To Join, or Not to Join? PV Hanako Tone Closed

[font=PT Sans]Verbal words were never something Hana was particularly good at. Insults, shameless flirt, and hyperbole-ed tea spill was easy. Anything other than that was another story. That rarely stopped him from saying what he wanted to though. But this was a different case.

Today was the day he was going to quit one of his clubs. A day that should’ve been celebrated as a national holiday due to the amount of happiness it brought to him. Once the news that the A.S.C lost their previous owner reached Hana’s ear, that could only mean one thing. That he was right. He was right all along.

Odd. It was ultimately odd that he was right. Right? Hana was never right. Being right feeled like he encroached on an unknown territory he wasn’t supposed to be in. But it should’ve been exhilarating. Don’t get him wrong, he was ecstatic. But it only burdened him that he was not as ecstatic as he should be.

The first time the A.S.C formed, it didn’t work out after a few months and the first owner called it quits. The 2nd time, it got interesting. It was when Hana joined with intentions to see the club fall once more. This showed more promise, and yet you couldn’t escape the ending. Hana was no seer, but he saw it coming. And good riddance! The juniors in the club were rats. Conniving scheming rats that ambushed a respectable senior such as him and forced him to wear a heavy kimono. It was hell. An uncompensated horrible experience he deserved justice in.

Which is a main reason as to why Hanako wasn’t sure he'd convey his decision on quitting the A.S.C verbally without demanding emotional compensation in a fit of anger. Therefore he wrote a letter.
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With this, he could easily slip away without wasting another ounce of energy. Satisfied, he grabbed the parchment and began to make his way to the club meeting room. He had a solid plan. Slipping this thing under the door should suffice. Or if he wanted to be more respectable, he could seek out other club members to send his letter for him. Unfortunately, there was no living member that he didn’t want to wrangle at first sight. [Akari Kato], and he wasn’t close enough to the other members to trust them to deliver it no problem.

While contemplating ways to send the letter, a certain sight made him stop dead in his tracks. With a mischief grin growing on Hana’s face, he folded his resignation letter and hid it in his pocket. Surely, he had extra time for a little bit of time, right? With that in mind, he carefully walked behind Avery hoping not to alert him. (You can choose to roll avery’s awareness or just be spooked no problemo lol)

“ And here we have Sir Nerd in his natural habitat” he spoke gleefully once he was right behind the boy. “ Now let’s see what he’s doing right now. As you can see here, Sir Nerd is putting up posters. With flyers and thumbtacks in hand, he proudly shows their flyers hoping some bored sorry soul stumbled upon them and listens to what they had to say. Typical nerd behavior, very normal. And what might those flyers be out? Well, it’s about the-” now that he had read the flyer that had just been freshly stabbed into an unmoving state on the board, his voice visibly faltered. “ Asian…society club?”

True to the bold lettering it presented, the flyer was promoting the name of a club that was all too familiar to Hana, making him step back, hoping to see a mirage of some sort. That never happened. “ You’re taking over the A.S.C?” Hanako looked puzzled, finally locking eyes with the nerdy-est of all. “ You gotta be kidding, right?” he said more to himself.

Wait- but this was a good thing then. Hanako didn’t have to jump through hoops to send his resignation letter. He could just pass it along to this kid, and he’ll call it a day. He wondered how bruised his ego would be. Imagine starting up a club and having someone resign on the same day you’re promoting it. That must’ve done some big emotional damage. Or perhaps relief would be a better emotion to assume.

He and Avery were not on the best terms. Well, Hana hoped they weren’t. Other than cat’s, Hana made a very clear statement that he was allergic to nerds as well. And having a dorm mate like Avery, who did hot-pot parties and whatnot, was a nerd. The term Nerd was special to Hana. Mainly, it refers to people who joined the Severus Snape Dorm without possessing the silent requirements. Where were Avery’s parental issues? His teenager angst? His need to ruin other peoples' day just because he’s emotionally unstable? C’mon. Avery Chen was the perfect definition of ‘Nerd’ in Hanako’s book. So it wasn’t right of Hana to treat him warmly with open arms, thus making their first meeting rather heart racing. The joy of introducing snakes to people who were terrified of them certainly was exhilarating. Although he had doubts that Sir Nerd understood that being ‘not nice’ was Hana’s intention all along, it wasn’t his job to make sure Avery understood. The main point was that Hana could have some fun whenever he interacted with the 1st year.

This is why the last thing he’d do right now is to hand in his resignation letter. Why make him feel relieved that he lost a member like Hanako? Now that’s no fun at all.

