"Fight" PV

"Wasn't the dorm," he reminded him. It was the basement actually. "And I have no interest abiding by rules made off the cuff by children in some 'secret club'," Mathias replied referring to their dormitory as a secret club. That was essentially what they were, children making up arbitrary rules and abiding by a set of self-made, senseless laws that suggest loyalty at the expense of objective, the membership and quite possibly themselves. "Loyalty at the expense of the collective will mean a short-lived organization," grabbing a Professor was hardly an audacious move when they were imperiled in an unknown place that they chose to explore to sate nothing more than curiosity. Did he even remember why they were down there? What drove them? It had all the trappings for disaster, a trap. "We had no reason to be down there, to go deeper except to satisfy questions our kind should not be bothered to ask."

Mathias would ask what Percival desired. A covetous claim, one where truth was not expected. The desires of a man's heart are truly complicated, even someone as shallow as Rainwood with the depths of a shopping mall parking lot puddle would struggle to articulate this truth. What he would get is a part of Percival's heart, the expression rather than the core of his ambition.

"I want to burn the world down, Pride. I don't particularly care how I do it."

Percival claimed.

"Ever read Faust?" Mathias would ask with a slight smile. Not their dormmate, heavens no. Probably not,

"I'm not some reckless bull in a china shop, Pride."

A defensive comment made after he said that he wanted to see the world burn. To inflict reckless violence without care for how to perform this dangerous, incendiary act. He wanted to inflict suffering, without considering of the consequences and without a plan. He somewhat defined one. "Why would that truly matter?" Mathias inquired. "What is wrong with that?" He shrugged. "I am sure that you have heard it before, time and time again." Tiresome really. "Control and order, reason and planning," the tedious and exhausting condemnation of peers and authority figures. "And why really," Mathias continued. "Some do. Some watch. Some think. Most regret." It was true, people were all kinds. Pride was a planner, that much was apparent. Everything he did had an intention.

"I must admit you are quite ambitious. As frustrating as it can be. Though, most people in our house are."

Percival admitted. It was hard to know what to so when dealing with someone such as Mathias Pride. "I can give you what you want," the devil would claim. Yes, this was indeed the story of Faust. "I can help you make the world burn," he reiterated with more clarity and volume than Percivals' admission had offered. There was nothing to fear, who was listening in on two schoolboys chatting over a pile of books?

"I have what you lack and I can fill what remains empty," perhaps not romantically or emotionally. That is what Hanako or someone suitably submissive enough for the tall drink of snake was for. "It is not fire that you seek," that much he could easily determine even if literal fire might be involved. "Well, not specifically," it was the power-fantasy. The exertion of power. The undermining of authority. "Chaos, destruction and a fresh start on your terms," not uncommon for a teen on the cusp of burgeoning independence.

| Outfit |

Percival scoffed at the boy's answer to his reasoning. A part of his ego hurt at the thought of their dorm being nothing more than a child's game. In truth, the other was correct, but he would never admit that to the already egotistical boy. "And yet if there is no loyalty you'll fall apart just as quickly." he said his tone sharp as he practically dared the other to say he was wrong. The boy blinked as he listened to the other's opinion on their little adventure. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to understand something." he said as he vaguely glanced about at the books that surrounded him. "You cannot honestly say you have never wanted to understand something that you should have left alone?" he said his brows furrowing as he turned his gaze back to the boy.

A frown would cross the other's face as the other asked if he had ever read Faust. "Faust, as in our dormmate? I'm fairly certain he is impossible to read." he spoke. His eyes widened ever so slightly as the other poured out questions to him. They made his mind spin with growing confusion. Most people would find his more reckless side a liability or a cause for concern. He wondered why Pride would come here to encourage it.

