[center][h3][color=C2B280]Fleo Plector – the Stands[/color][/h3][/center]

Fleo cringed.  She turned quickly back and forth, trying to see if anyone in her immediate vicinity was in a similar state.  Did that really just happen?  One minute the Pirate Lord witch and the Iron Enigma wizard were locked in brutal combat, dealing shattering blows against one another, doing everything they could, seemingly, to incapacitate the other.  For a while, Fleo had been pretty convinced that each actually meant to slay the other.  Somehow, when the dust cleared, the fight ended not with a fatality but with a [i]voluntary draw[/i], and on top of that, the two combatants had taken the phrase 'kissed and made up' to a whole new level.

Such a thing, Fleo thought, would have been embarrassing if either of the two had been in Phoenix Wing.  Even now, the dusty woman squirmed a little.  It didn't seem possible.  In small, controlled doses, Fleo could understand how casual fighting could bring two people closer together, but not in a single fight between complete strangers, and not one of this magnitude!  If she had been impaled with an enormous snake fang, or cooked with emerald fire from the inside,  she would have been angry and resentful provided she'd survived.  Until now, she thought that anyone would have.  Intense pain did not biologically correlate to any good emotional reaction.  But these two not only made out in the middle of the arena, but left together shortly thereafter.  [color=C2B280]”How...bizarre.  Normal people don't do that sort of thing...?”[/color]  

As the next match got underway, the lesser-known guilds of Tough Love and Rider's Blade, she absently constructed a dust yoyo and started goofing around with it to pass the time.  The whale-man summoned by one of the competitors caught her interest.  Was it like a Celestial Spirit?  She'd never heard of this one before.

[center][h3][color=007FFF]Indigo Afina – the Stands[/color][/h3][/center]

Upon seeing the current fight concluded, Indigo almost cooed with delight.  It was a matchmaker's dream come true!  [color=007FFF]”Ah, love at first sight!”[/color] she declared.  [color=007FFF]”Who would have thought an enflaming poison and a searing inferno would have created such a burning passion, and between two rival guilds, nonetheless!  This has the makings of a starcrossed lovers story.  Two enemies, grudgingly united by a single love, brought closer together and made stronger by the efforts of their two finest warriors!  Oh, it's so wonderful!”[/color]

[center][h3][i]X[/i][/h3]
[@Burthstone][/center]

Mark's suppressed mirth did not go unnoticed by Stacy, who chuckled a little to herself.  His comment about killing didn't dispel this good mood.  “Eh, who hasn't?  Wizardry is a dangerous line of work.  Personally, I don't know where people get off sticking a stigma to just you bunch, when two of Phoenix Wing's top members -Damian and Lazarus, actually- have killed dozens of people.”  She paid special attention to the deadly members that Mark indicated.  Vales, eh?  Fascinating.  And the tale about the sister, too.  “Well, I know who to keep my foureyes on.”  

She laughed, and leaned a little closer to Mark -purportedly to hear better- as the crowd went wild for the end of the Iron Enigma/Pirate Lord match.  Right about now, she gauged it would be difficult for Mark to ignore the tightness of her red shirt.  Behind her glasses, her eyes glinted, and she wore a curious smile.  “Is Jacob the only one who kisses girls he's just met?”

[center][h3][color=D8BFD8]Nero the Genie – the Stands[/color][/h3]
[@Invisible Man][/center]

As Eve gushed out her emotions, Nero listened with wide, increasingly worried eyes.  How could he not have picked up on how unhappy she was currently!?  Even given his general level of incompetence with the emotions of others, the time he'd spent with her should have clued him in to what would make her distressed.  Seeing her so conflicted, and full of dangerous feelings ready to bubble over and react explosively with her powers, the dark mage had no idea what to do.  His usual reassurances and jokes wouldn't shore up this dam.  Even as Eve's rant tapered off and she leaned against him for support, which sparked a slight tumult of emotions inside of him as well, he could feel the chaos within her growing.  A definitive solution was needed.

[color=D8BFD8]”Hey, hey.  Don't quit on me now,”[/color] he tried for consoling, but knew that he must have sounded a little strained.  He found himself angry at the Time Lord as well, for helping her to reach this state.  From the get-go he'd assumed that the man was a manipulating scumbag with too much power, but this...was he trying to set her off?  The color drained from Nero's face as he considered the terrifying possibility.  If the Time Lord has attached, leechlike, onto Eve and influenced her in order to rile her up, knowing full well that her unstable psyche was connected to her very unstable abilities, he might have willingly been converted her into a walking, necromantic time bomb.  When Nero spoke again, his voice was shaky.  [color=D8BFD8]”I-I know what will help.  Jus-just take a breath, or two, or th-three, and think [i]happy thoughts[/i]."[/color]

As discreetly as he could, Nero wrapped his cloak over Eve's shoulders, and beneath it reached [i]into[/i] her back.  He rummaged around inside, seeking, and almost recoiled when he found what he was looking for.  Stealthily, he pulled it out, and examined it in his palm.  [color=d8BFd8]”Holy sh...cow!”[/color] he muttered, looking at the [url=http://www.energymuse.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/295x295/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/e/web-10-3.jpg]thing[/url].  It was a round crystal ball, hopeless gray in color, with one side eroded.  The inside was covered in spikes, making the whole side look like some unholy maw.  It emanated a foggy black aura, a presence that Nero felt could smother and suffocate all happiness.  Eve's sadness was immensely powerful—injected into anyone else, it could kill them easily.  Nero suddenly realized that all the happiness Eve had cultivated was the sole reason she was still alive.  [i]And I thought I had it rough...[/i]

He slipped the thing into his pouch and held Eve close to himself, and arm around her waist.  Right now, she would be beginning to feel a little better hopefully, now that her sadness had been removed.  This time, Nero's voice was slow and calming.  [color=d8BFd8]”Shh...it's fine.  Don't worry about the Time Lord, or Dragon Fang, or any of the people in this whole darn arena.  Just focus on you and me.  It'll all be dandy.  You've been doing a wonderful thing, trying to make everyone happy, but you've forgotten about the most important person.  You.”[/color]  Nero wished he could do something more to help her.  At a loss, he tried hugging her instead.  To anyone else, the genie and the necromancer must have looked like just another couple.  [color=d8BFd8]”Try, uh, try to focus on yourself for now.  How do you feel?[/color]