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

--- Lily ---

Once Thyme had vanished, a few signs were left in their place. The first was a countdown for selecting the treasures, another was a big arrow with 'Forms here' written on it. In front of that sign was a table with the aforementioned forms. The final sign read 'If you need to speak with Thyme, ask the receptionist to set up an appointment'

For now though? Everyone in the group had decided to go for breakfast, most of the other teams had decided the same thing. Lily picked out the best smelling bits of fish she could get her hands on while Kat grabbed a fruit platter. Once they had their food in hand, the pair found one of the larger tables and started to wait for everyone else to get here.

"So… going vegan or something?" asked Lily. "I don't think I've seen you grab much meat in… quite a while actually,"

Kat shook her head and explained, "Not… really? I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to the idea… but there are a lot fewer moral concerns with eating meat in these other dimensions. No the main reason is that I find the exotic fruits and vegetables here to have more varied flavour then the meat. It's just something I find interesting.

"The meat… hmm… how do I say this? It's just better meat? I guess? Like, even if it's from some magical creature, it still tastes like meat. Usually there's an equivalent back on earth. Sure it tastes BETTER but either I'm missing something that you have as a beastkin, or it really just tastes 'better' and nothing else.

"Maybe I just haven't been all that adventurous with fruit, or perhaps the local store doesn't stock any of the crazier options but… it's been nice to explore. Take this as an example," Kat pulled up something that looked a lot like a grape that had been dipped in neon blew paint. "These are just one step away from pop rocks. When you bite into them, the juice fizzes on the tongue.

I think it might be evaporating actually… and it tastes sort of like a lemon if you'd covered it in sugar.

"And that's just the one grapething! There's all sorts of stuff here and Thyme always seems to have new ones from day to day. Which I suppose makes sense when you consider Thyme has both plant powers and time powers to grow basically anything. It does make me wonder if these are all naturally occurring though…"

Green jumped in and said, "Yeah they are. Well, I'm not quite sure anyone has the quality Thyme does for most of their produce, but they're certainly real. I know my parents tried to grow the 'grapethings' which are called Spark Berries in case you're wondering.

My father loves them and wanted to grow some to sell, and to eat… but there were massive issues with getting them to grow and he eventually decided it wasn't worth the money,"

"Huh," mumbled Kat as she bit down on another one savouring the taste. Kat found it to be a good balance of sweet and sour. It could perhaps stand to be a touch MORE sour in truth, but Kat wasn't going to complain.

"So like, have you all thought about what you want from Thyme?" asked Kress. "Not that this discussion about fruit isn't totally fascinating, but I thought we could go over rewards first. Get ideas. If I'm not being rushed into it I want to really give it some thought. Probably brainstorm with Stan a bit,"

Lily went to answer but her attempt was cut short by a yawn. As she tried, and failed, to control it Nixilei stepped in to say. "I'm on the fence. Part of me wants additional medical spellbooks… but we're so close to the end that I'm wondering if getting a weapon is better knowing that, should we win it all, I can ask for an apprenticeship with a healer instead,"

"I say go for something else. Not sure a weapon is the right call… but yeah I think we've got a good shot at winning the whole lot!" said Green with a smile.

"Well what are you getting, and what do you suggest for me?" asked Nixilei.

"I think you should pink up something for mobility. Heck, just go for that ring March was using in the previous event. Me personally? I've got enough mobility so I'm thinking of going for a defensive item. I sort of want one that prevents major attacks… but after seeing how useless that one Lily found was I'm not sure if it's the right choice anymore…" said Green.

"Not a bad idea…" mumbled Nixilei. "I'm not sure if the blink ring is really what I want… but it's certainly not a bad idea. I'll consider it. Just… good medical spells can be hard to find and I feel like I'm on the edge of Rank 3,"

"Well, it's up to you Nix. I've said my piece on it," responded Green.

Kress chimed in with, "Well I'm probably just going to go for a nice storage ring. Sure we've got some now… but I'm hoping to set myself up with the really fancy ones. Maybe one that lets me keep living things in it and grow plants?"

"Kress… since when have you had any interest in gardening?" asked Nixilei.

"Well… I haven't before and I don't know that I really do now… but I bet we could make some good money just delivering goods, especially live samples of like, trees and stuff. I'm thinking of it more as an investment into the future," explained Kress.

"Not a bad idea…" mumbled Gareth. "I was going to pick up something defensive like Green but now I'm wondering if I should do the same as you Kress. There's good money in the transport business and if Thyme is as generous as usual I could see this being a good way to make more money. Might even be good enough to pick up another treasure and pay that off with a few good jobs,"

"Bit wishful thinking there… but I could see us paying it off with a few months of solid work," said Kress, half agreeing with Gareth.

"Hmm… that does sound interesting," mumbled Green. "I might hop on the delivery train as well and just by a defensive treasure. Then again… we might not get time to do those deliveries if we win because well… apprenticeships?"

"Ah" mumbled Gareth and Kress as they realised the problem. Kress stills seemed interested, but Gareth a less so.

"So Lily, Kat, what about you two?" asked Green as she ignored Gareth's downcast expression.

"Shadow books I think," said Lily. "Oh and Marigold apologised for not keeping March down and offered to give me her pick of the treasure… so I turned it around and asked for a split of those alchemical size changing candies,"

"Huh… why'd you go for those candies?" asked Nixilei. "Surely something more permanent would be better right?"

"Well… I didn't want to just take up the whole reward so I wanted something to split, and it seems pretty neat. Then Marigold offered to give us a supply if she got a larger cut so the royal alchemists could research it and I said yes. Mostly because Kat and I aren't sure if they'd even work outside of this dimension, or survive the transition to another one," explained Lily.

"Ah…" said Nixilei as she thought the matter over. "I suppose that's a real worry isn't it? I hadn't really considered that they'd stop working. Probably best to pick something you're potentially not wasting them…"

"Indeed," agreed Lily. "Still it was nice of Marigold to offer,"

"I'd say so," agreed Marigold as she dropped down next to Lily and Nixilei. Marigold had dropped down to her knees and was resting her head on the table.

"Gah!" shouted Lily as she leapt backwards into Kat from the sudden appearance of Marigold.

Marigold giggled and said, "Very sweet that you were so worried about me wasting my chance at a treasure… but eh, hopefully it'll work out best for both of us. As for not working outside of this dimension? Well I actually went and talked to Thyme about it, and they offered to make a storage box for you.

Sadly it won't be spatially expanded or too large… but it should keep things functional until you're in another world with mana. Thyme won't even charge because it's as much a test run of the box as it is a curtesy. Or so Thyme said. You just have to promise to tell Thyme if it worked or not next time you see them,"

"Thanks for that Marigold," said Lily, notably not actually leaving Kat's arms now that she was no longer scared. Kat hadn't made any moves to put her down either… but that might be because Lily had her tail wrapped around Kat's arm and her arms around Kat's neck. Perhaps.

"Eh don't mention it, it was easy enough to do," said Marigold with a shrug as she stood up and left, casually swiping away a bit of fish as she left.