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

Once Green stopped flying the others also headed inside to have a little bit of breakfast. It was just some simple fruit stored in the kitchen for Kat and Green, Nixilei had already eaten so her meal choice would go unknown, same with Gareth. Lily ended up with part of what looked like chicken meat though the body structure wasn’t quite right considering the bird had a rather large tail, but that was ignored because it was tasty enough for the Memphis.

Kress hadn’t appeared just yet, but there was still about an hour before departure so this wasn’t a major concern. Once they’d eaten Kat went back to the yard to keep practicing with her demonic flame. This time she was testing the effect her wings had on her demonic flame control but… it was rather lacklustre, especially compared to her tail. Her wings did provide some control, but only right next to the wings and they were much worse than the assistance her tail provided. It only really provided extra stability right at the edge of her wings because the standard control from the rest of her body extended nearly as far as the wings did. They just added a few more centimetres to her precise control range at best.

Lily spent the time getting more comfortable with flight, trying harder manoeuvres while near Kat. She only fell out of the sky once, but Kat was able to catch her easily at the time. Lily was attempting a barrel roll but kept her wings tucked in too long and nearly hit a tree so in her panic to get out of the way nearly hit the ground as well. Otherwise her attempts went quite well. Her instincts guided her for the most part and there were no other issues.

Nixilei came out dressed in her combat attire and sat leaning against the wall as with a book as she watched the pair practice. Green was nowhere to be seen (likely asleep on Gareth somewhere) and Kress didn’t show his face at all until all three walked out the front door with Gareth holding what looked like a toy carriage… though based on context it was assumed to be the magical one.

Gareth nodded to the practicing pair, missing Nixilei because of her position and walked to the front of the property line where the stone road was. It looked a little like concrete, but based on the mix of colours and textures, what was more likely to have occurred was that someone or a group of someones placed a bunch of nearby stones into a roughly road shape then had an earth mage come through and smooth it all out.

When he reached the road Gareth placed the carriage down before jumping backwards quickly. As soon as he cleared the area the carriage started to shake and rattle before ballooning up to full size. It sounded awful during the transition. Demonic things were able to shrink and grow seemingly without issue. This carriage… Kat wondered just how sturdy it would actually be. The wood groaned the whole transition and there was a few seconds where it sounded like nails on a chalkboard before seemingly going silent.

Lily needed to dive to the ground and use her paws to cover her ears to try and limit the pain. Kat found it similarly unpleasant though had more inborn defences for that kind of ’attack’ alongside better pain resistance so she mostly ignored the event. [That was horrible!]complained Lily as she hopped into Kat’s arms to burry herself and be comforted.

Kat happily caught her girlfriend and started to carefully brush her fingers through Lily’s fur. *I know it was pretty bad. Hopefully it won’t make any noise when we inevitably need to shrink it. At least we’ll know in the future? It’s pretty bad but… not much to be done about it now. At least it looks nice.* 

Lily still wasn’t happy but she was forced to agree with Kat on the appearance issue. The carriage had four large spoked wheels with the larger wheels at the back being about twice the size of those at the front. The spokes were quite plain, the only unadorned part on the entire vehicle in fact. Lily believed this was to help maintain integrity on the wheels. Still, they were a nice burgundy coloured wood like the rest of the carriage, in the unpainted sections at least. Those unpainted sections were mostly the trimmings on the carriage. All the edges had a nice burgundy colour shining through with the four lamps set into the corners of the carriage compartment being completely unpainted but were carved to look like hanging fruit. The light inside of them was some kind of clear liquid at the moment though and it didn’t glow at all.

Continuing with the nature theme the compartment was carved to look like the canopy of the tree. It was painted a dark royal blue and had veins carved into it to look like leaves. The overall appearance was of overlapping leaves with the gaps in the ’foliage’ being the windows that allowed those inside the carriage to look out. The supporting structure was carved burgundy with painted lines of silver and were carved to look like bark. The main thing that helped everyone know it wasn’t bark was that the carvings went against the natural grain of the wood, and went vertically.

On top of the carriage was a flat space that you didn’t really notice if you weren’t looking. It was clearly for storing luggage but Kat’s eyes noticed there was actually two benches on either side that she assumed could be used when their was no luggage involved. Of course there was also the coachman’s bench, but it also had a stick connected to the wheels that seemed to be how it was steered. It was carved to look like a gnarled branch with a few painted leaves at the top, otherwise it was burgundy like the wheels.

”All aboard!” said Gareth with a cheer. Armour clanking as he stepped into the carriage. Green drifted in behind him with Kress taking up the rear. Seeing this, Kat walked over to the carriage and leapt up the luggage area and confirmed the presence of two benches before sitting down.

Nixilei came last and pulled herself up to the coach area before continuing up to the baggage area. Seeing this, Kat placed Lily down on the chair and moved over to help, pulling the Fae up easily. ”Thanks for that,” said Nixilei.

”No problem but… who’s driving?” asked Kat.

Nixilei dusted herself off though in reality there wasn’t anything on her robes at all. Taking a seat beside Kat so that she was facing forward she smiled and said, ”I will, though I’ll be connecting my mana to the carriage rather than using the device at the front. It’s not recommended but I’m just ensuring it moves forward for the most part so I can get away with it. Why did you decide to sit up here?”

”It just seemed easier,” answered Kat, ”I thought I’d let you guys sit downstairs, and it lets me avoid Kress. Well, I was pretty sure somebody would be driving but as long as that person wasn’t Kress the plan was to sit here once I saw the carriage. Seeing all three of them go inside just solidified that”

Nixilei nodded as she placed her hand on the wooden bench. It glowed for a second before the carriage lurched forward before settling into a more natural acceleration pattern. ”Hmmm. I suppose I can understand that. Though Gareth will be a bit upset. Green would be as well if she bothered to stay awake long enough to think on it, but after flying around with you I’d guess she’s already asleep again.”

”Why would Gareth mind?” asked ’Lily’

”Gareth really is hoping to include you more. He’s the heart of the team and sees you as part of it. It’s the main reason he’s starting to look at Kress with more confusion. He wants us all to get along, especially if you’ll be the demon, we have with us for every round. So, he wants to chat a bit, make you feel comfortable… and Kress isn’t really helping that. Still, he wouldn’t ever push. He’s sweet like that,” answered Nixilei.

”Well… do you have anything to talk about?” asked Kat with a shrug, ”I don’t mind hearing about you guys I suppose… maybe about Gareth? Do you like him?”

Nixilei raised an eyebrow at the question. ”Well, hopefully you don’t mean romantically,” Lily sighed hearing this and Kat looked so confused. Seeing this Nixilei nodded and kept speaking, ”glad to see you aren’t one of those girls. To answer the question though… he’s a good man. I think he’ll be good for Green. He’s quite carrying but also very duty orientated. He’ll make sure she actually participates in important functions while making sure to look out for her.. She’ll help him relax more often and know that someone will forever be by his side… even if it’s just to sleep there.”