Elements (Dare/Emilian)

[Emilian Sota]

"Yeah, he's good." Emilian couldn't deny that Michael was good, though he thought Michael could have used his time better. "How do you know him?" he asked, wondering how much Dare knew about him. He tried to keep it casual, but he couldn't help the light tension that started in his chest when he thought about Michael, even if he no longer wanted him in the same way as before.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare glanced up again, fixed one intensely guarded look on Emilian, then lowered his head ever slightly as he turned back to his drawing, to finishing lips and working details into the face his mind saw so well. "School," he answered simply. He paused, gathering his words, then went on. "Met on the grounds." That was suitably vague. The edges of Dare's lips quirked, threatening to smile. He wasn't purposefully baiting Emilian this time, but he couldn't help thinking that it might sound that way.

[Emilian Sota]

"He always liked being outside," Emilian said, remembering all those days spent outside because that was what Michael had wanted, not because Emilian wanted to be outside. "How is he?" he asked before he could stop himself. He cut off abruptly and looked out over the cafe, not realizing how obvious the motion was. He remembered asking the same question of Pandora. The girl could read him too well for her own good.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Confused was Dare's first thought, and so he didn't answer right away. So much had happened in such a short time, and none of it was Emilian's business unless Michael chose to make it so. Dare looked up again, hoping to judge the intent behind the question, and stopped. There was so much repressed tension in the way Emilian held himself that it struck him, though he'd been the one to suggest it to Michael; Emilian did have feelings for him.

But what was he supposed to do about it? Set at ease the mind of a rapist? Comfort a true Purist that his old friend was all right? Dare didn't have it in him to be truly jealous of Emilian and the closeness he must have shared with Michael to draw a look like that into Emilian's eyes. Yes, they were close, they had shared things Dare would never get to share, and yes, that stung, but he had Michael now, if only a very small part of him.

"He's okay," Dare said at last, though the words felt like far more. They asked softly for understanding of something Emilian couldn't know about. They declared, through that softness, that Dare didn't feel like he should go on. Dare didn't look away now, didn't retreat to his drawing as he waited to see if Emilian would respond.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian just nodded, that was all he could really do without giving away more than he already had. It was probably selfish of him, he deserved it, but he wished that Michael would drop by, if only so Emilian could see him again. Michael didn't particularly like him at the moment, but they had been through so much, had been such close friends even though Emilian had wanted more intimacy.

His eyes glazed over as he went back into his memories, back before Michael had come to the damned school and changed, before Adara, before Savannah, before everything to when they both knew and trusted each other. Not that Emilian wasn't happy where he was, but he still missed his friend.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare watched the change come over Emilian's face, and wondered if he hadn't just been forgotten. He switched out his colors again, and though it seemed blasphemous, he didn't turn the page, but started a secondary drawing beside the first. He worked quickly, trying to capture before he got caught, trying to prolong the moment through silence.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian was happy to stay in silence, knowing that if he spoke he would probably say something he shouldn't. He looked back at Dare, at first thinking that he was still just drawing whatever it had been before, until he caught the glimpses that Dare was throwing him. It was still possible that Dare wasn't drawing him, but he doubted it, he still didn't say anything about it, though. He just turned away again, trying to pull himself out of the reverie.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The look he'd been capturing was beginning to fade already. Dare finished what he could of the eyes first, then went on to detail the rest, slowing as he did so, blending the pictures toward and into each other just enough to connect them. It was no longer a portrait, but a work of art on its own, or at least it was becoming one.

Dare let himself think again, let himself move outside the pure intake of visual information and the emotions behind it. He considered asking permission, now that the deed was nearly done, but thought better of it. Emilian seemed to prefer to leave things unspoken.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian had plenty of time alone in his store to think about everything, to remember. He looked back at Dare, opening his lips to ask a question. The words wouldn't leave, though, he couldn't bring himself to ask Dare to ask Michael to go down to the shop. "What house are you?" he asked, wondering how well he would know Michael, though the impression he got was that they were friends.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare glanced up again, more to see whatever was behind that question than for more detail, though it served both purposes. "Gryffindor," he answered, then turned back to his drawing. "But I haven't really talked to the other Gryffindors. Hufflepuffs either. Mostly Slytherins and Ravenclaws." He wondered what that question was for, what it had meant. Did it have to do with Michael, or had Emilian's thoughts moved on already?

[Emilian Sota]

"I was a Gryffindor," he said absentmindedly. He couldn't remember Michael having any Gryffindor friends, his girls were all Ravenclaws and his friends were mostly Slytherins. "Should have been in Slytherin, got on better with them." Not to mention he would have been with Michael, he was friends with both Pandora and Lucretia, though it could have been uncomfortable since Savannah was a Slytherin. He was trying to distract himself, pull his thoughts from their previous pattern.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare shrugged at that. "I get along with anyone worth getting along with," he said. Strangely, he seemed to be getting along with Emilian at the moment, though it was impossible to forget that sneer, and his impulsive need to prod against it. But then, there had to have been something Michael saw in Emilian, to have been friends with him beyond their parents' pushing.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian knew people like that, who got along with everyone. He could get on with anyone, or at least pretend he was. "I can if I care to." He was still fighting back thoughts of Michael, purposefully shoving thoughts of Adara to the front of his mind, instead. It resulted in a warm look entering his eyes, one that couldn't be kept out of his eyes even if he tried.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare glanced up again, and his gaze caught on that warmth and stuck. He began trying to think of ways to get Emilian to stay, just so he could draw him. He was easily as expressive as Michael, and strangely surprising. Warmth from Emilian? Dare abandoned his current drawing, considering it done for now, and flipped the page, hoping he could get away with just one more. "You don't often care to, do you?" he asked, trying to stay on whatever topic, whatever thought, had brought that warmth to the surface, trying to keep it there long enough.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian looked sharply back at Dare, all that stuck in his head was you don't often care. Probably because his mind was so full of the two people he did care about: Michael and Adara. It took a minute for the rest of what Dare had said to penetrate deep enough to understand what he meant, and his expression, while remaining sharp, lessened and the warm look was allowed to flow back into his eyes. "Not really, I see no reason to make these people want to be around me."