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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 19:49:07 GMT -5
Emilian was watching Dare again, Michael must have made quite the impression. He shifted, leaning his forearms on the table and hunching over slightly. "So you're not with him often?" was what he settled on. He was only prying because he hadn't seen Michael since...since before the fight. That was what he convinced himself, he was with Adara, he was happy with Adara, he just wanted to know what Michael was up to, and Dare was a connection.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 19:56:41 GMT -5
Dare glanced up at Emilian, and his gaze stuck. There was no avoiding it this time, was there? He let out a long breath. "Whenever we meet up," he said. "Then we just...hang out or something until we've got to go. Or something...nice disclaimer. But it was the until we've got to go bit that was telling, if Emilian was looking. It was true; they were together until they had to part. Maybe a little unusual for male friends, but it was the truth.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 20:06:19 GMT -5
Or something? What else was there that hanging out didn't cover? Emilian's hands clasped together in front of him and he continued watching. He was reading too far into it, he knew it. "Does he go to the forest as much as he used to?" he asked, wanting to both pursue the topic and run from it. He still had feelings for Michael, even if they were much subdued and changed from how they used to be.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 20:14:12 GMT -5
Dare jumped on that as a safe topic. "Yes," he said gratefully. "He's apparently got the whole thing mapped out, or at least enough spots that he can find one to be alone at." Or semi-alone. "I've still only been in the once, haven't really decided to settle on one spot." Dare was still off-kilter, just from that one comment about Michael not being into guys, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to get back into that mischievous mood he'd been in when Emilian had first sat down with him.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 20:20:31 GMT -5
"Yeah, he likes being out there, I never really understood why he liked being outside so much," Emilian said, telling himself it was safe to speak of Michael as a friend. "I'm sure if you hang out or something with him often enough you'll know just as much about the forest as he does." He still wondered, he was interested in how close the two were. If he went by Dare's words they barely knew each other, but if he went by his actions, it said something much different.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 20:31:31 GMT -5
Emilian's inflection on that one specific phrase was unmistakable. Even if he hadn't put any specific interpretation to it, he'd picked up on it. Dare's lips curved, but without any real humor. "It's probably about the freedom of solitude," he said, choosing to acknowledge Emilian's first comment. "The corridors are always crowded, and the forest is just...open without being exposed, dark and light at the same time. Quiet, but not dead quiet." Or at least, that was the way he'd seen it. Dare looked down at his notebook again, but after a moment, flipped to a new page. He stared at it a moment, trying to sort through his thoughts enough to pick something to draw.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 20:39:39 GMT -5
"I always figured he was just trying to run, always kind of pissed off his mom and dad when he'd run off." Other than that he hadn't got it, Emilian had always preferred company, the feel of sitting in a nice old chair with a glass in his hand. "Soren would always send me out to find him." A flash of the tall, stern man went through Emilian's mind, he had always disliked Michael's father.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 20:48:50 GMT -5
Soren? Dare didn't know the name, but it was easy to figure out. For the first time, Dare actually felt how much he didn't know about Michael. He felt envious, of Emilian, of all he'd shared with Michael. God, he hadn't seen Michael since the masquerade, didn't even know where they stood anymore, and he missed him. Dare looked down at his notebook again, though he wasn't seeing it. He was seeing a moonlit garden and an unfamiliar face with familiar eyes.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 21:01:55 GMT -5
Emilian tilted his head, wondering at the reaction. He stayed silent for a moment. Did Dare have feelings for Michael? No, but perhaps....Emilian didn't know, he couldn't tell for sure. Or perhaps he could tell perfectly well and just refused to admit it. "I'd find him up in a tree half the time," he mused. He didn't want to fall into a silence again, but wasn't quite ready to up and leave, he had a feeling like he needed to know something.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 21:09:19 GMT -5
Dare blinked, then looked up at that. His eyes found Emilian's. "He climbs trees?" he asked, eyes lightening just a bit at that thought. "Did he draw up there?" It'd be funny, considering how often Dare had done that same thing, albeit for different reasoning. The second drawing in his notebook was a view from a tree, actually. Dare worked to push aside his worry and any lingering thoughts of the garden, with little success.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 21:16:38 GMT -5
"Sometimes," Emilian said, raising an eyebrow as he met Dare's eyes. "Sometimes he was just up there, though, before his seventeenth when he couldn't have his wand he couldn't always carry his book with him. He could only stand being thrown at girls for so long." He smirked, Michael could deal with the dancing, so long as it was on his terms, but after a couple of hours he'd leave.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 21:24:49 GMT -5
"He doesn't have any luck with girls," Dare said softly, musing aloud with Michael's own words. He looked out into the shop now, rather than down at a blank page or Emilian's too-curious eyes. He wanted to say he'd heard about the balls, but that would only bring things back to blood purity, or rather, his lack thereof, and Dare wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now. So he tried to change the subject. He gestured for the girl at the counter to bring him another drink.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 21:33:58 GMT -5
"He had luck, he just wasn't as interested in what came after meeting them as I was," Emilian said, watching Dare. He didn't care for another drink, he was in the mood for something that definitely wasn't coffee. "He could have had any girl he wanted," he said, shrugging. He flashed a smile at the girl that brought Dare his drink, more of a habit than anything else. "He just didn't want to." Saying it in the company of a guy that was apparently closer to Michael than he let on sounded so different than just thinking it did.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 20, 2008 21:43:29 GMT -5
Dare gave another noncommittal shrug and took a long drink of his coffee, letting the heat spread bracing warmth throughout his body. He didn't know what to make of Emilian's statement. Michael was obviously into girls, and it wasn't saying much that he wasn't as into them as Emilian, all things considered, but his Michael-starved mind was trying to make more of it, trying to convince him that Michael just hadn't found his niche in the traditional world any more than he had. It was too easy to wax poetic about the whole thing. "He's just...I don't know. Used to being alone, maybe. Because he prefers it, yeah, but...you get past that..." And that's what Dare had done, wasn't it? Gotten past that initial resistance to company? That had to count for something.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Jun 20, 2008 21:55:48 GMT -5
Emilian noticed the slightly choppy way Dare was speaking, it almost made him accept his previous thoughts, even if he hadn't allowed them to manifest. "So you're close to him," he said, softly, not even close to being a question. His hands tensed lightly on the table, the scars on his left hand stretching uncomfortably, it could have healed much better than it did. His eyes fell down to his hands.
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