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

--- Nixilei ---

"You've all got ten minutes, and as I nice bonus I've made sure that no sound can travel outside of your team's bubbles. You can see a slight indent in the floor around the area, just in case you feel the need to pace or something," said Thyme and a big counter appeared behind them, starting to count down already. 

*Right. How am I supposed to work out what Asteodia and I are doing? Working together is all fine and dandy, but we probably shouldn't tip our hand before wee have to. If only there was some way to contact discreetly.*

Those were Nixilei's thoughts as she looked around at the small group she had with her. Kat still had her eyes closed, Lily was laying on Kat. Kress was still missing, while Gareth and Green were probably together. Nixilei paused though, looking between Kat and Lily and back again. 

*Hmm… does Kat have that limiter on? Would it be cheating to have her move and maximum speed to deliver the letter? Then again, I'm not sure she could get up to speed without being noticed so it probably wouldn't work anyway… but Lily is quite small in her cat form. Rather agile as well… and with paper and shadow affinity. I think I know how to send that message.*

Nixilei looked over and noticed Asteodia was watching her out of the corner of her eye. Nixilei just made a subtle 'wait' gesture and hoped it was understood before turning to Lily. "Lily, I require your assistance. Asteodia and I appear to have reached an agreement to work together on this one, and we'll probably need to pick the same vehicle to keep pace with each other. I'd like to keep it a secret so that the other three don't decide to team up against us, and just to have a general advantage," 

Lily blinked her eyes open and yawned, "Um… what exactly where you thinking? I feel like I should know a spell to link two pieces of paper but I just don't. Maybe it's something I need more power for, or I'm just not advanced enough in paper magic… I can make some paper for you though?" offered Lily nervously. 

Nixilei gave Lily a slight pat on her head. Nothing too serious, Nixilei had seen how the girl reacted to that, but Lily was clearly starting to panic. *Perhaps she feels useless? Kat has been better for the various challenges then Lily, for mostly obvious reasons. That might be getting to her, so hopefully this will calm her down without getting too weird.*

"Lily, while that would certainly be ideal you also possess the ability to turn into a small animal that is much less noticeable then walking over there normally. The paper will be nice as well. I can write out a message for Asteodia, and if you're willing, hand it off to you for delivery," explained Nixilei. 

"Oh, um… yes I can do that. I might get spotted but… um I'll do what I can?" said Lily shakily as she summoned up a piece of paper and a stick of shadow. *I didn't need the pencil of magical darkness but let's not say anything.* With a nod to Lily Nixilei wrote down the message. It said the following:

'Asteodia, I'm quite amiable to the idea of teaming up. I think it will allow us to win the competition with ease if we do. What vehicle do you think we should choose? I'm assuming it should be the same one, that way it will be easy to keep pace with each other. If you have a way of talking that would also be great'

Nixilei folded up the letter and handed it to Lily who put it down on Kat and transformed, then picked it up in her mouth. Waiting a few moments to make sure nobody was paying attention, Lily sped over to Asteodia's team. Nixilei smiled when she saw the elf in question pick up the letter and read it. Asteodia then turned to Romilda and a few seconds later Lily was running back over. 

Lily came back and dropped two oddly shaped bits of metal at Nixilei's feet and then coughing a bit before transforming. "Urgh. That tasted foul. It didn't help the thing is too big for my jaw…" grumbled Lily. 

"Right… but what is it?" asked Nixilei. 

"Um… so apparently, it's like… like a cup and string? Did you ever do that?" asked Lily. Nixilei's eyes lit up and she nodded. "Yes well it's like that. The one on the left goes to your ear, and the other one you hold in front of your mouth. Apparently the sound quality isn't great, and the range is terrible, but for across the room like this they work well enough," 

Nixilei nodded, wiping down the metal first. She might have been trained for dealing with some level of grossness, but there was no reason to be unsanitary about it. Clean as Nixilei was sure Lily's mouth would be, having cat spit near her ear wasn't a good idea. "Hello?" said Nixilei softly. 

"Hello! Yes I hear you," said Asteodia. At least, Nixilei was pretty sure it was Asteodia. The  voice was majorly distorted and impossible to truly identify. *At least the words are clear enough to make out.* "I looked over your note to Lily, and keepi8ng things a secret like this is a good idea. However, I'm thinking of going a different route for the vehicles. You were thinking we pick the same one yes?" 

"That was my general idea," confirmed Nixilei. 

"Right well, as decent an idea as that is at first glance, we'd hardly be working together unless we got truly mobbed for one reason or another. What I propose, is that one of us chooses the balloon or the plane, while the other chooses the wingsuit. Thyme has rather heavily implied, in a number of ways, that only the harnesses matter. So we can work together and even stay in the same vehicle if we want," explained Asteodia. 

"Ah… I can see the logic. Though I do wonder, why the plane?" asked Nixilei. *And what exactly does it mean if we're both standing in the basket but one of us is further forward? Does that mean we're going to have to wrestle for win? I'm still on board for this if that's how things are going to end… though who wears the suit might be an issue.*

"It… it would definitely be a bit of a squeeze but I think we're both thin enough that we could manage flying the plane together. There's less space than the balloon of course, but we might need the extra distance the plane provides us, unless we want to go on the offensive at the start? Or whoever is in the wing suit at least. Still, between the two of us, we can probably keep pedalling for the full two hours and mana shouldn't be an issue. If we go either route really," said Asteodia. 

*Ah I see. With both of us working together to keep the plan moving we can ensure that we potentially get the furthest. Anyone who picks the glider might still be an issue, but we can target them first before heading out. Other people with the balloon aren't an issue. We can just out distance them. Of course, with the wingsuit, we can defend better then everyone as well. Finally, we can outpace other plane users distance wise because having an extra person to pedal is a bigger boon then the weight is a detriment. Theoretically. 

As for the balloon, that's much simpler. We just try to take out as many people as possible then go where the wind takes us. Perhaps using the wingsuit to pull the balloon along if that becomes necessary at some point.* "What are you leaning towards?" asked Nixilei. 

"I'm really not sure. If we take the balloon we've got more space, and the wingsuit can be used more liberally. Whoever is using it can rest and regain mana properly, and we can switch off with ease because of the extra space. On the plane… I'm not even sure if swapping would be possible. Hard certainly, with only a minute to change unless we want to waste mana 'freezing' the plane twice or more. 

"Oh, and before we make a decision, I'll also add that we can ensure we tie for first place. As the two-hour mark approaches we can simply stack ourselves with one of us on the other's shoulders. Only horizontal distance matters so that should guarantee a tie," said Asteodia. 

*Well now. That's an interesting perspective. I'm not sure that really would ensure a tie… but at the very least I'm willing to go along with it. Not sure if I'll try to ensure I get first place or not. I won't fight for it if Asteodia doesn't, I think. 

As for the vehicles… well I'm still quite unsure. Both have their merits but without knowing what the other contestants are doing I just can't see which would be best long term. Though I suppose the number of monster attacks we're likely to face might also be a major factor. One that is also completely unknown.*