Coming Out

[Jory Addison]

Jory nodded, "You have a weird accent, like Ly-Trent's." He bit his lip and his eyes dropped. He really wasn't any good at the whole not being rude thing. "Sorry." But it was a weird accent, though. It wasn't like he was able to hear many foreign accents. He was familiar with all of the accents from the areas surrounding him, but past that he was clueless.

[Markise Sterling]

"I've heard it before," Markise said, brushing the comment off. "I'm from New York, but I went to school in California for years, so it's always weird," he said. He eyed Jory a moment. "If you're going to stay you should sit down. I don't bite," he said. If Ariel had anything to say about that, it would be in a completely different context, so it didn't count.

[Jory Addison]

Jory moved over to sit by Markise, glad to have been invited so maybe he could relax a little. "So why are you here?" he asked, sitting on one leg with the other pulled up in front of him. "Like, at Hogwarts?" California was a long way away, and why had Markise gone to school there if he had been from New York? Wasn't Lyric from New York?

[Markise Sterling]

For a moment, Markise's mind had taken a huge step in the wrong direction. Why are you here? He'd thought Jory meant why was he at the lake, and he'd been stunned a moment as he'd debated what to say. I'm escaping probable persecution. I'm waiting for my boyfriend to get out of class. He was saved the effort.

There was a moment's flicker in his eyes before he looked out over the lake, debating an entirely different response. But he didn't want to talk about it. That was too close to everything right now. "My parents pulled me," he said simply. "Me and my sister. She's a sixth year Gryffindor," he added, glancing aside. His eyes moved quickly back to the water. "I had a friend here, so we transferred." Had. When was the last time he'd seen Dare?

[Jory Addison]

"Oh, okay," Jory said, then turned his eyes out over the water. He hadn't spent a lot of time down by the lake, not nearly as much as he wanted to, but he knew that winter couldn't last forever and that next term he would be able to come outside soon enough. "Who's your friend?" he asked, though he doubted he would know the friend or the sister.

[Markise Sterling]

"His name is Dare," Markise said, wondering if the name would mean anything to Jory. "He lives in Diagon Alley. With his partner." He had to make himself add the partner bit. It wasn't something he'd have specified before he'd decided to come out. And he still didn't like Michael, even if he'd accepted him, and even if he'd mostly moved on from Dare. It wasn't until after he spoke that Markise looked aside at Jory again.

[Jory Addison]

"Really?" Jory asked, surprised. His eyes widened slightly as he turned his head to look at Markise. "I met him once. Said if I ever needed to talk to him, I could." He hadn't felt the need to hunt down Dare again, but it was nice to have the option. It was so strange how the people he knew came together like that, in a big circle.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise nodded and looked back at the water again. He couldn't imagine why Dare would say something like that, considering how much he'd never liked strangers, but then, there were a lot of things Dare did that he couldn't imagine. Getting married at seventeen, for example. "I haven't talked to him in a while," Markise said after a moment, hoping to push the topic of Dare aside.

[Jory Addison]

"Oh," Jory said, turning his eyes away again. He wasn't sure of what else to say. He rested his chin on his knee as he focused on the lake, glad there was no breeze to whip cool air around them. There were a few long moments where he was silent before he finally spoke again. "Do you get picked on?" he asked, flicking a glance over at Markise before focusing again on the lake.

[Markise Sterling]

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, and it was another shock, though he thought that he should have expected it. He swept his hand back through his hair, ruffling the curls slightly in the process. "Not where I grew up," he answered. "Not for this." No, when he'd gotten picked on, it hadn't been for his hair. It had been for his sexuality, though his looks couldn't have helped any. The last time he could really recall anyone saying anything about his hair was Ariel telling him how obvious he was on the train. Now that he'd lived here for a while, he knew it was true. "I've been blond since I got here," Markise went on, answering the unspoken question he could feel. Or at least one of them.

[Jory Addison]

Jory listened, glancing over a couple of times. "So you're either lucky or brave, or both." He didn't know what it was like in New York, so he wasn't aware that having colored hair would be considered normal. He was neither brave nor lucky, a fact that had always made him wonder how he ended up in Gryffindor. The decision to come out had been based on near-childish hopes.

[Markise Sterling]

God, he hoped he was lucky. Last year had been anything but. Last year it had been a victory not to just take a wand to his throat. And he wasn't brave. "I just like it like this," Markise said, tugging lightly at a curl. "I decided to stop hiding." Was that obvious enough? Was that enough of a confession that the guy would get to a point instead of sitting there beating around the bush? He didn't have the patience for subtlety anymore.

[Jory Addison]

"I tried," Jory said. "But the guys started picking on me about it. Not that I can hide it, anyway." He still wasn't hiding, but he wasn't wearing either of the shirts he had. The necklace stayed out from under his shirt, though, and he wore his bracelets and rings that he loved. He really wasn't any good at hiding, and he knew that. There were things he just couldn't help doing, like the way he sat. It felt so weird to sit like the rest of the guys did.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's lips pressed together in a line. It looked like DareandMichael hadn't gotten it out of the other students' systems. It had been a ridiculous hope, but at least he knew. And he and Ariel were already moved out. "If anyone picks on you, don't let them," he said after a moment. It was the best advice he had. "Learn to make a good shield." He was scared again, and he looked back up toward the castle, where Ariel was. He wanted to leave, to say never mind, but it was too late. He pulled a lock of soft, springy lavender down into his view. There was no taking it back, so he'd have to just deal with it.

[Jory Addison]

"I've been staying quiet and trying to stay away from them," Jory said. "I'm not really all that good with a wand when it comes to that kind of stuff." He'd get beat really easily if he tried to duel, or even if he tried to defend himself. "Do I really need to learn how?" he asked, looking over at Markise with worry in his eyes. He didn't want to have to worry about it, he hadn't thought it would be dangerous.