Chapter Text
It began with a flyer.
It was crudely designed, and honestly overbearing to look at, but it certainly caught everyone’s attention.
“‘Come see your favorite bugs compete this weekend at the Crossroads. Join the most exciting tour you’ll ever experience’? What the fuck is this?” Tiso read aloud, slapping the paper down on the table.
“Language, Tiso,” Sheo chastised from the next room over.
Tiso shook his head, looking at the other two bugs at the table. Both Xero and Zote were tapping away at their phones. “Did you know about this?”
“Yeah,” Zote muttered, not looking up, feet on the table.
“Of course we did,” Xero commented. “We’re contestants.”
Tiso barely managed to keep in his drink. He sputtered a few times before gawking. “You what?”
“Get over the shock, it’s not like we have anything else to do,” Zote snarked.
Tiso blinked a few times, then gazed over at Sheo. “Did you know about this?”
Sheo looked up from his painting. “The competition? Yes. Your brothers competing? Absolutely not.” He set his brush down, gazing at the two in question. “When did you sign up for this?”
Xero finally looked up and gave a nonchalant shrug. “I dunno. I saw it yesterday and signed up.”
“And by yesterday, you mean literally 10 minutes ago,” Zote replied, still tapping away at his phone. Xero reached over and snagged the small device, chucking it across the room.
“Hey, now, be nice. If you’re going to be competing, you need to show good sportsmanship!” Sheo returned to his painting, hardly looking at the model in front of him.
Tiso snagged the flyer off the table. “‘Contact Lurien for more details and for sign-ups’. Huh.” He set the paper down, pulling out his phone.
“What are you doing?” Zote asked, picking his phone up from off the ground.
“Signing up. Duh,” Tiso replied, pulling up the groupchat to find Lurien’s handle.
-
12:03 PM
[Private messages between shieldbro and alwayswatching]
shieldbro: where do i sign up for the tournament
alwayswatching: nowhere physical, just need your name, handle, and team name
shieldbro: team name?
alwayswatching: yeah you need a team of 3 other members. every team needs two guys and two girls
alwayswatching: unless you have ghost, broken, or hollow
shieldbro: that wasnt on your fucking flyer
alwayswatching: huh
alwayswatching: well, now you know. come back when you have your team
-
“I need a fucking team?” Tiso asked, slamming his phone down.
“Oh, right. Yeah, it’s not official or anything, for the purpose of the team-based challenges,” Xero informed. “Zote and I are both taken, by the way.”
“Who in their right mind would agree to have Zote?” Tiso asked, in shock that the self-acclaimed prince had gotten a team so quickly.
“He has a wife.”
Zote huffed. “You say that as if it’s unbelievable.”
“It is,” Tiso muttered.
Sheo walked up, hanging up his painting to dry. “Don’t worry, Tiso,” he reassured. “I’m sure you’ll find a team soon enough!”
-
“Pleeeease be on my team!”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“I don’t do competitions.”
“That’s a fucking lie,” Markoth muttered, turning the page of the newspaper. He received a quick unimpressed look from Marmu before the caterpillar went back to begging anyone to be apart of her team.
Her current victim, Revek, was not falling to the pleading looks. Next to him, Brumm was dealing with something similar, though instead of begging with words, Grimmchild was begging with bites to the musician’s hand.
“Keep trying, Grimmchild,” Brumm muttered, ignoring the angry gnaws as if it were nothing. It really wasn’t at this point.
“Aw, let the poor thing compete!” Cloth cooed, taking pity on both the children.
“I never said they couldn’t. I just said I won’t be apart of their teams,” Revek commented, flipping a page of his book.
Marmu pouted. “Why not?”
“Because I’m already on a team.”
Grimm laughed at that. “You? On a team?”
Revek looked up, all four eyes narrowing. “Actually, yes. My teammates are Xero, Emilita, and Monomon.”
Markoth arched a brow. “Emilita and Monomon? Damn, how’d you swing that?”
“I didn’t. Monomon did.”
Brumm inclined his head. “I just don’t want to compete.”
Grimm picked up his small child, letting them chew on his cloak. “I’ll see if Ghost is available for you, ok, my child?”
Grimmchild looked up with their bright scarlet eyes. They bit down on Grimm’s hand in response.
-
The Pale King sat stoic as he looked at the lsit of teams so far. “I’m shocked at these selections so far.”
Next to him, Lurien nodded. “Ghost is still available. I didn’t expect that.”
“They’re chaotic evil. I’m not too taken aback.”
Lurien stood up, collecting the rental files for the Garden’s. “And we got authority to run this thing?”
“Of course we did. The authorities can’t handle our disasters.”
Lurien nodded, looking down as his phone made a small noise, alerting him of a new message. “A new team’s just registered. Zote, Beretta, Mato, and Myla.”
The Pale King scribbled names down. “Marked. Do you have a good idea of the challenges taking place?”
“I do. Truly, this competition is to show the beauty of Hallownest, but we want to keep the audience entertained. The first competition will be held in the Crossroads, as any visitor would first experience before they enter our lovely city. After that, we’ll move on to the Ancestral Mound and Greenpath.”
The Pale King hummed softly. “Did Herrah agree to allow us access to Deepnest?”
“She did, on the bargain that I gift her 10% of the funds earned by the end of this competition.”
“Only 10?”
Lurien nodded. “But who’s complaining? Certainly not me.”
-
5:21 PM
[HallownestTexts]
[alwayswatching has sent an image]
alwaywatching: teams for the team challenges
alwayswatching: first competition will held at the crossroads, 10 am sharp. don’t be late
fuckpaleking: what the fuck is this
PaleAuthority: I showed you the flyer yesterday, Radi.
fuckpaleking: you showed me when the flyer didn’t look like it had been trampled by tiktiks
relicseeker: Another day, another conversation I wish I could avoid.
actualbabey: but you cant so get over it :)