"Ooh, that could be fun, write us a calculus presentation and bring it in after you've been through a couple times and know how it goes. It's not essential for spells so it's niche."

"Sure. Where does one requisition paper and pencils if one is not a wizard? I suppose I shall talk to the commander about more of my stove pay being exchanged for supplies."

"If you want quick notes you can erase you get a slate and chalk, if you want to write on paper you get a pen. Storeroom sergeant'll know how much credit you're allowed to draw down unless somebody fucked up."

"Pen, nyeh... Oh well, guess I'll have to learn how to use one without blobbing it everywhere." Put-upon sigh. "I'll need a backpack, too... And a backup weapon or two..."

"Yeah, we oughta have spares of most things. You know how to use a real bow or just a crossbow? Mace or spear?"

"I know how to use a pistol. Crossbow should be fine-ish? I think you'd want to account for wind and drop much more. Mace probably better than a sword - sparks get rage strength. I wouldn't call myself trained so much as instinctual in 'power saw', even."

"I never heard of a pistol. We've got the cheap not-cold-iron-tipped bolts for practicing with if you're not sure you know the ends from each other."

"'s an alchemical crossbow, more or less." Shrug. "Yeah, I'll probably wanna do that."

"Ooh, alchemical crossbow - like does it do acid damage or something - wouldn't help much with demons, they're so anti-energetic that you can really see why dretches are caught napping often as not -"

"Oh, it's really just a carefully contained explosion driving the bolt instead of spring power in tension arms. Now I'm thinking about a bomb launcher, you could put all sorts of interesting payloads in that with two or three pounds to work with instead of a few ounces of an arrow. Acid, lightning, incendiaries, smoke or tangle goo, fragmentation, or an electrical discharge- Ahem."

"Demons are outright immune to electricity. Like if you hit them with enough fire or acid, eventually they'll take notice, but electricity nothing doing. Tangling them up could be really good though..."

"What the fuck, how does that even work? Demon skin must have absurdly insulative properties."

"It's not the skin, if you make a coat out of demon skin it doesn't give you that unless you do additional magic, it's just a magical property demons've got. Most outsiders have some complement of shit like that. Like devils are immune to fire, but just partly resist acid and cold."

"...Would it be terribly cruel if I tried to study one while it was still alive? Every property has a cause. Or possibly I could get anywhere with recently alive- Hold on, the spark is waking up about this-"

Deep breath.

"Calm."

"What a funny kinda sorcerer, how does that work - is it like those guys who get high on anger and it makes them strong enough to put an axe through a vrock only it makes you sorcerous - anyway the treaty doesn't give a shit about cruelty to demons, you probably have to do it all outside but if you wanna vivisect a dretch and can stand the smell more power to you."

"Sparks get - intense. Not just anger, but yes, anger always does it. No, I'm pretty sure that's a 'cruel and unusual experiment on an intelligent being'. Which I am expressly forbidden from." It's easier to remember not to do things while Sparking if it's a RULE! "Are there any demons that aren't... Smart?"

"Nnnn I mean there's fiendish animals but those aren't demon demons. A lot of demons are dumb as shit but if you're throwing around the phrase 'intelligent being' probably you're going to count a bunch of kinda dumb shit like dretches and slips and whatnot. The kind of thing with enough thoughts to detect."

"I probably will, if your instincts say so. Such are the laws of home, which I still consider myself bound to. Where practical."

...Yeah, no forgetting that the horror stories of all sorts of absurd cruelty that dominate Europa and the great steppes and the rest of the world. This place probably has some too and she's just not seen it yet, because it's a tight-run military location.

"Your Law your business. You likely to learn anything from a dead one?"

"Likely enough to be worth trying, sure."

"Cool, sounds fun. Also means you can use one that doesn't smell as bad as a dretch."