"Nina! Look at this!" Katt yelled, sprinting into Nina's room.

Katt slammed down four tickets on her desk causing several papers to fly off to the sides.

"What are these?" Nina asked suspiciously, "This better not be tickets to 'Home Alone' again."

"No, no, no! I'm over that now! Look at what I got tickets too!"

Nina looked down at the tickets. She read it over quickly several times and looked back at Katt.

"Are these for real?"

"Yep! Front row center! We're going to be right next to the band!" Katt yelled.

"Who's playing?"

Katt read over the tickets again, "It just says the newest wave in music, guaranteed to send you home happy."

"I know it says that, I just read it. Didn't you check what the band was before you bought the tickets?"

"Not exactly. I bought 'em down in Colosia, they're going to have it in the coliseum." Katt said, finally calming down.

"Who are the other tickets for?" Nina asked.

"Me, you, and I don't know, whoever asks me first… except if it's Sten. I don't think I could put up with a night of him hitting on us and every other girl in the area."

Sten backed away from the door where he was listening in.

"Aw, c'mon I promise that I won't this time!" he pleaded.

"Nope, that's what you said when we went to see 'titanic' but the first thing you did was try to put your arm around me." Katt said.

"I thought that you looked cold! Excuse me for being so caring."

"Sorry Sten but if you want tickets you're gonna have to buy 'em like I did."

"Nuts…." He said, stomping out of the room.

* * * *

Sten walked down the stairs and out into the receptionist area. Niro looked over to him and noticed that he wasn't acting normal. He normally would've been up stairs flirting with Katt or Nina.

"What's wrong, Sten?" he asked in a voice which he attempted to make grandfatherly.

"Katt won't give me tickets to a stinking concert. She said anyone but me! What am I gonna do?"

"Anyone is it?" Niro said with a smile, "Excuse me a moment."

Sten heard Niro sprint upstairs and several minutes later came down waving a ticket and whooping for joy.

"ALRIGHT! I get to see the…" he looked at the ticket, "Newest wave in music!"

Sten grumbled at him and left the house. He walked down the side of the street kicking a small can in front of him.

"Stupid Katt and her stupid tickets, thinks she's so big just cause she has tickets but if she didn't have those tickets she wouldn't think she was so big…" he mumbled to himself.

Just then a thought came to him. Maybe it was the sun frying his brain, but he came up with a spur-of-the-moment, unbelievably impossible master plan.

"If I want Katt to give me that other ticket then I'm going to have to get her to like me. The only way I can think of to get her to like me and make me seem like a big man at the same time would be to… SAVE HER LIFE!"

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of his success and sprinted out of town. He remembered that bleu was nearby and he would need her help. He jumped down the sharp incline where the entrance to infinity had once been and sprinted into Gate. Everyone was going around their everyday business so he snuck through town to a small cave in the surrounding forest. Bleu was inside sleeping on the couch she had stolen from Bow's room and kicking a little.

"Zzzz… take that Tyr! Zzzz… not gonna get my lucky charms… stupid… leprechaun… zzzz."

Sten snuck up to her and sat down in a chair nearby. He patiently waited for her to wake up, staring at his watch every three minutes and wringing his hands. He had to get this done quick before Katt gave away the ticket. Bleu continued to sleep on so Sten picked up a small pebble and tossed it at her.

"AUGH!" she cried as the pebble fell in her mouth, she frantically spit it out, "What was that!"

Sten held in his laughter as she went on a massive tirade before finally calming down.

"Hey, bleu." He said and she jumped again, turning to him.

"What are you doing you little pervert? You weren't watching me sleep were you?"

"No, I just came in a minute ago. I need to talk to you."

She was wiping her mouth as he spoke and mumbling to herself, "Probably was a spider, I heard people swallow about three a year in their sleep. Probably a poisonous one too and it probably bit me in the mouth. AUGH! The world is going black! Sten I need you to do me a favor. Find that spider and (gasp) avenge my death…" her head fell limply to the side.

"Bleu it was just a pebble, I thre.. SAW it fall from the ceiling and into your mouth."

One of her eyes popped open, "Are you sure? Spiders look like rocks sometimes."

"I'm positive." Sten assured her.

"Alright then, what do you want?"

"I need your help, I need you to warp me to Colosia."

