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

Kat collapsed onto her bed, and pulled Lily in against her body. Lily transformed back into her human form and snuggled up with Kat as well. Originally, the pair had planned to leave late in the afternoon, have tea with Callisto, Vivian and Sylvie, and then split up so Lily could see her family and let them know she was back. Obviously they’d meet back up the next day to look through the box of shadow magic, but that wasn’t quite how things panned out.

Kat and the rest of the girls spent the entire day swimming and chatting, then Meng pulled them into a family dinner, with Feng still being a noticeable absence. Meng promised the brooding boy was getting food delivered to him, but it was clear that Bing and Meng still felt his absence. Lian seemed unconcerned, though it was unclear if it was because she didn’t care, or if she simply believed Feng’s self-imposed exile would be a temporary thing.

It was a good day, all told, and neither Kat nor Lily regretted participating nor staying longer then planned, but it did leave them tired afterwards, Lily despite her naps, and Kat because she’d been sleeping more the past few days. Apparently, sleep was necessary when you overuse your demonic fire’s innate ability? Who knew?

Kat still woke first, and had a bit of time to chat with Sylvie before she went to school. Not much was said, just a bit of general catch-up with Kat hanging around while the others all ate breakfast and Sylvie dashed out with Vivian to head to school. Callisto seemed to have something on her mind, but she didn’t say anything just yet. Kat shrugged it off and went to hang out with Lily a bit longer.

When Lily did eventually wake up, it was nearly lunch. Lily gave Kat a kiss and then hopped over the fence to get back to her house. No sense in risking trouble by waiting longer then necessary. Kat plonked herself down in the lounge room, and when Callisto came in to wipe everything down with a cloth, Callisto decided to speak up, “Did Sylvie mention the science fair to you?”

“No… should she have?” asked Kat.

Callisto shrugged, “Sylvie has a project entered into the big science fair on this weekend and she wanted to ask you to go… but she also knows that you cannot exactly hide your more obvious demonic features, so she was debating whether to ask you or not, if you managed to make it home in time of course,”

“I don’t remember a science fair back when I was at school,” said Kat as a way to avoid answering the question for the moment. Kat did want to go and support Sylvie, but a science fair was definitely the wrong place to get outed as a demon. *Perhaps I can use my water transformation? So far it’s all or nothing… but perhaps if I can manage to keep it localised to just me horns and wings I can go? That will probably be quite draining on my demonic energy… but I might be able to go. Lily can just get a good hat.*

“The school is not running it. The city is. They are attempting to ‘promote the furthering of science and the arts’. The mayor ran on the promise that he would do more to make the city into ‘an important cultural and scientific touchstone for the state’ and I suppose this is his attempt at following through on that somewhat. Though, I have some doubts that a primary school science fair for the city and the surrounding towns is really doing all that much to further scientific progress”

“Huh… I suppose I can see it… though are you doubting Sylvie?” asked Kat.

“Not at all. With the time and effort Sylvie has put into her project, which I will not spoil, as she requested it remain a surprise, I suspect it will be quite important. In fact, I do wonder if the judges will be intelligent enough to realise what she has done. Sylvie is a truly blessed individual, and I doubt that others can really measure up in this instance,” said Callisto.

“Bit mean… but I did grow up with a bunch of kids, and went to school with even more and I can admit that… more than I’d like are idiots,” answered Kat.

“Having even a single idiot remaining in the population is a disservice to the human race,” snarked Callisto.

“That’s… a bit extreme,” offered Kat.

“Perhaps it is an extreme view, and I certainly do not advocate for the removal of idiots, from either the planet or the gene pool. I understand, to my great sadness, that idiots deserve a chance to live as well. What I truly loathe, is those idiots that possess an intellect and choose not to use it. They are the true disgraces, and shame the human race by their continued idiocy,” grumbled Callisto.

“That’s not what you said the first time,” pointed out Kat.

“I am aware. In an ideal world, I do believe everyone should trend towards intelligence instead of ignorance, but I understand it can never happen, and I do not wish to force the issue. Genocide, is of course, a choice for idiots,” said Callisto.

*You know what? I’m going to… not touch this issue. Like at all. I want to say Callisto is joking but technically she hasn’t said anything wrong… just… the way she’s said it makes it feel… very wrong.* “Well… who knows about this science fair. Perhaps Sylvie will find a friend that can understand her?” said Kat.

Callisto nodded as she started to wipe down the oven. “Perhaps. It could be the true prize for the day. I will be on the lookout for promising projects and then attempt to decipher how much outside assistance was provided on the better ones before introducing Sylvie to the owners of the project stands,”

“Well… how much did you help Sylvie?” asked Kat.

“That… is a complex question. I have attempted to further Sylvie’s education in a number of ways and I have helped guide her before she had even heard that there was going to be a science fair. I would like to assume that I provided minimal assistance to the project itself, but I did not shy away from answering questions and I have gone over her notes for problems. Not that I found many of course, but I will need to be mindful of how I break down assistance when looking at projects,” said Callisto.

“Right… well… I don’t know how any would be able to tell how much work any given kid put into their project just from looking at the stand at the fair… but you’re also much smarter then I am, so… I’ll trust that it is possible,” said Kat.

Callisto nodded, “Indeed, it is not a simple matter, but I acquired the skill when entering a number of science fairs myself in my youth. I travelled around the state a bit to participate in more than just the local ones. My parents were happy to show off my intelligence when it suited them, and for once I was not going to complain about their habits. The fact that Sylvie is participating in the under thirteen division does simply matters greatly.

“The main way to spot outside assistance is by comparing different sections of the work. Most parents or teachers that want to ‘help’ a child ensure that at least some of the original work done by the child in question remains visible on the stand so that the child feels like they have done something instead of just being pulled along for the ride. The next one is checking to ensure that the stand doesn’t go over budget with materials. If they were willing to break the first rule, that all entrants are expected to do 90% of the work… they are usually willing to break more,” Callisto explained.

“Huh… that actually makes a lot of sense. I thought you’d do some genius voodoo and just look at the project and then somehow notice a hundred different things that all point towards it being a valid project or not,” said Kat.

Callisto giggled and shook her head before saying, “No Kat I am afraid not. Skilled and intelligent I might be but I would require more than a few minutes to determine that sort of thing purely based on the look of the project. Truthfully, one of the best ways is to ask the child about it and see how confident they are in answering questions about the project. It is by far the most reliable. Finding the right questions will be a bit hard, they need to be difficult, but not necessarily tricky. If you understand what difference I am implying there,” .

“I think so? You want questions that require background knowledge on the project, but not questions specifically designed to lead you to the wrong answer that a child could easily get wrong even if they did the project,” said Kat.

“Exactly,” confirmed Callisto.