THE MOMENT
"Thank you for calling Chroma Corp., please hold," Thea put the caller on hold as she took a moment to study the file that appeared on her screen. It told her where the call was from, and how much she could reveal about the company. It promised to be an easy call, they were listed as 'Multiverse Aware', which meant she didn't have to hide anything.
"Hello spell support, how may I help you?" She answered once she had the necessary information.
"Hi, I am doing a summon and got the pentagram and candles and everything," he said. He sounded distracted. Thea waited a moment, because that didn't tell her anything about the problem, and he did not offer anything else.
"What candles?" she had to ask something. She'd been trained not to ask what the 'problem' or 'issue' was, unless it was brought up directly. It wouldn't do to suggest any of their products had problems.
"Well there was a promotion on scented candles in IKEA...," he answered, and drifted into silence again. Thea sighed internally, so much for it being an easy call. Now she had to walk him through it.
"Mr. Black, did the spell call for candles? Did it specify a certain type?" She grimaced, thankful he couldn't see her. She'd been so caught off guard by his lack of help that she missed the obvious question. Now, she had to work her way back to it.
"Yeah, it said I needed candles... it didn't say it had to be a certain type." He answered the questions and nothing else. She was thankful for a second opportunity to ask the right question.
"Did it work?" she asked. When she first started working at the call center years ago, Thea would've scoffed at the idea that someone called when everything worked. But, she would've also expected them to offer up helpful information if it didn't. She'd encountered all kinds of callers and the only thing she could say with confidence is, she never knew what to expect.
"Something worked," he said.
"That's great!" Thea nodded. She couldn't ask if there was a problem, and she didn't want to. If it worked, and he didn't specify why he was calling, she could use the rules to her advantage. "Thank you for calling Chroma Corp."
"WAIT! Please!" he said. "Uhhh. I'm having a problem with the spell." She could not roll her eyes any harder.
"Please elaborate so I may assist you better," she said.
"Ummm... can you give me a list? I don't know how to describe it."
"You want a list of possible problems you could be having with a summoning spell?" Thea asked. Despite her general annoyance with the caller, she had to admit that was a new one. Mildly amusing at that, considering he called her.
"Yeah, that'd help a lot. I'm sure there's a lot of possibilities, so go ahead and list them all."
"What were you trying to summon?" Thea didn't mind being on the phone, or helping people. She was mostly bothered when her next steps weren't obvious. Now that she'd started down a path, she could do her job properly.
"It said, 'Demon Queen'," he answered. Thanks again to her years of experience, Thea was able to mute the call before she burst into giggles. She felt bad for the poor guy, but it was out of her hands. And now his behavior was perfectly explained. She didn't know the precise details, but she didn't have to. It was enough to know he was adhering to unknown rules during their call. She guessed he asked for a call, and was eager to help; she would be the last person he talked to.
"Ah, of course," she replied once she got it out of her system. "Mr. Black, before I run down the lengthy list of issues, is there anyone you'd like me to add to our call? Any friends or relatives that are maybe unaware of your summon?"
"No," he was answering in the negative, but his voice sounded full of relief. She'd figured it out. "I don't have anyone... hence... trying to summon a demon queen..," he gave a weak chuckle.
"I understand," Thea answered. "Well, you'd better get comfortable, there's a lot that could go wrong when trying to summon Ballisea. I'm sure you've gathered by now," she added with a slight giggle. "Let's start listing all the things that could go wrong when the spell works," she said. "But, just for the sake of information, we could also go over things that might go wrong causing the spell to fail."
"I'd like that, please," he answered.
"Well, the most important thing to know is that Ballisea the Demon Queen is fickle, and enjoys playing games. She'll often fool the unsuspecting summoner into a game, thinking they can outsmart her...,"