"No need to apologize. These things happen." Oh, those fingers would be aching once reattached, though... A small price to pay to defend his goddaughter's honor, however.

Gougers and stunners. Predictable. Easy. He was trying to lull him into complacency, he could see that. "You are trying to trick me into letting my guard down. It will not work. " He cast again--a scorching spell sent directly at Truebridge's wand, intended to make the wand get ridiculously hot until it exploded. He followed this immediately by casting a babbling curse and a hot tar and feather curse. "Admit you were a cad and apologize to Alessia!" he demanded.

She couldn't believe it, she agreed with the student more than she agreed with the other professor. "They will care... I care... Sometimes a wound to your honor is worse than any death, Bunbury..." You insufferable woman! she thought as she spoke through gritted teeth. "And, as Miss Wright pointed out... one of them may be hurt if I distract them from their duel."

Oh Merlin-in-a-Nightshirt! If Ethan would just apologize, even if he didn't mean it, this would stop... but... she could never show her face to the History of Magic professor again... Feasts would be utterly uncomfortable... But at least he'd be alive.

Alessia clenched her jaws shut when the Bunny woman snorted... bunny indeed, more like hog! "Professor Bunbury, forgive my candor, but are you implying that I created this problem, on purpose and with malicious intent?" Less did not like being accused of things that she shouldn't.

"Of course not!" she said raising her eyebrow now at the woman's reaction and then under her breath she said, "We all know who'd win there..." She raised her voice again and said "I don't see you trying to stop it. If you could, I'd be grateful."

"Actually, to clarify," Ethan neatly blocked whatever it was that was headed straight towards his wand with a flick of his wrist, steam hissing up on impact with his shield, "I was trying to trick you into thinking that I was trying to trick you into letting your guard down, sir. It worked." Truebridge answered with a perfectly straight face and a serious tone.

He managed to block the babbling curse, but the old man was ridiculously fast and Ethan was unable to shield properly in time to defend himself from the onslaught of... tar and feathers? Perhaps Kazimeriz' intent was slightly off, for rather than being coated in tar, with feathers stuck to the tar, Ethan's forearms sprouted multi-coloured feathers and tar began to drip from his shoulders to his fingertips as if from an unseen wound.

"I will admit no such thing." Ethan answered firmly, casting a leg-locker curse, obscuro. then a joint reversal jinx at the older mans elbow.
Peacock feathers! Sprouting from his arms! Would it be like plucking a chicken? Ethan flicked his wand on himself, and a jet of steaming hot water hit his skin, the sticky tar ironically the only thing stopping him from being terribly burnt. He took hold of the first feather and pulled it out, his expression barely indicating that the sensation was much like removing a painful splinter.

Alessia could no longer stand it! She knew her godfather was just playing with the professor, she'd seen him duel before... she knew he was going to tire of the young handsome professor and start using Dark Magic. And yes... Valon Kazimeriz would not stop until he got what he wanted. And then her beloved Papa Valon would spend the rest of his days in Azkaban, because of her. Tears began running down her cheeks at the thought as she stepped out from the crowd gathered and said "Papa Valon! Please Stop. Please..."

Kazimeriz quickly blocked the leg-locker curse and obscuro. He cast a silent deprimo at Truebridge's wand, his aim sharp and true. He raised his wand again, intending to cast a shield charm and planning to follow up with a duro spell-- he'd been handling him with kid gloves to this point,but if Truebridge wanted to play rough, then he'd turn him to stone!

Alessia's voice rang out in the crowd, the anguished tone causing Kazimeriz's heart to sink like a stone in his stomach. What was he doing, dueling a colleague at the school? And without her blessing, apparently...? He lowered his wand. "As you wish." he said simply, not noticing the third spell cast by his opponent. The joint reversal jinx missed his elbow and hit his bad hip, causing a sharp and probably important popping sound and followed up by a flare of exquisite, white hot pain as the old magical wound reopened.

Oh, typical Slytherin, to take the cheap and easy shot! The spell confirmed in his mind that Truebridge was indeed a man of no honor. It took all of Kazimeriz's strength to remain on his feet, and he exhaled sharply, trying not to react despite the intense pain. "I concede." he said in a soft and shaky voice. He accio'ed his cane, hoping he could at least leave the piste and get off his feet... retreat to private quarters before the pain became unbearable, and retain some measure of his dignity.

