Closed Youthful Alliance

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon had once loved Halloween, he once found it to be his favourite holiday, but now, after the tragic accident that befell his father, being that it happened around Halloween, now he was finding it hard to even put the effort into dressing up. As it was he'd simply grabbed some fake vampire teeth and shoved them in his mouth just to be done with it. He didn't want to have to think about it, but he didn't really want to be the only person who hadn't gone either, least of all because both of his sisters were now not talking to him and he didn't really know why. He sighed as he walked into the hall, but wasn't sure he'd actually be able to enjoy it. He hoped he could, but these things were notoriously hard to predict.​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam was not a fan of Halloween, but she discovered she didn’t mind dressing up. She wanted to be included since everyone else seemed to be going, she didn’t know about Sabrina but she had spoken to Xavier the day before and he said he would be going with his girlfriend. Who Sam had yet to be introduced to. She wondered when that was going to happen. But, if he was happy, then the blonde was happy for her brother. She did the finishing touches and took a breath before heading to the great hall, immediately heading to the snack table to get a drink. But on her way there, she stopped midway as she noticed someone she hadn’t seen in a while. Well, he was alone and didn’t seem exactly happy to be there. Sam approached him after considering that it would be a lonely night if she had to spend it by herself as well. "Zennon?" she asked in order to catch his attention. "It is you, isn’t it?" She looked him up and down, convinced she was right. ​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon wasn't exactly popular at the moment, so the last thing he really expected was for someone to actually want to talk to him. He quickly looked up from where he'd been staring at the ground and noticed someone he thought he recognised in front of him. She was all black and red and it had been ages since he'd seen her, but it was definitely Sam Macintosh. Though they were in the same house, he'd become rather adept at remaining hidden, even in the nooks and crevices of the common room. "Oh, hi." He said, smiling awkwardly and waving at her. She looked nice, well, he wasn't sure nice was really a compliment. Was she trying to look scary? He didn't want to accidentally insult her and he didn't know how this sort of thing worked with girls, or guys, or anyone really. "Uh, yes... yes, sorry... I haven't really been around much, I know. Stuff and things... and... stuff." He said, rubbing the back of his head unconciously, yes, Zennon, that's the way to go.​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

The only reaction Sam had when the boy confirmed it was him and hardly said anything about her appearance - though he did give her a good look - was a raise of the eyebrows. The girl had worked pretty hard on her outfit and in fact, she was rather proud of it. Zennon seemed a bit...awkward. Tired. Both? "O-kay," she said slowly, dragging out the world. What was up with him? He looked like he didn’t want to be here. To Sam, that was perfectly understandable. Mostly because she had miraculously managed to drift apart from her only true friend, Jacob. She felt even more confused when Zennon didn’t form proper sentences. At least it was comprehensible. "Oh, it’s totally fine. Don’t worry about it," she said with a wave of her hand in an attempt to reassure the Slytherin. Dismissing it seemed like the best thing to do. "Are you alright?" she asked her friend after a while, unable to steer off the topic. ​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon wasn’t usually an awkward person, at least he hadn’t used to be, but these days things were harder to say and people were harder to read, something he had been very good at and relied on maybe a bit too often when he was younger. Still, he enjoyed Sam’s company so he was marginally more comfortable than he had been only moments ago. “Uh...” he wasn’t really sure what to say, this whole conversation was a bit awkward. She looked good, but now he felt like it might’ve been to late to mention it. Merlin, why were these situations hard? He wasn’t even doing anything and he felt like he was somehow getting into trouble with something. “No... not really, just a bit of a rough time I guess.” He admitted, looking over at the groups of people. He spotted his sisters near the food and felt like melting into the shadows, he took an involuntary step back at the sight of them. “It’s decorated nice, huh?”​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

