--- Lily ---
Once Thyme dismissed everyone with a request to meet up at breakfast the next day for the final verdict, Kat grabbed Lily and sprinted away. Sure she'd already spoiled Lily a tad, but it wasn't nearly enough. Plus... Kat had been a bit worried. Even with Thyme watching over Lily there were quite a few moments that had Kat worried. So Kat took off towards a nice spot under the shade.
It was more towards the centre of the island with proper dirt and grass instead of sand.
Once Kat found a good spot she sat down and then let Lily go. Lily had been a bit shocked at getting carried off in a princess carry, but she wasn't worried. Once Kat let her down she just shifted slightly so that her head was resting on Kat's thighs. Kat started to run her fingers through Lily's hair once Lily got comfortable, "You did a great job Lily. I'm proud of you," said Kat.
"Hey I'm not a kid," pouted Lily. "You don't have to talk to me that way..."
Kat paused her fingers to ask, "Do you want me to stop?"
Lily couldn't help but hiss at the question. Kat just laughed at Lily's angry glare. "No..." admitted Lily. Kat started moving her hands after the confession and kept a small smile on her face. The distant sounds of the ocean, Lily in her lap. It was all quite nice.
"Perhaps it IS a bit infantilising... but I can't really bring myself to care. I may not have the same sexual drive you do... but I missed having you in my arms. Hugs are GREAT things and I'm also quite glad you chose Memphis as your form. I'm sure you could've gone for something properly intimidating... but that would've been a great loss.
"I know you've done other much more dangerous things while on missions. Heck, the great escape you managed to pull off just last mission was probably a lot more dangerous than either of us thought, especially if some of those assassins went for you first... but this is the first time I've really had to just... watch it.
Thyme might have my full trust but it wasn't all that easy to watch," said Kat with a sigh.
Lily tried not to be too distracted by Kat's fingers. The sensation was heavenly... but Kat was being careful with her ears. The demon was trying hard not to turn her into a drooling mess. Sure it was super relaxing and... other things besides but it also didn't usually let her do much thinking.
Lily still found it a bit hard to concentrate, especially when she was trying to be a touch angry with Kat. Just a touch though, because what she said was, "Does that mean you won't hurt yourself as often? Especially not for training?"
"I don't see how those two things are connected," said Kat 'innocently'. In addition to Kat's tone, she may have also shifted her fingers slightly closer to Lily's ears. Just a touch.
"What?" asked Lily, confused beyond measure.
"Look, we definitely could've come first and second together if I'd been a touch more on the ball. I SAW March use that teleportation earlier and I should've been ready for it... I guess I just didn't expect her to go after you. Perhaps if I'd used the super-size candy I could've caught her or something...
"Sure Thyme said you're getting something for coming first... but that's just one thing between you and Kat, or perhaps one thing for the entire team. So... I was thinking of making the offer. No pressure really but... if you do want something, I'm happy to hand that over to you," explained Marigold.
*Well shit. I didn't think she'd make this sort of offer. This... this is a pretty big deal right? What do I do?*
[I think it would be rude to turn her down. Marigold clearly thought about this a lot, and she got her team on board. Then again... I'm not entirely certain how safe it would be to bring a treasure of any kind back to earth. We might be fine as living beings... but what would happen to inanimate objects? That's my only concern.]
*Ok yeah I didn't think about that at all. We could... probably talk to Thyme about it? Would D.E.M.O.N.S answer now that the tournament is officially over? Or will it still complain because of how close by Stan is?*
[I just checked and it still complaining. So... I guess we just let Marigold know the issue? And then ask thyme later on and see what they said? Though... what were you thinking?]
*Um... hmm... I'll give Marigold the potentially bad news while I come up with something.* "You make a very generous offer Marigold... and while I'd love to just accept it... Kat and I spend our time not doing missions in a world with no mana so we're not quite sure how safe it'd be to take something with us. If you don't mind us bringing it up with Thyme?" explained Lily.
"That's fine I wouldn't even begin to know what issues that might cause, and while I AM a generous princess I'd hate to give you something that breaks the next day. That would be a massive waste for both of us. Though... what were you thinking?" asked Marigold.
Lily licked her lips as her mind spun... and she found what she considered a great idea. "I was actually quite interested in the candies that let you change size. I could even split them with you. I would feel bad taking your whole reward, even if your team still got stuff. So... we could split it like 50/50 unless you have a reason not to go for that?" offered Lily.
"Huh... yeah they were pretty handy. It's a good treasure and it warms my heart to know you're willing to share... and I might have another offer for you. If you don't mind taking a smaller cut I might be able to offer you more in the future.
My original plan was to grab those candies and offer it to royal R&D...so if I take the lion's share and they figure something out I can hand some extras off to Thyme to hand over. Well that or find a way to give them to you myself," said Marigold.
"I think, just once I check with Thyme that taking ANY at all is fine, that you have yourself a deal," replied Lily with a grin.