Open Geez, you’re bogus

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon wasn’t sure what he’d done to Arvel Ayers in the short time they’d not even really known each other, but all he knew was that for the last few months of last year, Arvel had been more distant than usual, and had a tendency to regularly leave rooms and areas that Zennon happened to be occupying whenever he noticed the Slytherin was there. It was starting to really get on his nerves and so, given they were in seperate houses and had completely different interests, this seemed like the best time to have a little chat to him about it. Rolling his shoulders and curling his snake charm around his wrist, Zennon leaned against the wall of the corridor waiting for Arvel to emerge before grinning at him. “Hey dude, how’s things?” He asked, not quite subtlety cornering him. “Can we have a little chat over there?”​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Arvel turned into the corridor - and jumped. How had Zennon managed to leave the prefects' meeting before him? He stood still for a moment, considering his options. Almost all of them sounded better than having a little chat with Zennon. "No, thank you," he said, and with that he attempted to walk on past.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon almost laughed at Arvel and stepped a little closer. He didn’t actually mean to be intimidating, but he needed to get his point across. “Bro, it wasn’t a request.” Even though it had been something of a question, he wasn’t actually giving Arvel the option of backing out. He wanted to get this over an done with as soon as he could so he could get back to enjoying the new freedom he had from revealing his secret to the school. “Won’t take five minutes, unless you make this harder than it’s gotta be.”​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Arvel startled again. Zennon wasn't frightening, exactly - Arvel just hadn't expected this persistence of him. He longed to ask why Zennon had framed it as a question if it wasn't a request, but suddenly his tongue was sticking. This was exactly the sort of confrontation he had been trying to avoid. At first, he'd been shocked and upset, not only that Zennon was a parseltongue, but that he'd kept it a secret for so long. Then he was suspicious. His father had told him everything he needed to know about parseltongues, and most of it was heavily supported by Zennon's behaviour. He was a liar. He couldn't be trusted. Worse still, he was proud of himself for it. Arvel didn't want anything to do with him.

But he couldn't just say that. Little as he wanted to associate with the Slytherin, he didn't much feel like making an enemy of him, either. "OK. What do you want?" he asked impatiently. At least let it be over with quickly.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Now that Zennon had Arvel cornered, he wasn’t actually sure what he was supposed to say. What did one say to address something like this when one didn’t even really know what the problem was. “I’m just confused about some stuff,” he said, stepping back and giving Arvel some space to breathe. “Like, we were on okay terms yeah? We weren’t friends but we spoke to each other and now you’re just avoiding me and I don’t get it.” He supposed he could just say it.​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Arvel had been expecting this. The problem was, he'd never decided what he would say when the moment finally came. He couldn't make a lie sound genuine to save his life, but the truth was harsh, and he suspected Zennon wasn't the sort of person he wanted to upset. He probably had all sorts of devoted little followers willing to make Arvel's life miserable as soon as he said the word. He certainly acted like he was the most popular kid in school.

"Exactly. We weren't friends," Arvel repeated, pulling his bag strap up on his shoulder. "So why you do care?"

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon was honestly a bit shocked that Arvel had chosen to answer in that way. He thought that they’d been decent at least but to hear that they hadn’t been friends, even though he’d known that, it kind of hurt and he stepped back a bit, a little stunned. Why did he care? Why wouldn’t Arvel even know that? Of course Zennon cared, he liked Arvel, he had nothing against the guy. “What... of course I care! Why wouldn’t I care? I like you Arvel, I tried to consider us friends when we were younger but things never worked out and we just never seemed to be able to get along enough to be friends. Analei is still one of my best friends so there was never any chance of me hating you even if you both seemed to have a problem with Jake, I never chose sides, actually, if you’ll remember, I frequently defended Analei to Jake, so I’m still not sure what the problem is.” This had to be about Jake, right? What else could it be about?​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

