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

--- Kat ---

Kamiko kept speaking about the others living here for a while, just speaking on things that didn't matter too much to either of them. Church and Brook's plans of what to bring, the workout crew wondering what equipment was worth taking and easily maintained. The best parts were always when Kamiko talked about Pip.

It was clear that the younger girl had been helping out Kamiko just with her occasional check-ins. Pip was busy, and didn't spend all of her time with Kamiko, barely any really… but it was enough.

Kat decided in that moment, and Lily agreed, that they'd do something nice for Pip. Lily was going to write up a document with everything she knew on magic for the girl. It might not be as good as some of the old documents Corela may or may not be able to produce for them to learn from, but Lily hoped the fact it was personalised meant something.

Kat on the other hand was debating between simply leaving a good deal of valuables with the young girl to help smooth things over in places and perhaps pay for magic books… or to provide one or more carvings.

One was a lot more personal. Even if Kat hadn't made them specifically for Pip, something she could correct if it was a sticking point… but ultimately the carvings were just slightly fancy wood carvings. Kat didn't know how to make use of any special properties the trees here might have so they were just what they appeared to be. Somewhat amateur wooden carvings.

On the other hand, compared to Lily's gift just dumping a bunch of jewels on the girl felt impersonal and somewhat flippant in a way Kat didn't want to be with the gift. No matter how useful the extra money may or may not be.

[You know we can just be very clear our gifts make up a set. Personal, if quite amateur notes on magic combined with some extra personal funds just for her. That way it's a good mix. She might not know the value of the gems we're handing over, or the value of the magic notes… but honestly we don't either. So a nice set of gifts, one practical and one personal.]

*9Well, if you think it's fine I'm happy to go with it. I just feel like compared to your own gift it isn't much. You could offer the gems as well…*

[Right but even getting her the gifts at all WAS your idea. Plus, we come as a package deal at this point. The gift is a SET from both of us. Saying one part is worse then the other is missing the point. We want her to have both. Though if it really bothers you, you can hand over the notes and I can hand over the gems.]

*Definitely not doing that. I refuse to take credit for your work.* The mental conversation ended there. The pair could discuss this later and they didn't want Kamiko to think that she was being ignored, or being talked about behind her back. Even if both were somewhat true. Kat and Lily were basically just waiting for a natural opening in the conversation to ask what they were really interested in.

There was some indecision. Was it really right to try and force the topic into the open? Kat and Lily quickly agreed on 'yes' because as calm as Kamiko seemed to be while going over these previous events it was equally clear that she was avoiding something as well. Kat wasn't sure if they should put a time limit on things. The pair would happily listen to Kamiko all day.

Unlike Kat's dealing with the five idiots from before… it wasn't a matter of not wanting to listen, but wondering when the right time to force the issue was.

Either Kamiko would bring it up by herself or she wouldn't and there were risks to both approaches. Kat wasn't willing to let the conversation end without addressing the issue, whatever it was… but before then? Well it was hard to say. Letting the issue fester was good for nobody but perhaps Kamiko needed to get all of this other information out first? Work her way up to the important stuff?

It was so very different to dealing with younger kids as she was used to. Whereas they would usually crack with a bit of effort, or be so obviously stubborn that a bit of tickling and attention would be the obvious answer. That sort of thing was almost always a kid's way of saying 'please make me'.

It was the rare few times where they just pretended everything was fine that things got hard, and there it was noticing that there was an issue at all that was hardest.

Well. Problem noticed. What was she going to do about it? Debate mentally while listening to Kamiko argue about how easy it might be to build a large greenhouse or perhaps a proper city gardens in the current political climate. A political climate NEITHER of them had any awareness of. It made the conversation… odd.

It was mostly just Kamiko throwing out ideas that Sephy may or may not be aware of, and may or may not need to be made aware of. Thoroughly unproductive.

At least Kamiko was starting to smile more genuinely as the conversation drew longer. It was no longer just mentions of Pip that got a smile from Kamiko. As the conversation continued to progress, certain mentions of… most people living here did get a smile from Kamiko, even if it was forced sometimes it was a different kind of smile.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

More of a 'well what can you do about those fools' type smile instead of her starting 'Hey, look I'm totally fine because I'm smiling!' smile.

"… part of me wants to help Corela you know? She's got a lot on her plate and I've seen her running some major numbers. I think she's trying to work out how much food, water, and funds she needs for everyone.

So she's also trying to work out what she can afford to give out, how much she can afford to sell the stuff she's giving away for all while trying to balance the risk of allowing the others to keep fancy stuff without it being too tempting to sell.

"Like, if she gives out a data pad, they might realise just how much info is stored on them increasing the risk of theft… but if she doesn't hand one out? They might start being considered priceless by random people which is also likely to increase theft… and I think I saw her trying to work out a program that would use the other data pads to triangulate the stolen or lost ones.

Of course if one gets broken that's a whole other issue and the chance of magic from this current time interfering is possible.

"Yet it IS magitech, advanced stuff. So why would the spells specifically target that sort of tracking? On the other hand maybe it doesn't need to? I don't really have a good idea of how those sort of spells work, or the sorts of programs you'd need to track them down would work.

And Corela's a biologist at heart so this isn't really what she's good at… but she's the best person they have for it so it's all a mess."

Kat wanted to just beam at Kamiko, though an overly bright smile might interrupt the topic. It was just like her adorable friend to be worried about someone else while still personally worried. Much easier to deflect and help others rather then address personal issues. Not something that Kat or Lily would know about. Certainly not.

"Brella is also there. Not sure how to help her. She's just pretending not to feel sorry for herself while ensuring that Corela is kept fed and watered. Which is sort of amusing to watch but also quite sad. Brella has made it her mission to help everyone… but she's really only helping Corela… and only in like minor ways. As I said, food and… well not water but tea mostly.

Which… hmm…

"Honestly what Corela NEEDS is some sleep but I get the feeling she thinks the moment she stops working Meg will convince the rest of us that we need to head out ASAP which… yeah I don't know what to think about that. On the one hand Meg clearly doesn't like hanging around with these people… and to be fair Hunter has mostly vanished, not wanting to spend time with them either.

On the other hand though? If they keep waffling on this, Meg gets to spend more time with Hunter so she's not going to really rush. Honestly I wonder if she's just trying to make them uncomfortable about the whole process for some reason… a bit like…"

Kat waited for Kamiko to keep speaking. It was clear she wanted to say something more, while equally clear that she wanted to completely avoid whatever issue was plaguing her. Kat just waited. This was the moment. If Kamiko didn't want to let it come naturally Kat would force it… perhaps with a calming aura to start with. Might be easier.