Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
_{Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know}

Wednesday was her longest day, and Mona hated them, for the main reason that she had nothing to do until eleven. While she could sleep in if she wanted to, though she rarely did. Mona usually woke early and either found an empty classroom to work out in or when the weather permitted she went outside. SHe had to keep in top form and the castle had pretty much everything that she needed for practice. After going back to her room she would shower and then head to breakfast. She knew that she looked like a bum to most of her house or most of the other students for showing up to breakfast with wet hair and wearing sweats but she was usually pretty tired after the work that she put in so she would want to take it easy, but on Wednesday she had morning afternoon and evening classes.

So as she braided her hair quickly and began to eat her simple oatmeal with bananas she didn't think twice about it when Summer and some of her friends came over to start picking on her. She didn't mind it usually, she could let it go and let live when the girl said things about her hair, or her parents and whatever else came to her mind, but sometimes Summer got under her skin and today was one of those days. She tried to not let the girl see her cry but sometimes Mona just couldn't put up the walls that Dima tried to teach her to have.

drinking slowly from her orange juice she heard someone say her name but she didn't look up, instead, she looked at the bowl before her and thought about the fact that they were right. Everything about her was plain, even the food that she liked to eat. Was that why she had never had a boyfriend? Was that why no guys seemed to like her? Wiping tears away from her face before turning her head to look at Dima, shame in her eyes.

@dima | OUTFIT | 341

so show me family

all the blood that I will bleed
I don't know where I belong
I don't know where I went wrong
but I can write a song

@mona
Outfit: Ravenclaw Robes

Wednesdays were one of the slower days in his week but that didn't mean he was free of an early waking. Not that it truly mattered. Dima was the type to wake early no matter what day it was. It was a curse, really. There were many weekends he wished he could have just slept in until the early afternoon hours but he never could. If the sun had risen he had too and that was how he always was. Today, though, that was useful. He had an early class, then a break, and then two in the afternoon. Dima was rather fond of Wednesdays because it gave him a chance to visit with one of his dearest friends, Ramona.

They had been friends for a long time, and in that time he'd grown very close to her, protective at times-- especially when the likes of Summer Arington was around. People who were unnecessarily cruel drove him absolutely mad, and for good reasons. He had always felt that his brothers could be that way at times but even they had the decency not to bully. They kept to themselves and, unless provoked, wouldn't express their distaste outwardly. Amongst one another, though, Merlin they were awful and he wasn't sure if that was better or worse than what Summer did to Mona. He figured stares and whispers from afar could be just as painful as pokes and prods up close.

Dima made his way into the Great Hall and just as he found the familiar red haired friend of his, he noticed the dark hair of a girl more foe than friend to him these days. His glare affixed on them while his feet carried him hurriedly over, but before he was even half across the hall they seemed to finish saying whatever they said to Mona. "Hey," Dima greeted quietly, his eyes staring down the group as he straddled the bench along side Ramona. His attention drew back to her, his brows furrowing above his concerned gaze as she wiped away a few tears. "What's going on?" His voice came out soft and sympathetic, though his mind tossed around the idea of what he might do if he ever found those witches on the opposite end of his wand one day. 

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0

Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
_{Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know}

It was a complicated fact that Ramona had learned to accept and mourn that her best friend was the one person that meant the most to her. He had never left her, and even though she was so picked on and so ridiculed, he had never once let him do anything other than be nice to her. Maybe that was why she felt the way that she did, because he cared about her of his own accord, not because of something that she did for him. That was why it hurt so much when Summer pointed it out, when others laughed about it. Freckle faced Baumgarten reaching too far, hoping for something that no one would ever want. After all she was just a dog faced loser, right? Words that had once never threatened to hurt her had only been solidified by the relationship with Zoe Shafiq. She liked the Gryffindor girl, and he was happy, so she couldn't be anything other than that, even if it hurt. They would always be friends, always be just friends and she had been fine with it, she was fine with at least having him in her life and she would be fine with it, for as long as he was around.

