Stolas sat slumped in his sitting chair in his living room, the Owl Demon in a deep depression that even his favorite chair could provide no comfort from. There was no specific reason for the demon's sadness today just a moment of lucidity at his loveless marriage.
Although it didn't help that his lovely wife was on the phone, and making sure he could hear her, in the next room talking about how much of a "PATHETIC WANNA BE TWIG MAN!" (and various other less favorable remarks) he was.
As Stolas considered breaking out the strong stuff to send himself into a stupor so he could remember better days, or at least knock himself out; suddenly the demon's grimoire began to vibrate and pulse with light which meant only one thing.
"Oh lovely a summoning." the owl demon groaned out; having to deal with some foolhardy human was one of the last things he wanted to do today, even if it would be preferable to being around Stella.
Stolas tried his best to ignore the grimoire, but after several minutes it became clear whoever was on the other end was determined as the book continued to glow. Letting out a sigh of defeat, Stolas pried himself out of his chair and picked up the grimoire "Fine you win." the Owl Demon spat out as he prepared the teleport spell "But only because I have nothing better to do."
And with a flash, Stolas was sent to what would prove to be his strangest summoning yet.
"Alright I'm here what do you want; immortality, endless riches, a curse upon your enemies?" Stolas began as the summoning was finished, not even bothering to open his eyes as the smoke cleared, "Come up hurry up! I'm really not in the mood to-"
"It worked!" Stolas's eyes shot open as the words hit his ears and his brain noticed they were from a much higher-pitched voice than expected. Indeed as the Owl Demon glanced down he saw not just the expected summoning circle and demonic tome, but sitting in front of both was a quite young human girl who stared back up at him with, of all things, wonder in her eyes.
Naturally, having witnessed all manner of ritualistic sacrifices, cult gatherings, and sexual torture dungeons during various summonings (and sometimes all at the same one), Stolas had only one response to this.
"...What?"
"I did it, I summoned a real live Demon!" the child happily cried out, the slight lisp in her voice making the words coming out of her mouth sound even more bafflingly wrong, "Hi Mister Demon! Welcome to my bedroom!"
Glancing around the room, Stolas saw that it was indeed a child's bedroom he was currently standing in; child-sized furnishings, toys & stuffed animals littered across the floor, and posters for some character called 'Azura' adorning every wall, in fact the room reminded him a bit of Octavia's room.
"Right, very lovely." Stolas gave out a meaningless compliment as he continued glancing around the room, hopelessly searching for another human hiding somewhere, "Now you wouldn't happen to know where the one who summoned me went?" he desperately asked, part of him already knowing what the answer was going to be.
The child giggled at the Demon's question "I'm right here Mister Demon, my name's Luz." she answered leaning back over the tome in front of her "And this book says you're St- Stold-"
"Stolas." the demon in question plainly corrected before a frown formed on his face. "So you are the one who summoned me." he reiterated receiving a simple nod from Luz in response, much to his displeasure, "...I'm sorry how old are you?" Stolas asked, confusion and concern filling his voice in the way it only does with a parent.
"Six!" Luz proudly answered, holding up the corresponding number of fingers to emphasize the fact.
Pinching the bridge of his nos- err beak, Stolas muttered to himself before continuing his questions "Right and where are your parents, and do they know what you're doing right now?"
"My mami's downstairs and no," Luz innocently answered before a flash of inspiration shined in her eyes "hey maybe we can surprise her with you!" she suggested.
The Owl Demon quickly shot down the idea with a shake of his head "I don't think that would be a good idea." he said, if he wanted to be screamed at he could just go back home. "In fact can we just get this over with, all of this is starting to give me the most unpleasant migraine." Stolas rubbed his right temple before continuing "For what purpose have you summoned me?"
Luz looked up at Stolas, a blank expression painting her face, "I dunno." she admitted with a shrug "I just wanted to meet a Demon."
It took an immense amount of willpower, and mental images of his own daughter, for the Owl Demon to not cast Luz into hellfire at that moment. "Right then." Stolas cleared his throat a bit and noticed it felt a bit dry "Do you mind fetching me something to drink?"
"Okay!" Luz happily replied, dashing out of her room to complete her task.
Running down the stairs two steps at a time, Luz was a girl on a mission; breezing past the living room (where Camila was focused on other things of no interest to her daughter) she soon arrived in the kitchen, specifically right in front of the refrigerator. Throwing the fridge door open, Luz's eyes quickly scanned through it before they finally fell on a large pitcher of Sweet Tea. "Yes." the young demon summoner grabbed her prize, letting out a grunt as she pulled the pitcher out of the fridge.
Luz sprinted back towards the stairs, her prize wrapped in her arms and clutched against her chest, passing by her mother again, who glanced up from her work this time.
"Maji," Camila called out to her daughter "what are you planning on doing with all that tea?"
Luz stopped in her tracks and turned around, almost dropping the pitcher as she did, "My demon friend wants something to drink so we're gonna have a tea party." she sweetly explained.
