Tourney Spectator Lounge

"I was only interested in your and Valk's match, so I would not know." Shamus tells Aelieth, his glaze not leaving hit PET. "I would have liked the match to have been a little bit longer, but the fact that you made it that close that fast... Well, I have to congratulate you on that." Shamus further says, taking his glaze off of Gear for a moment to make sure on the amount of Zenny he has.

Odd... Shamus thinks, looking at the small window at the bottom of the PET's screen that kept track of his zenny amount. Where did this 2000 come from? Did turning those remains into dust somehow get me more zenny? The man asked himself, seeing more zenny in his account then he remembered. He could have sworn his last trade would have left him with 0, but now there is 2000 in his account. Probably shouldn't look this horse in the mouth. The man tells himself, now returning to watching Gear further break whatever objects are around him.
After giving Camilia a sort of sympathetic look when she was reduced to apologetic mumblings. It was some sort of cross between an awkward smile and a mini shrug.

Then she turned back to Aelieth. "Well, that's too bad." She began. "But good for you. I'm glad you did well against an opponent who had such a great level advantage on you." She said. "You did way better than I did in this tournament." She said with a shrug.

"Oh, and speaking of that." Rose was reffering to 'have any matches, as she turned back to the match she had been watching. "Yeah!" A fist pump came with that mini exclamation. "On the brightside, looks like our friends Mill and Anyis just won their match." She smiled.

The other matches. . .She looked them over quickly. Pianissimo and Traceur seemed to be doing decently against eachother. She looked at the other one. "That one, Red Riding Hood versus Druidman, looks like it's getting close to finish." She commented.

She then closed her mouth for a moment to allow others to speak.
The redhead was about to comment or add in something, before Rhea bleeped almost cheerfully from the PET in the bag slung behind the wheelchair. "It was approved. We have a mission," Rhea remarked, which Camillia would usually react normally.

Not this time, of course.

"You what?!" Camillia shouted, then realizing that she was still inside the group of NetOps, she wheeled herself away from the crowd after another embarrassing apology session. "You went to request for a mission without consulting me?" Camillia said now, voice barely above a whisper. "... My apologies. Shall I return to the BBS and cancel out the request?"

"... No... That wouldn't do. That'll be borderline rude," the redhead sighed, carting herself off. "We'll just get this done with as soon as possible."

"... Understood."

Camillia threw another apologetic smile at the crowd behind her, then was off. First, she needed to get Rhea something-- Rhea apparently suddenly boosted in a few levels, and was now eligible for some upgrades...
Once more, Sabrina found herself entering the Colosseum lounge, albeit purely as a spectator this time. It was definitely a bit quieter now, and there wasn't really anyone she recognized...oh, wait, there was one familiar face.

"Hey, Rose!" Yep, one Rose Dunrae was there. "Still keeping track of the tourney, huh? Who's still in it?" ...Oh, hey, there were a couple of other people in here. Neither of them especially caught her eye, but that didn't mean she shouldn't just ignore them. "Hi, guys! Sorry to just barge in...anyway, my name's Sabrina! How about you?"

What sounded like a yawn suddenly came from the Netopian girl's right shoulder, as a short, stout Navi's hologram appeared on it. "Are we there yet, Sabrina?" ...Eh? They weren't just there, she had already started talking to people. He wasn't entirely sure why she never woke him up, but..."And I'm SplashMan, her Navi!"
"See you around, Camillia," Aelieth waved, slightly confused by the teen's sudden departure. Then again, it wasn't his place to ask what had caused her hushed conversation with her Navi, so he let it go as yet another new face appeared in the Lounge.

"Nice to meet you Sabrina, Splashman," the Operator said, offering his hand yet again for an introductory handshake. "I'm Aelieth," he announced, then jabbed a thumb at the shoulder Holoß was using as a perch, "And this is Holoß." He waited for the flicker of movement in her peripheral vision that would tell him that Holo was acknowledging the newcomers, but none came.

