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

Chapter 2009: Chapter 2009 Small Act-ion

— Kat —

They’d decided to stay. After spending quite a while hanging out with Weaver and promising to acquire some proper food for her, they’d decided to stay. It came down to two main things. The first was that they hadn’t really explored the city all that much. They’d not found any hidden treasures or signs that other contestants were in the area. That made this a safe base for now… and with Weaver focused on the tangled mess of Winter tunnels she wasn’t pushing them to move on too swiftly. There was a subtle indication they shouldn’t remain in place forever but for the moment that was all it was.

The second reason they’d decided to stay around, to put it bluntly, was the barrel of orbs. It was valuable, especially if they managed to acquire a second one to keep around. Without knowing just how strong the treasures were, taking the reliable option of orb barrels was far too good to give up. Plus, Hedera struggled to imagine anything that could make her stronger than Kat and Lily added together so it was probably the same for the other contestants. Except maybe Ugalaz… but even then Hedera was pretty sure they’d be fine.

So really, it was just a matter of surviving. The orbs were the main ticket to that and they’d already used up a good portion of the barrel. Sure it seemed like it held a lot of orbs, but they didn’t exactly compact down and between the two of them they were using forty-eight orbs every single day. It wasn’t such a big issue when you slowly added one or two to the counter and hanging onto the rest. Even in the morning, one big ’top up’ hadn’t seen so bad.

After being basically out and needing a massive recharge though? They’d found that a good stockpile of orbs was invaluable. The Trapmaster’s area had shown them that no matter your stockpile, if you got caught somewhere unfavourable you might only be a day or two from being completely out of orbs.

So the three walked back out of the tunnel and found things had already become much more professional. Two guards were placed on either side of the dorm to leave the room, there was a giant iron ball of spikes strung up on the ceiling and Lily could feel the cabinets that had appeared in the room were heavily enchanted.

The guards tensed at their appearance before immediately calming down. The one of the left said, “Kat, Hedera, you are expected. Please step through the doors to the checkpoint proper. Steel recently left orders to send you his way should you return before the end of the day.”

“Ok,” said Kat at the same time as Hedera said. “Understood.”

The pair glanced at each other for a moment before making their way through the doors and into the next room. There was a guard box set up and was sort of like a bank teller box. It was a cramped area with no clear exit though, and clearly a hasty construction. There were also more guards lining the walls, and some rope to help direct any lines that might pop up. Not that any had, clearly. The room was empty except for the guards.

The guard at the teller box was missing a helmet and Kat could see they were an older man with one eye missing. He waved them over and the pair followed. “Welcome back. We’ve got a few things to cover, if you don’t mind. Steel did request your presence but assured us it wasn’t immediate. We were hoping to run through the process of allowing someone into the city with you two as the test subjects. Feel free to say no though, as your allowed to be here. This is for unauthorized entry,” explained the guard.

Kat shrugged and looked to Hedera who responded similarly. “Sure we can help out,” the pair agreed. This turned into a big mess almost immediately, where it became clear that instead of themselves, they were meant to pretend to be random travellers. Kat ended up pretending to be a merchant, while Hedera was going for the ’wife/girlfriend of someone living in the city that had already left’. Whereas Kat mostly just coasted along, pretending to have or not have the various permits required of her…

Hedera got really into it. Acting every bit the heartbroken lover as the old guard tried, and failed to half her fake tears or correct the drooping of Hedera’s ears. The rest of the guards had of course realised this was all an act, and were struggling to keep from sniggering, but the one behind the bars was far too caught up in the emotions of the situation to remember who exactly Hedera was and that this was just a fake interview.

The man cracked, waving her through… and Hedera immediately sobered up. Wiped the tears from her face and glared at the man. “If you can’t even handle fake tears from someone who you helped approve the backstory of, you’re going to struggle when somebody you don’t recognise comes through the door,” jabbed Hedera.

The old man cringed at the complaint. “Lost my eye a while back and my old bones aren’t much good anymore for a lot of standing around. Still… got no wife anymore and the kids have long since moved out. This was a way to help out the force without retiring…”

Hedera shrugged. “Look, I get you’ve clearly been more involved with the peaceful side of the guard profession. That woman and children are people you need to comfort… but women and younger looking men are quite commonly spies. Men too sure, but you’ve got a clear weakness. If that gets out? Then that’s who is going to show up on your shift specifically.

“I don’t know if you should make sure there’s always two guards on duty, or maybe just have some way to get used to it. I admit I’m good at the act, but I’m FAR from the best. You need to decide if you want to steel your heart or if you simply want to accept that you need to find something else to do,”

The old guard sighed and waved her off. “I’ll keep it in mind I suppose…” Hedera shrugged but took the dismissal as what it was. The old man might not report it but she knew what guards were like. The rest of the peanut gallery would be spreading the story through the various barracks like wildfire. Everyone in the guard force would know by tomorrow. Perhaps the day after if things were still super busy. It meant that people WOULD find out. His superiors for sure and at that point regardless of the old man’s plans, something was going to change.

After about a block of walking towards the castle, where Steel was apparently based out of today, Kat felt she had to ask. “What um… what was that back there?”

“Was it a bit much?” asked Hedera. “I didn’t make it too weird did I?”

“No, just… it seemed rather well done for something I had assumed you were doing somewhat on the fly. I suppose I can imagine you preforming such a character before…” Kat said carefully.

“Ah. Well, after I started to develop my… issues with my fear response my parents tried to convince me to look into other careers. One of those was being an actor for different plays, or in the travelling circus. Sadly, I found that my stage fright never really improved. Even just for little events,” sighed Hedera.

“You seemed pretty in your element there, though,” countered Kat.

“Ah, yeah but the reason I ended the fake crying was because I finally recovered enough to do so. That was real tears back there,” admitted Hedera.

“Now I sort of feel bad,” Kat cringed.

“Oh it was my own fault. They started as fake tears, and then I internalised the fact everyone was watching me act, which made their real tears of worry as the fear ate away at me eventually resulting in a more realistic performance and finally, me calming down somewhat towards the end where I called it quits. Both to give the guard space and to make sure the loop didn’t restart or something.

“Sure I’m good at playing the damsel, or the crying character with lots of emotion and stuff… but I really don’t have a good time working myself up into that state, or remaining out of it once I remember I’m being watched. It’s a skill, but not one I like to lose. Monsters give me far less anxiety,” explained Hedera.

Kat shrugged, “Well as long as your fine I suppose. It was interesting to see, but yeah, I guess if you can only do a limit kind of acting you don’t really like… and it’s all you can do? I’d probably find a different profession as well.”

Hedera shrugged, “It was never my dream so giving it up didn’t hurt at all,”