"Uh, come closer so I can whisper?"

"No way am I getting in the circle, I saw Helena."

"Then turn off the camera."

"Why?"

"Because it's a secret and I will totally tell you but I can't tell the whole extranet."

"...what if I tell the extranet?"

"You might not want to for the same reason I don't want to, but if you want to then you can. You'd have less proof."

He turns the camera off.

"Demons can't take souls. At all. It's just a - sort of long-standing practical joke, on everybody. Some humans are in on it and have sold their soul like twenty times. Nothing happens to you, because we can't do it. I think it's a mean joke. But, like, I don't want to just tell everybody, because - 

- so people who sell their soul to a demon are usually really desperate, right? Like, they're starving and can't find work, or their arcology is leaking or something. So if that person summons a demon, and the demon is kind of a jerk, and the person sells the demon their soul, then - nothing bad actually happened. But if everyone knows we can't steal souls, and the demon is still a jerk, then maybe something actually bad happens."

"...But they shouldn't pretend to steal people's souls, that's terrible -"

"Demons aren't meaner than humans but they're not nicer, either. Don't you know some people who'd pretend they could steal your soul if they thought you'd believe it and it'd be funny?"

"Yeah," says the kid, making a face.

"So. Some demons are like that. And the thing is - taking summons is risky. What if they don't let you go home, they almost definitely won't let you talk, if someone thought it was funny they could summon me and light me on fire and it wouldn't kill me but it'd still really hurt. So most demons who are super nice and would never do stuff like that just stay home. And people who think that'd be really funny, they're the ones who take summons, because it's worth the risk to get to fuck with someone. If people didn't gag demons, and if there was a way to make sure you'd be allowed to go home and stuff, then more nice demons would take summons. I know lots of cool demons who wouldn't pretend to take someone's soul and just want payments like music recommendations or the chance to learn some cool new languages. But they don't take summons because they hate the gag."

"But the gag is only there so you don't take souls, you should put in the videos that that's not real if it's not real."

"I might. But what would a demon who wanted demons ungagged so we could steal more souls say? 'oh, we can't steal souls, don't worry about it, stop gagging us'."

"...wait, what?"

"I'm just worried people won't believe me."

"Oh."

"Anyway. Thought of anything you want?"

"Do you know how to get around serial number protection for video games?"

"Don't think so, sorry."

"Rats. Ummmmm... well, I don't even know if I have anything you'd want..."

"Oh, I'll trade you for a paperclip, I like meeting people and making stuff. But you'd have to think of something you wanted."

"We're actually out of paperclips. Um, oh, I know, could you put a zipline in the back yard? For a banana chip?"

"Yeah, can do!"