Welcome to Gaia! ::

Richard looked down at the giant orange floresce in his hands, hoping very fervently--though very quietly-- that it did not start thrashing around in his hands much more than this. He was here to make a good impression, and he couldn't do that if he dropped the creature he was supposed to be tending to. Help it become the greatest floresce it could be? Well, he could definitely try. He'd probably do pretty well at it. It couldn't be too hard to train one, could it? Even though he hadn't known they could even be trained in the first place... He could think of more difficult options, honestly. On his way to the training corner, he pondered what he'd name the floresce. If he was going to be talking to it, coaxing it to do things, he would probably do better if he had a name to give it.

Though... now he had to consider what to give it as far as a name went.

Goldie?

No, absolutely not. What kind of name would that be? Of course he'd go to "Goldie". And so would pretty much everyone else, he was willing to bet. Goldie was a very predictable name. Probably a very common. What if he was saying it, and he ended up confusing someone else's floresce because they had the same name? What if someone accidentally confused his? That was likely to end up being a huge mess, and Richard would just as rather avoid it entirely.

::Name it Flakes,:: came a voice in his mind from one of his earrings. Richard bit back a snort of incredulity.

::Lee, no. I am not naming it Flakes.::

There was an audible sigh of disappointment from that voice, as if Richard had denied the source a favourite treat.

::Name it Florescesticks, then.::

::No. Your suggestions suck.:: There was sulky silence in return, and Richard had to chuckle quietly. Seriously though, he was not going to name it any of those, but he had to have a name... He couldn't just go "hey, you!" at it until it caught on that he was talking to it. ...Could he? ::What do you think about 'Hey You'?::

::You're not allowed to suggest a name for anything ever again. That is an awful name for a floresce--what's wrong with you?:: The sheer offense in the response made him laugh for a moment. ::If you name it Hey You I am going to never shut up about it. I hope you realize that.::

::Okay, okay, fine. Spoilsport.:: Richard chuckled again at the dismissive snort he received in response. He was almost at the training course, though, so he had to come up with a name pretty quickly... ::I'm going to name it... Chip.::

He took the responding silence as begrudging approval and reported the name when he arrived.

Richard was not prepared for the clap of camaraderie on his shoulder, and so he wasn't sure how prepared he was for this "tourney". Well, at least, how prepared Chip was going to be for this tourney. That other floresce was absolutely huge, and Richard felt even his normal optimism dim a little at the sight of it. And, at first, it did look like Allen's floresce was going to win. But, then, Chip put forth a surge of effort, barely eking out a victory. The victory was, admittedly, quite a surprise, but Richard was proud of Chip anyway.

Richard took the congratulations from Allen gracefully, though he wasn't sure what to do with the cheerleading fish he was given. Did... it need to be in water? It wasn't in water right now, so... it would probably be fine? Taking his prizes, Richard headed out.

(good effort + 78 = 98 > 94 = victory)