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[sup]🌺   [color=#CF328D][b]LOCATION[/b][/color]   🌺 Colosseum Cavea (seating area)[/sup]
[sup]🌺   [color=#CF328D][b]INTERACTING WITH[/b][/color]   🌺  Derex [@Altered Tundra][/sup]
[sup]🌺   [color=#CF328D][b]MENTIONS[/b][/color]   🌺  Avery [@Sugar and Spite][/sup]
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[color=gray]When Eden Ashford set her sights on Derex Steiner, she was aware that having him would come at a high price. There were many reasons why the daughter of Aphrodite had been instantly smitten with the well-known son of Mars. His bravery, fearlessness, brute strength, protective instincts and selfless way in which he looked out for others before himself were some of the items on the never-ending list of reasons she had to love him as deeply as she did. But the same qualities that made her swoon were also the root causes of her frequent, constant, underlying state of anxiety.

Every time Derex agreed to a sparring match, demonstration or exhibition, Eden smiled and nodded in support while physically fighting back the urge to cry. As much as she knew Rex could hold his own better than anyone else she knew, her mind couldn’t help but focus on all the things that could go catastrophically wrong. One miscalculation or incorrect step, and her dearly beloved could be permanently injured, disabled or even deceased. But what else could she do? Warfare and battle were not just a part of his identity: they were in his blood, and embedded into every fiber of his being. So rather than sit around at home worried to the point of physical sickness about what could be happening, Eden would do as she had done since the beginning of their relationship: taking a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and being there for her boyfriend. 

This year’s summer solstice was no different. With how much he missed being in the center of the action, Rex being one of the first people to volunteer for the veterans’ sparring bracket came to nobody’s surprise. If the blonde didn’t know any better, she would’ve said that Rex’s name was on the list before it even made it to the public. From her carefully selected vantage point in the colosseum’s cavea, Eden watched with a mixture of pride, admiration and apprehension as the love of her life proudly entered the battle arena he loved so much. Cheers and applause filled the air as the behemoth of a man made his way in, eventually standing tall right in the middle of space with his signature hammer in hand. It wasn’t long until his first opponent made her own entrance, and shortly after that, their battle began.

What followed was a tense Eden bearing witness to each of Derex’s matches with bated breath-- grimacing, gasping and wincing at every punch, kick, blow or strike her boyfriend received. The calming tea Lilith had made her earlier could only do so much to soothe her distress, and the daughter of Aphrodite often had to stop herself from digging her nails into her skin hard enough to draw blood. That familiar feeling of an invisible hand tightly squeezing her chest-- the one that warned her about a loved one being in imminent danger-- refused to abandon her all throughout. Momentary relief was offered after Rex won his first match and the other veterans took center stage. But by the time his second match began, this time with the beautiful and equally powerful Avery Pierce, the effects of the tea had all but disappeared. 

Sharing a soultie with the two veterans actively trying to incapacitate each other meant that Eden’s “spidey” senses were in overdrive. She’d spend the majority of that match with her eyes tightly squinted shut, purposely looking away but still keeping out a listening ear to follow the occurrences of the match in her own way. The agony of not knowing exactly what was happening was nauseating, but it was still better than watching her soulmate get hurt and being unable to do anything to stop it. After what felt like an eternity, a collective gasp echoed across the colosseum, and Eden’s eyelids flew open just in time to watch Derex fall to the ground with a smile on his face. Instinctively, the daughter of Aphrodite jumped up from her seat and raced to the arena as the event’s medical crew carried her boyfriend away, pushing away any person that got in her way. She was stopped at the gates by the veterans assigned to be security detail, who had to both physically restrain the surprisingly strong blonde and reassure her that Rex’s injuries were not fatal and he’d be reunited with her shortly. Still not convinced but unable to do anything other than wait, the defeated woman returned to her seat, anxiously tapping her foot and watching her surroundings like a hawk for any sign of her beloved.

When Derex finally made his way over to her, took her in his arms and kissed her, Eden allowed herself to relax. She fought back against the overwhelming impulse to collapse into sobs of relief-- the last thing she wanted was to make things about herself or put a damper on her boyfriend’s good mood with overreactions or oversensitivity. Instead, she shifted her attention to the fearless warrior who had returned to her mostly in one piece, albeit with some new bruises, and broken bones to add to his never-ending list of injuries.

[i][color=c04000]“I almost had her too,”[/color][/i] Eden heard Rex say as he leaned against her shoulder. [i][color=c04000]“Hope you’ve been enjoying the show regardless, [abbr=my one and everything]Mein Ein und Alles[/abbr].”[/color][/i]

Eden let out a panicked, shaky laugh at his remark, ignoring the red, crescent-shaped marks in her arms and the way her muscles were aching from the prolonged period of tension. [color=#CF328D]“I’m just glad you’re okay,”[/color] she replied with that tell-tale tremble her voice always took on after witnessing him being in the throes of combat, kissing his head and resting her head against his.[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent]