Open A Mask of My Own Face

[Freya Song]

Freya had long since known that the people she most frequently bothered had lives outside of her, but had only just come to the conclusion that she didn't quite know what to do with herself when they weren't around. It was almost as though she simply ceased to exist when she wasn't performing for a crowd. She supposed she could find some cause or other to occupy her time with, but pulling out the energy to pretend to care about something sounded exhausting and Freya was not interested. A lot of her time alone had been spent in the library, but she was increasingly feeling that uncomfortable itch that came from building habits that made her predictable, so that was out of the question.

The abandoned classroom on the second floor wasn't the best place for Freya to hide if she didn't want to be found, but it was quiet enough to let her have a rare moment of self-reflection. Freya hated the idea almost as she thought it, and mentally slammed that emotional baggage back into the griefcase where it belonged. She put down a handful of dried flowers next to the weird little shrine to the school's cats that she'd made back in first year. She suspected it was the house elves who kept clearing it away, but Freya was determined to make it stick one of these days. She'd "borrowed" a black cat that belonged to one of the Ravenclaws, or at least she thought so - Freya didn't exactly track down the owners to ask for permission before luring away their pets, but the cats themselves didn't seem to mind following her around. She stuck her tongue out her temporary companion and ran her fingers through the cat's soft fur.

 

[Connor Holland]

Connor was exhausted. Not physically, unfortunately, it might almost be easier to cope with everything else going on if he were physically drained, but as it stood, Connor was just emotionally drained. Almost everyone he knew had turned against him, and it seemed everywhere he went the castle was full of Nicole and her posse. Connor had taken to sneaking around areas of the school he frequented less often, hoping to find solitude among the dustier of the school's many corridors. He was surprised on one wander along a quieter hallway to see a door slightly ajar, one he was sure had been closed last time he passed. Connor considered going to find an adult or a prefect, but... surely it was just a mistake. Connor was going to close the door but he couldn't quite resist poking his head in, looking to see what was going on inside. He was surprised to see Freya and what looked like.... something black and fluffy, though he couldn't tell what kind of animal at a distance. "Freya!" He whispered, sliding into the room and closing the door. "What are you doing here?"

 

[Freya Song]

It was simple cosmic truth of Hogwarts that people tended to pop out of nowhere whenever one was alone, though Freya shouldn't have been surprised it was Connor who had shown up. Her housemates had an uncanny ability to locate her when she was trying to be invisible. "Breaking into classrooms is a hobby of mine, and this one in particular sometimes spawns cats," Freya said easily, in response to Connor's question. "What about you? Didn't think lurking around dusty hallways was your style, Holland." Freya had eyes and could hazard a guess as to why Connor had ended up in this part of the castle, but she wanted to hear it from him. She walked closer to Connor, wiggling her fingers so the cat would follow her, and leaned against a desk. "Could be wrong, this might be your super secret lair for all I know," Freya shrugged.

 

[Alexis Rodes King]

Alexis had been walking around with Kaiba. She had been carrying him the whole time around the castle just aimlessly walking. It was when Kaiba let out a bored sounding meow that she figured she should let him run around. She bent down and let her cat run off. Still crouching in the spot she saw him run into the abandoned classroom. She cursed under her breath and followed him. As she stepped close to the door she heard two people inside. She didn't know what to do. out of instinct she quickly ducked into the class hoping to find her cat before anyone saw her. Sadly Kaiba had run right into the middle of the class.

 

[Connor Holland]

Connor's brow furrowed slightly in frustration. "You can't just break into classrooms!" He said in an undertone. "You're definitely not supposed to be here." His face twisted more as she teased him. "I was avoiding Nicole and her lot, I only came in here because the door was open! We should both leave, be-" He was cut off by another person entering the room, heart skipping a beat before he realised the girl was young, at which point his posture softened. "Oh, are you lost?" He asked, giving her a warm smile. "I can help you find where you're going, if you like."