He stood up for her, made her feel better, but there were some hurts that his kindness could not help. Some feelings that words could not heal, and just like everyone else in her life she knew it would only be a matter of time now before he too left. Zoe was the first, and she might not be the last, but he would meet someone and his life would pull him away and she would watch as he faded away from her life like everyone else.

Reaching up she pulled her messy bun down and allowed the red waves to fall down to her waist. Did he have to come just because he saw Summer coming over, did he always have to try and save her? Could he just not leave her alone sometimes. Pushing her food away she took a long drink from her cup and stood slowly, not looking at him, knowing that she would just start crying again. "It's nothing. I'm fine. I have to go." She said before moving towards the exit of the great hall, Summer's cackle filling her ears. If she could make it back to her dorm she would be fine, if she just made it to her bed she could cry. She just had to go faster than him.

@dima | OUTFIT | 428

[/quote]

SO SHOW ME FAMILY

ALL THE BLOOD THAT I WILL BLEED
I DON'T KNOW WHERE I BELONG
I DON'T KNOW WHERE I WENT WRONG
BUT I CAN WRITE A SONG

Dima had never really been picked on. Not by anyone that wasn't his brothers at least. He supposed that was something all siblings went through, but sometimes he felt like his older brothers were a bit harsher than they meant to be. He had always know that they meant well, but sometimes the things they said struck a nerve and he knew how much words could sometimes hurt. No matter what his brothers had always been the first to stand up for him, though. If there was ever any issue at all they had come to his aid, just as he had always done for Rurik, and for Ramona.

He didn't know what exactly it was about Ramona but he had always liked the girl. She was one of his closest friends and it pained him to see her so mistreated by the Arington girl. He honestly didn't know what Summer had against her, despite having asked a hundred times. What was wrong with her or what was wrong with Mona, there never seemed to be a clear answer. He had heard from an older Ravenclaw boy before that Summer had lost her mother, and for that he felt bad for her, but she wasn't the only one with loss and that was no way to cope with pain. Mona never put anyone else through her own pains the way Summer did, and something about her gentleness had always drawn him to her side.

The Hufflepuff girl let down a cascade of red hair and his heart sunk knowing what that meant. She was hiding. Hiding from Summer, or from him, he didn't know. Ramona pushed her food away and stood to leave, bringing him to a stand as well. She was half to the exit before he even knew what was happening, but the sound of Summer's laugh made him turn and shoot a look at the girl. He had no need for glares, but the disappointed annoyance was clear in the crystal blue of his eyes.

Dima turned and headed out of the Great Hall after his friend, almost rushing to have to keep up with her quick pace. His long legs made catching her a bit simpler. "Mona," he called as he gained the last bit of distance between them, pulling her arm gently trying to get her to stop. To turn, to anything other than avoid him. "Hey, just wait a second. Please." Dima pleaded.

@mona | Outfit: Ravenclaw Robes | Notes:

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0

AM I MORE THAN JUST THE SUM OF EVERY HIGH AND EVERY LOW?
_{REMIND ME ONCE AGAIN JUST WHO I AM, BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW}

SHe had never wanted this. She had not wanted to feel this way, to want him to like her back. She had never even dreamed that he would, and by the time he had gotten the guts up to tell him... he was with Zoe and that made things harder because it made Summer right. She was no better than Mandy, and she would just end up like the Gryffindor girl if she was not careful. Mandy was not a horrible person, she just had a bad taste in men and she could not be blamed for the choices that Kit made, so maybe the same could be said for her. She would never cross that line and do something as stupid as betray Dima. She cared far too much for him to hurt him, or his relationship with Zoe like that, no matter she might be feeling.

He had been the only person whom she ever felt like she could trust, he was the only person that she felt confident in not leaving her. There was a reason for it, and she knew all too well that he would do anything for her, but there was one thing she could not do one thing that she could not ask or say. He could never know what she felt. She had to leave now before she allowed her hurt feelings to push through and show him what was going through her head and her heart.

