"I honestly don't know if I'm even allowed to talk about it. I haven't asked what I'm allowed to say about it. Since I feel like the entire situation still had to be explained completely. So I don't know what I'm allowed to say and what things should definitely not be mentioned." I sigh as I regret mentioning the portal again. Since I don't want to get in more trouble then I might already be in. Well, I don't know how much trouble this entire situation will cause if we're found out to be lying. But that text in that labyrinth was so weird. For just a moment I felt like I could read it. I felt like I could understand the words that were written there. However, I didn't understand any of it.
"Well, I get that you don't know what you can tell us. But was it like what we found? Was it this cool temple with puzzles that no one was smart enough to solve. Okay, the temple we found had no puzzles that we knew of. But maybe we were too stupid to spot them. What type of portal was it anyway?" Kiara asks as she already starts speculating about what type of portal I went to today. Of course, what she is imagining isn't close to what I saw. It's not as exiting as finding a temple for her I assume. I feel that she's imagining something as exciting as yesterday for her.
"You're quite off the mark actually. It was a labyrinth-type portal which is usually a rescue mission. But it should've been an easy one since the portal was just an F ranked portal. But I again found out why I tend not to go to labyrinth-type portals" I explain as I hope that I don't have to explain a whole lot about this. But I do get why she would think that. Since the portal of yesterday might have warped her perceptions of portals in general. Also, I might have made it sound a bit too similar to yesterday's portal.
"What happened there, Azure? Instead of dancing around the topic which you're quite good at, you could give a straight answer." Lake comments as he calls out to me not wanting to answer the question. He's clearly surprised I found something odd again in a portal. But it isn't like I can't believe it either. The chances of finding something odd inside a portal. Finding something weird inside a portal twice in a row is even rarer. I don't know how weird it is to find something like that.
"Okay, fine I will stop interrupting. Just tell us what you found inside there that was so strange." Kiara says as she puffs up her cheeks a bit while shifting in her seat. I didn't mind her interrupting me though. Since it might help them forgot that I ever said something. But I don't think that I have to hope for that.
"Fine, I will say something about it. The entire delve was weird if you ask me. It started out annoying since the location was inside a metro tunnel. Which forced us all to go inside the portal already to plan out what we were going to do. And before you say anything about making this up. You know someone else who went inside there. That person is Emily." I explain as I try to avoid mentioning the text yet. Since I have no idea whether or not I'm allowed to talk about that.
"Okay, I'm going to interrupt this time. But why was Emily there? Wasn't she also at the portal yesterday? I don't get why either of you was there, to begin with. Because again that sounds like a me thing to do. I don't see either of you doing that." Lake asks as he's the one interrupting me now. Kiara looks at him quite annoyed with her cheeks still puffed up. I guess she finds it annoying that he's the one interrupting me now.
"Well, she wasn't there by choice though. So don't worry only one person made an odd choice that being me. Okay, that's not completely true there were some other strange choices made. But Emily came because the association told her to come." I explain as I sigh out loud a bit. Lake's right about it being weird that I was even there. I just went there to score some points. Which I'm not even sure if I will get. "Don't worry I was even surprised that I went.
"They seriously made her come after yesterday? You would think they would've allowed her to skip the supervising bit for once. Escpiaclly after what happened yesterday, because she was inside that cave right? I'm honestly surprised that she didn't find an excuse to not come. She absolutely hates having to supervise." Lake informs both me and Kaira of that. I honestly didn't know that she hated doing them. I just thought she felt insecure doing them.
"Why doesn't she like leading groups? I have always seen Drake enjoy leading them. Isn't it just giving out orders and making sure people listen?" Kiara asks as she's already fantasising about leading a group. I have to say that I don't really know what leading a delving group is about. I just know how to spot a confident leader and how to spot an incompetent one.
"She just doesn't like doing it. She had the misfortune of having led some really bad delving groups before. And those delves tended to have a lot going wrong too. It wasn't even her fault, it was the fault of the delvers who were under her. But at the end of the day, she got chewed out for it." Lake explains as I finally gain some insight into what the leaders have to do. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Lake has led some delves in the past too. None I was in but I'm sure he had to lead some. Kiara will have to lead some for sure if she's not going to be affiliated with a guild.
"Well, today was a good reason why she hates leading groups again. Since there were quite a few issues. None of them being anywhere close to being Emily's fault at all." I add to Lake's explanation as quite a bit went wrong today. The people who didn't arrive on time, instead arrived so early that they were there before the observer. There were little to no people who decided to follow the rules from the start. I don't get why people were so eager to break the rules so much today.
"I guess that has to do with Russel, right? You mentioned that he had caused some trouble before already." Lake correctly assumes as Russel was one of the people who were the cause of the issues. I just nod to agree as I can't help but sigh in annoyance just thinking about it. I do have this feeling that Lake and Russel didn't part in the best ways.
"Yeah, he and his friends caused quite a bit of trouble for everyone in this delve. Just for everyone in general since they did everything in their power to make sure the delve couldn't be completed safely." I explain as I wonder how much trouble Emily is in because of Russel. All of this was his fault not hers but with what Lake said I'm not sure if the right person will be blamed. I just thought it was annoying but I didn't know that it would carry consequences for Emily.
"I thought he would've learned his lesson by now. I really thought he had stopped bringing other people into trouble. But it seems like the association hasn't caught on yet. Which is surprising since he has done quite a bit. It's like he has someone on the inside who makes sure he's fine." Lake complains as I completely understand what he means. Russel sucks to work with and is a complete asshole every time I see him. Lake's right about the fact that Russel might have someone on the inside. Since I don't know how else he's getting away with all of this.
"Wait, were you two friends before? I remember Azure mentioning something about that. What happened to make you two not be friends anymore?" Kiara asks as I indeed hinted that Lake and he were friends before. But Lake has made it more than clear that they aren't friends anymore. I have to wonder too, however. If anything specific had happened to make them fall out. I can only imagine what happened. But at least now it has been confirmed that they're really not friends anymore
"Well, Azure knows what I mean that Russel can cause quite a bit of trouble. And a person can only take so much. Since he kept on making the same mistake over and over again. It was honestly quite infuriating." Lake explains as he sounds very annoyed about it. I get completely why he's annoyed. I wasn't hanging out with him and he annoyed me so much. I don't get how he has such a group of people willing to listen to him.
"What were the mistakes he kept on making?" I ask as I wonder if it's the same stuff he was doing before. I also can't help but wonder if Russel's the reason why Lake's so tough on me. Because that would explain a lot of things. Since this is one of the first times I feel like Lake has been talking to me and not talking down to me.
A plan - Part 4
Complete
You got an updated character card
Name: Azure Nguyen
Rank:
E rank (on delving card)
F rank (in reality)
Clothing style: Casual wear
Preferred mode of transportation: Metro
Favourite colour: Lavender
Unusual skill: Finding stuff that's valuable