Eleven glared at Audland. "I'm not a THING. I'm a VALKHOUND, asshole." She puffed up her chest, staring him down as best as she was able. But she was curious about the answers to his questions. WAS this deer, also, a homosexual? Is that why he felt so... Oddly important? How did romance and gender and intimacy play into the homosexual's innate aura?

But perhaps more importantly, she could actually see the arena now, just in time to see her sibling deliver the final beatdown. "WOOOOOO! NICE ONE AGATE! You GOT their ass!" But the They in question seemed to be distracted by something other than the fight.

The singular corruption point did not have enough time to tamp down on the immediate fear that shot through Eleven as she watched Angel break into a full sprint toward the stands. She turned to Audland, beginning to discard some of the resentment she'd built in the course of the fight in the wake of what was, potentially, a larger issue. "Wait. Are they running towards us?"

@Audland @V-Agate-one @Angel

He was trying to watch the combat, an idle ruby gaze picking out tactics and skills from those who had them. He wasn't fully invested. That wasn't his job. But it was a form of entertainment, and the interrupting questions were distracting.

Still... they were fair enough to ask, and with a faint sigh he tried to split his attention between answering them and watching the combat.

"Master Astraea." His glance at V-Chaos-Eleven was an empty one. Maybe he should have been annoyed that not all the Gembounds knew, but that wasn't their fault. Maybe he should've stood more on ceremony in introducing himself, but that sort of thing sometimes felt like it'd lost its appeal, and anyway, he was trying to watch the match. And he wasn't about to go into all the grammatical and societal minutiae behind the answer to that second question, so he kept it simple. "Are you a he, a she? Something else? That is your gender. It's a part of defining who you are." His answer was idly indifferent, if still... broadly helpful. Next, his eyes fixed on Audland, and amusement finally flickered there. "You learn as you grow," he answered, and shifted where he half-lay, half-sat in the stands. But the question hurt--or rather, the potential answer did--more than Audland could have known. The ancient Master... tried not to flinch.

His initial response had almost been to explain his relationship with Tenzin, but... that was... It wasn't... They were no longer... No. Astraea took a breath and forced stern calm. "I have had relationships. For: yes, I am suave." There was humor in it, humor he'd drawn from some well beneath the pain but it felt faked. It fell flat, even to him.

V-Agate-One's admonishment earned a quirk of his lips and little else. He wasn't here to berate children who didn't know any better, and after all, it seemed this youth did not know of his position. Astraea let it go, and did in fact (coincidentally) shut up, but he did not go away.

@V-Agate-One @Audland @Angel @V-Chaos-Eleven (for various address)

Astraea's response to the 'gender' question elicited a quip from Audland in the direction of his unwilling (maybe willing? she didn't move away) cuddle buddy. "Actually, yer a she, so I think that makes you a her," Audland craned his neck whisper to Eleven as close to her ear as he could get in spite of their awkward positioning. It was mostly a joke, but Audland's expression might not show it, because Astraea's explanation was so vague and unhelpful that Audland was honestly unsure if it was correct or not. If it egged Eleven on, though, that would be a bonus.

Audland turned back to keep his eyes on the deer as he spoke. Master Astraea sounded like a pretty important, auraful person, so Audland decided to sit his blue butt down and listen. (Clarification: he's been sitting this whole time, but the listening part has been... fuzzy, at best.) Maybe he'd learn a thing or two. You learn as you grow was, disappointingly, neither confirmation nor a denial on the point of Astraea being one of these rumored 'homosexuals'.

While Eleven was wondering English major-style about the contribution of homosexuality to aura farming, Audland began to have a perplexing realization. His eyes turned away, down to the floor, and he began to mumble while his brain attempted to do math for perhaps the first time in his life. "So—wait, if she's a she, and someone else is a she, and they enter one of these relationships... that's one, plus one, you carry the one, and uh..... that would make you a homosexual?" His muttering elevates to a sort of frantic, zoned in rambling until the realization hits, at which point Audland's head dramatically snapped back to Elevan with wide eyes and a crap eating smile on his face.

Unfortunately, Audland was too busy being proud of himself in advance for (probably) figuring something out that he failed to realize that what he had figured out was nothing at all. An absolute nothingburger of an accusation: you might be a homosexual if you were in a relationship with a she/her user, whatever that means. Like. What is that? That's nothing. And yet, Audland feels overjoyed.

So much so that he also fails to notice:
1.) Astraea not selling his suaveness to hide his divorce.
2.) The fact that the match is over and that's what Eleven is yelling about.
3.) The rapidly approaching footsteps.

Well, he at least notices the third thing when Eleven literally calls attention to it out loud. Audland's grin drops, and he turns. "Huh? Oh, shi—"

@Angel @V-Agate-One (if everyone agrees, i think angel should post next bc in Eleven's narrative it says angel is Booking It at them. and i think all reactions are contingent upon what angel is going to do. but maybe agate would post next instead, if they're also going to do something?)