It was taking all of Arvel's self-restraint not to snap. I tried to consider us friends. How arrogant could Zennon possibly be? But it got worse. He had to mention Analei. The way he spoke about her, as if he was closer to her than Arvel, made him clench his fists. "What?" he said suddenly, releasing them. His mind was racing too quickly to make sense of what Zennon had said. All he had heard was ''Jake'. "This has nothing to do with Jacob." Sure, Jacob could come off a little tactless, but at least he made up for it in personality. Right now, Zennon was just being completely insufferable. Arvel took a deep breath, his next words coming in short, broken bursts with emphasis in all the wrong places. "Obviously you would think it was about him. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with you. Because you're... you're perfect, aren't you? Everybody - everybody loves you. I don't know how you can - walk around the way you do. You're a self-entitled - arrogant - liar. Maybe you can convince everyone else you're - special, but not me. I know what you're like. I don't want - anything tae do with you."

 

[Zennon Baros]

"Then what is-" He'd been about to ask what all of this was about when it turned out that Arvel hadn't really finished speaking. All Zennon could do as Arvel proceeded to basically chew him up and spit him out was watch in rapt horror as the broken emphasis and angry words pierced him all over the place. What was he even supposed to do here? None of what Arvel was saying was making any sense to him at all. Perfect? Hardly, Zennon spent years hating himself for what he was and there were moments that he still did. Jacob had essentially equated him to Voldemort, his parents had been shocked and Professor Pendleton had almost balked at the idea that he, Zennon, could be associated with something so dark. Didn't Arvel understand how much of a burden all of this was? It wasn't like Zennon had asked for any of this and it wasn't like people still didn't sometimes give him a sideways glance. He was a Pureblood, in Slytherin, with the ability to talk to snakes, there hadn't been much happy thoughts coming from any of that. Elsie had told him she hated him, he'd lost touch with most of his friends for ages, though he had managed to claw some of it back, but it hadn't happened over night and he'd had to work so hard to get to the position he was in, to be at a point where he could look himself in the mirror and not tell himself how horrible he was every day. And yet.. it was almost a relief, to hear someone finally tell him what he'd expected to hear every time he'd confessed the truth. They'd all been so supportive for the most part, most of them telling him how much they cared about him and how none of it was his fault, but he'd never felt comfortable believing that, no matter how much he wanted to. "You... you think I think I'm special?" He asked, mouth agape at the very thought of such. "Are you kidding me?" To think he'd assumed Arvel was mad that he was still friends with Analei and Jacob, playing the field, as it were. "Arvel, I'm not special, I don't think I am. For years I thought I was cursed, I still do. I came out to people and they awarded me by giving me a bloody badge, I didn't ask for any of this." He said, frowning. "You can't help how you're born, as much as you might want to change things, it's a damn fact."​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Arvel was shaking. He clung onto the strap of his bag to disguise it. "You - you act like you think you're special," he clarified. "Yes. You didn't ask for it. And you - don't deserve it, either." Why was he wasting his time with this guy? Zennon seemed to understand that his ability was a curse, yet he walked around like he thought he owned the school, and everybody treated him like he did. Maybe Professor Styx was a parselmouth, too. Maybe that was why he'd rewarded Zennon for doing absolutely nothing except admitting he was a dishonest creep. It had to be that, or something similar. In any case, the whole thing was fixed. "Oh, you think I don't know that? You think I don't - want to change how I was born? At least people like you. You don't have to try. They just do! Even your dirty little secret can't touch your reputation." He suddenly realised he was crying, but the words kept coming. "You want to know - if I was a parselmouth - what would happen? My family would disown me. The whole school would - hate me. Don't talk to me about wishing you could change how you're born. You don't know how lucky you are to be - clever, and popular, and funny, and good-looking. You don't know how lucky you are that people still like you, even after this. You have no idea!"

