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

— Kamiko —

It was early but everyone was seated around the table and eating. The food was ready so they just decided why not. Pip had skipped lunch, Corela had been frozen for who knows how long and the demon crew, Bower included could eat whenever and work it off with exercise if it was really necessary though it rarely was.

Kamiko was quite pleased with her spread though it was a touch hard to eat it at the moment. Even her jelly seemed less appetising. CREAK, CRACK.

Kamiko shivered as she watched Meg crunch down on something that might as well by a metal bar. Even just listening to it Kamiko could feel her teeth getting sore. It was this moment right here that she fully understood why her family developed an addiction to jelly. Why they made sure it was nutritionally sufficient. Eating rocks? That was clearly for crazy people.

Kamiko felt no shame in lumping Meg firmly into that box.

Somehow Pip was the only other person properly bothered by it. She’d just requested a set of earmuffs though. Once the sound was being blocked she dived in. Apparently Kamiko’s cooking was better then what she normally ate so Pip wasn’t going to let Meg ruin it. Which… Kamiko glanced over at Meg.* I can’t decide if she’s fucking with us or not.

I mean… I feel like we had a rather heartfelt chat and I sort of forgot what a MONSTER she is… and if that chat is to be believed she does need to keep up her… minerals. On the other hand she’s a monster and prone to messing with people who aren’t Hunter for kicks.*

Kamiko glanced at Hunter who seemed completely unconcerned with this. Kamiko didn’t know if Hunter had gotten used to this over time or if she’d never cared about Meg’s weird habits. *Perhaps this is what happens when you grow up around primarily succubi.

It’s not as though the hub is technically segregated and you do see other demons around… but damn do we cluster together and usually date within body shapes and textures. I mean… I never really thought about it but I thought I’d pick someone from that same pool one day. Now I’m wondering if there aren’t less obvious reasons for keeping to ourselves. LIKE EATING ROCKS!*

Corela was fine as well. She gave exactly zero shits about whatever nonsense Meg was up to and simply ate as if this was something she had to put up with every day. No not even that, she looked like she was eating at a fine dining establishment without having eaten for a day.

Her movements were all smooth and graceful, a picture of elegance… that was running at double speed and allowing her to eat more food then anyone else at the table, Hunter included.

Bower pretended not to be bothered like everyone else but Kamiko could see the slight wince every time Meg bit into something. He was trying not to let it bother him and he was doing decently well… but Kamiko was good at watching people and really bothered herself so she wasn’t distracted by the food. She could sympathise of course. He at least had the decency to realise how weird this one.

Kamiko glanced down and poked at her jelly, watching it shiver like her spine. *Best just to wait till Meg’s done eating.* Kamiko did of course hide her jelly away in her ring just in case, everyone else seemed quite hungry after all. Not worth the risk.

Once Meg had finished, Corela took Pip’s earmuffs off and while the girl did pout a bit Corela took one final drink before speaking. “So we have an outline of a plan… and fundamentally we need to bring it to a vote, maybe splitting people up. I hate it, but frankly if we force one option over the others that’s going to build up a lot of resentment.

That being said… we’re completely ignoring the older kids,”

Kamiko saw Piper was unconcerned by this, “Um… but the teens seemed to be doing well?” offered Kamiko.

Corela glanced over, “Right you weren’t there for that part of the conversation. When I say the older kids, I mean the adults currently wasting their life in the bedroom. They are useless hedonists and the only ones from that generation who weren’t ended up in the pods… and the pods are a whole sperate issue.

“Anyway, I call them kids because first off? I’m fucking ancient. Not sure why it happened but once we moved into this facility the lifespan for us cratered. Sure it’s still a few hundred years but I was over a thousand when I SIGNED UP to work at the facility, and we didn’t get here until some years after that.

“So anyway, I’ve decided that they’re useless, to set in there ways and never going to survive the outside world. I am making the executive judgement that they can remain here and likely die before the whole place collapses. It’ll be sad in some ways and the ones you call ‘teens’ may dislike me for it, but I bet I can talk them around.

“From there? It’s just going to have to be a decision. I’ll try to keep everyone together and get them all out… because they will NOT want to stay here with just the ‘adults’ but at the same time… it’ll be hard for them. A much harder life.

I’m going to see about making some tablets and solar panels so they can take something from there time here… but those are going to be prime targets for any bandits. So I might need to see if any of the storage devices survived and shove in a replicator and a compact generator.

That will have to be a secret, I don’t know if any still exists and I likely won’t even tell you if I find one, but it could happen,”

Corela let out a long sigh, seeming to age from one breath to another as she turned her head back towards the pods. “I don’t know what to do about the pods. I am… I am a very old woman. I don’t want to be the spokeperson for those leaving, not long term anyway… not even sure if I want to leave much either. I expected to die here one day, just… not wake up and have the place collapse without me.

“Now I find that I have a chance to leave… basically go to a new world? And I find I just don’t care so much. I’ve got no idea how much time I’ve got left in me. When I could just go back in the pod it was fine. I only ate into my lifespan in days or weeks at most but living awake for years again? It’s going to be… something and I’m not all that sure I’m interested.

“Which brings us to the rest of the pods. I don’t know what to do there. I’d say leave the dead where they are… if they’re dead it don’t much matter and this is the coffins they chose. Really not sure how the rest are going to feel though. Not the ‘adults’ not the ‘teens’ and not the ones that are still alive.

“I mean… how do you tell the ones still alive that most of them didn’t make it? That the pods had a major design flaw and despite how it looks most of them are dead? Shit I don’t even know what I’m going to do with the ones that are still alive. I didn’t know most of them all that well, certainly not personally…

“But I do know that most people that came to this room? They didn’t do it to see the world once again. They didn’t do it with hope for the future. They didn’t do it so that they could be around for the maintenance. They did it because they were fucking cowards and slitting their wrists was too scary for them. They could just sleep the time away and if they died so be it.

I…

“I suppose I don’t know what group of people to put them with. It’s going to be a vote but I expect the youngest awake will all want to leave. The oldest I’m making stay. The ones in these pods? I really do not know what to do with them. Perhaps I was scared like them once… but perhaps not.

I do not remember what I was thinking when I got in the pod. I remember what I told people, I remember waking up over and over and over… but I do not remember the day I went in for the first time. So I worry if I’m being a hypocrite about this. I worry if they’re flexible enough to adapt.

“Some of them surely are. The youngest amongst them… amongst the older generations anyway. The broken ones that joined after that little robot skirmish? Don’t trust them at all. Not sure I want the teens to vote on it either. I’m pretty sure they’ll want everyone out.

To have more people ‘in the family’ but… I just don’t know,” Corela finished off with a long sigh.

“Yeah what see said,” announced Pip with a sage nod, causing the rest of the group to break into the laughter at the overly serious expression on Pip’s face, and the perfect tone she’d used trying to match Corela’s.