WE GOT DEMONS UP IN HERE

[periphrasing]

It’s around noon when Peridot performs the summoning. By all traditional, dramatic accounts, this might seem an unorthodox time of day to be cracking the barrier between realms and calling upon the infernal forces of hell itself, but, hey. She’s only human, after all; she has a job, a schedule to keep, a sleep pattern to maintain…

Frankly, if you ask her? Anyone who risks doing their demon summoning in the middle of the night while exhausted, just because of tradition or for the ambience or whatever, is probably a clod who deserves to get devoured by an incubus.

No. Peridot is much more pragmatic than that. That’s why she’d woken up this morning after a solid night’s sleep and decided that today, at last, would be the day to act. She’d had herself a sandwich, changed into her work clothes, made sure to hydrate properly AND gone to the bathroom AT LEAST three times before she had gotten settled in to start with her preparations, gleefully determined to put her plan into motion.
Soon enough, the pentagrams had been drawn out, the lines double and then triple checked for accuracy. Incense and candles were both lit, ceremonial items and offerings laid out in the proper arrangements according to all the books. And the whole time that she’s working, in spite of the preciseness of her measurements and the thoroughness of her research, Peridot is achingly aware of the riskiness of this endeavor she’s about to undertake. She’s confident in her theories, and in her own abilities as a summoner, but…

A double summoning. It’s a concept often muttered about among all the scientists at the extradimensional research department which Peridot is employed at, but it’s rarely ever attempted. Too risky, everyone always says. Too many variables, the spells too wordy and complex and the demons… to unpredictable. Managing just one is a struggle for many of those who delve into the dark arts.
But not for Peridot. What can she say, she’s always looking to push the limits of her field, and pulling off such an allegedly impossible feat seems like the biggest and most impressive limit to break of them all.

And all that ambition has led her, at last, to this point. Everything is ready. She seats herself across from the pentagrams, spell book laid open on the floor in front of her, a sticky note with the names of the demons she has selected for this experiment stuck to the edge of the relevant page. She’s practically shaking with excitement, has to take a breath to center herself, focus on the moment before she starts to read aloud.

Ancient words from a lengthy passage. Peridot pronounces every one of them clearly and accurately, and then calls forth through the void for them: Jasper and Lapis Lazuli.
She sits quiet, stock still, and waits for the response.

Comments

[stompadour]

"Of course," says Jasper, rolling her eyes. "This isn't impressive. I thought you were supposed to be some kind of expert."

jokes on you lapis bigness matters more than literally any other thing

[periphrasing]

"My precise expertise is spell crafting, not physiology," Peridot replies irritably, glancing up from investigating the knuckles of Lapis' right wing. "I know a respectable amount about it but it's not what I spend the majority of my time doing. But since you're so experienced, why don't you tell me? What's the biggest you've ever seen?"

[mirrortide]

"Yeah, what is the biggest you've seen?" Said with a tone of 'I don't actually care'.

[stompadour]

"At least three times that," says Jasper dismissively. This is of course pretty rich coming from someone who does not have any wings at all, mind you.

[periphrasing]

Peridot's eyebrows are just steadily climbing away. She's even paused in her poking at Lapis. "Why would anyone ever need to summon a demon with a nine meter wingspan?" she asks, mildly alarmed.

[stompadour]

Jasper stares at her blankly.

Why wouldn't you?

"... Well, there used to be more room for that kind of thing," she says, folding her arms huffily.

[mirrortide]

"Sounds like they wouldn't be able to fly very well. It'd be really hard to make any sort of tight turns with a wing span that big." Lapis points out, complete with an unimpressed look. "I could probably fly circles around a demon like that any day."

[stompadour]

"So?" huffs Jasper. "One this big could fly circles around you." She gestures with her hands indicating something approximately cat sized.

[periphrasing]

Peridot tries to interrupt: "No, seriously-- At what point in history did someone decide it was important to summon a demon that big? To what end!?"

Mind, she doesn't even sound upset about the idea? On the contrary, she sounds utterly fascinated.

[stompadour]

Jasper's stare is not any less blank in the face of Peridot's enthusiasm.

"To obliterate their enemies." Duh.

[mirrortide]

"... Seriously?" She's giving Jasper a look that clearly says 'I don't believe you'.

[periphrasing]

And then the human's expression went from sheer enthusiasm to dead stare. "Seriously? You're not going to give me any more detail than that? I'm literally giving you a free pass to brag about your past accomplishments and experiences on the battlefield." WHAT THE HELL KIND OF WAR DEMON EVEN ARE YOU

[stompadour]

"Those aren't my accomplishments," says Jasper, frowning. "In the old days people summoned a demon like that when they wanted someone the enemy could see across the battlefield – you know, you could see the silhouette through the dust kicked up by the horses and then they rained down holy fire on the enemy. Thousands of years ago, though, before there were so many cities everywhere." She looks a little wistful. "When you still did human sacrifices."

[mirrortide]

"Wait, you guys have stopped doing human sacrifices?" Lapis sounds particularly distraught by this revelation. "I thought something was off about this summoning!" There was life force given, but it wasn't anything overly powerful like she remembers it once being. "When did that change?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot gives Lapis a weird look. "Human sacrifice hasn't been a part of the standard ritual for hundreds of years now. Which... come to think of it lines up with when you were last on this plane I guess, so. Nevermind."

[stompadour]

"There's no respect any more." Jasper folds her arms like an exceptionally muscular 55 year old who is mad that young people in customer service positions don't address her the exact way she would prefer. She looks at Peridot. "What did you use, a cat or something?"

[mirrortide]

"Please tell me it wasn't pigs blood. That's like, bargain bin blood." Even cow blood would be better, honestly.

[periphrasing]

"What?!" Peridot is? Extremely offended?? For reasons that immediately become clear: "Of course not, I drew blood from my own veins, it-- It didn't really taste like pig, did it?"

[stompadour]

"It doesn't taste like much of anything when there's that little of it," says Jasper, although she does seem at least somewhat appeased by the fact that Peridot used her own blood. "Is there any more where that came from...?" She's going to have to keep them fed somehow if she wants to keep them indefinitely, after all...

[mirrortide]

"You didn't notice the fact that it kind of tasted weirdly sweet? Like, not normal sweet, but... Almost like it was eating a bowl of sugar, I guess?" She looks at Jasper, completely baffled.

Please remove all that refined sugar from your diet, Peridot. It can't be good for your health. "Obviously there's more where that came from, she's full of it. Humans make blood."

[stompadour]

Jasper rolls her eyes. "Obviously she's full of it, I was asking if she was going to provide any more."

[periphrasing]

Holy shit, do these guys think they're vampires or something? "You're not getting any more of my blood," Peridot interjects loudly.

[mirrortide]

"Well, if you're not going to offer your blood you better at least offer sex. There's no way you're providing enough energy for both of us at the same time. We do have to eat too, you know."

[stompadour]

"Hah," Jasper scoffs, "there's no way she could have us both at once. Look at her, she's a weakling."

[periphrasing]

For a second, it seems like Jasper's hit a nerve, as Peridot's face scrunches up into this angry scowl that both demons will quickly become familiar with.

But Peridot is no greenhorn when it comes to demons; she brushes the comment off with a "tch," folding her arms over her chest and puffing up defiantly. "I'll have you know that I have never engaged in coitus with ANY of my summons, and I do not intend to start now. And just so you know? I've summoned literal succubi before."