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

Before Kamiko could notice Kat’s concern though, she redirected her thoughts and instead asked about aura, explaining her own. ”Hey, Kamiko, you said you had a unique aura right? Well, mine’s also a bit different. Mine apparently has a calming effect on people. I’m not sure if that’s exactly what it does, but it helps others think clearer, and while it doesn’t… remove your emotions I’ve heard it puts them off to the side or something”

”Ooh, that sounds much more interesting than mine. Show me. Show me!” said Kamiko, bouncing around.

Kat gave a light smile and applied a bit of her aura, but Kamiko grimaced instead, like she’d been punched in the stomach. ”Kamiko! You alright”

Kamiko raised a shaky smile. ”Yeah… I’m… I’ll be alright”

”What happened Kami?” asked Kat

Kamiko’s smile lit up upon hearing Kat call her by the same nickname her parents had given her, but other people had refused. Kat was just confused at the sudden attitude shift and was considering the idea that her aura might not work against demons.

”Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting your aura to be so strong Kat” said Kamiko

Kat tilted her head ”What do you mean? I only used a bit”

Kamiko choked on her words and whipped her eyes to match Kat’s. ”What? What… what is full power like?”

Kat shrugged ”Not really sure I haven’t used it in a while.”

Kamiko’s eyes darted from Kat’s to the floor and then back to Kat. ”Do it”

”Do what?”

”Use your aura at full power” said Kamiko.

*Is that really a good idea?* ”Is that safe? You seemed… a little put out before when I used a bit”

”I’ll be fine I swear” said Kamiko ”I just… well… I’m very aura sensitive. It’s not technically an ability, and it’s more connected to my aura and my great control over of it even if it isn’t the most useful one… so when I felt yours crash into me it was like getting hit in the face by a Wrath demon. I was looking for it you know? Um… maybe that was a bad example…

”I suppose it would be like if I went right up to your mouth expecting a whisper and you shouted in my ear instead. It wouldn’t have been so bad if instead I’d just stayed standing but I moved right up to you and made it worse.”

Kat was very tempted to tell Kamiko off for putting herself down slightly with the example, implying it was her own fault. *But I’m not sure she even noticed… and it might be an accurate example… so I’ll let it go.* 

”Alright. I’ll do it if you’re sure” said Kat

”Go” said Kamiko.

Kat let her aura surge. She hadn’t noticed but at some point, she had started to keep it around just herself, stopping it from reaching out towards anyone else, and controlled somewhat tightly. Now that it had a direction and it was the full power, Kat could feel it exploding out her.

It was obvious once the aura hit Kamiko, because she dropped instantly. As soon as the wave hit her eyes closed and she started dropping. Kat shoved all the energy she could into her system, slowing her perception, and moving at full speed to catch Kamiko before she hit the floor.

Of course, Kat managed to catch her before she’d fallen basically at all, so swift was her movement, but Kat was currently panicking somewhat badly. She kept her enhanced cognition running as she tried to work out what she should do about the girl in her arms.

*She’s fine right? Should I get her to the hospital? Is she even going to be ok? Wait is she still breathing?* Kat strained her ears to try and hear the sound of Kamiko’s breathing and heard nothing. Of course, she had slowed her perception so much that it was much more like, Kamiko hadn’t needed to take in another breath yet… but that didn’t help Kat’s thoughts.

Luckily, a complete disaster was averted by a large hand being placed on her shoulder. ”Your emotions are exploding. It’s fine, the girl is just asleep”

Kat snapped out of her enhanced cognition as the surprise shattered her concentration and stopped the energy circulating through her head. As soon as this happened of course, Kat heard Kamiko breathing, and saw her curling up slightly and burying her face into Kat. ”Um… woops” said Kat, turning to the lion guy. ”And thanks… I uh… didn’t know this would happen or… what ’this’ was going to be”

Kat just received a grunt for her explanation, as the Lion guy once again turned back to the front. *Huh… now that I think about it… kind of weird we are still waiting in this room.* Kat looked around and saw that it was still filling up though, with a new cast of colourful demons slowly filling in behind her. It also seemed that other people were chatting, she just couldn’t hear them. *Which is really weird… even more so than the fact we are still waiting. I guess we are waiting on more people but… why can’t I?*

Kat pushed a bit of energy into her ears and then a whole auditorium’s worth of sound smashed into her. Kat yanked the energy out of her ears swiftly, silencing the noise once more. *Ok now that’s weird… is it like… enchanted or something? We can only hear the people directly next to us unless we want to or something?*

It seemed though, that Kat’s jolt had an unexpected side effect, as Kamiko started to stir. ”No mummy, I’m not sleeping in. Just fi- er t- er, eventually. I’ll get u- apparently I won’t”

Kat failed to supress her laughter as Kamiko’s inability to lie forced her to not specify a time that she’d get up. Of course, the laughter shook Kat’s body further and Kamiko’s eyes fluttered open. ”Oh” said Kamiko

Quickly shifting in place, Kamiko wiggled out of Kat’s grip and set herself down back on her own two feet. ”I’m very sorry about that. I… well no I did sort of expect that. Well, maybe not exactly. I knew that your overcharged calming had to do something. Based on how it happened, I’m not quite sure how that is connected to the primary effect of sharpening the mind and… let’s go with distancing emotional responses.”

Kat shrugged. ”I don’t really use it all that much. I don’t exactly understand it either”

Kamiko nodded. ”That’s more than ok. I’d love to teach you if I can!” said Kamiko with a brilliant smile. ”I might actually be able to do a bit of that because you don’t just have the standard ’Rargh Imma keel you’ aura so many demons have”

Kat and Kamiko heard a snort from the lion demon beside them. They chose to ignore it. ”Well, what is your aura actually?” asked Kat

Kamiko beamed. ”Mine makes people happy. Also maybe a little bit of contentment. Not really sure about the second thing. It’s hard to tell, because you get one alongside the other and I’m not sure if the second follows from the first, or if it’s actually a secondary part of my aura. Unlike you being able to put people sleep, I haven’t found anything really cool I can do with my aura…

”Even still it’s nice. I can use it to help people when they are sad, and I’m happy to report it works EVEN BETTER, on them! Which… I don’t quite get how that works. Maybe it’s because I don’t just make people happy but instead my aura forces them to a certain level of happiness, and it’s more than willing to pull up sad people to that same level…

”At the same time that should be much harder to do, so maybe that isn’t how it works at all? Not like you can really test it. I don’t know anyone else with a happy aura. My sister actually has a sad one though? Did you know that? It’s really weird with mine though, cause mine is MUCH stronger. Or maybe it isn’t. I dunno, she can make people a lot sadder than I can make someone happy but…

”Whenever we try to match auras it like, isn’t even close. Just a few drops of my own practically overpowers her best. Not… not exactly sure I like that fact considering you can do the same to me… huh I wonder if it’s a trio thing. Like, can she shatter yours easily? Or maybe there is another emotion that would?

”That sounds fun to look into. What do you think Kat? Should we try? I mean that main problem is how rare nonstandard auras are… so we might not be able to test it… and… oh no what if they are all different ranks? Damn, this might not work then.”

Kat smiled, content to listen to Kamiko ramble on about the various reasons her plan should work, and just as many explaining how it was doomed to failure.