piece by piece (Dare)

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyes jumped to Anna's again. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna talk to him, but if you're his friend, I mean... You should talk to him." Dare had no idea how close Markise and Anna were, and he didn't know Anna very well at all, but it was hard for him to imagine a friend pretending... Dare stopped himself at that thought. His gaze had dropped and it unfocused as his mind slipped to the not-so-distant past. It had been weeks between the time Michael had first confronted him to that night he could hardly remember.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna didn't know what all was going on in Dare's head, but she was grateful that he didn't want her to try and pretend like she didn't know. "Thanks, it means a lot. I don't think I would've been able to let him just leave without talking with him about it." She couldn't imagine life at Hogwarts without Markise keeping her company. It seemed like a completely different lifetime before he'd come along and she didn't want to go back to not having him there. "It almost wouldn't be worth coming back here." She mumbled quietly.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare wasn't so lost that he couldn't hear, and his gaze rose, focusing again as he looked at Anna, silently appraising. He didn't want to guess at how close Anna and Markise might be, but on Anna's part at least, it sounded like more than just hanging out together. He didn't comment, though. She'd said it softly enough that it didn't feel right to acknowledge it. "I'll try holding off talking to him for a while if you want," he suggested. "I don't want him to feel like he's being ganged up on or anything." Markise was even more stubborn than he was.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna hadn't really ever experienced Markise's stubbornness so she wasn't really thinking about that, but she didn't think anyone liked feeling ganged up on. "'True, thanks." She was surprised at Dare's offer to wait, and wasn't sure she deserved it but she wouldn't turn it down. Dare had been Markise's friend a lot longer and they had so much more history, but he'd turned his back on that friendship and hadn't been around. If they were patching things up Anna was happy for Markise's sake, but she didn't know how Markise felt about it and she was afraid that Dare would just do it again.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"No problem," Dare said. "I already tried talking to him and didn't get anywhere, so good luck." There was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. If Anna had better luck than he did, he'd be too grateful to be envious. He wanted Markise to be at his ceremony this summer. He didn't want Markise dropping out, which was what sounded the most likely if he were to leave. Dare knew he wouldn't go back to SWIM, and his parents couldn't afford MINE.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna didn't have a clue what she might be able to say that would change Markise's mind, but she knew she'd have to come up with something, and soon. Since they hung out often at meals or after classes she'd have to talk to him soon or she'd end up acting weird around him.

"I'll let you know what happens somehow, maybe when you come pick up your order?" She'd have to send him an owl anyways when it came in and a business notice didn't seem nearly as weird as sending a personal owl to him at his house. Where he lives with Michael, she couldn't help but adding to her own thoughts, deciding that personal owls were definitely too strange.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare nodded. "Sounds good to me," he said. If he noticed Anna's discomfort, he attributed it to the conversation about Markise. Maybe there was a flicker of curiosity as to whether Anna still thought the way she had that night in the Room of Requirement, whether she was still wondering what he had that she didn't, but it had been nearly a year, and by all accounts, it sounded like she'd moved on. He didn't let the thought spread.

"How long do you think it'll be?" he asked at last. Had she already said?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Well I'll probably bring it up to him within the next day or so, whenever we're alone next." The weather had been nice lately, so she was pretty sure they'd be hanging out by the lake which afforded much more privacy than so many other places at the school. "Your books will probably take about a week to get in though seeing how it's a muggle supplier. Did you want to talk before then?" If he wanted to stop by she wouldn't stop him, and a week would be a long time to wait.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"If I think of anything, I know where to find you," Dare said, though he couldn't imagine what he'd need to find her for. Unless he had some kind of revelation or Markise told him what he could do to get him to stay, Dare's hands would be tied. "If you find anything out, you could like, hunt me down at the club or something. Ask one of the employees if they've seen me and I might be there." Dare had no idea that Markise had blown his cover about being DJ, so he didn't so much as mention that he worked there. Still, he thought it would be the easiest way for her to find him, and the least awkward as well. He couldn't imagine she'd want to stop by the pet shop or look for him at the lake.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna nodded, thinking the arrangement was a good idea. The Bloody Mary she could do. She was still on friendly terms with Dru as far as she knew and it seemed like the least likely place she'd have to endure him and Michael together. "Sounds good. I'll just ask Dru if you're.....there." She hesitated before saying the last word, remembering that she wasn't supposed to know he was the DJ. It felt weird knowing things about Dare's life when she could count the number of times she'd talked to him on one hand. All the things she knew had just come up in normal conversation and hadn't been more than blurbs at the time but only seemed strange now when she was talking to him face to face.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked at Anna suspiciously, but she hadn't said anything out of line. It only felt off, and though Anna looked uncomfortable at saying the words, it could have just been the idea of hunting him down and hoping he was there. Still, it felt off. "She always knows what's going on there," he said vaguely. If it got out that he was the DJ, he didn't know how well the club would do anymore.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna didn't like the air between them, knowing that they were both standing there basically lying to each other. She gave a small sigh before meeting Dare's eyes, what she could see of them behind his hair. "Okay, just don't be mad at Markise. Please?" She went on before Dare had a chance to respond. "I know you work there, I've known for a while. Don't worry I haven't told anyone and I won't." It wasn't like she even had anyone to tell, even if she wanted to.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare blinked, but he couldn't really say he was surprised, not with everything else Markise was spreading around. If he found out that Markise was ratting him out to the Prophet... But he knew better than that. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Markise had taken to telling everyone his-- or even their --business, but there wasn't anything he could do to round the information up and hide it away. He kept those thoughts to himself and murmured a thank you. "I won't get mad at him for you knowing," he promised. That didn't mean he wouldn't be highly annoyed at Markise for having told.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna wasn't very convinced by Dare's words but couldn't do anything but hope. It wasn't like they sat around gossiping or intentionally talking about people. Things just had a way of coming out between them because they hung out so much. She wouldn't tell Dare that she'd hardly knew Markise when he'd let that fact slip, it didn't really matter anymore. Instead, she brought the conversation back around to a point she didn't quite grasp and was concerned about. "If we don't get him to stay, where will he go? Are there other schools in America?"

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Well yeah, but he wouldn't go. He'd probably end up going home or something." The only schools Dare knew about in the U.S. were SWIM and MINE. One of them would be dangerous, and the other wasn't affordable. "I don't know what he'd do besides that. I mean, I know he's got his shop here, but he said it's not doing anything. No one's buying or something." And even if people suddenly appeared with loaded money pouches, Markise was stubborn enough that he might just leave anyway.