Athena x Nike

#94 * Man down

A perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised itself and perfected her puzzled expression.

"Seems like one hell of a battle out there." Nike chuckled, seeing Rexhenor pressed against the wall.

It almost seemed like he wanted to disappear into it.

"You have no idea."

He even kept his voice low and glanced upwards in the direction of the staircase. It didn't help much as he couldn't see either of the kids from his position.

"What on earth are you two talking about?"

Rexhenor and Nike shared a look. As much as they loved the puzzled deity, this was something she would have a hard time understanding. Sometimes they pitied her. No matter how smart or clever she was she would never truly understand the concept of playing. Athena had never been a child, instead born an adult. She would never know what it was like to see those plastic darts as a deadly bullet. She would never know what it meant to see the floor as lava that would kill you the instant your feet touched the floor. She would never, not in her entire immortal life, be able to feel the happiness and thrill related to these kinds of games. Even if it were explained to her, she would not have the imagination necessary to truly play. Her ever logical mind made sure of that.
Athena eyed her captain and her wife, wondering what that gaze meant. Every bit of the long second that the look lasted was agonizing. She hated not knowing.
Rexhenor was about to open his mouth when she held up her hand.

"You know what, I don't want to know. It doesn't matter."

She turned to Nike.

"Let's get that map from the library shall we? The sooner we finish up our work, the sooner we can all do something nice together."

The victory goddess would stop her wife and counter her if she knew her efforts wouldn't be in vain. She was convinced that all her wife needed sometimes was just a moment of silliness. Instead she smiled at Athena and nodded.

"Of course, my love."

Besides, the promise of being able to hang out with her family was a great motivator as well.

"After you."

She stretched her arm out as a sign for Athena to lead the way. Up above at the top of the staircase the two kids huddled together. They heard the voices of their moms in the hallway downstairs.

"What are they saying?" Daemon asked.

"I don't know, but it's probably just them talking with Rex, nothing for us to worry about." Alexia said.

"In fact, this gives us a chance to get ready for when he does step away from that wall. He can't hide there forever." She added.

Daemon checked his magazine. The chain of darts was nearly empty.

"I'm nearly out of darts though."

"I think I have one more strip in my room." Alexia offered.

Quietly, yet surprisingly quickly she moved to her room and took the final chain of nerf darts from underneath her bed. She returned to her little brother, who used it to reload his machine gun.

"I only have two more clips myself." She whispered to him.

"Do you have an empty one?" Daemon asked.

Alexia nodded, placing it on the floor between them.

"Here use these."

Daemon dug in his pockets and took out enough darts to fill the empty clip.

"Picked them up on our way through the living room." He grinned.