D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2174 A Tail of Two Nights Part 3

Chapter 2174: Chapter 2174 A Tail of Two Nights Part 3

— Kat —

Now that it was all done, Kat could definitively say her swan was looking more than a little goofy. Now, she didn’t necessarily regret her choice of animal, nor did she think her skills were too poor… but she hadn’t properly considered how the shape would work out for her plans. Sure it had been sort of correct, but looking at it now, the body was too long and not wide enough. The neck was also too long and while the beak looked sort of fine that was in comparison to the neck and not the rest of the bird.

Ultimately, Kat wanted to say this was a failure but she wasn’t sure she could’ve done much better either. It wasn’t an aspect of her skill that she’d really considered, picturing the final product over the melon at the start. Oh there were a few minor mistakes, one of the wings was a bit chipped and the tail feathers were honestly sort of boring. The slight carvings of other feathers had been redone in places, and while that gave definition it also meant she’d had to scrap away a section of melon and redo things once or twice.

Still, you could at least tell what it was meant to be, it was also almost entirely edible. Kat had considered doing something weird by cutting the various bits to fit together perfectly or something… but Kat had no idea how to do that, and she wasn’t really sure you could fit the pieces so perfectly together when it was all made. Either the joins would be too tight and you’d break something, or they’d be too lose and… well you’d still break something.

Kat had managed to grab a few smaller bits of wood scraps from Hedera before she turned in for the night and used them instead to hold things in place. The look she’d been given when Kat had asked her for ’food safe splinters’ had been pretty funny. It was also what gave Hedera enough of a shock to realise what the time actually was. Kat had expected to see the arrows stored away, but instead Hedera had simply carried them to a spare room where they were currently bundled in an awkward pile.

“Still… it feels like this is missing something,” mumbled Kat as she looked the swan over. Circling her sculpture a few times she realised what it was. The plate. Sure it served as a decent base and the reflective surface was sort of reminiscent of water… but it was just a plate. There was no ripples, no signs of anything else in the ’water’. It was just a metal plate, and a fairly large one at that. There was too much empty space around her melon swan.

*Alright so what to do?* Kat queried as she gently poked t Lily’s mind. Apparently, her girlfriend was very confused but also a little bit satisfied? Weird dream probably. Kat turned her attention back to the plate. *Alright… I could do fish? It would have to be fake fish and probably only in halves… maybe sandwiches? A bit of carving and I can add on like… extra stuff to make them look more like a fish? Perhaps fruit for eyes and use the crust for the fins?

I can get two fish per sandwich if I do it right, maybe four if I instead use quarters… but they’d be pretty small so maybe not? I could also just do like… a standard slightly fancy bit of fruit? Slice up a pineapple and then cut it into petals to make them look like… well flower petals.

Do they have water lilies here? I could do something like that, maybe with some not-lettuce… that actually might just be lettuce as a base? I’m not sure all the flavours would go together well… I could take things in the opposite direction and use slices of ham or something instead? Arrange them to look like water flowers?*

Kat decided to try that last one. It would likely be the simplest way to add a bit of something to the plate. Though Kat was a bit worried about the colouring clashing. It didn’t even take five minutes for Kat to test things. Slicing the ham had been easy and now that it was covering the plate as she imagined… it didn’t look awful, but it also didn’t look great. Kat grabbed one of the extra slices and chewed it for a while.

*It’s not great. I can see that… but it’s MUCH better than what I had before. So maybe that’s good enough? Do I want to put it multiple hours of work just to make a dish that’s already a bit dodgy look that much better? I suppose the argument could be that practice is practice but like… I could do a whole plate of sandwiches by themselves and make them look like a school of fish? Probably? The first few might need to be eaten to hide the evidence.*

Kat giggled to herself as she decided to try out her sandwich idea. She was torn between keeping it simple and just having normal triangular half slices with an added bit of fruit at the front for an eye, or going the extra mile and adding in some additional features. Kat decided she could think about it after getting started on them.

After making a couple of sandwiches for her plan and slicing them in half, Kat ended up taking a somewhat middle-ground path. Instead of anything too fancy, what she did instead was add the eye and then score one of the edges with some straight lines. It wasn’t anything breathtaking, but after placing them around the platter they fit in well with the swan without distracting too much from the star of the show, the swan.

Kat was about to consider what else she wanted to do when she felt Lily stirring. So to distract herself for a little bit while Lily woke up completely, Kat started to make a pot of tea. Just as she was starting to heat the pot, Lily seemed to wake up properly.

*Good morning.*

[Is it? Morning that is?]

*Um… technically I think? I don’t know what time it is exactly but I’m pretty sure that it’s after midnight.*

[Ah… I have essentially lost all sense of time. I had a… really weird dream? I don’t know if it counts as one and I feel like some of the details are fading but I think I remember the important bits.]

*Do you want me to look over those memories for you? That way I’ll remember them all.*

[Yes please.]

*One dream sequence later and… Ok what the fuck?*

[SEE! That’s basically what my reaction was!]

*I don’t really know how I feel about the fact KatE can get into your head… or about some of the things she said with my face.*

[It’s pretty easy to tell it’s not you… and I think it’s more that I got into her head? Or not quite but also yes? Like I went looking for her and found her rather then her coming to me? Or something?]

*Or something is right I suppose. Dreams always make things more complicated then they need to be… and like… yeah while I don’t like the fact she said some things, or I suppose I find what she didn’t say to be the real problem… but I’m not sure that anything she said was wrong?*

[I mean I expected that but it’s still weird. I don’t know how… sentient she’s meant to be. It’s not the first time she’s talked to us… wait is ’she’ even the correct word?]

*I’m going to go with yes, though I also don’t think she’d care if you used ’it’ or even ’he’. Well, no maybe she’d care because it might annoy me? Does that count as caring if she’s just reacting to my annoyance? Whatever, I think because KatE is part of me, and I’m clearly a woman, she is as well.*

[Right but back to the sentience thing…]

*Yeah that is the question isn’t it. “Gun’s don’t kill people, people kill people” and all that… except we exist in a world with magic and I bet talking swords area real…*

[Yeah but they probably have a soul grafted onto them, and thus, were people at one point. KatE is arguably part person? Even if personhood really shouldn’t be divisible…]

*I suppose… but does it really matter? Assuming she’s telling the truth, which considering demons can’t lie seems likely… does it matter? There isn’t some dark force inside me waiting to break free. The issues with summoning her isn’t a rage response or sadness or being evil or whatever, it’s long term damage. It’s not really a moral issue, especially when she doesn’t care about being summoned. Probably?*

[Yeah that probably is what makes it annoying. I mean, I’d pick you over her any day of the week… but if there is a problem I’d still want to help because she’s at least a little bit you.]

*Sigh. I suppose it’s something to think about until you go back to sleep.*