Candy Land Tower
It was an awkward trip, but Frambuesa eventually went back to Jasmine to retrieve her ribbon. The trip back was even worse: she could feel Jasmine's cold stare piercing through her. Feeling guilty for being so rude to her only friend here, Fram twiddled her thumbs and slowly made imaginary eye contact with the mini-fridge.
"Listen, Jasmine...I...I'm really sorry for what I said...I just...I don't really like being alone, and...I mean, I know that Humphrey's here, too, but..."
She glanced at the sink and then edged closer to Jasmine, not wanting Humphrey to hear.
"I think he watches me when I sleep."
After supposedly getting a positive response from Jasmine, Fram bounced back over to her cot and proceeded to multi-task to the extreme: she managed to resume her staring contest with Jasmine, ignore the buzzing in her pocket, and get her hands tangled up in her ribbon all at the same time!
Such talent!
Desert
Clumsy freak...all your fault...
How terrible! His first day in this wacky competition and people were already being rude to him! It wasn't because he tripped over that girl and ruined her chances at getting that first Heart Stone, that was silly. This cruelty was clearly related to his box-head or something equally heartless! Yes, that had to be it! Any normal person would've used that close opportunity to become his best friend!
Or...or something like that. Either way, this was quite the improper start. Wasn't this being broadcasted live or something? Casque cringed at the thought...now he was sandy and embarrassed! In front of millions! Figuring that contemplating all of this while lying around in the sand wasn't helping, he finally stood up and brushed himself off.
"That was completely intentional! All part of my master plan!" he announced, not making it entirely clear if he was trying to regain whatever pathetic image he had or if he was trying to delude himself into confidence. Moving a bit quicker now, Casque whipped out his Deus ex Machina. Someone already got the first Heart Stone, and, from the looks of it, everyone was rushing towards the oasis. Although he wanted to tell himself otherwise, Casque knew that he wouldn't last very long in a mess like that.
That left the stone by the tower, which was a good three miles away. It would suck trying to run over there all by himself, and he'd have to use up all three of his Heart Stones (assuming he even got to that last one in time) if he wanted to get in...but if he managed to get to Celeste alone, then maybe he'd have a shot at killing her and getting his Heart Stones back! And if he did that, then maybe everyone would think he was competent and they'd join up with him, allowing him to form a contract with a shield and become competent for real! Or maybe he'd pass out midway through, someone else would get the Heart Stone, and he'd die alone in this unforgiving wasteland.
Deciding that
Casque liked to pretend that light moved at the speed of a relatively fit young adult.