Chapter 1704 Telling a Story

--- Kat ---

Kat didn’t know what to do. Kamiko was just sort of sitting there in silence. It was odd. She didn’t seem too upset. Not even in that ’horrified silence’ sort of way that Kat was partly expecting. If anything Kamiko looked thoughtful and for Kat that was probably more disturbing then any other reaction. What was there to think about?

The silence was only interrupted by the regular yelling of Trvis but both of the demons could easily tune that out at this point. It wasn’t anything special and ensuring they were dealt with was just a chore at this point. If they’d figured out some proper way of containment Kat wouldn’t be stuck with the task. At least she understood why it needed doing.

Eventually, Kamiko let out a long sigh, and when she didn’t say anything Kat took it as her prompt to initiate the conversation. "What’s wrong? I’m not sure what I was expecting… but I guess I was expecting you to be more upset? And… well I’m happy that you’re not… but I also have no idea how to react to whatever it is your feeling. I sort of feel bad I can’t work that out either but well…" Kat finished with a shrug before throwing the nearby Trvis once again. Trying to keep her face sincere even with the ’combat’ interruption.

Kamiko gave Kat her best smile, which was mostly sincere. "I don’t blame you for that. I suppose it’s in part because I don’t know what I’m feeling either. It’d probably be worse if I remembered it… but even hearing you relay it all back to me I’m quite sure I lost consciousness before I completely collapsed. I was clearly just running on instinct and leftover instructions before falling over so… in some ways it doesn’t feel real?"

Kamiko shifted so that she was properly facing Kat before continuing. "My mother has warned me about this sort of thing. That a lot of patients I saw, if I did end up going into medicine, wouldn’t be properly thankful. For many we’re simply performing a necessary service and not saving their life. Worse, some people are angry at that fact and lashing out.

"Not because they survived, but because they just died and they need something or someone to attack and get all of that energy out. Almost dying is a rather stressful experience after all," Kamiko paused for a moment hoping that Kat would laugh at her attempt at a joke. After the silence stretched for a few seconds she continued. "Regardless, my point is that Mum was clear with me in the fact that I can expect a wide variety of reactions from people.

"Even getting stabbed wasn’t off the table. If I healed someone who was right out of a combat situation and was still thinking they were getting attacked ’retaliation’ was just to be expected… but… but that’s not really what happened was it?"

Kat let out her own sigh. "I can’t say. It might have been in part a stress reaction but from what Pebbles has said and how he reacted to the even in question with more… exasperation then surprise I was under the impression that it wasn’t out of character at all,"

"Yeah and that’s part of what makes it hard. Along with the not remembering it. What Ronldo did was very much NOT the type of thing you expect in healing. That… cold calculous regarding ensuring your enemy doesn’t have a healer is… not entirely foreign but even if it does happen it’s certainly not something Mum brought up so directly. Especially not after you’ve just healed them. So I feel like I should be angry or something…

"But I just don’t remember. Heck, Ronldo isn’t even here right now so getting angry doesn’t feel right, and the anger isn’t really there because I don’t remember it and I didn’t see it. I just… I don’t know. How much is it not remembering? How much it not feeling real? Will I be super angry about it later?" Kamiko finished with a shrug and made her own attempt at throwing the Trvis together. It worked, though Kat did have to stop herself from interfering. Kamiko hadn’t exactly said anything, just jumped in and threw.

"Would you like to take over?" asked Kat with a side-eyed glance at Kamiko.

"Um… yeah maybe. I didn’t think I was angry, and I stand by the statement that I’m not… but perhaps I’m a touch frustrated? Not with Ronldo even if I should be… but still just a bit annoyed," said Kamiko.

"Go ahead," said Kat with an overly dramatic bow to dodge another set of sweeping claws. Kamiko was easily able to step in and kick the Trvis away and into its counterpart. ’Killing’ them both once again.

Kat let waited for a bit, let Kamiko get whatever this was out of her system for a while before the smaller demon asked. "Do you think I should do anything about it?" Kat made an inquiring humming noise. "Like… what do you think the appropriate response is?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I’m… really not sure. He seemed to think… well his excuse was that you’d just get banished, but I know from personal experience it’s not so much ’banishing’ as it is teleporting away to safety and it definitely still hurts. It was… it was probably a murder attempt but he’s not likely to get punished for that. Might get punished for other things… but he can probably escape from any jail nearby if I had to guess," said Kat unaware Strdl had already dished out some punishment of her own.

"Didn’t he actually stab you?" asked Kamiko.

"Meh," intoned Kat with a shrug.

Kamiko rolled her eyes at Kat’s response. "I suppose I do understand where you’re coming from… though I know a rather large number of demons that would have a difference response. Heck the fact that he attacked me makes him ’fair game’ by the standards of plenty of demons that would use it as an excuse to kill him. My family…

"Well I am very much the baby of the family despite not being the youngest in truth. Though…" Kamiko shook her head. "Let’s not. Um… yeah my family would all react a lot worse to ME being attacked then if they themselves had been attacked in similar circumstances. Now I’m wondering what Mum would do…"

"Can’t you guess?" asked Kat.

"Not really?" said Kamiko while tilting her head cutely and trying to think the issues through. Kat needed to step in to handle a Trvis while she did so, but soon Kamiko worked out how to explain her thoughts. "It would likely depend on if she accepted him as a patient. She’s willing to do a lot, and put up with a lot from patients. If he’s just someone random she’s patching up though… she’d at least have him knocked out and restrained. I think,"

Kat shrugged not really sure what to say. Nor was she sure that she’d allowed Kamiko to feel better. She still didn’t know if it was even the right thing to explain it all. Kat thought it over between a few mostly silent Trvis smashings but didn’t come to a proper conclusion on if she’d done the right thing.

"Are you alright Kat?" asked Kamiko after a time.

"Eh… I’m a bit in my head I guess. I don’t regret telling you what happened but… I don’t know if it was the ’right thing’ you know? I mean… all seems fine. You didn’t get broken up about it… but I guess I just feel like I need to protect you from that? I guess? I did promise your Mum to look out for you," answered Kat.

Kamiko gave Kat a deadpan look. "You took a knife to the chest for me Kat. And that’s just today. You’ve looked out for me quite well from my perspective. I mean… Mum might still complain, but she won’t mean anything by it. I’m really not sure why you’re worrying about ’not protecting’ me of all things. It’s… it’s not the nicest thing to hear sure but I do appreciate that you didn’t try to hide it,"

Kat let out a long sigh, partially out of relief but there was still a tinge of doubt and uncertainty hidden inside of that long exhale. "Thanks for saying that Kamiko. I wish I wasn’t so mixed up about it still. I don’t even know why. I’m quite sure it was the right choice to say something, especially with your blessing but… I guess I don’t feel all that much better. Part of that might just be worry over Lily and not being with her though."

"You could’ve gone with them you know. This… isn’t exactly hard," commented Kamiko as she took out another time clone set.

Kat nodded "Yeah true but the big risk was having the real one, or the final boss or whatever to use the clones here as a teleportation anchor. I trust Hunter to keep Lily safe,"

"You think it’s likely it would come here?" asked Kamiko.

"No idea… and that’s the worry," answered Kat.