D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2172 A Tail of Two Nights Part 1

Chapter 2172: Chapter 2172 A Tail of Two Nights Part 1

— Kat —

Appoline seemed like she had more to say but whatever it was she was thinking of, ultimately didn’t leave her mouth. Instead after a few minutes of silence she went back to placing her full focus on her alchemy. Furen also left not long after, heading upstairs to shower and head to sleep. She needed to apply some more of that potion on her neck anyway, so it was for the best. Hedera was still making arrows, though Kat wasn’t sure just how many of them she was planning to keep, it was quite the pile she had going there.

It was also somewhat inspiring. Kat had found that cooking was a good way to pass the time when she didn’t feel like sleeping… and understood a bit more of why Callisto did most of it back at home. She was awake enough that using meal prep to kill time was honestly a relief. You didn’t want to sleep, but you also didn’t really want to do anything too intensive and cooking was rather relaxing when you were comfortable with it. Though, thinking about it, Callisto probably used cleaning as her mindless task of choice. Kat supposed she just cared more about making sure everyone had good food then a clean place. The fact that Steel’s house didn’t really seem to get dirty might help.

So Kat got started on wasting some time. With Hedera as an example, Kat had decided that she wanted to do something really fancy. This was further reinforced when she found that Steel had ordered a bunch of extra food that had been added to the various storage spaces in the kitchen and basement. Kat’s eyes were focused on what she thought was that not-watermelon she had earlier with Furen, it was perfecting for what she was thinking of.

So Kat pulled it upstairs and got to work… choosing a knife. She needed one that was sturdy enough not to just bend if she went too hard on a particular bit of the fruit, but small enough that she could do detailed work. Kat also needed to work out what exactly she wanted to carve the melon into. Is it taxonomically a melon? Or perhaps spiritually? It’s a watery fruit so surely the answer is yes?

Kat’s immediate thought was to carve a little cat. Thinking of Lily obviously… but also just as obviously she knew that cutting into it once the carving was mostly done would be a bit painful. If it was a more generic cat blob it would probably be fine… but for obvious reasons her mind had drifted to Lily first so that idea was thoroughly tainted now. Though tainted felt like the wrong word…

Kat considered a few other animals afterwards, like making a little bunny rabbit or a swan but neither really worked. The rabbit would need to be huge considering this melon was watermelon sized, and this particular specimen was on the upper end of sizes, at least for ones back on earth. So making it into a rabbit would probably look odd. At least to her sensibilities.

Similarly, using an ice sculpture inspired swan was a worse idea… at least if she wanted to get the wings correct. The issue was that, she’d have to cut away a huge amount of excess melon to have the wings appropriately sized and Kat didn’t really want to waste anything. Sure she could have it just sitting around, but the hope had been to make something fancy and only managing it halfway felt like failing before she’d even began.

Which lead Kat to a slightly altered version of that idea. Instead of making it a swan with its wings out, she could focus instead on making it seem like it was swimming across a lake. There was a suitably shiny serving plate that would work as a water substitute and Kat could add plenty of detail to the wings and whatnot.

The neck would be a problem… but if she was already carving away stuff from the bottom so that it could sit better against the plate she could probably use that as the foundation for the goose neck and face. Though… with the curve and everything she’d probably need to make it as a few separate pieces that she’d need to stick together somehow… But perhaps that’s not a problem? An easy thing for people to pick off and eat at the beginning?

It was an acceptable idea but Kat didn’t want to commit to it just yet, instead she focused on a few other inanimate objects that were roughly the right shape. A football came to mind but Kat never cared for the sport and she wasn’t sure how many people here would even know what a football was. Similar so for other sports… though volleyball clearly existed so that would technically be acceptable. Not that Kat really wanted to go with that idea either.

Sillier items like turning it into a shoe of some kind or perhaps even a fancy looking bench were considered but Kat found that her swan idea was just too good of an option. It used essentially all of the melon without much going to waste if any, it could be easily carved into pieces later and swiftly disassembled and ultimately shouldn’t be too hard. It was a lot of simple shapes and if she wanted to add extra details she could.

So Kat got started, first swapping over to a heavier knife and cleanly slicing off what would soon become the ’bottom’ of the swan in one big chunk. After that, she swapped to a smaller knife and started to work on separating the harder outer shell from the softer flesh on the insides. It was hard to do this cleanly, and often bits and pieces of fruit were still stuck to the outer shell, but Kat decided she was willing to accept that, especially as it didn’t change the overall shape much and it was her first attempt.

From there, it was just a matter of working on the details for the body. The wings would be the biggest pain but now she could see what a de-shelled melon looked like, Kat had a good feal for how best to go about it. Now all it would take was time. Probably a lot of time. While there was a LOT of food that had been delivered, there was only one of these melon things so she didn’t know what to do if she messed up.

So, Kat slowly started to make her first few cuts while thinking about what Lily might be doing…

— Lily — Dreaming?! 400

Lily was wondering around a seemingly endless library but every time she stopped to grab a book something would distract her. A sound, a bit of movement in the corner of her eye, the book suddenly moving places. It had been a few things. Lily felt like she could be more concerned about that… but instead she just kept walking around. It felt like there was no problem for some reason. Which was decidedly weird. How did she get here?

Lily rounded a few more corners as she moved through the various shelves only to spot a door. Intrigued by the fact that something unique had appeared, she moved towards it and suddenly she was at the door. Lily looked back at the pathway she’d apparently just walked down except when she turned around there was no a spiral staircase leading downwards.

Deciding the door was more interesting, Lily gently pushed it forward and found… Kat sitting cross-legged on the floor? That was odd. Lily moved forward and when the eyes snapped open, they were cold and devoid of the love they usually held for her. This was not Kat… but there was still something familiar there…

“Odd that you managed to get here,” commented ’Kat’.

“What do you mean? Where is here… it was a… library or something before?” mumbled Lily.

“No, you’re dreaming. Sort of. This is Kat’s mind, sort of,” offered ’Kat’.

“I feel like the ’sort of’ is important if you’re saying it twice… and why do you speak as if you’re not Kat?” asked Lily.

“It is I suppose, and surely there are enough clues to work out who I am? Even if you’re half asleep?” prodded the figure.

Lily examined them as carefully as she could, but the background seemed to keep pulling her eyes away… “Wait you’re not Kat… but you are KatE right?”

“Exactly,” agreed KatE.

“Why do you seem so chill at the moment?” asked Lily. “Normally you’re… a lot more intense?”

“I am as I need to be. I don’t really count as something separate from Kat. I am, and yet am not her. I am what I am needed to be. If Kat was using me to answer math problems I’d behave far differently than if she was using me to win at fights. I am moulded by her needs. I am, in some regards, a spiritual weapon even if I look like a person,” explained KatE.

“Ok… um… do you want to… exist? More often?” Lily asked unsure.

KatE shook her head. “Not at all. I don’t feel a drive or a need for more like you and Kat. Remember, I am a part of Kat, and Kat is a large part of me. I may not truly ’want’ things but I am driven to carry out Kat’s desires and have none of my own. Existing, not existing, it is no matter to me. Though I will still recommend Kat not call upon me often or too closely together. That would be dangerous for us both.”

“I have no idea what to think of this conversation,” mumbled Lily.

“I fail to see how that’s my problem,” replied KatE.