D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad



No more questions were forthcoming so Thyme clapped their hands once more to bring the attention back to them. "Now that you've had your questions answered, I will provide you all with up to half an hour to make your decision as to who is going to take this challenge. While you don't have to decide everything right now, I do recommend you have a rough outline of who is doing what for the entire day. Of course, I just need the next competitor, so technically you don't have to…" 

Thyme let their sentence trail off and then snapped their fingers. Kat and co found themselves in a little room with a table off to the side. It had a pitcher of water on it and a bowl of candies. The room itself was really just a box with windows otherwise. Kat took a glance out of one of them and confirmed they were still in the air. *Probably just keeping with theme… but why does Thyme have so many rooms that can just be floated around? I know they aren't illusions, and neither is the sky outside… but I just can't work out why you'd need this.*

[Huh… that's actually a good question. I could see a more normal person just having the room be underground with an illusion of the sky… unless the room IS underground but the windows are using spatial manipulation techniques to still show the sky outside instead? I don't really know how your eyes would react to something like that. I mean, it'd be the real sky and possibly 'really there' by some definitions.]

*Huh… yeah… might be something to test when you unlock your spatial affinity.*

Kat and Lily were pulled out of their revery when everyone else moved to sit down. Kat moved to do the same, and soon everyone was seated. Gareth poured a glass of water for himself and Green then looked around the room. Kat gave a shrug, Kress shook his head, and Nixilei made to grab the pitcher herself. Gareth allowed this and soon three members at the table had glasses of water. 

Green downed hers quickly and then dropped onto Gareth, enjoying the fact he wasn't wearing his armour. He was much more comfortable to sleep on like this. That is… until she heard Nixilei loudly clearing her throat. "What?" mumbled Green. 

"Considering you'll have to participate in something today I feel like you should be involved in the discussion Green," said Nixilei firmly. 

"Eh, I can just do whatever you assign me to," said Green. "That way I can sleep more," 

Nixilei let out a long, pained sigh. "Green, you just woke up. You don't need to sleep more, we all need to plan," 

"Yeah but I went to bed late. It's not even my fault!" insisted Green. 

"Green, you fell asleep instead of talking to Auctifer. You did not go to bed late," shot back Nixilei. 

Green however, denied this, "Nope, that doesn't count. I wasn't actually IN bed. I didn't say anything about sleeping more or less, I said I went to bed late. Those are two completely separate issues," 

Nixilei let out another long sigh as she rubbed her temples exaggeratedly. Kress, keen to stir the pot a bit said, "Well considering I'm not going to participating either way AND I've earnt us four whole points… I'm going to stay out of the conversation and take my own nap," Kress then fell forward planting his face on the table and pretending to snore. 

"See, if Kress can sleep so can I!" insisted Green. 

Nixilei really wanted to point out that, A, Kress wasn't asleep and B, Kress did have a point. He didn't need to be involved in the discussion. Technically speaking. Nixilei was also a bit biased in that she didn't value Kress' opinion much in the coming discussion. Especially not if he was going to try and cause trouble like right now. "Green, he has a good excuse," lied Nixilei. It was the best argument she was getting on short notice. 

*Should we like… do something about this?*

[Do what exactly? They're not shouting, and Nixilei is more exasperated then anything. Plus, it's pretty obvious what everyone is going to do anyway. Green will be assigned the obstacle course because she did one back in the first tournament round and has wind affinity to help get across and stay on the platforms. Plus she might be better at open combat.]

[Then Nixilei will have to take the second task, because she has more mana then Gareth and better control over said mana. That will probably be necessary for keeping herself up in the air longer, and maybe going further. Green MIGHT be better for the challenge with her wind affinity, but I imagine time wouldn't make wind too strong for today, otherwise he'd have sat them all out like he did us.]

[Which leaves Gareth to try and win the first challenge. He's… probably more of a sacrificial lamb sadly. We don't have anyone else to send, and I don't know if he's got enough mana to make good use of the gloves. I think the best we can expect from him is a second place, even if I've got no idea who's likely to win.]

*Wouldn't it be better to send Gareth to the obstacle course then?*

[I doubt it. How much mana does Green actually have?]

*I… I don't really know? I'd imagine she has a decent amount… but perhaps not? Would the fact that she sleeps a lot be a help or a hinderence to her mana pool?*

[No idea… but now that you mention it… if she sleeps between rounds it might let her mana regenerate more? Is that how that works?]

*Aren't you the mage? Shouldn't you know?*

[Well I've always got full mana after taking a nap… but I don't think I've ever been empty of mana AND then taken a short nap afterwards. Unless you count that one time I completely drained myself, but I think that slows your mana regeneration down as you recover properly, so it probably doesn't count.]

*Probably. So… Gareth, Nixilei then Green?*

[Probably.]

"Shouldn't this be expected from me at this point though?" offered Green. "Surely you've planned around my desire to sleep?" 

Nixilei just sighed for a few moments before taking a long sip of water. "Green, I know this is pretty normal behaviour for you, and yes, technically, I've got a plan in case you were asleep but I DO want this to be a discussion, not just me throwing ideas at you besides, you can sleep when it isn't your event," 

"Fine," mumbled Green as she moved to sit in Gareth's lap. 

"Ok then," said Nixilei choosing not to comment on that. "I suppose I should first ask, does anyone have an event they want in particular?" 

"Honestly, all of them sound exhausting," said Green. 

Nixilei ignored the quip and looked to Gareth who shrugged. "I'll take whatever challenge you want me to. I don't think I'm well suited to any of them honestly. Pick the two that are best for you and Green and be prepared to lose when it comes my turn," 

"Bit of a downer attitude Gareth… but I don't disagree," said Nixilei. 

Gareth shrugged and said, "Just trying to be realistic about it. I don't the mana you two do, and I've certainly got no experience trying to fly, or falling from great heights. Heck, the only thing I DO have experience with is obstacle courses but Green has been in one of Thyme's obstacle courses before… and the maze too now that I think about it. So probably best she does that one," 

Nixilei looked to Green who just yawned at Gareth's suggestion but didn't refute it. She did want to win the tournament as well, and it was a good idea. Perhaps the most tiring one, but she didn't know that for sure, and even if it was, she would only have complained superficially. 

"Right… so I guess it's down to me and Gareth to go for distance or speed," said Nixilei. Gareth just shrugged again, giving Green a little peck on the cheek as he did so. "In that case… I think it's best that I take the second task. Hopefully my mana control will be more useful there. I know I have the bigger pool, but that would be useful for both challenges from the looks of things. Unless… you think otherwise?" 

"No… I think you're probably correct," said Gareth. "I'm just not sure how well I can do here. I'll try of course, but I don't know if I'll have the mana to use the gloves enough. I don't think I'm one of the people that could only use the damned things twice… but I might be. I don't really know how I measure up compared to Kress or the average… not in a long time. Plus, everyone that's made it this far is at least a little above average in the mana department surely," 

"We'll just have to see how it goes," agreed Nixilei with another sigh. She was doing that a lot.