"Dad told me you''re his mum! I like mums. You''re all warm and give me plenty of hugs!" Appa wiggled at Calla and gave its usual cheery greetings.


    Calla picked up Appa and held it aloft, looking into its eyes as a few tears formed in her own. Calla glanced at Ares and quietly asked him, "I have a grandchild?"


    Ares nodded in response and silently said his prayers for Appa. For the foreseeable future if it wasn''t being smothered by Calla, then it was going to be smothered by Rhea instead. Appa''s cuddle-laden fate had been sealed. Not that it would ever complain about hugs, though, it probably thought all the smothering was paradise.


    Calla pulled Appa in and hugged the shade with and incomparably joyous smile on her face. Having grandchildren was a long-standing dream of hers and she''d promised herself to spoil them all rotten. They were her babies'' babies! Appa was cute and soft and Calla declared then and there, "It''s decided! You are my favourite!" Complete bias! Appa had that effect in people though so this wasn''t too surprising.


    Appa''s rope wagged. "YAY!" Appa was just happy to have more loving family members, the specifics were mostly irrelevant to it. That didn''t mean it didn''t like being the favourite though.


    Ares watched on with his hands massaging Enyo''s shoulders and they were both fully content with the way life was going. Both their parents were good friends and adored their daughter. Their siblings were at each other''s throats with regularity but there wasn''t any actual enmity. Their family would expand and there was no real issue preventing it; provided Major didn''t come stomping around anyway. It was too late to hide Enyo''s relationship with a revenant and it was impossible to hide Bellona''s involvement too so Major was not going to be pleased. Whether he would take action or not over it was up in the air but at least they had the support of the matriarchs and some of the patriarchs too. Maybe if Calla hadn''t been his mother would he have tried to keep the relationships a bit more low-key but now he felt more confident in the matter. Ares would have to be careful in the Vraizon domain, though, and potentially even in Sheryashka too around some Legion members under Major''s thumb. Just because of his union with the Legion sisters that didn''t mean he was off Scot free. on the contrary, amongst a specific group, he''d basically just put a massive target on his back. Either way that would be a problem for future Ares to deal with. It wasn''t likely he would have to deal with the repercussions of this any time soon. Right now he was just going to spend the night with his family and in-laws. No one else had any business interrupting which was precisely why Ares wanted to punch Mako when he tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Ares balled his fists and took a deep sigh. "Mako... What? Do? You? Want? Now?"


    Mako brought out a deck of cards and held them in front of Ares. "One game. You and me. Just talk to me during it and I''ll leave you alone after. You only have to put up with me until the game is over if you agree. If you don''t, I won''t quit pestering you the entire night."


    "You are a highly punch-able individual, you know that? Fine, fuck it, if it will get you out of my hair then whatever. What game are we playing?"


    Mako sat down on at the table and started shuffling the deck. He could feel a piercing gaze coming from the person behind him but he realised it was directed at Ares and not him so he ignored it. "Speculate. We''ll play a game of speculate. Do you know the rul..."


    Thud


    "Let me join!" Tyr leaned over the table and even banged his fist on it as he did so. Despite all the time Ares had spent at this table Tyr had not yet gotten a chance to interrogate him properly! So what if Rhea and Calla were accepting of these relationships? He wasn''t! He was going to grill Ares if it was the last thing he did!


    "Then perhaps I should join too?..." Scar took a seat and side-eyed Tyr. "... Speculate is a game in which you can target people you don''t like. Having both Mako and yourself go after a single individual is bullying no? The game operates on good faith which is a quality Mako doesn''t possess and you don''t either Tyr; at least not when your sisters are involved anyway."


    "How dare you insinuate such a thing, mutt? I would never let my judgement be clouded!"


    "Who are the prettiest people in this room?"


    "My sisters, obviously?"


    "Who are the most morally just people in the room?"


    "My sisters, obviously?"


    "Who are objectively the best people in this room regardless of the criteria they''re being judged on?"


    "My sisters, obviously?"


    "I rest my case."


    "What case?"


    Tsk


    "Can you two mind your own business?" Mako was not happy with this double intrusion. He wanted the one on one damnit!


    Ares glared at Mako. "Where do you get off telling people to mind their own business?! Mind your own before telling other people to! Who was it that dragged me into this stupid game anyway?! Just let them join in, who cares? What the hell is ''speculate'' anyway?"


