D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

”Right, now that I’ve covered that do you still have any concerns Kat? I’m happy to keep going over things if you really need to, as I am aware talking simply helps people… however I doubt that you count among that number and I believe you can do well considering the question I presented to you in your own time” said Callisto straightening herself up on her chair.

”Um, not really… but, I mean there is still the question of what faction I should join? We didn’t really go into that and it is something I’m thinking about but I’m happy enough to talk about that with everyone so I don’t think we need to go over that now…?” said Kat more or less asking if Callisto wanted to go over things.

Callisto shrugged ”No that’s fine. Though, I will ask, even if you have come to an understanding with myself in regards to your lack of empathy for the dead who have wronged you, or perhaps just the dead in general, let me ask you this… can you tell the others? That was the whole point of this discussion I believe. Ensuring that you would be able to tell Vivian and Lily and Sylvie”

”Wait wait wait” said Kat throwing her hands up ”I never said anything about telling Sylvie”

Callisto’s eyes narrowed as she leaned forward in her chair, and said. ”Now Kat, I hope you aren’t treating Sylvie like a naïve child”

”No…?” asked Kat, clearly questioning it herself.

Callisto sighed but held her gaze. ”Look Kat, I understand that you’ve looked after Sylvie for a long time as both an elder sister figure and perhaps also a motherly one in some contexts… but she isn’t so fragile or stupid as you are making it out to be”

Kat shook her head vigorously ”I certainly don’t think Sylvie is stupid. And, not to put Lily down or anything, but really, the only person close to her in shear intelligence is probably you, with Lily following closely behind and then me and Vivian a while behind you three”

Callisto nodded but frowned ”If you can see that why do you still wish to hide this from her? It’s not like she won’t be able to figure it out with a bit of effort on her part”

”Well, sure Callisto, that’s true… but I’m not certain it’s appropriate to share something like that with anyone Sylvie’s age, regardless of how smart she is. Just because she’s smart doesn’t mean I don’t want to protect her for a little longer.” Said Kat

”She isn’t so young to need that much protection” said Callisto ”When I was her age, I was reading medical textbooks for fun. It’s not like I was unaware of the meaning of death”

Kat’s gaze hardened as she focused on Callisto ”That may be so, and I’m sure that she could do the same if she wanted. But she is NINE Callisto. I don’t want her to start to think that someone dying is no big deal, especially here on Earth.

”I can maybe excuse my own actions considering that world still features bandits roaming the countryside but, that sort of thing just doesn’t translate well to more modern reality.” Said Kat

Callisto shrugged ”Sylvie is smart enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality”

”I AM A DEMON” shouted Kat energy coating her voice and making it boom throughout the room. ”What fantasy? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS ANYMORE! I have to treat it all as real Callisto. ALL of it. I haven’t read a tonne of books, and most of it was just stories from Lily but I LIVE IT now. How can you expect Sylvie to treat them as just stories when I can SHOOT FIRE OUT OF MY HANDS!”

To punctuate her words, flames did indeed erupt from her hands, sending gouts of flames almost to the ceiling. As the flames continued to burn the chair arms near Kat started to get a light coating of frost as did the ceiling around near the tips of the fire.

Callisto just sat there calmly. Leaning back in her chair once more as she watched the fire burn down. Kat taking longer, slower breaths to calm herself and retract the flames as she tried to relax into the chair once again but now, she was tense, almost ready to strike out, though she knew she’d never really attack Callisto.

Minutes passed as the two stared at each other, and Kat made it clear that she was willing to hold her silence for this one. Callisto started to absently fiddle with her fingers, after the first minute, but they continued to sit in silence long after.

Kat turned her thoughts inward. Wondering if she was right to snap at Callisto. The conclusion she quickly reached though, was that yes, she was. Kat could clearly tell that in this at least, Callisto wasn’t taking her seriously. She genuinely saw no problem with telling Sylvie about the more gruesome parts of her adventure.

Kat was confident she had proved to Callisto the problem though. That when magic suddenly walks into the house, how much of fiction is truly fake. She’d met Fey, and Elves, and wizards, and a crazy talking tree called Thyme. She’d fought giant birds and death worms, been betrayed for a prize, which she wasn’t mad about, but it was rather storybook-esque in her mind.

Finally, Callisto spoke up. ”I suppose I can at least comprehend where you are coming from. I don’t believe you would be making the correct decision if you hid this information from Sylvie but I admit this situation is more complex than I gave it credit for. However, I ask you this, what are you going to do when you take Sylvie with you in the future?”

Kat barred her teeth. ”I’ll tell her long before I take her along with me. I don’t plan on taking her for some time yet though. Not only is that reckless but it’s just irresponsible. It’s not quite as bad as taking a child to a warzone, but it’s somewhat close. I can regenerate from horrible wounds. Nobody else here can.”

Callisto scoffed. ”I’m willing to bet that you take her to visit Minor before a year passes.”

Kat winced ”That’s different though. I know those guys, and Enuko can protect her even if I’m not around”

Callisto shrugged ”Maybe that’s true, but do you want to let Sylvie visit a world like that without really knowing how bad things could get or what that sort of world is really like. Because individuals can get so much stronger by simply bettering themselves, they don’t take the time to raise up society quite as much”

Kat bit her lip, while tilting her head and said. ”Wait is that what’s happened? I just assumed that I was further back in their history? I mean, surely not every dimension was created at the same time right?”

Callisto paused, freezing almost completely except for the soft falls of her breathing. ”Huh. I had never considered that. It’s certainly quite possible, especially if individuals live for greatly extended lifetimes… hmm, that certainly bears thinking about. I hadn’t even considered the possibility, and that is rather unlike me. Thank you for that Kat”

Kat jerked back; a bit shell-shocked that so soon after she had basically threatened Callisto she was already being thanked for a relative mundane idea. *I… I don’t quite follow what happened? Is she not even mad that I yelled at her before?*

”I see you do not understand” said Callisto. Kat flinched but nodded. ”I can see it on your face, and I would hazard to guess that you are confused as to how I can change my attitude towards you so quickly?”

Kat nodded and gestured for Callisto to continue. ”Well, it is quite simple Kat. You were right. Once I had taken this fact into consideration, I am easily able to let go of any linger resentment. Thus when we continued, even if you were still heated, I was not.

”This allows me to be completely and truly thankful for your idea that we might be jumping into worlds that are younger or older than our own. Do you understand?” asked Callisto.

”I understand” said Kat. *But I also feel like I really want to leave now. Things got a bit heated, and… maybe I need time to think about this some more. I… I don’t think Sylvie SHOULD know, but… I also don’t want to lie to her either…

I think it would be better for Sylvie personally if I didn’t tell her, but worse for my own health, constantly worrying about what she might think of me… and yet, Callisto says she deserves to know? Hmm… maybe I should just ask her in a roundabout way?*

”Thank you for this chat Callisto. I’ll take my leave” said Kat standing up.. Callisto merely nodded deeply and allowed Kat to walk out of the room.