*Oh no, hopefully this isn’t permeant or a bad thing, right? I’ve just calmed everyone down.* Lily also chose to speak up and as Kat turned to face her, she noticed her friend seemed to be sinking into her mattress, “Kat this is the best, if Sylvie is half as relaxed as this when you wrap her in your tail no wonder she clings to you all the time. I can think so clearly but at the same time all my stress seems to have melted away.”

“Well, um that’s great. I didn’t really mean to do that though, so I’m not sure what it is or how long it will last. Do you have anymore questions Vivian?” said Kat.

“You put me in a tough spot Kat,” said Vivian with a genuine smile. “I have so many questions, but I don’t really know where to begin. I guess, why do you accept a summoning every week and are there more demons that I need to know about?”

“I have to, it’s a demon thing and for some reason it turns out I am one so I have no choice but to take a job once a week. It’s been quite fun actually. No real complaints, but in terms of other demons… I guess I should ask,” said Kat.

INFORMATION REGARDING OTHER DEMONS WITHIN SAME DIMENSION AS USER KAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE CLASSIFIED AT YOUR RANK… ERROR

RECALIBRATING

ANALYSING

INFORMATION UPDATED. DUE TO UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES OF USER KAT AND DIMENSION USER KAT RESIDES IN D.E.M.O.N.S MAY ANSWER

USER KAT, YOU ARE THE ONLY CURRENTLY AWAKENED DEMON WITHIN DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARIES

Well… that’s some pretty concrete information but what would I have done if it just decided not to say anything.”Kat are you alright? You were staring into space for a bit long if it was just the one question,” said Lily.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The system just had a bit of a hiccup. Apparently, it wasn’t going to tell me but because I’m the only demon here it was able to answer,” said Kat.

“I don’t mean to interrupt you, but what system are you both talking about?” asked Vivian.

“Ah right, so as a demon I can see burning text that calls itself the Demonic Energised Messaging Operations Neural System and it has been able to answer some of my questions so far. It seems to have a lot of rules and what not but it’s how I accept summonings and it’s been fairly handy,” said Kat.

Vivian seemed not to have much to reply because she just shrugged and continued to hug Sylvie before saying, “I kinda wish I had your tail now, I bet if you use that to hug Sylvie you have spare hands to pat her head as well, I’m so jealous.”

“Yeah, Kat gives the best hugs now, her tail is very comfy,” affirmed Sylvie.

“I still never figured that one out, to me it’s just really smooth and I don’t really see how it makes it comfortable at all, the end even has a point on it,” said Kat.Sylvie just shrugged at this like it was none of her concern.

“Soo, moving on from that,” said Lily. “Can we talk more about what changed, can we get a list Kat?”

“Sure, and for Vivian’s sake I guess I’ll cover everything. I have a tail, better eyes that cause me more problems than they solve, clothes I can summon at will, and a new set of skin and hair and I think maybe nails as well. They look the same but I feel like I remember them falling of this morning so I’ll add that to the list as well. Oh, and I can’t lie anymore,” said Kat.

“Wait your nails fell off?” said Vivian.

“Trust me you don’t want to know,” said Kat shaking her head.

“I’d like to focus on the whole lying thing if you don’t mind Kat,” said Lily.

“Sure, what about it?”

“So what exactly does that mean? What are the limits? Can you say something you think is right but actually isn’t?” asked Lily.

“I really don’t know, I only just noticed when I tried to tell Vivian that my tail was nothing and I couldn’t do it,” said Kat.

“Hmm, how about you try something blatantly false like saying the sky is pink or something,” said Lily.

“Sure, the…” the words caught in her throat. Kat was calm and didn’t try to force it but a very uncomfortable feeling welled up from within her. Kat released a shuddering breath “Ok that’s weird not only can I not say it, thinking about saying it and keeping it in my mind as a thing to say makes me immensely uncomfortable,” said Kat.

“Hmm, I wonder…” started Lily but Vivian finished, “Oo, try saying something that’s only sort of true, like um Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.””Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” said Kat.

