Deja Vu

Chapter 29: Gift Preparations

"You are the WORST! I don't know how anyone can fucking stand you!" Leviathan clearly enunciates the last bit in disgust as he grumbles over the computer.

"Me?? Your taste in magic school dramas is trash! I can clearly see the tension between Kiraya and Taloti, and I know they're going to end up together! It's cliche! It's overdone! Kiraya obviously should break the tropes and pursue magic instead of a romance!" Idia's voice comes out clearly through the speaker as the two work together. "It's so fucking cringe to have her love for Taloti be some kind of life-changing catalyst."

In front of Leviathan sits Idia's latest piece of technology. Leviathan wields one of his tools in hand as he exclaims towards his mic; "You don't understand Demon culture! It subverts the narrative by having Kiraya pursue love! Here, pursuing love over power is foolish and stupid, and only by breaking free of that trope does Kiraya stand a chance of actually becoming more powerful than her father! It's pure! It's beautiful!"

"It's TRASH!"

"YOU'RE TRASH"

"I may be trash, but I'm premium trash - I'm like the trash you find in a recyling bin in a nice place. 'The Magic Is In My Heart, I Just Know It!' is the kind of un-sorted trash that destroys any semblance of worth in everything it touches! It's so bad, it makes the entire magic system trash!"

Leviathan scoffs in disbelief from what he's hearing as Idia tears into one of his favorite stories. "You take that back, the magic system is the best part! You yourself got excited about it!"

Idia scowls as he fiddles with a piece on his end. "Yeah, but the fact the she's never going to pursue it to understand its depths makes it cheap! She's going to 'Love is the greatest power teehee' ALL over the other characters who are ACTUALLY putting in the work to learn the system's nuance!"

"Again, you don't get devildom culture. Magic has a ton of nuance - You could spend a demonic lifetime learning all the nuances, but the strongest people are the ones who just GET it! Pause the convo for a second though-"

"Yeah?"

"I just finished putting together everything you sent me, plugged it in, I've flipped the switch, and I'm looking at the lights, but the fifth one isn't turning on."

"The system link, right?"

"Yeah"

"It won't light up until my half of the machine is up and running and we run diagnostics."

"Okay, so it's okay that it's not turning on?"

"Are all the other lights coming on?"

"They're different colors, but yeah"

"What colors?"

"Green, blue, and yellow"

"What ones are yellow?"

"The Augment Reality Projector."

"Yeah, it sounds like you did everything right."

"Okay good."

"Unlike 'The Magic Is In My Heart, I Just Know It!', Which also did poorly in the ratings!" Idia gives a mischievous, toothy grin at the device he's working on as he adds that zinger. He's speaking with Leviathan through the main computer in his workshop.

"RATINGS MEAN NOTHING"

"It proves even demons thought it was trash!"

---

A few days later, it's time to test the machine, but you can't be in the house for that. Leviathan has arranged for Mammon to take you out of the house for a few hours. You said you needed to get some supplies anyways, and gladly took Mammon to the market. Something about more supplies and needing Mammon's discerning eye.