Truebridge tugged out some more of the peacock feathers, gritting his teeth slightly at the pain of it. He heard Alessia call out for Krazimeriz to stop, but Ethan himself had already cast...

The old man was ridiculously fast. Almost at the same time as his joint reversal hit Kazimeriz, Ethan felt a silent and insidious spell grind its way up his wand, hit the core and quite suddenly and violently explode into sharpfragments that spread outwards, tearing splinters through Ethan's fingers and spraying out at the gathered crowd. Reacting more subconciously than anything else (perhaps from learning at the hands of Kazimeriz himself) Zan jerked his fingers, and dragging up an intense amount of effort, managed to project enough of a shield to stop the wooden splinters from ripping through the professors and students who were watching.

With all this happening, Truebridge did not at that moment register the severity of the hit he had inflicted on Kazimeriz, and his own somewhat shredded fingers and few remaining peacock feathers faded from consideration.

Valon Kazimeriz had destroyed his wand. His Loretta!

"You concede?" Ethan ground out through his clenched teeth, his tone incredulous. Kazimeriz had challenged him based on the accusations of Alessia Lupa, slighted his honour and dragged him through all of this, just to concede as Alessia apparently had another whim?

Perhaps because there was a heck of alot of pain, trampled honour, old frustrations, new hurts and an exploded wand to drive him, or perhaps it was that old impetuous nature Kazimeriz had taunted him with, but Ethan Alexander Truebridge had had quite enough with the machinations of the old warlock in front of him. As Kazimeriz accio'd his cane, Zan's wrist flicked, and he wandlessly accio'd the cane himself, just enough intent and anger behind the charm to cause the cane to pull off balance at the unfortunate moment Kazimeriz touched it to the ground.

They weren't kidding around with each other. She was peeking at the duel between her fingers and trying to listen to the arguments going on between Lupa and the Pink Punisher. She was hoping the woman would start fighting again. Bunbury fought dirty like a muggle in a street fight, and it was fun to watch.

She did think that Truebridge and Kazimeriz were going to kill each other, and being honest with herself the wanted them to stop before they did kill each other. EEK! Crawling fingers, she was going to be sick! Then a destroyed wand. This was bad.

Kazimeriz took no notice of Truebridge's exploding wand, his entire mind focused on getting his cane beneath him and getting off that piste, off his feet, and perhaps getting a strong dose of pain potion. His blessed cane reached his fingertips, and he gratefully leaned on it. Just then, Truebridge's wandless spell shifted the cane from beneath him. The cane slid out from under the ancient man. Unable to support his weight with the damaged hip, his leg buckled beneath him and the old wizard collapsed to the floor with a low, animal moan of agony.

Alessia's eyes widened as she saw the cane being pulled out from under her godfather and the poor man collapse to his knees... THAT was looooow.... Even for a Slytherin! She ran to her godfather's side picking him up by his arm. "Papa! I'm so sorry..." Her head spun angrily to that Bunny woman! She knew she shouldn't have listened to her... stopping the duel! She shouldn't have interfeared! Now Papa Valon was hurt!

Kazimeriz shook her off, his pride as wounded as his hip. He rose to his feet, keeping his wand still firmly gripped in his good hand as he once again accio'ed his cane. He held the silver head of the cane awkwardly as he levitated his fingers off the floor and placed them into his pocket for later reattachment. He glowered at Truebridge. "You have learned well. Congratulations on your... victory." he said, his face stoic as he accepted the loss with as much dignity as he could muster. Still holding his wand, he transferred his cane to his right hand as well and moved as gracefully as he could to the stairs. It took every ounce of strength in him to keep his face dispassionate as he descended the piste, his head held high despite the loss and despite the truly agonizing pain. The cruciatus would have hurt less than this. he thought, but he remained focused for the sake of his honor.

Alessia's heart hurt. Not because he shook her off... but because he admitted defeat... some defeat... Kazimeriz had already conceded. She glared at the History of Magic professor. She waited until her godfather had left the area and turned to the students gathered. "What are you all standing around for?! Don't you have packing to do?!" She said as she followed the old man.

