[ he bites his tongue. yeah, what epel's doing right now... it tugs at his heartstrings? it's grating in the worst way: genuinely causing leona a little bit of sympathy pains as well as grief. if epel could somehow stab someone with cuteness, then that would be like. that'd be the play.

but also? that's not how they do things around here! magic first. then if that doesn't work? physical beatdowns. right. ]

Think 'bout it like this. You're putting 'em in check. That's a pretty powerful position to be in.

[ he snakes an arm around epel's shoulders. ]

When you do that, you're makin' someone else move around you. You're forcin' their hand. So you should be proud of havin' that kind of power without liftin' a finger.

[ it's all chess to him, baby ]