This entire interaction with a person she hadn’t spoken to in a while and probably needed to be updated on happenings in his life, how he was doing, all of that, was new for Sam. She was usually easy to talk to, or at the very least she tried her best to be. But she tried not to blame herself this time because she could see from the get go that Zennon had changed, in some way. Not that the fifth year had known him very well before now, but it was normal for the girl to read people and notice when something was up. Although from the way he was having difficulty carrying the conversation forward anyone could have seen he looked troubled. Despite all of these thoughts however, the Slytherin didn’t pry. "Oh, I get that," she said softly, genuinely, when he mentioned he had a rough time. When Sam had lost her mother years ago she had basically been inconsolable. Her mother had meant everything to her. She did not wish such a tragedy on anyone. She glanced briefly at what Zennon stepped back from, but turned back to face him with a smile on her face to try lighten up the mood. So he was going for the small talk route. The girl could work with that. "Yeah, they have really outdone themselves," she agreed, looking around the room. "Do you want a drink?" ​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Merlin bless Sam, he was so grateful that despite the awkwardness between them, she seemed at least partially agreeable to let him sidestep any real conversation for something less involved, which right now he was only too grateful for. There were some things that were just going to be difficult to explain and not wanting to bring down the mood was one of them, so why should he have to make anyone else feel better for his own hesitations? It wasn’t specifically intentional that he not tell his companion why he wasn’t sharing or what that information to be shared was, but he knew that bringing down the mood a little wasn’t about to really help anyone, and besides, this was supposed to be a party, so why ruin that? He appreciated the sympathy without the expectation of a returned detail. “Thank you, I appreciate you not prying,” he told her, addressing the issue head on. “I really just don’t want to bring down the mood for you, since this type of thing tends to do that and this is a party after all.” He added, making sure she knew it wasn’t specifically her he was hiding the information from. He wasn’t sure when he’d become so concerned about others feelings, though he’d always been quite empathic he’d usually been more terrified to talk about himself than anything else, but even his closest friends knew hardly anything about him so he wasn’t sure what that was supposed to say for Sam. As she mentioned a drink though he looked back over towards his sisters and frowned. “Uhm, I do, but... I’m kind of trying to avoid something right now and going over there isn’t about to help me do that”. He admitted, basically stating at Rapunzel, the Pumpkin Queen and another girl he didn’t know well enough to guess at.​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam didn’t let her curiosity get the best of her this time because as much as she wanted to help Zennon in any way she could right now, since she hadn’t spoken to him in a while and she also wanted to catch up on things, she knew that it wasn’t in her place to pry. She barely knew him, after all. Even if the fifth year tried to make it as easy as possible for the other person she was interacting with to feel comfortable around her. So she just left it at that, and nodded in acknowledgment of Zennon’s thankfulness towards her. At least she had that. Was that it? she thought to herself as the boy told her he didn’t want to bring down the mood. "Well if that’s the case, then I appreciate how careful you’re being," she said carefully, not wanting to say anything that may automatically make him block her out. You never knew with closed off people. "Honestly, don’t worry about it." Sam had many siblings and with a subtle shock she realised Zennon was actually quite like her brother Jasper. Jasper didn’t say much, it was difficult to read him sometimes. She knew him one moment, and then she hardly did the next. She learned not to pressure him and just give him the space until he could speak what he was thinking or what he was feeling. Sam didn’t know what she had expected as an answer to her offer of a drink but it wasn’t that. He was avoiding people, she mused as she too glanced at whom he was looking. "I could get it for you," she suggested, hoping he wouldn’t stop himself from at least having juice and some fun just to avoid those girls. "Who are they?" she asked before she could stop herself. ​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Despite himself, Zennon was actually having a better time here than he realised he would. It wasn’t every day he got to just be around someone he genuinely liked, and he did like Sam, she was funny and didn’t pry too much into his business like a couple of his other friends. They tried hard, of course, and he appreciated that but he could always tell there was something they wanted to know. A bit like Sapphire really, she seems to have it down where it counted in the not prying front. Sometimes he thought she was a little too willing to let him keep his secrets. “Yeah, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I just don’t want to ruin the mood, maybe I’ll tell you after the party?” He wanted to give her something since it was nice to be having a conversation with someone again. Someone that wasn’t trying to guilt him or anything. When she offered to get him a drink, he shrugged non-commitally, “I won’t say no, only if you want to though, I just,” But there really wasn’t much he could say in his own defence. It probably sounded silly to everyone else that he was avoiding his own sister. Well, especially Elsie since most people that knew her saw her as quiet and not very confident and whilst they would be mostly correct, she held grudges for ever. “Uh, my sisters, Elsie and Rowan. I had a fight with El, recently, that went badly and I think she’s made Ro promise not to come talk to me.” He finally told Sam, surprised at how much he’d needed to tell someone. “El said she doesn’t want to be related to me anymore, can’t say as I blame her though, I’ve been a terrible brother.” And there goes the mood, might as well tell Sam everything now.​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam hadn’t thought she would enjoy the party as much as she was, as her only best friend, who was basically her only friend at the time, drifted apart from her. It made her feel resentful towards Jacob, and hardly allowed her to go to these things because every time it reminded her they’d always gone together. Now though, she had a couple more friends at least, which made it all the more bearable. Her ears perked up, but she forced herself not to show any eagerness. "Sure. But only if you want to tell me, it’s really up to you," she said politely, meaning it. It wouldn’t be nice to fulfill her curiosity if Zennon only told her simply because he felt like he should. It was his choice. She could see he was somewhat conflicted. "It’s okay really, I want to get something too so I’ll go," she said and was at the snack table before the boy could change his mind and protest. She returned not even five minutes later with two cups of pumpkin juice and she held one out to Zennon. She almost spit out her drink however when he told her that he was avoiding his sisters. This was bound to be an interesting story for sure. "That’s not nice of her anyway though," she frowned. "I don’t think your sister - Elsie... - was right to make your other sister not talk to you." She hoped her friend wouldn’t blame himself entirely for all of it. Her mouth was slightly agape. "Why would she say something like that?" she asked gently, not wanting to scare him off, or something. "Still, I’m sure she didn’t really mean it."​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Now that he’d successfully brought the mood down for the two of them, Zennon sighed and leaned back against the wall, drink in hand. Sliding miserably to the floor, Zennon looked up at Sam with tired eyes. He was enjoying her company, sure, but now he was just tired, talking about this was probably just better all around for him. “Thank you,” he nodded at the drink in his hand and sighed again. “Couple days back I told her something, about, well I was trying to tell her something about me and, well it didn’t go well.” He said, shaking his head. He never should have stared the conversation like that, it had been dumb, he’d known that and done it anyway. “Well, I lied to her, you see, and I’d always promised her I wouldn’t lie to her, but, I mean I can’t say there was a good reason for it, I thought I needed to lie, but...” there were just somethings that were hard to talk about, his new distant relationship with his sisters was one of those things. “She didn’t take it well and I didn’t even get to tell her the things I was originally intending to tell her - she must have gone to Rowan after and... I don’t know, told her what happened?” It was the only way that could have happened since Rowan always confronted him about lying anyway, so it wasn’t like this had been new information for her. “I messed it up and now I just... I don’t know I can’t just fix it like that, Magic is great and all but it’s not that good.” He’d thought about apologising but he had to get to her to do that, both were apparently quite good at avoiding him. He took a sip of his drink. “Sorry, didn’t mean to say all that.”​

