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Regina paused for a moment, letting her thoughts run over the mental checklist of things to be done. Prizes, check. Speech, check. She wasn't sure why the three trolls were still hanging around on stage, there wasn't anything else she had to give them. Still, it worked. She didn't want one of them to run off quite yet.

"And now, I'd like to take pleasure in announcing that for one night only there will be drinks, food, and music for all trolls who feel up for a party on the first floor of my little hive. The doors will be open by the time everyone leaves the area, so feel free to head over when you want. However, if you want to stick around for a bit, I might have a little more action for all you who're still calling for more. To open the celebrations, and start this night off with a little bang, I'd like to request a taste of the champion's strength in combat."

She swivelled around to face Aprife, dragging the microphone with her to ensure her voice carried to all the corners of the arena. Eyeing the troll up and down for a moment, she brought her free hand down to rest on the hilt of her sabre, which always sat strapped to her waist. Her eyes had the twinkle of someone who knew that she was not really making a request at all, and was looking forward to the reaction almost as much as she was looking forward to fighting the yellowblood.

"To make things fair, fun, and a little interesting, I'd like to propose a no-weapons fight, fist to fist and foot to foot. Of course, if the champion is still tired from yesterday, I won't hold it against him if he declines."

after this post a battle has started! same spectator/attacker style formats as before, you guys know the drill.

Relaxing her hold on the microphone stand, she leaned in towards Aprife, speaking low so that it wouldn't be picked up. Her face was alive with excitement and nearly cut in half by the huge grin on it as her eyes flicked up and down, giving her opponent a quick one-over. She winked at him and flashed a thumbs up. Despite the fact that her opponent really hadn't had a choice, she was tickled pink by his answer, and it showed.

"Nice to see you're up for one last scrap. Don't hold back on me, I want to see exactly what kind of a troll managed to best all those other contestants. So lay it on me good, right? Ka-pow, heheheheh."

Turning back to the audience, she unhooked her sword from it's place on her belt and dramatically laid it down by the side of the microphone. It was a good sword, clearly higher quality than the yellowblood's whip, and capable of dealing out wicked damage. Regina always fought to win, but sometimes winning went beyond mashing your opponents cartilage nub to a fine-grade pulp. She gave the scabbard a loving pat before straightening up again. Grabbing her mic, she removed it from it's stand and jumped down off the podium, hitting the arena floor lightly, and raising a small cloud of sandy dust.

"For all of you staying to watch, thank you! I would like to present Aprife Invasi, newcomer, upstart, lowblood with style, and our champion of the arena versus Regina Mariam, yours truly, benevolent ruler, queen of Alternia, ecetera ecetera. May the best troll win!"

Zeffer watched as the others were presented with their respective prizes, a glint of jealousy crossing his features as he caught sight of what Aprife was getting. Nice s**t, not that he didn't like what he'd won...but damn, those'd be useful, and they'd work forever. He felt a little weird to still be up on stage, but he was quiet and respectful...up until Regina challenged the yellowblood to a no weapons sparring match. The blueblood had to bite his lip to keep from snickering. Holy s**t, this was turning out to be an amazing night. The poor b*****d! He clapped a hand on Aprife's back as he went to exit the stage and reclaim his seat, cracking a huge, a*****e-ish grin. "Hey, good luck Aprife!" he said, cackling as he leapt down the stairs, quickly pocketing his new bracers in the process. He wasn't going to leave for the party yet; he wasn't going to miss this fight for anything.

He jumped back into his seat and all but smirked to Minist. "Man, can you believe this s**t!? It's gonna be awesome!"

Pyre's mood shifted between utter amusement and a sort of sick disappointment as the penultimate event unfolded. Aprife absolutely wasn't prepared for this battle, he wasn't fooling anyone; the poor guy was practically radiating soreness and fatigue into the air around him. She didn't have the first doubt in her mind that the queen was going to make an example out of the kid. Then again, she also hadn't had any doubts about who was going to win the showdown she'd had with the yellowblood the night before. The slight grin she'd been wearing faltered as the disappointment started winning the mental tug-of-war. She should be the one getting challenged by the queen, right? No way he'd had more experience, more training, more hard knocks than she had. She was the better combatant, had to be--but clearly wasn't. She wasn't the one with horn rings, not the one standing in the center of the podium, she wasn't the one graciously accepting the invitation to combat, honored for the chance to--. She mentally sighed, cutting off that train of thought. Heroes weren't supposed to be sore losers, they should be modest and humble. "Get off your high hoofbeast. You lost. Come to terms with it."

She followed Zeffer's lead as he stepped off the stage, but looked back at Aprife at the blueblood's parting message. She'd second Zeffer's notion, but honestly, she was rather hoping the queen would win. But wishing the queen luck would be disrespectful, she was sure the young matriarch didn't need it. She ended up just giving a sort of awkward half-shrug at the contestants of the final battle before turning back and striding up to the stands, still alternating between scolding herself for being a sore loser, and taking a break from the scoldings to be sullen.

And then whoops that purpleblood was right there, time to get that facade back on! Pyruet marched over to Frossa, a rather lukewarm smile on her face. She looked down at the empty seat next to the girl for a moment, staring at the placement card. Sempur Livora. She curtly picked up the card and tossed it at an empty seat a couple of rows back. "Hope you don't mind." she offered, carefully sitting next to Frossa, plucking the bottle out of the purpleblood's bag, keeping a firm grip on her trinkets. "...Should be entertaining." She gestured towards the arena with her drink, trying to twist the cap off with the same hand that was holding the bottle. "...And um..." Her expression changed from forced joviality to slight discomfort. "I never did catch your name."

((and a week later I realized I forgot the whisper post style))