Percival found himself licking at his lips again. They stung as they were swept with the wet meaty muscle. He truly disliked the feeling of having to control himself. Having to reign in what made him, him. In order to avoid the consequences of his actions. The thought of throwing that all away. To do away with the eggshells he walked. It was appetizing, and he found himself hungry for it. "Regretting is stupid." he said in a vindictive tone. He never regretted breaking Faux's rib, and he didn't regret burning Miller. Maybe a younger version of himself would have felt sick to the stomach. Bile barely being swallowed down in order to keep it from escaping outward. Yet, now he wasn't too sure exactly what he was feeling. At the moment had felt such a rush, but in the after moments he felt nothing more than an empty feeling. The boy mentally shook himself away from that thought. Not wanting to look at the concerning acknowledgment of himself.

The boy's gaze flicked back towards the red-haired boy. He struggled to remember when his gaze had drifted to look towards one of the shelves filled to the brim with books. "Why would you want to help me? What could you possibly gain from this?" he asked his earlier mistrust pushing to the forefront of his mind. He could hardly make sense of why the red-haired boy would choose him of all people. Why not Selim or Burnett? It hardly made sense to him. Only serving to make him feel off-kilter. Everything felt bright and focused as much as it felt unfocused and dark. The boy seemed so sure that he knew what he wanted. He would never admit it but it terrified him how much the other seemed to understand him and his darkest thoughts. "A fresh start?" he echoed his brow furrowing as he studied the other boy.

Interacting with: @Mathias Pride
Mentions: @Calvon Faux, @Michael Miller

"And yet if there is no loyalty you'll fall apart just as quickly." Percival announced with a razor edged tone.

"Sounding like a true-spoken Hufflepuff" Mathias commented with a smirk. The sort of smirk that might earn him a back hand, if he got one he earned it. "Not that there was anything wrong with having a sense of loyalty, a modicum of respect for ones peers," Pride quickly added as he shrugged his shoulders. Well spoken for one so young. Loyalty was part of the issue actually, people simply abide. They fit themselves into narrow, pre-conceived molds. The cunning... the loyal... the smart... the brave..." They do not feel that they can be anything more than what they have been assigned. So limiting. So narrow. So utterly fucking dull.

"But, being loyal to the point you start acting stupid just means you won't have to worry about being loyal much longer," Mathias claimed. Regret was a hell of a thing. "Look, I am a shit-head, but that place was too dangerous for the adventure we got. Even with a Professor, some of our friends," yes he used "friends" but he did not mean the term but it was a word of endearment as he pretended this was a heart-to-heart "almost got themselves killed. I am not sorry about getting that Professor, we should never have been down there acting like Gryffindors." What brave, stupid boys they were. They could do better than they, they were both capable.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to understand something." Percival claimed as he looked at the strange wonders (books) that surrounded him. He was defending the choice, the dangerous one to explore at the expense of his peers. When there was nothing to be gained, he hardly left the first room.

"True," Mathias agreed, knowing full well that what he said was a lie. Understanding was a noble but outlandish request as humanity fails still to understand the most basic of things. Yet that is what one must do if they wish to master that element, wisdom was a commodity that he would sometimes fail to share.

There was something in the boy's tone, a clear indication that his heart was not in the acquiescence. "You cannot honestly say you have never wanted to understand something that you should have left alone?" Ah, he was still on about the dungeon, defending the near-death experience of his friends by stating it was in the pursuit of higher wisdom. A selfish ambition, but an ambition none-the-less. One that he was lagging behind in understanding as he filled the air with useless, half-truths and platitudes.

"The dungeons?" He clarified. Rainwood had a linear, single track mind. It actually confused the boy whose mind was a reflection of what he urged from Rainwood -- unbridaled, volatile chaos. "Not really," he admitted, answering the question. "But I guess I am being a bit of a shit," he conceded. A rare truth both might be able to agree upon. In truth that depended on how many fucks one gave. He did not mean his concession either but a win is a win in some books. He was a liar by nature, he was not a calm thinker but man he could pretend to be one if the situation called for one. It did not change his nature but he could play the part. Right now he was playing the role of 'concerned dormmate', chaos aficionado.

Ever read Faust?