Camila let out a small giggle at her daughter's ever-active imagination "Alright just be careful not to spill it."
Luz happily skipped upstairs yelling "Okay Mami!" along the way.
Camila let out a few more giggles, before she processed the rest of what her daughter had said and her expression soured a bit "Wait… demon?"
"I'm back!" Luz bellowed out, kicking the door open and holding the pitcher over her head with a large smile on her face.
Stolas smiled, only for it to falter slightly as he saw the drink Luz was pouring into her plastic tea set "Oh, sweet tea... lovely" the Owl Demon tried his best to sound genuine. He knew hoping the child would get him something a bit more on the alcoholic was pointless, but that didn't mean he still couldn't feel disappointed.
Completely oblivious, Luz held a full tea cup up to Stolas "Here you go." she said as the demon took the cup and she began to pour her own.
With some hesitance, Stolas took a small sip from his cup "Oh this is quite lovely." he muttered out in surprise taking a deeper sip and quickly finishing the drink.
As Stolas set the tea cup down, Luz raised the pitcher over it "More tea Prince Stolas?" she asked, raising her voice's pitch to create a faux-'fancy' tone.
"Why of course Lady Luz." the prince played along, holding back a few giggles, as Luz refilled his cup.
The pair shared a laugh at their silliness before Stolas changed the subject "While you were gone I had a thought about how to fulfill my summoning obligations." the Owl Demon explained as he set his grimoire on the table "My grimoire gives me the power to view the destiny of an mortal in existence, so why don't I tell you your future?"
"Okay!" Luz near instantly answered, rocking her chair back and forth with a huge smile on her face "I bet I'm gonna be a chosen one like Azura."
Stolas closed his eyes and raised his hand up towards Luz; after a few moments of focusing the Owl Demon's eyes shot back open, now a eerie blue glow as opposed to their usual red one, "Hmm strange…" he muttered, a hint of confusion in his tone.
"What?"
"The future is usually cloudy, but this…" Stolas struggled to comprehend the strange blur of images flashing before his eyes "I'll tell you what I can see."
Squinting his eyes in focus, the Owl Demon saw the images gain at least some clarity "I see, you going to a strange new place." he began "You seem uneasy about it at first, but grow to love it and the friends you make there." "And then-"
Stolas suddenly jerked back in shock, "Is something wrong?" Luz asked worried for her demon friend.
"It's nothing!" Stolas answered almost too quickly before he let out a deep breath and calmed himself "Just spooked myself."
Luz shuffled upwardly in her chair "Can you tell me about someone else?" she asked, her tone having become strangely somber.
Eager to change the subject, Stolas nodded with a smile and asked "Yes of course, who is it?"
"…Is my papa…" Luz paused as she thought over her question in a way someone her age shouldn't have to "Is he… in the good place?"
Stolas felt his heart tighten "Your father he's... not around anymore?" the Demon cautiously asked, receiving a slow nod from the human. "Well I can't say for certain," Stolas began "but I'm sure to have a daughter as wonderful as you, he's earned a spot up there."
"Thanks." Luz muttered out, leaving an awkward silence to hang over the pair until Stolas finally broke it.
"I have daughter, she's about your age." the Owl Demon said (which wasn't entirely true as the differences of time and aging between the Mortal World and the Afterlife were complicated and didn't always line up, but that's besides the point) "Maybe you two could have a playdate one day?"
Luz perked up "Really!?" she squealed out, leaning forwards in her chair and nearly spilling the tea cups.
"Yes I'm sure she'll love to meet you." the demon restated as he stood up and brushed off his pants, out of habit rather than need, "But alas that will have to be another time."
Luz pouted as Stolas grabbed his grimoire and opened a portal back home "Do you have to go?" the human asked, giving a small shot of puppy dog eyes.
However, Stolas was plenty experienced with resisting such faces "Unfortunately yes," he plainly said, with only a small hint of sadness leaking into his voice, "I am almost certainly needed back in Hell by now." Stepping into the portal, Stolas glanced back "Thank you for the tea." he said with a small smile.
"Bye bye Stolas!" Luz waved as the portal vanished in a flash of light, conveniently just before Camila walked in.
"Oh did your friend just leave?" she asked her daughter, the mother's overly cheery tone making it clear she still had no idea said friend was real.
"Yeah, but he said he'll bring his daughter next time!" Luz happily told her mother, practically bursting at the seams with excitement, "And she's the same age as me!"
"Oh that'll be great Maji." Camila replied with a smile before asking "Now can you put the tea away for me?"
As Luz grabbed the pitcher and hopped off to fulfill the task, Camila went to pick up the tea set for cleaning and, after not long, spotted the demonic tome Luz had used to summon Stolas in the first place. Her curiosity tickled; she took a peek at its contents, her expression turning sour and nose wrinkling at what she read "Where did you get this Luz?" the mother asked no one in particular "At least that explains the demon talk."
Stowing the book under her arm, Camila made a mental note to stop by the book exchange sometime soon.