"Dio. It's about time you made it here."
The vampire knelt before the Master of Games, who nervously cast his eyes about the common hall.
"My liege, is it safe?"
"For now it is. But we don't have much time. This will be your replacement for Ryuko."
With a snap of the man's fingers, a girl wandered out of the crowd, taking a bow. Her unruly hair fell over her face as she bowed, and something glowed through the ebony strands. She straightened herself up and tucked her locks back over her shoulder, cinching up her tie and smoothing a pleat in her skirt.
"Pleased to meet you, Lord Dio," she said. Her voice was not one that betrayed any malice or evil intent.
"With all due respect, my liege, is this the best you could do?"
The girl seemed distracted, and did not seem to take offense at Dio's remark.
"Whatever do you mean?" stammered the Master of Games.
"Well, I lost a teenaged schoolgirl, and you gave me… another teenaged schoolgirl."
"Do you realize the percentage of the fighters here that are teenaged schoolgirls? If it came to a vote, I think they'd have a slight majority."
"Fine, fine. What does she do?"
"Her hair is alive."
To demonstrate, her hair immediately sprouted several long, curved strands, which began to twitch with what did seem to be life. A thin row of shining white spikes emerged where one would expect a headband, and two glittering orbs popped open along next to them, focusing burning red irises on Dio.
"Is this the guy?" growled something as the white spikes moved back and forth.
"Oh, it's a mouth. And eyes," noted Dio.
"Yes, Samson," said the girl. "Please behave."
"I'm not concerned about my behavior," grunted the girl's hair.
"Let me get this straight," said Dio to the Master of Games. "She's a schoolgirl, and she fights using a symbiotic relationship with a darkly-colored quasi-organic being bonded to her body, that happens to have red eyes and some semblance of a mouth."
The Master of Games nodded.
"Kid, what can you tell me about your mother?"
The girl blinked vacantly. "I… I can't remember anything about her."
"So what you've done here, my liege, is given me exactly the same thing as Ryuko."
The kingly figure held a finger up. "But she fights with her hair."
"You couldn't have come up with anything else?"
"You were the one who wanted a replacement."
"Lord Dio, I'll show you just what I'm capable of. I promise, I won't let you down," she said, giving another bow.
"Okay. Whatever. What's your name?"
"Call me Filia."
"Very well then, Filia," sighed Dio. "Welcome aboard."