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon was beyond confused at this point. This was exactly why he tried to avoid confrontation at all costs, because he never responded well and it was going exactly the way he had hoped to avoid. Zennon knew what he was like in this kind of situation and as Arvel was crying and speaking and revealing all his deepest insecurities, all Zennon could do was watch helplessly as his nerves took over and he started to laugh. It was horrible! Here Arvel was in the middle of the corridor, baring his soul to Zennon, someone who wasn't even his friend by his own standards and he was trying to stop him self, he was trying so hard, but the bubble of laughter refused to be pushed down and all Zennon could do was cover his mouth with his hands as the bubble escaped the pit of his stomach and basically ensured Arvel's further humiliation! Zennon had no idea what to do. He wasn't sure why Arvel seemed to be taking all of his anger and insecurity out on him, but he knew what it was like, to think that everyone else was better than you, he had the same feeling for years and now that he was owning up to his own insecurities, he couldn't even bring himself to do something so simple as to validate Arvel's own anxieties and he felt horrible for it! His ineptness at containing his own laughter was like watching a speeding truck barrel into a building from the passenger seat, because he was no longer driving. He wanted so badly to stop laughing and to help Arvel, tell him exactly why he was wrong, but he couldn't and so he leaned against the wall, trying to keep himself steady as more laughter seemed to just erupt from inside him. What the hell was wrong with him?! This wasn't a laughing situation! "Arvel..." He tried to speak, maybe he could get the truth across to the Hufflepuff, but it was no use, his frayed nerves had other ideas.​

 

[Arvel Ayers]

Arvel had only stopped to catch his breath, but when Zennon began to laugh, really laugh at him, his tirade abruptly concluded with a sort of strangled intake of air. His entire head burned with shame. He'd always known confronting Zennon would end badly, but he hadn't realised it would end like this. Crying, in a corridor lingering with students, while Zennon laughed in his face. He might as well have dropped out of school there and then. Nobody was ever going to take him seriously ever again. Even though he was right. Even though Zennon was the one making fun of him, Zennon was the liar, Zennon was the parseltongue. How in the world was any of that fair? It wasn't. But Arvel was used to it.

Not waiting for the Slytherin to rub it in even further, Arvel turned and ran. He didn't know where he was going. He just had to get away. Anywhere. Anywhere was better than here.

 

[Kasim Safir]

It wasn't often that Kas got a front row seat to some good old fashion school drama, so when he'd heard the raised voices, he'd managed to cut his way through the corridor to see what the commotion was. Someone was having a nice fat friend ending fight and Kas wanted to see. He recognized Zennon, possibly the only other parselmouth in the school, and one of the Hufflepuff prefects from the quidditch team having it out. And there were tears now too, brutal. Kas felt his gut clench involuntarily though when the "P" word came out though. It was a quick shock that some big fight might be about that kind of thing. Kas never really thought it was something to hide, but he certainly wasn't as bold as Zennon seemed to be, parselmouth button and all, and reactions like this were probably exactly why.

Kas watched as the Hufflepuff prefect booked it, clicking his tongue in dislike as he passed before moving over cautiously to Zennon. "That dude needs to chill.." He said slowly, giving Zennon a curious once over in the aftermath of.. Whatever that had been.

 

[Zennon Baros]

"Arvel, wait!" He knew it was no use. He was still laughing and despite himself, he just couldn't stop, it was terrible. He felt terrible. He never wanted people to feel the way he had and now he'd done that to someone he actually admired, though he wasn't actually sure why he admired Arvel, or even really if he still did after what had just been said. Mostly he felt responsible. Zennon breathed in through his nose to get the laughing under control before turning to notice Kasim, the only other parselmouth he'd met, though he didn't know how open about it the younger boy was. "It's... it's not really his fault, to be honest." Zennon said, looking over his shoulder in the direction Arvel had run off. He could only hope he wasn't running to tell Analei how much of a horrible person he was, Zennon didn't need his best friend telling him that. Not after she'd already promised him the things he thought about himself weren't true. "I think it's kind of my fault."