    "... Fine, dumb brother one and dumber brother from another mother two can join."


    "You''re definitely number two." Tyr spat at Scar.


    "No the hell I am not you stupid sis-con." Scar returned with vitriol. He didn''t get mad often but he had a tendency to when dealing with this moronic side of Tyr.


    "Will you two shut up already?!" Mako promptly quietened down the rowdy eldest children and went on to explain the rules for speculate. "This game is simple. Everyone gets five cards and the goal of the game is to guess what cards the others are holding. If you guess correctly then that player is out. If you guess wrong, you''re out instead. On your turn you have one of three options. You can either investigate, interrogate, or speculate. Speculate is when you guess what five cards your opponent has in his or her hands. Interrogate lets you ask one person if they have a specific card. The person being interrogated must tell the truth unless they choose to use the one lie they have at their disposal. You cannot lie more than once but you can lie however you please. You can pretend you have a card you don''t, or you can pretend you don''t have a card you actually do. After you interrogate someone you get a chip. You can never have more than three chips at a time so if you have three you must investigate or speculate on your turn instead. Investigate costs a chip and lets you flip over one card on the table. When you start investigating, you must keep investigating whenever your turn comes around until you have used up all of your chips. So, for example, if you interrogate twice, get two chips, and decide to start investigating after, you have to investigate on your next two turns. Because you cannot have more than three chips you can''t interrogate four times in a row. That''s about the gist of it. There are various strategies you can go with but you can figure that out in your own time, I''m not giving you any advice on how to play."


    Ares ran through the rules in his head and he realised there were probably four main strategies. Lie early, lie late, interrogate often, investigate often. Lying early can be good against people who want to try and speculate early. It''s high risk, high reward. Lying late is safe but can go horribly wrong if someone calls you out for it. Losing without using your one lie would be a complete waste. Interrogating often means the game is more likely to end earlier as it can force out early lies if you guess correctly and the other person doesn''t want you to know. With your multiple chips stacked up after doing so your investigation will be more likely to find the card that calls them out on their lie. Investigating often means the game will go on for longer and come down to the wire. It reduces the amount of interrogations you''ll need to get the correct answer as most of the cards will already be confirmed to not be in their hand. It can also force someone with a lot of chips to investigate when they might not want to as it wouldn''t be beneficial to them. In short, it was a game with a decent amount of depth. One in which an individual''s characteristics and preferences actually mattered. Take Tyr for example... Was this guy ever even going to use his lie? Maybe if he had to but he''d probably avoid it up until the last minute if he could. Mako seemed like he was out to get Ares specifically so maybe he''d interrogate him often and keep his lie in reserve just to mess with him when it truly mattered. "Alright, I get it... Are you sure this is the game you want to play? I''ll tell you in advance, I''m very good at calling people out on their lies you know?"


    "Yeah yeah, if you say so." Mako dismissed Ares comment and started dealing out the cards to the four participants. In a way, this was a pretty big deal. The next generation of three of the four warring clans competing with each other like this was quite the sight. Two fundamentals duking it out was no small event either, even if it was only a card game. Maybe if Eagerton hadn''t been busy being ''creative'' off in the corner they could have had some representation of all four major clans in the Vraizon domain.


    Ares received his five cards last and he looked them over. Ace of spades, 10 of hearts, 3 of diamonds, 7 of spades, ace of hearts. That was his hand. Mako started and he immediately interrogated Ares. "King of diamonds?"


    "Yes." And Ares immediately lied to him! Even the way in which you lied mattered. Saying you had a card you didn''t was good for getting people out if they were overconfident. Say you didn''t when you did was good for outlasting people as the card you claimed to not have could never be found in the pile. Of course if someone asked you about the same card twice then you''d be completely screwed unlike the other option. Though there were layers to this game, Ares opted to play in a way that spited Mako specifically because he was downright annoying. The only issue with this approach was how awkward it would be if someone else had the king of diamonds.


    Scar went next and poked at Tyr with an interrogate before he was interrogated in return on Tyr''s turn. It really did look like it was going to be two different one vs ones occurring at the same time. Of course everyone''s decisions still mattered as someone could flip a card that screwed you even if they didn''t really want to. All the strategies you could throw out meant nothing if luck was not on your side.


