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

[mirrortide]

Actually, Jasper is right, now that Lapis thinks about it. She's silent though, because if Jasper wants to barter for better wages, Lapis won't interfere. It's probably better if she doesn't? They'd probably try and undercut the other.

[stompadour]

Jasper scowls back. "You're talking about it like you're -- feeding a hound, or something. It's impersonal." Which normally isn't something Jasper is terrifically concerned about, but in a summoning like this, where there isn't any real contract and they haven't even been selected for their skills...? "What do you sacrifice for this?"

Of course, it's not as if she or Lapis can actually do anything about this, at this point -- they were both too eager to agree to the terms of the summons in the first place, which Jasper understands was exactly Peridot's plan -- but that's not going to stop her from making her objections known.

[periphrasing]

"Impersonal? You think I'm being imper-- I LITERALLY TRIED TO ASK YOU PERSONAL QUESTIONS, and you kept dodging them!" Peridot all but squawks, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

[mirrortide]

"It's not quite that. Usually summoners give up part of themselves for the summoning. It's tradition. Blood is commonly given, but it's also part of the binding magic. Usually summoners offer something else too." Lapis' tail sways back and forth. "Questions are one thing, but they're also sort of what we're here for according to your own request of us."

[stompadour]

Thank you, Lapis.

"Exactly. Asking us questions isn't a sacrifice for you, it's what you want."

[periphrasing]

Scowl intensifies. She points accusingly at Lapis. "Hey! Don't lecture me about how summonings work. Summoning is literally my job." She folds her arms and sticks her nose up arrogantly, scoffing: "Besides, it's not my fault that the two of you were so eager to one-up each other that you jumped on a deal without bothering to negotiate the terms. You only have yourselves to blame for that."

[mirrortide]

"We still don't have to like it." Lapis shrugs, not even bothering to refute the fact that they had indeed jumped on the deal without bothering to negotiate. "Besides, that still doesn't deal with the fact that you are going to need to sustain both of us in your realm for however long you plan to keep us."

[stompadour]

Jasper huffs. "I suppose we can just take other people's emotions if that's what she really wants," she says disapprovingly. "I was just trying to explain why we don't like this. I would have thought that kind of thing would be useful for your research."

[periphrasing]

"Complaint logged and noted," Peridot says dryly, because she doubts very much that Jasper was actually trying to be helpful in any way.

None of this is really working out as she had predicted. She had expected the demons to be miffed about getting shorted a soul, of course, but she had also assumed that letting them have freedom of movement would be enough to make up for that. It's certainly a lot more than most humans give their summons; at the Institute, people conjure up spirits for scientific investigation all the time and keep them on an incredibly short leash; usually the demons involved are happy enough to take a deal, just to have the chance to get out of hell for a while. Better to be out in the world with the actual possibility for causing mischief than it is to be starving back in hell.

Clearly, these two just have higher standards than anticipated. That is the only possible reason Peridot can determine for why her carefully laid out plan is failing so miserably.

The scientist heaves a sigh and pushes a hand through her hair. "How much... blood... do you need. And how often."

[mirrortide]

"How much and how often do you eat?" Better to start high and then negotiate? Even once a day would be good, but Lapis is also fairly certain that humans eat more than once a day, so logically they should too, right?

[stompadour]

Jasper absolutely was not trying to be helpful.

"Three times a day, last time I was here," she says. Helpfully.

[periphrasing]

Peridot levels an unimpressed glare between the both of them. "Why don't you try again, and this time make it a more reasonable demand, because what you're proposing is entirely untenable and I will literally die if I try it. Which I know neither of you give a damn about, but please keep in mind that I'm the one who gets the final say here."

[mirrortide]

"I guess once a day, if you feel like you can handle supplementing it with some sex on the side." That feels pretty reasonable? And then Jasper and herself can put that whole free roaming thing to the test and see what they can get away with by the end of that.

[stompadour]

Jasper narrows her eyes, considering.

"Once a week."

[periphrasing]

"That I can do," Peridot says, pointing at Jasper. "I'll tell you what. This works out, and I'll even let you at the freezer I keep my backup stores in."

[mirrortide]

WHAT IS YOUR DAMAGE JASPER YOU JUST SCREWED THEM BOTH OVER

Lapis levels the war demon a mighty glare because what the fuck. You went for a week immediately? Why not every three days at the very least?

[stompadour]

Jasper meets Lapis's glare. "She's very small," she says, frowning. "And that's for both of us. We don't want her to die."

You know, not before one of them can get her into a bargain for her soul.

[periphrasing]

"Yes, that really wouldn't work out in either of your favors, if that happened," Peridot agrees.

[mirrortide]

"Fine." Lapis Relents, but that doesn't mean she's happy about it. Jasper didn't even try to bargain for anything else.

[stompadour]

Jasper isn't really interested in extended haggling; from where she's standing getting this Rude Millennial to agree to feed them her blood on a weekly basis when previously it was looking like animal blood or nothing is a solid deal.

She figures they can work on the sex.

"Alright, then," she says. "So what do you want to know."

[periphrasing]

Well at least that's settled. Peridot runs a hand through her hair wearily, mulling over the logistics of this. She's going to have to adjust her diet to keep from becoming horribly anemic--

"What--? Oh." She huffs, letting her arm drop to her side. "I... The questions can wait for a bit, I think." She's so tired. These demons are exhausting.

[mirrortide]

It could still be better.

"Why? I thought you were really excited about asking us all sorts of questions." Well, she was like, all of ten minutes ago, at least?

[stompadour]

"I thought that was the entire reason you summoned us," says Jasper, looking a little indignant.

[periphrasing]

Peridot just gives Jasper a withering look. "Okay, fine! Tell me about the first time you ever set foot on Earth!"

[mirrortide]

Well obviously that question is directed to Jasper so Lapis will just be quiet.

And start looking around the room she's been summoned in, since it's full of all kinds of weird shit she's unfamiliar with.

There's a few sketchy moments as her hooves start to slide out from under her before she catches herself.