"Colosia? Why would you want to go there?"

"Because Katt got tickets to go to a concert and I want to go. She won't let me because she thinks I'm going to hit on her all night."

Bleu put her head in her hands, "So what do you want to do in Colosia? Buy tickets?"

Sten's mouth dropped open, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're an idiot, Sten."

"Oh well, that isn't the plan anyway. I need to set it up so I save Katt's life! I'm just going there to get a couple guys from the coliseum to come get her! In the nick of time I will come down out of nowhere and save her!" Sten stood up proudly.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." He deflated and sat back down, "But I'll help you anyway. In return you have to get me a ticket while you're there."

Sten agreed and shook hands with her. In a blink she whisked him away to Colosia.

"Are you sure that you didn't break it to him too hard." Nina asked Katt as they walked down to the restaurant that they were meeting Ryu and Bow in.

"Nope! I was perfectly right and he took it harder then he should've! Not my fault he's over sensitive."

"STEN!?! OVER SENSITIVE!?!" Several people shouted after Katt's comments.

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you guys!"

They went back to their business and Nina continued her conversation.

"You could've at least told him you would consider it."

Katt threw her hands out wide, "Then he would've thought that he had a chance! That would be breaking it too hard to him! I wasn't going to lead him to believe that he had a chance! Besides he can just go get some tickets in Colosia!"

Nina started to say more but Katt held up her hand, signaling the end of the conversation. They entered the restaurant and looked around. Off to the side of the room was Ryu, waving to them as Bow tried to decipher the daily word puzzle. Nina sat down in between Ryu and Bow while Katt sat across from her.

"Hey do any of you guys know what a four letter word that is the name of one of the kids in the 'Cosby Show'? It would help me get the rest of this." Bow said staring at the daunting task before him.

"Wasn't it Tiga?" Katt suggested.

The three stared at her, "What are you talking about? That has got to be the most random thing I've ever heard." Bow responded.

Katt crossed her arms in front of her and put her head down, "Thought it began with a 'T'. Didn't have to make fun of me for it."

"So why did you call us here anyway?" Ryu asked Katt.

"Oh yeah!" she reached in her pocket and took out the final ticket, "Check it out! Either of you want to come with Nina and me tonight?"

Bow shook his head, "Sorry, I have a date tonight with Silvia."

Ryu grimaced, "I have to spend some quality time with my dad playing 'Scrabble'."

Katt just shrugged her shoulders. There were plenty of other people to ask. One was walking right in the door.

"Hey Rand!" she called across the room. He looked over to her and walked on over.

"Hey Katt, guys." He greeted, "What's up?"

"Look at this!" she said excitedly holding up the ticket.

Rand pushed it out of his face, "Sorry, I'm not into new music. I prefer the 70's."

"Oh well, maybe Jean or Spar will want to come." Katt sighed.

"What about Bleu? If you find her you could invite her to it." Rand offered.

Katt leaned back to think. It appeared that no body would be open and she really didn't count on Spar or Jean wanting to come. As she was thinking the waiter came by and dropped off the menu's.

"4 letter word for one of the kids from the 'Cosby Show'." Bow muttered.

"Rudy." The waiter called over his shoulder as he left.

"Of course! At last you are complete vile puzzle!" Bow shouted in triumph.

Katt stared at him wide eyed, "What's wrong with you?" she asked as he started a little victory dance.

* * * *

The dark streets of Colosia were inviting to Sten and he walked down them unafraid of what he might find. He reached the town's only inn and went inside. There were several large men standing around but his eye caught on one who seemed to be perfectly suited. He walked over to greet the man.

"Hello!" Sten said smiling, "How would you like to get some money?"

"Money? Well I can never have too much despite the fact that I don't really need it."

"Excellent! What's your name?"

"Baba, now back to the subject of money. How much and what do I have to do."

A grin appeared over Baba's face as he listened to the monkey man's plan. If he and some of his friends went and beat up Katt they would get paid. Of course they had to pretend to be afraid of Sten and run off when he arrived but that didn't matter.

"So it's agreed?" Sten asked.

"Of course! I just don't know why you don't just buy another ticket but if you're going to pay us I don't care."

