"Now, I don't mean ta contradict ya Thyme, but, that looks like dry dirt to me" said Jack
"Yes Jack, well, if I'm honest, it probably is dry. I clearly didn't think about these rules properly" said Thyme
"What do you mean" asked Dusk
"Well, being as powerful as I am, along with being, well essentially a really fancy tree, I can sense small amounts of water. Now, as fancy a tree as I may be, that doesn't help anyone else when it comes to spotting this" said Thyme as it pulled out a magnifying glass.
Holding it up to the spot and angling it so that Jack could see through it "See, even with this magnifying glass I doubt you can see what I'm talking about"
"Nope. Looks normal to me" said Jack
"Yeah, and if I can be Frank for a moment" said Thyme as it transformed into a 6 foot tall bodybuilder with overalls and tattoos on his right arm. "Ok now that I'm Frank, this is ridiculous. It's truly is such an inconsequential amount of water that I bet when I the timer changes and the orb reconstruct itself there won't be anything missing because that tiny bit of missing water will probably be grabbed from the surroundings"
"And…?" asked Jack already thoroughly confused
"Well" Nixilei shouted from her booth "What Thyme, err, Frank? Both? Anyway, what is being explained is that the rules state that the orb can't touch the ground at all. Your orb has touched the ground, but it has done so in such a small portion as to not matter to the orb. The only reason it was even noticed is because Thyme is much more powerful then as, and likely more powerful than your average examiner. If we had anyone else officiating the match it wouldn't count"
"Exactly" said Thyme as they transformed back to normal "I'm pretty sure I know a good few people stronger than me who'd miss that speck of water, and some of them were water mages"
"I'm fine with just ignoring it and letting him stay in" said Kat. *And I mean, does it really matter? A drop of water seems like an awful way to loose, and I don't really want to win using that tactic either.*
"You might be fine with it because your team is so far ahead, but I'm not sure I can agree" said Dusk.
"Why not? Today has been fairly interesting already, no need to get super competitive over it" said Kat
Dusk made a chocking sound. A short coughing fit later he was facing Kat with a mask over his face. *Ooh, I bet he looks so confused, or perhaps angry under that mask.* "Why not? How can you ask such an inane question? Do you even know how valuable the rewards put on offer for this tournament are? Do you have any concept of the prestige? Do you even care at all?"
*Nope* "Not really, I'm here for a job, similar to many others. The company has been nice, and the job has been interesting. I know nothing about the tournament as a greater whole but I don't see why that should matter. If you are so concerned over whether or not a droplet of water constitutes a loss perhaps you should reconsider what matters in your life" said Kat
Dusk let out a long breath that sounded like a hiss, though Kat couldn't decide if that was the intent or the fault of the mask "Look, ok, I understand where you are coming from. And you are right, perhaps I am being a bit petty about this but it really does matter"
"I say we keep it going" yelled Skye from the booth
"Skye, you aren't the one competing in this event, I will deal with this myself" said Dusk
"How about I give you a cookie?" asked Skye
"You can't bribe me with food Skye, your cooking is terrible" said Dusk
"How about a sandwich? I don't have to cook that?" said Skye
"Why are you suddenly bribing me with food? Do you even care if we win or not?" asked Dusk
Skye took a moment. Letting the air calm between then and looked Dusk dead in the eyes "As rude as this might be, Jack is not our main competition right now. Even if he was, I'd likely still advocate for leniency here, but he isn't so we won't worry about that. Right now, what is important is stopping The Unfortunate Four from getting more points. I didn't think I'd have to explain that to you, but perhaps you aren't quite as intelligent as you like to think"
*Woah, that is a bit rude, to both Jack and Dusk. Though from a more objective standpoint she is correct, Green did amazingly well and won us two points, and I've managed this challenge really well because the effects just don't bother me. Kat glanced at her still burning fingers stuck a distorted orb of ice. Ok, this one at least affects me bit it isn't so bad. At least I don't feel cold… or is that a sign of hypothermia?*
Kat tried to flex her fingers and found them unmoving. *Ok can I hardly feel my fingers because I encased them in ice or because they are freezing. This is actually important information now*
While Kat was trying to identify if she actually had a problem on her hands Dusk was standing there taking in everything Skye had said. She was right, for the most part. "Fine, if you insist, but no that I am against this plan. Thyme I advocate for allowing him to stay"
"Well, that's two out of four Lynn, Jack what are your thoughts" asked Thyme
Looking up to the group of elves Kat saw Lynn happily enjoying her meal with the rest quietly sitting around.
"Well, I'm out so I don't really care" said Lynn and the rest of her group nodded along
All eyes turned to Jack who stood leisurely with his cup in hand. "Well, I think I should probably be eliminated"
"Wait what?" said Dusk confused
"Well, if dems the rules, dems the rules. We just came to have a bit of fun like Kat said, and we are participating because our neighbourhood encouraged it. If ya think I'm out I can tap out" said Jack.
"Huh" murmured Dusk
"Well, I appreciate the humility shown by all contestants" said Thyme in a sombre voice "Too bad I get to do what I want then hey?" Thyme returned to the announcer voice "I'm going to say that Jack is still in the competition until the orb reconstructions. If a problem occurs then he's out, and if everything is fine, he's in"
Kat let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. *Nice, I'm ok with this. I'm glad Dusk let Jack stay in even though he was against it. I wonder if Thyme really would have done whatever he wanted despite saying so.*
Five minutes passed with nothing happening until Dusk spoke up "So, I know you decided Jack can stay in how long are these things going to stay waterlogged? It's honestly a bit irritating to keep a hold on it"
"Oh? Trying to squeeze some information out of me? Use some dastardly daring distractions to completely comodulate this masterful maestro of wordplay and finesse" asked Thyme.
Dusk groaned. "Forget I asked" and returned to concentrating fully on keeping his water orb afloat. Now that he'd committed to using summoned water to hold the orb's water he couldn't just dismiss some of it to save mana unless he wanted to risk loosing a bit. Having no idea how much the water had mixed or what was going to happen when it returned to orb form, he thought it best to just keep going despite the mana drain.
Kat on the other hand was trying to work her fingers out of their trap. *Ok, so I probably don't have hypothermia, or something similar because my skin is the same colour it always is… unless that's a demon thing… come to think of it my blood isn't still red is it? Wait then can I see me veins? No Kat focus get your fingers out of here somehow.*
Kat's frozen orb could was still on fire and keeping itself well below the freezing threshold without any extra assistance from her. Ok, let's think. Demonic energy makes things better… and I can't just put into my muscles. I can probably break this apart anyway but I don't want bits of ice to go everywhere… hmm my skin is pretty smooth, can I make it smoother by applying demonic energy perhaps?
Kat gently pushed the energy towards her fingers and found the fine control necessary to be rather difficult.. The energy kept trying to dip into her muscles situated within her hands rather than just the thin layer of skin. Kat applied a bit more upwards force and the fire immediately made contact with the ice re igniting the slightly dwindled fire once again