Chapter 1179 Gareth Sits This One Out
No Match
Gareth POV chapter
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It was now Gareth's turn to sit off to the side. He wasn't entirely sure he liked it, despite the break. Thyme had cleaned up the court by just swapping it with another patch of sand further down the beach. If Gareth looked over he could see a number of times bodies getting to work smashing it up. It certainly wasn't the most efficient way of doing that. Gareth knew that with a few spells Thyme could've turned it all to sand. Especially with spatial affinity at such a high level. Instead, Thyme was smashing the stone platform like a mortal.
"Hey Thyme, do you think I can get a chair?" asked Gareth.
Thyme shrugged, "Sure why not?" said Thyme as Gareth felt a chair appear beneath him, knocking him off his feet and raising him up off the ground. It kept rising until his chair was about a head shorter then Thyme's, giving him decent height but still clearly below Thyme's.
*This wasn't quite what I had in mind. I was thinking more 'couch' or 'recliner' then a tall chair like this but I suppose this is fine… though I can already feel myself getting jittery. I'm… frustrated. Blue played well and there's no hard feelings but I feel like I should still be fighting.*
The next match was Burgandy and Blue against Carl and Marigold. Marigold was taking the time to pose in exceptionally risqué ways in front of Carl who just seemed to be mildly confused by the whole thing. "You know I'm gay right? I can appreciate that you're a beautiful woman, but it's more the way you appreciate a nice statue or a painting. This isn't exactly doing anything for me," explained Carl.
"Oh I know," said Marigold as she continued posing, "But Blue and Burgandy have been staring at my ass for the last five minutes so I'd say it's still working,"
Carl looked over to see Burgandy and Blue quickly wiping some drool away from the corner of their mouths. "I wasn't aware they were lesbians," mumbled Carl.
Unluckily for him, Marigold heard it and decided to comment, "I'm not entirely sure they are myself. Not everyone is so rigidly gay like you are. Some people have a bit of curiosity to them. They might not be gay… but I'm a very attractive woman, a very attractive woman who's more than just half-naked. Plus, I know how to work it,"
"If you say so," said Carl with a nod. Truly not understanding the point of this. Kat would be right there along with him if she couldn't see Lily's thoughts on the matter. Those seemed to swing back and forth between agreeing that Marigold was hot, and focusing heavily on Kat to chase away thoughts of Marigold… making her hornier and more easily distracted by Marigold. Kat just started petting her, removing all thoughts from her mind. It was easier, and less strange.
Marigold for her part just rolled her eyes at Carl, though secretly she was really interested in what his boyfriend looks like. What was he into? Beards? Muscles? Powerful thighs? Toned asses? Why the list could go on forever, and Marigold just couldn't get a sense of it. His eyes didn't seem to focus on any one part of her as she displayed everything next to him, so she wasn't getting any hints. A shame.
Gareth, unaware of this and lost in his thoughts… continued to think. *Is that why I'm already hating this break? Because my mind and body still think the fights still on? I didn't surrender and I wasn't 'defeated' at least, not the way that arguably matters. So… what I'm still in fight mode? That's going to be annoying. I really should relax before my final match. Then again, I'm working with Blue for my final match so I probably don't need to do anything.
It'll be against Burgandy and Marigold. Hmm… could Burgandy lift up enough of a platform without my help? I'm going to guess the answer is no. I'm guessing she could, at most, do the front… quarter? Maybe less? Plus her shoes are burnt out so that might limit her further. Hmm…
So that will put me on two wins, Marigold on two wins, and Blue on four wins? Once again, I wonder if that means Thyme will declare it a tie, or if he'll find some way to put one of us ahead of the other. I'm guessing whatever seems more amusing? Then again… if this is all meant to be relaxing perhaps Thyme will say 'you two can share it'. Actually… I suppose Thyme could give us both half a point. Not sure if Thyme can do that. Though I don't exactly see why not.*
While Gareth was lost in his thoughts Thyme tapped him on the shoulder, "Gareth it's your time to shine. Who is going to serve?" asked Thyme.
*Oh right. Forgot about that. Um…* Gareth looked over at Carl and Marigold, then over at Blue and Burgandy. *Time to come up with reasonable words.* "Part of me wants to hand this over to Carl and Marigold because it's been established that Blue is dominating this round… but you know what? I think she should get a chance to serve," said Gareth throwing the ball towards Blue. "Of course, that might just be because it's my turn to be on her team next. So read into that what you will,"
Marigold clicked her tongue in annoyance as that cut off one of her main strategies for winning this round, or at least getting one more point. Still, she wasn't too annoyed, understanding Gareth's logic well. Carl on the other hand just nodded completely unconcerned. Blue and Burgandy got to work. Which in reality meant Blue got to work summoning up a whole bunch of water. Though Burgandy DID step in to help.
Burgandy lowered the ground in the front half of the court and started to compact the sand down so that Blue could rest the water there if she really needed to. Once the water was spinning and the sand was compact, Burgandy served the ball.
This led to a long rally, where Marigold and Carl were both trying really quite hard… but it was ultimately for nothing. Blue's defence was too good, and without the extra height from the stone they struggled to get a good smash going. They got close a few times, with Marigold jumping up high and catching the ball near the net… but the problem was the extra height. Sure Marigold could slam the ball down faster then both Gareth and Burgandy, but the air slowed the ball down before the water finished the job so it still wasn't enough.
So the rally continued for a while… and continued… and continued… and honestly from what Gareth could see Marigold was really going for it. She hadn't found any great new plan, she was just determined to get this done. Carl's 'patrol area' of the court kept shrinking as Marigold sped around the court, kicking up sand as she went, catching the ball wherever it went and throwing it back.
Burgandy was just resting on the sand. Saving her energy for if it was proven she actually needed to watch things. Despite it probably being disrespectful she was also using the time to try and figure out a good plan for beating Blue next round. Her current best idea was to see if Thyme would allow her to get away with lowering all the sand around the net and causing it to fall over. Thus allowing her to throw 'over' the net at Blue's feet. Yeah… Burgandy didn't have high hopes for that plan.
Gareth climbed down from his chair to grab a bottle of water from the drink table. Probably would've grabbed a snack as well if that hadn't disappeared after the celebration was done. Gareth downed the water before making his way back to the chair and continuing to watch the show. It was… getting a bit dull.
Carl barely needed to move, and Marigold was like a machine. No showing off. Now fancy struts, just constant sprinting around the court and returning to slightly left and forward from the centre of her side of the court, with Carl relegated to the back right corner. Granted, Carl's lack of movement wasn't really his fault… but it certainly wasn't keeping Gareth entertained. Marigold's mad dashes was a bit more entertaining… but things were bouncing around a bit, and Gareth decided it wasn't that interesting. Certainly. Can't be any other reason.
So he was leaning back in his chair and looking at the little tarp that was blocking the sun above him. *Right… so I… I guess I just don't know what to do? At least I've calmed down I suppose. No longer feeling like I need to jump back into a fight… but now I'm BORED. Which might be worse. Maybe I should just go and hug Green? No everyone else stood at the side of the court when they were on break… probably. I admittedly wasn't paying too much attention. Hmm… maybe I should leave?*
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