AfterDuo: Children's tale

Chapter 24: Talk Of War

"That's a pig." Nairo said, without thinking. The twins looked at him like he was an idiot. "What? It is."

"Who are you calling a pig, you swine!" Hawk turned on Nairo and Mokali snorted into her drink.

"Oh my goodness..." She muttered as she coughed and slightly slapped the table. She coughed a few more times before laughing.

"Isn't that a sexist comment for you?" Nairo asked, genuinely confused as Hawk looked to get more pissed.

"Nairo, go with it!" Sarah commented as she howled with laughter.

"Ok, sorry there hawk-pig." Nairo apologized, still confused. "Didn't mean to offend you." Hawk harrumphed but war was avoided. The conversation continued, turning of course to what they were going to do about Amogaru.

"We cannot cower here forever." Amelia said, and Libidine snickered in Nairo's head.

"You have something to say, spirit?" Mokali asked as she looked at Nairo with piercing eyes. She looked like she wasn't angry at Nairo or Libidine, just telling either to speak up.

"Was the spirit talking?" Sarah asked as she calmed down, as the demigods looked at Nairo with concern.

"I said nothing." Nairo said, parroting Libidine's answer perfectly. He even imitated her voice, apparently involuntarily since he winced afterwards. Mokali was having none of it, however. She decided to make this an internal issue, and she pulled the full party involved into a sort of private bubble. The Sins didn't need to hear this.

"Don't test me. I am not in the mood for your tricks, Libidine." Libidine sighed and appeared before them, unfazed by Mokali's dark tone.

"My queen, forgive me." She bowed deeply and straightened, "I merely laughed. I believe that a chance remark from me is not as important as the stratagems of destroying the despot of heaven. Now please, forgive my careless outburst and allow Amelia to continue."

Amelia glared at the spirit, but Mokali waved her hand to the female godslayer.

"I don't trust you, spirit. You are not as old as the other two." Mokali said as she she turned her head away and looked to Amelia.

"And we are not staying here forever, I will not allow it. I am getting back at the bastard that has hurt and killed my family." The goddess said with a stern tone at the end as one of her hands clenched into a fist.

"I agree." Arachne said, causing everyone to start. They'd forgotten about her. "The longer we stay, the more people die."

"True." Kami's voice also made people jump. He sat in the rafters upside down, using his tail to stay there.

"But if some of you went out there you would die because you wouldn't know how to fight."

"You kicked our butts for training." Sarah said as she glared up at the cat.

"Hey, you're not dead. If I was your enemy, you would be." Kami said, yawning. He dropped to the floor and padded over to the stove, taking a plate.

Sarah huffed and rolled her eyes and looked away. Katherine looked to Kami with calm eyes before speaking again.

"You were taught by getting your ass handed to you until you gave up and was shown. We do not have the time for that, we need to learn as quickly as possible." The girl made Kami pause. He looked down to the food before sighing.

"Yeah, I know. But I don't know how we can train you that quickly."

"Spirits are a nice shortcut, but that has its own host of problems." Nairo thought aloud. "And not everyone can do it. So that's out." Arachne nodded, she hadn't liked having the twins in her head.