    Ares'' turn came and he investigated Mako. "Jack of clubs?"


    "Yes."


    Was he lying? Was he telling the truth? Who knows... Well Ares was pretty confident he knew. Either way, a yes was usually a good answer to receive. You could only ever hear six at most from a person and the more you heard the closer you got to winning. "So what did you want to hassle me about then? Spit it out."


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Your magic. Don''t pretend you haven''t heard about mine from others. I haven''t heard anything about yours though and it would be incredibly unfair if we compete for you to have such an advantage no?"


    "That''s why you won''t leave me alone!?"


    "It''s important!"


    "Like hell it is! Whatever, if it''ll get you out of my hair then fine. I''ll explain as we play..." The game continued on while Ares described his aspects for a while. Eventually, after Ares had fully divulged all the information about his pillar, a conversation started about the war. Scar was the one who broached the topic to Mako because he was curious.


    "Mako, what are your thoughts on the war? Will you be taking part?"


    Mako looked across the table at Ares and pointed at him. "Only if he does. I''m aware of the power of fundamental pillars and I don''t think it''s right for us to get involved in any meaningful capacity. It would be like both sides deploying nuclear weapons. I would say nothing would be left afterwards but you damn cockroaches are impossible to kill so that''s not even true. Anyway, our job is to save the world, not destroy it. So no, WE shouldn''t. Isn''t that right, Ares? 4 of hearts?"


    Ares just shrugged. "No." Everyone on the table looked at Ares to which he snickered evilly and continued, "I do not have the 4 of hearts." Sighs of relief came from everyone who was uncertain about what this moron was talking about. Of course the menacing glares coming at him from the side as a result of his prank were not friendly so Ares pretended he was blissfully unaware of them. While Scar and Tyr took their turns Ares responded. "I don''t think there''s anyone here that doesn''t want the war to be over, so we''re on the same page in that regard. Us joining in would accelerate things until it got out of hand. Still, Mako, you and I both wanting the war to end is going to be problematic in and of itself right? There are some people who won''t be pleased about that and will act out to stop us, no? We are pretty much the biggest factors of change going forward. When our cultivations improve we will effectively be in charge of everything that goes on in the domain. Naturally those people who don''t agree with us are going to try and kill us and, while I''ll certainly be fine, what about you? 8 of clubs?"


    "No. Tsk, I''m not so weak I need protecting. Jack of spades?"


    "No. Are you sure I''m not going to find you dead in a ditch somewhere?"


    "I''ll figure things out so mind your own business. Besides, let''s stop prancing around the subject. The problem is Major and, let''s face it, he''s going to hate you way more than me. I imagine most of his efforts will be directed to you first and foremost. He''ll have trouble convincing the Legions to kill me because I''m a political ally and have a God given task. He''ll only go for me after you''re already dead and even then he''ll struggle to justify it. So don''t worry about me, keep your damn self safe otherwise you''ll seriously be hassling me you know?"


    "Aw, how kind. Aren''t you a big softie?"


    "Fuck you bastard, 3 of diamonds?"


    "It''s not even your turn moron. Scar and Tyr just went but I haven''t. 3 of diamonds?"


    "Of course not, idiot. Why would I ask you if I had it?!"


    "Maybe you''re trying to throw me off by pretending you don''t have it? It would be a valid strategy you know? I bet you do and your lying!"


    "You are actually the stupidest person I''ve ever met. King of spades?"


    "Nope."


    "Speculate."


    ""What?"" Mako and Ares looked ot the side and Scar nodded his head. He had just called a speculate... On who? Surely it couldn''t be Mako or Ares, they were still relatively safe? Was it Tyr?... Honestly, neither fundamental champion had been paying too much attention to the other two duking it out. They really should have because they might have obtained some decent information if they had.


    Scar repeated himself as he pointed at Tyr. "Speculate. 5 of spades. 5 of hearts. Queen of diamonds. Jack of hearts. 8 of diamonds."


    Tyr clicked his tongue and revealed his hands by placing his cards on the table. Sure enough, Scar had been correct and Tyr was out of the running. Tyr muttered to himself, "Maybe I should have lied..."


    Ares was dumbfounded. This fool actually didn''t lie at all?! Was he hoping everyone else would just believe he had so he wouldn''t actually have to?! What a guy... A guy that was staring daggers at him! Scar''s distraction had temporarily drawn Tyr''s ire but now the man was remembering why he even joined in on this game! "YOU! You do not deserve my sisters! Any of them! You do not have my permission!"