"Holo, it's rude not to say he--" he started, turning to look at his shoulder when he realized that his Navi was no longer there. Looking back at Sabrina and Splashman, he saw his Navi floating inches in front of the hologram of the newcomer's, bent slightly at the waist and examining him with a critical eye. The projector Navi continued to stare for a bit before relaxing his posture, a line of white rising from his feet as his appearance mirrored Splashman's, save for the pale green hue that colored his minute form. HoloSplash then smiled, though the expression was only visible in his eyes, gave a quick, two fingered wave, then vanished from sight, reappearing on Aelieth's shoulder with a pleased expression on his face. His feet kicked back and forth as they danged in front of him, accentuating his good mood.
Ever since the match ended, Mill had been mindlessly walking back and forth around the main lobby, quietly tapping away at his PET to meet the promise of a swimsuit for Anyis. Granted, graphic design and this... "walking" thing might not typically mix very well, but Mill was simultaneously still on a high from winning and fearing his next opponent that he couldn't help but keep his legs moving to burn up the energy that would only otherwise bubble chaotically in his mind.

Anyis, meanwhile, had been quite intent on drying off while sitting around in the PET, as she found out that despite her Aqua alignment, her clothes absorbed water like a sponge. It was at times like these that she really wished the Net didn't emulate physics quite as well as they did. Despite having wrung her robe out several times, there was this ever-present dampness within it that would just not go out. Her boots weren't behaving much better, as the knee-high footwear had actually collected enough liquid to form its own miniature pools inside and it didn't look like that'd be undone any time soon. As for her gloves... Well, those just never came off, so whatever. After a few minutes of grumbling and hard-to-hear unpleasantries, Anyis grabbed the collection of fabrics in her hands, and without really thinking, froze them solid. She blinked, took a second to realize what happened, and then said a few things that Mill had to actually mute the PET's speakers for if he didn't want Colosseum security on his ass.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence (and yes, Mill did remember to turn the speakers back on), Mill came to a stop and announced, "Done! This should work for your waterlogging problem."

Anyis, who had since given up on her clothes and was lazily laying back on the PET's floor, grew a flustered blush on her face, as if Mill was divulging some obscene secret of hers. "Oh just shut up and upload the file..." whined Anyis as she pushed herself up and grabbed her garments-turned-icepucks.

"Yeah, yeah. You're just lucky that Magna's old GMO was wiped clean with his degeneration. That's something else you'll need to thank him for when I figure out how to rebuild him." countered Mill as he assigned the recycled image file to his Navi.

With one quick flash of light, Anyis was reclothed in a sporty orange bathing suit, and all the ice on her old clothes had immediately liquified and fallen to the ground. "Alright, that's a good start." nodded Anyis, confirming that she was now, in fact, water-free. "And I guess I'll give you credit for making it look okay in such a short time." complimented Anyis, sort of, as she glanced at herself in the water puddle's reflection. It felt a little weird to her having so much bare skin, especially now that her gloves had shrunken down to just cover her hands, but it was a necessary sacrifice to prevent this from happening again. "Ah well. I don't have anything to hide, so a little skin here and there won't hurt."

Mill nodded, secretly admitting that his Navi did have some looks to her, although a lot of good that did him. With that tedious task finally done, Mill looked up to see where his feet had taken the rest of his previously pre-occupied body, and the result was accented with an "Oh" as he saw the Spectator Lounge just up ahead, with what looked like a few people still inside. "C'mon Anyis, let's go cool our heels for a while. It doesn't look like we were the last to finish."

"Yeah, uh huh..." muttered Anyis half-mindedly, who had conjured an ice mirror while Mill wasn't looking and was carefully inspecting every millimeter of her body to make sure her Operator hadn't done anything stupid.

Mill shrugged and returned the PET to his side before walking in, taking note of two new faces (he had a fuzzy recollection about the other girl) along with Aelieth and Rose. Guess that meant Holo's match was over, for better or worse... Oh well. He may be a dead man walking once the next round begins, but for now, Mill was a champion walking. He proceeded up to the gathered group, and... bowed. "Hello everyone. I return bearing a victory in hand." said Mill with a sarcastic arrogance, accenting his intangible bragging rights by holding Anyis's PET in previously said hand.
As Camilia left the room, Rose waved quickly. "Bye Camilia," She called out, "Hope to see you again some time." It didn't matter though, as the girl was basically gone already. Rose almost felt bad for her, based on how she left. But it was just a mission, so she figured the girl couldn't be in trouble or anything like that.

