or not. Apparently he ‘didn’t know’ what he’d been playing at – sure, she thought, pressing her lips together to form a neat and thin line of annoyance. She didn’t consider herself conservative by any means, but she did take seriously a basic consideration for others. If he hadn’t done it without asking, if she didn’t have feelings for Anders… it actually might not have been too bad. But that was completely beside the point.

“We had to do this once during our school time, don’t you think?”

Did they, though? She blinked owlishly, tilting her head slightly to study him. Had he taken some sort of mind-altering potion? Come to think of it, there had been a recent Alchemy project mishap that had shut down part of the library for a bit… In any case, this wasn’t entirely out of the expected realm for him, but also not consistent with what she’d been seeing from him over the past several months.

It seemed as though he’d meant that question to be rhetorical, because before she’d had time to even consider what on earth she’d even say to that he was on to the next thing.

“You know what? I’d like to draw your portrait.”

Well, now she was truly baffled. Where was he going with this? She listened as he continued, and tried not to raise her eyebrows when he said he’d come to consider her a friend: what he’d just attempted certainly seemed to be more than that. She no longer mistrusted him like she had in years past – in fact, she’d come to believe that he wasn’t an actual jerk after all – but this was an odd development indeed.

Justýna paused a moment, deliberating. She didn’t necessarily want to just play off this sort of thing like it was no big deal… but he had backed off right away, and hadn’t pushed anything further. Perhaps there had been some miscommunication, and he was too embarrassed to admit he’d gotten the wrong read on the whole situation and was now trying to backtrack. It wasn’t ideal – she always preferred honesty and openness – but it was a possibility, and if she hadn’t gotten to know him as well as she had these past few months then her response and rationale would likely have been different. Perhaps he’d be more cognizant (and less arrogant) in the future. She could still call him out on it further, in a way…

She lifted her chin slightly, keeping her arms folded over her chest but relaxing slightly.
“Hm. First you kiss me out of the blue, then you want to draw me as an apology… but you don’t know what you’re playing at?” She raised an eyebrow at him, skeptical. “…Fine. But only if you stop being weird and – for Merlin’s sake – ask someone before you kiss them, or else I'm knocking you out with this.” She hefted the dense tome in her hands as a threat – mostly jokingly.

Zviad had to admit that Justýna’s summary of the situation sounded quite strange indeed. He wasn’t sure what he could say in response. He hadn’t planned any of this. He just went with what felt right at the moment and didn’t second guess his ideas. He felt that, maybe, he should try to explain himself. However, how should he do that when he didn’t understand himself.

He shrugged, trying to act cool when he really felt awkward. “Well, you would have said no, if I asked you first, wouldn’t you?” he joked. “Would’ve been a missed opportunity.” Okay, he did not really mean what he was saying but he thought it fit his image or, well, the image he thought Justýna might have of him.

Ugh life was tough and girls were so complicated. He grinned at her anyway, after all Justýna was still talking to him and even allowed him to draw her portrait. Truth be told, Zviad wasn’t sure if he wanted to draw her portrait to give it to her or if he wanted it for himself. That, however, was something he could still figure out later. Maybe he could even duplicate the drawing when he was done and thus spare himself the decision.

“I’ve been studying too much lately,” he said lightly as he gestured to the table he had occupied. “If you don’t mind, come and sit with me there while I draw you.”

He had never really spoken to anyone about his love of art. He liked to read, liked to draw but it was nothing he wanted to be known across the school. Well, now that his school time was soon coming to an end he assumed it didn’t matter much anymore. His reputation wasn’t as important anymore. He had changed a lot over the years, especially because of his studies to become an animagus. It had been a project that had demanded a lot of his time and needed more discipline than anything else he had ever tried before in his life.

Annoyingly, he merely shrugged. Perhaps it was stress from N.E.W.T.s and graduation that was getting to him…

But her eyebrows shot up at his next comment – then in the next instant her gaze narrowed suspiciously, studying his expression.
“That’s hardly the point,” she replied, affronted. Had anyone else said something like this, she would have laid-into them and given them a piece of her mind. But she thought Zviad knew her mind well enough by now to know a comment like that would irk her… and saying something just to irk her did seem like something he would do.

“I’ve been studying too much lately. If you don’t mind, come and sit with me there while I draw you.”

Well, that was likely the closest to an explanation she’d get, knowing him.
“Only if I can work while you do,” she told him pointedly, sweeping her long dirty-blonde ponytail over her shoulder. Justýna was still more than a bit skeptical – could he even draw, or was this a trick of some kind?

Books still cradled to her chest, the Czech witch made her way over to the table he’d indicated and sat down. She watched him curiously in her periphery as she set her bag down and retrieved a quill and parchment from it.

“What are you planning to do after graduation?” she asked, opening the first book she’d found to a promising-looking chapter on runes as they affected a potion’s duration of action.

