Nightfall tossed the dodgeball up in the air and caught it with one hand. She let herself feel the weight shift in her arm, saw the trajectory in her mind's eye before she even made the toss. This, for once, was a part of Strix she felt completely confident about. Being a wife and mother had been harder than she expected, but this was literal child's play.
"Dodgeball is, ultimately, just a game of deception," she said, staring down.
Anya looked back up at her, wearing her gym clothes and a slightly confused expression.
"Last week you said Go Fish was just a game of deception," she said.
"All games are games of deception," Nightfall said firmly. She paused thoughtfully "But don't tell anyone you know that. That's part of the deception."
She bounced the ball a couple of times, listening to the satisfying "blomp, blomp", as the ball flopped up off the grass.
"Your classmates will inevitably focus on the surface elements of the game," she said. Blomp. "Throwing power. Dodging speed. Many of them will only be playing for fun. You must crush them for their ignorance."
"I thought you wanted me to make friends," Anya said.
"I do. That's why you must crush them. Graceful victory is the fertile soil of friendship," Nightfall said confidently.
"How many friends do you have, Mama?"
Blomp.
"...I'm your friend."
Nightfall recovered after a moment. She tossed the ball up in the air again, and caught it in her other hand. She pointed towards one of the trees on the edge of the field in the park. "Now, watch. Focus on my throwing form. Notice how I'm appearing to aim at that tree, then watch how my wrist actually moves."
She hurled the ball forward. It traveled in a straight line for a few feet, then lifted up and turned in a corkscrew until it hit the tree right beside the one she had pointed towards.
"Master the art of backspin, and you'll be able to hit the enemy where they least expect it," Nightfall said, walking over and picking up the ball. "Combine it with some basic misdirection and you'll be unstoppable."
She handed the ball down to Anya.
"Let's start simple. Try spinning it so it curves upwards. Move your wrist like so," she said, demonstrating in slow motion. "Now you try, remembering basic throwing form like we discussed earlier."
"Got it, Mama!"
Anya picked up the ball, and planted her feet in a perfect throwing stance. Then, heaving with her whole body, she launched the ball straight upwards, where it fell straight back onto her head and knocked her onto her back. Blomp, went the ball as it rolled away in search of new prey.
Nightfall picked Anya back up and set her on her feet.
"It's okay, Anya. Keep trying," she said patiently.
Anya rubbed her head and looked up at her curiously. She looked slightly taken aback, like she had expected a bigger response.
"I might lose, Mama," she said cautiously.
"No you won't," Nightfall said flatly. Anya goggled.
"You're sure?"
"Yes. Mama took care of that a long time ago."
One of the boys in the other class contorted his body and hurled the ball with all the strength that nature had afforded an average six-year-old. It sailed across the median in a perfect arc, straight towards Anya, who dodged it with a simple tilt to the side.
Anya felt the vibration through her feet as as the dodgeball smacked abruptly into a meaty palm behind her.
"Great dodge, Anya! Great catch, Billy!"
Bill Watkins, age 6 despite all available evidence, stepped forward to survey the opposing ranks like a great bespectacled colossus. He tossed the ball in his hand a few times, and with a single mighty heave he launched it back at the terrified opposing ranks, the ball sailing on a completely flat trajectory. Three first-graders went down. They didn't look like they wanted to get back up.
Most of Anya's class watched this display in either glee or reverent silence. Anya heard the whispering from a couple voices behind her:
"We're so lucky he's on our side."
"I heard he wasn't even supposed to be in our class. There was just some mix-up in the files."
The other class sullenly regrouped for a hopeless counterattack as Anya watched silently, with mixed feelings. Mama's methods got results, she couldn't deny that.