It was shortly after this that Kat heard the door unlocking and watched Lily walk into the room. Her brown hair seemed even messier than normal, and despite the sunny weather was wearing a sweater and long pants. Her eyes had massive bags under them that extended so far down you could see them around her large glasses. Despite this though, she had a bright smile on her face, and was walking as fast as she could without actually jogging inside.
Lily threw herself happily into the pile, and snuggling into Kat's side, draping her second arm around the other too. "You're finally back" said Lily, with an almost blinding amount of cheer.
Kat felt the sting of guilt once again. She was the ONLY one who wasn't enjoying her return. Everyone was so clearly happy to have her back, and all she could do was worry about what they would think of her. "Glad to be back Lily" said Kat
A part of Kat wondered when she had become so shallow, but another, louder part, pointed out that she wasn't shallow, she was trying to figure out what to do about watching people DIE, which was certainly no simple matter. Combining that with the worry that the only reason she didn't feel bad might be because she isn't human anymore, and it gave Kat plenty to worry about.
*The main clash as well, is that even if the only reason I don't feel bad about their deaths is because I'm a demon… I still don't regret it. I'd take it as a more than fair trade, in fact I might even want to argue it's better this way. I certainly wasn't responsible for their deaths; I mean I didn't kill them and they were attacking me… but Xiao's death is a little harder to justify than the bandits. He was just defending his home even if he was awful before that.*
The group sitting around Kat seemed to notice her introspection and hugged her tighter, letting her calm down. Kat was willing to let go of the matter for now at least, and focus on other things. Kat returned the hugs she was receiving and then started to explain the things Kara had taught her. Callisto was writing down the information as Kat spoke and the others were listening intently, if silently. It was a bit awkward for them to join properly and face Kat to speak when they wanted to ask questions.
Going through everything Kara said took them to lunchtime, which had them finally disentangle themselves. Kat was so wrapped up in the story, she didn't notice Callisto getting lunch. Of course, that was actually because Callisto got lunch earlier knowing that everyone would likely spend the morning talking, but Kat was so used to Callisto pulling off crazy things without notice she just assumed she hadn't been paying enough attention.
Once they finished eating, Kat briefly touched on the punishment she didn't really know about yet, and managed to convince the others to leave worrying about it for later. They still had plenty of time together for now, and there really wasn't much information they had available.
Finally, once Kat had explained that, the others were about to ask about the end of her journeys with Xiang, but Kat deflected saying "We've heard so much from me already though. You guys have had a project of you own, haven't you?" said Kat looking pointedly at Lily.
Now, if Lily's face was already brightly lit with a rare full smile, and glittering eyes, now she was practically blinding. She radiated happiness and pride at being addressed by Kat over the list of races they had to choose from. Sylvie and Callisto shared a quick glance, but didn't interrupt when they saw just how happy Lily was.
"Well, I mean it wasn't really all that much" Kat held her gaze steady on Lily and raised an eyebrow very deliberately. Kat knew Lily very well, and considering that even with her own memory she could hardly make anything from the list, it had to be a lot of work. "Ok, fine maybe it was a bit of work
"But, but" said Lily holding up a hand "It's been so much fun. I mean sure I've lost a lot of sleep, but I just can't stop. This is the most interesting thing I've ever worked on Kat. It tells me so much about the wider multiverse and all this information is for ME. I don't think I've ever had the chance to research something so close to my own heart really.
"I mean, Kat, I don't know how I can ever repay you for even offering me something like this." Kat tried to butt in but Lily didn't stop "No Kat. I've been struggling to find something, anything that I might want to do and you gave me MAGICAL RESEARCH Kat. Even just the list of races is probably the nicest thing any has done for me and you are offering me MAGIC POWERS Kat"
Kat once again tried to interrupt, but for once, Lily wasn't willing to back down from her stance. "Look, I know you want to say it's no big deal Kat, and you know what, every other time you've said that to me after helping me in some major way, I've let you say it, and hell, maybe after this it would even make it TRUE that those things weren't a big deal. But Kat this is the BIGGEST DEAL, and it's almost certainly the biggest deal it could ever be. I don't know that anything could even be better, and if there is something, I certainly can't even conceive it. Ok?"
Kat swallowed and stared back at Lily. She was still blindingly happy, but there was steel in her eyes as well. She was putting her foot down here. *I… I just… Lily… I mean, I got those from something that wasn't even that hard… I mean… it didn't even take me a day Lily, I've earnt less from those times I was gone nearly a week.*
Kat opened her mouth the smallest fraction but Lily just shook her head and glared back. Biting her lip, Kat let herself react. *Fine Lily. I won't fight you on this one.* "Good? Good" said Lily nodding. "Now that we've established that, we can go over some noteworthy things I've found.
"The first, is that there are two main categories of race change. I mean, the system has others, but really, I see two maybe three. The first, is making me MORE something else and LESS human. Adding something to me that will take over most of my human DNA or transforming it somehow.
"This is almost always for other humanoid races, and I'd be more like a half human half whatever. I'm not sure how to class, Vampire and Dhampir in this system because apparently I have the option to end up as both, and a number of different types of either.
"The main reason those are confusing is because you can turn a human into a Vampire, but a Dhampir is a half vampire, half something else that was born from one vampire parents. Not all kinds of vampire can do this, and sadly, the system won't give me the option to mix and match that way, or at least not with dhampir's and just one token.
"That's the other thing actually. There are a lot of half races that I just won't be able to choose. Not everything can mix but a lot of them can, so say… there are, half elves for example. I'd only be able to pick half elf, half human, and not… half elf half dwarf or something.
"Now, the way D.E.M.O.N.S talks about these and how they are done, half might not be the best word for it, and I'd get more from the magical side then my human side, but it would at least let me say I'm human for certain things. I… I'm not quite clear on why that would be a benefit, but basically it would make me as… Elfish as I could be while still being at least partially human.
"Not sure where the tipping point is, and I know that some races can be mixed a couple times, but I can't choose those myself. That took me a lot longer to figure out than I care to admit, because the list was just all the possible options, not all the possible options for ME specifically. I may have lost some sleep fixing that up"
Lily was talking much faster than normal, and while Kat hardly noticed because she was able to keep up with the words, Vivian had a slightly strained smile as she tried to keep up with the 'rampaging girl' "Right so, the second type, which… is a lot weirder in some cases when I asked for the specifics, involve becoming something else completely. I'd say it's like you become a demon but it isn't really. It's more like… more like destroying my current body, and keeping my mind around.. Not quite sure how that works, or what age I'd be, but it's a thing I can do."