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

— Kat —

The next morning was filled with a whole heap of nervous energy. Even if the arguments were now quiet or missing that didn’t mean things were calm. Brook and Church had picked up their randomly assigned storage items and had finalised their plans for what they were taking, many others had done the same.

Trumbor had moved into the library and was already tearing through the information as quickly as he could. At the moment he was focusing on big picture stuff, just trying to find out if there was anything at all of practical use that could be expanded out further. A couple of other people were helping him, Craunch, Stensil, Amalak for example. Even if none of them had plans to stick around they also didn’t have much to pack. Heck, even Sloane was helping out.

Lily had been tempted to lend some assistance as well… but when she found out the truth about the library? She’d immediately declared it sacrilege. See, Kat and Lily had heard about the library once they’d woken up. Trumbor had forgone sleep to start his research and had already done a bit of work overnight. Enjoy exclusive content from empire

Kat and Lily hadn’t even been aware there was a library before breakfast… and after seeing it Lily was adamant there was not in fact a library. The entire ‘library’ area was just a bunch of computers, a few conference rooms and a lot of nice fluffy carpet. There were no real books stored in the library. The closest you got to ‘real books’ was a big tv-screen wall that had books as the default screen saver.

Lily had fallen down to her knees and meowed at the injustice of it all, and even with Kat attempting to calm her down somewhat, Lily had refused to recognise this as a library or even a place of learning. Which Kat felt was a little unfair, they’d done plenty of learning in the computer labs back at school, so just because this didn’t meet their definition of library didn’t mean it wasn’t a place of learning.

Doubly so because of how fancy the computers were. They were essentially built into the desks and summoned up a whole bunch of floating holographic screens that could be moved around and even act a bit like books where you could ‘turn’ the pages by making a flipping gesture. It wasn’t the default for most software, but some of the older books had been scanned in as recreations of actual books and had no equivalent text file.

Kat found it pretty fun to mess around with. The UI was intuitive, the books weren’t hard to read despite the fact that the screen was somewhat see-through. Kat had been worried that it would all count as illusions and not work at all with her eyes, but the fact you could touch and interact with them, as well as the fact they weren’t hiding anything meant that it was ‘real’ enough for her eyes to consider them valid. Or something. Kat didn’t really know.

They didn’t stay long, in the end, it was sort of still freaking Lily out. Oh Kat knew her girlfriend was exaggerating for comedic effect and in part to uplift the spirits of the people who’d be spending their time here potentially looking for nothing… but yeah Lily did not enjoy the rooms. It was just sliding into the uncanny valley for her and Kat could see where that would lead things. So Kat simply carried Lily out of the room once it was time to leave and headed for other areas.

Said other areas first ended up being the pool. There she could see quite a few people swimming with Malt watching from the side. Walking over to him Kat asked, “So… what’s going on here?”

“Practice. Not sure if you can tell but everyone here has weights on. Sure we can all swim, but some of us can swim better then others. The surface might look safe but there’s a pretty nasty current hiding under the water. That combined with the extra weight means that everyone here is having to put in some real effort,” explained Malt.

Kat glanced at Pip who seemed to be ducking in and out of the water just fine. Pip was doing flips, diving down to the bottom, bouncing off the walls, poking at the other people in the pool, Chasem, Neoms and the twins… and just overall having a great time. Kat glanced back at Malt who sighed, “Yeah we don’t know what’s up with that either. We’re guessing Pip has water magic? That or she’s cheating somehow. The weights were all checked though so if she IS cheating we don’t know how she’s doing it,”

“Why are you up here though?” asked Kat.

“Well the whole point of this is to push ourselves, get more used to dangerous water in case something happens once we’re out and about… and to calm everyone down a bit. Still, the danger is quite real so I’m watching for anyone really struggling. If something happens I’ll save them, then they can rest. We’ve been rotating around this duty. Shen just jumped in, I only recently got out of the water to start my shift,” explained Malt.

*Do we want to join in on this?*

[Um… no I don’t really want to be in a swimsuit around so many people.]

Really? You had no problems with it back at school.

[I dunno… it just feels different? Back then everyone had to be in one… and it was still super embarrassing. Maybe it’s in part because I feel… hmm… more proud of my current body? Like… it’s MINE and I get to choose who to show it off to… and I don’t want that to be just anyone?]

*I feel like you’re just making an excuse but that’s fine.*

If Lily was uncomfortable here as well… maybe it was just the energy in the air? Kat didn’t want to poke at it too deeply because Kat could feel that she was a bit jittery as well. They were going to be heading out soon and things would start moving once again… and keeping everyone safe would be a lot harder this time.

All of their experience with the forest so far was based around a group that was always stronger individually then their attackers, even when the attackers grouped up they were usually still stronger personally then the group was together. That would no longer be the case. All of the new people would be… perhaps not completely dead weight but an issue to watch for sure. That was before the bubbles came into play. Kat was dreading the moment that they entered something like the glass bubble again. With so many weaker people that could be a real hassle.

All of this meant that if Lily was uncomfortable? Kat wasn’t going to question it she was just going to move on. So she gave a nod to Malt and then headed out, this time with a bit more purpose then ‘somewhere not here’. Kat ended up in the gardens a short time later. Kat’s plan had been to let Lily run around in her Memphis form and burn off some of that restless energy while Kat herself did some katas or something in the centre of the room.

Finding Sephy sitting in the room just staring up at the ceiling was not what Kat expected. Nor was the fact the girl had sunglasses on. Kat wondered why they even had sunglasses down here? Did the enchantment on the ceiling necessitate them? Was it a fashion thing? Did Sephy actually need sunglasses? Kat didn’t remember anyone else using or mentioning them while here.

“You know, staring at the sun as bad for your eyes right?” asked Kat. “Especially once you get outside?”

Sephy sighed but nodded, “Yeah I’ve heard that. Don’t really understand why… but I’ve heard it said a bunch in stories and shows,”

Kat had sort of hoped Sephy would make some comment relating to the outside after her own question… but that hadn’t happened. *

Guess I’m playing therapist again.*

“So… how are you I guess?”

“I dunno? Listless? Apathetic? Drained? Something like that. I was tired and angry with Fonze and Strek yesterday and I don’t love how that conversation went… but I’m not sure if I actually regret anything I said? Like… I think I meant everything and I don’t remember lying. I… I’m going to go out and see the world. This little garden is lovely and I want nothing more than to take it all with me… but I want more than that. I want to see what other wonders the world has… and I don’t think I’m going to see them with my friends anymore.

“That… I guess I don’t know what to think of that part. I thought we’d always be together, and even though it was rough when we all agreed to leave as three I was happy… but… but I don’t want to force Fonze into anything. He clearly wasn’t happy with the idea, he never was… and I just… I dunno. I want him to be happy and if that means he needs to stay here? Then he SHOULD stay. I think I’d hate it more if he hated me and came along… but it’s just… a lot you know?” explained Sephy.

Kat thought back to all the kids she’d seen adopted. The ones that had been around longer, that were losing their friends. The kids that had to move on, even knowing they might not meet with the others ever again. Kat remembered her own feelings after hearing she would have to move out soon when she turned eighteen. It got resolved in the end… and sort of lost in the whole ‘wait I’m a demon thing’. Yet Kat nodded, “Yeah I guess I do understand,”