Periphescence [Adonia]

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

Cara had no idea what she had been thinking when she signed up for this blind date thing. First of all, that kind of thing wasn’t her at all. Filling out a form, signing her name, and then submitting it was akin to selling her soul to the over the top weird guy that was running the whole thing. But as she had walked away, she realized that it was probably just a joke thing and would never hear back about it.

She was so wrong.

It didn’t take long before a letter arrived one morning during breakfast. Cara hadn’t the foggiest who would be sending her a letter aside from Dustin, and even when those did come in, they were usually directed at all of the siblings. Her first guess before peeling open the envelope was that it was a Howler; she had a tendency to get them every now and again from disgruntled students that didn’t take kindly to her words of wisdom. Maybe if they weren’t idiots they would understand that she was trying to help. Opening the letter though, Cara felt her heart sink. It was a response from the blind date thing. The thing that she had almost forgotten about. She bit down on her tongue in frustration as she read over it. Apparently she was supposed to meet her date, who was obviously unnamed, in the kitchens for dinner later in the week. That was stupid.

But she went anyways.

Cara found herself wandering down into the dungeons that Friday night instead of to the Great Hall like usual. Her absence probably wouldn’t be noticed. There had been plenty of times where she had skipped dinner to finish up work. Once she was in the zone it was hard to pull herself back out of it. The only reason she decided to show up to this date was because she believed in following through with her actions. Pushing into the kitchen, Cara was met by one of the house elves that worked there. It pointed to a table situated in the corner that was already set up. How much prep work had this matchmaker put into this thing? It was just a blind date after all, and the dinner was probably going to be exactly the same as what was being served upstairs. There was no reason for her to set her expectations any higher than that. Cara didn’t sit down yet though, instead deciding to wait and see who her date was, If it was someone she hated, then this whole thing would be pointless and she’d go up to the Great Hall and eat. That would be better than wasting both of their time.

[Deleted]

Adonia was incredibly thrilled about this blind date! She didn't really care who it was, she would make this night a good time. She dressed up in a black number that went just above her knees and had a halter top. She didn't know or really care how fancy her date chose to dress. She was just excited to get dressed up at all.

She had been to the kitchens before, thanks to her little excursion with Daniel the American. She knew the way, but didn't arrive on time. In fact, she was five minutes late. Not that she was running behind or anything, he just chose to take her sweet time and didn't mind making her date squirm a little.

When she arrived, her eyes fell on a stunning blonde. Her date, she assumed. "Either I'm the luckiest girl in the world," she started, "or you're in the wrong place. Adonia," she took a step closer, "and you're my date this evening, I assume?" She was all flatter right now, and she had no shame in it. There was nothing wrong with beauty recognizing beauty, especially if it was deserved.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

Annoying. That was what this was. Her supposed date wasn’t there on time. Cara had made a point of getting there early in case things didn’t click immediately and she could skip out. Now it was on the other person that she was pissed off. She was going to be a good sport about it too, especially if it was someone she didn’t know. Like, what kind of person arrived late to a set time? Running that question over and over in her head, she couldn’t come to a conclusion. She had never been on a real date before, or at least one that actually counted, and those people all had the decency to arrive on time. Whoever this person was, apparently the matchmaker messed up big time. It shouldn’t have mattered that Cara didn’t really care about what she had filled out on the sheet, any decent human being would get there on time. Her foot was tapping impatiently, her arms crossed, and some poor house elf was telling her not to worry about it. Like hell she wouldn’t. She was going to give her date an earful. It would be even better if it was someone she had issues with already. That was the wonder of a blind date though, right? Never know exactly who you were about to be set up with. Well Cara was about to be their worst nightmare.