 

[Kasim Safir]

Zennon's laughter wasn't quite what Kas might call hysterical, but it was definitely somewhere in that region. A region Kas personally preferred to avoid. "What, you set a snake on him or something?" He asked mildly when Zennon insisted it was his fault. Admittedly, Kas didn't have the full story here, but he couldn't help but feel a touch defensive on Zennon's behalf. "If you didn't, you should." He added thoughtfully. Kas wasn't always personally fond of his.. serpentine talents, but that was mostly his own family's fault and he wasn't about to let someone else badmouth them either. If this fight really was about the parseltongue thing, then the other Hufflepuff could go kiss a bludger.

 

[Zennon Baros]

"Ha!" Setting a snake on Arvel probably would have made him feel better for the outburst Arvel had thrown at him, but he wasn't that sort of person, probably. "No, but there's an idea," Of course it would frighten his snakes more than it would frighten others, usually. "Might have been a bit more deserved if I had, don't tell anyone I said that mind you, I'm supposed to be a good boy." Being a prefect kind of sucked, he was pretty sure he had to watch what he said all the time. It wasn't that Zennon was a bad boy or anything, he did what he was told most of the time and paid attention in classes, but, he liked to have a voice, which he felt was somewhat silenced since getting his badge. "How's things going with you anyway?" he hadn't really spoken to Kasim since they'd first met at the Menagerie, but he saw him around and hanging out with who he assumed were his friends.​

 

[Kasim Safir]

He'd known it was unlike that Zennon had actually done any snake level offense to the other Hufflepuff, but he was still a touch disappointed to be right. "Use your powers for good, Zennon," Kas said in an exaggerated stage whisper. He'd thought a lot about trying to set his family's snakes on his parents as a kid, but had long resigned himself to the fact that they would only just laugh at him in their weird hissing laugh. He mimed zipping his lips, though Kas kept his eyebrows raised at the mention of being a good boy, glancing at Zennon's prefect badge and shrugging. "No one's throwing themselves away from me in horror over the whole-" Kas motioned a bit to Zennon's parselmouth button, "-thing. If that's what you're asking. Seems like it'd be more interesting if they did though." Kas mused, turning to look down the corridor where the other prefect had run off to.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon shook his head at the younger Hufflepuff. "Well, I've only two more years of this going forward, then I'm out of here." He said, thinking about how crazy that actually was. When he'd been in first year, his seventh year seemed like it was so far away, now it would be upon him soon and he was actually going to have to start preparing for his adulthood. "Gotta keep it balanced." He added, using his hand as something of a seesaw. He nodded at Kas mentioned that no one was running from him in horror, so he had to assume that meant people knew about his abilities. "So, do your friends know then?" He was much braver than Zennon had been if that was the case. It had taken him years to get to this point and still, sometimes he wished he could climb back into his box and shut it forever.​

 

[Kasim Safir]

"Don't rub it in," Kas said flatly when Zennon mentioned how soon it was before he was graduating. Kas could not wait till he was 17 and able to do whatever he wanted. He laughed at Zennon's assertation that he had to keep the balance, shaking his head. "Okay, you be the good parseltongue, I'll be the evil one," He said, flushing a bit at his own joke but shaking it off. "They'll never expect the Hufflepuff."

Kas sucked on teeth when Zennon asked if that meant his friends knew about him being a parseltongue, giving a non-committal shrug. "It's not like I'm hiding it, but it doesn't really come up much," He said, giving Zennon a wan look. "I don't exactly go around advertising it either." He added, tapping on Zennon's badge before quickly retracting his hand. Truth be told Kas kind of looked up to how Zennon was about just.. everything about himself. Not that he would ever admit it out loud, especially not to Zennon himself. But for a prefect, he was pretty cool.