“Hmm that’s strange, why did that work… Is it because we don’t know a Peter Piper?” Lily began mumbling to herself.

“Annd there goes Lily, we probably won’t see her for another 5 minutes,” said Kat.

“I can still hear you, you know… wait repeat what you just said,” asked Lily.

“There goes Lily, we probably won’t see her for another 5 minutes,” said Kat.

“Wait, why could you say that? Surely you didn’t think I’d actually be distracted for five minutes?” said Lily.

“Huh, that is strange, no I don’t think I did. Why is that?” said Kat.

A few minutes passed as everyone thought on the issue. What was the difference between the statements that allowed Kat to speak? Suddenly Sylvie had an idea.”Maybe it’s because you never said it as a certainty Kat?”

Hmm, that’s an interesting thought. I didn’t say that Lily would be five minutes, I said it would probably be that long. But surely it the whole lying thing isn’t so lax right?”Hmm, Lily possibly has pink hair,” said Kat and everyone turned to stare at her.

“That doesn’t make any sense. It’s clearly false,” said Lily.

“No, Sylvie has a point, I think. Perhaps it’s not what Kat can say but what Kat can’t that is important. Kat can’t say anything she knows to be certainly incorrect,” said Vivian.

“But I clearly don’t have pink hair Vivian, surely that counts as certainly incorrect,” said Lily.

“Well no, think about it like this. Kat said you possibly have pink hair. This statement is no more true or false because of the fact that you have brown hair. There is still the possibility no matter how small that you do in fact have pink hair. We can even see this in the tongue twister, because Kat isn’t talking about a specific Peter Piper or perhaps because she doesn’t actually know of one. She can say that tongue twister because it isn’t certainly wrong,” responded Vivian.

Hmm, Vivian is probably on to something here. Good job you pair. So it’s things that are certainly false… what’s something I can try to say to prove that thought. Wait a minute.”Wait I think I have it. Remember earlier when Vivian asked that question about us being sisters Sylvie?” said Kat. Sylvie pouted but still nodded.

“Well here’s the important thing I was able to say yes and no to that question. Now how can I answer that question both ways if I can’t lie? I think it goes back to what Vivian said about certainty. You are not my biological sister, but I do think of you as one. See I was able to say that without trouble,” said Kat.

“Fascinating,” said Vivian. “I think we are just scratching the surface in regard to how this works. I wonder how the line is drawn… Is it instinctual? Spiritual? Soul…ful? Magical? This is so fun to think about.”

“Wait can’t we just ask the system what the limits are?” said Lily.

Everyone was silent. They could ask the system, but it almost seemed like cheating at this point. Sharing a glance between them all Kat sighed. I guess I should, it’s important to know after all.

A DEMON’S ABILITY TO LIE IS A HIGHLY CONTESTED DEBATE TOPIC WITHIN THE DEMONIC ACADEMICS. RESULTS ARE NOT ENTIRELY CONSISTENT ACROSS TYPES OF DEMONS. RESEARCH INTO THIS IS CONSIDERED AT LEAST RANK 1 CLASSIFIED. D.E.M.O.N.S CAN PROVIDE NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO USER KAT AT THIS TIME.

Ha, I’m actually quite happy with that response, it’s been fun trying to work this out. Maybe I shouldn’t go to the system at all unless it’s really important. Hmm food for thought I guess.* “The system says that it’s different for different types of demons and that further information is above my rank, so it won’t tell me,” said Kat. Lily pouted hearing this but Vivian’s eyes lit up and Sylvie giggled, apparently also pleased by the news.

“So, um Kat how about we talk about your Demonic Attire instead?” said Lily.

“I mean we can, I guess? I’m not sure what else we can test with the whole lying thing right now,” said Kat. “Do you want me to summon it right now? Or should I change out of these other clothes first?”

“Um whatever you think is best Kat,” said Lily.

“Oo, please put this Demonic Attire on right here, I want to see what happens,” said Vivian with Sylvie nodding along.

“As you command I suppose,” said Kat with a mock bow.