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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
from_scratch
ask_nicely
"That's not a thing that can actually happen, right? The - one demon I summoned, I let him talk. He was demonstratively terrible. But I've had like - no ill effects? So I am confused."
from_scratch
"It's complete nonsense. But even if summoners did tend to let me talk I probably wouldn't tell them, because - it comes up exactly and only when you've got a combination of a demon who's nasty and thinks that's a funny joke, and a really desperate summoner. And that combination doesn't get better if it's common knowledge that the souls thing is nonsense."
toblameforit
"Uh, future reference - souls are actually a thing in this universe," volunteers Tony. "Mostly not a stealable thing, though."
toblameforit
"So I mentioned we have tons and tons of kinds of demons, right? One of those is vampires. Vampires can turn people into more vampires, in this kinda gruesome way where the person dies partway through, and then they come back a little while later as a vampire with no soul and the difference is kind of really obvious. Like they have all the same memories and everything but suddenly they're a way bigger asshole than they were before and really into eating people."
toblameforit
"They catch fire in ultraviolet light, which is pretty convenient, because - Jarvis, give us a blueprint for the laser pointers?"
poeticterms
A neatly labelled three-dimensional holographic diagram of a laser pointer specifically designed to produce ultraviolet light appears in midair in front of Cam.
toblameforit
"Carry around one or two of those, and if somebody grows fangs and tries to bite you—" he mimes pointing with a laser pointer. "I'd mass-produce these if vampires were public knowledge but they're not, the majority of human society doesn't know magic exists, and Iiiii am not well placed to change that."
ask_nicely
Adana frowns.
"That's a bit - concerning. I think that a secondary mission is to get vampires to stop that. Want to add mass produced laser pointers along with fancy automobiles? So people stop getting eaten?"
"That's a bit - concerning. I think that a secondary mission is to get vampires to stop that. Want to add mass produced laser pointers along with fancy automobiles? So people stop getting eaten?"
toblameforit
"Well, yeah, but production isn't even the problem, it's that people don't know vampires are a thing. And a lot of the time they are really weirdly resistant to figuring it out, like to the point where I'm worried that if you demonstrated magic actually existing on national television a lot of people might still not get it, and I - don't have the kind of public credibility it takes to get past something like that."
ask_nicely
Adana stares at Cam. "That was what got you murdered? You were responsible for revealing magic?"
ask_nicely
"Huh. Cool. I am extremely pleased with the results of magic becoming public knowledge, good job." Pause. "I should have had a pseudonym, bet I wouldn't have gotten killed if I had one," sighs Adana.
ask_nicely
"No, I was specifically targeted because I identified myself by name. ... Do you want the story? I can tell the story."
from_scratch
"It's up to you, it doesn't sound like a fun story and yours was way more recent than mine."
ask_nicely
Wince. "I'll live. Um. Okay - I lived on the lunar colony Bartalamos. It - had several sets of filtration problems. People were going to die from it." Fidget. "I summoned a demon, in a rush because time was ticking and I couldn't waste time because every single second counted. He made me a space station. I moved people from Bartalamos so no one would die."
She closes her eyes. "... He took his payment, then I dismissed him." She doesn't expand on what the payment was. She tries very hard not to think about it. Very, very hard.
"Then later, I was on my shuttle to get a - stupid summoning license thing and I - told my name to a ship that seemed like it was in distress to see if there was any way I could help. But it was - not... That. The pirate came after my shuttle, and it's not like I had any weapons, or time to summon something. So she got me, tried to make me summon another demon." Pause. "And I didn't. So I died."
She closes her eyes. "... He took his payment, then I dismissed him." She doesn't expand on what the payment was. She tries very hard not to think about it. Very, very hard.
"Then later, I was on my shuttle to get a - stupid summoning license thing and I - told my name to a ship that seemed like it was in distress to see if there was any way I could help. But it was - not... That. The pirate came after my shuttle, and it's not like I had any weapons, or time to summon something. So she got me, tried to make me summon another demon." Pause. "And I didn't. So I died."