"Oh, hey there." She greeted the returning girl with a smile. "Nice to have you back, Sabrina." She didn't have time to introduce her, as she introduced herself, but that was alright. "And yeah, still watching. Oh!" She said suddenly as she turned back to the screens. "Look at that. Another match over." She commented. "Ok, so one match is still going, but otherwise our competitors are Duke Rigel and Pianissimo, Sieg and Valkyrie," (at this she shot a quick apologetic glance at Aelieth before continuing her sentence without so much as a pause) "And" she began, as yet another person walked into the lounge, "This man right here." She held out a hand in his direction to signal who she meant, in case it wasn't clear, before dropping it back to her side.

"Hello Mill" Rose said, after smiling at his silly bow and pun. "Good work. And thank you for upholding our honor." After this she made the gesture of a curtsy, but as she was wearing jeans, it really just involved her miming the motions.

"Now you just have to keep up the good work." The hopeful reporter noted with a smile. "Remember, I'm still expecting you to win the whole thing."
Zeo strolled back into the Spectator Lounge trying to look as calm and collected as possible. There can't be that many people, and making friends is good, right? he thought. "Hmm, who's still here?" he asked himself quietly. He closed the door discreetly and glanced around. Monitors still going with a heated battle. Check. Inviting girl wearing pink. Check. Girl with multi-gendered Navi. Check. That was it as far as recognization went. Aside from that there appeared to be a few other guys there. Whelp, time for more socializing.

Wait, people were already talking. Interrupting people was bad, as far as he knew. However, being quiet would likely result in him gluing himself to a chair and staying there. New plan: wait until someone noticed him and invited him into the conversing. At this rate, the one to do that would probably be Rose. Hey, I remembered someone's name. And the one whose Navi caused all the commotion last time was...Sabrina? He thought that was it.

"If you're like this for the rest of your life, I'm going to be pretty bored only having you for company. Hurry up and make friends," ViralMan urged from Zeo's arm holster. Zeo frowned for a moment before whispering back. "I'm working on it, okay?" Seeing nothing else to do, he stood there and waited for the others to finish their current conversation.
"Nice to meet you, Aelieth!" Sabrina returned the offered handshake as she listened to Rose's explanation of who had yet to be creamed. "Can't say I really recognize any of those names. ...Come to think of it, how far did MachMan go?" She wasn't really sure if him being out was good or bad, but either way it was nice to know.

"Heh, aren't we Mr. High and Mighty?" As she greeted Mill, Sabrina crossed her arms across her chest as if she was offended. Of course, she was being no more serious than the person she was addressing. "So, congrats on your win!" ...Uh...shoot. She couldn't think for the life of her who his Navi was. She knew they had met earlier, but...ugh, way to totally blank, Ms. Jetto.

SplashMan seemed to take Holo's odd behavior well enough, though his eyes were trained on the projector Navi until he went back to his own shoulder, now possessing similar traits to himself. Seemed pretty happy. Maybe he was easier to copy than most Navis? After all, he did lack things such as skin, hair, and a face. In a way, it was kinda nice to meet a Navi that was the same..."Hi, HoloBeta!" He waved at the electrical Navi, before turning towards the newcomer. "Who's this, Sabrina? I feel like I've seen him before..."

"It's...Mill." Without realizing it, Rose had saved her neck by calling him by name a few moments ago. Man, that would've been super embarassing...which reminded her. "Look up his Navi's name, would ya?" Ah, whispering. Been a while since she had to do that.

"Okay!" The watery Navi brought up the tournament info next to him, and quickly flipped through until he found the operator in question. Navi name...Anyis. Well, that was definitely an odd name. ...Hmm? She was Aqua elemental? Neat. That called for a water-to-water greeting. SplashMan disappeared from his perch, reappearing in mid-air in front of Mill's PET. Good thing holograms didn't have to obey the laws of physics. "Hi, Anyis!" He made sure it was nice and loud, so that: A) his operator could hear it and act like she remembered it all along, and B) Anyis looked slightly preoccupied, and wanted to make sure he got her attention.

