#roseoftheoakmoongames

“Daucus has got to know you all and talked to me about what he thinks. I’ve thought about that a lot, and also about how I feel about each of you. Last month was kinda easy, given that I knew Vi was still head over heels for his ex. This month was a lot harder.” He took in a deep breath, noting how dry his mouth was. He glanced up at met their gazes in turn, lingering on Cydon’s who seemed already resigned to his fate. Coffea offered him a small smile and, instead, turned to Cosmos. “Cos, I know you have your reasons for not opening up, and normally that would be fine, but I guess I want to know I can ask you about something and I’m not going to upset you and make things awkward.”

Since Cirsium knew he was safe, he used his usual good mood to distract the others, bantering across the table with Daucus and Coffea. The atmosphere wasn’t desperate, not like the month before, even when Daucus’ knife and fork had finally hit the plate.

Coffea sat back and patted his full belly with pleasure. Elimination night was take out night – or, at least, that was the tradition they had decided to make. Luckily the small town was a tourist spot and there was a good variety of take outs around. “I guess we better get the worst bit over with, then,” Coffea said regretfully.

“I hate you,” Coffea groaned. “Alright, I’m out before the water evaporates under this heat. I guess I’ll do the eliminations after dinner, if that suits everyone?” There were vague murmurs of agreement from the others as Coffea picked himself out of the pool, hobbling over the gravel and wincing from the heat with each step. Daucus hefted himself out of the tub too.

“Wait up,” he called. “Guess I gotta make myself useful. Have fun, guys,” he said, giving them a brief wave and then hurrying after Coffea.

“Alright, we’ve got the joys of a race, next! Three laps around the house. Make sure to stay on the outside of the cones. Rho will stand by a corner with some waterbottles if you get really warm, but the grounds aren’t actually that big so it should be fine.”

Coffea didn’t mind taking part in the race and happily shot off as soon as Daucus yelled for them to go. He often went for runs on the days that he wasn’t working, so this wasn’t too strenuous for him. He still dropped to a slower pace on his second lap, since the heat was powerful and he reckoned didn’t actually need to win. He kept pace beside Cirsium quite happily until they reached the finish line, then with a grin and a raspberry shot off to finish first, spending the next minute cheering on his success.

“Why do I have to do all this?” Coffea whined.

“Because I’m in charge and I said so,” Daucus grinned.

“That’s not fair,” Coffea pouted, much to the amusement of the others. “You’ve been using that excuse for like fifteen years!”

“And guess what, bud? I’m still in charge!” Daucus clapped Coffea on the back and passed him a paintbrush. “Now channel your inner Gogh and paint me a masterpiece.”

“Do you want me to cut off my ear, too?” he mumbled, taking the brush and eyeing the picture he’d been given to copy. He had no idea if this was actually part of the competition or not, but with a resigned sigh he played along for the forty minutes they were given to try and copy the photo.

Since the forecast said that the weather was back to the usual scorching programme of sun, sun and, yup, more sun, they decided to have the painting inside. The pool table was hefted out once more and replaced with six easels. The race was fairly easy to set up in that they only needed some cones for the corners, and Rhody showed Dau and Di where the hot tub would go. Since it was a common request of participants, the gravel could be swept back to reveal a pit that the hot tub could be put into. It had arrived earlier in the day. The obstacles would be set up last minute so everyone would go in blind, but they were eagerly awaiting the hilarity of seeing six grown men jumping around in sacks, carefully running with an egg held precariously in a spoon, and then getting through a complicated mass of spinning skipping ropes that Rhody and two cameramen were going to be operating.