“ Don’t tell me no one told you about The Curse of The A.S.C, right?” He asked innocently, feeling the resignation letter in the pockets of his school robes grow heavier. “You don’t have a lot of friends, do you? Because if you had some really good ones, I doubt you’d look so happy putting up those flyers~. But hey, good thing you have your buddy Hana here, huh? Just say the word and I’ll share what I know about the curse~. Really might save a lot of your time, you know?”
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@Avery Chen

As he bent over to pick up the rest of his materials, a trademark sing-songy voice greeted him from behind. "Whoa!" he called out, not expecting someone to approach from that angle, and certainly not the owner of such a dreaded voice. What was Hanako Tone doing, admiring his buttocks as he bent over, or something?? The small boy snapped back upright in a frenzy, and turned to the upperclassman in shock.

And what was that? Did he just address him as 'Sir Nerd'? That was the first he'd heard that nickname said out loud and addressed at him. Avery pursed his lips and frowned as the listened to Hanako describe his 'nerd' behavior to him, finally realizing for the first time that the third-year actually was mean, and he was a pain, and Avery wasn't just imagining it. He was like a whiny little fly that buzzed louder every time you swatted at it. Hell, Hana probably planned for his snake to attack him in the common room after all! And he probably even lied about the time when looking at his invisible watch, just to run away without fixing Hilda's broken device!

He watched as Hana's words trailed off after reading the lettering on his posters. “You’re taking over the A.S.C? You gotta be kidding, right?” The boy's dark eyes locked with Avery's own, and Avery could see the shock and bewilderment reflected within them. "...Yes?" he replied uncertainly, not quite sure why Hanako was so surprised. Did he have some personal experience with the club? "I'm the ASC's new president," he explained proudly. "I saw that the previous owner stepped down, so I picked it up! I'm going to get lots and lots of people to join, and maybe host a cool event in the spring!" At this, Avery beamed, eyes glistening with excitement and the prospect of hosting a gloriously fun event for the students of Hogwarts to learn about Asian culture. He had a couple great ideas in mind already -- all he needed was more people to join, decide what they all wanted to do, and to help out.

In his excitement, he couldn't help but say, "Hey, Hana, you should join the club! I could really use someone who's like, an expert in Japanese culture." But, just as he blurted it out, he began regretting it. Did he want Hanako Tone in the ASC, though? To hear that whiny, sing-songy voice buzzing in his ear more than necessary, telling him about his nerdiness, and probably trying to undermine his leadership every step of the way? Too late. The words were already out of the bag, and he couldn't possibly backtrack on his offer, could he? What kind of unwelcoming club president would he seem like, then? Avery could only offer a half-hearted smile after that, as he winced inwardly at his impulsive mistake in speaking too eagerly.

“Don’t tell me no one told you about The Curse of The A.S.C, right?” The Curse of the ASC? That sounded like a very legit thing, the way Hana spoke about it with such aplomb, as if the phrase had capital letters. Avery's smile dropped, replaced by a look of slightly worried interest. Well, if there was such a thing, Avery should probably know about it. "Curse?" he asked, half-skeptically. Was Hanako pulling his leg with a joke again? First, the idea that their dormmate used knives to stab people, and now this? But Avery, being muggle-born, often doubted whether he knew enough to tell fact from fiction whenever it came to magic, since he was still very new to it all. What if there really was a magical curse of some sort?

"I have lots of friends," Avery stated defiantly. How could Hanako possibly think otherwise? That rascal! Avery had always considered himself to be a bit more on the likeable and popular side, after all. "Well, I think I have more friends than you, at least," he added, blinking his widened eyes slowly, feigning innocence. He had said it plainly and simply because that's what he thought, and the boy certainly had no filter. "But, if you want to redeem yourself and at least make an ally, how about you tell your buddy Avery about the curse?" he asked with a small, pleading grin on his childish face. "Come on, you've got me interested already, and I know you like spilling tea!" he encouraged Hana eagerly.

It’s interesting how something with no similarities could look so the same with just 1 thing. Hanako was not at the same place he met Kazuo. The A.S.C fliers were incredibly different. In place of the Hufflepuff, there was a shorter, meekier, 1st year Slytherin. But there was no denying it. He was right back where it all started. His involvement with the A.S.C. It was odd to sense nostalgia when there shouldn’t be.

