D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn’t so Bad - Chapter 1026

Sue sighed and asked, “So, now that we’ve got all that out of our systems… why don’t you tell us about yourself Lian? Your match will be soon after all… and… wait why are you here? You’re up next right?”

“Because I’m probably just going to forfeit?” said Lian slightly confused.

“I mean… don’t you need to be in the waiting are for your match? You as well Bing?” asked Sue.

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“Why not?” grumbled Lian as she made her way to a spare chair and flopped down, “I’ve done well enough and I’m exhausted. I have no chance at defeating Bodeir considering he spent most of his match making fucking tea. He’ll be more than ready to take me on and I doubt I can really do anything to stop him,”

“What about playing for the team? Weakening him so that he’s more likely to lose in the future?” asked Bing.

Lian shrugged, “Well he’s not fighting against you or your brother until the finals if you guys even make it that far… and if I went hard on him, his next match might be a stomp, and then you’d be annoyed that someone was easily able to reach the finals. Plus, you don’t suddenly think you can beat your brother, right?” Bing nodded, “See, in that case what’s the problem? You don’t care if Feng has a harder time of it,”

Bing nodded again and said, “You know what? You’re right! Fuck Feng. He can deal with his shit by himself. So… forfeiting? I’d never push you into it… but it’s your idea… so…?”

Lian shrugged, “I don’t have the qi to do anything fancy and I never prepared any specific defences against someone so skilled at manipulating earth qi. I set up my barriers? He just brakes the ground underneath me. My ‘can’t move’ defences might stay up if someone else moves me, they might not… but if he just dumps me on my face and places rocks over me, the announcer would probably call the match, bastard that he is,”

“Yeah… I’m going to do terrible things to that man later…” grumbled Bing menacingly. “Definitely forfeiting though?”

Lian nodded, “Yeah… I could maybe last a minute? No longer then that and then I’d be really out of qi. I’ve put in a good enough showing, and while there might be some honour in fighting Bodeir for a bit just to prove I’d lose even if I tried… but I just can’t muster up the energy to care about that sort of honour at the moment. Plus, I’m a Curse cultivator, people already think I have no honour, so who really cares?”

“Ah, that’s more in-line with what I’d expected from you,” said Sue. “That sort of attitude tends to come with your style. I was wondering why you weren’t a bit more doom and gloom about things, or at least more apathetic,”

“It is pretty common… but it takes a surprising amount of effort to act like that,” said Lian.

*Why is ‘goth’ a valid style AND mood? I can at least understand the style, tastes are very subjective, and it’s no surprise that goth in some form survives across worldlines… but why did the attitude follow!*

Lily shrugged at the question while Sue continued the conversation, “Oh? I wouldn’t have thought it’d take much effort at all?”

“Eh…” Lian shrugged, “It’s easy to not care about quite a few things… but at the end of the day? It just isn’t me. The pioneers of Curse cultivation might seem strangely apathetic about things until they rage or go crazy in a massively noticeable way… but I personally suspect that they either use curses to supress their emotions… or accidentally trade away certain feelings in exchange for more power at one point or another.

“I mean… it might seem easy ‘just don’t care’ or ‘pretend to be a pessimist all the time’ but the second option is rather hard with Bing as my best friend…”

“Sister” insisted Bing

“…right sister, whatever,” Lian continued with a slight grin on her exhausted features, “and… not caring about things is kind of hard. Hearing a bunch of nasty shit about you since you’re a child? That stuff hurts, and Bing had to teach me to find joy in things that aren’t people. I don’t think I could handle all the negative attention without some joy in my life… and I don’t think I could be apathetic enough to brush aside the negative attention. So I can’t just ‘not care’ about things. So… I’m left with liking the look, but not the attitude,”please visit panda(-)N0ve1.co)m

“Well I suppose that’s fair enough,” said Sue, “I like the sex, but not the other sluts that tend to agree with me when it comes to life choices. I mean… maybe it’s because they’re young like I am and they’ll mellow with time… but I find the sort of casual backstabbing they engage in to be immensely frustrating to deal with. It leads to a thoroughly unfulfilling ‘friendship’ if it can even be labelled as such. I’m also trying to branch out with my hobbies… but I don’t really know how or what I want to branch out into,”

“Well… I can’t say I have much experience with that…” said Lian, “Bing is really my only friend because she stood up for me in a major way and she’s a bit too important to be casual friends with many other people. Too many kiss asses. I’m lucky we became friends when I was too young to think of her as anything other than ‘the cool older sis who saved my life’ which… it really wasn’t that deadly, I wouldn’t have died or anything… but toddler me wasn’t in a great spot at the time, and didn’t no what death was except a ‘very bad thing’ so…” Lian trailed off with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

Which, to be fair, it mostly did. Everyone knew that they’d had some strange ideas as a child, yet also a certain level of wisdom. Friendship was important, don’t be a suck-up. Stick close to those that help you in bad times. That sort of thing. Bing, being especially touched… or just looking for a chance to embarrass Lian a bit, got up and pulled her into a big spinning hug. “Naw, aren’t you just the best today. I’ll take that praise more often thank you, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,”

“*cough* Lesbian awakening *cough*” muttered Sue. Of course, everyone had enhanced hearing, so everyone could hear the words perfectly well. Bing did not give up the hug because of some petty ribbing… but she did pout at Sue over Lian’s shoulder.

“Can you let me down now? I’m still pretty out of it, and all this spinning really isn’t good for me,” grumbled Lian.

“Don’t you want my hugs anymore? Too grown up?” whined Bing.

“If I throw up on your combat robes because of this, then you’ll be the one complaining,” Lian shot back.

Bing of course, decided that was a risk she really didn’t want to take and sat down in the chair pulling Lian with her. Lian just shrugged and shifted around till she was more comfortable, ignoring the odd looks from Bing who was continually jabbed in the sides by Lian’s shifting. “What about you Kat? Lily? Any bonding words to share like Sue?” asked Lian once she was settled in.

“Um… I feel like I am rather laid back but I grew up in an orphanage and quickly found myself in charge for some odd reason so I can hover a bit?” said Kat slightly unsure of what she was supposed to say.

Lily shrugged and continued on from that, “I’m Lily, Kat’s girlfriend. That might sound like an odd way to start my own introduction but honestly I’m pretty boring otherwise. I’ve only recently been able to use my magic with any power behind it, and I haven’t really refined it yet. I spent my childhood reading books and learning about topics that won’t mean much to you… and I have a thing for thighs, so your long, heavy dress that keeps them covered offends me on a visceral level,” Lily finished off jokingly.

“Ah? Hmm… I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about my thighs as attractive… but I’m not a lesbian like you and Bing so that might not be something I’d be primed to notice like you both,” said Lian.

“I’M NOT A LESBIAN” hissed Bing. “I thought we agreed not to dwell on this?”

“I agreed to nothing,” pointed out Lian.

“And I just agreed not to dig into it too deeply. I’m going to keep bringing it up every time it’s funny,” said Sue.

“So that’s it? My sexuality is just a joke to you both?” grumbled Bing.

Sue shrugged, “Your sexuality is never a joke… your reaction to mentioning your potential sexuality, IS hilarious and a great joke,”

“What can I do to escape this fate?” whined Bing.

“Provide us with something more embarrassing to tease you about?” answered Lian for Sue, who was nodding along.