    Ares wasn''t entirely sure how to respond to this nutjob but thankfully he didn''t have to. As he looked at Tyr he saw Pele, Enyo, and Bellona congregating behind him with menacing smiles. Palioxis was too busy holding Phobos'' hand to come over but she was also giving him the stink eye from across the table. If there was one thing that all fours sisters agreed on, it was that Tyr had to be dealt with. This man would not allow any of them to ever get married if he was allowed to be this Tyr-annical so they were going to teach him a very violent lesson. Ares turned away and prayed for his brother in-law''s safety as the sound of pounding flesh, slaps, and yelps came into his ears. Ares had a game to focus on and he was doing really well right now too. His tricks had bamboozled Mako and he was in a solid position. Mako didn''t expect him to have the 3 of diamonds after the stunt Ares pulled and his lie at the very start was still going strong as the king of diamonds had yet to show up.


    The game continued and was nearing the homestretch. Ares had to admit to having the Ace of spades, the 10 of hearts, and the 7 of spades. Mako had to admit to having the jack of clubs, the 2 of clubs, the 7 of clubs, and the queen of hearts. Scar admitted to having the 3 of spades, the 5 of diamonds, the 10 of diamonds, and the 9 of hearts. No lies had been called out yet... Until Ares flipped over the king of diamonds and buggered himself! The others only knew three of his cards but his lie was gone so he was in a bit of trouble comparatively. His gamble had not paid off at all! The number of possibilities were dwindling for everyone and the cards on the table were nearly all flipped over. The game was entering its final stages.


    "Jack of spades?" Scar was asked by Mako.


    "No," was Scar''s response but, unfortunately, the next time Mako''s turn came around he asked him again.


    "Jack of spades?" Mako wasn''t convinced by Scar''s previous answer. Scar was not the kind of person who could lie so easily. It wasn''t in his blood despite being a revenant. He was more the ''if I want to annoy you I''ll do it by mocking you in combat by teaching you about all of your mistakes'' kind of revenant. It was arguably more annoying than someone like Ares because the last thing you wanted to hear as you were being beaten to death was that your stance had been inadequate.


    "... Yes." Scar had to buckle and admit it. His mannerisms had been deciphered by everyone at the table because his fidgety self was really noticeable in comparison to his usually unmoving self. Ares didn''t interrogate him though because he wanted Mako to waste his turn doing it. Plus Scar was his brother and they''d been teaming up on Mako for a while now. Mako would have kept gunning for Ares until the cows came home but he needed to get rid of Scar in order to win which was why he turned his attention to the man who was already nearly out. Ares flipped over a card, ending his turn, and Mako dealt the final blow to Scar.


    "Speculate. Jack of spades. 3 of spades. 5 of diamonds. 10 of diamonds. 9 of hearts."


    Scar sighed and laid out his cards in defeat. He''d lied when pushed to the very edge, and no sooner, but he had at least been willing to do it unlike a certain someone who had just finished receiving his lumps from his sisters. Still, Scar hadn''t been concerned with winning to begin with. His goal had been to distract Tyr from ganging up on Ares unfairly with Mako and, in that sense, he had been successful.


    The game carried on and Ares was forced to admit to having the ace of hearts. His last line of defence was the 3 of diamonds, the ruse he''d run with earlier... The question was how long was this dingus Mako going to take to realise his mistaken assumption? There were two un-flipped cards. Ares wasn''t sure if Mako had lied but he could still interrogate him further and that was his only option. "4 of clubs?"


    Mako smirked at Ares and stared him down. "Yes."


    Now the situation was tricky. Was he trying to bait Ares into guessing or was he still holding his lie? If Mako flipped over another card and it wasn''t the 4 of clubs Ares would be in a serious bind not knowing whether or not he had it.


    Mako flipped the leftmost card... And it was the king of clubs. Either Mako was holding the 4 of clubs or it was still on the table. As for the other card that was still a possibility, that was the ace of diamonds. Ideally Ares would interrogate Mako here and figure out once and for all what he had... But he''d already amassed three chips. He couldn''t do that any longer so he either had to flip the last card, and give away the win to Mako for free, or speculate. If he had one more interrogate his win would have come down to Mako''s fifty fifty speculate after but now it was all in Ares'' hands. Fortunately, Ares had already double checked the other cards Mako had so he knew the missing one was definitely either the 4 of clubs or the ace of diamonds... Ares looked Mako dead in the eyes. "Speculate. Jack of clubs. 2 of clubs. 7 of clubs. Queen of hearts..."