Pleased with the plan Sten walked out of the bar where they were meeting and went to the coliseum. There was practically no line so he went to the ticket booth. A near sighted old man was giving out the tickets and Sten looked to see who was playing as the man shuffled around to find the ticket and Sten's change. All he could get from the sign was that it was a surprise mega-star band. Finally the old man came back and gave Sten his things. He walked out of town and found Bleu sitting by the beach.

"Are you ready to go back or not?" she asked him angrily. She didn't like sitting on the beach for several hours.

"Yeah, just one second while Baba and his men come here."

Sure enough Baba soon arrived with three equally large men. Bleu herded them together and sent them through the warp back to Gate.

* * * *

It was about noon when Katt left the restaurant, waving goodbye to her friends. She walked back to her room the long way, weaving through the alleys and streets. She wondered where she could find Jean or Spar because they were normally gone during the day and walked on. She turned into one alley and walked down to the end of it. There was a brick wall there so she turned back to leave. At the end of the alley were four large men with their hands on clubs and other objects of bludgeoning.

"What do you want?" she asked walking back toward the entrance to the alley.

"We are here to beat you up for no good reason and without putting any thought into why we're doing it." The biggest one said.

They all fell on her, smacking her with their weapons and punching her. Sten was waiting a couple alleys down. He heard the sounds and went up toward the alley. Just then he saw Nina waving to him from across the street.

"Please don't come over here, please don't come over here, please don't come over here.." he repeated to himself. As if by the strength of his will she turned and walked across the street to him.

"Where have you been Sten? I haven't seen you since this morning! I hope you didn't take it too hard. You know how Katt can be a little over the top sometimes. Well you don't look to be in a rush so let me stay here and talk to you for a while before going on my way."

Sten started sweating profusely as he heard the sounds continuing. Nina seemed to be oblivious to the noises and was still talking to him about nothing in particular.

Back in the alley the men were getting nervous.

"Baba, do you think we've done it long enough? I mean she is barely conscious."

"Hey, the man knows what he's doing so just continue."

"Ow." Katt yelled out repeatedly as she was pummeled.

"And that's the end of my lengthy, drawn out speech that you probably didn't even listen too!" Nina finished and walked abruptly away.

Sten turned and ran down to the alley. His shadow fell down it in a dramatic fashion.

"AHHH! It's a monkey man! Run for it lads!" one of the men yelled and they took off.

Katt was lying on the ground singing little jingles in a confused state.

"Oops," Sten said and looked around for something to lift her with.

He finally found a wheelbarrow and dropped her in. He carted it down the street to the house and ran inside with her. He ran up to Bow's room and found nobody inside so he went over to Rand's. That room was empty too so he finally went to Ryu's. A sign on the door announced that he had gone off fishing.

"Uh-oh," Sten thought and ran back outside, dropping Katt into the wheelbarrow again. He carted her off to Kay's and knocked on the door.

"Why hello Sten and, OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO KATT!"

Sten looked down to see that Katt was starting to sing the most annoying jingle he ever heard.

"Quick, Kay, put her to sleep so we won't have to listen!"

Kay gave Katt some sleeping gas and then went about inspecting her injuries as Sten waited outside. Finally after about an hour Kay brought him back in. Katt had a full body cast on and was being suspended by several cords.

"DEAR LORD! WHAT THE %#$& HAPPENED TO HER!?!"

"Huh?" Kay asked looking where Sten was staring, "Oh! That's not Katt! That's Jean! He got beat up by an eye goo because he is such a massive wimp. Katt's over there!"

Katt was lying down on a bed nearby with an ice pack on her head.

"Luckily they beat her around the head and shoulders or else she could've been seriously hurt!" Kay said sounding slightly relieved.

Sten wiped the sweat off of his forehead and took a seat. He needed to tell Katt he saved her as soon as possible. The concert was starting in only 6 hours!

* * * *

Bleu was once more on her couch, looking at her ticket.

"What kind of ticket doesn't tell you who's playing?" She asked herself.

The ticket just sat there.

"ANSWER ME, TICKET!" she yelled at it.

"Are you, ok?

Bleu put the ticket up to her ear, "What was that ticket?"

"Um…Bleu? I'm over here."

Bleu looked over toward the voice and saw Ryu with his fishing pole over his shoulder.

"Oh, it's you Ryu. I thought my ticket was trying to talk to me."

