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

--- Kamiko ---

"So how were you planning on getting us in?" asked Meg as they looked up at the dome.

"I'm not certain about Bower… but I was hoping to personally go down and open the hatch, then have you three drop down from above and into the elevator shaft. It's a bit of a tight jump but I think we can make it," explained Hunter

"I'm not that weak," grumbled Bower. "I can manage from this height,"

"Um… I can definitely survive the fall but I don't know that my aim is that good. I mean… it's not bad and my wings can help a tiny bit but unlike Kat I can't really fly you know? So it really is just a bit, and that much is only because I'm a demon," added Kamiko.

Bower glanced at Meg who seemed unconcerned with this. "I can probably have you on my shoulders when I make the jump. I expect you to catch yourself once you're in the elevator shaft but I can manage,"

"Heh, I could do the same AND catch the ladder all by myself. As long as it doesn't break under the strain we'll be fine, and I expect it'll be fine," added Meg but only after Kamiko looked like she was going to accept Bower's offer.

Kamiko looked between Meg and Bower, unsure as to which way she should go. *On the one hand. Meg is a lot stronger. I trust her to make the jump and Bower is a bit old. I wouldn't want him to get hurt from landing wrong… but Meg did just spend the last five minutes trying to convince us that murder was a clean and easy solution to our current problem and I'm not sure… what that means really.

On the one hand, this and that are very separate issues but they don't exactly feel that way…*

Then something else occurred to Kamiko, reframing the whole thing. *On second thought. Meg has made the offer now so what's scarier? Accepting her offer? Or rejecting it?* With things reframed like that Kamiko nodded and said "Thank you Meg, I accept,"

Bower nodded in the background recognising this for the smart choice it was. Hunter went down first and opened the hatch. Meg seemed to just… know when that was. Kamiko didn't hear any sounds that would give it away or see any sort of signal but Meg was right.

When they jumped through the hole in the roof Meg was able to angle herself so she fell right into the hole, letting herself drop about halfway down before lightly grasping the side of the ladder and placing her foot against it, allowing them to slide to stop instead of stopping immediately and risking a break.

Bower came down afterwards. Instead of grabbing the ladder he grabbed the side of the hatch and flung himself at the opposite wall. From there he bled momentum by jumping around the shaft until he ended up on the ladder and brought himself to a stop. Kamiko's eyes widened in appreciation.

*I… probably would've just grabbed the bar… and I guess it would've broken huh? I mean, we can pick just about anything up with our strength because of that film but that's hard to get down for manual use and even then… it's just to help keep things together somewhat. Dropping straight down onto a metal bar that's only supported at the edges is just asking for it to snap.

It's not like the ladder is built into the wall though I'm not sure that would've been enough either.*

"So Lily Sis, where are we going?" asked Meg.

"Just go down to stand on the elevator at the bottom. I already told you this," stated Hunter.

"Yeah but I had to double check you know?" answered Meg.

*I'm a little surprised she could say that… but she probably just wanted to hear the sound of her own voice. Or maybe get Hunter used to answering questions for her? Who would even know with Meg…* While Kamiko was busy overthinking everything Meg did she didn't have the mental bandwidth to consider that perhaps she shouldn't be riding along on Meg's shoulders longer then necessary.

Despite this risk they all made it down to the elevator in one piece and Hunter led them into the room. "I've cleared everything with around a metre of the back wall here and the left one over there. I don't have any great ideas as to where we should be looking but I'll probably start on the right wall. Feel free to go over the old stuff.

I'm quite certain I didn't miss anything, but maybe you'll find something I didn't.

From there, Kamiko got down and everyone spread out to investigate. Meg spent the time mostly making idle comments that when possible circled back to what she'd been up to. Nothing too overt, but Kamiko quickly realised she was using this time where Hunter had to listen to her to explain to Hunter what she'd been up in her recent contracts. Kamiko wasn't actually sure if she should be listening in.

Meg wasn't quiet. It's not like she was ashamed of her missions and the few times Kamiko stopped to glance over never had Meg looking up. She was just… focused on the job. At least it looked that way. If Kamiko didn't know better you'd say she was casually telling stories to pass the time but it was clear these were all missions. Some of them Kamiko was more comfortable with then other.

They were all introduced with flimsy excuses. Like, 'Oh hey look I found a button. You know, around a year ago I was given a button to use in tracking down this guy for the government. He was probably innocent, but that's not really my call to make so this is how I tracked him down'.

In this case, Kamiko wasn't even sure the button had been from the fighting and may have been dropped from Meg's storage ring instead.

*I'm… really not sure how to take all of this. Meg's stories are… well some of them are pretty normal. I got summoned, I killed this monster harassing the town, kingdom, whatever. There were even a few neat stories where she went to space, and even if I don't feel ready to do contracts on that sort of scale it can be fun to hear about, as well as all the crazy monsters.

I'm not sure she fought the same one twice…

If you don't count people. I get that Meg isn't exactly… picky about her targets and I mean… she did say all of that stuff before but to hear it like this. It's… I think it's the casual admittance that's getting to me. Before, I could sort of tell myself that she was willing to go so far because of the risks.

Now, Meg wasn't shy about stabbing that belief to pieces and leaving it for dead… but I could still somewhat pretend.

Now though… I don't know. It hasn't changed anything and really none of these stories are that bad. As much as Meg talked up her complete lack of concern for collateral damage it hasn't really appeared in any of her stories so far contrary to what she implied before… but she's admitted to going after the innocent, or probably innocent more than once.

Just… as like a casual aside in the same tone of voice that you'd use for describing someone's outfit.

Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to Kat and Lily. Sue too I guess. Demons… we are not always a nice species. We're not crazy and the consequences of losing that war against the angels means our public image is forever ruined… but I can't help but wonder if that's really the end of it. If we improved more as a species it could go away. I mean… our hub is one of the nicer ones.

Mum has the power to leave if it wasn't and for the most part my family is good people… but… but I wonder if my definition of good was ever the same as the majority of people.

It's not even something I really thought about all that much before. I was… I guess I thought they were all scary because I didn't know them but I wonder if little me was picking up more than that. I just… I don't understand it. Kat and Lily were human once so they have a different set of morals and Sue… she's surprisingly kind and moral herself.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

I mean… Hunter… gosh I don't even know what to think of Hunter anymore. And I don't know what to think of Kat and Lily not being here. Not hearing this. I… I don't know how to explain this sort of thing to them and I don't think I want to either. Hunter… urgh. She seems nice. Experience more content on empire

I want to say she's a good person but… now I'm wondering if it's just that her goals essentially never conflict with people? No that's unfair. She has been trying to be considerate. But… hhaaa I hate this. I hate how this makes me overthink things.*

Kamiko managed to catch Meg's eye as she grinned. *I… I don't know what that means. Am I imagining things?*