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

”Sorry I… just can’t really do that” said Kat. Kamiko was nodding along with the suggestion before Kat spoke up, and so she paused, looking at Kat out of the corner of eye.

”Do you mind if I ask why lass?” asked Not Gramps

”Well… I didn’t really want to bring it up, but the person who raised me goes by Gramps. I’ve known him my whole life and while apparently it wasn’t quite since I was a baby, I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t under his care. So no offence to you of course but… it would be like anyone else trying to call you like… ’Dad’ or ’Father’ or something. It’s just… really weird for me” said Kat

Kamiko’s eyes went wide when she heard Kat didn’t know her parents. Then she practically vibrated in place as the words tried to force themselves out of her throat. However, Kamiko clamped her mouth shut tightly. No matter how much she wanted to ask those questions, Kat had proven to be a friend and she was not going to betray that by asking about something she clearly didn’t want to talk about, especially not in public.

Not Gramps eyes opened wide. So wide in fact, you couldn’t see the lids anymore. It was slightly uncomfortable for everyone, including Not Gramps. ”Well, that’s perfecly understandable lass. I certainly wouldn be lookin to replace someone like that. Call me Uncle, or Old Man then”

”Sure, thing Uncle” said Kat, tasting the words on her tongue. *Hmm, if I’m honest… I don’t exactly like that either. Might try to use old man when I can but… I can at least put up with it unlike ’Gramps’ that would have been completely unacceptable. This is also a punishment so… a bit of strangeness should be fine.* 

”Um… I’ll also call you Uncle” said Kamiko ”It would be really weird to call your Gramps without Kat doing the same, and I mean, I have plenty of uncles, so I don’t really mind adding more to that list, especially because none of them actually claimed the name uncle for themselves, always adding some other name after it so…

Uncle looked towards Kat with a slight twitch of the head and a raised eyebrow. Kat wanted to know how he managed to have eyebrows when his face was basically the start of a beard, but she answered with a soft smile and a shrug as if to say ’what can you do’.

After a minute of Kamiko’s rambling, Uncle just decided to open the door. His beard curled up around the gate and pulled. It seemed to easily swing open, and there was no visible strain on what little face of Uncle’s Kat could see.

Once the door was open a crack… which for a door so large was actually more than enough to allow for small demons such as themselves. As Kat walked through the door, she was surprised at the sight that lay behind it. Whatever she was expecting from the Wrath area, a carnival was not it.

The ’buildings’, if you could call them that, were all large carnival tents with variations in size from ’large’ to ’MASSIVE’. They all had two colours, with no nearby buildings sharing a set, and some of the larger, and, Kat was guessing here, more important buildings having three colours. Kat didn’t see any doors or gaps in the fabric that let people in, but she wasn’t really looking for them either, and assumed they could be found if needed.

Other than the carnival tents, there were also open-air circles that looked like they might one day be carnival tents. They had the posts up and everything, with tent poles up across the area with strings of flags connecting them all. The thing was though, Kat saw several of them in use for duelling purposes, and one that seemed to have a meditation class. *So are they going to be tents in the future? Or is that just how they are?

Also why is everything here circular? Kat looked over the tents again. Ok sure they aren’t quite circular, with flat edges between the poles but they are close enough to count in my opinion. But… it just seems kind of like a waste of space? Wouldn’t making them squarish make some more sense? This way you have a bunch of gaps that just… aren’t filled because a circle doesn’t fill space in all that well when there is a bunch of them. 

Also, why circus tents? I guess these are Wrath tents or something… but surely these demons have better options than fabric tents, right? This is a permanent settlement I believe… and it’s not like they can’t do construction. The whole thing has a massive wall around it and a huge gate. So, it’s not like these tents are the best they can do. Should I ask?*

Kamiko was looking around with big eyes, while Uncle led the way calmly. *So… judging by Kamiko’s reaction this isn’t normal… maybe I should just ask? Is that rude? Guess I might as well try.* ”Hey Uncle? Why tents?” asked Kat

”Well… I’m not ta sure what you mean?” replied Uncle.

”I just mean that… it seems somewhat… how do I put this politely…” mumbled Kat

”Like a bad choice of housing? Weak? Inefficient?” said Uncle

Kat scratched her cheek awkwardly and said ”I… I wasn’t going to say those words specifically but… yeah. I just thought that if this was your permanent settlement you would have chosen something more long lasting and sturdy”

”Well” said Uncle stopping by a tent with red and white stripes ”Why not strike the wall here? Feel free ta use full power lass. You are only Rank 2” said Uncle

Kat raised an eyebrow and eyed the nearby tent sceptically. Tapping it very lightly with a knuckle, Kat found the fabric didn’t so much as twitch. It seemed to sway in the wind just fine but when she tried to apply pressure to it, it wasn’t affected. ”What was that weak shit?” said Uncle ”Surely you can hit harder than that lass.”

*Ahhhh… really? Is… is he serious?* Kat thought about it for a moment and decided it wasn’t worth antagonising the Wrath demon no matter how old he might look. Instead, she took a stance and pulled her arm back for a proper punch, keeping her thumb securely under her fingers, because she actually knew how to punch properly. She did manage to have that minimal combat knowledge.

Pumping demonic energy into her arm, Kat waited until it contained the most, she could reasonably manage without resorting to forcing the movement, and slammed her fist into the tent as hard as possible…. This rapidly turned out to be a bad idea. Kat felt the force of the blow spread out from her arm, and heard a rather unpleasant squish as she felt the muscles in her fingers getting shredded.

The shockwave travelled her arm, doing minimal damage, mostly because it was small enough that the excesses energy in the arm was more than enough to kickstart the regeneration and heal a large part of it as it travelled.  Kat pulled her hand away and the skin and muscle reformed around her fingers. *At least the bone was fine.* Kat was also pleased to see that her blood was sliding off the side of the tent rather than clinging to the fabric. She did not want to be responsible for cleaning black blood out of white fabric.

”Huh, I wasn’t sure your blood would be that colour” said Kamiko

Kat turned, shaking her hand out a bit. Mostly just because it was a conditioned reflex, and not that it did anything for her now, with regeneration being enough to keep her hand in peak condition. ”Um… yes? Should it not be?”

Kamiko shook her head. ”No, it’s actually very normal to have black blood. Most demons do… or well, most demons that have blood bleed black. There are quite a few that just… don’t have blood at all, or have something in place of it that technically isn’t blood. Like did you know that technically speaking Beholders have tears instead of blood?

”Not sure why they make the distinction really. It does basically the same job as blood, and in Beholders, it just IS their blood completely. Then again, maybe it’s a classification thing? Like how I’m certain there is a species of Wrath demon with lava for blood…”

Uncle nodded. ”Yup. There actually is. I was never told what their species is actually called because there is only a few of them, and they are a little… explosive in their responses, so nobody really asks.”

”Right… can we get back to what the heck the tents are made of?” asked Kat

Uncle shrugged and said ”Really no idea. Stuff is hard though. Not even I can smash it.. I can do damage of course, but it’d take me some time. I think it spreads the impact out over the whole thing somehow with a central plate underground absorbing impacts… or maybe just the floor? Nevermind, it’s not important”