Surprises

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian kept the pressure for as long as he could, until he was hit in the same area of his jaw that Michael had hit. He grunted and pulled away, then fought for Dare's hands, ignoring Michael and sitting up on his knees over one of Dare's legs to keep as much control as he could. It was hard, though, and his balance was bad as Dare tried to do the same thing.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael watched for a moment, then made a quick decision. He lunged toward Emilian, hoping to push him off of Dare, and aimed his wand at Emilian's throat. He wanted Emilian away from Dare, even if it meant getting back in the fight when he could have chanced throwing a spell at Emilian instead. He hadn't wanted to take the chance of it hitting Dare by some freak accident.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare had realized the position he was in just before Michael moved and brought his leg up hard. He had no real objections to fighting dirty anymore, not at this point. It was about damn time he and Emilian had finally had it out.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian felt a sharp pain between his legs, then just as his hands moved to the source of that pain he felt a wand shoved against his neck and a body pushing him to the floor. He stopped and stared into Michael's eyes. "Do it," he growled, eyebrows creased in pain as his hand was pushed painfully into himself instead of protecting it like he had intended.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael glared down into Emilian's eyes, using as much of his weight as he could to his advantage. He was taller, but Emilian was more stocky than he was. And Emilian had taken easier to the physical training than Michael could ever have hoped to have done. He wanted to, but his jaw clenched tightly instead of parting to let him speak a spell.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare lay for some unknown time catching his breath before he heard the growl of Emilian's voice. He sat, then struggled to his feet, dragging out his wand and attempting to train it on Emilian. He ran into the same problem that Michael had had earlier, unable to do anything at this range without risk of poor aim hurting Michael as well. But neither was moving. Dare circled until he was beside them, but his mind wasn't working very well and he couldn't think what to do.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian kept Michael's eyes, though his breathing was getting hard from the very uncomfortable pressure of his hand. "Go ahead, you know you want to," he urged, his voice tight. He knew that he was in no danger of death, but he did know that Michael could do very painful things to him if he wanted to. The question was if he would actually do anything or not.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael glared, then pulled himself up, straddling Emilian to free his other arm. He aimed a much more satisfying fist to Emilian's jaw again before pulling his wand away and pushing himself up, releasing Emilian's arms only when he pushed to his feet. Yes, he wanted to, yes he could have, but he didn't regret his decision to use his hand instead of his wand.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was relieved to see Michael get to his feet, but he only watched him out of the corner of his eye. Most of his attention was fixed on Emilian, who was in clear view now, as well as close range of his wand. If Emilian made any move toward Michael again, he'd do just what he'd done to Soren Hardt.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian jerked his head away from Michael's blow, but it hit anyway, and he winced and curled up slightly. One hand curved over the pain Dare had inflicted and the other moved to his jaw to gently rub it and try to relieve some of the pain. He closed his eyes, thinking that the fight was over, and tried to get his breathing under control.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael glared down at Emilian and walked away, tucking his wand back into his waistband. He looked up at Dare, "Let's go," he said, his voice low. Then he turned to leave, swinging the door wide and all but running down the stairs. He grabbed his cloak from the counter and swung it around his shoulders, fully expecting Dare to come down after him.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare meant to go. There was a moment where he'd shifted his weight to move, but he couldn't turn his back on Emilian, not for a second. He kept his eyes and wand trained on him as he stooped to blindly pick up the last picture, then tuck that one away, too. That, like so many other things, was none of Emilian's business. "Are you ready to tell me what the f~ your problem really is?" he asked coldly.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian sighed and pulled himself up to sit with his back against the couch. "Why should I tell you anything?" he asked, then worked his jaw back and forth. He unashamedly arranged himself to try to relieve some of his other pain, the fact that Dare could see him not bothering him in the slightest. He didn't feel the need to say anything to Dare.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Fine. Don't, then," Dare said, his voice purposefully careless, if still backed with emotion. "I'll go back to Michael, calm him down, take him to bed and you don't have to see either one of us again. I'd be fine with that, and I'm pretty damn sure Michael would be too." Dare lowered his wand and tucked it away, then reached for his discarded coat.

[Emilian Sota]

"Those things don't work!" Emilian said, force behind each word. "He's going to trust you, and believe you, and go along with it and then-" he stopped himself and shook his head, all the work he had put into getting his breathing under control going out the window. He didn't finish, but looked away, making the mistake of clenching his jaw which only sent pain shooting through it.