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

*You know… I’ve never thought about that. How DOES my regeneration effect my hair? In humans hair and nails are dead cells for the most part so I’m not sure if they’d be included in my regeneration. Hmm…* 

Kat looked back over the fights she’d been in and tried to remember an instance when her hair had gotten damaged but her cursory look at those memories didn’t reveal anything. *Huh… so maybe not… then again…* Kat ran her hands through her hair and tried to imagine the length.

*Doesn’t seem to be any longer… but it hasn’t been that long since I became a demon. WAIT! My hair got completely replaced during that process… I’m not exactly sure what that means though. As far as I’m aware my hair isn’t like Uncle’s. I can’t control it, it isn’t alive.* 

Kat looked down at her nails, now those she was sure hadn’t changed. They were at exactly what she considered the right length. They were just barely long enough to be considered nails sticking up maybe one and a half centimetres off her skin.

*Hmm. My nails would have been longer if they were growing still. What does this mean?* ”I have no idea, Sue. My nails seem to have not been growing, but I’m not certain about my hair,” said Kat.

Sue frowned, ”I would be so jealous if you can grow it with your regen. You have no idea how much time and effort I spend on my hair. I have to use special product to make sure it’ll stand up in a fight. It’s not indestructible so much as dispersing. Ugh so much effort. Still, try it Kat. See if you can make your hair longer or something so I can complain”

Kat shrugged. *I suppose I can give it a try.* Closing her eyes Kat pictured her hair getting longer. Slowly extending until it reached her rear. She didn’t really want it that far if she was honest, it might get in the way of her wings. *Still, it would be a good t-* ”Oh, LOOK LOOK!” shouted Sue clearly excited.

Kat’s eyes flew open and she grabbed her hair to bring it around to the front… only it looked the same length. Kat raised an eyebrow and looked at Sue who she could see now was trying and just barely succeeding at holding in her laughter. ”Hehehe, I got you good with that,” said Sue.

”Why?” asked Kat pushing down the desire to lightly cuff Sue over the head for the joke.

Sue shrugged, ”I mean, it was pretty easy. Just had to say look look and I got a good laugh out of it. Didn’t even have to use any of those funnier techniques and risk running afoul of the translation engine”.

”What do you mean by that?” asked Kat ignoring the joke for now, and focusing on the second part.

”Well, the translation works on a few things. It works on… I think it must use the collective consciousness of a language, alongside your mind and the person speaking. It’s why I can actually say D.E.M.O.N.S and demons with a difference being audible.

”I believe I mentioned it a bit earlier, that people abuse it for names quite a bit. You can… you can almost see how it’s spelt when someone introduces themselves. Anyway, because we can’t lie, sometimes if you try to lie just a bit by using some creative wording, the translation gets mixed up and it gives the game away. Like… hmm… wait, Kat, what language do you get things in?” said Sue

”English, I think,” said Kat

Sue nodded, ”Well then I really can’t give you any examples. I don’t speak English, whatever language that is. I speak Infernal, which is the original tongue of the first demons. Most demons get taught it in school. I’d have thought… well I guess it doesn’t matter; I can’t hear the difference anyway. I’d never have known if you didn’t tell me. Guess I can’t give you a good example of how things can be twisted”

”What does, Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” sound like to you?” asked Kat

Sue got a slightly dazed look in her eyes. ”Woah… what was… that was a little weird. I heard you saying two different things at once there. One was about bullying and the other was just the same animal over and over…

”Well…” Sue started before stopping and waiting a few more seconds to shake her head out. ”Ok please never do that again. That might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say. I can practically feel my ears rebelling after that. What… what was even the point? Why did that work?”

Kat shrugged, ”It’s some fancy wordplay in English. That one would can make a whole sentence because it means a few things. It gets weird”

Sue shook her head, ”Yeah well seriously don’t do that again. It’s weird. I’ve never had the translation magic freak out so much.”

*I think I know why. I know the sentence more as an entity in and of itself then I actually do know all the different meanings of the word Buffalo. I wonder if that’s part of the reason why it didn’t work well. I know what the sentence means, and I know what Buffalo means, but I don’t really know which buffalo actually means what off the top of my head.* 

”Shall we go back to talking about hair then?” asked Kat

Sue shook her head, ”Nah, your weird English voodoo house kinda soured me for a bit. I’d rather insult you a bit, but honestly it’s a lot less fun insulting you then Kam”.

”Why is that?” asked Kat

Sue sighed and said, ”I can’t believe you’re just asking me. Look, it should be pretty clear. She has better reactions. She twitches slightly when you say something she doesn’t like but isn’t willing to speak against. She pouts a good amount and it looks adorable on her, and quite frankly it’s easier.

”Oh sure, you’ll keep me in line before she will, even if I was insulting Kamiko in a major way and not for fun, you’d still come down on me before her. But your reactions are so boring. And when you tell me off… it’s like… like you’re only really doing it because you haven’t got a better response you know?

”Like… um… hmm… how do I explain this… it’s not like you don’t have anything to mock me about. For some reason I feel like you could if you wanted, but it’s more like… I don’t want to say you feel it’s beneath you because you aren’t really condescending… apathetic maybe? Like… you don’t really care enough to insult me back? Which… I mean… yeah that takes the fun out of it”

”I don’t particularly feel bad about that,” said Kat, ”I suppose I could return some jabs but… it really isn’t my style. I mean you look quite good as all Succubi do, your voice as pleasing to hear, if a little strange to hear from someone who feels around my age, your personality is the only thing I really feel the need to jab at, but it’s not that bad that I’d really criticise you”

Sue’s eyes widened at that last part. ”What really? Not going to go after me for all the complaining I did? Not going to tell me to stop talking about your various assets?”

Kat shook her head, ”Nope. I don’t plan to. My problems with the complaints were more that they represent a lack of trustworthiness in combat, but you managed to keep Kamiko’s shield up in that hectic fight just before, even when the rat… beam? Rat beam. Came after us, so… that buys you a good deal of leeway”

Sue bit her lip, ”Ok no, that can’t be all right? I mean surely I’ve got something you can pick on right? I thought Kamiko was the crème puff not you…”

Kat shrugged, ”What it really comes down to is that you don’t necessarily mean what you say. Or… no well, not quite that… you make unflattering observations yes, but you do it as a pastime and there is no malice. The insult is… it feels more like a creative outlet I guess? It isn’t mean in quite the way I think it could be.” Said Kat, keeping her eyes locked on Sue’s who promptly looked away.

”Oh? What makes you think that?” said Sue still not making eye contact with Kat again.

”How about this, try it. Insult me Sue” said Kat sternly.

Sue grit her teeth and turned to Kat. ”Well, maybe if you took that crown of horns of your head I’d have feel more comfortable about not getting pricked. On top of that, your low-end breasts make easy targets, but I’ve seen you fight and know you probably like that…”

Kat raised an eyebrow and said, ”That was kind of weak Sue. I’d argue the first is probably a compliment.”

Sue winced. ”Look, this is spur of the moment type things. I gotta catch a good taunt where I can. I don’t just keep a running list of everything I think up.. I say em as they come.”