And this time, behind him was a resignation letter in hand, and a clear goal in mind. His resignation letter nor his goals ever intended to stay long. However, Hana found himself intrigued enough to stay after Sir Nerd asked more about the curse. It shouldn’t hurt to prolong the inevitable, right? Hanako mercifully chose to ignore that little jab at him about not having friends and being a gossiper (both were true tbh) and continued; “

“ Well, since you asked so nicely, b u d d y- I’ll indulge you in some tea. For starters, what did you say earlier? Something about getting loads of people to join and making events and all? Did you know the previous owner said the same thing? Same with the previous previous owner. They all said the same thing. Do you see where I’m getting at” Hana made a *poof* sound and lazy jazz hands. “ G o n e they go. Sure, they may have done more than a few things, but they all shared the same fate. Within a year, you’ll see the A.S.C needing a new head to take over it. The first one could be a coincidence, of course. The 2nd time, people started getting more suspicious. And the third..” Hana took a step back with a questioning stare, and looked Avery up and down (hopefully this time without his arse in the way). “Hmm, I don’t know Chen. Do you feel like dissolving into water vapor, little mermaid style? Have you seen weird hallucinations lately? A hoarse voice in your head telling you to ‘ leave Hogwarts and never return~?”

His throat felt ticklish from his attempt at a ghoulish voice, and he felt rather silly waving his fingers like that. But what is Drama without Hana? Regardless, he didn’t stick to this persona long and retracted his hands with a slight chuckle. “ You see what I’m trying to say here, Sir Nerd? They say if you take up this job, you're doomed to fail. Now that you know this, wouldn't it be wise to take down those posters now? If not, I’ll be happy to share the story of your descendant towards madness, though. ~” He smiled, curiously observing whatever Avery’s reactions may be.

Chen, from what Hana had seen- didn’t have much uh– spine. If a teeny wheeny snake scared him, surely talks of a cursed club would? He felt as if he should be happy with that in mind. Then he wouldn't need to waste extra energy on sending in his resignation letter. But no matter how ignorant he’d like to be, there was an odd tickle in his chest that was rather unpleasant. It was good this club was shutting down. Yea, he just needed to assure himself that.

@@Avery Chen

It seemed that Hanako was eager to get the tea started, without too much prompting at all. So much so, that he even mercifully let slide the cheeky comment that Avery made about having more friends than Hanako. Just as well!

Avery listened with rapt attention as the older boy began his story. It seemed like the previous ASC owner had the same intentions as Avery: bringing in lots of members, hosting fun events, introducing the culture to new people. However, at the *poof* that Hanako made with jazzy hands, Avery gasped, unconsciously bringing a hand to his mouth. "No waaay," he said silently, eyes wide. "Do kids just disappear at Hogwarts, sometimes?" It almost seemed believable, the way that magic seemed to work in mysterious ways, and their campus was certainly full of magic. To be sure, he hadn't seen their dormmate Matt Gray or Matt Pride in a while. A disappearance of Matts. Was Avery Chen really next?

So, did he feel like dissolving into vapor? Was he hallucinating recently? Any weird voices in his head? Avery paused to think for a while, reflecting back on his past few weeks at Hogwarts. And the answer was, yes. In fact, yes to all of those.

"I don't know, Hana," he began slowly, thinking hard. "Some days, I just feel like, really tired. So tired that I can hardly play violin anymore, especially after quidditch practice. It's like as if my hands aren't working." He stared at his left hand, which usually was so fast down the fingerboard of his instrument, but recently seemed to miss its notes. Was it from dealing with hard-thrown quaffles and batted bludgers, or was it something else -- more magical and cursed? "And then, other times, I think I hear tinkering in the basements. Like a hammer thudding against a surface, material ripping, and some weird muttering and heinous laughter." His eyes widened in surprise at the words that he actually spoke, which somehow made the experience seem more real, like an admission. Was he really hallucinating? Little did he know, one of their masked dormmates had a workshop there, and a maniacal hand-puppet called Aku...

Did he hear a hoarse voice telling him to leave Hogwarts, and never return? "And yes, I've heard a voice telling me to leave Hogwarts, too. It comes to me in my dreams, sometimes. Usually it's when I dream of my parents telling me that I should go back to regular muggle school and quit Hogwarts; quite a nightmare, really." Avery almost shuddered here. He did love Hogwarts, and leaving would make him seem like a failure. "They just keep saying that this magical nonsense will get me nowhere, and they're so disappointed in how badly my violin practice is going, and my grades aren't good enough for me to stay at boarding school. They just want me where they can helicopter parent me, you know?" He didn't even realize he was probably telling Hana more than he needed to -- things that could very well be used against him by an upperclassman who didn't like him very much, anyway. But, Avery was much more concerned about his myriad of symptoms at this point. His eyes snapped back towards Hanako's. "Does all that sound like what the previous two ASC presidents experienced, if you know?" Was he on the path to disappearing from The Curse of the ASC, if that actually was a thing? Part of him was almost inclined to believe The Curse at this point.

