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

--- Kat ---

Kat hadn't intended to find Romilda, or even talk to her… but the dwarf was up in one of the trees and she looked to be moping. So Kat flew up to a nearby branch and sat down. "Hello Romilda, how are things?"

"Honestly Kat? Not the best. You ever start to wonder if it's just… not worth it?" asked Romilda.

*Woah… ok that escalated quickly.* "Um… are you ok?" Kat asked, worried. Romilda looked over and saw the massive amount of worry and pity on Kat's face and flinched.

"What… I… Oh… Oh… right no that's not what I meant at all. Sorry for the confusion…" mumbled Romilda.

Kat eyed the dwarf carefully for a few moments, unsure if she could just take Romilda at her word like that… but things seemed fine? Maybe? It had been around a week and if she was still feeling down then perhaps something needed to be done. Perhaps. "So… what were you talking about?"

"I'm wondering if it was worth entering the tournament. A lot of the others don't have the same issues we do. See… we trained for this. Quite a lot. We leaned hard on my family resources to take time off and train before the tournament started up, and then we only took a few jobs between rounds.

"But I'm wondering if my teams hearts were ever truly in it. Don't get me wrong, they're all good people and I'd trust any of them with my life… but I'm wondering if this was something I pushed them into, if this was something they never really wanted but went along with because I'm there friend," said Romilda with a sigh.

"Um… why would you think that?" asked Kat.

"Well, this has taken Carl away from his boyfriend for quite a while. Now, Carl's a very mellow guy. Even for something as important as that he's willing to go the extra mile. Remember what I said? I'd trust any of my team with my life. So regardless of Car's true thoughts on the matter, he'd go along with it to humour me.

"Then we have Asteodia. I thought she was interested. She helped push things along at the beginning… but I'm wondering now if it was just her parents leaning on her. I knew they weren't the best… but I'm starting to understand that 'not the best' is a bit of an understatement for those shitheads.

So I'm left wondering if she ever wanted to be here… or if this is just a continuation of her issues where she does stuff because her parents twisted her arms.

"Borgick… I'm not sure about him. The giant cannon? That's probably made his entire damn year, maybe the whole damn decade… but I know he wasn't too happy with things before this. Thyme didn't exactly have a portable cannon around as part of the rewards and he got to use it a for its intended purpose a lot less then I'm sure he was hoping. Of course the giant cannon offsets a lot… but I still wonder.

"Then there's Cyan. He was the single biggest advocate against participating in the tournament… but in the end he came around. Or at least he seemed to. I like to think I know my team well, and I like to think that he found the good in the experience. But that's just what I like to think and now I'm left wondering.

"Truth is? We did shit. Now, maybe some of that was bad luck, perhaps this sort of structure was bad for us as a team? I don't know, but I don't feel like it can all be put down to chance… and so I'm wondering if it was all worth it. If my team feels like it was worth it, and if I ended up letting them down,"

*Gonna be honest here Lily? I've got no idea what to do with this. I deal with issues like 'she stole my toy' and 'he bit my arm' or 'she pushed me over' and in rare cases 'she stole my pants'. Most of the time, kids don't have a lot of expectations and the solution is at least somewhat obvious.

This? This right here? I have no idea what to say. If Romilda really pushed them into this when they weren't interested that's a problem… but if they really weren't interested why did they go out and train for months and just go along with it! How did they get to the third round?! I mean really what do I say here?*

[I don't really know. I get what you're saying, you don't want to just coddle her if there's a real issue… but counterpoint? If they put up with this for months without saying anything to her? Then at that point it's not her fault. It's the other four's. I mean really, if they didn't say anything that's not on Romilda.]

"Look Romilda, maybe that was true at the start and maybe it isn't… but why not trust that your team aren't idiots. Trust that if they really had a problem? They'd come out and tell you so to your face.

If you were ignoring them, then they might even gather up all of the members, sit you down and just force you to recognise what they're saying," said Kat hoping that what she was saying would make sense.

"Huh… yeah that… that's a thing," said Romilda. A soft smile on her face.

--- Kat --- (Some time later)

Kat left Romilda to her thoughts. She'd perked up massively and Kat had other people to see. When Kat came up on Stan and Kress? Well she started to hover over their way not wanting to disturb them.

Kress and Stan had decided to spend some more time making sand castles. Kat had seen them earlier and left them too it. They had ones of all sorts of size and plenty of sculptures that weren't even castles. Now though? The sun was setting and it seemed like the pair had decided to take a nap.

Sprawled out on a beach towel that's much too small for them Stan and Kress were tangled together. Stan had wrapped himself around Kress who, unfortunately, had an elbow in Stan's face and was just laying as awkwardly as possible… but they both had smiles on their faces and it was a heartwarming scene. Kat smiled at them.

*Do you think it's going to work out for them?*

[I think they have a chance. Perhaps it works out, perhaps it doesn't. They've barely spent a week together so it's just not enough time… but in saying that? They look comfortable together. I'm betting they made good progress this week. So… yeah I'd say they have a good chance.]

*I suppose we should just leave them to it then? No sense waking them up.*

[Eh… if it was anyone other then Kress I might say it's worth waking them. We are here to say goodbye for a while… but Kress deserves some comfort and he's doing a lot better. I vote that we don't mess with a good thing.]

Kat flew off, leaving them to their cuddling. Kat was considering just going back to the inn to see Mint and spend the rest of their time with her… that was until Kat managed to spot Ellenell relaxing. He was laying down on a chair, fully clothed, and sipping on a drink with a little umbrella in it.

"Hey Ellenell" said Kat. Taking care not to be too loud just in case he was asleep.

"Hey Kat," replied Ellenell

"How are you?" asked Kat

"Pretty good just relaxing," replied Ellenell.

It was at this point Kat realised that unlike a lot of the other people she'd chatted with… Ellenell didn't seem that interested in actually chatting. In the end? Kat decided not to push the issue. She just shrugged and said, "That's cool Lily and I were just saying our goodbyes, so… it's been nice, see you next time?"

"Sounds good Kat, Lily," said Ellenell raising his glass towards them before taking a sip. Kat and Lily took that as a dismissal and left, leaving Ellenell to his relaxation. Mint would be happy to talk so there was no reason to stick around if they weren't wanted.

After that Kat and Lily really did head back to the inn. They'd seen basically everyone they wanted to and Kat could almost feel the ticking clock in the background. That slight tug on her being that meant it was time to leave soon. It had her wondering if the time limit wasn't just something the system imposed but something else. Regardless, it didn't matter.

Kat strode into the inn and walked over to Mint who had a massive smile on her face. Mint pulled out a serving tray from nowhere and the three of them all moved upstairs to the room Kat and Lily had been assigned. Lily and Kat made sure they had everything on hand, but once they did? They just spent a casual night in with Mint until they were summoned.