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

--- Kat ---

Kat panicked a touch and asked, "What rank are you?"

"Oh? You haven't worked that out yet?" stated Meg. "Well I think it will be more interesting if I simply don't speak on the matter much. I'm sure you have a good chance of guessing but… if you aren't confident at the moment then that's all it will be. A guess,"

I feel like if it was obvious you at least would've figured it out. Continue your journey with empire

[While I do thank you for the vote of confidence I suspect Meg has made small references, at most, to things we'd only know about if we lived in a Hub. She knows we didn't, or at least suspects we didn't. Not sure if she's overlooking that or if she's deliberately being obtuse. She didn't say we were likely to know, she didn't even say she was surprised.

She just acted as if she was and left it at that.]

Well do you have any other questions? I don't want Meg getting bored while I'm forced to carry her.

[Um… hmm… maybe ask if she knows anyone else who uses knitting needles as weapons?]

"So perhaps another angle of conversation then?" offered Kat hoping she hadn't spent too much real time talking to Lily. It was hard to keep proper track of and perhaps something they needed to look into measuring properly at some points.

Occasionally it seemed they had all the time in the world while other times the people around them picked up on it quickly… or maybe it was super obvious and those other people were being polite. "Do you know of anyone else that uses knitting needles for their main weapon?"

"Not personally," said Meg with a shrug. "There are a number of stories, some likely more real then others about individuals who do. There is the witch of threads for example. Her story is one of a mortal ascending to Rank 8? I think it was Rank 8. Anyway she made it to Rank 8 with sewing as her domain.

Notably not weaving, something that touches on more than cloth but specifically sewing.

"She could apparently control a bunch of needles telekinetically and used them to fight by sewing enemies limbs together, or foes to each other. The needles weren't a major feature of the style and while they were high quality the witch never needed to use them to block major blows.

"Not sure if she's real, but similar stories based on her come up ever now and again so I suspect, if she isn't real, then someone similar to her did exist at some point. So… yeah whoever that was is probably the most famous example but not sure I really think she counts.

"The next guy is similar. Some dude who really hates vampires? Can't remember what he was called either but I heard about him and thought his was hilarious. Turns out? It's easier to buy large quantities of high-quality wooden knitting needles and ask them to be extra sharp then it is to order wooden steaks so he swapped over to knitting needles,"

"Is that… socially acceptable?" asked Kat.

Meg shrugged, "Eh from what I remember of him, and yes he is a demon… was? He might be dead now… hmm… anyway. He's a demon that hates vampires so he was just sent to worlds where vampires were cartoonishly evil or mindless undead. I found out about him not because I was looking for other knitting needle users but because I was wondering about summoning contracts and how they work.

"That guy? Somewhere in his black heart I suspect he recognises that not all vampires are evil… so he's steered clear from those worlds that would prove him wrong. Thus allowing him to kill vampires without feeling guilty about it,"

"Um… wouldn't it be better for him to get therapy?" asked Kat.

Meg shrugged, "I knew you'd ask that as your follow up question. As to your answer? Better for who exactly? Man has dedicated his entire life to killing vampires. If he didn't have that would he have anything? Last I checked, he had no wife, no kids, and a small group of friends that would help with the vampire slaying.

"So if he got over it? He'd have no friends, no family, and no purpose… and D.E.M.O.N.S does not like having crazy demons around with nothing to do. Plus, you did hear the part about 'cartoonishly evil' and 'mindless' vampires right? If he wasn't around to take those missions someone else would need to do so.

"Would it be right to conscript someone like Kamiko into those sorts of battles? Even if the vampires are mindless they still look like people. I'm sure it would be quite traumatic for some people,"

I love how Meg says 'some people' and not 'us' or 'everyone'.

[Well Kamiko has not gotten more comfortable around Meg at all… and did hint a few things in her notes. I'd guess Meg would just think of it as taking out the trash. She didn't say if the vampire guy was good or bad just that he was… and this really does seem like a passing interest for her. Maybe ask if it really is easier to buy needles then steaks?]

"Right… well… I guess I'll leave that alone then. I suppose you're right that it could be an issue if he stops. It just… feels wrong to let it go on?" offered Kat.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Eh some demons really do need acceptable targets. It's not uncommon for them to feel a NEED to fight. It's not as interesting as Lil Sis' desire to hunt but sometimes it does strike at demons. Some people think it's a disease, but others thing it's more fundamental. Comes up with Wrath demons more often then anywhere else… and well they like combat and like things to be simple.

"So we send them against hordes of things that need to die most of the time. If you've got some silver bullet to get them to stop, I'm sure you could make big money off of it… but right now we've only got more forceful solutions to the problem that only sort of work," explained Meg.

Kat let out a sigh and went back to Lily's question. "Fine I'll leave it. Though… going back to the needles thing. Is it really easier to get them then steaks?"

"Eh… sort of? I think? I didn't look into it too deeply but my best guess is that they weren't made of wood. You can get steaks made of metal from a number of places but wood, even fancy wood, is rarely used for that sort of thing.

Maybe if we considered vampires to be a bigger problem but… well they have a conceptual weakness to fire in most dimensions and demonic fire works REALLY well for that," answered Meg.

"Wait then what did he need the needles for?" asked Kat confused.

"Honestly? No idea," answered Meg. Kat stared at Meg for a few a while until the greed demon shrugged. "What do you expect from me? Look I get that you're trying to find more out about me while being a bit subtle about it… but it's not subtle and I'm having great fun with it. At the same time… this is literally just random trivia I've picked over my life.

I picked knitting needles as my weapon because I wanted to SPITE people. As in I picked the weapon I knew the least about.

"At least with other crazy weapons like that one guy who started to use the magical sword in the stone as a mace because he couldn't get the sword out is famous now. There are plenty of examples of 'haha that's so whacky' weapons that I've heard about over the years. Needles? Not really one of them.

They're just deadly enough that someone can be like 'Oh yeah I see how you'd use those to kill a man' without being something like a scythe, where 'that looks so cool I want one as my weapon' or the other end 'I use mouldy sock passed down for generations within my family'

"Needles are just… a touch unreasonable. Probably closer to 'scythe' category but well… most people go for scythes if they want something a bit weird alright?" As Meg finished speaking the crystal was catching up again so Kat braced for the momentary slowdown. Regaining her speed the moment she could hear it shatter was easy if she was ready for it.

Meg breathed a sigh, "Look there really wasn't much. I did some light research and when that came up with a few titbits at most I knew I'd found the weapon that would piss off the most amount of people. This is like trying to remember your favourite side character from a mediocre book you read ten years ago. Except for me it's a matter of decades.

"I really did not put forth much effort to look into other needle users. Some techniques I could adapt to use with needles? Sure, but not users themselves. It would defeat the point if I spent hours researching and managed to find a proper martial arts based around using them in combat,"