Perhaps Hana would be wise to consider storytelling as a side job. It was either he had talent in making stories immersive, or Avery fell for things too easily. Both seem very plausible. But still, Hanako seemed very pleased by Avery’s reactions as the story went on.

"No waaay," he said silently, eyes wide. "Do kids just disappear at Hogwarts, sometimes?"

“Of course~. Not enough to be a concern for the adults, but just enough for you to know if you dig deep enough” He wasn’t lying about this at least. They weren't enough relevant for Hanako to know the reasons for their disappearance. They could’ve just switched schools or going through a mental crisis for all he knew. Avery didn’t need to know this specific detail.

However, this would be the last of Hanako’s glee. What came next caught him so off guard that his overly-confident demeanor faltered immediately.

Chen started out innocently enough with his hands unable to do anything. Typical burnout or whatever, not that Hanako would understand. And then he started talking about basements and suspicious noise. Innocent enough. A lot of his dormmates had weird activities. Hanako was convinced some of them are nocturnal or something, never sleeping and all. * cough* selim faust *cough*.

It was what came next that made Hana’s eye widen in surprise. Desperately, he held back telling Chen to shut up the more he went on. With Hana’s trusted nose, he could smell uncomfortable emotions incoming and he wanted to have none of it. Hello? Who gave you permission to share parent issues?! This was not where Hanako expect the conversation to ever go.

Avery did a wonderful job at making Hanako distraught. Apart from cats and Percival’s side of the room, there was one thing Hanako abhored above all:

Sharing mommy/daddy issues.

Hana had enough of that, he didn’t need anyone else dumping it all on him. There are so many other people who had energy to deal with this, but him? Thank you, next. Why Avery interpreted Hanako’s jest as an opportunity to share his emotional distress was beyond him. Frankly, he felt insulted by Chen’s response. Hanako would rather be slapped or screamed at than … whatever this was.

"Does all that sound like what the previous two ASC presidents experienced, if you know?"

It took a long second for Hanako to snap back to his senses, realizing Avery talked. He almost sighed in relief that Chen stopped talking, period.

“Yea yea of course!” he tried not to falter from his previous dazed state. Right, he was supposed to convince Chen against taking over the club. His earlier response was… unpredictable, but Hanako still had a job to do! “See! You said it yourself~. You seem to be experiencing the symptoms already. Save yourself when you can, Chen. This curse shouldn’t be taken lightly.” he attempted to look concerned (how good it is can depend on you).

@@Avery Chen

Every day, Avery seemed to be learning more and more about this school of Hogwarts: Students that disappeared? Club curses? People getting stabbed? Spider curses? The list seemed to go on and on, and all of them seemingly true. It was all quite overwhelming for the small boy.

“Yea yea of course! See! You said it yourself~. You seem to be experiencing the symptoms already. Save yourself when you can, Chen. This curse shouldn’t be taken lightly.” At Hana's confirmation that he had, indeed, very surely, been cursed by the The Curse of the ASC, Avery turned a bit pale. The concern in Hana's voice was quite obvious, as if Avery should certainly get this looked at by a professional. Perhaps Avery had been wrong about Hanako Tone, in thinking that the boy was only trouble, and merely fake-nice, but here he was, concerned for Avery's well-being. Why was he such a confusing person?? Hot and cold, really.

"Oh, yeah, um, maybe I really should," Avery began, suddenly a little more worried than usual, his bright and cheery countenance gone. There was certainly more to lose if this curse was real, and who knew what the limits of magic were? Avery Chen, muggleborn, surely didn't. "Thank you for your concern, Hana," he thanked the older boy. "I know I can always rely on you for the deets."

Somehow, putting up ASC posters didn't seem like such a pressing matter anymore. If there was anything getting in his way and the club's success, he needed to take care of it, asap. "Hana, I'm going to go to the hospital wing and talk to a healer about the curse right now, just to see what they have to say, and because I really want the club to succeed. I'm really looking forward to having you join the club! Thanks for taking interest! We're going to have so much fun, meeting new people interested in various cultures, maybe even setting up a little festival with great food!" Here, a little bit of his previous excitement shone through again, despite the curse scare. "For me, at least, I think it'll be a great chance to get back in touch with my cultural roots. It's sometimes hard to stay proud of my Chinese roots when I'm so far away from my family's old home country, but that's exactly what we want to celebrate at ASC!"

With that, he gathered up his pins and posters, and waved to Hana. "See you at the meeting!" he hollered, before speed-walking to the Hospital Wing to get some professional advice on how to get rid of The Curse of the ASC.