Chapter 1286 1286 It’s All Green
--- Green ---
Mint walked into the infirmary to spot Green sleeping on Gareth's chest. Mint carefully reached out to shake Green's shoulder but before she'd even made contact Green had leapt to her feet. "Urgh, what's going on?" asked Green.
"Hello, my name is Mint, and I was sent here to inform you that the next round of the tournament was about to start. Seeing as you were asleep, and watching over Gareth it was decided that it did not break any rules should I inform you," said Mint.
"Huh… that's a bit odd, I would've expected Nixilei to show up and tell me. I mean, thanks I guess, it's just a bit strange," said Green before making no movement to go anywhere, waiting for the unasked question to be answered.
"Gareth is obviously here beside you, Kress is off on… a sort of date with Stan and Nixilei, Kat and Lily are busy comforting Asteodia and haven't noticed that the next round is about to start," said Mint.
"Huh… why is most of my time hanging around with Asteodia? Not that there's anything wrong with making friends… I'm just a bit surprised that even Nixilei is distracted, she's normally quite on the ball with this sort of thing," said Green.
"Do you wish for the longer explanation or the shorter one?" asked Mint.
"Longer one please," answered Green.
Mint bowed and gestured behind her as she said, "In that case let us be off. The longer explanation would delay is unacceptably and you would forfeit," Green frowned, but followed regardless. Kat had mentioned Mint offhandedly so Green was willing to assume the dryad was at least somewhat friendly, and if not, Thyme could sort her out for interfering.
Mint continued speaking once Green started moving, "First thing you missed was Nixilei and Asteodia working together for the previous task. Nixilei picked a suit that was designed to attack quickly and then take over someone else's vehicle. In this case, instead of taking one of them over, she took out Chartreuse, and then hopped in Asteodia's vehicle and they worked together for the rest of the round.
"There wasn't exactly a lot of room for two people so they spent quite a bit of time pressed against each other…" Green cut off Mint's explanation with a high pitched squeal.
"You mean to tell me that little Nixilei has a CRUSH?" asked Green excitedly.
"I was under the impression that Nixilei was older then you," said Mint dryly. Green just waved that off. Mint just shrugged at the reaction. "Whatever, not my place. To answer your question though, yes it does seem that way. Once the round was over, Nixilei and Asteodia were trying to awkwardly talk things out over lunch…"
"And that's where Kat and Lily came in!" said Green excitedly.
Mint felt a slight rise of annoyance but kept her voice calm. It was much easier when you were a step removed from the body you were puppeteering. "Indeed. Now Miss Algorn," *Bringing out the last names? What did I do?* "would you like me to explain what happened or would you like to explain to me what happened?"
*Ah right. I suppose some might see that as rude. What a boring person. It's perfectly acceptable to jump into a conversation with your guesses as to what happens. It's so much more fun that way for everyone involved.* Green was of course, ignoring years of etiquette lessons that had been crammed into her head… but they weren't important at all. "Please go on," said Green.
Mint wanted to glare at Green for the flippant response, but kept her eyes focused forward. "Indeed, as I was saying, Nixilei and Asteodia were failing to have a discussion over lunch when Kat and Lily decided to meddle a bit. This decision was likely made before Nixilei and Asteodia proved to not be capable of holding a proper conversation, but it's not impossible I'm wrong in this assumption,"
*Damn. I missed out on some good stuff while sleeping on Gareth. The potential for teasing was so high. Kat and Lily probably got all the best reactions out of the new couple, so I'll have to up my game when I meet them. Such a shame I've got to participate in an obstacle course before I can start my own teasing. I suppose I'll just have to live with the disappointment… or make up for missing out on so much teasing by piling it on later tonight. Such a hard decision.*
Mint paid no attention to Green's rapidly shifting facial expression and simply continued to explain. "There was a number of topics covered in the conversation, but eventually it got to… hmm… I am unsure if I should be revealing the details to you, so I'll keep it very general. The topic in question was how each of the women's respective parents would feel about it. Two of them are orphans, and two of them are likely to have travel, Asteodia most of all,"
Green frowned at that. *That's not good. Teasing Nixilei is great fun, or just watching Kress mess with her. That being said… if this is a serious issue like it seems to be then perhaps I should give them a bit of space. Nixilei has always been there for me and Gareth and I'd hate to be responsible for driving a wedge between her and her first girlfriend. Perhaps I can just pretend to be tired and go to bed early?*
Green ignored the little voice in her head that pointed out she didn't need to PRETEND at all, and that her falling asleep after a big obstacle course was not only expected, but practically a given. Green decided to put that voice in time-out. She didn't need to sleep, she just enjoyed it. Yup. That was all.
Green's musing distracted her enough that she barely noticed Mint opening the door to the sky platform with Thyme on it. Green only started paying attention once she was deposited on a couch and had a chance to look around. Most people were here, but her entire team was missing, alongside Asteodia and Stan.
*Welp. That's a bit of a bother, but whatever.* Just as she was thinking that, Kat stepped through the door and joined Green on the couch. "Oh? I didn't think I'd have anyone to support me considering the little rumour I heard about Nixilei and the elf," said Green.
"The three of us thought it best you have at least some assistance. With me here, Lily can relay here ideas and Nixilei's, while they both remain to give Asteodia some comfort. I was offering the least at the moment, especially now that Asteodia has recovered a touch," said Kat.
"No offense… but Lily doesn't exactly seem like the best at comforting people. If it was just that, I would've assumed she'd be here in your place," said Green.
"Ah, but Lily can purr, which is supposed to make a rather big difference. From what some studies on our home planet have shown, just hearing something purr can help your mental state. I'm not sure if it works for elves… but even if it doesn't Lily is very fluffy and feels great to pet. I might be better with people, but Nixilei can handle that part," explained Kat.
Green would've commented further if Thyme hadn't clapped their hands together to bring everyone's attention to the front. "The final round of the day is upon us, and the stakes are just as high as ever! It is both, simple and complex. At the very least, there is only a few rules that you need to know.
"Once the round starts, all you need to do is get to the final platform and hit the button. First person to do that takes first, second person takes second, et cetera, et cetera. That's not where the challenge comes.
"You see, each platform will be floating above nothing and it's a long way down. If you fall more than a kilometre from the platforms then you'll be teleported back to the last checkpoint. Your checkpoints are, the starting line, and any golden platform. Now, there are two types of golden platforms.
"The first are platforms that are made from solid gold. They can be registered to all five contestants. The second type, have a number of thick gold bands on them. Those bands correspond to the number of people the platform can support as a checkpoint… but be warned. Checkpoints can be destroyed. It takes a good deal of time and effort, but if you're confident perhaps it's worth the risk… or perhaps you missed out on claiming a spot on the checkpoint…"
"Now, there's just one more rule, aside from the 'don't kill anyone' rule and it's not so much a rule, as something to keep in mind. Certain platforms will give you tasks you must complete before you can jump off them. There's no way to tell beforehand what platforms have challenges, and each will have their own rules. Said rules… may or may not be told to you. Any questions?"
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