Chapter 1327  1327 Kress’ Worries


    --- Kat ---


    Kress strutted down the stairs wearing an open chested Hawaiian shirt and pantsbo, with his hair slicked bag and a huge smile on his face. When he spotted the group out of the corner of his eye, he changed direction from the front door to everyone else, "Hey guys, I''ve already eaten in my room so I''m good to- Oh my god what happened to you!" said Kress, shock on his face.


    Nixilei made a rude gesture in Kress direction as Green exined, "Nixilei was up all night with Asteodia," Nixilei transferred her rude gesture over to Green who just grinned backpletely unrepentant.


    "Right…" said Kress carefully, not wanting to get on the bad side of a cranky Nixilei bit really wanting to give her shit for it like Green clearly already had. The two parts of Kress'' brain warred with each other, fighting for dominance.


    Before the climactic battle within the mind could conclude, Gareth cracked open an eye to ask, "What exactly have you been doing anyway Kress?"


    This gave the ''don''t give Nixilei''s shit'' side of his brain a great excuse to end the fight and stand victorious over their mindscape. Gareth was a bro, and he deserved answers to his questions… told in the most misleading manner Kress could manage without blushing. "Spending time with Stan for the most part…


    "After we visited you and Green, just poking our heads in really, we spent the afternoon making sandcastles. Nothing as impressive as when I had Timmy to help, but it was nice. I got to learn a lot about Stan. Still not sure why he''s all that interested in me… but I can''t lie and say the attention wasn''t nice. It''s… odd.


    "Part of me still feels like there''s a catch somewhere. Even though it all seems above board there''s that little voice in the back of my head telling me that I''m missing something. That it''s going to jump out and shank me when I least expect it,"


    "Oh yeah, I see you getting stabbed in the near future," snickered Green.


    Kress shot a confused look at Green, the innuendopletely flying over his head. "Not sure I agree with you… but I suppose you know something I don''t," Kress it seemed, was failing miserable to phrase everything in a questionable way. He was too caught up in the idea of having someone that liked him, and sharing some of that joy with his friends. Woops. "So yeah we talked a bunch, had a nice dinner that we ate under the stars and then went to sleep.


    "That was a bit awkward. Stan escorted me back to my room, and I just facented on the bed, fast asleep. Stan decided it was a good idea to take the floor. Which I mean, I''m d that he enjoys being near me that much… but sleeping on the floor really? I''m not sure if I''d have preferred to share the bed, even if I''m nowhere near ready for anything else to happen… or if it''s better this way.


    "I guess I''m oddly d the choice was taken from me… but I just don''t know what I would have decided had I been put on the spot you know? That''s sort of worrying me. That and what the wider implications for all of this is. Are things going to work out? Do I want them to?


    "Kat has helped me get over a lot of my hatred for demons, now it''s more of a mild dislike… so I''m notpletely against dating him just by the fact that he''s a demon… but there are other issues thate with that fact. The forced ''long distance'' nature of the rtionship is one.


    "At the start, it might not be. We''ve got some time to go through the sort of honeymoon phase, and that will be nice. Then we can take some time apart, because we have to. Eventually we can meet up and we''ll always have stuff to talk about… but what about after? Do I ask him to stay? Do I ask to go with him? How the heck would either of those options effect our team dynamic? Would he help with missions? Would I leave the team?"


    Kress was ranting at this point. He''d grabbed a beanbag for himself and just letting his feelings out. Gareth had, awkwardly, tried to sit up to take part in the conversation but Green had to help him. Nixilei looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here, however she was sticking it out because Kress was… sort of, maybe, possibly, a friend. So he deserved, at least a little bit of her help. Maybe it was just the coffee high talking though.


    Kat and Lily sat on the side, sort of outsiders to this conversation. As much as they felt like part of the group when participating in the tournament, this felt like a conversation they didn''t really have a part in. *Should we like… leave or something? Let Kress talk all this over with the rest of them?*


    [I''m not sure. If we stood up to leave that would probably be more distracting and it''s not like Kress didn''t know we where here when we sat down. That doesn''t meanI think we should participate, this is clearly not a conversation for us, as you suggested… but I''m also not entirely sure we shouldn''t be here? If that makes sense. It''s not OUR conversation, but we might still be able to help. Especially with some of the details of demons.]


    *Alright, if you say so.* While Kat and Lily were chatting Kress was of course, still going. "It''s just a lot to consider. Which… god the worst part of it all is that I AM considering it. It''s going to be a massive amount of work, and potentially a major disruption to our lives… but I can''t just outright say it''s not worth it and that''s been eating at me a little bit since it hit me earlier this morning,"


    "Hey, we''re not trying to convince you otherwise," said Green. Kress'' eyes snapped straight towards her but Green just kept a calm smile. "Kress, you seem to be doing a lot of arguing for both sides of this, but we want you to be happy. Even though little things in the background had been pushing Gareth and I together it was still a big change when we went from ''friends that see each other regrly'' to ''betrothed''. This sort of thing was never going to be easy.


    "Plus, look at Nixilei," Nixilei red at being singled out but didn''t say anything, "her love interest has their own team and doesn''t seem interested in stopping their adventures any time soon. You don''t see that stopping them. Sure it might mean they don''t see each other more than once every few weeks, but it''s probably worth it for them. With Stan you can at least keep in contact regrly. It might not be an easy back and forth like a sending stone, but you can give and receive regr updates for each other. That''s going to be a big deal,


    "Look, just, the only one applying pressure here is you. Take a deep breath and calm down, then we can go over the actual issues, and not the ones you''ve beening up with in your head. Ok?"


    "Ok," said Kress, slowly breathing out and trying to let go of the bundle of stress he was experiencing. "I am calm," Nobody really believed him. "I suppose the first thing… is that I''m not sure I''m ready for something like this. I mean, I worked out that I might fancy men a while back… but I didn''t want to make things weird so I kept them on the down-low. No, I''m just… not sure that I''m ready for a rtionship in general.


    "God, I''m not even thirty yet and I''m already Rank 2. Sure I''m human but I''ve got a chance to live a couple hundred years… no offence Green, Gareth, it just feels like settling down early is the wrong move. Like I''d be cutting of my chance at that future… even if it does seem quite tempting at the moment,"


    "Well, in this case Stan seems like a good fit," said Gareth. "He''s going to have his own stuff to deal with, Contracts and what not. He can''t just stop those, or at least, he might not want to. That means that even if you wanted to spend all your time together you couldn''t and maybe that will be enough to keep you adventuring. Stan would understand, heck, considering demon''s lifespans he''d probably want you to go out and get stronger, then you can stick around longer.


    "It''s certainly something Green and I have talked about. Neither of us n to settle down for at least another two decades at the very least. Ideally a lot longer, but if two decades isn''t enough for me to push to Rank 3, then we''ll consider our options again. It''s just something you have to go over with Stan and keep in mind,"


    "Yeah… I guess that''s not such a big deal," mumbled Kress. "The next issue I have is…"


    *We''re going to be here until it''s time for the next challenge aren''t we?*