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

The next noteworthy item that Kat and Kamiko managed to come across was a pair of woolly socks. It was most notable for the fact that the box they found them in only contained the single pair of socks, despite the ample amount of free space in the box. ”Kamiko. I know I have True Sight but… you are seeing what I’m seeing right? This isn’t an illusion?” asked Kat.

”Well… if you can see a single pair of wool socks, then… yes I think you are” replied Kamiko equally as stunned.

Kat nodded and reached in. The socks in question were exceptionally fluffy, with a garish red and green colour scheme with some poor embroidery work that gave the impression someone had intended for them to be a Christmas gift of some kind perhaps. As Kat grabbed the socks in her hand, she found nothing noteworthy about them by feel. They felt just like the old socks she’d acquired in the orphanage when she was younger and her feet always got cold.

Kat handed off the second sock to Kamiko before poking around with the one she had. ”Any idea why this whole box is just socks?”

Kamiko shook her head. ”I have no idea. I mean, they don’t LOOK particularly noteworthy, and I can’t really feel them trying to take any of my demonic energy. If not for the fact that I saw them in their own box I’d just assume they were normal socks.”

”Is the fact that they DID important?” asked Kat. *Because I don’t really see why that would be. Each box we’ve seen so far is just all the things of a certain type or a set of things like that rather nice dinner set we found in one of them. It could just mean there is only the one set of socks, or maybe woollen socks if they are that specific.* 

”Yes actually” said Kamiko. Well I was wrong then. ”The fact that they have their own box, sort of implies they are WORTHY of being in a box by themselves. It’s not something that comes up often, but my dad works in retail as technically part of Lust faction, hired by Greed, and these boxes have a certain limit on them.

”I don’t remember what it is, but these standard boxes, are what’s classed as Tier One boxes. I think I can see some later on…” Kamiko pointed down the stacks at a box that Kat could now see looked to be made of stone. ”There, two rows down on the right. That’s a Tier Two box. It has more expensive stuff in it.

”Anyway, as I was saying, these wooden boxes have a price limit on them. It’s pretty high, you don’t really need to worry about it most of the time, but the fact that these socks are by themselves implies they are worth at least half of a Tier One box. Assuming that the set counts as one item and these aren’t two separate products”

”Wait that’s a possibility?” said Kat with a surprised expression on her face.

Kamiko shrugged ”Well, I know some people use old socks as teleportation markers sometimes. I’ve heard it’s a running gag, but I’m not sure WHY it’s a gag, or when it started. In fact, I’ve never seen one used as a marker at all, but whenever someone mentions it, then they say that it is… and I’ve done it as well. I can’t believe I did that. I might have fallen for the trap.

”Anyway,” said Kamiko as she took a breath before continuing, ”the point is. These should be pretty impressive socks. Assuming they haven’t been miscategorised.”

”Right…” said Kat. ”How do we go about testing socks?”

”Well firstly…” said Kamiko as she lit the hand without the sock on fire, before condensing it to a much smaller fire. She then held the sock over the fire and carefully lowered it down. She stopped about a centimetre away from the fire before looking at it intently, before finally lowering it down into the fire itself. Kat wasn’t sure what she was trying to do though, because nothing seemed to be happening.

”Why’d you do that?” asked Kat.

Kamiko quirked an eyebrow at Kat and said. ”If this was a perfectly normal sock, it would have frozen over when I tried this. The fact that it hasn’t means at the bare minimum it is cold resistant, or perhaps resistant to demonic fire all together. Sadly, because we are both cold aligned it’s not really something, we can test properly by ourselves. It will have to be one of the things we bring up with Boss more than likely.”

*Wow, I feel kind of silly for not thinking of that.* ”Should I test this one as well?” said Kat indicating at her own half of the set.

Kamiko gave Kat a nod, and Kat turned her attention to the sock in her hand. Focusing as much as possible, Kat sent all her energy into her hand and a bright purple flame burned to life. It tried to expand past her hand using its extra fuel but Kat pulled it in instead, compressing the flame further.

Unlike Kamiko who wasn’t trying to freeze it seriously, just checking for minor resistance, Kat poured more power into the flame as the floor around her started to freeze and the water in the air started to solidify. Her breath now turning into vapour as it froze when leaving her mouth, coating the sock in a soft white mist for a split second. Before the sock proved superior to such puny attempts to stain its majesty, by melting away any ice that thought to use it as a perch.

”Woah Kat, that’s… that’s a lot of power to be using on testing a pair of socks” said Kamiko.

And she was right, just these few seconds was enough to burn off nearly thirty percent of Kat’s demonic energy. She was giving this sock no quarter, and testing it to the full extent of her power. Kat stopped the flow when she heard what Kamiko was saying. Allowing for the flame to gently wind down as she stopped feeding it power. The flame in question, seemed to want to stick around for a little longer, but with nothing to fuel it and no contact with anything other than her hand and the sock, it disappeared quickly.

”Eh, sorry about that. I just wanted to test it you know? We had a few boring things recently and this was a bit of a chance to let loose. Plus, I’m not sure I’ve ever tried too hard to freeze anything, let alone tried and failed so it was actually a pretty cool experience.” Said Kat.

Kamiko giggled. ”I could see that. Despite the smile on your face, you were glaring at that sock pretty intensely as if it had personally offended you or something. Not sure how you managed to do that while looking so happy at the same time.”

*I didn’t realise I was smiling?* Kat flexed her muscles loosening the non-existent tension. *I guess I don’t really give myself the chance to go all out do I? It’s not exactly safe for me to just go all out on Earth, and I spend a lot of my contracts sitting around. I’ve not just had the chance to burn energy, even against the Wrath guys because it was forbidden.* 

”Right… honestly despite the rather… intense amount of staring going on, it felt really good to cut loose I think.” Said Kat. ”Where I live I can’t exactly go around trying to set fire to things, and I don’t really have a practice area or anything, so I guess… I’m not sure maybe my demonic energy itself felt… cooped up? For lack of a better word?”

Kat was expecting Kamiko to look at her somewhat suspiciously or perhaps confused, instead she looked at Kat somewhat sadly, like she was to be pitied. Of course, that look was only held for a split second before she smiled a somewhat strained smile and began to explain. ”Yeah, that’s probably what it is… and it isn’t… well… ok I might need to explain it.

”See, your energy is just as much a muscle as it is… something else. It NEEDS to be used. Even if you have all of your energy, you are still generating it Kat. For the most part, when you are full on energy it just seeps out of you, but… I don’t want to say compressed because that implies that you have… purer energy… umm… hmm, look.

”This is actually a fairly complex topic, a proper medical one. I think, we should make a note of it and talk about it with my mother. What I can, and really should tell you, is that it isn’t healthy to just not use your energy.. You don’t have to do anything flashy, but doing something at the very least is better than nothing.”