Ryu slowly backed out the door, "Err… I was just checking on you to see if you wanted to go to the concert tonight but you seem to already have a ticket so, goodbye." He darted out the door before she could respond.

Bleu went back to studying the ticket. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Nobody would even think about having a concert without printing their band name on the tickets.

"Something's wrong. I better seek the council of Ladon." She said to herself, then added, "I really better start being around people more. All this solitude is making me talk to myself."

With a word she disappeared and materialized in front of one of Ladon's statues.

"Ladon?" she asked it.

"What is it you wish of the dragon god? Save. Change. Nothing."

"Hey Ladon! I don't need want to do any of that! I want to talk to you!"

The statue spoke back, "I'm sorry but Ladon isn't here right now, please try another time."

Bleu turned and started to leave. After about a dozen feet she stopped, "Ladon doesn't have an answering machine! He hates machines!" she turned back to it and glared.

Mist swirled from around underneath the statue and materialized into three forms.

"That's right! We've taken care of Ladon and your next! We're going to bring you to the concert with the rest of the fools!" the first one said.

"Silence! We can't tell her too much about our evil master plan, revolving around the concert!" The second one shouted.

"Fools all! You have already told her too much! Now we must bring her with us and make others curious of her disappearance!" the third stated, silencing the first two.

Bleu shouted at them defiantly, "You'll never get away with whatever evil scheme you have! If you could only tell me what it was then I would be happy to keep a secret."

"Well when you put it that way… our plan is to ta-mMff." The first figure began before the second cut him off.

"You fool she is trying to take advantage of our underdeveloped perceptions!" the second declared.

The third one pointed a finger at Bleu. It probably would've done something if he were a magician of any skill at all. Luckily he wasn't and she just shrugged and started to leave. The second shadow pulled out a tranquilizer gun and shot her in the back. She dropped in a heap and they dragged her away.

* * * *

It was around 3:00 when Katt finally opened her eyes. She still was bruised and badly hurt from the attack but felt slightly better.

"Where am I?" she asked Kay, who was sitting near the bed tending her.

"You're in my clinic. You were beaten up badly and I mean BADLY! Luckily he found you and brought you in."

Katt looked over to where Kay was pointing and saw Sten sleeping in a chair.

"NOOOOO!" Katt yelled and ran out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Kay asked.

"MMRFF!" Jean responded.

"Oh! You're awake again Jean! That means it's time for another round of painkillers."

Jean's eyes leapt for joy.

* * * *

"Slow down! Tell me what happened!" Nina said, trying to serve a wound up Katt.

"I just woke about a couple minutes ago and I was in Kay's clinic. I turned over and saw Sten in a chair beside me!"

"THAT pervert?" Nina exclaimed in shock, "What did he want? You made sure he didn't do anything funny while you were asleep, right?"

"I didn't have time, he was sleeping and I wanted to escape before he woke up."

"You need some serious rest, Katt. You look drained. I'll go get Bow to use some cure spells on you." Nina said, turning to leave.

"NO! Don't leave me alone! I don't want Sten to come in here while I'm asleep!" Katt shouted as she clung to Nina.

"I'm going to have a serious talk with that idiot." Nina promised dangerously.

Just when Katt dropped off the door handle started to jiggle. Nina snuck up behind the door and got ready to attack the intruder if necessary.

"Oops, didn't know Katt was here." She heard Bow say.

"Wait a minute, Bow!" Nina called, scrambling out after him.

Bow stopped and turned to her, "Yeah?"

"Come in here and heal Katt. She got beat up by some guys and when she came to she saw Sten sitting next to her."

"Dear god! If only I could heal her mind too. I'd flip out if I saw Sten watching over me when I woke."

He laid a gentle hand on Katt's forehead and she soon looked to be in perfect condition. Bow waved goodbye and left, leaving Nina to stand watch over the sleeping worren.

* * * *

Sten woke with a start when he heard the clinic door slam. He looked down at the bed and saw that Katt was gone. He looked around the room and saw Kay working on Jean.

"KAY!" he shouted, "Where's Katt?"

Kay jumped when he yelled, dropping a needle, which came close to poking Jean.

"Geez you scared me! She woke up a second ago and ran out of here."