She had never run from him before, but things changed. He had a girlfriend now, he had someone who meant something to him now and she couldn't come between them just because she wanted to be his. She was sniffling and rubbing her eyes on her sweater when he came up behind her and was pulling on her arm. She wanted to pull away, to run to her common room and never speak to him. She wanted to hug him too and have him comfort her, but he couldn't so she pulled her arm from his grasp and shook her head.

"Just don't, Dima. Okay?" She said before pushing her hip-length hair away from her face. "Don't give her more ammunition than she needs. " Her voice was soft as she spoke and she didn't look at him, but neither was new when it came to Summer. She knew just how to get under Mona's skin, and she knew just how to make her hurt. It was fine.

tag: @dima // words: 414 // OUTFIT

template by eliza @ TB THQ

And I know you're feeling low

Feel like you've lost control
But the darkness that you know
It's not your home and you're not alone

He knew what it was like to feel insecure. He felt it all the time, in almost every way, but he tried not to let it show. Most days it was an annoying drone in the back of his mind pushing him to try harder and do better. There were times when they struck him like a whip, be it from the words of another or realizing a failure of his own. After a losing game was always one of the worst-- especially when his eldest brother was brought up. Phief was a beater. Phief had been a great beater. Remember that game-- did you ever see that match when-- I've heard he's playing for the Bat's now....

Dima knew it was something that came with the territory. Quidditch stars were famous in their own rights, and nobody meant anything by it in bringing it up. But whenever they did it stung. He felt like he wasn't good enough to stand out on his own. Even without his brother present in the castle he still stood beneath his and Alek's shadows. Especially this year as he took on the leadership role in the dueling club. He was the third Remnikov to do it. Phief first, Alek second. And Alek had been good at it. Great, even. It was his skill above all else and somehow Dima was...he was supposed to compete with that. To live up to it and fill out the shoes they had left for him.

Sometimes he wondered why he even did it at all. Why be in dueling club, why even play quidditch-- it was just a way to invite the insecurities in. But the fact of the matter was that he enjoyed it. They were things he was good at. Things he spend years of his childhood doing with his family and friends. All of his best and worst memories were cycled around those two things and with that came a passion. Passion, above all else, was a startling combination of love and heartache. That was what made it great. It made it worth it. Because for every low there was a high and every mountain climbed had a view of the valley where you started. 

For him it was easy to justify pushing through the insecurities because it meant he could grow but... That was because they were things he could grow from. The insecurities that Summer brought out in Mona were nothing like the ones he knew. Summer made her terrible just for existing. For the way she dressed or styled her hair, or the way she laughed or ate. There was nothing Mona could do to not illicit some sort of response and it was heartbreaking. Especially when he knew how great she was. How soft and gentle she still could be even after facing backlash for it every single day.

Dima thought her quite brave, truthfully. He could admit to being fickle at times. He could alter who he was supposed to be in order to fit a mold. But she never did. She was just...Mona. Always. And he liked that most about her. In this moment, however, he knew that she wasn't loving that about herself. Summer had been the reason why but what she had done exactly was still a mystery to the Ravenclaw boy who was desperately trying to work it out in his mind as he let his friend's arm go free of his grasp.

"How am I giving her more ammunition?" He felt accused and more so confused than he had been before. Was him trying to comfort her something Summer threw in her face? Or was it the fact that she received any comforting at all? Dima's brows furrowed as he spoke. "Look, I just want to make sure you're OK. You're my friend, Mona, and I care about you. I don't care what she says. I just care how it affects you." His voice was quiet too, trying not to draw any further attention. The last thing this needed was more attention. Especially from Summer. "If me talking to you about it in front of her is affecting you, then I won't anymore. Just tell me." Dima's shoulders dropped their tension and his brows only drew more furrowed. "Just tell me what you need me to do."  

@mona | Words: 723

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0