It was almost upsetting that Justýna didn’t react a lot to his teasing comment. However, Zviad was hardly going to push further. Truth be told, he was way too exhausted to try and live up to his doubtful reputation these days. He wanted to graduate with good enough success. He wanted to open all doors for himself even if he didn’t really know which way he wanted to go.

“Sure,” he agreed. He might be able to draw a better picture of her if she sat entirely still but he was not going to say that. If she wanted to work while he attempted to draw her, then he’d have to live with it and make the best out of it.

Zviad had been working on sketching anatomic drawings of birds lately, trying to figure out how their bodies worked and thus he had learned to pay close attention to detail. If he was entirely honest, though, drawing a human face was a little different from drawing a bird’s wing. However, he had offered it and now he was trying his best to produce something that was good enough to let her see it. He figured that he should better do a rough sketch and capture the most striking features of her face instead of focusing on every tiny detail.

He had just picked up his parchment and a pencil when she asked him about his plans after graduation. Zviad gave a little shrug. He had thought about this a lot but never for long enough to work out an idea. He had always reminded himself that he needed to focus on his studies so he’d even be able to choose a career path. Then again, a ‘career’ wasn’t really what he was aiming for. All Zviad wanted was to be free, have no obligations, just live in the moment…

“I’m not sure,” he admitted a little grumpily, “I might train as a dragonologist and see if that works out for me.” It was the first time he voiced this thought aloud but not the first time it came to his mind. He missed hanging out with Mihaela and maybe that was reason enough to join her in Romania at least for a while.

“What are your plans?”

He didn’t argue further, which was simultaneously a relief and a bit unexpected. In any case, she wasn’t complaining.

He sounded disgruntled when he answered, and Justýna couldn’t help but commiserate at least a little a bit – it was the only question people seemed to ask the Seventh Years these days, and she herself was tired of hearing it (however well-intentioned it was). Her curiosity had gotten the better of her with regard to her former Housemate, however: the Czech witch had always harbored the suspicion that there was much more depth to him than he was prepared to let on to anyone. For a time, during the height of the chaos during the original merge, she had wondered if she might be an exception to that.

She clearly recalled a very specific incident during Dragon Flying class the year of the original merge, and the corner of her mouth turned up ruefully.
“The Namibian Nightwing fiasco wasn’t enough for you, hm? Or, perhaps, that was the start of it…”
Justýna knew there were a handful of well-known dragon reserves across Europe and Asia, but didn’t know much else beyond that.

A few moments passed; the relative silence broken only by the muffled scratching of Zviad’s pencil and the gentle crinkle of turned-over pages. Then, as expected, he turned the question back on her.

“Potioneering, I think.” She half-closed the book she was reading so as to show him the title. “I like that there are designated achievement levels, and that in order to progress you need to come up with new ideas or make improvements on existing ones.”
As much as her sense of innovation and the scientific method drove her, she couldn’t help but think of Marek as well – it had been a passion they’d shared, after all.

Zviad couldn’t help but grin as Justýna brought up the topic of the class with the Namibian Nightwing. That clearly hadn’t been the reason for him to try and become a dragonologist. He could not, however, tell her about the stolen dragon egg a little later. Together with Mihaela he had stolen an egg from the stables and they had kept it nicely warm until the baby dragon hatched and then they had had quite some trouble keeping it a secret.

He had been quite busy, working on becoming an animagus and working on his flying skills once he had achieved this goal, so that he had rarely thought of the baby dragon that they had ultimately set free at the end of their sixth year. Yet, now that he thought of the creature, he missed the little devil. It had been a fun challenge to look after a creature that was so strong and uncontrollable.

Focusing on his drawing for a little while the lines on the parchment soon looked a little like Justýna and he refined some parts to make it be more accurate and more flattering. He wasn’t an overly skilled artist but he had a good eye and knew how to put the characteristics down on parchment. Besides, becoming an animagus had taught him patience and so he never rushed it when he started on a drawing. Taking the time to observe before drawing a premature line.

“Potioneering,” he echoed. Zviad wasn’t as bad at making potions as his behaviour and grades in Alchemy might suggest, but he couldn’t imagine this path for himself anyway. He could see the appeal for Justýna, though. “It does sound like something that suits you,” he offered. “Are you going to stay in Prague or do you intend to move elsewhere?”

While the boy loved Georgia, he was going to move to Romania for now and maybe he’d stay there for a long time if he really chose to pursue his career path. For now it was just a first step, though. He wasn’t sure if he’d really stay there for long.

He merely grinned in response to the Nightwing, and Justýna took that as an affirmative to one or both of her musings. She supposed it suited him; she doubted there was ever a dull moment in dragon-rearing, and Zviad seemed to thrive with anything that provided a constant stimulus. She did wonder how his impulsivity and blatant disregard for most rules would go over, though, as she imagined a misstep with a dragon could easily be a fatal one…
The thought made Justýna shudder internally. While she and Zviad weren’t always on the same page, she certainly wished him no ill will.

