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

Kat groaned and spat out the dirt that had accumulated in her mouth over the night. *Ugh gross. I guess I should have taken the time not to just flop face down in the dirt… and I guess that as nice as it is that nothing really sticks to my skin… apparently swallowing dirt has nothing to do with that. Who would have thought?* Kat mentally grumbled as she got ready to sit up only to notice the slight shifting of something on her back. *Oh right Lily. Well… guess I'm just stuck here then…*

Kat then proceeded to think about that statement for an extra five minutes and realised all the ridiculous things Lily had managed to sleep through, the times Kat had struggled to wake Lily for something important. Never mind I'm being an idiot. Kat reached up with her tail and pressed it gently against Lily back. Kat then carefully flipped herself over, making sure to push Lily along with her tail as she did so until Kat was about halfway flipped over. Then she made a grab for Lily and flopped onto her back. Then immediately regretted her choices.

Kat could feel her wings resting uncomfortably against the hard dirt that didn't want to yield without a sufficient application of force. So now instead of having her breasts crushed and dirt in her mouth, she had her wings digging into her back and her tail, apparently mostly muscle, keeping a good deal of her lower half off the ground. *I'm really not sure this was an improvement at all. I wish I'd bothered to lean against the snake or something. Hmm…*

Kat glanced around and noticed that it was actually past morning. She wasn't using her night vision at all, it was just straight up day time… and despite that Kat was still the only one awake. So she sat up carefully and made her way to the snake head before leaning against it and starting to relax. Sure her wings were still digging into her back a bit, but this was much more comfortable and the snake had a little bit of give. Probably to help absorb shocks when it was alive.

Kat watched as the sun continued to make its way across the sky for about an hour, before checking to see and confirming that everyone was still asleep. With that confirmation Kat sunk into meditation. It was something she'd been neglecting in favour of getting real sleep more recently. It was good for keeping at least some awareness of the outside world and might also be helpful for combat and controlling her demonic energy. Whatever the case, she'd slept enough already so it was something to do.

Yang was the next to wake up, and Kat opened her eyes as she heard Yang stumble out of the snake head, looked up at the sun and hiss before running back inside. That could not be good news. *Did… did Yang of all people just run from the sun? Should… should I go deal with whatever that was? Hmm… I'm going to go with no.* Kat closed her eyes again. She didn't know anything about poison, or anything about this world. So really, she was just making sure that she wasn't wasting anyone's time.

More time passed and it was actually Lily who woke up next, only to find out that Kat was meditating, Xiang was asleep and Yang was either asleep or hiding from the sun. Part of her wanted to continue practicing… but after her previous attempts in the swamp she wasn't overly keen to keep trying to attempt her first spell when so close to the swamp. Perhaps when she could no longer smell it. [Hmm… Xiang and Yang might carry the stench for days or weeks though… so maybe just limit it to smelling the main body of the gunk.]

Regardless, Lily went back to sleep and because she didn't really move, or send any loud thoughts towards Kat, it didn't interrupt the demon's meditation at all. This just meant that time continued to pass until about lunch time when Xiang shot up and stumbled away from everyone. Xiang pulled out his sword and gave it a few swings before cursing his shaking hands and sitting himself down next to Kat. He wasn't too close, just barely in touching distance if they both stretched out their arms.

Good thing too, because when Xiang pulled up his knees, Kat saw dark purple lines on his legs. She could make them out in the gaps between his clothes. "Hey Xiang… um… you alright?" asked Kat.

"Not really, I feel like shit, my hands can't stop shaking and I can barely lift my weapon like a chump. I tried to do a bit of cultivation but the stabbing pain I felt through my dantain told me it might not be the best idea. I think… I think if push comes to shove I could ignore all of that and fight… but I'm not sure I'd be in a good way even if I won afterwards… so… no I'm not alright," said Xiang with a fair deal of exasperation.

"Right… um… I don't want to alarm you but the reason I asked… is… well… your legs seem to have purple lines under the skin and I'm a bit concerned," said Kat haltingly.

Xiang's eyes went wide and he nearly ripped his clothes in an effort to reveal his legs as quickly as possible. There, he could see the purple lines Kat was talking about. They started about a hand and a half down from his knees. There was a thick purple line there, and below it looked like some purple liquid had dripped down afterwards, leaving trails of purple something that ended in thicker drops that seemed to have a fair bit of swelling around them.

Xiang carefully poked one with a finger, trying to see if it hurt at all… but it instantly popped spraying purple gunk all over his finger and stinging as the 'fresh' layers of skin were exposed to the end. Xiang quickly pushed his finger through the dirt in an effort to remove the gunk… except when he pulled up a completely dry finger he found the end of it had been stained purple. A lighter purple, but it certainly was not a healthy look. "FUCK!"

Yang poked her head out of the back of the snake, at this exclamation, "WHAT?!" she yelled. Xiang glared at her and made some very emphatic gestures to the freshly dripping purple gunk on his leg and the purple lines in general. On both legs. Yang instantly checks her own legs for something similar and winces as she spots her own series of purple lines, much like Xiang. "Fuck."

*Oh great…* Kat quickly poked Lily's cheeks to get a reaction. She got one. Sadly, or perhaps not, that reaction was a deep purr. Apparently Lily was enjoying the attention. Kat sighed and shook Lily somewhat violently until the cat woke up.

[What?]

"Lily I need you to transform so that I can check your feet properly, Xiang and Yang are definitely poisoned now and I want to make sure you're fine," said Kat.

Lily hopped off Kat and transformed then showed off her perfectly pristine leg. Not a mark on it. "Looks like I'm fine… but I wasn't the one wading through the poison. Nor was I the one that surely got it in my wounds after I got stabbed with scales, so what about you?" said Lily pointedly.

Kat sighed and pulled her kimono up revealing a similar set of perfectly fine legs. Lily nodded at this, clearly expecting it and then sat down, flattening herself against Kat as she turned to Xiang and Yang who were not having fun. "So what do we do?"

Xiang quickly pulled the map out of storage and looked over it. It didn't take long for him to voice his thoughts, "Ok… there's a small village… really more of trading post I think… it's… hmm… I want to safe half a day's travel… but with the poison… hngh… might be closer to a full day unless Kat can run us there quickly in the snake head… but… hmm… not sure that's safe either… it probably swallows a good deal of poison… and it's spit might not by healthy for us either… hmm… and I don't know I want to drape the tongue over me again. The jolting around might pop more of these poison bubbles spreading it further… hngh…

"At the same time though…" Xiang looked to Yang for a brief moment before continuing, "I'm not entirely sure that outpost will have any healers, or knowledge to deal with things… and it's a bit out of the way. If we kept running… there's another much larger town about two or three days away at our normal pace. It'd certainly have a healer… but… hmm… the outpost is here just to rest after leaving the swamp… not sure where would be best to go…"