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

--- Kat ---

"So… don't answer this if you don't want to, but how bad is it? The aftereffects you're experiencing?" said Kat as she gestured at Gareth, currently being fed by Green.

"Hmm…" Gareth gave a hum as he glanced over at Green who smiled back and gestured towards his mouth. Gareth took the offered bite and chewed on the question for a few moments. 

Seeing this Kat added, "I know when Lily was sick she was quite happy to have me around. Granted I know now that's because she enjoyed me doting on her in a more… intimate manner then she was used to. We were just friends back then you see. I just thought she was happy I cared enough to come over but well…" Kat finished her thought with a shrug. 

"It's not entirely like that," said Gareth when he finished his mouthful of food. "I'm… there isn't really a word for it, even in our language so I'm not sure how the translation would work for you… creaky? Stiff? Hmm… neither is quite right but somewhat close. It's almost like I've got full body nerve damage. Everything is a bit slower, a touch less smooth. It's not quite painful but it does get worse if I make larger, or consistent movements," 

"Ouch. How long will you be like this?" asked Kat. 

"As long as I don't push myself I'll be good in a week," said Gareth before he picked up another bit. 

Green continued on for him. "From what Thyme was saying, Gareth needs around five days of minimal activity and then another two of reduced training to get back to where he was. The reduced training part is important though. Even if he waited a month, if he doesn't do anything to get back into things it will continue. 

"It's an odd balance of things. Gareth needs to move around somewhat. If he was just confined to bed the symptoms would last longer. He needs exercise to get better… but just pushing through the pain wouldn't help him either. It would cause his progress to stagnate or regress which is really not what we want. 

"It's why I'm lending him a hand. Well, that and I do admit to enjoying the experience of doting on him a bit. He's never been so unwell since we've been close and I just haven't had the chance. I sort of understand why he lets me sleep on him all the time. I thought it might just be because he likes having my ass or boobs on him depending on the position… 

"But no. It conveys a certain… vulnerability I suppose. It's a nice feeling, and while I do wish Gareth didn't have to injure himself so severely for me to experience it… I think I'm going to encourage him to try sleeping on me once a week… month. Look a week might be too often, I'd get bored and fall asleep, but I want to experience this more than once a month… look I'll work on it," 

Kat grinned at the pair. *That's sweet. It makes me wonder if I can get sick, and if I did would Lily take care of me like that? I wasn't exactly prone to illness before despite all the germs I would've had to put up with. Little kids are NOT clean creatures. I took care of plenty of them when they were sick too. No way was I getting Gramps to do it… but I never really got sick from it either. 

I wonder if that's because I've been a demon this whole time? Did human diseases just not have the oomph to get through? Wait no, D.E.M.O.N.S said that before I started my transformation I was a normal human, or at least, not detectable as anything other than human and I'm pretty sure D.E.M.O.N.S has some advanced scanning abilities. Hmm… well at the very least I had a good immune system.*

"Yeah I suppose it does," said Kat. "I'm glad you guys get along so well. I mean, I never thought otherwise but it's another tick in the box I suppose," 

Gareth nodded and said, "Indeed. Though I'll admit to being glad that I don't have to compete today," 

"Yeah what is the plan?" asked Kat. 

Green shrugged and said, "No idea really. Gareth is out, obviously, but everyone else can participate. Not sure what Kress it up to. He stopped by for a bit with Stan… but I haven't seen him since he checked up on Gareth so I'm not sure if he'd be interested. Nixilei was distracted by Asteodia, though she came to visit a few times. Asteodia, thankfully, can't compete today so I've got no worries about setting Nixilei against her… 

"But honestly? I'm not sure Nixilei is a great pick for today anyway. She doesn't have any special benefits in the water. Kress can hold his breath for a while, and he's a decent swimmer. I'm a step above that, and there's you of course. How do you do you and Lily do in the water?" 

"Lily has gotten… noticeably less fond of water, or at least, submerging herself, since she became a Memphis so she probably wouldn't be interested… except for the fact that she has felt a little useless, so she might push to compete in something. Especially because… I think we might have the win already? Not as a brag but like… mathematically I'm not sure anyone else can win," 

"If Marigold's team sweeps everything they can win," said Green. "They're the only ones close, and even then they're four points behind us. So they'd need to win at least two events, while getting second place in the third… without us winning a single round today. Nobody else has a chance, even if we lost everything. It's just us and elf team now," 

"Huh… thought we were further ahead then that," mumbled Kat. 

"March and Nell's team are really close at five and six points respectively… which means March and crew could tie it up if they won everything and we got nothing, while Nell's team could actually win. Considering Blue earnt almost all of those points, she's likely to win more… 

"But they need a perfect run and I just don't see it happening. Romilda's team has no chance. Even if they completely crush the competition today they just don't have the points. So ultimately, I think the strategy is to try and mess with Marigold's team as much as possible. If they lose a single time then the best they can manage is a tie. It really is our game to win at this point. One win secures us the victory, and even just making sure Marigold's team doesn't win everything will still get us the win. 

"If we get to thirteen points, it doesn't just mean that we've managed to win two points, but that we've made sure nobody else can win them. It's basically four points from everyone if you look at it in a slightly weird way. It's two points they can never get AND two points they need to catch up," 

"Right that makes sense… mostly," said Kat. *I think Green got a bit distracted during that speech… but she was probably focusing on Gareth and not just mean so I'll forgive her for that.* "Does that mean I should try and take the first event? Whatever it is? Or should I try and win us the last one?" 

Green shrugged, "Just go for whatever contest you think you'll do the best in," 

"Yeah I guess so," said Kat with a sigh as she stood up. "It's been nice chatting with you all, but I need to go wake up my sleeping princess, so I'll talk to you guys later," 

Green and Gareth both waved goodbye as Kat started walking to the stares, pondering the fact that she'd been able to call Lily a princess. *Odd. It only occurred to me after I said it that I might have been stopped from saying it… but it still worked? Is it because I wasn't thinking of her as a literal princess but as someone precious to me? Is there a saying I don't know that's allowing it through? Might be.*

Kat made it back to her room and walked inside. Lily was obviously still sleeping on the bed, curled up in her Memphis form. "Come on sleepy head, wake up," whispered Kat as she tickled Lily's stomach the best she could while Lily was curled up. 

Lily lazily batted at the finger. Kat smirked and dug it deeper into the floof and kept moving around. "Come on time for a new day," Lily seemed like she was going to stretch out for a second before curling back in around Kat's finger, her little paws grabbing onto it tightly. 

*Be still my beating heart. No matter how cute this is you do have to wake Lily up. Eventually. Probably. At some point.* Kat's finger didn't move, she just stared down at the adorable Lily. *Any moment now…*