At least that was what she intended to do when the door opened and the person stepped through. She even had her mouth open, the words at the edge of her tongue ready to berate them. Yet she didn’t. Instead she felt her chest tighten as the girl that stepped inside walked over to her. Closing her mouth again, Cara decided to give her a chance. She didn’t know why, but something in her head told her to. Adonia was her name, and she was going on about how she was lucky. Cara’s mind started racing as she put it together. She could hear her heart beating audibly in her ears. Thank Merlin that the house elves were clinking or clanking around in the kitchen, or else she was positive that Adonia would be able to hear it too. All she had to do was make it an hour without losing it. Those were the rules right? “Yeah, I guess I am,” she responded, trying to keep her voice even. “I’m Cara, by the way. Nice to meet you.” It was a struggle to get out, but she was sure it would get easier as they ate. Food did a good job of breaking up conversations. That meant she would be allowed to think during that time.

[OOC: Adonia has broken her]

[Deleted]

Adonia surveyed the girl, not trying to be TOO obvious about it. She really was a lovely piece of work, something and someone that Adonia could easily see herself getting on board with. She tilted her head to the side just a tiny bit, almost unnoticably as the girl confirmed she was indeed the date, and offered a name.

Adonia took a step forward, voice soft, 'Cara'" she repeated. "Well, that's..." she took a deep breath in through her nose, shaking her head slightly in awe, "just as beautiful as you are," she finished, almost whispering.

She slowly lifted a hand but then oh-so-casually brought it back, tucking a piece of her own hair behind her ear. She cleared her throat and feigned a nervous chuckle. "Forgive me, Cara. I must get past the stun," she admitted.

In all reality, she did think this girl was exquisite, but she wasn't really flustered. That part was all an act; her choice of flirting for this particular occasion. She glanced around the kitchens til she found the table for them and lightly held a hand out, "hungry? I hope so, since we are eating here," she smirked a little devilishly at that.

cara june bainbridge

[Mwahahha >:} Yes.]

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

Cara had no idea what was going on. She couldn’t recall if she had ever had a reaction to a person before like this. Sure, there were idealistic crushes that she had never acted upon because there wasn’t time for that kind of thing in her life, but none of those had come close to this. One half of her brain was telling her to say something while the other half continuously told her that it was only because it was a prearranged date and she had gotten it in her head to have a certain level of expectations. In this case, those expectations had been shattered apparently. It wasn’t fair. She wasn’t as prepared as she thought she had been. Chewing someone out for being late was a lot easier than actually trying to interact with them. Could she even call this properly interacting though? Adonia kept hitting all the right chords it seemed, and Cara’s head was spinning with trying to figure out what to do next. The compliment about both herself and her name being beautiful was just another one of those things preventing her from talking. At some point she had averted her gaze to her feet, afraid to meet Adonia’s eyes. She knew that wasn’t a rational thought and it wouldn’t accomplish anything, but she did it anyways.

The thing that got her to look back up was when Adonia started to reach towards her. The milliseconds that the event spanned were observed with bated breath. What was she going to do? Why was she going to do that? There were so many questions. And then Adonia’s hand was back at her side and she was apologizing. “N-No need to apologize,” she stuttered out. That was too awkward. She was supposed to be composed all the time, ready to pounce at people for not doing what they were supposed to do. Here she was, acting like one of them. Adonia motioned towards the table and asked Cara if she was hungry. “I uhh…” Wasn’t hungry? She was. She could feel her stomach rumbling. Feeling hungry amidst all this seemed a little silly, but her stomach had a different opinion on it. “That is why we’re here, isn’t it?” That was forced. The Ravenclaw knew she was losing a fight against herself. Better to take as much as she could for herself now, rather than later.

Cara turned back around and headed for the table once again. She took the seat situated in the corner, so that she could watch both the door and what the house elves were doing. She had no idea why those kinds of things were going through her head, but they were. Plus the comfort of having two walls next to her helped. “So you’re not a Hogwarts student are you? I think we would have met already if that was the case,” she pointed out as she took her seat and looked back up at Adonia. “Durmstrang?” If they had met before today, Cara knew she would have remembered. This girl was definitely going to be hard to forget. Not that she wanted to do that.

[Deleted]

Cara wasn't making eye contact with her. That was strange. But also encouraging. Adonia knew of the affect she could have on people, and with this one she didn't even have to try. Cara did look up as Adonia's hand moved and she slyly tucked her hair instead. Adonia tried to hold the gaze, while keeping her own soft, so Cara wouldn't look away again. If she did, well, Adonia would take it as a compliment. If she didn't, Adonia would take that as a compliment too.

