我的继坶我的性老师

—-

It was just after lunchtime a day later and Kat was sitting in the living room, Lily curled up against her side in human form and reading further ahead in that paper magic book. Vivian was working away in her office, while Sylvie and Callisto were… not so much getting started with Clash of God’s in a Mortal Worl (CoG) as they were just seeing how everything was set up. Lily was adamant that they couldn’t have read through the entire ruleset already. It was simply too much.

It was also too much for the table. After they’d cleared away the remains of lunch and the pair got to work settings things up it was very clear CoG wouldn’t fit on just the one table. Now it was spread out across the table, and the kitchen bench and there was still more stuff in the box to lay out. Kat didn’t know what to think as she looked at the thousands of pieces. There was at least 50 unique sets of them and that was without getting into the sets of things that had small variations. Kat just shook her head as she imagined trying to get into the game.

Kat was pretty sure that would be a great way to tangle her memories up once again. Nothing like that had happened since the time she tried to memorise the entire list of races in a few moments. Kat could practically feel her thoughts getting tangled just imagining herself dealing with CoG. Lily actually felt quite similarly. Though in her case it was the insane amount of research, going over the information again and again to make sure it stuck. She could feel her eyes watering at the thought. Too much work for a board game. Especially when she still had magic to master.

“So how did you to meet anyway?” asked Kat after a while. Roxy and Bruce had apparently booked a place in town to stay and headed back there for the night. They were visiting again, and planned to do so for six days, or something around that number. They’d missed Callisto’s breakfast but had managed to stop by a local café.

Bruce and Roxy shared a look at Kat’s question and Roxy let out a long laugh. While his wife was laughing, Bruce said, “The reason we’re laughing is that it really depends on what you actually mean. If you mean, when did we start dating, that’s a bit of a complicated journey. As for how we met just in more general terms? Well we actually grew up together!”

“Yeah but we hated each other’s guts the whole time we were growing up!” laughed Roxy.

“I can’t really imagine that,” said Lily. “The only two people I’ve ever had feelings were also my best friends. One I fell for after we were friends, the other I fell for first, and then became friends with. The idea that you’d hate each other… is very strange to me,”

.....

“Oh? Strange are we? What do you think Kat? Willing to back up your girlfriend’s statement?” Roxy asked confrontationally.

Kat just shrugged, “I mean I’m happy to support Lily if it comes down to it but I think it’s more likely that Lily and I are the strange ones. At least, from a more normal perspective. Certainly, I think if you were to grab ten people off the street and ask who was stranger Lily and I would have more fingers pointing at us,”

Roxy nodded, “True true, but at least you’re willing to stand by Lily in such trying times. Bruce would just abandon me,” Roxy said as she leaned back heavily, hand over her forehead as if she was trying to prevent herself from fainting.

Bruce just rolled his eyes, “That’s because you dig yourself into so many holes that it’s only right you learn how to climb back out of them. The fact you’d smack my hand away if I tried to help is also a pretty big reason,”

“Ugh, my husband,” Roxy whined, hand over her heart, “How can you say such hurtful things about your wife,”

“Because I speak only the truth, my dear. However painful it may be,” said Bruce dryly.

“Well I literally can’t lie so I understand the feeling,” Kat said with a smile.

“Oh?” questioned Roxy with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah it seems to be one of the only downsides to being a demon,” said Kat. “We get a pretty good deal all things considered. The only issue I’ve had is that I can’t lie, even about little things. It’s not too hard to get around if you think about it a little. Just as an example… I’ve heard people say the sky is pink. All true, I have heard say people that. The sky is blue obviously, but I’ve HEARD otherwise sometimes, usually as a joke,”

“So, no issues with crosses? Holy water? The power of Christ does not compel you?” chortled Roxy, trying to keep the questions serious but couldn’t stop herself picture an old priest screaming at Kat and throwing holy water at Kat and just having it do nothing.

Kat shook her head, “Nope, nothing at all. Though, my perfect memory is letting me notice the conversation has drifted. I thought we were talking about how you both got together?”

Roxy just waved Kat’s concerns off and said, “Oh sure we can get to that but I have to admit while we’re ALREADY on being a demon could you tell us a bit more about it? I mean… the no lying thing is a bit weird but is there anything else that stands out?”

“Um…” Kat thought for a seconds, an idea popped into her head but before she could do anything…

Callisto yelled, “You had better not be thinking of cutting open your hand to show your blood is black Kat!” Kat jolted in place, because she had in fact been doing that. “Not only is it painful for your girlfriend and the rest of us to watch, normal blood is a pain to get out of things. I do not want to find out how hard it is to get demon blood off the couch!”

*Um…*

[Callisto knows you well.]

*Sorry…* Kat apologised mentally as she felt Lily’s anger wash over her. Kat recognised she might have gotten a little too used to pain. Sure she had regeneration, but Lily hated seeing her injured. Probably better to just… not go straight for the self-harm. Even if it wasn’t really self-harm and very much temporary… yeah best not.

So Kat let out a light cough and looked away as her cheeks coloured a bit, “Yeah… as Callisto said my blood is black… I’m also pretty sure my pain tolerance has increased a lot… but I’m not sure if that’s because it was already quite good and it got better, or if it came along with my regeneration… or if I’m just that bad at keeping myself safe when I know I don’t have to worry about staying injured,

“Um… I know that everyone has a demonic flame,” Kat summoned a bit of purple fire to her hands, “it’s something all demons have and it takes a shape inside them. Mine looks like a person… and it can sort of thing by itself? I do mean ITSELF not herself as well. It’s… weird. I have all the memories of what it does, and it’s… only sort of like a person?”

“That’s very strange…” grumbled Bruce. “What exactly is that like?”

Kat shrugged, “Well it’s only happened once, it’s a recent thing. It… it’s sort of like a photocopy of me but run through the printer a hundred or so times, before it was given the original and told ‘Act like a perfect copy’ and it sort of tries? I’m not sure I’m explaining this well. Hmm…” Kat mused for a few seconds, “No I don’t really think it’s something I can explain. Also probably best I don’t try and use that ability on Earth. I don’t want to see what the backlash would be,”

“Why would there be a backlash?” asked Roxy.

“Earth supress all forms of higher energy,” answered Lily. “It makes a lot of things harder. I can’t call up my spells at all despite practicing a bunch and making… some progress during Kat’s last stint off-world. Kat’s double is essentially concentrated energy. It could destabilise in moments, or be in untold agony as the world itself rejects its existence. Probably best not to,”

Roxy and Bruce winced in synch, “Yeah… I can see why that would be an issue…” It really didn’t sound pleasant. Lily hadn’t even brought up the fact that Kat would get all those memories afterwards or the fact that Kat felt that strange hollowness afterwards. Would that sensation get worse on Earth? Or would it carry even more disastrous consequences then simply feeling a bit off? It really wasn’t worth testing right now.