“It does sound like something that suits you.”

She glanced up from her book cautiously, waiting for some kind of joking caveat – but when none came she allowed herself a small smile as a silent ‘thanks’. When he asked where she planned to go, Justýna let out a contemplative breath through her nose and leaned forward slightly to rest her elbow on the table, propping her chin in her hand. She’d been wondering the same thing earlier that day.

“I’d like to stay in Prague, but there aren’t nearly as many Golds there as I’d thought… almost all of them are Silvers.” Belatedly, she realized he likely had no idea what that meant. “There are six mastery levels,” she clarified, ticking them off on her fingers as she listed them: “Pewter, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, then Nimue’s. Gold, the fourth-highest, is the first rank that can accept apprentices.”
Justýna picked up her quill in her free hand, twirling it absently in her fingers.
“So if I want to go that route I’ve had to look outside of Prague, so I’ve reached out to a few in Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin… even Paris and London. Still in limbo for many of them, but what can you do.” She sighed and lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “The other option is to apply directly to the main guild headquarters in Italy… but I think I’d rather learn on-the-job instead of another classroom-type setting.”

Aware that she’d been quite close to rambling, Justýna slipped him another small smile; she’d nearly forgotten her earlier annoyance with him. It felt a bit strange to be having a serious conversation with him about their very imminent futures, but she found she was enjoying it more than she’d expected. She’d even paused her reading for the moment.
“Anywhere in particular you want to end up? And how does that work – do you just apply to the reserve and learn on-the-job, or do you have to go somewhere else first for training…?”

Contrary to Zviad himself, Justýna had apparently done some proper research regarding her future plans. Zviad only knew of the dragon reserve because of Mihaela. He hadn’t even researched and considered a different reserve. If he went this path then he did this partly because of his friend. He didn’t really know what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and thought that it was a little early to make a decision. He wanted to start with something and then go with what would feel right.

“You’ve done your research,” Zviad said, almost admiring how organised Justýna seemed to be. “So when you find a skilled potioneer to teach you you do not have to attend lessons and if you go to the guild headquarters it’ll be like school all over again?” Zviad’s voice sounded curious now more than anything else.

It was no secret that he was not the typical diligent student who was every teacher’s darling but Zviad could totally appreciate the benefits of a school if only for the great library that contained many interesting books he would have trouble to come by otherwise.

Zviad felt how his cheeks heated a little and he looked down at his drawing as Justýna asked him more about his future plans. “I’d go to Romania,” he said, pretending to be distracted by getting Justýna’s nose right on the drawing. “I’ll just apply at the reserve and learn on the job, I think. I’ll write to Mihaela to get more details. She started there already, you know?” He wasn’t sure how well Justýna and Mihaela knew each other but they had at least been in the same house for a while.

“You’ve done your research.”

Justýna half-smiled.
“Have you ever known me to not?”

He asked a clarifying question and she tilted her head slightly, considering.
“Essentially. With the private apothecaries it’s not exactly ‘lecture-style’ lessons, but there is a sort of… curriculum… that needs to be covered. And I’ll still need to pass a series of exams and qualifications to level-up.”

Her gaze followed his, then, drifting down to the parchment onto which her profile was being sketched. The likeness was… quite good, actually, considering she hadn’t known he had a talent for it until approximately five minutes ago. He echoed the sentiment of learning on the job, and Justýna nodded slightly. She rather thought that was the more effective way – at least, once the foundational concepts were mastered.

“I did hear that,” she replied, lifting her gaze to his face briefly (watching someone draw how they perceived you was an odd experience). Mihaela was a force to be reckoned with; small wonder her path had led her to a dragon reserve. And even during the worst of the original merger, the older girl (and her cousin) had always been civil – and even welcoming, more often than not. It had been a breath of fresh air.
“Have you kept in contact with her much?”

“No, you’re right,” Zviad admitted with a grin, “I know you’re always well prepared.” Justýna was a dutiful and well organised girl. He sometimes admired that trait and sometimes felt that she was wasting her time on these things when she could be chilling or doing something fun.

With interest he listened to her as she spoke about her future career. Justýna was so much further with her plans than he was. He was just jumping into cold water while Justýna had planned it all out, considered pros and cons of different career paths and had come to a sensible decision.

“Yes, I see,” he said, as he focused on improving her jawline in his picture. He was quite pleased with his work by now. In his opinion the drawing looked unmistakably like Justýna.

“Yeah,” Zviad said, smiling fondly, “we’ve stayed in touch. I was sad I didn’t get to graduate the same year as she did. We’ve been good friends during our time at school together.” He hoped that with him going to the dragon reserve things would get back to that again. After all, Mihaela had been the first best friend he had ever had in his life.