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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 17:12:14 GMT -5
Dare's nerves were stretched painfully tight, and at the jiggle of the doorknob sent him leaping to his feet, wand arm up. He'd locked it, it was locked, he told himself that more than once as he approached, cautiously. His first thought was, of course, that the man he'd seen downstairs had found them, or that he was checking the rooms. But if they'd been found, there would have been no tentative turn of the knob. It took him a moment in his panic to place the voice. Ariel. Dare's eyes narrowed.
When the door opened, Ariel was faced with the wrong end of Dare's wand. He was too stressed, too overtired to recall his self-admonition not to start something. "My turn to ask questions," he said at a near growl, then prodded the guy in the chest so he'd step back into the hallway, where there weren't sleeping witnesses.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 17:13:28 GMT -5
Ariel's eyes narrowed and he glanced around as he backed up for his room. "Mind if we at least find my room first?" he asked, pulling the key out of his pocket and looking around for his room number. "Surely you don't want to be out in the open more than necessary." And he wanted to grab for his wand, considering there was one pointed at a very important part of his body.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 17:19:25 GMT -5
Dare's eyes couldn't narrow further without obscuring his vision. There was a moment where he should have glanced back at Michael, should have reminded himself why that was a bad idea, but if he wasn't watching every second, he knew the jerk would try to pull something. Speaking of which... "I want your wand first. Two fingers, and kick it over. I don't want to fight, but so help me God I will."
Some rational part of his mind knew that it probably wasn't this serious, that he might just be taking out stress from things he had no control over on someone who might not deserve it. That part was buried beneath layers of stress, though, and even if it hadn't been, he was too wired to pay it any mind. He wanted to have this discussion in private, and he didn't want to be attacked if it got too personal.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 17:28:13 GMT -5
Ariel stared at Dare, then rolled his eyes and turned to the door across the hall with his key. "There's no way I'm giving you my wand," he said, dropping the key and grabbing his wand on his way to pick it up. "I'm not an idiot. Now, if you want to put your wand on the table when we get in, then I'll make it fair and do the same." He held his wand in his hand while he put the key in the door handle.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 17:45:01 GMT -5
"Drop it," Dare said. "I told you..." It wasn't happening though, and now Ariel was armed. Dare couldn't take the chance, he couldn't leave any question that Ariel Logan could attack him, that they'd end up in a duel, and he didn't trust him to keep his word. What were the chances that he'd actually lay his wand on the table? Especially if Dare laid his down first? Dare was no idiot either. He did the first thing he could think of that didn't involve physically attacking and cast expelliarmus. Immediately after, he followed with a quick, "Accio Ariel's wand!"
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 17:50:44 GMT -5
Ariel's hand snapped back as his wand was pulled from his fingers, then he whipped around and glared at Dare. "What the hell? Why can't I have my wand?" he asked, eyes darkening to match the rings around his eyes. Fine, Dare didn't want to get attacked, but had Ariel made one move to attack him? No, he hadn't. "If I recall correctly, you were the one that pulled your wand on me," he said, tilting his head angrily and leaving the key in the lock.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 18:03:28 GMT -5
Dare completely missed Ariel's point. As far as he was concerned, he was in the right here. "You can have it back when we're done talking, Ariel. Logan. What the hell is your name anyway?" Dare tucked the guy's wand into the waistband of his pants--Michael's pants--then gestured toward the door with his own wand.
"We can talk about it here if you want, the door's still open and I could easily get Markise to help me fill in the blanks." It'd be nothing to aim Ariel's wand back behind him toward the floor. A couple sparks in the ass, and Markise would be on his feet.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 18:08:21 GMT -5
"First off, my name is Ariel Logan Callahan, not that it really matters to you. And I really don't see why we shouldn't go in this perfectly good empty room. Your poor Michael's asleep in that room, and I assume Markise is passed out again, and I really don't care to take the chance out here that someone might walk up," Ariel said, raising an eyebrow and turning back to his door, turning the key in the lock, the old handle turning with it.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 18:27:04 GMT -5
Thank God. Dare wanted to get out of the hallway far more than Ariel did, he'd just been afraid that the guy would stay there in an attempt to throw him off. He was too far gone at the moment to recognize his own paranoia. In his mind, he was only being cautious. He waited until the other room's door was fully open, then blindly caught the doorknob to his and Michael's. He slipped his hand around to lock it, pulled it shut, and followed Ariel.
