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

--- Kat ---Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Some time had passed and it was mostly spent ignoring the yelling on the other side of the room while chatting with Church and Brook about the most interesting video games the pair had played over the years. Nearly everything Brook had bothered modding for their budding romance had been placed on the 'must keep' list if only for sentimental reasons, but there were plenty other interesting games. Some had better titles then others, but it turns out in the far flung magitech future? Video games were much the same.

Sure science fiction was a much more 'modern day' setting but high fantasy was still popular, albeit with some unique takes on things. JRPG's apparently never went away either. Even when combat can be refined to a frankly ludicrous degree some people just weren't interested in anything more advanced then a standard turn-based combat system. Obviously, they weren't called JRPG's as Japan didn't exist, but they might as well have been.

As time passed, the others started to head to bed… with one group being the exception. The workout crew headed to sleep some time ago. The froze adults headed off for some real sleep as well. Corela was still up but she hardly counted. Brella at least was taking a break. Heck even Ben and crew had headed off to bed. They'd still been arguing when the decision was made, but they had made that decision. Meg was missing… but that was something best not thought about too hard.

The gardeners though? They were still arguing and it was quite some time later. Things were, if anything, getting worse. Their voices had been steadily rising for the past few minutes and Kat wasn't sure if she should insert herself in the middle of it at all. From the snippets she could gather? Fonze had insisted on waiting now that they had that option, while Sephy still wanted to leave and Strek had tried supporting Sephy because Fonze had already agreed.

Kat was assuming that Strek thought this would cause the least friction. That with a two vs one argument, and one where they were basically just confirming that nothing had changed would quickly finish up. This had not happened. At all. Fonze had lashed out all the harder, throwing in some more personal insults and accusing Strek of having picked a side not now, but earlier.

Strek denied this of course, and Sephy did as well but that hadn't helped matters. Now? Over an hour later from the spark of that initial conversation? Things had completely devolved. Fonze was set on staying regardless of what the other two were doing, at least it seemed that way. Sephy was apparently arguing that that was fine with her, while Strek tried to keep the group together but whenever he tried BOTH of his friends would fire back. So… yeah not going great.

Kat was still debating if she should go over and help when the decision was made for her. Fonze slammed his hands on the table as he was getting up and stormed out of the room. Sephy made a rude gesture at his back and followed after him… leaving Strek behind to collapse as if all the wind had been taking out of him.

Kat glanced over at Church and Brook who just shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "I've not seen anything like that from those three in a long time," said Brook softly. "It… also usually isn't Fonze storming off. Strek losing the argument isn't uncommon but well… he looks a touch… broken,"

"Right… but does he need help?" asked Kat.

"What am I a mental health expert? We don't really deal with this sort of thing Kat. We just repress shit until we forget it or it becomes a massive issue. Probably why our parents all went around the bend. So… I mean this in the nicest way… but I have no fucking idea," explained Brook.

Kat sighed, "I'm no therapist but I guess my calming aura will have to be enough to help bridge the gap,"

Kat reached over and grabbed Lily to take with her… a Lily who was still in human form. Kat had just picked her up and tossed her over the shoulder. Lily, embarrassed and somewhat hot under the collar from this just transformed into her Memphis form to avoid the anyone else noticing. Luckily everyone in the room except Strek already knew so no additional people would notice her embarrassment due to her 'swift actions'!

"You ok?" asked Kat knowing the answer already.

Strek rolled his head around to look Kat in the eyes. "What do you think?"

"I think that I'd like to know if you're ok," said Kat slowly.

"No, no I am not ok. Did hearing that make you happy?" growled Strek.

"Admitting you have a problem is the first step to overcoming it," said Kat in her best sage like voice. Strek continued growling in response but no actual words come out. Kat decided this was good. Getting angry wasn't ideal, but it was a step up from the dead look he had before. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?! I fucked everything up!" retorted Strek.

Kat gave a slow shrug and put Lily down on the table. Lily wasn't interested in getting close to Strek, even if it would comfort him… but the regular back and forth movements of her tail did give the boy something to focus on other than his own anger. Kat let the silence linger as Strek's eyes darted from Kat to Lily and back again. His anger trying to hold on, to stick around but every time he got distracted by Lily's tail a bit drained out of him.

Eventually Strek let out a long sigh, "I don't know what to do. It really does feel like I fucked everything up. I just… I pressed too hard I guess? I don't… no I do know why Fonze was like that. I pressured him into something he wasn't all that pleased with and then he found a middle ground. A way for all of us to be happy… theoretically.

"Perhaps if I hadn't pushed him to accept Sephy's original take on things… or if I'd just waited… or maybe if I'd tried to be calmer in that argument before things would've worked out but… but I was SO CLOSE dammit. We were all going to leave together… and now I'm not sure what's going to happen. Not sure if… if even if we do leave together we'll stay together at all.

"Sephy seems set on finding something to do by herself now. Fonze… I'm not sure I can talk Fonze into leaving a second time… and now I'm so lost. What am I meant to do? My goal was to keep us all together. To give us a chance to see the world together, or enjoy our garden until the place collapsed. I just… I just wanted us to be together," Strek trailed off with tears in his eyes. Just small ones that traced the occasional line down his face. His voice was slightly shaky but all of his points were clear… and Kat didn't know what to tell him.

Kat reached over and gave him a few solid pats on the shoulder, mostly to buy herself a bit of time to think of an appropriate response. There… really wasn't one. Especially if she didn't want to influence the decision too much… but well, she had no idea how things were going to play out with Strek and his friends now, so perhaps that meant she was free to offer whatever advice she could.

"I know this isn't what you wanted… but perhaps with the… more clear breakage between Fonze and Sephy you can figure out what you really want to do. I know you've said that was keep the group together… but that may not be possible. I think, in the short bit of time you have it might be best to figure out how you can be happy alone.

"Once you know that? Then you can go forth and argue again. You can speak with passion on what you think is the best choice. Not for the group, but for yourself. Once your friends understand that? Maybe your vision for the future will sound more appealing. It's… it's not perfect and maybe you'll realise that you do need time apart… but if not? Well, you can't really argue for something if you don't care about the outcome. You're not arguing for the status quo anymore. You need to dig deep and figure out exactly what it is you DO want,"

Experience tales at empire

Kat wasn't sure what she was saying made all that much sense, and it was somewhat circular in its logic… but based on the burning fire that seemed to have ignited behind Strek's eyes her words of motivation were having an effect. If it would be good or bad remained to be seen. Yet, Kat could see that she'd ignited Strek's passion. He wasn't going to just accept things as they were. He was planning to reach for more… and that at least, was a good thing. Hopefully.