 

[Chloe Chan]

let’s try that again ​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand when he thanked her for the drink, then said, "I’m sure that whatever you said...it couldn’t have been that bad, right?" Sam furrowed her eyebrows. It couldn’t possibly be a terrible thing, surely. But then again, that his sisters weren’t even talking to him indicated otherwise. Sam regretted saying that as soon as Zennon explained, in more detail, what the problem was. For the first time i n her life, Sam did not know what to say. It was difficult trying to help him without really knowing what was going on. It was almost as if Zennon was speaking in riddles - almost. It was vague. After a few moments, once she had gathered her thoughts, she glanced at his sisters at the far end of the room and back at Zennon. "So, what you’re saying is, you didn’t mean to lie about it, you didn’t want to, it just sort of happened. So now your sister feels betrayed?" she summarised, or attempted to. "You know, Zennon..." she hesitated. "It’s kind of hard to give you advice and help without knowing what’s actually going on," she added, hinting that perhaps if he felt comfortable enough to tell her what he said to Elsie and Rowan, he was more than welcome to do so. How else could she try to cheer him up or maybe even resolve the mini feud going on between him and his family? "I do want to help you, or at least try."​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Sam didn't understand, if she did she wouldn't be asking him that. What he'd done was stupid and it was cowardly and he knew that, but he hadn't been able to do anything else, at least that was what he'd thought. He understood things a little better now, and knew that most of his fears mostly stemmed from his own selfconcious thoughts about this abilities and not from the way his friends would treat him, only now he was left with the realisation that he had been lying to everyone for years and that he really didn't know how they would take that. It wasn't a nice thing to hear, as evidenced by Elsie and really, Zennon just didn't know what to do about it. Ideally, he needed advice from someone who have been in his position before, but that was unlikely, since his ability and his actions weren't exactly common. He shook his head at Sam and sighed. "Honestly, most of what happened is a blur... which is difficult since I don't exactly know what I said, so I can't tailor an apology to my words or actions," he admitted shamefully, he'd allowed his emotions to overwhelm him and that was problematic. "That's the gist of it, yeah." He marvelled at Sam's ability to just pull out the pertinent details and recount back to him the story he'd been struggling with for days. Talking to people was hard, especially when he was so used to not doing that. It was... refreshing to say the least. "I appreciate that you want to help, but honestly, I don't know what to tell you. I told her I lied to her, that was it, I didn't actually get the chance to tell her what I had even lied about. She just... freaked out. I can't really understand why, though I suspect it was more to do with me than with her, I used to promise never to lie, I just never realised how close to heart she'd take that promise, I mean... I'm her brother, aren't we supposed to lie?" Granted, maybe not about something like that, but he wasn't about to break it all down for Sam, he needed to keep something close to his chest.​