call me maybe

[from_scratch]

Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.

He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -

with the Joker (kappa)

with Ripper (kappa)

with Darren (Aestrix)

with Minus (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Facility 3141592 (armokGoB)

with the admin (kappa)

with Jarvis (kappa, Aestrix)

with Miles (kappa)

with Hank (Nemo)

Comments

[from_scratch]

"Okay, those sound familiar so I'm probably good if I come up with anything from the right era, let's see how much advanced software I can load onto something souped-up that'll still behave right with the internet..." Cam thinks for a minute, then produces a tablet computer with no visible branding, and starts looking for internet.

[marrinikari]

It exists! It has very few bars and even fewer megabytes, but it's there. Two whole networks, even; he will likely want to be using 'Selevy Guest' instead of 'Selevy', as it requires no password.

[from_scratch]

Selevy Guest it is.

Aaaaand is he lucky enough to have Wikipedia here?

[marrinikari]

He is! There will be mild differences if he looks- demon summoning is tagged as 'ancient myths about magic' and there's no shortage of information of magipathy- but it is otherwise reasonably identical.

[from_scratch]

"Wikipedia, score. Okay. Which way to my temporary crashspace?"

[marrinikari]

"See you tomorrow, Ms. Miller."

[marrinikari]

"Goodbye! Have fun upending the medical profession as we know it! I'll let the housing office know you're coming."

[marrinikari]

"Kinda back the same way we came, actually," Emma says apologetically. "We can go get your keys and stuff."

Once they're outside, she adds tentatively, "Sorry there's extra walking, I know you can just make things, but they probably want some kinda formal record? For bureaucracy's sake?"

Emma is extremely bad at not doing things that are Expected of Her. If he wants to skip obtaining a key, she will require convincing.

[from_scratch]

"I don't mind stopping to obtain a key to placate the bureaucrats. I'm still working out the minimum chain of backwards compatibility that will let me connect something modern to this thing." He waves his tablet. "I think I can do it in four steps but it'll be awkward to carry them all around so I'll probably have to do my computing in my base of operations, which for the time being is the apartment in question."

[marrinikari]

Key fetching it is, then.

The lady at the desk of the housing office is not pleased to see them. It is the beginning of the school year, she has been deluged with requests from random students who did not have their acts together all week, and this... outfit... is entirely inappropriate.

"Key pickup?" Emma asks her when they walk in.

"Key pickup is for students who are following dress code," the woman says sternly. "It may still be August but shirts are still required here, sir, and that ridiculous devil costume is entirely unnecessary."

[from_scratch]

"I can oblige you on the shirt," says Cam, and now he is wearing a gray t-shirt with room for the wings. "On the subject of the wings and tail, you can have one of two things: you can have me take them off, or you can not have blood all over your floor, what's your preference?"

[marrinikari]

The woman gapes at him. "I-"

"Keys" Emma reminds her.

"That shirt just appeared, how did he-"

"He's wearing a shirt now. Good enough? And Cam," she says sternly, "no blood on the floor."

(Kind of sternly. She is not hiding her grin very well.)

[from_scratch]

"But my appendages are apparently against dress code, Emma. Do you take me for some kind of rebel?" inquires Cam archly.

[marrinikari]

"But blood on the floor is also against the rules, you see," she says solemnly. "You're just destined for rebel-hood. There is no escape."

[from_scratch]

"Oh no. What a terrible destiny. Cruel fates that toy with me so, what have I done to deserve your ire?"

[marrinikari]

Emma gives up and laughs. "The first thing that comes to mind is 'you gave Jenny chocolate ice cream', actually. You've met her; she is currently processing sugar and chocolate. I am going to come home to so much bouncy."

[from_scratch]

"The concept of the 'sugar high' has very little scientific grounding."

[marrinikari]

"Really?" Emma asks with interest. "Cool. Wonder when premed covers that?" Never mind, he is a demon from another universe. Selevy academics are hardly his specialty. "...sadly, that in no way changes my expectations of bounciness. Now it is just inexplicable bounciness."

[from_scratch]

"Perhaps she is just happy. Anyway. Do I get a key? To a place?"

[marrinikari]

The desk lady has used their distraction to fetch a small pile, mostly of papers but with two keys on top. She hands it hastily to Emma, looks nervously at Cam, crosses herself and retreats hastily into the back office, safely away from the scary person with impossible magic. Things can't just appear.

Emma gives the pile a quick glance through before handing it to Cam. "One key's to the building, the other's for your apartment. Uh, I think silver is the building one? Maybe?"

She gives the retreating back a scornful glare, and glances over at Cam (or rather, at his wings). "...so, um, I'm mostly crap at illusions, but I can try to cover up the wings if you want? Like, I could make them mostly match the shirt if you kept them folded, I think."

[from_scratch]

"What negative outcome besides me getting to mess with a key-distribution person are you anticipating if I continue to be flagrantly winged?" asks Cam, pocketing the keys.

[marrinikari]

"Walking around should be fine. Especially on campus. People dress weird, we're not known for the illusion program or anything but there's always a few really talented people floating around, no one will ask." She waves at the recently materialized shirt. "Adding 'I can do literally impossible things' to 'I look like the stereotype of a demon', I dunno. Depends on the person."

In short it is not much of a risk, and even less so on campus; Emma just happens to be very, very risk averse.

[from_scratch]

"Okay, but if it weren't fine, are we talking someone unwisely tries to attack me or I am in some kind of sudden legal mess?"

[marrinikari]

"Legal mess not on its own; it's not like we have laws about universe hopping demon summoning," she says dryly. "Attack- maaaaaybe? With possible legal mess included. I'd say 'hysterical screaming' is likeliest, followed by some religious stuff. Um, you said invulnerable, I assume there's not exceptions for crosses or holy water or whatever? Nothing a standard scared Christian would pull?" Not that non-Christians cannot be freaked out; Christians just have the most cultural baggage about his extra appendages.

"Selevy's pretty open minded, I don't think you'll see too much panic on the campus at least." She rolls her eyes. "And hundreds of precocious kinetic students later, we kind of collectively have a high tolerance for weird shit happening. You would not believe the number of things that have been made to float at one point or another."

[from_scratch]

"I'm not invulnerable, I'm indestructible, and there's seriously uncomfortable leeway between the two. I am unaffected by any form of religious iconography."