Unfortunately, purpose A didn't get fulfilled, as Sabrina had already motioned towards another 'newcomer'. Sure, there was someone else standing around saying nothing, but she had already met this one, so she could at least shout out to him without feeling silly. "Hey, welcome back!" ...Great, she couldn't remember his name, either. Awesome. "Come on, don't just stand there, come over here!"
Hey look, someone noticed him. Time to say hello. Zeo walked over to the small group of people and focused on Sabrina. She hadn't mentioned his name, so he doubted she remembered. Oh well, his name was very forgettable...he thought. Maybe not. The boy shook his head to concentrate and stopped a few feet from the others. "Um, hi. Your name's Sabrina, right? And you have the-" he stopped. He was about to say "tranny-Navi", but on further reflection, that wasn't a good idea. "The water Navi," he finished. Said water Navi was currently in hologram form greeting people.

"Showoff..." ViralMan growled quietly from his PET.

"Hush," Zeo ordered. "I doubt you remember my name, so I guess I'll introduce myself again. I'm Zeo Yamikagi, and this is ViralMan," he said, probably repeating himself from last time. As he mentioned his Navi's name, he flipped out his PET and held it up facing the group. "Greetings again, since you've all obviously forgotten-" he directed this at Sabrina. "-or don't know our names," ViralMan said to the rest of the people in a perfectly normal and polite voice. Zeo sighed. "And you wanted me to make friends?"

"So, how have things progressed since I left?" he asked the group in general. "And there seems to be some new people here, too, hello to you guys." Zeo greeted the newcomers in general.
Duke walked back into the lounge and took his seat again. He glanced up at the monitor to see the progress of the last battle, then down at his PET. "I'm taking this break off, I need some sleep," he said to Pianissimo.
Aelieth's eyebrows perked up ever so slightly as he realized how many people were not only in the lobby, but joining the particular huddle of (ex)competitors and spectators he counted himself in. A bead of sweat formed at the nape of his neck and ran into the collar of his shirt. Within his gut rose a familiar feeling of discomfort and anxiety as the number of people within the group began to exceed his comfort zone. Still, he managed to keep his composure as he joined back into the conversation.

"Welcome back, Mill," he said, putting on a smile as he did so. "'Grats on the win. Just think, two more of these things and you'll be walking away with the top prize, whatever it is."

Holoß was interested to see what was going on in the new PET; Anyis had to be something to get this far in the bracket. Shortly after SplashMan appeared before Mill and Anyis, Holo followed suit and left his Operator's shoulder. Now creating the image of SplashMan in stereo for the priestess Navi, HoloSplash waved at the PET screen, body language conveying what his muteness could not.

Around this time, Sabrina called Zeo over, which meant that Aelieth's shaking hand was about to be exercised once more. "Nice to meet you, Zeo. And you, too, ViralMan," he acknowledged the pair, proceeding to offer the aforementioned hand to Zeo in greeting. "I'm Aelieth, and the green one over there is Holoß." he said, jerking the thumb of his free hand over towards the SplashTwins as he concluded the introduction. He left Zeo's question at the progress of the tournament for someone else to answer, partially because Rose seemed to have that covered, but mostly because he was asleep during the first break and had no idea that Zeo had even been in the tournament, let alone in the lobby.
"Easier said than done..." sighed Mill as he pulled himself back up. "We got lucky this time since Mazer and MachMan didn't have much to detail with Anyis diving underwater." explained Mill to Rose, conveniently omitting the fact that Anyis actually dropped the SeaSeed, and that the crux of their entire strategy was a total accident. He glanced over at the lounge's largest screen where the bracket was displayed and saw that Pianissimo was the next opponent, as well as making an awkward note that Aelieth lost his match to Valkyrie. "Anyis and I are going to need one hell of a plan to get past the semifinals. Pianissimo seems like a monster from the previous matches I've seen..."

