Closed Asking for it

[Cassius Styx]

Cassius Styx could hardly believe it. Not that he was back in school or that he was a fourth year. It was the solid fact that his little brother Dante was a werewolf. That attack on their sister left Dante injured and permanently disabled (if one called lycanthropy a disability). Cassius found out when he spotted Daemyn giving Dante the wolfsbane potion. From there, he was practically begged not to say anything to their father, Hades, or worse, their grandfather. Their grandfather absolutely hated werewolves with a passion. Cass did not know the full story, but if he could protect Dante from Styx, he would.

The only way he knew how was to assume the throne of the Zhefarovich family. Kalif Styx the Second somehow failed so Styx was looking for a new successor. Cass knew that it had to be him. He was more determined than ever to protect Dante and to get ahead. Because of this, Cass was more on edge than normal, and he was quicker to anger because he had little to no patience with anyone. Cass decided to head to the lakefront to start running. He needed to remain in top shape to continue his martial arts. He might burn himself out from everything he was doing, but he did not care. He could not have any distractions. Even Snowdrop Chase was out of his mind for now, as he worked on getting over that crush of his. Turned out, it was harder than anticipated to get her out of his head.​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory knew something was up with Snow, he'd barely seen her since coming back, but he wasn't entirely blind to his friend. He just didn't know how to approach her, how to approach it. She was one of his closest friends, one of the few people who stuck by him, and he was constantly messing it up. Gregory was making his way outside, just as an attempt to clear his head enough to really think about it properly. It was as he walked that he was muttering a little louder than he was meaning to, as if practicing the conversation that he was trying to have with her, and he absolutely was not paying any attention to what was going on around him.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cass was running at near top speeds for him. He was getting his exercise in, and he was clearing his head. It was hard for him to stop though. He did not consider anyone actually getting in the way of him running at the speed he was, and it was unfortunate that he did not even have a chance to react before his body crashed into another. Cass went tumbling to the ground, badly hitting the rocks, which caused him pain. He did not even catch on what the boy was saying, but once Cass managed to sit up, he looked in the direction of the person that he crashed into. "What the absolute f**k, Friend?" Cass dusted off his pants, noticing that they were somewhat ripped from the fall.​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory was too distracted, his mind completely occupied with thoughts of Snow and everything else. tht he didn't see the one person he really needed to avoid. He crashed into them, and was knocked back. unable to break his fall fast enough, his glasses falling to the side, which he was quick to grab and place back on. Then, Gregory heard who it was, and looked at them. "Oh," he said, "I'm sorry, I'm just distracted, something's going on with Snow, and I'm trying to think of how to talk to her," words were streaming out of Gregory's mouth. "Especially after she wanted me to ask her to the dance last year, I can't be a bad friend," he was just hopeful that whatever truce and his clearly distracted mind would get him out of whatever this could end up being.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cass checked out his jeans, and figured that he would have to repair them with a spell. He took out his wand, bent down, and cast Reparo to fix his pants, but he froze when he heard Gregory mutter things about Snowdrop. He slowly stood back up, straight, as he felt that ugly monster called jealousy arose. Right, this was the one that she allegedly had a crush on, and wanted him to take her to the dance, and not Cassius. That was a punch to his pride, but then he went off on her when she offered her unwanted help. He was a bit calmer, ish, now that his grief was better. He started to laugh, "Of course there is something wrong with her. She told me everything, and I proceeded to hug her for a while. Considering you don’t exactly have a family, it is not something you could ever hope to understand." Cass’ temper was rearing its head again, but at least he was not physical - yet.​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Greogry had no idea about what was going on in Snow's life, because he hadn't really been brave enough to ask about it, or to follow up on what he knew. He wasn't a good friend, and too worried about being a decent friend to know how to ask. He was always worried about upsetting her or anyone for that matter. Gregory felt the pang of hurt at Cas' words. He did have a family, they just weren't really his. "I have a family," he replied weakly, shaking his head, and trying to inch away. "I'm just worried about her, and I'm not good at...talking," he hoped to play the sympathetic card with him.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cass scoffed when Gregory said that he had a family. If he did, he wouldn't sound so weak about it. But that was the pain of being adopted. From one muggle family to another, talk about bad luck. Cass rolled his eyes as Gregory said that he was worried about Snow, and how he was not good at talking. "Why she wanted you to ask her to the dance is well above me. The only redeeming quality you have is the lack of spine. Also known as, you being an utter doormat." Cass could hardly believe that this was the one that she chose. Maybe her tastes in boys was not up to par. But, why should he care? Why indeed? "You might suck at talking, but sometimes, all you need to do is listen, and have a shoulder for her to cry on. Oh wait, that's all I had to do."​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory frowned a little. "Snow likes me," he assured him, since that was surely why she had wanted him to ask her to the dance. "I took her to valentines," he then added though he wasn't sure that it helped the current argument, because he really had only done that because of not inviting her to the yuleball. He didn't know what else to say, he wasn't a very good shoulder to cry on, always too worried about everything else, it was why Snow and like Conan were the only friends he had left anymore. "She probably only did that with you because I was busy," he tried to claim, but he was sure that that wasn't the case, that Snow had likely just sought Cass out.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Did Snow really like Gregory, or did she pity him? Cass figured that it was the latter, but even he was not sure. Snow did pity Cass a while back, but he had to put her in her place. So, Snow didn't go to the Yule Ball with Gregory, but they went on the Valentine's one. It must be nice to not have the same expectations, or freedoms, that someone like Snow had with her family. With this in mind, he was seriously considering reaching out to his father for an arranged marriage. That didn't sooth the jealousy he had in his gut though, and the last bit only made Cassius see red. He started to chuckle, which was a warning sign, before he balled his fist, and swung it at the Hufflepuff's gut. The anger he had felt over losing his sister, and everything else that happened last year was all thrown into that one swing.​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wasn't sure if he'd said the right thing. He and Cassius had been okay for a little bit. Gregory hadn't trusted him at all, but they hadn't gotten into any fights. But he could see the anger on Cassius' face. He did not have time to scramble away from the fist that swung hard into his gut. It hurt like crazy, he doubled over, curling into himself a little. He knew now that it was going to bruise, he dared look up at Cassius hopeful that he'd be done with just one punch. This time, knowing that he had perhaps had a role in riling Cassius up.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cass watched with a sense of pride when Gregory fell to the ground, balled up from his bunch. He knelt down to grab a fistful of his hair to make the boy look at him, as if he weren't already. "Don't assume things you don't know. Besides, unless you lost a sister, you'd never understand. Cross me again, and your face will receive the punch instead." Cass stood back to his feet, since he felt that the message was well received. At least for now anyway. Cass took a few steps back to tie his shoes from the whole mess. He did not want to linger, but even he was somewhat sore from the crash earlier.​