Chapter 1136 1136 Stan
The group noticed that everyone was piling into the cafeteria, though most were leaving as soon as they got their food. Kat couldn't see Blue or anyone from her team yet so they after a quick chat with Mint, it was decided the three of them would head off to Kat's room to keep chatting. Kat and Lily grabbed their food, but as they were about to walk out, Kat noticed Stan heading her way, even if she didn't know his name just yet.
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Kat shared a glance with the other two that just shrugged and took a step away. Stan seemed to smile at that, and nodded thankfully towards the other two before motioning to the lounge. Kat shrugged and followed along, handing her plate of food off to Lily. Stan slid into one of the beanbag chairs, and Kat grabbed a second one.
"Thank you for speaking with me. My name is not Stan but I like to pretend it is, and I will insist that you refer to me as such. Sorry for calling you away but I wanted to chat a bit before we got started on the events. I have a few questions," said Stan.
"My name is Kat, and questions are fine with me, what did you want to ask," said Kat.
"Well, I before we get to the more distasteful details, I was wondering if that picture of rugged perfection on your team is single," said Stan.
Kat frowned, "Um... who exactly do you mean by that?"
"You can't tell?" asked Stan, genuinely curious.
Kat just shook her head, "Not at all. I'm asexual and even if I can sort of appreciate people from an aesthetics standpoint... it's kinda hard. I mostly just abuse the fact I can look into my girlfriend's head and react to that sort of thing accordingly, which means I'm still limited in regards to picking out good looking men,"
"Ah, I see... well I don't rightly know the man's name, but I believe he is in your team. To save myself the embarrassment of describe features you probably didn't notice... I'm talking about the one not in plate amour, for while he is a fine specimen, he isn't to my taste, and if he isn't together with the green haired fae already, I suspect he will be soon," said Stan.
Kat felt like a hammer had just been taken to her worldview. *This guy likes Kress? He took a look at our group, no ALL of the groups... and decided Kress was the most attractive person there? Somehow, I feel offended, despite the fact Stan here is obviously gay. Wait... is that rude? No, he's clearly gay because he didn't mention Nixilei at all and only mentioned Green because she's Gareth's fiancé.
I just... Kress? Really?* Kat wanted to shake her head to clear it, but didn't want to give away just how much the question had shook her. "Well, his name is Kress and to the best of my knowledge he should still be single. I mean, he was the first time I met him, but I haven't exactly kept track of that sort of thing... and I'm more friend with Nixilei on the team then Kress so I'm not sure I'd find out naturally... if that makes sense?"
"Oh so you've been with that team for the entire tournament?" asked Stan.
"Indeed I have," said Kat with a bit of a bow, complicated by the beanbag, but not stopped by it.
"That must be nice. I only joined my team when it came time for them to try and re-enter the tournament with that... I don't remember what Thyme called it, but the mountain climbing extra round for failed competitors," said Stan.
"Huh, that's interesting, I didn't realise you could sub people in easily," said Kat.
"Not easily, but it is possible yes. So I was contracted for that, as the backers for my team heard about your... rather impressive successes so summoned a demon of their own to help carry the team. I'm not entirely sure they NEEDED it, but their fifth member retired from adventuring after the previous round," explained Stan.
"Would it be giving too much away to ask what happened?" asked Kat.
Stan paused, tapping his chin for a few moments, "I don't think so? If it is, it certainly isn't against my contract and I'm not exactly close with those four like you seem to be. They're all somewhat... dismissive of me. Strong capable fighters? Sure. Willing to work with me for the win? Absolutely. Respect me as a person? Not a chance,"
Kat bit her lip, debating for a second. "Well... not to discourage you too much, because god knows Kress needs to get laid... but he has a bit of a problem with demons. Though maybe just 'had'? I've not had any issues with him in a long time, and especially recently" *Like yesterday recently* "he's really calmed down and mellowed out, so you might have a good shot... assuming he's interested in men... I'm not sure he's ever made a stance clear on the matter, and once again... I'm not the person he'd tell,"
Stan frowned at the news, "That's not ideal to here... though if I could just get a good lay out of him I wouldn't be too mad. Still... not ideal. Not your fault though I assume? If he's been getting better?"
Kat shook her head, "No it's something that happened in the past, I'm not sure of the exact details because I didn't want to pry, especially not after how things were looking when it first came up, we still weren't getting along then. I think a demon was responsible for either the death of his family, or the destruction of his village... or at least he thinks so. I've not met any demons that would do that sort of thing,"
Stan shook his head again, "Really not good news... but I can work with it. I don't want to be relying on anything other than my natural charms, and starting from such a shitty position will only make it better once I succeed! Though you are a bit naïve. There are plenty of demons that use summoning contracts as an outlet for... more unsavoury desires. The hub doesn't really put up with that kind of thing but Contracts are... less closely monitored,"
"I would have thought D.E.M.O.N.S would stop things getting too bad?" offered Kat.
Stan snorted at Kat's statement, "D.E.M.O.N.S main job is keeping us from committing genocide, either intentionally, or by accident, on missions or back at home. It's pretty impartial most of the time, unless someone high up in the chain is making requests, and using D.E.M.O.N.S to do it,"
Not totally sure I believe you, but I'm not going to contradict the idea. "I see... still, you seem... not overly genocidal, so what were your other questions?" asked Kat.
"I was wondering what your Contract actually is? Mine requires me to work as hard as possible during the tasks... but they didn't actually specify what I'm supposed to work hard at. I could spend all my time doing difficult math equations or perhaps contemplating the secrets of the universe. I'm not saying I'm willing to completely throw the game away, I do have some pride. I'm just saying that... well... this doesn't have to turn into a big slug fest between the two of us," said Stan.
Well I'm not going to mention that I might not technically be under Contract at the moment. "Mine is basically to just show up and look pretty. It's not what I plan to do, I actually like my team, so I'm going to do what I can... but my Contract isn't forcing me in any way," explained Kat.
Stan nodded slowly, unsure look on his face "Ah... that's... surprisingly lax?"
Kat nodded, "The team basically just needed an extra member. For some reason they had awful luck with their final members. Constantly leaving the team, some for happy reasons, some for sad ones, but all of them left. When they summoned me, they just needed a person to fill in the paperwork and claim to be on the team," explained Kat.
"Oh... yes well... they were a dwarf and during the previous round, when the team was split up and everyone had to work together "Ah... and they just kept using minimal restrictions when they resummoned you because they didn't think it was necessary?" asked Stan.
Kat just nodded, not wanting to risk having her words prevented. To help keep Stan from noticing Kat decided to change the subject, "Hey, so, I just noticed you didn't say what happened to their previous team member?"
"Oh... yes well... they were a dwarf and during the previous round, when the team was split up and everyone had to work together with someone from an enemy team... did you have that?" Kat nodded as Stan spoke, "Right well... their missing team member and their partner were both dwarves and they wandered into a spider trap. Poor dude thought his teammate had abandoned him... then he got wrapped up by a spider, and was seconds away from being 'killed' before passing out, missing the fact that it was all part of the tournament. Traumatised them something horribly..."
"Oh" mumbled Kat.
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