Hiding in Plain Sight (Adara and Emilian)

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian snorted, "Understand me. I'm a sex addict, to quote a friend, what is there to understand?" He didn't want someone trying to understand him, it only made him look all the harder at himself, and that was one thing he didn't like to do. He didn't need someone wanting to be his friend, as long as he got his fix he was happy. Of course, it had been a while since his last fix.

[Adara Snow]

"If you want only sex, then go," Adara said. "You are beautiful, Emilian. You can find sex anywhere, I am sure of it. I want a companion, and a guide. I want to learn. If you go, I will seek companionship elsewhere." And she would have Emilian only in her journal, and it would have to be enough.

[Emilian Sota]

"Well," Emilian said, grinning, "I can surely teach you some things, we'd just have to get past this little barrier you have up." She couldn't blame him for trying, could she? "I could teach you wonderful things, if you'd just let me."

[Adara Snow]

"I will not give you sex," Adara reminded him. She could not help blushing again at Emilian's grin, her stomach fluttering at having finally brought him out of the unpleasant mood he'd been in. "But otherwise, I can see no better teacher than...an addict." She brought her gaze back to his, hoping that her boldness might help him see how much she meant her words. "Be patient with me, Emilian, that is all I ask."

[Emilian Sota]

"Had to try," Emilian said, shrugging, in response to her first words. Then he stared at her for a moment, thinking, "Why do you insist on this?" This meaning patience, meaning frienship, understanding, everything she had said during their conversation.

[Adara Snow]

Adara tilted her head again, curiously. "Why not? Perhaps I will not find things so frightening this way, perhaps I will learn to please you better." Perhaps she could discover why he behaved as he did. Perhaps she was the one who could save him from himself. That last she would never admit.

[Emilian Sota]

And it all came back to the whole pleasing him thing. If Adara wanted to please him, all she had to do was let him have her. "I don't get it, but alright, whatever." Emilian shrugged and moved to lean against the wall beside of her. He would go along with it, partly out of his own curiosity for what she planned on doing.

[Adara Snow]

Adara did not like his careless whatever, but smiled prettily all the same. "Then we are still friends?" she asked, glancing aside at him from beneath thick lashes. "I am glad of it. Others seem so very surprised by the questions I ask, but you seem to have as many as I." Her eyes sparkled, and her lips curved. It was ironic, considering how odd he thought her for wanting to understand him.

[Emilian Sota]

I don't recall ever calling us friends, Emilian thought, shrugging, but if it makes her happy then whatever. The thought surprised him, why he didn't just speak the words he didn't know. His eyes darkened at how she seemed to enjoy the fact that he was willing to go along with it. "You've not asked me anything overly surprising." Other than her questions about seeing him without a shirt, which hadn't really penetrated through the thoughts of being with her.

[Adara Snow]

"I haven't?" Adara thought about that for a moment. "Well, I suppose that bodes well for us, does it not?" She was beginning to wonder what things others had neglected to tell her, considering her complete lack of information concerning what was happening between herself and Emilian. She considered asking him, but decided that he would likely use it as another opportunity to suggest she simply comply with his wishes. "Does anything surprise you?" she asked him curiously.

[Emilian Sota]

"Yes." It was honest, she had surprised him, just not with her words, not the way she had thought she would. Emilian had been more surprised with the feelings that had come from her curiosity rather than the curiosity itself. In thinking about it, it didn't even cross his mind to tell her what exactly surprised him.

[Adara Snow]

Adara wondered, but he hadn't volunteered any more, so she did not press. "Do you enjoy surprises?" Adara, pleased with herself and their conversation, however stilted and one-sided it was, was watching Emilian, attempting to teach herself to regulate the warmth she felt when he looked at her. She paid no attention to the thinning crowds, as she had no class for another two hours.

[Emilian Sota]

Pulling himself out of his thoughts and looking over at her, Emilian raised an eyebrow and smiled, "That's all according to what kind of surprise it is." He assumed she'd catch what he meant. "There are some surprises I would love to experiance a few more times, actually."

[Adara Snow]

Adara returned Emilian's smile and inclined her head curiously. She sensed that there was something that he wasn't saying, and felt compelled to ask. "What kind of surprises?" Lulled into a feeling of security, Adara had closed her book, and held it now only until the next opportunity to stash it in the bookbag at her feet.

[Emilian Sota]

"Not the kind you're likely to give me." An image of him walking into the Room of Requirement, set up like it had been that one day with Lucretia, and seeing Adara lay out before him flashed through his mind, making his eyes sparkle. "Why did you ask?" Why would she want to know if he enjoyed surprises?