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]

"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."

[marrinikari]

"That helps. I'm... I'm sorry," she mumbles. Whether for using the wrong word or for the fact that he has probably experienced the 'uncomfortable leeway' is unspecified. (It's both.) "...well, um, offer's there if you want it. If you think it'll make things easier, or whatever."

She has been wandering them in the direction of his housing. Not being intended for long term residents, it is not particularly close to the rest of campus, but they're getting there.

[from_scratch]

"Maybe I'll just wear a coat over them." He folds up his wings and now he is wearing a coat.

[marrinikari]

Emma blinks in surprise, then looks rueful. "I keep forgetting you can do that," she admits. "And it's way more effective then a bad illusion."

[from_scratch]

"Well, the coat's a little lumpy, but I imagine no one here is on the lookout for wings."

[marrinikari]

"Yeah, I mean... you're on a college campus. Anyone who sees your back and jumps to 'demon' instead of 'weird backpack' is deeply strange."

[from_scratch]

"My world also has college campuses," Cam points out. "The fact that this is a college campus is not the reason I will not be suspected."

[marrinikari]

Emma laughs. "No kidding."

The outside of the apartment complex is extremely boring- there's a small garden out front, they tried, but the building itself is about as Standard Construction as they come. Cam's apartment is on the second floor, helpfully near the elevators.

"So, um, as long as it's not that different from my dorm- same wifi as the classrooms, there's a laundry room...somewhere... might not be close to your room but it's free, someone cleans the halls and stuff once a week but the apartment's up to you." She tapers off as she runs out of ideas of 'what might be helpful'. "Do you need anything else? I keep wanting to offer to show you where stores and stuff are, but... you kinda don't need them."

[from_scratch]

"Mmm, what has today's Internet got for state of the art maps of things?"

[marrinikari]

"I used to use Mapquest, but Google Maps just added a whole mess of new features and it's kinda fun to play with? Either's probably fine."

[from_scratch]

"Okay then -" He taps things on his tablet. "I should be fine, but if you feel like visiting or quizzing me about Hell or whatever I see no reason not to oblige you."

[marrinikari]

"...I'm kinda curious about Hell," she admits. "Since you're so... non stereotypical, yourself."

She hopes Hell doesn't match the stereotype either; that implies unpleasant things for Cam.

[from_scratch]

"Hell is comfortable, yet tacky," says Cam, unlocking his door and scanning the furniture critically. "Since we can all make anything and have no magical way to get rid of it. The discovery of black holes improved things, but there are still a few traditional lakes of fire around, and by then most of the cities had already been built on an enormous plane of solid gold that somebody had to think was a good idea for several sustained weeks, or convince several friends of same, to complete."

[marrinikari]

Emma considers this mental image, then breaks into giggles. "A plane of solid gold? Oh my goodness that's absurd. Please tell me someone named a city El Dorado."

[from_scratch]

"Nope, sorry. The cities aren't made of gold, anyway, just the underlying surface." Cam puts sheets on the bed, adds a pillow and a duvet, sets down his tablet on the desk, and attempts to open the window."

[marrinikari]

The bed is much improved by the presence of bedsheets. It's a cute little apartment; it's a studio rather than a one bedroom, no surprise there, but it has a good collection of basic furniture: bed with a mattress, a small chest of drawers, a two seat couch, a tiny table with two stools, a desk and chair. All of it screams Dorm Furniture. There's a small kitchen, with a fridge and a stove and a microwave, and a bathroom with a shower. He probably doesn't need to stock the kitchen with much, but he'll probably want towels.

The windows absolutely open. It's creaky and the paint's not enthusiastic about the idea, but the bottom half is willing to rise, at least.

"I am very disappointed in your cities' collective naming committees," Emma says, mock sadly. "Are there a lot of cities? ...Are there a lot of demons?"

She peers around the apartment, watching in fascination as bedclothes appear. "Did you want to keep the furniture? Some of the dorms have basements, I bet you could stash this stuff somewhere if you wanna replace it."

[from_scratch]

"There are lots of demons, not as many as there are humans in my time though, something like three billion of us, slowly increasing as new ones pop in. Plane of gold has sixteen good-size cities on it and a bunch of little ones and plenty of demons living by themselves or with a few friends. There are some farther-away planets and personal black holes; I live above, not on, the plane. There are dozens of demon languages and dialects of same, too, I have only learned six, and I would replace the furniture but I'm not sure how long to expect to be here and don't know of a good way to dispose of it after."