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

--- Kamiko ---

Questions flew back and forth but it seemed for the most part the groups were reaching decisions… as groups. It made sense, they all had similar enough thought process and were, mostly, best friends with each other. It would be an all or nothing thing for a good chunk of the people here… which sounds good but not every group had such a clear vision of what they wanted for the future.

The workout crew was the big exception. The entire group, Pip included, were fully set on leaving. They knew it was dangerous but they didn’t spend hours and hours in the gym just to look good and stay fit. They went there because they enjoyed the feeling of consistently getting stronger.

It was a bit later in life then normal for all of them, except Pip, to learn magic but a bit later then normal was fine. Especially with such a strong foundation to start off with. Having near peak physical fitness would make any intense training they needed to complete that much easier. With their current skills, a bit of polishing could see them set up as proper mercenaries.

Especially if they used the facilities here to produce a high tier weapon that could be later enchanted.

Everyone else was on the fence to varying degrees. Brook and Church were the least interested in a lot of ways… but they weren’t set on staying either. Most of their questions involved what they’d be allowed to take away and just how hard it would be to continue doing essentially nothing once they were out of the facility.

From what Kamiko could gather their big hangup was the whole ’the facility is likely exploding in your lifetime’ issue. Sure they wanted to stick around and spend their time watching movies and playing games… but if they died in a few years because they remained it meant they’d be missing out on decades of gameplay. Lazy they might be but they didn’t have a deathwish.

The gardeners, Fonze Strek and Sephy had similar thoughts. They enjoyed their gardening as a nice relaxing activity but they were somewhat split on what that meant for them in the future. Sephy was quite set on leaving, wanting to explore and find more exotic species of plants to cultivate in a greenhouse somewhere. She didn’t mind if it was her greenhouse or some random nobles.

In contrast to this Fonze was more inclined to stay. The gardens here was more his speed. He was less interested in strange and exotic plants. If Sephy’s dream was to become a botanist, then Fonze’s dream was to become a gardener… and he could do that HERE. It’s not as if there was no chance of him realising that outside but it didn’t seem like a large step up for him.

The risk of death from sticking around was an issue, but the risk of death felt a lot more… ’real’ outside for him, even if it was a lot more theoretical as well.

Strek was more in the middle. He just liked working with plants. He didn’t particularly care if they were new and unique and he didn’t want to do spectacular floral arrangements. Strek wondered if he’d actually be most happy doing farmwork. It would be backbreaking and owning a farm was a massive commitment.

The logistical issues with it alone would be a massive pain in the ass so he was probably just going to stick with one of the other two, assuming the group split up at all. It meant he was the one mediating between his two friends.

The last group, Ben, Chasen, Neoms and Sloane, Ben’s girlfriend. It had taken a bit of effort for her name to actually come up in conversation but it was there… amongst all the yelling. Their group had no cohesion in regards to what they wanted to do and honestly? Kamiko was pretty sure they didn’t have individual ideas of what they wanted to do either.

One moment Ben would be arguing for leaving, then a few minutes later he would insisting on staying, with Sloane, Chasen, and Neoms taking turns in the position as well.

An interesting argument Kamiko heard at one point was that if the pair left they wouldn’t be so ostracised for dating each other. With a bunch of strangers around they could just… not tell people they were related if they didn’t want to.

The counter to that was that people outside treated it like a bigger problem and would likely see more scorn… and Kamiko was exceptionally unclear who was more focused on which side of the argument. Neoms had mentioned as a joke? Maybe?

Kamiko found it really hard to follow whatever those idiots were up to.

Unlike the workout crew that basically had the twins say "So we’re leaving right?" with Malt quickly agreeing after confirming that nobody outside had major issues with gay people, and then some back and forth bout how safe it was to have Pip leave alongside them, before swiftly deciding they’d rather have Pip along for the ride. Especially if she turned out to be a powerful mage.

Kamiko thought it was surprisingly sweet and wholesome that the whole group just up and decided that Pip WOULD be a mage. They clearly remembered about the whole ’not everyone can use magic’ thing, as they discussed how likely it was that the rest of them would be able to use it, as well as what elements everyone wanted… but they just seemed to accept Pip would get something.

Kamiko… found that she had to agree. It wasn’t always obvious who was and wasn’t a mage but sometimes you could almost feel a spark in someone that gave it away.

"So what do you think will get decided?" asked Kamiko as she looked over at Corela.

"The workout four will leave regardless of what the others do. It won’t be dependant on anything, they’ll simply leave with you when the time comes no matter what else gets brought up. The three over there, the ones talking about gardening? I suspect they will leave as well. Especially because of the local plant magic users.

Fonze isn’t as assertive as the other two, and especially not compared to Sephy his friend. She’ll convince them all to leave…

"He might regret it later, they all might but… that trio especially I can see having a hard time staying together. So many ways for it to fall apart," Corela paused to look over at ’Ben’s’ group. "I have no idea what they’re going to do. It probably depends on what most other people end up doing… much like the two in the corner.

"They want to stay here. As much as they might dislike remaining behind they’re scared of the outside world. For good reason, but fundamentally despite a desire to leave I can see more strongly in the girl… they are ruled by their fear. If enough of the others stay they’ll use that as the excuse. If even one other group stays they likely will as well.

It might depend on what the people we can get out of cryo say… but for the moment I don’t want to complicate things so I haven’t brought it up," finished Corela with a shrug.

"Hmm… what do you think will happen between Ben and Sloane?" asked Kamiko. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Corela shrugged, "Eh romance was never something I got too involved in myself. Never really found the person I clicked with, and I don’t know that I care to go looking now. Still… in my limited opinion? I suspect that if they stay here their relationship will remain strong. If they leave? They’ll either become completely inseparable or break up with a few months.

I haven’t known them long enough to say.

"It might simply be the case that they’re the most romantically compatible people in this place… or it might be that they love each other and are willing to have sex to smooth over the gaps. They’ll likely still remain close, they are siblings after all… but that’s quite different then being married and out in the world.

"Still… notice that none of the others are really in a relationship? Oh I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve experimented a bit but none of them have moved firmly into that sort of territory. Personally I blame the parents. I’m sure they all know what happens when the adults are away and I suspect it’s turned them a touch sour on the process.

It’s why Ben and Sloane might actually have a good solid foundation. They had to push passed a fair bit of stigma to get together and stay that way. Some people are just built for romance,"

Kamiko nodded, "And what… you think the rest of the groups will end up with someone on the outside?"

"I couldn’t say. Not sure how… compatible we are. I’d need to do some tests to see if the children would be viable. That sort of thing is a big deal to a lot of people, and while magic does tend to help with that sort of cross compatibility sometimes it doesn’t work," answered Corela.

Kamiko scrunched her nose up. "I really didn’t want to know that was a deciding factor." The old lady just shrugged in response.