[center][h2]Contest #31 - Tuna Salmon Catfish Trout[/h2][/center]

"[color=32cd32]Méline cheats at Go Fish.[/color]"

Neither of friends, as usual, bothered to respond to her statement. Chloé Midori huffed in annoyance, leaning back into her chair and turning to look out the window at the dull grey clouds. She had just wanted to get some conversation going (and like, to warn them from talking to that sketchy skank), but they were ignoring her like she hadn't said anything! Was she really that boring? That was like, not something friends were supposed to think! And what they were doing right now looked way more of a snore than anything she did, not that she was actually that lame or anything.

"[color=32cd32]Oi, do you ever listen to anything I say?[/color]" she whined, fixing an annoyed glare through her green bangs at them as she crossed her arms petulantly. "[color=32cd32]Wouldja just say something?[/color]"

"[color=ffbf00][b][@Crimmy]'s running some online contest this month,[/b][/color]" Friend #1, Trần Trọng Hùong, offered casually as her bespectacled gaze turned up from the small, glowing screen of the cellphone in her hands.

"[color=32cd32]... Who?[/color]"

Her petulant expression had given way to one of mild confusion. Although it was nice to get something from her friend, that tidbit of info like, made zero sense to her. Where were the deets that Hùong usually had her mitts on? Just because like, the stuff she was saying wasn't like, that great at spicing up a convo didn't mean that Hùong could give out total rubbish instead of exciting headlines! It wasn't like she knew who this Crimmy was, so how did it like, even relate to her? And she totally wasn't going to go cheat in a stupid contest just because she'd been suckered in Go Fish, if that was what Hùong was insinuating! She wasn't even like, interested in that online thing anyway, thank you very much!

"[color=ffbf00][b]He's the host of a contest I signed us up as judges for.[/b][/color]"

Okay, the guy was a total stranger then. But what did like, some guy on the net even mean for -

Wait.

"[color=32cd32]You [i]what[/i].[/color]"

That was like, totally outta line! Chloé's face cycled through several differing expressions, before settling back down on the annoyed glare. If she had laser vision, she probably would have, like, already shot a hole through those freaky shining glasses of Hùong. She didn't even know who this guy and what this contest was until like, five seconds ago, and then it turns out she was already signed up to be ... a judge for it? Judge what? Just because like, she was pretty good at some stuff didn't mean she could like, not be a total disaster at judging some other things. That was like ... a dick move, throwing her in the deep end.

She leaned forward, hands pressing down against the desk between them. "[color=32cd32]Fam what gives? Like, wow what even got you to do this?[/color]"

Hùong casually adjusted her glasses with one hand. "[color=ffbf00]I thought we could do something fun. And a lien prize gives.[/color]"

"[color=32cd32]How much would, like, even convince you to just-[/color]"

Her friend rattled off the amount.

"[color=32cd32]Huh ...[/color]"

Chloé trailed off, trying to wrap her head around the amount. She wondered if she was like, totally munted or mishearing, but that smile on Hùong's face was totally honest. Not talking to her was like, not cool for a bae, but like, that amount of money involved ... well, it made perfect sense why there was something gun jumping.

Still a dick move though.

"[color=32cd32]That's ... a lot,[/color]" she finished lamely.

"[color=ffbf00]Definitely a lot,[/color]" Hùong agreed with a nod.

With that conclusion, it was made immediately apparent that Chloé had withdrawn her objections to the entire 'signing up as a judge for some weird contest without any sign' thing that her friend had done, but she still thought it was pretty not cool to just go ahead like that. She wondered why some guy on the net would even want, like, a coupla rando high school girls to judge his contest. That was uh, pretty weird. And like, sorta creepy. Total creepmeister. Even if there was money.

Actually sorta made it extra creepo.

"[color=32cd32]Okay,[/color]" said the green-haired girl, returning to the topic at hand. "[color=32cd32]So like, what's this thing we're gonna judge?[/color]"

Because like, if she was gonna get that lien to pay the ID guy off, she needed to know what was up. Chloé refused to get herself dragged into whatever this was if she didn't know all the deets, yaknow? Otherwise it'd be a total disaster and like, even if she got thrown into this unwillingly, she had standards to keep!

Hùong steepled her hands together, before glancing over at the silent third member of their group to her side. "[color=ffbf00]Galla, your turn.[/color]"

Friend #2, a pale girl with beautiful black locks and eyes of hazel brown, folded up the tabloid in her hands (headline: [i]Transport unions rail at Fiordilattes![/i]). Her expression, impassive and totally lacking in emotion, did not change even as she turned her attentions upon her friends. In fact, Galla Mindaro's very demeanour was pretty apathetic and lifeless, sorta like a cardboard cutout rather than an actual human.

Which was why Chloé was confused as to why it was like, now her turn. How was Galla even involved in this idea of Hùong's anyway?

"[b][i][color=dfff00]The task for the contestants is twofold. The first is to worldbuild a setting of their own making where their characters (and those of others) have roles in, such as an animesque high school where the students of Beacon are instead perfectly normal high school age teenagers dealing with first world issues rather than fighting eldritch beasts, or possibly one where giant robots exist. Once the world has been detailed, the second half of the task is to write a snippet or an excerpt of their characters' lives as an inhabitant of said setting, showing how their core personalities have differed or stayed the same in this world.[/color][/i][/b]"

Oh. That was why.

"[color=32cd32]Um, did Hùong like, really getcha to memorise the whole spiel?[/color]" Chloé could only ask. Photographic memory or not, that was still like, a really long thing for Galla to remember! Was she actually like, interested in this contest? Or did she just like, not care enough to avoid Hùong's ideas?

"[color=dfff00]She did.[/color]"

There was a vaguely sinister smile on Hùong's face. Chloé decided that she would just ignore it.

"[color=32cd32]So you're judging too huh?[/color]" she muttered, sighing as she received a nod in response. It was like, expected that all three of them were going along with it, but having Galla was going to be a bit wacky. What did her bae even like, anyway? She could totally swear that the stoic younger Mindaro didn't like [i]anything[/i].

But maybe, like, she could find out by doing the judging! That was a plus.

"[color=32cd32]When are we going to get to suss out these entries then?[/color]" asked the green-haired girl, looking away from Galla and back at Hùong. "[color=32cd32]I wanna know when we like, get the money.[/color]"

Her bespectacled friend clicked something on her phone. "[b][color=ffbf00]Their deadline's on the [i]'15th of April, 11.59 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time'[/i],[/color][/b]" she noted. "[color=ffbf00]Three weeks seem like a good enough time.[/color]"

Three weeks, huh. She could like, get some time down for judging then. No idea what AEST even meant though.

"[color=32cd32]When are we gonna like, get the lien?[/color]"

"[color=ffbf00]Oh, after judging is complete.[/color]"

Wow, that was gonna be a long wait.
[hr][b]Judge:[/b] [@Crimmy]
[b]Type:[/b] Worldbuilding and Writing Challenge
[b]Deadline:[/b] [url=https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20170415T115959&p0=152&font=cursive&csz=1]Saturday, 15th of April 2017, 11.59 PM AEST.[/url]

Chop chop, folkerinos. Let's see if Galla's going to be impressed with your stuff.