Goodbyes

[Adara Snow]

It was strange how he could look at her so intently, and yet so distantly all the same. Adara's nerves faded, even as Dare's eyes flickered over her. So she relaxed, and let her thoughts wander. She kept her gaze dutifully on Dare's face, but thought of Emilian, thought of how warm his cool touch made her feel, then blushed and attempted to shift her thoughts again.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was watching intently as the light in Adara's gaze shifted, and his hand moved faster across the page trying to keep up. But it was no use, the blush was fading even as he began collecting his colors to begin filling in blocks. He didn't want her to move, but if he could get her to talk for a short time, maybe he could direct her thoughts enough for her to stay with them.

Dare jumped straight for the obvious conversation starter. The last time she'd spoken about it, he'd seen an immediate spark in her eyes, but he suspected that it was where she'd left off was where he wanted her thoughts to be. "Tell me about the masquerade," he suggested. "You danced with Michael?"

[Adara Snow]

Adara blinked, pulled immediately from her thoughts at that question. "Yes," she replied. She had told Dare about that the day by the lake, though not in any real detail. "I met him in the entrance hall, and we spoke as we danced, then retired to the gardens for a bit."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare made an indiscriminate sound, made a few short sweeps of pastel against the page, then glanced up again. "What did you talk about?" he asked, almost absently. He was interested, but he was almost entirely absorbed in drawing. At the moment, the conversation was simply buying time until he was ready to add detail to her face, until he was ready to push the conversation so that she blushed again.

[Adara Snow]

Adara thought for a moment before replying. "We spoke of one another and ourselves, mostly," she said. "It was strange speaking of such things with the distance of the mask. Or perhaps it only seems that way now." After all, she had spoken with Emilian more than once using the barrier of her story between them. "Either way, it was words that Michael spoke--that Jack spoke," she corrected herself, her lips curving softly, "which made me realize..." Adara trailed off at that. She couldn't possibly say the words, not when she had not even said them to Emilian. "Well, his words were most helpful," Adara finished, hoping that Dare wouldn't ask.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare didn't ask; his mind was still on his drawing, on shades of pale yellow and rose that would meld into a perfect flesh tone. He would be drawing her face soon, so he decided to shift the conversation ahead. "It was about Emilian?" he clarified. "You don't have to tell me," Dare said, flicking his gaze up to Adara's eyes, then back down to his page. "You said you met him in the gardens, too?" She'd mentioned they went to the gardens and said nothing more about it, but he was trying for a certain reaction. Dare switched out some of his colors.

[Adara Snow]

Adara blushed vividly at the rush of memories, visual and physical, that assailed her at that question. It took quite a bit of effort to return her gaze to Dare's after a reflexive glance away, and even more not to chew her lip. Her thoughts had already been on the romantic aspects of her relationship with Emilian, and so at the mention of the gardens--the mention of herself with Emilian in the gardens--it was no leap at all to think of the more intimate, physical aspects.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Well, it had certainly gotten her to blush. Maybe that had worked a bit too well. Dare blinked at the thought that he probably didn't want to know what had happened in the gardens if she was unable to even speak at the thought. He pulled out a light lavender-blue and began working it into shadows. Dare didn't say anything else, but let the silence stretch, worked on larger details while he waited for her own train of thought to bring her back to the expression he wanted.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's thoughts simmered after a time, as she thought over their return to the ballroom, their last dance and her first night spent entirely in Emilian's bed. Dare was quiet, and so she allowed herself to daydream. She watched Dare without seeing him, her gaze faraway as she pictured every moment in detail.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

It was exactly the look that Dare wanted. Lips slightly parted as she lost herself to dreams, dark eyes watching the viewer, but deep in some unknown thoughts. Just a hint of the blush that brought that...territorial look to Emilian's eyes. Dare was careful with each detail, drawing eagerly after having so little creative outlet the past weeks, but not rushing himself. He was fading out the surrounding patterns, surrounding her in white, both to save himself time, and because it just seemed right. The entire drawing seemed to fall together perfectly.

When he was finished, when every stroke of cream and brown, gray and red, was laid to paper, Dare paused and looked at it for some time. He didn't know how long he'd been drawing, but he knew that this wasn't going to get any better. "Do you want to see it?" Dare asked Adara, drawing his gaze up to her again.

[Adara Snow]

Adara nodded, only recalling as she sat that the top of her dress was open. She blushed, then brought her hands up, fastening the buttons quickly, then smoothing the skirt of her dress down. She shifted toward Dare on the couch, then leaned over, pausing at the drawing on the page. She saw herself, nothing truly unusual, but...what was it? Was it that her dress was open? What was it about her eyes, her face? It did not occur to her that she rarely looked at herself beyond dressing in front of a mirror, and that the expression on her face would be different then from when others looked at her. "It is very nice," Adara said, straightening, then turning to look toward the bedroom door. "I do hope that he likes it."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"So do I," Dare said in a long breath. It was an understatement and a half. He was under risk of a beating even if Emilian did like it. He didn't want to imagine the state of his corpse if Emilian hated it. He was putting a hell of a lot of faith in the fact that Emilian seemed near obsessed with Adara. Maybe he'd be too busy looking at it to think of a good hex. Dare had a moment's thought about just leaving the drawing with Adara, taking Michael and running, but he knew he couldn't. He'd drawn the picture, and he'd take responsibility for it.

Dare pushed to his feet, turning to set the drawing on a table. One of the few charms he had entirely perfected was one to protect the surface of the drawing. When the charm was complete, he turned to put the chair back where he'd gotten it, staring at it a moment to be sure he'd gotten the positioning perfect.

[Adara Snow]

Adara chewed her lip a moment, sensing some of Dare's discomfort. Her gaze shifted to the closed bedroom door again, and she paused, then released her lip to speak. "Do you think that we should interrupt?" she asked. She wasn't at all sure what Emilian and Michael were doing after all this time, and wondered that Emilian hadn't come out to see what they were doing.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked up from the chair, then. It wasn't getting any straighter. "I think so," he answered. Emilian had more or less been ushered out, and if Michael was still in there after all this time, Dare figured he'd welcome an interruption. "I'll go," Dare volunteered. He didn't know if he was hoping to just get Michael and run, or if he wanted to just have out with whatever of their earlier...issue...was left, but for some reason, he hoped Adara would just stay put.

[Adara Snow]

Adara nodded. "All right, I will wait." Perhaps, just perhaps, she hoped that she might look at the drawing again, and that another look might answer her questions as to what it was about it that seemed so strange to her.