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

--- Lily --- (????)

Lily's ears picked up the sounds of movement as her magic seeped into the nearby shadows. She'd be ready for any attacks that came her way… but when the noise just seemed to get louder and louder Lily pushed away the call of sleep to open the. "GO TO SLEEP" hissed Kress at a half unconscious Nixilei. She had bags under her eyes, was wrapped up in a blanket and was currently remaining sitting against the wishes of Kress and Green who were trying to push her into the bed.

"I will not rest while we're in enemy territory!" retorted Nixilei.

"Green and I are both rested so now it's your turn!" insisted Kress as Nixilei continued to struggle against being forced to take a damned brake. For Lily this meant there was nothing to worry about. Her magic swiftly retracted from the shadows in the room, her eyes started to close, and her head rested back on the blanket she'd bunched up around her. Then soon, she was back to dreamland.

When Lily's mind came back into something that could be argued to count as cohesion she was standing on top of a giant hand. It was made of ice and clearly one of Kat's. "Which is weird because I didn't know I was quite that familiar with her hands… I mean, thighs, boobs, face sure… but hands? Did I really spend that much time looking at them?"

Lily wasn't sure what was going on. It felt like there was an obvious answer just out of reach. "Right, haha, really funny because I'm standing on a giant hand. At least I'm not overlooking anything else," Lily said. Out loud. In her Memphis form that did not possess anything resembling a human voice box.

Glancing around, Lily saw she wasn't just standing on a hand but the place was completely filled with them. There were a few feet mixed in as well but they were much rarer. "Perhaps… someone is trying to tell me something?" Lily pondered for a moment before her eyes homed in on a door.

Lily sprinted over to it, leaping between the hands easily with her eyes locked on its appearance. The door itself looked like a giant book with a doorknob which had to mean it was rather fancy. Once there Lily used a shadow hand to open it wide and soon she was inside of a snug little cabin. Glancing behind her the door had vanished and when she glanced back…

The cabin's fire was going and in the armchair that had definitely been in the room before sat a copy of herself with a pipe in her mouth reading a book. Lily frowned at the sight and jumped up onto the table to ask, "Hello? What are you doing and… are you me? Also what's with the pipe?"

Humanoid Lily glanced up from the book and blew out through the pipe which started to let off a stream of bubbles. "I've got a pipe because it's funny. I'm sort of you I guess,"

"How can you guess?" asked Lily. "Either you know or you don't? I was expecting more of a yes/no answer with some implication you were like… a clone or something,"

Other Lily rolled her eyes at the cat on the table. "You probably don't want the answer. Things will be more enlightening if I don't tell you anything right now. It would cause problems,"

"Why is that?" asked Lily. "Surely it's better to know,"

"Normally yes, but technically I'm not telling you 'no' instead I'm telling you 'not right now' and that you'll learn more because of my silence," stated Other Lily firmly.

Lily frowned as this but didn't exactly want to argue with herself. That seemed wrong and Kat would probably pout at her or something. Yes, that was a good reason. "So what sort of info can you give me then? If you're sort of me you should at least have something that's 'sort of' good right?"

"Well, the first thing you need to know is that Kat ended up in another fight. One that was actually somewhat dangerous for her… in concept. In practice she ended up fighting a battle maniac cousin of Marigold's and had a good time. You could worry about her, but it's not really necessary," explained Other Lily.

"Hmm… that's… well I don't love hearing that but I might be able to just ignore it other me," mumbled Lily.

"Don't worry about Kat's fight. Instead worry about the hot elf maid she's got following her around," insisted Other Lily.

"What?" asked Lily confused.

In response, Other Lily flipped the book she was 'reading' around to reveal a full body picture of Eleanora that bowed forward when she was displayed showing off a good deal of cleavage in the process. Lily was a bit distracted when Other Lily started to shake the book slightly and draw Lily's eye's along with them… "WAIT a second…" mumbled Lily. "Kat's asexual! Why does it matter to her what the elf looks like?"

"Darn you got me," mumbled Other Lily as she faded away. The entire cabin seemed to disappear alongside her and soon Lily was left in a blank white void all by herself.

"Um… what the heck?" mumbled 'the real' Lily. No alone in a space of seemingly nothing. Spinning around a few times in search of something soon she found another door. This one looked like it was made of water but at least it was a way out of the void.

Lily dashed towards it and stumbled through whereupon she found herself sitting by a lake next to… Kat? Lily looked over her girlfriend for a few moments and could tell it wasn't. Something about the other girl was just… not quite adding up. She looked normal. Wore the kimono she always did, was relaxing in a chair the same way Kat would… definitely wasn't the real Kat though. Despite this, Lily wasn't worried. Extra weird. "Hi… Kat? What are you doing?"

"Oh hi Lily. I'm a touch surprised you can tell I'm not the real Kat… but I suppose if you were going to notice it with any one it would be… me? Technically? Whatever, just call me Kat for now, it's easier,"

"Wait… is this a dream?" asked Lily.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," sighed Dream Kat. "Though… ok hang on why did you figure that out so quickly seeing me and why didn't the dream end?"

Lily shrugged, "No idea why the dream is still going… but well… I may have embarrassed myself several times in the past with dream versions of my girlfriend so I worked out how to identify them… so um… got any words of wisdom for me?"

Kat shrugged back, "Eh, not really? Don't worry about the fight, don't bully the elf maid because she's Marigold's cousin and will probably get off on it. Hmm… maybe make use of her? Ask for good date spots or something?"

Lily pouted, "Stop sounding so much like Kat and give me useful information subconscious!"

"You do realise that technically speaking I'm not your subconscious right?" asked Kat.

"Eh… close enough," retorted Lily.

"Alright… well… hmm… nope, I've got nothing," sighed Kat.

Lily starred at Dream Kat for a few long seconds. "Wait a second… are you unable to give me advice because Kat doesn't like suggesting things I might not like? Or that could change me or something?"

"Yup," nodded Kat. "It's worse too because I'm connected to Kat's mind sort of. Mostly using it as a reference… I think? Anyway, it makes it even harder to suggest things that you might not like to hear,"

Lily let out a long groan. "Really? Why couldn't other me have still be around? And wait… I managed to make her disappear by… what? Pointing out a contradiction or something? How come you seem to be fine?"

"Probably because you'd much rather talk to me then yourself?" shrugged Kat.

"Hmm… alright… then what was up with all the hands?" returned Lily.

"Oh! That was Eleanora's fault. She's the elf Kat now has as a temporary maid. She fights using giant ice and metal copies of her hands and feet. That might not sound too deadly but her triple affinity makes her a massive pain in the ass to fight her and enchantments keep the mana cost really low. The real Kat had a hard time fighting her… though she still did run out of mana eventually," explained Dream Kat. "I suggest asking her about the enchantments at some point. You might not get the specifics but I'm sure she'll be a wealth of information,"

"See! That was useful!" insisted Lily. "If only all of my weird dreams could be this clear,"

"They usually are," retorted Kat.

"Wait what do you mean?" asked Lily with narrowed eyes.

"Lily, something like eighty percent of your dreams just involve you doing either romantic or lewd things with me. That's pretty damn specific," retorted Kat.

"Nyeh! Why are you bullying me!" whined Lily.

"Because it's what Kat would do in this situation!" insisted Dream Kat.

"Don't use logic against me! You're a dream construct!" grumbled Lily.

"Why not… wake up then?" offered Kat.

"Maybe I will!" huffed Lily.