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

When Kat woke up the next day, she found herself feeling very strange. The feeling was most closely likened to being a ringing gong. She felt disjointed and as if her movements weren't quite happening, the way she wanted them to, giving lead to a pressure on her mind when she tried to concentrate on it.

This wasn't help by the fact that she also felt energised, as if she'd been packed full of energy somehow and left to deal with it despite her desire to avoid motion. All in all, it was not a fun time.

*Ugh, this feels so wrong. At least I don't feel like throwing up, but that's about all I can say is good about this. No, Nira being around to ask is also probably a good thing. I can go and ask her what the heck is causing this, though I have a good idea.* 

Kat carefully unwrapped her arms from around Kamiko. At some point during the night it was clear she'd crawled over and wrapped herself around the other demon and it was now a minor challenge to escape without waking her. Kamiko did stir just a little bit but seemed to be fine with Kat leaving.

Taking careful steps, Kat left the room and shut the door quietly and made her way upstairs. *Does it still count as upstairs if the house doesn't have any? A thing to consider.* When Kat got to the top she found the room empty and decided to just grab a chair until Kamiko woke up.

That was until a voice sounded off behind her. "Good morning Kat."

Kat whipped around, tail pulling in close instinctively to avoid whatever was behind her and came face to face with Nira. She had her hair done up around her horns like Kamiko normally wore, and was wearing what looked to be an old apron covering a dress with a splattering of flowers on it.

*Ok that doesn't make any sense. Our clothes regenerate so why does that look old? I can even see several stains on the edges of the thing that have to be old as well as fresh stains on her knees which at least tells me where she's been.* 

"H-hi Nira" managed Kat.

"Hmm, how are you feeling?" asked Nira.

"Honestly… not the best. It's really weird. I feel both energised and like I really shouldn't be moving. If I stop to thinking about it, it gets worse" replied Kat.

Nira took this as a sign to grab Kat by the shoulders and lead her over towards the nearest chair. Taking the one next to Kat, she asked. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Kat nodded. "Yeah I did come up here for that actually. I mean, I'm not exactly hungry and it was tempting to just stay in bed but… this feels like something I need to deal with."

"Alright give me just a second" said Nira.

In that second, Nira swapped out her clothes. They disappeared for an instant and even Kat's eyes couldn't spot where the transition occurred. Now Nira had a tight white outfit that was strapped down specifically at the wrists to prevent the sleeves from getting anywhere. There were two bright red lines running down from either side of her neck and continuing the entire length of the coat.

The coat was joined together by a series of strings wrapped around buttons and revealed a black undershirt that hugged Nira's form as well. Her pants were black with the same red stripes, one on either leg, just to the side of the centre and her shoes were completely red.

Nira now had a pair of glasses on that looked like safety glasses however they didn't actually have any lenses in them at the moment. The coat had two large pockets at just above waist height but they didn't appear to have anything in them at the moment.

Nira then carefully put her hand on Kat's temple and closes her eyes. Kat felt a burst of energy travel down her entire body three times before Nira let her go. Next she lightly moved Kat's arms around, first the left and then the right, before tapping her horns very lightly with a fingernail while Nira's other hand rested on Kat's tail.

Next Nira stood up and ran two fingers down Kat's wings, letting out bursts of power as she did so. Kat new it wasn't quite demonic energy but it was close in nature and she could feel her own energy try and reach out to grab it.

Once that was done Nira tried to do the same for Kat's tail but it twisted out of the way. Nira frowned slightly and tried again only for the same thing to occur. Nira gazed into Kat's eyes as she tried a third time and that same tail refused to cooperate.

"You aren't doing that intentionally are you?" asked Nira lips slightly upturned but eyes hard.

"No." said Kat clearly.

Nira clicked her tongue slightly and moved back. "Right well… it's a bit of a shame I can't double check, but honestly based on that involuntary reaction your tail is probably fine. My best guess with what is going on is that your body needed to clear out it's energy more thoroughly perhaps for the first time."

"Wait that doesn't make sense. I've used all my energy up quite a few times before." Said Kat.

"Yes I'm sure you have… but it isn't quite the same as using it all and then properly resting. Even meditation would be fine. Think of it like… hmm there isn't a great way to explain it but…

"Think of it like cleaning something. Using all your energy is like picking up the dust and pushing it off a tabletop, but it just ends up on the floor. Cleaning the tabletop is great, and you eat there, but things still build up on the floor.

"What seems to have happened is that your body has been able to keep in mostly good shape. In fact, from my examination it really shouldn't be feeling as strange as it does though I have some guesses about that. Essentially, you needed to use your energy then rest. Not just use your energy, be forced to rest, then get right back into things."

"Ok. Can you tell me where the issue came from?" asked Kat

"I think so. I called up your medical records, which, is something I was only able to do because of my high Rank and the fact that you are currently sleeping in my house of your own free will, to see that you were recently severely injured. The amount of damage was quite frankly staggering, and anyone without your regeneration would have been teleported out before it got to that point and still would have had a long recovery.

"What the issue is however, is that Kara likely didn't realise you had no demonic parents. It's clear she knew you were from offhub, but the fact you hadn't been told to use up your energy and rest to… let's go with completely reset your system.

"It's just such a common thing you know? Like… it's just something everyone knows so it probably didn't occur to her to even mention it. Normally you wouldn't have noticed the difference, but the injuries you sustained meant you'd probably accumulated, and keep in mind this is an analogy, accumulated an extra two or three months of waste in your energy system when it repaired itself."

Kat winced at that. "So if that was a few months' worth… how long should I wait before doing this sort of thing?"

Nira shrugged. "Well, you should definitely be doing this in your home dimension when you consider yourself safe. It's riskier to do it during Contracts, so you can avoid that if it isn't multiple months long, but your regeneration rate is good enough that you could probably get away with it."

"How does my regen compare?" asked Kat

Nira shrugged. "I didn't check it out all that closely but at the very least the top 75th percentile. I'd offer to test it properly but you need some specialised equipment to test to see if you will keep that regeneration rate or if you're just doing well for a Rank 2 and not something more innate."

"So… does regeneration not carry over?" asked Kat

"I'd say it's about fifty/fifty?" said Nira thinking about it. "Think of it as additional instead of exponential. Some people get say… an extra fifty points of regeneration every Rank, which while nice, quickly loosing meaning when you get to higher Ranks. Others though, regenerate in half the time, and keep that no matter how much energy they gain."

Kat bit her lip. "That's interesting. How well does Kamiko do? Or you?"

"Well," said Nira with a grin. "I actually have one of the best regeneration rates in the entire hub despite being Rank 5. I have a low maximum reserve, but my regeneration is possibly second to none.. Kamiko, I believe, might have inherited that from me but time will tell."