 

[Freya Song]

As Freya was well-versed in avoiding her own problems, Connor's reasoning seemed perfectly logical to her. "Oh, it hardly counts if you already live in the building," she pouted, as she spun to see who had just joined them. Glad that it wasn't a professor about to yell at them and cause Connor's early demise, Freya waved lazily at the girl before turning her attention to the new cat in the middle of the room. "See, this room really is a cat magnet," Freya grinned, picking up her own stolen cat and scratching its head.

 

[Alexis Rodes King]

Alexis was shocked they noticed her so quickly. "Oh amm Hi. Sorry no I'm not lost Kaiba just ran in here and I was following him." She pointed at the cat the girl was now holding in her arms. "I was taking for a walk since he doesn't get out much. I didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry about that." Alexis said. She was trying to be as polite as possible. They were older than her and the last thing she wanted was more trouble. She had learnt from her first year that she wasn't really allowed in the abandoned class. She had almost run into a prefect then. She didn't want to be rude so she let the girl hold on to Kaiba. "If you don't mind I could just sit in the corner until Kaiba is ready to leave. I won't bother you guys and you can pretend I'm not even here." She hoped they would be okay with that because she didn't want to leave her cat.

 

[Connor Holland]

What Connor had hoped would be a quick detour away from classmates he would much rather avoid had quickly gotten out of hand, and he frowned slightly down at Freya. "No, this part of the school is abandoned for a reason. None of us are supposed to be here." He reached down to try and take the cat from Freya, hoping to return it to its owner. "Give this girl her cat back, and let's all go back to parts of the school we're actually supposed to be in."

 

[Freya Song]

Freya didn't typically enjoy the idea of babysitting younger students outside of her own house, but Connor was at least semi-responsible so it could be his problem. She wasn't about to hold the girl's cat hostage like some kind of cat thief - she only took cats that wanted to be briefly stolen, but she was pleased that the number of felines in the room had doubled. "And that reason is because this wing belongs to the cats. We can only leave if they give us permission." Freya rolled her eyes and moved out of Connor's reach so he couldn't just rudely grab an entire animal out of her arms, and grudgingly put the cat she was holding down next to the other one on the ground. "You have to ask them for permission to leave," Freya nodded towards the cats.

 

[Alexis Rodes King]

Alexis was so confused by what was happening, but she kept to her word. She simply sat down near the door and rested her head in her arms on the desk. She wasn't going to force Kaiba to leave even if she might get in trouble. After all she could never be one of those cruel pet owners. She just watched Kaiba silently as he ran around the room. She knew that the boy was right about being in the wrong area of the school. The girl seemed not to care.

Kaiba had walked up to Alexis when he was tired of running around. She picked him up gently and stood up ready to leave the class without interrupting the two. Although she felt it was rude to just leave, but it would be ruder to interrupt them.

 

[Connor Holland]

((im so dumb i was interpreting it as kaiba having been the cat freya was holding rather than an entire second cat lmao sorry))

Connor sighed in frustration, giving Freya a pointed look. "The cats are allowed to go anywhere in the school they want, we aren't." He said firmly, reaching out a hand to help her up. "Come on, we all need to go back to the regular corridors." He said, giving the younger girl a quick glance before leaning in to whisper to Freya. "We're older students, we have to be a good example!" He whispered, though he was fairly sure it would be in vain. "Let's all go."

 

[Freya Song]

In Freya's humble opinion, it was totally unfair for cats and people to have different sets of rules, and she stuck her tongue out like the mature older student she was. If she was so old, that had to mean she was wise and everyone should do what she said, or something. She hadn't really thought it through and was really just frustrated that Connor was being weird and not letting her break rules that weren't hurting anyone. Freya wasn't going to leave on his terms. "Cats say it's time to leave, right now, immediately. Lovely seeing you all, bye!" she blurted, getting up and bolting for the door. Freya raised her eyebrows in disapproval at Connor, waved at the other girl, and blew kisses towards the two cats before turning on her heel and sprinting down the hall as fast as she could. She was sure the cat that she had brought in would be smart enough to return to its rightful owner. If not, it had become Connor's responsibility now.