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When the thought that Honey was going to do nothing about her new temper tantrum dawned on her, Ilistala turned off the tears like a faucet, only not as clean: several tears still dripped out of her eyes, and the hiccuping, an important ingredient in any hissyfit, still plagued her for several more minutes.

Finally calmed down enough, Stala huffed a sigh and watched Karma quit his fit on the floor and pick up a cookie. What a moron! He was obviously copying her--hey, wait. Cookie? Cookie! Stala squealed and hopped over to Karma on her rear end, far too lazy to get up and walk. She snatched a cookie off the dirty, linty rug and began her own delightful snack. Cookies are awesome.

Several seconds passed, and Ilistala grew bored. "Cookie?" she said, offering a a half-eaten, slobber-infested cookie to Honey. As if there wasn't enough on the floor and in the jar. Maybe she was trying to make peace? Yay!

Of course it was necessary to eat the dreaded cookie of slobbery doom! Honey and her were practically best friends forever! Squealing when her offering was accepted, Stala popped the other half of cookie into her mouth, chewing and munching and spewing tiny wet chunks into the air with unabashed glee.

"Stala," the toddler said once her snack was done, tapping her chest and finally deeming it an appropriate time to introduce herself. "Honey like cookie?" She swiped another cookie off the carpet and munched on it, eagerly awaiting Honey's answer. "Nother?"

Nodding when Honey seemed to question his own name (that was what the Creepy Horned Lady called him, so that had to be his name, no ifs, ands, or buts), Stala polished off her second cookie and wiped her fingers across the dirty carpet, ridding them of crumbs but adding lint and germs.

She reached forward for another cookie, perhaps this time an oatmeal, or hell, maybe even one of those Keebler fudge cookies because those weird little elves were funny looking and Stala always wanted to crush their heads between her fingers, but she stopped when Karma finally gave out his real name. Obtaining her sugary desire, she popped the whole thing into her mouth and looked up, opening her mouth and chewing to respond.

But she was cut off, however, when the Creepy Horned Lady finally came back. What the hell? Watching the verbal death match between mother and son, Ilistala hiccuped, swallowed her blob of saliva-drenched cookie, and stared right back at Bani when she received the special look. What? Was there something on her face? Wiping an arm under her chin and finding nothing but a long-forgotten string of drool, the Shattered toddler waved right back at Karma before the both of them left.

Well then, that was fun! What now?

There wasn't much to do, really, except wait, and that was exactly what Ilistala did. About ten minutes later, Ioyla poked her head between the door and its frame, exhausted, her cheeks tinted pink and a particularly nasty cut on her chin. That fist fight with the security guard at the office building wasn't exactly a good idea... "Stala, y'ready t'go?"

Ilistala perked when Ma came calling, and she crawled to her feet, toddling over to the door and babbling with each step. "Ma, I met Kahma!"

Lifting a brow, the young demon snatched her child out the daycare center and tore the shirt off her belly, blowing raspberries. Ilistala screamed and laughed, squirming to get away from the pleasureable torture, but no such thing happened. Finally, Ioyla stopped just long enough to hoist Stala up and into her arms. "You want some Skettios for dinner?" she asked, stroking the back of Stala's head.

"Whashape?" the toddler fired back.

"Uh. Batman."

"Kay," she agreed, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. Carrying her daughter, who was only slightly full from the cookie feast, Ioyla and Ilistala made their way back to Aekea.