If he'd been expecting some sort of attack, he didn't find one in that other room, though he did enter cautiously. He didn't want to close the door, didn't want to risk something happening to Michael and him not being able to hear, but if he didn't close the door, they ran the same risk they did in the hallway. Dare closed it behind him, but left it unlocked.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 18:30:31 GMT -5
"So do you mind telling me what the hell your problem is?" Ariel asked raising an eyebrow and moving over to the chair to take off his coat. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Dare, but he had the feeling that he didn't have much choice in the matter. He didn't sit, didn't lay down on the bed, however much he wanted to, but put his coat over the back of the chair and stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Dare.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 18:55:20 GMT -5
Dare didn't sit either. He kept close to the door without putting his back to it, still intensely aware of that man who'd stopped at the bar. "I have more problems than you want to hear about," he replied, keeping his wand up and at the ready.
"But my problem with you is whatever it is you're doing to Markise. I know Markise, and he's not like this. Getting drunk and passing out, what the hell?! And I don't believe that crap about some anonymous benefactor sheltering you guys and giving over a handful of money to get home. If he'd had a handful of money, he could've put you guys in a taxi and saved himself the risk of having complete strangers in his house.
"So, if you please, start explaining. And before you ask why in hell you owe me an explanation, I'd like to say that I haven't slept in two days and I'm a little stressed about the bastard trying to kill me. So don't push it or I'll transfigure what's in your pants so bad you won't be able to straighten it out for a week." By the time Dare had finished he was a little breathless, but hopefully he'd said something in there that had gotten his point across.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 20:16:56 GMT -5
Ariel stared blankly at Dare. "I've not done anything do Markise, he's acting exactly the same as he was when I first met him." That was pretty much true, except that Markise was a bit more sexual, but that could be played off by the fact that neither of them had been positive about the other on the train ride. "As for him getting drunk, the guy he kissed mentioned the guy I kissed and he ran off to the bar. When I found him he was flirting with like five other guys."
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 20:26:03 GMT -5
Dare's brows creased together so far they were nearly indistinguishable from one another. This was hard for him to accept. What had happened to Markise? Dare blinked, throwing that thought off, the shift of his thoughts likely clear in his eyes. "Don't try to distract me!" he said, forcing his focus again. "I don't want to know how he got drunk, I want to know what the hell happened when he passed out. What happened last night? Don't give me bullsh~ either, I can smell it a mile away." As long as the guy looked at him, and if his eyes suddenly diverted or his hair conveniently covered his face, Dare would take that as a sign just as easily.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Nov 30, 2008 20:38:58 GMT -5
Ariel shrugged, "We went to that guy's house. Nothing happened to him," he promised, glaring at Dare. It felt like that was where Dare was going with it, and Ariel figured that he would stop it before it started. It had caused a lot of pain on Ariel's part, a lot of trouble for him, but nothing had happened to Markise, he had been safe in the apartment with the two men.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Nov 30, 2008 20:44:06 GMT -5
There was more, Dare knew it, but he couldn't find anything in Ariel's stance or his gaze to say he was lying. He was just too damn cool for whatever was going on. If an innocent man was accused of hurting someone, wouldn't he plead his case rather than refusing to cooperate? "How'd you get the money, then? People don't just give that kind of money to strangers they meet in a club. Did you steal it, or what?" He brandished his wand, then steadied his aim on Ariel again. It all sounded too clean and simple from Ariel. Dare didn't believe it.
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