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

--- Kat ---

Kat just hugged her girlfriend. Once Lily had gotten back to the group she’d dove straight into Kat’s arms, and as the kind and caring girlfriend she was, Kat would of course accommodate some neediness after the stress she’d felt coming from her girlfriend. See it turned out? Watching every little spatial crack to ensure Malt didn’t go missing again? That was a massive pain.

The space here was mostly stable but mostly stable wasn’t the same as completely stable. Especially when it was noticeably messed up. Lily had needed to keep one eye on Malt accompanied by a shadowy hand that constantly adjusted the dagonkin’s positioning to ensure he avoided all the problem areas… and there had been a lot of them.

Lily was so annoyed that she actually had the courage to glare at Meg and ask, "Did you know?"

Meg, smart-ass that she was simply answered with. "Know what?"

"Did you know about… whatever nonsense Malt has going on with his… I don’t know if it’s space affinity or something else but I’m pretty sure he’s been making the space here weaker just by walking around! It was a massive headache to keep him nearby and I’m exhausted!" hissed Lily.

Meg smiled and said, "Of course I didn’t know something like that would happen,"

Lily thought over the words Meg had just said and quickly realised the issue. "You didn’t know… but I’m quite sure you could GUESS. Correct?"

Meg nodded, "Yup you caught me! I think Malt has gravity affinity and that’s what’s causing the issue. Not sure it also might’ve been made worse when we got close to the generators. Sure they don’t leave behind radiation or other pollutants… but that doesn’t meant they have no effect. Might be that some of the gravitic distortions ’clung’ to Malt,"

Lily let out a long groan, "Is this going to continue being an issue once we leave? Like is it going to effect the bubbles?"

"No idea!" Meg cheerfully announced.

Lily glared back wondering why Meg was being so forthcoming with those answers after being caught out. Lily hadn’t been certain when she accused Meg of deliberately being misleading… but Meg had admitted it easily. A quick glance around revealed the reason why. The dragonkin all had uneasy looks on their faces now and quite a few were glancing at Malt.

Find your next adventure on empire

The workout crew was trying to hide their nerves and were even moving closer to Matl in a show of support… but Malt was the one that looked the most worried about the information so it didn’t exactly improve his mood to have his friends surrounding him now he knew he was the source of the issue and it wasn’t likely to go away any time soon.

[That’s why Meg announced it. If I didn’t notice that she was ’lying’ then the joke was on me… but by calling her out on it I’ve forced the ’joke’ on everyone else. Now they’re all worried about Malt causing issues just by being nearby… and Hunter isn’t saying that Meg’s guess is wrong…]

*I’m not sure if Hunter would know. I mean… I’m guessing Meg got that much info from her weakness sense and I’m not sure what classes Hunter would’ve needed to take to get an understanding of space and or gravity and magic to know that sort of thing… but I’m guessing she didn’t take them. Meg we know was forced into extra stuff by her parents definitely and the clan elders maybe?*

[Point.]

*Well what do YOU think. Is it a permanent effect?*

[I’ve got no idea. I can’t see or feel the effect, I can only see how it changes the environment and only sometimes. Space is surprisingly stable here near the mist wall… or maybe it’s not surprising? The mist wall is in part solidified space that’s keeping stuff in so I guess ’locking’ the space nearby on either side as part of its main function just makes sense.]

*Makes sense I suppose… in that case did you have any idea if it will effect the bubbles at all?* n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

[I’m going to say… probably not? At least I don’t see why it would. The only concern is if the bubbles get drawn towards Malt specifically. It might mean getting separated is still possible, though the bubbles are more forgiving with groups so he won’t be off on his own at least. Regardless, the fact that based on what was said the trip the others made TO the mist wall, I’d be more worried about the forest deciding that none of the dragonkin can be allowed to leave.]

*Wait is that likely? Why didn’t you bring it up before?*

[It’s not something I really thought about before. It was only when I pictured Malt getting chased around by a bunch of bubbles did I realise that… it might not be an unreasonable assumption. We never did cover WHY the mist here acts like it does. Corela never really addressed it… nor how it’s effecting the rest of the woods.]

*Huh… now that you mention it… that’s kinda weird isn’t it?*

[My personal guess is that Corela explained it when Meg or Hunter asked and neither saw fit to inform us… so probably Meg.]

*Why would you think that?*

[Well I doubt Corela would want to hide it, we’re guiding them out of the forest after all. So any info would be nice… but if she’s assuming that we already have the information then why bother to mention it again?]

*Ok, that’s a good point. Do you think it’s likely?*

[I’m really not sure. Corela is a biologist so she might only know what the defences do in vague terms. Plus, with magic being what it is… maybe the forest is a ’natural’ phenomenon now. Like, it started from the mist wall and grew because of the generators but does it still NEED them? The generators have been breaking down, and some might even be broken. Perhaps the forest now gives energy back to the mist wall?]

*It’s… a bit strange to think about if you’re still applying earth logic to it… but I get what you’re saying. Magic, especially environmental magic is… alive sort of. At least, I’ve noticed that it can be. If the mist has been around since before the world here ’ended’ then… it would make a lot of sense if it’s essentially just a fixture of the forest now. All of the monsters here have adapted.*

[Exactly. It’s why I’m not sure if Corela would know about the forest. If she just knew about the shield system, and maybe has some idea because of her degree in biology as to what might happen… but I’m guessing she lacks the specifics which are what we might need.]

*Should we mention it then? I’ve been expecting you to just say something about it out loud, or poke me into doing so by now… but it doesn’t seem like you’re angling for that?*

[Because I don’t know if I Meg would tell us the truth, or just let us make poor assumptions… or maybe even keep it deliberately ambiguous so we have to deal with the obviously awkward answer. I think she’s been a bit bored and Hunter’s been hiding from her a touch too much so she’s causing problems. Not too many, as she seemed genuinely concerned that the drake part has been moving. Actually… that might be a safe thing to ask about.]

*If we’re going the right way?*

[Yes… but now that you repeat it back to me I realise we’ll have to wait on that as well. Bower’s not going to have any idea what the way back to his home is until we leave this mist dome. Which, when are we doing that by the way?]

Kat glanced around at everyone else. Her focus had been squarely on comforting Lily and it seemed like though she was still somewhat worried the majority of her stress had been dealt with. Though the same couldn’t be said for everyone else. Notably nobody was pushing for them to move despite the fact that everyone except Malt had eaten lunch and Malt himself clearly wasn’t in the mood to eat anything.

Kat turned to Meg and asked, "Are we planning to leave soon?"

Meg shrugged, "I’m ready to head out whenever. I’ll be a bit annoyed if we’re on the wrong side of the mist dome but we’ll deal with it either way I suppose. Bower are you ready? If so I can breach the mist at any time."

Bower glanced around at the concerned looking dragonkin. The tension amongst the group had ratcheted up a few notches now that leaving had been brought up. With things uncertain about how safe it was to be around Malt as well as the fact this would really be the end of life as they knew it… quite a few people looked ready to bolt. Bower shifted a bit in place not sure what to say. He was ready… but were they?

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