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

”So… that being said” all the triplets chimed in together. Not so in sync with their bodies anymore… Kerra was brushing off what remained of the paper that had trapped her… Merra was still trapped in said paper and Erra was sitting back down now… leant back against the sofa. ”We’ve explained our best friends, and you’re Kamiko’s so we know how that works out. What’s it like having Lily as a best friend?”

*Oof, why do I feel guilty about Kamiko not being my best friend? I mean, it really isn’t comparable. I’ve known Lily for years, we spent most of that time together both in and out of school. I’ve spent more days with her then I have away from her… honestly this Contract business has been responsible for the largest amount of time spent away from Lily and I find myself oddly annoyed by that.* 

”Well… I guess I can start with the fact that we’ve always been there for each other. I’ll admit, because of the ever present threat of bullies, I’m… metaphysically there for Lily more often then it ends up the other way around but I don’t mind at all… I love spending time with her and protecting her is second nature.

”It’s a different kind of protection to the one I feel like I need to offer Sylvie. For Sylvie, she’s young and… naïve isn’t quite the right word because she’s smart and has an understanding that’s rare for someone so young… but even still she has an innocence to her, and while she’s smart her answers to things are rarely complicated.

”Perhaps it’s better to say Sylvie is wise beyond her years. She uses her intellect not to overthink things but to understand them and go for the best answer every time.” Kat paused, realising this had rapidly become more about Sylvie then Lily but she couldn’t help it. Lily was a huge part of her life, just like Sylvie was, and the only thing she could compare to Lily was her little sister for a lot of the important details.

”Sorry, I didn’t quite mean to speak so much about Sylvie just now but… that just sort is how it is. Anyway… for Lily, I know she’s seen the world and been hurt by it. She’s seen what dark things people can get up to when they having nothing better to do and are just being hurtful in general.

”She’s stronger then you’d think. She’s very quiet, and calm, and she can deal with bullying nearly as well as I. I didn’t realise it when defending her, but unlike me who will stand against it with my head held high and ability to shrug it off… Lily has a core of steel and the ability to recover quickly from her problems.

”I’ve seen her sad at lunch time and then when I meet up with her to walk home together her face lights up with the biggest smile, and I know things are going to be ok.” Kat missed the looks the triplets and Kamiko gave each other. They were thinking somewhat different thoughts about Lily’s actions. ”Still though… I feel like… like she deserves better, perhaps the best.

”She’s so smart. Smartest in the grade easily, and if she was better at tests then she’d be state level, though I did say that before. I know she’s helped me study, I got good grades… or well, good enough grades before I met her but I finished school as one of the best, mostly for my consistency across the board that I got from Lily, and that I helped get her physical education mark up by encouraging her to run with me a few times a week.

”A lot of our time together, outside of school, is Lily telling me about what she’s learned. It’s just… so interesting all the time. Hearing her speak about her new interest always brightens my day. She can learn so much in so little time, and it’s just awesome.” Kat missed the very obvious smirks on the other demons in the room as she kept speaking. ”The two main problems… well, the first is an old one and the second is new.

”The new problem is this Summoning business. She wants to join me, and has found a method to do so.” *Not sure I can directly mention the tokens so I’ll leave it at that.* ”I’m not sure if I do or not though. On the one hand, she’s studied magic and mystical things more than any other topic… and that was before she found out at lest some of it was real. She’s dreamed of this far more than I, so I don’t want to take that away from her…

”On the other hand, going on Summonings is dangerous.” There was some polite nodding from the triplets, but the smirks remained ”I don’t fear for my own safety because of the D.E.M.O.N.S safety net, and my ridiculous regeneration, it means that I can take any number of hits without issue, and I’ve so far been put on missions where I can always get through it.

”On the final… hand? Limb? Tail maybe? I don’t know… anyway, the final point is… I don’t know if I can say no to her. Even if I decide it’s too dangerous, if she looks me in the eyes and says she wants to come… I’m pretty sure I could never stop her.” Finished Kat. At this point, she was well and truly lost in her speech. She didn’t notice that the triplets and Kamiko could barely hold back their words. They knew what was going on, even Erra, but they held their tongues, for it was not their place just yet. Perhaps in the future…

But Kat was not done. ”That’s just the new problem though. The old one is just as bad if not worse, but for a whole host of different reasons. The problems also sort of connect, because that’s great.” Kat didn’t see the ’get on with it’ gesture from Merra, but it was there. ”See, Lily’s parents, mostly her mother kind of hate me.

”I’m really not sure why, it’s always been that way. It might have something to do with me being an orphan? She’s brough it up a few times as a complaint but it doesn’t have any heat to it, that would lead me to believe that’s the real reason she doesn’t like me.”

Too many thoughts had built up in Kerra’s mind, and she couldn’t stop herself as her mouth blurted out. ”Have you considered murder?”

Kat choked on her own words at that. She hadn’t finished making her point, but that brough her up short. She tried to answer ’No’ of course. Why would she want that… but the words didn’t come. It was a lie. Sure, it was mostly in jest… but even in jest it was contemplated, so Kat sighed, and answered with the truth. ”I have actually and it just isn’t that realistic. It’s rather messy and hard to clean up and Lily does still like her parents. Less then me, to my surprise, but she does still like them”

The triplets all shook their heads, eyes glued to the floor. Kat thought it was because it was sad to like your friend more then your parents. She was wrong of course, but they weren’t going to correct her. Kat let the odd silence stretch for a minute before picking up her rant about Lily’s parents. ”Another one of the complaints against me was that she accused me of being a demon. That one is rather funny in hindsight, knowing it’s true, and that Lily doesn’t care, but it’s much funnier now.

”The other thing is that I’m hurting her grades by hanging around her. Not sure how, Lily spends her time away from me researching, but most of it has nothing at all to do with school so I never really understood how my presence hurt that one.

”Still, I might have to agree now that I’ve been a bad influence considering she’s trying to join me on perhaps the most dangerous job she could find. It might not be dangerous on a multiversal level but it’s not like it’s common to need to risk your life doing a job back on Earth.”

*Then again… soldiers, power line operators. Sewage workers perhaps? People operating heavy machinery… yeah maybe it is more deadly then I thought.* 

”So that’s really it. Not all that much to say about my relationship with Lily really. I’ve covered most of it” said Kat.

The other demons could feel themselves sweating at that declaration. Comparing how everyone else had spoken about their best friends to how long Kat had spent it wasn’t even marginally close.. Merra decided that she could bust out of the paper now and did so, as everyone continued to stare at Kat, and wrap their head around the fact that Kat could truthfully say she had ’not all that much to say’ when it came to Lily.