"Oh be quiet, Mill." ordered Anyis, who was still inside her PET and examining her new attire. "All you did before the last match was get nervous too, and we still won in the end." She then realized that Mill wasn't going to relax that easily, so she grudgingly let her ice mirror collapse and proceeded to hit the holo-projector's switch without so much as a moment's thought over the fact that she was still in her swimsuit. Now that she could look Mill in the eye properly, Anyis continued, "Now there are 7 other competitors who could've been where we are now, some of who are here right now," she then paused to point at Rose and Sabrina, "and those self-defeating thoughts are just going to put our victories and their losses to waste."

"You know that our chances are slim against Pianissimo, right?" questioned Mill, aware that while her words were harsh, they were meant more as motivation than insult. It didn't really work, but at least he knew that she tried.

"Well, yeah, I'm not that dumb. If he's going to beat me though, I at least want to break his nose in the process or something." answered Anyis with what her loss was worth as she flexed her fingers. Of course, this was about the time that Duke walked into the room, so whether or not anything would come of that threat would depend on how sleepy he really was.

"Yeah, that's totally a fair trade... Anyway, good to see you again Sabrina. Last time, Burt dragged me aside before either of us could say anything, and..." Mill paused for a second, then shook his head, getting this ominous feeling that he was speaking of something he shouldn't. "Well, whatever. I'm sure Anyis will do everything she can to represent Aqua-class Navis on behalf of SplashMan. Right?"

"Of course. All that's left are the Normal Valkyrie, Pianissimo, the Aqua me, and whichever Wood Navi wins that last match. If the end of the tournament is going to be even a little exciting, the elemental Navis need to meet up in that final match!" shouted Anyis, possibly revealing a bit of a bias for her fellow elemental-aligned Navis.

"You say that before the other elemental Navi has even been decided..." muttered Mill under his breath. Anyis's point about the two remaining elementals, though, did remind Mill about Holo. He turned to Aelieth and said, "Uh, thanks. Sorry I can't say the same for you. I'm sure it had to be a close match, though?" Having had his own match run longer, Mill had no idea how Holo vs. Valkyrie had played out, and could only hope that the competitor he kinda-sorta knew put up a good fight.

Aside from the sleepy Operator that Mill failed to realize was his opponent, there was one more person in the lounge that he really couldn't place. He said his name was Zeo and his Navi ViralMan, but it really didn't ring any bells. That wasn't really much of a red flag since Mill was far from a true socialite, but he was still curious. "Hey there, I'm Mill Alidine, the Operator of Anyis. Nice to meet you."

"And feel free to ask for tips from one of the tournament's final four..." said Anyis with a smug look, which prompted Mill to shake the PET in his hand as a signal to cut the crap.
The lounge gained even more people. After the entry of the first, Rose waved. "Hello again." She said to the familiar face. Though she had a knack for names and had remembered meeting him just a short while ago, Sabrina headed over and after their interaction Zeo's navi introduced the two of them. Rather rudely.

Rose smiled, though.

Her eyes lit up when the next person entered the room. Though she hadn't really introduced herself or met him formally, she did know who he was. He had been in the lounge until the last round, and she had just watched him walk off screen in the match she had seen end. "I need to make sure I meet him." She thought, looking back at the people she was talking too. "I need to make sure I have contacts with all the semi-finalists. Even though I have the e-mails already from the sign up thread, it is far better to get it from them in person. This is my chance with this poor man, who seems miserably antisocial." Her thoughts then turned back to the other three. "One semi-finalist isn't decided yet. One still hasn't come to the lounge. The third is talking to me now, and I'm sure he'd be fine with giving me his e-mail and will give warning before he leaves."

While having such an internal monologue, she listened only somewhat to people introduce themselves to Zeo. She heard Aelieth speak, but nothing that she needed to respond to. Mill's navi gestured at her, which snapped her into focus. Once she realized what they were referring to Rose's smile regressed to a somewhat nervous grin.