    Everyone bit their nails in anticipation, especially Mako who, last turn, after flipping the card, realised he was probably in a an atrocious position thanks to a certain problem... The stupid three of diamonds! Ares had asked him about it earlier... Which meant he''d been cornered!


    "... Ace of diamonds."


    "DAMN IT!" Make was mad! He knew he was lying about the 4 of clubs which also meant he had to be telling the truth earlier when he said he didn''t have the 3 of diamonds. Or rather, if he''d lied about the 3 of diamonds then he couldn''t have possibly said yes to having the 4 of clubs in the first place... In other words, he was convinced Ares knew he didn''t have the 3 of diamonds, leaving him with only one other option. Ares knew he was lying about the 4 of clubs, he knew neither of them had the 3 of diamonds... It was a 100% loss the second he didn''t flip the 3 of diamonds on the table! "You bastard, you had the 4 of clubs! Didn''t you!" Mako believed to the very end that Ares didn''t have the three of diamonds... He really truly did... Unfortunately for Mako''s sanity...


    "No? I had the three of diamonds."


    …


    …


    …


    "Excuse me?"


    "Three of diamonds. I had it. You''re just an idiot."


    "... Then you guessed that last card? You lucky bastard! I refuse to take this loss lying down! You didn''t deserve it at all!"


    "Most card games are luck though... Also, I told you, I''m really good at telling when people are lying. You didn''t believe me but I was warning you in advance. I never would have gotten that guess wrong you know?"


    "Damnit! I want a rematch!"


    "Hell no. Adhere to the earlier pre-requisite for me even taking part and leave me alone for the rest of the night."


    "Tsk... This isn''t over! You wait for the international! I deal with you there once and for all!"


    "Hmph. Careful now. If you throw down the gauntlet, you may end up having to run it too."


    Off in the background Eagerton was plagiarising with zero hesitation and or guilt.


    As for Mako, he did the ''I''m watching you'' gesture and left with a huff... Shortly after he left Enyo coughed to get everyone''s attention and Ares started sweating nervously... He could tell what was going to happen and it was not pretty... Damn you justice oriented wife! Why can''t you be more like Bellona and let this incident slide?!


    "I didn''t mention this earlier otherwise Mako wouldn''t have left..." Ares tried creeping away but Enyo held onto his feathered tailcoat and carried on. "... But Ares owes Tyr and Scar an apology at least."


    "Ha... Ha... Ha... Oh love of my life... I don''t know what you''re talking about? Aren''t you maybe mistaken?"


    "Absolutely not you cheating shmuck. Admit it!"


    Ack


    Ares was betrayed! Betrayed! "... Uh, so, uh, that last guess wasn''t a fifty fifty… Or rather I really shouldn''t have played this game to begin with..." All eyes were on Ares and they were not pleased with his admission of guilt! They were interested to know how he cheated though as they really hadn''t seen anything... "So... A while back I kinda inherited Enyo''s lie detector..."


    …


    …


    …


    ""BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"" The table, united in their disappointment against the dirty cheater, jeered at the shmuck! To think they trusted a revenant! Even Scar looked let down... The entire point of the game was that it revolved around one singular lie... And this crook was a human lie detector! Well not quite a ''human'' but that wasn''t the main point here... He hadn''t guessed Mako was lying, he damn well knew with certainty he was!


    Ares was assailed by a hail of boos but there was one person who wasn''t disappointed in him! His mother was clapping and laughing! As far as she was concerned Ares had truly embodied the spirit of being a revenant! That and he was her child so he could probably bomb an orphanage and she still wouldn''t care... Either way! Solace from the mean people! And her lap was free! He could hide!... Wait a minute... Why is her lap free? Shouldn''t Appa have been on it?


    Crackle


    Ares was turned into an ice block by Appa who was floating beside him underneath the table. Appa poked its head out and gave stern condemnation. "Dad! Mum told me to freeze you every time you cheat! Bad dad!"


    … That was very clearly not what Enyo had meant...