 

[Zennon Baros]

"Sorry mate," Zennon said, grinning down at the younger boy. "Is what it is. You'll get there soon, bet you'll miss it all." He knew he would, some parts of it. He certainly wouldn't miss the fighting or the exams, but, the availability of his friends? Not having to make his own food? Not really needing money? He'd miss getting to be a kid. Zennon actually laughed then, when Kas mentioned being the bad pareltongue. "No, you're right, they wouldn't suspect the Hufflepuff," though, there was a reason for that, since everyone seemed to assume that people in Slytherin were only good for evil. Zennon frowned slightly when it seemed he'd stepped in Kas' toes a bit. So he wasn't really as open as Zennon had thought then, not that he blamed the kid. It was a heavy burden to bare and as much as Zennon could joke about it now, he'd been in the same position as Kas not too long ago, though he was actively hiding his ability. He looked down as Kas tapped his badge and nodded. "Honestly, I get it. I've been there and it's something you have to do in your own time. Take it from me though, if they do find out, and it's not from you? Could go badly." He hoped not, since, for the most part, his friends had been pretty okay about the whole thing, but, well, there was Arvel for instance. "Just because you're not not denying it, and you're not technically lying, doesn't mean you're being truthful either." He shrugged. "I'm not saying you should tell them, that's something you've gotta work through yourself, but, just something to think about."​

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas stuck his tongue out when Zennon said he'd miss being at school. "Doubt it," School wasn't bad or anything really, he even sometimes enjoyed certain things. Like heckling Styx with Freya. But he doubted he'd long to be back here once he was finally old enough to do what he wanted. "It's true, we get away with everything," He said, opening his eyes wide in faux-earnestness. Honestly, Kas had already got in trouble for things, but probably no where as near as much as he should of. While he'd like to credit that to his own fast talking, the Hufflepuff reputation definitely helped.

He chewed on his lip at Zennon's advice about hiding things from his friends though. "It's not like it should be a big deal," Kas said, jamming his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "I don't see why'd they'd care," Kas just didn't like talking about it much, he doubted people would really care but maybe that was naive. Parseltongue had a reputation too, one that his 'Puff rep didn't totally balance. "Is that what happened between you and your fast moving friend back there?" He asked, nodding his head over his shoulder the direction the prefect had ran.

 

[Zennon Baros]

"Ah, you never know," True, not everyone missed school, but it was sometimes hard to remember to catch up when people were everywhere else. In saying that though, there were definitely things he wasn't going to miss, like stupid people and classes and exams, though he knew he had more exams to look forward to in his future, given his chosen career. Being a healer certainly was not an easy job and he knew that, but he was pretty sure it would be easier when he was dealing with schoolyard drama as well. He was looking forward to it, but also hesitant to graduate and be out in the world. School was safe, he knew school, but he only had another two years of this. They'd be over soon than he was ready for. "I know my best friend does, she's sneaky about it, but she gets away with stuff most people wouldn't," all that stuff with Jake had flown mostly under the radar and he knew there was something else she wasn't saying, but she was getting away with whatever that was too. "It's like it's own protego for trouble." Admittedly though, as a Slytherin with Styx for a head of house, he got away with things too, because most people thought Slytherins were too scared of their head of house to do anything stupid, like go to the Forbidden Forest.​

​

He shook his head when Kas said being what they were shouldn't be a big deal and he was absolutely right, it shouldn't be, but people's perceptions were narrow and they often couldn't see past what was in front of them. "You're right, it shouldn't be and I wish more people agreed with that," he said, sighing. "But most people see the words parselmouth and they've usually at least read one history book which paints as as bad people all the way back to Salazar Slytherin, which is itself offensive." The way history books presented Salazar was ridiculous. "Then you have Voldemort which basically seals the deal." There hadn't been many good people showcased with the ability, he knew and it sucked. "We'll have to pave our own way." He shook his head as Kasim asked about Arvel. "No, we're not friends according to him. I think... I don't know why but for some reason he seems mad that people accept me for being a parselmouth. Seems to think he wouldn't be afforded the same courtesy... I don't really know what his problem is."​