Sten sprinted out to the street, catching sight of Katt running away toward the house. He threw open the door, just seeing two feline legs disappearing upstairs. He followed them to Katt's door and put his head against it to listen. He heard Katt frantically explaining what happened to who he thought was Nina.

"Curses!" he said to himself and walked off up to his room. He sat on his bed thinking about what he would do. He had tried his ultimate plan and it had unsurprisingly failed him. This stuck him with his second plan, degrading himself to the point that he was either given the ticket or they would be nauseous. He stood up and went over to the mirror on the wall. He looked at it, trying to get the perfect mix of nauseous feelings and sympathetic feelings. He worked on it for about an hour, glancing at his watch. It was only two hours until the show started!

"This had better work or else I'll be forced to do something far less drastic which would also spare me my dignity." He shuddered at the thought.

* * * *

After staying in the room for about half an hour, Nina decided it was time to go look for Sten.

"Lousy highlander," she mumbled, "I'm gonna teach him some manners."

She stalked downstairs and out into the receptionist room. Niro saw the look of rage on her face and hid behind the desk. The door slammed open as she left and she looked down the street both ways. Sten wasn't around so she went down to Kay's. She came in as Kay was just preparing to feed Jean.

"Kay! Where's Sten!"

Kay jumped and dropped the hot oatmeal she had been holding onto Jean. As he tried to cry out Kay turned to Nina.

"What? He left a little while ago. He seemed to be looking for Katt."

"Why was he even in here at all?" Nina demanded.

"He brought her in here! I didn't know why but he sat in that chair beside her, waiting for her to wake up. It looked like he wanted to tell her something. He woke up shortly after she did and sprinted out to find her."

"Oh no! I left Katt alone in here room! If Sten gets there first she won't be able to control her actions!"

Nina quickly jumped out the door and ran back toward Katt's room.

* * * *

Katt rolled on her side, facing the wall and lazily opened her eyes. She rolled back on her back and stretched before becoming aware of her surroundings. The room was empty.

"NINA? Where did you go?" she thought in panic.

She saw the doorknob slowly turning and pulled the covers up over her head.

"Please don't be Sten." She prayed before removing the covers from her eyes.

"AAAAAAH!!!" she yelled, seeing the intruder.

"AAAAAAH!!!" the intruder yelled back.

"TIGA!?! What are you doing here? I thought you were dead!"

Tiga looked at her and shrugged, "Hey, I'm entitled to nine lives just like all felines."

"You mean that's true? Then why did Ray have to revive me after that poison dart hit me?"

"He didn't, he was just trying to make it look like he could so that people would think he was powerful. His battle with Ryu should've proven he was a wimp!"

"Then what the #$%@ are you doing in my room?" Katt screamed.

"Jeez, sorry! I just heard you had great tickets to that concert tonight. I heard you had an extra one."

"What happened to Claris? I thought you loved her and wouldn't leave her side! If I only have one ticket then you'd go alone!"

Tiga gave a sheepish grin, "Well, uh, you see, Claris kicked me out of the house. She decided that if I was going to continually growl in my sleep then she didn't want to be around me."

"Wait a minute! How could she survive? She was a human!" Katt demanded, an uncharacteristically perceptive comment.

"Look, I didn't write the plot and if you want to follow the game then technically Baba shouldn't have fought you!"

"What game?"

"Err, nothing!" Tiga said quickly, "Well I must get going before I say anything else that could possibly shatter the world as you know it. Bye!" he disappeared out her window. She heard him fall and a snap.

Katt flinched, "That had to hurt!"

"Don't worry! I'm okay! My leg broke the fall! If you don't mind I'll just crawl away." He called up.

"Bye Tiga!" Katt called after him.

She sat back down, relieved that it hadn't been Sten. Just then the doorknob slowly turned again. She looked around the room and saw her staff propped against the wall. She grabbed it and held it ready. The door opened.

"Katt?"

Katt swung her staff, knocking down the speaker. She looked at her victim and saw that it was Nina.

"What the &%#$ was that for?" Nina yelled at her, unleashing a fireball that knocked Katt against the back wall.

"Sorry," Katt answered weakly, steam rising off her body from the attack, "thought you were Sten. Well, goodnight, sleep now." She passed out.

"What happened in here?"