"Faust, as in our dormmate? I'm fairly certain he is impossible to read." Not @Selim Faust the corpse-boy that somehow is animate in their dorms.

No, Faust as in the book" he asserted but waved his hand dismissively. Perhaps one day if he chose to be read they would have a rousing conversation about literature one that might enlighten him to matters at hand and what deals to watch for and exactly what a Faustian Bargain might be. Another time most certainly.

"Regretting is stupid." Percival now lied. He might not have known it was an untruth but it certainly was. He would have regret Faust dying. He would have regret if that pretty girl, while in his good-graces got too hurt. Sure when the girl moved on, as all fickle dames would, Winnie included he was certain, she would no longer be safe from the potentially violent teen's indignant rage. That's the problem really about regret, it creates limits. As long as there is something valued, something to lose, attachments and wants, there would always be barriers and limits.

"Sometimes we are not as smart as we like to think we are," Matt quipped Yet I do think you are full of regret," yes he was prodding, playing and testing waters still. Seeing what opportunities there was, what limits and what boundaries Percival would impose and which barriers Mathias could circumvent. "Not for the sins you had committed but for the ones you have not. The ones that you allowed to pass you by." He did not know about how he broke Calvin's ribs, how he burned Michael. Irrelevants really, people whose opinion or health hardly mattered. Whose pain was truly fleeting and insignficant,m much like if Percival decided to hurt him right now. Bruises heal. The terror might linger. The shame of being less brave than professed may stay with him, but in the end how much would change? Impulse can create a cascade effect in the threads of fate he so carefully observed, create variables unintended but without a plan it was just random chance and luck that granted them significance. There was a greater probability of a lasting impression if you follow the thread with a plan.

So hurt those irrelevants. Have you fun. What was the worst case? That he truly offended them. That they no longer wanted to know him. They they were too hurt. That they were secretly damned sickos and fetishized the pain. Not really Percival's problem in any of these cases. Feed their perversions or break them further, ignore them and move on, they could do nothing to him.

"Why would you want to help me? What could you possibly gain from this?"

A good question frankly. There was so much Mathias could gain from this. He was an agent of chaos himself. He breathed the wretched storm. Yet he liked to lie, he liked to survive because the man that wants the hole world to burn will eventually run out of things to burn.

Chaos, destruction and a fresh start on your terms

"A fresh start?" Percival repeated.

Yes, a fresh start. "Why not," Mathias goaded. "A new year, a new start. What is holding you back is not opportunity or ability, but rather cause. Without purpose you would never last, never get anywhere. The chaos a tragic waste," Mathias claimed. "But there are plenty of opportunities, we suffer the presence of muggleborns each year," Selim was not a muggle born. Why the hell did you think he was not going to let him die? "Fresh batch of newbies, so many of them don't have the right. We are inundated with half-breeds -- part giants, part Veelas, part goblins, dhampirs, werewolves, abominations." Two birds with one stone, an opportunity before the both of them. "We have plenty of half-breeds that we can blame for the terrors inflicted on those sad, poor muggleborns..."

| Outfit |

Percival scoffed as the other compared him to the yellow-bellied students of the Hufflepuff house. He was no coward just because he held value in remaining loyal, despite how some may view it as idiocy. His gaze slid away from the other boy to study the wooden table they sat at. It almost reminded him of a poor attempt at a barrier. Though, the more time he spent conversing with the younger boy. The more he began to wonder whether or not the barrier was for the red-haired boy or for him. Percival huffed at that notion. Sure, the boy had a sharp and quick tongue, but a tongue can't take out an opponent.

His gaze flicked back up towards the red-haired boy. A frown pulled at his lips as the boy brought quite too much logic into his words. Percival knew that their little adventure had been fruitless. It had started out so well before delving straight into unbridled chaos. He had barely made it into the dungeons before that gas had been released. Forcing them out in search of fresh unpoisoned air. In truth, the entire thing had ended up in a wash. Disappointment stung like salt in a fresh wound. His mind wandered towards the disheveled form of Selim. The boy had looked extremely worse for wear when he had gone to help Ileen and Pride. Maybe the other did have a point in garnering the attention of a professor. Even if the way he did it was quite stupid. "I think you have said it pretty well. You're a piece of shit, but I guess you do make a good point." he said as he studied the boy in front of him.

