[h3][color=666fff]Alyona[/color][/h3]
Alyona regarded the pigeon like she would any vermin, brushing off Cel's chipper greeting. "[b][color=666fff]Consider yourself lucky, flying rat, that I don't want to bother destroying another's property today.[/color][/b]" She shooed the bird away, turning to watch it fly for a moment before returning to face Cel. "[b][color=666fff]So there's actual organized fighting, then? I got my hopes up for nothing when I heard that scream. Or are sparring matches here not the type that ends in screaming?[/color][/b]" Alyona would be the first to admit that her home country was not quite up to the same safety standards as Rhea.

There was a brief pause as Alyona looked over the school's interior, before she slowly turned back to Cel. "[b][color=666fff]Wait. What happened to my homework?[/color][/b]" She asked, already knowing the answer.

[hr]

[h3][color=mediumspringgreen]Alexandria[/color][/h3]
"[color=mediumspringgreen][b]H-Huh? Ve-[/b][/color]" For some reason, Alexandria couldn't finish the name on her tongue. As the girl walked towards her, Alexandria could feel her heart pounding. Her body prickled with a cold sweat, and her covered eye began to throb with pain. She barely registered the sudden removal of her next fighting partner - who cared anyway? This was...

It was something Alexandria hadn't prepared for. She went out for this tournament to do something different, but she never considered Vera would be there. The murmurs of the crowd, yelling from some fans, it closed in on her. She felt like she couldn't catch her breath. '[color=mediumspringgreen]E-Enough! Everyone needs to go away right now! I can't handle this all at once![/color]' Her overwhelmed mind whirled, reaching out for a way to calm things down.

She grasped a card and wordlessly cast it, throwing the square of light underneath her. The spell was something she planned to use during the tournament, but she needed it [i]now[/i]. The spell conjured a wall of ice shaped as Andras wished - it was enough for what she needed. Suddenly, the card glowed and grew into a ring around the two, and in a flash turned into a barrier separating them from the outside world. The crystal structure only showed the distorted figures of the Midnight tournament and reduced the sound of voices to a much lower drone.

"[b][color=mediumspringgreen]V-Vera?[/color][/b]" Alexandria managed to say. She couldn't think of what to say next. Ask what had happened? Where Wolf was? What she was doing there? ...Why didn't she ever visit...? Alexandria shook her head gently, a tear rolling down her cheek. She couldn't ask that. It can't be the first thing she says to her friend.

But she still wanted to know.

"[b][color=mediumspringgreen]I-It really is you... Vera?[/color][/b]" Alexandria closed the last bit of distance between them with a hug. It was something she had played out in her mind so many times... It didn't quite feel real. It felt like she was still imagining it, like she was stuck in her head still. Alexandria's throat felt too tense to say more - if she tried, she might just end up crying. She hoped the embrace would do some of the talking for her.