Cara stuttered out some words, about Adonia not needed to apologize and Doni giggled, biting her lip to imitate embarrassment. Cara took a moment to answer if she was hungry, but Adonia waited patiently. Cara eventually said 'That is why we're here, isn't it?' to which Adonia nodded with encouragement. "Exactly," she responded softly.

Cara took the seat in the corner with Doni didn't mind. She was fine with having her back to everything so she could focus more solely on her date. Cara spoke, guessing her school. "That's right!" she said, her Swedish accent coming through heavily, as usual. She never held it back, that would just be silly. It was who she was, and she loved it. "You're smart," Adonia complimented, leaning forward a little, her eyes fixed on Caras, "how did you guess? Was it my cold nature," she joked. She was anything but cold right now. In fact, she was being quite warm and welcoming. "You, however, are from Hogwarts," she guessed, due to Cara's own accent.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

The Ravenclaw still had no idea what was going on. There was utter turmoil in her head, and the only reasonable action was to sit down at the table and shut herself up. Turning back to standard questions about Adonia seemed normal. Or at least normal enough. She wasn’t sure if her brain was going to think one thing, and her mouth say another. Initially, she hadn’t been able to look Adonia in the eye; Cara was now wishing that she had continued with that, because every little motion the other girl was noticed. The pushing the hair back behind the ear, the giggle, the lip bite. Cara didn’t think those were entirely necessary to what she had been talking about, and yet they still blitzed her. So that was why she had taken her seat at the table. That was what they were there for, right? To eat dinner and talk? Adonia seemed to agree with her on that, so dinner it was. Sitting down was a lot easier too, because it was one less thing Cara had to concentrate on. Plus she could divert her mind’s attention to eating. It would keep her mouth shut for a few extra seconds to think over everything she said. Losing to herself wasn’t what all of this was about. Then again, she wasn’t even sure anymore.

Cara knew she was correct when she guessed Durmstrang. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out, though she supposed there was always the chance that Adonia could be a Beauxbatons student. There were so many transplants at Hogwarts alone, that anything was possible. Study-abroad programs, families moving, etcetera. She bit back the normal urge to criticize the other girl over the fact that she was smart. It was a compliment. Nothing to be negative over. “I try to be observant,” Cara responded, not sure if that sounded more cocky than confident. It wasn’t a lie though. She tried to keep an eye on everything. It was rather amazing what would come her way just by looking in the opposite direction of most people. “I don’t think you’re cold…” she answered slowly, realizing that it was a joke. If either of them had the cold nature, it was definitely the Ravenclaw. Adonia was…overly friendly so far, but maybe that had to do with the fact that this was a date. “And it was the accent. It tends to give the school away.” Cara nodded her head as Adonia pointed out that she was from Hogwarts. That she was. “Ravenclaw is the house I’m in. I’m sure you’ve met one or two of us since you arrived?”

[Deleted]

"Oh, observant," she repeated, "that's a valuable skill to have. I am sure it's served you well?" she guessed Adonia was observant when she wanted to be, but it was more of an obsessive focus on one thing than and over arching awareness of what was around her. Right now, that thing was obviously Cara.

Cara said she didn't think Adonia was cold and Adonia just chuckled, not commenting on it. Cara no doubt would work out that it was a play on words. A joke. Cara mentioned the accent, and how that was what gave it away, and Adonia nodded. "Accents are just lovely. I think it's great to have something that sets us all apart in such a beautiful way," she said, her voice quite light and dreamy. She really did love the way words rolled off the tongue differently for different dialects and languages. That was one of the best parts about acting, learning how other people spoke.