Ethan blinked and dropped his hand, squeezing it into a fist to reduce the bleeding despite the pain. He tore out another feather and tossed it aside, feeling the dilemma of being quite unable to offer the old man any help at all or risk offending him. He straightened as Kazimeriz addressed him, managing to hold himself straight even though his shirt and his hand were in tatters. Victory? Had it been? It had all happened so quickly and he was now wandless.

And Kazimeriz was still being foolishly proud. As if he believed showing weakness was the worst possible thing he could do. Ethan answered him in an emotionless monotone, "It is an empty victory without a prize, Sir. Though, I suppose I should be thankful of one thing."

Kazimeriz turned to look Truebridge in the eye, his eyebrow raised. "Oh? And what is that?"

ooc: Cassandra, he's not quite gone yet. :D

"Reminding us all that pride comes before a fall, sir." Ethan responded, an obviously Kazimeriz-influenced glower smouldering in his eyes. To have destroyed his wand!

Truebridge regarded his old mentor for a moment more before his eyes searched out Alessia, not flinching away from her glare, but meeting it with a guarded expression. Perhaps he should have let the woman be completely embarassed and exposed her attentions for what they were? No his honour wouldn't have stood for that, and likely Kazimeriz still would have taken issue and challenged him anyway.

The anger was still simmering away just barely contained under the surface of a barely patched together, mild mannered facade. How much of him had been moulded by Kazimeriz? Certainly all of the foundations in his dueling technique and ability had been influenced by the old man, but how much of it had been just Zan? "You share in this victory sir, you taught me everything I know, after all."

Kazimeriz's countenance faltered from his stoic expression momentarily at this comment, his face tightening up. He could not deny that the boy was right, his pride and honor had caused him to fail. However... bad enough that the boy had shattered his hip, was it necessary to try to shatter the last remnants of an old man's dignity, too? And in front of students, no less.

"And yet I failed to teach you how to win with grace and honor, and therefore failed you as a professor." Kazimeriz said in a clipped voice, turning from Truebridge. He walked from the arena, his back straight and his face once again composed despite the truly terrible pain.

Truebridge watched, expressionless as Kazimeriz made his way from the arena and commented softly, almost regretfully considering he had- for all intents and purposes- managed to discredit a legend, "Proving that you are not as infallible as I had always believed you to be... Professor."

Anastasia had sunk back to the back of the crowd when Alessia did her little, 'Oh stopppppit Papaaaaa wa wa wa,' act. Although effective in stopping the duel, it wasn't exactly what Bunbury had had in mind.

She couldn't resist smirking, however, when the old man literally fell in defeat. He absolutely deserved that, she thought, waiting for the wrinkly prune to exit the dueling arena. The redhead slowly wandered toward Ethan then, reaching into an interior pocket of his jacket for a smooth, cold homemade aloe vera compress. Of course she had thought of the aftermath of the duel before coming.

"Here," Bunbury muttered softly, wrapping his wand hand with the soothing bandage before he could say anything or shoo her away. Clearly, Truebridge wasn't always so stoic if that bit of anger and snarky tongue from earlier were any indication. Not that she minded, of course.

Annie finished wrapping his hand but didn't let go of it just yet, distracted as she was by the sight of a colleague covered in feathers. She nearly had to bite her lip to keep from laughing and instead pretended to still be taking care of his hand. "I'm sorry, Ethan," she paused to make eye contact, "for taking your jacket, erm, a while back. It seems you could have used it today." Whups.

"Thank you." Ethan answered, relaxing slightly at the sensation of the bandage on his injured hand. He registered her look at the feathers, and he gave her a level stare before plucking the last of the large peacock feathers from his skin.

"I'm not sure it would have made all that much difference, at least it's still intact." Unlike his shirt. And he still had smears of tar all over himself. Good look. "Thank you, Annie- can I still call you that? Now that you are... normal?" He asked, wondering if she'd still hold him to the offer of taking her to visit a dragon reserve over the summer. It would be easier now that she didn't have the mentality of an eleven year old.

"I have a few letters to write." And a bath would be fantastic. And an intact shirt, "Thank you. I'll see you at the feast?" He asked,before pulling his now-bandaged hand away and striding out of the Arena, not bothering to take his jacket back from the Herbology Professor.