Rose glanced once more back at Anyis, before looking over her shoulder at her PeT. "I may have to take you up on that offer." She said quickly, "Later."

Then, taking a step back she smiled briefly before saying quietly "If you'd excuse me for just . . ." She didn't really complete the phrase as she trailed off. She ducked down, turned, and walked a pace away from the group. She then made her way to the man who had entered most recently entered the lounge.

Once she reached him she put on a very bright smile and offered the hand that wasn't holding her electronic notepad out to him. "Hello there sir, you must be Duke Rigel." She said politely. "Congratulations on your win."

After a brief pause she continued. "My name is Rose Dunrae, and I'm covering this event for the Net News paper, Gazette.Net. I was wondering if you'd like to exchange contact information so I could ask you a few things as a Semi-finalist later." She added, quickly, "I'm sure you have more important things on your mind at the moment, so we could exchange information now and I could get back in touch with you later, and be out of your hair now."

She continued smiling somewhat self conscious of what she was doing. "This is the first time I've had to ask someone this kind of thing without knowing them first. until this point I've been getting Contacts from the Net or after having met them for some other reason."
Zeo stood and watched as some guy walked into the Lounge and immediately sat down. Probably a combatant, seeing as he didn't seem to interested in spectating. After that, Aelieth offered a hand in greeting, which Zeo shook before speaking. "Likewise. You have a great name, really original." He then looked where Aelieth was pointed and quickly gave the Navi a once over, then directed his attention to Mill for yet another greeting. "Once again, likewise," the boy repeated.

"You're in the final four? Wow, you two must be pretty good. I'd have signed up for the tournament, but as it happens I uh, didn't even realize it was happening until after sign-ups were over." He smiled sheepishly at this. "I doubt we'd have made it very far at our current level, though. Hopefully next time we'll sign up and who knows, maybe we'll actually get past the first round." He realized he was being really negative, and decided to stop. "But yeah, if we ever need tips for battles, we know who to go to now, right?" he said to Anyis, smiling.

"Do you have an inferiority complex or something?" ViralMan asked his operator. "We don't need any tips, we're fine as it is." Zeo turned the PET's screen to face him. "Oh? And who is it that just finished a battle with ten HP left?" the boy remarked. ViralMan did not deign to reply. "I still don't think we need that much help, if any," he mumbled, defeated.

Zeo laughed. "Ignore him, he's just a bit prideful when it comes to battling." Then he noticed with a frown that Rose had essentially just brushed off the group and hurried over to the tall, tough looking guy who seemed to be trying to sleep. Brave girl... he thought. "Um, it doesn't look like that guy wants to be disturbed," he said to Rose as she walked up to the guy. He didn't know if she would hear him or listen, but hey, he tried. Not like the guy would do anything other than tell her to go away. However, Rose was also probably his best source of information on the tournament, so for now he was in the proverbial dark. "So, uh, who else is in the semi-finals? That guy over there?" Zeo asked, pointing to the man Rose was so interested in.
"Of course I remember your name! Just because I didn't say it out loud doesn't instantly mean I don't know it!" ...A total lie, of course, but that was Sabrina's story, and she was sticking to it. No matter how much ViralMan might try to call her out on it. "Lemme think, who's left, again...Pianissimo, Valkyrie, Anyis, and...a Wood Navi to be named later. Didn't pay much attention to the operators left, but..." She trailed off as Rose headed over towards the guy that apparently was more interested in sleeping than talking to anyone. "Beats me. But no sense in us standing around wondering about it!" And by us, she means both herself and Zeo, whom she dragged with her over to the reporter. "Hey Rose, who's this? And now that I think about it...I haven't seen SummonerMan anywhere. Is he taking a nap or something? He did kinda seem like he'd be tired out easily by crowds the last time I saw him..."