Percival's face scrunched up ever so slightly as the other claimed that Faust was a book. It seemed that the other no longer wanted to spend time the thought as he waved his hand in a dismissive manner. The boy's eyes narrowed as he listened to the boy continue the topic. Percival did not like the idea that he was full of regret. It soured the inside of his tongue and made him want to lash out at the boy in front of him. If only to just shut him up. The boy's jaw was clenched tight enough that he vaguely wondered if he could shatter his teeth from the pressure.

Though, Pride's next words brought pause to the boy's swelling anger. Percival had never been one to let opportunities slip past him. He hurt others around him. Lashing out in order to gain some semblance of emotional balance about him. It had made sense to him, but now. He began to wonder exactly how many opportunities had slipped past him while he waited on the extremes of his emotions to come into play. Pride seemed to understand him in a way that put him on a harsh edge. Was he truly that incapable of truly knowing what he had wanted? Percival would find no words to speak to the boy. His eyes are dark with thought as he studied the boy. When had the other been able to read him with such accuracy? Able to speak as if he knew exactly what he wanted in his life. Able to see him so clearly. It pulled him in as much as it pushed him away. He felt like a bug on display with a bright spotlight beaming down upon him.

There were no shadows for him to hide within.

Vulnerable.

Percival licked his lips, ignoring the stinging feel that was produced from his chapped lips. He had never enjoyed the feeling of being vulnerable. Most people shied away from the harshest features of his personality, but there was Pride eating up as if it was his favorite dessert. "Is this what you are doing? Giving me a purpose?" he asked his tone cautious. As he tried and failed, to keep the curiosity hidden from his tone. "I know what you speak of. I have seen them walking down the halls of Hogwarts." he answered after a few moments. It was not difficult to spot the half-breeds roaming about. They stuck out like a sore thumb. "It does not seem far of that they are the ones to blame." he said. The boy's gaze flicked up towards the boy a small smirk forming across pink lips. "You seem so sure of yourself. What do you suppose we do?" he asked.

Interacting with: @Mathias Pride
@Selim Faust

"I think you have said it pretty well. You're a piece of shit, but I guess you do make a good point."

...Accurate. He gave Percival a thin smile. He took it more as a compliment than a statement against his character. "I would not be nearly as interesting if I was one of the good old boys," he claimed, owning the title 'piece of shit' with a strange pride.

"Is this what you are doing? Giving me a purpose?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. That was half the story, afterall as Percival already admitted -- Mathias Pride was a true piece of shit. "Purposes are complicated things," he admitted. It was not like he was doling any of this out of the 'goodness of his heart.' He was getting something out of this also, "your purpose seems to coincide with my own. I don't foresee them diverting." A statement from an alleged Seer in fact. There was a sense of arrogant certainty from the boy.

Blood status would become a point of conversation.

"I know what you speak of. I have seen them walking down the halls of Hogwarts."

The school was rife with them in fact. An infestation that was ever-growing, weakening their legacy and supply.

"It does not seem far of that they are the ones to blame."

They were a convenient target. "The only thing worse would be muggleborns and squibs," he admitted. Filthy, disgusting, awful choices.

"You seem so sure of yourself. What do you suppose we do?"

"We get rid of them," he answered simply. The sort of removal that is more permanent than a martyr. "We can only get so far embarrassing them, pointing them down the wrong hall, pranking their things, beating them to a bloody pulp," he listed the usual knee-jerk options of a brute. "They heal, they become the victim, they gain allies, white knights and can mount a defense against a known villain," he explained. That was Mathias Pride's intended story, the one that was supposed to be a part of the main plot. "We can make them into the villains, break things, hurt people, have the fun we should... just in the end, we level the blame on the true villains." Yes a lie, but a truth from the narrative standpoint that they would leave them with.

There were a lot of things that they could do or make someone else do if given the time, the opportunity and the cruelty to consider. "Steal something and frame a muggleborn, a half-breed, a half-blood," he suggested. "Jump a halfblood or less in the dead of night and have a bit of fun before we send them off in a panic with no evidence." Simple stuff at first, at least until Percival gets a taste for things. "I am sure you have someone in mind," let's start there.

| Outfit |

Percival studied the boy's thin smile with his own equally thinned lipped one. No one in their dorm could be considered a good boy. Pride would fit in well despite how much of an annoying prick of a boy that he was.

The boy frowned ever so slightly at the other's dismissive answer. It seemed that Pride wanted to keep up his air of mystery. Percival nodded ever so slightly agreement clear over the other's words. "Purposes are never complete. They grow and shift with internal and external storms. I highly doubt we will be the same boys next year." he said a frown pulling at his lips. "Though these purposes we have seem more set in stone then others." More purpose that is."

Percival leaned in a tad as he listened to the boy speak. Pride spoke of their little plan as if it were nothing more than a chess game. Maybe that was how he truly felt about it. Though, Percival would be lying if he didn't know the other was correct. When he had hurt Miller it had been brutal, but..quick. Nothing more then a few moments to cherish. All too soon had the boys screams and tears faded into the background of his ever turning brain. The thought of being able to actually hurt someone and have it stick? It seemed almost too good to be true. "You mean for us to write our own story?" he asked a sly smirk barely curling at his lips.

The boy licked his chapped lips as he studied the other for a second. "You want me to do this alone?" he asked his brows narrowing ever so slightly. "I'm sure I can find someone suitable for your taste. Even within our own dorm." he said.

Interacting with: @Mathias Pride

Percival Rainwood was for all intents and purposes the 'perfect man'. shame this was a proclamation made by Mathias Pride rather than by some young woman or hopeful paramour. Percival was a wild beast that did nt want to think, he wanted to act. He had pent up aggression that required a release. The reasoning for it was not his burden or his concern, only his boon. Not that being simple-minded earned Pride's trust, Mathias could be fooled and his true intentions were something he kept closer to his chest and rather revealed the layers one by one. Allowed others to peel them back and see what they did with the newest revelation. Everyone has their limit, but loyalty can be bought for a price, earned for those with a sense of debt, making compliance a commodity that could be worked for and ultimately spent.

"You want me to do this alone?"

Percival would ask. Was this a suicide mission? No, it was not. That would be a waste of a perfectly good, even if a bit tarnished and not quite yet sharp sword. He shook his head side to side -- no. "I am looking for..." he needed to find the right descriptive word for what Percival was. "Like-minded individuals that possess the brawn I lack," a dangerous inclination to surround oneself with those physically more formidable than oneself but being clever was in a way a defense of its own.

"I'm sure I can find someone suitable for your taste. Even within our own dorm."

Mathias' brows raised with the offer slightly. Honestly, the dorm was full of the most efmininate young men he had ever seen, most of them could do hair and nails better than the girls in the opposing dorms he hypothesized. Percival was the meaty exception truly. "I don't think gossip and tears are that helpful in sewing physical chaos," Mathias commented. His mind on Michael Miller, Jack Burnett, even Flash Holmwood, a quidditch player so technically dorm 'jock' who could probably fit into his girlfriend's dress if he was so inclined. They were not the brawny sort, more the conniving and cunning kind. "Who?"

| Outfit |

Percival blinked at the boy a frown on his face as he studied Pride. He was not too sure if he appreciated the slow drawl in the boy's voice as he paused to think. It felt as if it were all mostly for show. An act to make him impatient or to keep him hooked on every word. Percival was not too sure which option it could be. Though, he found himself finding both options equally irritating. As the mere thought ground away at the think strip he called his patience. He found himself biting the inside of his cheek as he waited for the other boy to finally speak.

