Disarm Evil

Chapter 14: Blood

"We woulda gotten dat nice house by now if the two of yah hadn'ta gone and got arrested," Shibi says somewhat bitterly as ve holds the bucket of water I am using to rinse off my excrement-covered washcloth. Ver right eye is swollen from ver confrontation with Mebi.

"It wasn't our fault, it was Hinuso and Viadu's," I retort.

Shibi ignores my response. "Y'all're lucky, yah came back right before we're gonna get it. Kidus' been workin twice as late, and Joves' workin a night time job now, after ver school work. I don like whatevah job Joves' doin now though, sometime ve come back looking like ve was in a fight. Hopefully ve can quit now dat ye're back."

"We'll need to recover first." I say.

Mebi enters the room with arms full of clean clothes. Ve walks over to the bed, and some toeless socks fall to the floor as ve moves. The holes in the toes of the socks are intentional, as opposed to the other holes. Bitu like to keep their claws free. Mebi plops the clothes onto the middle of the floor and runs out of the room. Shibi's eyes fixate on the door Mebi left through, anger growing on ver face with each passing moment until Mebi returns shortly thereafter with a handful of various articles of clothing ve likely dropped along the way. Throwing the rest of the clothes onto the pile, Mebi declares, "Y'all er gonna put dis away."

"Whaddya mean, 'y'all'? Where you goin?" Shibi questions.

"I got other respons-imilities, ya' know," Mebi declares as ve goes to exit the hut again.

Shibi's knuckles grow white with frustration. "Ya lazy worm! Ye're just goin off ta play ball with Jojo!" Shibi grabs an excrement soaked rag from the bucket and throws it at Mebi, managing to hit ver square in the back. Mebi snarls back at Shibi and then runs after ver.

Shibi tries to run away, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Ya will be!" Mebi is too quick, managing to grab Shibi by the leg before ve can get far. Then, swiftly, Mebi drags Shibi close, restrains Shibi's arms with one of ver own, takes hold of the fur on the back of Shibi's head, and then dunks Shibi's head into the bucket of soiled water. Shibi fruitlessly struggles to break free.

Everything happened quicker than I could process. There is no danger of drowning as both bitu and atu have a hole at the base of their skulls through which they can breathe even if their nose and mouth get submerged or something manages to get lodged in the throat. The hole is not submerged. Still, I try my best to drag myself close to intervene.

"Enough of this!" I yell, taking hold of Mebi's wrist and pulling ver to the side. Mebi, maintaining ver grip on Shibi, inadvertently pulls ver sibling out of the water as I pull ver. Shibi coughs, gags, and promptly vomits all over me.

My ability to handle this situation gracefully has been completely eradicated. My other arm is too busy propping me up to be used to pry the two apart. So I start to painfully squeeze Mebi's wrist in an attempt to force ver to let go of ver sibling. I snarl at Mebi, in a uniquely bitu way that feels foreign yet natural to cross my face.

"Let go of ver!" I command as I dig my claws into Mebi's wrist. Eventually, the pain is too much, and Mebi lets go. Now free, Shibi promptly grabs the bucket of soiled water and throws its contents into Mebi's face, drenching me as well. Momentary shock freezes me in place as I try to figure out how to stop this, but before I can think of anything, Mebi bites my arm. Reflexively, I loosen my grip as I recoil from the sudden pain, and Mebi takes this opportunity to wiggle free and pounce on Shibi. The two engage in a one-sided fight as Mebi unleashes ver anger on Shibi.

Filled with adrenaline and rage, I somehow, more effortlessly than ever, crawl over to the fight. Despite enduring a few kicks, punches, and scratches, I manage to grab Mebi by ver scruff and use my hold to brace myself. With my other paw, I grab Shibi's scruff before Mebi collapses under my body weight. I muscle each of them helplessly onto the ground beneath me as I perform a sort of limp-legged plank over them. They both fruitlessly struggle against me but still manage to get in some scratches on each other because I cannot hold them apart quite far enough.