Chapter Text
Its eye rested heavily on the book, so heavily that the weight translated itself directly into sweat sliding out of his pores and slickening his tight grip on the leather-bound edges, and strain in his tendons sticking right out on his wrists. The book felt so very heavy under its gaze, he could even feel his resolve being stripped systematically away, as if that was something that could be physically peeled away from his body and sucked into a stare. He was wholly convinced his shaking hands were going to drop it, it was only a matter of time before they gave out, but somehow just a moment longer was endured and all the pressure fell away.
The pupil, a dark, vertically elongated cat-like slit rose within the white background of the eye, angling towards his face and while he felt awash with relief that he was no longer groaning in order to hold a book at shoulder height- more like a 100 page novella than a dust-soaked 500 page tome- this was hardly better.
The floating triangle in the room was looking at him. It was kind of freaking him out.
And then it wasn't. "Oh, WOWEE, would'ja look at this place! It's exceptionally boring. The only thing extraordinary about it is how indistinguishable it is from the last five places I've been summoned. Gee, you humans seriously want for creativity!" Despite lacking a mouth or any kind of visibly viable substitute the triangle immediately began to chatter away, paying much more attention to the sparsely furnished room and its painfully naked walls rather than the sticky, quaking mess of a boy before him. Twirling a shiny cane around one stick-thin, inky black limb, the thing continued in a loud, ringing voice; "Still, there's something endearing about the way you lot cling to your contrived little ideas about structure! It's so nostalgic, each time I'm back, I can always count on your unnerving propensity surround yourselves with dead plant-life, your handily uniform-appendaged meatsacks that make you so fungible, rigid social hierarchy, your baffling attraction to straight lines- not that I'm complaining-"
"Wha- fungibibly?" the boy interrupted, mouth that had been opening and shutting like a door left to the wind's mercy finally finding something to latch onto and spit out.
It laughed at him. "Hahaha, yeah, fungible! Like replaceable, ey kid, doesn't your kind open your dictionaries anymore? Figures the only book you'd pick up would be that one," it said, but didn't glance back at the journal, instead focusing on a few tiny puddles of wax formed on the floorboards 'neath the dripping candles.
"I know what it means!" The boy huffed, stamping his feet. "But how are humans all fu- uh, the same?!"
"Well, let's see, five fingers, four limbs, one head and torso, two eyes and two ears unless you get something chopped off..." The triangle mused, glowing yellow. "Gosh, you all look the same to me, kiddo!"
"You have four limbs too!" The boy observed with a corny accusatory point that caused him to fumble and almost drop his book for the second time.
It inspected said limbs with its single carelessly lidded eye. "Oh, these? I just stick them on for your benefit, like 'em? Speaking of which, whad'ya think of these angles?" It tilted its flat, triangular shape back, forth and to one side, propping one of its hands up on a pointy hip equivalent as it posed. "Great huh? Sexy, eh? Eh?" It leaned forward, only by about half a meter but still by more than the boy had expected possible, clear by his sharp gasp. The one eyed-triangle blinked, flicking its few-in-number but ridiculously-long-in-length lashes in a way that could perhaps be better described as a wink. "Pfft, you know it."
"Demon, abandon your foolish attempts at seduction right this diddly-darn instant!" The boy suddenly yelled, hands curling into chubby little fists against the cover of the book still clenched tightly. "You will obey me!"
"Sure, sure, I guess you did manage to get the binding ritual right, even if this chalk is totally cheap and flaky. Let me guess, your parents keep the high-quality stuff on the higher shelves?" It scoffed, then raised a hand to ward off its summoner's incoming tantrum. "Alright, alright. Although not actually a demon, I gotta hand it to you, you did the circle right! That does mean I have to do whatever your fleshy human heart desires, so-" The yellow part of its form underneath the eye lifted, giving the impression that the thing was smiling at him even without having any mouth with which to do so. And its two spidery little hands tucked themselves behind its back in a businesslike fashion. "What'll it be kid?"
The boy's nervous frown slowly slid away to reveal a stretch of a grin, pulling the corners just beyond ordinary comfort. "What I want is..."