She confirmed and added that she was a Ravenclaw and Adonia nodded, grinning. "Yes! Many. I have tried to make a lot of friends since I'm planning to stay in England. And, well, that's what the tournament is all about, right?" she leaned forward just a little, "international magical bonding?" as she spoke, a few elbes brought food over and set it in front of them, but Adonia didn't take her eyes from Cara for even a second.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

Of course being observant served her well. Anyone that had even a smidge of brains knew that keeping an open mind and looking around was beneficial. So many times she would have completely ignored what her siblings were doing, had it not been for her curiosity in what they were doing. Letting them be themselves without any overhead would create an environment where they had too much leeway to do what they wanted to. This was school, and learning was more important than everything else. At least she thought it was supposed to be. Recently, school was starting to feel more like a burden than an asset, and she didn't know why. That was probably why she had signed up for this dating service.

Cara simply nodded her head as the other girl explained her reasonings behind liking accents. That made sense. There was a certain level of exoticism when it came to sounding different from everyone else. She knew that talking normally to people was what usually got them; her usual bossiness being the norm. That was fine with her for now, but she knew it couldn't be like that forever. Eventually she would have to relent enough to let her siblings do their own thing. "I like them because it shows expression of thoughts and ideas across different cultures," she commented on the accents. "And since learning is human nature, we're naturally drawn to learning about things that are different from what we already know."

Cara realized what came out of her mouth a second too late. She did just say that she was interested in Adonia, though in an extremely convoluted way, didn't she? Thankfully it was interrupted by the elves bringing food. That would give her a few moments to gather her thoughts again. The Durmstrang girl was dangerous, and she didn't even know it. The distraction by the food didn't last long though, and Adonia's comment about staying in England after graduating had Cara interested. "Anything specific you're going into?"]

[Deleted]

Even just the simple nod of Caras head was an attractive gesture. Cara was like a work of art, really, as Adonia though most people were. Everyone was different and often beautiful in their own way. If that wasn't art, what was?

Cara spoke about how accents showed 'expression of thoughts and ideas across different cultures.' It was true too. People spoke differently because they came from different places. She also spoke of learning, and as she did Adonia slowly leaned forward, staring into Caras eyes as she spoke. She nodded, feigning a sort of daze. "That's a lovely, and very clever, way to put it, Cara," she batted her eyelashes a little, "I hope I can learn more about you."

As they prepared to eat, Cara asked Adonia what she was going into. "I'm an actress. Well, I want to be... I'm not sure what to do for my 'survival job', though. What about you? I'm sure you'll do something wonderfully smart."

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

This was too much for her. It was like dangling something she really wanted in front of her face but not letting her have it. The real problem here though was that she wasn’t even sure what she wanted in the first place. Was it Adonia? Was it something else? She had no idea. There was too much going through her head, and all Cara could do was answer the questions that came from the girl across the table. The little comments Adonia made only added on to everything too. Being called clever, that her idea on accents was lovely, and that she wanted to learn more about her. In a way, it was what she had always wanted one of her siblings, or anyone in general, to tell her. Validation that her opinions and ideas actually mattered to someone else beyond herself, Diana, Dominic, and occasionally Peyton. Those three were born to agree with her though. Everyone else just thought she was ridiculous when she spoke about her kinds of things. They didn’t realize what it did to her. And here Adonia was, knowing nothing about her, complimenting her. Cara knew that it didn’t have to be genuine, but she wanted to believe it all was. Instead of saying anything in response though, Cara looked down at the plate of food that was set in front of her by the house elves. She was really bad at this whole thing. It was easier to distract herself with food then to show what she was feeling on her face.

Cara scooped a spoonful of vegetables immediately after asking her question about prospective futures, opting to listen to Adonia talk instead of giving her own answer immediately. The other girl wanted to be an actress. She could see that. “Does Durmstrang offer acting classes, or is that more of a personal thing you’ve been working on?” she asked as she finished chewing and swallowed her food. There were so many questions that she still had about the other two wizarding schools. All in due time though. This was going to be a long dinner. She could already tell. As for what she was going to be doing after graduation…“I uh..I’m going to give writing a shot. I don’t have anything planned yet really, since school is in the way all the time, but I’m going to dedicate the rest of the year to it…”

[Deleted]

Adonia began to eat when Cara did, amused at Cara's need for the distraction. She asked if Durmstrang offered acting classes or if it was more of a personal thing and Adonia chuckled. "Personal, I suppose. I've done summer courses, though. Read a lot of plays... acting seems natural to me, though. I'm not sure I need a class," she admitted honestly. She was confident in her abilities and all she needed to do was audition and her talent would land her parts. That was the hope, at least. She didn't doubt herself though, which may have been very brave or very stupid.