Meanwhile, SplashMan was busy with other semi-finalists, namely Anyis. However, he seemed none too pleased about the 'advice offering' at the end. "...Thanks, but I'll pass. Sabrina and I did some intense training since I lost, and already I'm not the Navi I was before!" ...No, really, he wasn't. But he wasn't saying that out loud, even if half the crowd already knew it. "But that aside, you're doing great! I mean, you did beat the Navi that beat me! Go on and win the tournament, on behalf of all Aqua Navis!" He performed a fist pump in excitement, somewhat hoping Holo would do the same for extra effect. ...And then he noticed something...odd about the icy Navi. Might be a little rude to ask, but he had to know..."By the way, any reason you wear a swimsuit? I mean, I know you're Aqua element, but I'd think you'd get chilly like that..."
Duke was startled out of his almost-asleep state when he was addressed. He listened halfheartedly, deciding he no longer particularly cared the moment she identified herself as a reporter. He'd already had enough of reporters after several incidents in the past, the oldest of which now being seven years previous, and he certainly didn't need more attention from them now, semifinalist or not. Still, he found himself too tired to outright object. "Information's in the signup thread, get it from there," he yawned.

He glanced over as another person approached, dragging a third. "And take your crowd somewhere else, I'm trying to sleep here," he added, too tired to care if he was being a jerk.
"Hey, hey! Hold on a second!" Zeo cried out as he unsuccessfully resisted being dragged to where Rose had gone. From his limited viewpoint in Zeo's PET, ViralMan sighed deeply. "Getting dragged around by a girl. I really hope this doesn't happen often."

They ended up standing beside Rose and the man. "Um, if we're going to go any way, shouldn't we be going the other way?" he said to Sabrina in an undertone. "That guy kinda scares me." He then noticed he was standing close to a girl, so of course he had to take a half step to the side as subtly as possible. It was now that the man in question responded to Rose. He didn't sound too scary or rude, just tired. Don't judge a book by its cover and all that, Zeo supposed. Anyway, he hadn't done anything, and it looked and sounded like he wanted rest, so he worked up the courage to speak in front of the guy and suggested to the girls that they leave him alone. "Um, Sabrina, Rose, maybe we should just let him sleep. It's not like he was rude, and there are other places for you to get info, Rose." He managed to say all that in what could be considered a normal voice, which was a plus.

He could always try getting some payback for a minute ago by dragging Sabrina back to the other group, but the likelihood of Zeo actually attempting that was pretty much nonexistent. Instead, in a more timid voice he finished, "So, are we going back?"
"Eh... I figured it'd end up this way..." Aelieth said, responding to Mill's condolencences on his loss. "The match was probably the quickest one in the tournament so far, but each team managed to get the other's Navi to critical condition within the first couple of seconds, so at least we didn't just hand Sieg and Valkyrie the match on a silver platter.

He returned to silence as the conversation continued on, and remained that way for a bit as half of their party split off to talk with a man who looked as though he were trying to catch some sleep. A flash from one of the various monitors covering the tournament caught his attention and, shifting his gaze to better see what it was displaying, saw the end of the recap of Duke Rigel (at least, that was the name displayed across the bottom of the screen) and Pianissimo's victory.

"So, what's your take on Mr. Rigel over there?" Aelieth asked Mill in an attempt to keep the conversation rolling while the girls and Zeo crowded around him, inclining his head in Duke's direction to emphasize who he was referring to. "He's looks beat, despite having just won his match. Heh... maybe he'll sleep through the next one and you guys won't have to worry about coming up with a plan." he chuckled, the memory of the round he managed to get through because of a disqualification briefly flashing in the front of his mind.

Holo, it seemed, was perfectly fine just floating amongst his fellow Navis, and therefore failed to live up to SplashMan's hopes as he simply hung there and listened. Upon hearing Splash's comment on the bathing suit, however, he became more active in the converstation-- well, as active as he could be. As if he were asking as well, a beam of light flashed up his length, refreshing his form and changing him into a her. HoloAnyis gave herself a once over, turning to look over her shoulder to see how the suit looked in the back, then flew in an arcing circle with outstreatched arms and a wide smile plastered across her face. It seemed that being around his own kind in a social setting, rather than having to fight against them, was causing Holo to show his age, acting much more childlike than he had in the past.
Steve came back into the spectator's lounge, and, seeing it still crowded, started to regret his decision. "Oh, uh, I was just, uh..." he stammered.