Alberona and I were at a table more in the middle of things nowadays, and were drunkenly laughing so hard about something that we had to lean on each other to keep from falling over. She had broken up with the guy she had been dating around the time I dropped mine, and Gray had left his girlfriend, too. It was odd; the guild seemed to go through stages in relationships all at the same time. Everyone even had their short rebound relationships at the same time. Anyways, Kana and I's laughing fit abruptly stopped when we saw a guy with orange-ish blonde hair and a bunch of rings walk through the door. He went to the bartender of the time and was directed to the master. They spoke for a few moments and the master grinned and threw an order for the bartender to grab the magic stamp. Kana and I still had our arms thrown around each other and hadn't uttered a sound throughout the entire scene. Our heads snapped to face each other in excitement. This incredibly hot guy was joining the guild.

"DIBS!" we simultaneously called out. Then, frowning, we agreed that whoever could draw his attentions first could have him. As expected for a man of his appearance, most of the girls were all over him. He flirted with all of them, and my attractions were dropped slightly, but I had accepted a challenge and refused to lose. Maybe I could play a player and teach him a lesson.

I didn't run up to him like most girls were doing, I simply cast him glances as I tried to figure out the things he responded to. When his eyes met mine, I didn't flick my head away like a stupid school girl. I simply made it a point to look at the women around him, and scoff. Agreement or not, if this man settled for one of the girls fawning over him right off the bat, he wasn't worth my time. I didn't keep track of where Kana had gone. She had her own methods and I had mine. I drank by myself, and getting bored, moved to a table nearer the edge of the room to people watch. From my peripheral, I could see the fresh meat's eyes - and when he couldn't prevent it – his head followed me to keep my location before he turned back to his fan club. On the opposite side of the room, Laxus sat, and pointedly looked over at the guy before throwing me a suggestive look. I winked at him to confirm his suspicions. Maybe he would shake things up and make this difficult for me. Soon enough, the newbie approached me with a small card of paper in his hand and a pen, and tried to roll it out smooth, "Excuse me, can I have your name, so that I can list you under 'likes' on this card?"

I scoffed, though I had no idea what the card was. I'd have to ask someone about that later, but for now, "It's gonna take more than a charming line and good looks to get me interested. I meet guys like you all the time, and all of them think they're the sexiest thing I've ever seen. Impress me with something other than your ability to pick up women. If you can't, there's that adorable little fan club behind you."

He sat and leaned his chin on his hand while pretending to get lost in my eyes. "What, would my power level better suit your taste?"

"If I was looking for someone strictly based on power level I would be across the room." The newbie's eyes drifted across the hall as though he could possibly know who I was talking about, and the one I had been speaking of was letting off an odd mix of pride and insult. I grabbed newbie's chin so that he would face me again, "I'm speaking. I'm sorry if you thought I was finished, but I'm not."

"Forgive me. I would never wish to anger such a beautiful creature."

"Beauty's got nothing to do with why it would not be wise to anger me. I'm looking for someone with wit. If I held my standards of everyone else's reasonable amount of power to match my own, my options would be extremely limited. If you want to impress me, have a mind of your own. I know I'm not always right. No matter how much they wish to believe it, most women are wrong more often than their partners. Understand?"

He seemed totally intrigued by the fact that I had admitted to not being perfect, and I had successfully attained his attention. He was no longer half-listening so that he could scope out the other beauties in the room – of which there were many – but was genuinely interested in what I had to say. He commented, "There are many who don't share your opinion. It's almost brave of you considering how outnumbered you are."

I smirked, amused that he had used "almost brave" instead of saying it was full-on, and I agreed with that sentiment. My response was, "Now you're getting the hang of things. However, there's not much I can do that would be truly brave."

"And why is that?"

I finally turned fully towards him as I set down my drink, "I'm starting to sound like someone I hate, but I have the ability to defeat almost anyone who opposes me. That's not an exaggeration - and I feel like you think I'm arrogant for admitting it - but I had to answer your question. There's not much that can be considered brave when you're one of the ones people dream of standing up to."

He frowned slightly, but I didn't sense any annoyance directed at me, and relaxed for giving him my seemingly overconfident statement. I didn't like it either. I didn't want to seem like one of those unstoppable people – though that was what I aspired to be. It wasn't a nice feeling when people felt you couldn't relate to them simply because you're strong, and so avoid you. There were plenty of people and things stronger than me – especially when two moderately powerful things teamed up. If Natsu and Gray teamed up and got deadly serious, I had no doubt they could defeat me.

The new guy observed, "You must be very strong."

"There's always someone stronger. When it doesn't come to combat there are plenty of people better than me at all sorts of things. For example: you're very good at attracting women, but there's always someone better – even if you're near the top of the heap. In some other talent, there are more than likely tons of people better than you."

"I don't understand. First you talk yourself up, and then down. What am I supposed to think?"

A scowl crossed my face as I examined my drink and thought up an answer. Then I looked back up at him, "Just remember this: I may not be God, but if you harm any innocent person - or especially my friends – or me, I will send you to hell. I will drench you in its darkest depths, pluck you out again just so that you can remember what it's like not to be in pain, and then I will throw you back deeper than you were before. I will repeat this process until you have either learned your lesson, or die. If you die, I will continue this process when I die. If you never die, I will never stop until you learn your lesson. If you never learn your lesson and you never die, I will invent deeper, more horrible levels of hell, and reserve them for you. Got it?"

He was a bit pale and nodded, "You can either be my best friend, or my worst enemy."

I grinned at him and observed, "You listen up good. I'm Dio, by the way. Meet me at the Onyx Eye tavern at seven. You can tell me about yourself then." He gulped and nodded as I stood and left, flirtatiously waggling my fingers at the fan club sending me death glares as I left the guild.