Nina looked up to see Sten walk in the room. He picked up Katt and put her in the bed and then noticed Nina.

"GAH! I didn't know you were in here!" he squeaked in surprise.

"Why are you following Katt?" she demanded, locking him in place with her eyes.

"I just wanted to see if she would give me the other ticket! I really need to see that show!"

Nina frowned, "Was that why you were watching over her in the clinic?"

Sten shook his head 'yes' and Nina sighed.

"I don't think that she'll mind now. She hasn't been able to get anybody else so I guess you can come." Before Sten could start a dance of joy she added, "But only under one condition."

She explained it to Sten as he glumly agreed. They left the room to get ready to leave.

* * * *

There was only about one hour left until the show and Katt was sitting near the desk, talking to Niro.

"So you say that you never leave this desk, huh?" she asked.

"Yep! I haven't left here ever since it was built!" He said proudly.

Katt gave him a look of pity and patted his hand.

"I'm sorry you don't have anything better to do."

Niro held up his ticket, "This will be my first day to leave this desk!"

The door to the back room opened and Nina came out smiling.

Katt looked at her suspiciously, "What is it? Who is this fourth person you promised me?"

Nina wheeled out a person chained down to a backrest in a straightjacket, with a cage around their face.

"AHH! Hannibal Lechter!" Niro screamed.

"It's not Hannibal Lechter!" Nina scolded, "It's Sten!"

"AHH! Sten!" Katt screamed.

"Hey it was the only way she would let me come!" Sten said in his defense.

"Now, Katt, give him the ticket. You don't have to worry about him doing anything flirtatious. If he does you can punch him in the stomach."

Katt smiled at the thought and punched him several times in the gut, "Alright! This is perfect!"

Nina stopped her and they all walked outside of town, Niro wheeling Sten. Once they had gotten a fair distance away from town, Nina warped them all to Colosia. The town was covered in blinking lights and music fans. One of them ran up to Nina and started headbanging to an annoying song, screaming the whole time. Katt smacked him in the back of the head with her staff and he fell to the ground. The coliseum itself looked far nicer than ever before and they found their way to the front of the crowd. A bouncer stood by the door taking tickets.

"Here you go my good man!" Katt spouted, putting the four tickets in his hand.

"AH! So you are the ones with the front row seats! Follow me!" he lead them down a flight of stairs and then up another one. At the top of the flight was a door and he opened it. The expected sight of millions of cheering fans jumped in all their minds… but the room was empty. The bouncer led them to the front row and seated them before going back out front.

"This isn't as packed as I thought it would be…" Katt sighed.

"Well, you know that whenever the people don't know what the music will be like they buy bad tickets, that way if it stinks they can leave without feeling bad about paying too much." Niro explained.

"My money…" Katt groaned.

"Where's Bleu?" said Sten.

The lights darkened and the curtains shook as a man came out in front of them. He was wearing a tuxedo and waved to the crowd with a couple cue cards in his right hand. In his left hand he held a microphone which he lifted to his lips.

"TONIGHT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES! YOU WILL WITNESS THE NEWEST WAVE IN MUSIC! BE PREPARED TO BE DAZZLED BY…" The microphone broke. The man just shrugged and walked off stage. Katt shook with glee as Niro and Sten stared up at the stage. Nina calmly surveyed the rest of the room while she waited. Slowly the curtains opened and the music started to pour out.

"Mmm bop! Mmm mmm mmm bop!!" it started.

The four turned their fearful eyes toward the singers. It was their ultimate nightmare… HANSON!

"NOOOOOOOO!" they all screamed from their hearts. Sten ripped open the straightjacket and unlatched himself, jumping up to the stage with Katt. Nina followed and they faced off against the pre-adolescent abominations.

"HAHAHA!" Zac yelled at them, "you have foolishly bought tickets close to us! Now you will hear a massive sound wave caused by, dramatic pause, HANSON!!!"

He jumped over a swing of Katt's staff and faced off with a drumstick he grabbed from offstage. As they clashed, Taylor was facing off with Sten.

"Foolish monkey! I am not afraid of you! Our legions of fans will protect us from all you unbelievers!" he beckoned with his hand to the crowd with a wicked laugh before realizing they had no fans to help them. Isaac just stood off to the side, fearing Nina's wrath.