Cara said she wanted to give writing a shot and Adonias eyes sparkled as she leaned forward. "What kind of things do you write? Plays, by any chance?" she really, truly was intrigued by the prospect of knowing a writer who ended up doing well. And if Cara wrote fiction, Adonia would like her even more.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

She had a feeling that Durmstrang wouldn’t be the type to have acting classes, but the question got the conversation moving regardless. Hogwarts had their own assortment of odd clubs, like frog choir (which in her opinion they could all do without), so having an acting one at a school dedicated to intense study wouldn’t be all that farfetched. And anyways, Beauxbatons students were more prissy, the kind that thought they would be the next big thing. “Sometimes keeping it as a personal hobby is the only way to achieve anything,” she commented without really thinking of how that applied to her. It did though, and now the Ravenclaw was starting to realize how much school had really hindered her ability to write whenever she wanted to. Taking classes too seriously apparently did have a negative side to it. “Do you ever practice acting around people that don’t know you? Like to test it out to see how they respond?”

What did she write? Cara didn’t even know that question off the top of her head. There were so many things she did write about, and so many things she didn’t. Plays weren’t one of them though. “No plays. At least not yet. I want to write a novel, but I have no idea where to start, or what the story should even be about,” she said, pushing some of her food around with her utensil. “I have dozens of notebooks full of characters and potential ideas, but none of them seem like novel material.”

[Deleted]

Cara's words about hobbies sometimes being the only way to achieve anything made Adonia give pause. That was actually a really good point. Wasn't that how Adonia had achieved so much already? "I can agree with that," she said softly. Cara asked if she ever practiced acting around people who didn't know her, to test it, and Adonia nodded. "Oh, darling, all the time. How do you know I'm not doing it right now?" in all honesty she only was a little. She was herself, this was her. Fun loving and flirty. She just knew how to add extra charm and that was acting.

Cara answered, saying she hadn't written any plays yet. She wanted to write a novel but didn't know what to start, or what the story should be. Cara said she had dozens of notebooks full of characters and ideas and Adonia leaned forward even more, genuinely interested. "So, it is fiction then?" she asked, her tone laced with excitement. "Well, as an actor and someone who reads a lot of character archs... maybe I could help you come up with something cohesive?" she suggested. She knew how personal that was to Cara, probably, but that didn't stop Adonia.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

@adonia

It was nice hearing that someone else was going through a similar instance of having to balance private and public interests. Cara had so much to juggle at once, she was finally starting to realize the error in her ways. All those late night struggling with Herbology homework, or charting the stars – they didn’t exactly matter for her. Why she couldn’t see that a year or two ago was beyond her. Having issues learning should have been a sign that it wasn’t made for her, and yet here she was seventh year, spending hours upon hours studying until she was exhausted. “How do you balance acting with school?” Cara asked. Not that it would help her at this point in time, but it would never hurt to figure it out anyways.

At Adonia’s comment about possibly acting right now, Cara stopped fiddling with her food. That was a good point. What if this was all an act? “Are you?” she questioned. The Ravenclaw figured it was valid to ask. Always questioning things, she was. “I have trouble telling if people are being serious or not sometimes. My sisters especially,” Cara added, rolling her eyes slightly. Oh Kinsey…she was the problem with almost everything, even if she was being nice lately.

“Fiction…yeah I think so,” Cara pondered the idea. That was mostly what she was leaning towards so far with her notes at least. Adonia offered to help, and her eyes widened slightly. That would help. Kinsey had also said she would read a draft once it was done, but getting to that point would take a bit of time first. “Would you really?” she said quickly, voice raising in pitch a smidge. “I mean, there’s not much there now, but I’m sure we could find something. Really all I need is a second pair of eyes on what I already have.”