[center]It wasn't just the physical dance that both of them were to partake in - there was another dance that they had began, one where each of them were so carefully stepping around each other while avoiding a slip of the foot, avoiding the wrong touch or the wrong move throughout the song that swirled around them. They each had their own agendas, Clara would have been a fool to think that he would have just wanted a dance for the evening. Whether or not it was the need to conquer something that seemed worth breaking through, or perhaps it was a simple curiosity, there was something that had led him to her where others had passed her by. Just as similarly, there was something that led her to comply with his requests and humor him to the extent that she would allow herself to. It was a nagging feeling that no matter how fervent she was in truing to grasp it, the truth was just out of her reach - just at the tip of her fingertips without the satisfaction of being able to feel its touch. There was something about this man, Maximillian, before her but the more he spoke, the more of an enigma he was becoming to her. There was nothing other than that ghost of a sensation that could have tipped the scales one way or another. There was nothing tangible, even as she took his hand carefully and felt his gentle pull towards the swirl of colors on the dance floor, that she could grasp and hold. Perhaps that was what had gotten entirely under her skin. 

Clara wasn't one to simply let things go; to let a curiosity fade on the wind and leave herself to wonder down the road who that strange man was that she had met at a random Masquerade that Christian had dragged her to one evening. No, she learned a very long time ago to grasp at whatever truths and details she could; to never let something no matter how simple, slip through her fingers so easily. She would be damned if she would let her questions go unanswered.

She could see the hesitancy in his own gaze and she wondered amidst it all if he had felt the same sort of confusion; the same familiarity that had no real source that she could reason. If so, it would only pique her curiosity further - would only make her strive even further for a solution to the new problem she had. His responses to her incessant questions had seemed sincere - she had not planned on opening up further than what she had to in order to put the missing pieces of her puzzle together, no matter how much of a tale he might have wanted to hear from her. As far as she knew, he did not deserve it - no one deserved to hear the reason she was the way she had ended up. She was closed off to nearly everyone for a reason -- no one could hurt her if they couldn't get close enough. 

Clara had heard his words as he drew her close to him and she had noticed how his eyes had fallen towards the stone that hung from her neck. Curious, she had only taken it for face value. The stone was, in fact, rather peculiar to begin with - not the normal fashion that most women would find themselves wearing. But something about the way he had looked at it had caught her interest - he was not looking at it for its peculiarity, no matter how brief, there was something else in his gaze for that fleeting moment - something that she wanted to pursue. 

"Perhaps..." Clara had answered him as soon as he pulled her close, and it was within that new closeness that she had felt a brief moment of...What exactly was it? It made absolutely no sense that this hold could have been familiar to her, and she nearly scrunched her nose at the thought. "That would be the typical sort of game for anyone else who had decided to come to an event like this, but in case you haven't noticed just yet, I'm not quite typical." She spoke her last words as if they were a secret themselves, and she couldn't help the small smile that lifted to her lips as she immediately fell into each step that he had led her in - drifting back to a very long time ago when balls had been the norm, and she had been expected to mingle with the town's most eligible bachelors for the sake of her father's sanity.  

"And maybe it is a confidant that I'm searching for... But could that not be found in any one person here? If I was searching for a confidant, I could have easily went off and found them on my own. It seems that [i]you[/i] are the one searching for something, darling..." Clara spoke carefully as she had looked up at him, immediately feeling him draw her closer than before, but she hadn't pulled herself away from his hold. It was that same closeness that was just as intriguing to her - more than she would have liked to admit. Almost the ghost of an embrace that she could have remembered in the past... Without quite being able to remember it entirely. 

"What are [i]you[/i] looking for this evening? Something must have sparked your curiosity to approach someone who clearly hadn't wanted to be bothered this evening -- and yet, here we are, aren't we?" [/center]