He found himself staring at the boy rather blankly as the other slowly but surely told him of what he was looking for. It seemed as if the other was walking around eggshells. Though, he found himself glad that the other was finally spelling it out. It made him wonder how much the other boy wanted him for him, and how much he wanted him for his brawn. His strength had yet to fail him. Not only on the field but in his day-to-day dealings. Being strong had its perks even if he wasn't the smartest in their dorm.

The boy blinked at Pride in slightly confusion before shrugging ever so slightly. "I guess you are right. Our dorm has a knack for dramatics." he said with a shrug. His mind flickering to the teary eyes of Miller and the constant, but endearing, dramatic nature of Hanako. Though, he highly doubted many people would agree with him there. "I am sure you could find a few more people who fit your qualifications. Though, I will leave that to you." he started off with a frown crossing his face. "I would not mind frightening or hurting a few here and there. As long as someone else falls for my actions." he said. Why should he care if some half-breed gets blamed for a few attacks? They were already an abomination to this world. What was wrong with a bit of cleaning up?

Interacting with: @Mathias Pride
Mentions: @Hanako Tone

What he wanted from Percival was simple. By now the teen should have noticed the farce that was Mathias Pride. Of course Percival had never seen the sickly, grey moments. What helped him overcome was always to overwhelm, to forget and to bury it beneath enough bullshit that nobody realized his mortality and fragility. That was the power of a lie. Something so small, so ordinary, something that has only as much power as one conjures trust.

Mathias was in the midst of such a ruse, a charade of confidence. He knew the power of words, of false confidence. It could stave even the most thoughtless of brutes. He did not fear the pain of fists or the sting of cruel words, anxiety is often deeper than the ephemeral, fleeting experience of such consequences. Yet there was more truth than lies in his words, sometimes a fallacy can be supported without a lie. The lie was the poise, the relative indifference and the presumptions one comes to when they see an event without context.

"That they are," dramatic that is. There was nothing wrong with it, even drama can serve as a tool. "Their ire for me is a greater boon than their love," for that very reason. He would excuse himself without saying so. They had like intentions, similar ambitions and ultimately they would have the same ends if he played his cards right. His lack of brawn necessitated creatures such as Rainwood. "A few he admitted," would fit his "qualifications." He did not know his dormmates intimately enough to know what hanako had done to Opeila Winters, had he Pride would be making an additional friend. "But I have a feeling that my peers resent me enough that I will never know who meets that criteria, so I would have to leave that to you."

He could not stay, give people the impression he had friends. That would only diminish Rainwoods ability to garner additional support.

| Outfit |

Percival scoffed as the other talked about the possibility of anyone in their dorm even remotely liking him. He was pretty certain Pride was tolerated and nothing more. Though, toleration did not seem to go far in their little dorm. "I don't think you are far from the truth. Ire is likely all that is left." he said. He knew for himself that is all that he had left for the boy. Even now he could not say he loved the boy. Though, his toleration had grown since the start of their conversation. The boy frowned as the other explained why he wanted him to be the one to take a look at their peers. Percival would eventually nod in his agreement at the other's request. "I'll see what I can do." he would say.


The conversation seemed to have finally lulled as the other began to turn away from him. A dark look would cross his eyes as he watched the other boy walk away from him. Today had truly not had gone how he had planned. His earlier idea of simple revenge had been thoroughly destroyed by the other's twisting words. He had been rendered immobile with nothing more than words. It was as if the other had placed a hex upon him. Though, he knew that it had all been due to what he had said. It was somewhat worrying how well the other had been able to read him. He would have thought the other could read minds if he wasn't younger than him. Percival bit of the inside of his cheek far too harshly. A metallic taste would taint the inside of his mouth at his rash decision leaving the flesh of his cheek raw. It seemed as if things were far from over between the two of them. He could ascribe it to the feeling of standing far too close to the cliff. One wrong step and he would fall to the jagged rocks below him. Yet, he would be lying if he said he hated it. A part of him could not help but be excited.

Interacting with: @Mathias Pride

End of Thread