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



Eventually, Mint managed to notice the weird looks Kat and Lily were giving her, and glanced down. "Oh… right, this is that modesty thing I'm supposed to have. It makes more sense when you consider the fact that most people can't control what they look like down to the smallest detail. I suppose if I was unhappy with my body I wouldn't want to show it off to people either," 

[Oh! That actually makes sense.]

*It does?*

[Yeah. For Mint, her body is more like a nice car that she enjoys showing off. Or well, I don't know how much she really enjoys showing of but it's the same principle. It's just something cool she can drive around in.]

*Ah. I see where you're going with this.* "Something like that anyway," said Lily with a nod. "Though it does also make sense from our perspective why you might not have the same concept of modesty. And, while Kat and I don't mind too much, other people will, especially if you're running the establishment, so you might want to reclothe yourself," 

"Yeah I guess so," said Mint with a bouncy nod. Lily totally wasn't looking at Mint's breasts when she bounced. But if she happened to glance that way, Lily would have been surprised by the fact that they didn't bounce properly. Of course, Lily would never have wandering eyes like that, so she didn't know. Totally. "It's not like the clothes are uncomfortable. I have a bit of a hard time… feeling them though."

"Oh yeah… does that body not have nerves?" asked Lily. 

Mint shrugged, "I don't know what nerves are I'm afraid," 

"Oh… I can answer that if you want? Though it would take a while and I have other questions. Plus, it might not even be correct for you and Thyme," said Lily. 

Mint thought of it for a moment, then said, "I'd love to know! Even if it isn't totally applicable it seems interesting," 

Lily nodded and started to explain, "Right so… nerves carry little baby lightning bolts around the body, but for a reference you might understand, they're like little rivers with messenger boats on them, they deliver instructions all over the body…" 

Lily started to delve into an impromptu lesson on the nerves of the body, and Kat could see that Lily was really getting going. Kat gave her girlfriend a quick kiss, which didn't stop the explanation, before heading off to the cafeteria. If I know Lily, she's going to keep talking until the explanation is over… which will be a while. So, like the good girlfriend I am… Kat found the obvious water fountain. It was a large barrel set into the side of the cafeteria and opening the novel let a jet of water out. Kat grabbed a mug, filled it to the brim and then walked back. 

Lily was still talking, unsurprising, so Kat carefully placed the mugs handle in Lily's fingers when they paused after a particularly big gesticulation. Lily barely registered it, as she kept talking for a few more moments before downing half the glass in one swig before depositing it on Mint's desk. 

Kat looked over at Mint and pantomimed if Mint wanted some water herself, but Mint shook her head that the suggestion, then started to carefully mime with her hands, that while she was connected to her main tree, only that needed water, and only irregularly. Rain was usually enough. Kat then tried to gesture and explain that Mint might want to try drinking just to try it… but the message didn't really get across. 

Kat just shrugged at that, and went back to listening to Lily speak on the nervous system, while also bringing in the fact that this was all tested in a rather low-energy world, and that mana had to play an additional part in the systems operation otherwise everyone's reaction times wouldn't be so fast.

A few glasses of water later and Lily finished the explanation. Mint had her own notebook out as well, and had been taking a few notes about nerves to double check with Thyme later. "Well that was fascinating, what other questions do you have for me?" asked Mint. 

"Well… now I'm wondering, do all dryads have nature affinity?" asked Lily. 

"Not at all," said Mint cheerfully. "We do have a great deal of control over nature even without a proper magical affinity. We can use our mana to mould quite a few plants to our liking, but we can't cast any spells unless we have an affinity for it, same as the other races. I for example, actually have water and ice as my two affinities! Most dryads do have nature as their only affinity though," 

"You have both ice and water?" asked Lily. 

"Yup! It acts more like one and a half affinities because there's so much overlap, but having a water affinity is really nice! I don't have to worry much about dehydration and I like having something that makes me a bit unique!" said Mint. 

"Huh… you know, that brings up another question. How exactly does the multiple body thing work?" asked Lily. 

Mint nodded, "It's simple, and also super complex at the same time. So… the leading theory, and one that Thyme has a fair bit of evidence for, is that dryads form when a tree manages to form a soul, a mind, and figures out how to split them up. Now, it's unclear at what point all the parts form, or when we learn to separate things, but that's quite so relevant right now. 

"What it does mean though, is that we can put our mind into a body while our soul sticks around back in our tree! A slightly more advanced application is forcing our mana to flow through the body our mind is inhabiting, and then if you're really smart like Thyme you can move multiple bodies at the same time. Splitting my mind up so many times like that seems really hard, if quite useful. 

"We do seem to naturally impart something MORE than just our minds even when we first use secondary bodies, but we know from history that our true body, the tree that spawned us, is something special and different. Thyme, and myself obviously, think that's where our soul lives, but some people disagree. Still, we know that true bodies of dryads are hard to change using nature magic or just our own will. They're really stubborn. Thyme thinks it's because we'd need to be able to change our soul to change our true bodies, but I don't really know. 

"I just know that they're super important. Plenty of stories about somebody evil cutting down the true bodies of dryads which always kills the dryad in question. I'm… not really old enough to have seen someone die in front of me… and dryads live a really long time so I've not seen anyone just get old… so…" Mint slowed down looking somewhat melancholy. 

"Death is something I've only sort of heard about. I mean… I know it's bad, and I know sometimes my parents are sad even when nobody seems to have died… just… not existed instead? I don't really get why they're sad, but I understand that they are. Oh… um… yeah so no dryad has ever survived their main body being destroyed but that's just what I've been told. 

"I know that Thyme moved their true body somewhere hidden, but not where they went with it. Though I do also know, because it's still talked about a lot, that Thyme managed to transform their main body into a big walking almost person body before they moved it… so you CAN move your main body without like… moving all the ground around. But yeah… Thyme does what they want," 

Kat and Lily nodded along, as if they'd just been handed a truth of the world. Which, perhaps it was. Thyme really did just do whatever it was they wanted. "Can you cast any water or ice magic?" asked Lily. 

Mint frowned, her entire body drooping, "Noo, I can't. It's a bit annoying actually. I really wanted to be able to cast magic! It seems really fun and Thyme can do so much cool stuff with it! Thyme even explained a few unique ways that I could replicate so much of the cool stuff they do! So I really hoped I'd be a magical prodigy or something… but I'm just not. Perhaps in the future, after I'm a bit older I can try again. It's not a dream I want to give up on, and dryads live a long time so there's hope…

"But I also recognise that I might just be no good at it. It might take me twice, or four times as long to do things as better magicians… but as a dryad I've got time, and well… maybe it's worth it? I've just put it to the side a bit for now, hopefully I'll be able to do more with it once I'm older,"