for hatician

[ninanna]

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[ninanna]

Then who does matter?

[Say it. Say that it's her. She matters and that she is important. She's worth the struggle.

But even so, she does not need it. Ishtar has not "mattered" in the eyes of the people for so long. She has become obsolete and unimportant like all the other gods. And as far as worth goes? Well, it's inarguable that the weaker side shouldn't have to struggle for the stronger one.

The goddess had intended to dive bomb the spider-like creature and slice its head off his neck with her "lance," however the web keeps her from getting close. Kisuke's words cause the creature to turn their way which only gives Ishtar a moment to check for bystanders. Thankfully the park is empty. Perhaps that's why it started here - to set up while empty in hopes to catch any who filtered in.

It seems Ishtar takes no notice of his failed attempt to restrain her, and instead floats back just enough to summon multiple balls of energy that glow gold with her power. Shimmering in the sky until she looses them like arrows from a bow. The raw power arcs in toward the Hollow and pierces its body. Hurtling through it before they all explode turning the grassy clearing into something more akin to a shallow crater.]

[hatician]

You! Wait--

[A subconscious tick of sorts. Presented with a question he had no proper answer to, something in the back of his mind simply filled in the blanks. Warmth ran up his cheeks to his ears as he wondered whether or not this crazed woman was teasing him and what in the world for? That hollow looked aged enough that it would give a seated officer trouble but she was flirting in the middle of her efforts to dispatch it?!

He didn't have much time to warn her a second time. The hollow's attention turned to him and, in only a moment or two, Ishtar had begun raining down in a central point of the park that simply turned the hollow to molten dust before it began to fully collapse and dissolve into mere motes of energy.

It didn't leave him speechless so much as perturbed. The heated wind that rose from the blast left a dazzling shimmer on her skin and in her eyes that he was sure to remember even beyond his little experiment and yet--]

It's Ishtar, right?

[ninanna]

[As the coast clears her hair catches in the wind. Thick, dark locks flowing through the air as if suspended in water. It gives her an ethereal look as she closes the distance between them.]

Mm, so while you recover leave the work to me. I can definitely handle it.

[Though she seems a little tired. The energy came straight from her without using any gems as storage banks or conduits, and she doesn't technically have a master anchoring her here. What she relies on is the impressive output this body normally has to keep her sustained. But even that is sad compared to her original strength.]

[hatician]

['Beautiful' didn't sufficiently portray the nature of her. Her confidence and poise went just beyond the physical into a realm of something he simply didn't understand. 'Love' was one of those things he reasonably understood to exist but assumed was meaningless for his work.

Soul reapers died quickly, more often than not. He assumed any mission would be his last and saw no sense in the burdensome nature of attachment. So, her suggestion made him feel hollow. Was she offering to protect him?]

I can tell you're someone precious, so I can't ask you to take that task on.

[ninanna]

[Someone precious? When was the last time she got to hear that? This man who does not remember her thinks she's precious. To him? To the world at large? Either way it makes her heart skip a beat and her skin feel warm.

Ishtar settles in right next to him, and holds her hands above his wounded arm. This girl, this body in its other life, was a mage. Ishtar is sure of it. And so she tries to use the magical energy in her to heal him. Not entirely, but just simply closing the wound.]

How convenient that you will not have to ask, then.

[hatician]

[Kisuke didn't startle when Ishtar drew close to him but he became rather still not out of an abundance of caution but because she radiated quite a lot except hostility. Almost as if she'd wanted to be gentle with him, she stayed her hand just shy of his wound and began to apply magic to it.

He surmised it would take him thirty minutes to fix it himself even with his talent for recuperative spells but she fully sealed it in a matter of moments. Much more effectively than she'd even been intending. Hardly understanding the mystery of it, he understood there were little blank spots in his memory and in his thoughts that were being stolen away by her. By her name. He flexed his fingers, briefly setting eyes on the sealed, smooth skin where there had been torn and bruised flesh before.

It was a selfish thing to want to talk to her when he had to work and still, he already had a keen awareness that the beautiful goddess who found him wasn't likely to let him do quite so much as he pleased. Even as he asked his question, he noticed the little change in the flush of her skin and wondered how a girl could look even more beautiful with such a small change. Kisuke, somber, didn't bother hiding his doubts. Maybe it was simply a dream. A ridiculous city full of lights that went into the sky and a goddess swooping in to dazzle his eyes? Maybe he'd spent too much time dozing in his lab.]

How do you know me?

[ninanna]

I visit your candy shop often.

["We're friends" would have been an easy reply, but... she's not sure it would be right. He always seemed to act like she was too good for him. And while that does give her a nice little ego boost it also makes her a little sad she can't just match with someone equally. It's probably why she sought Gilgamesh after Dumuzid. Someone who wouldn't try and take her Authority because they had their own.]

We sleep together.

[That's a little more insightful.]

[hatician]

[He didn't know what he expected to hear. Some subtle recollection of a pleasant evening? Maybe she'd passed him before and he had the weakness of fortitude to forget her. Maybe it had been something he'd forgotten on one of those nights he enjoyed drinks with the seated officers.

No. Clearly, by the sudden and humorless way his brows knitted together, he'd clearly expected quite a number of things other than what pierced his ear drums. How could one so expertly weave a nightmare together with a pleasant dream?]

Please, be transparent if you're teasing me. 'Working in a candy shop' sounds like an old man's failure of a rebound job and 'having slept with a goddess' is something reserved for a fitful dream.

[ninanna]

Have you tumbled back so far you've lost all imagination? Candy shop is a cover front, and do you think if it wasn't a goddess would admit to sleeping with such a person?

[Hmph! Ishtar begins grabbing at his shoulders as if trying to lead him away from the park.]

We should find somewhere else to talk! People can see this human body, after all.

[hatician]

[A cover? It could have been a prank. Some petty revenge for his mean-spirited treatment of Yoruichi's suitors or the samples he'd stolen from Kirinjo's springs. Even so, he had no inclination to push back against Ishtar when she pushed him along. His eyes drifted from point to point, checking corners and inspecting absolutely everything around him. It all looked a little too lived in and, distantly, he found himself already ignoring the sound of sirens.]

I could do a better cover than 'candy shop'. That's frustrating.

[ninanna]

Shut up, I like it.

[Ishtar pinches him, hard, before spotting an empty rooftop nearby they can settle on. Clouds gather in the distance. Rain may be in their future.]

Anyway, what does that matter? It's not like I'll drag you all the way back there when you'll just unsettle anybody who may be looking for you there!

[No, she'll probably try and keep him secret unless this change lasts for longer than a week. Though she may cave at 4 or 5 days, depending.]

[hatician]

Ah. [Pinched and still quite confused by the state of things, Kisuke turned back to Ishtar, a dry inquiry dripping from him as if he still didn't believe anything she said. Some older state of him had been using a candy shop as a front for... something's cover and he'd been courting a foreign goddess?]

By 'there', I assume you mean that candy store I use as a front. If it's my store then why wouldn't I... [A rumble, far across town. With it came a presence Ishtar would likely recognize as the polite and easy-to-tease young man Kisuke insisted was his hapless student and it was going about to erase hollows with far more power than one really needed to swing around in a city that tightly packed. Rather than feeling relieved, he simply paled when he recognized it was a soul reaper.]

...Why would I even be needed in this city?

[ninanna]

You said you were a mentor to some newbie, I think. And you take care of two kids, but I'm not sure they're actually kids.

[She's a little disappointed he didn't have a bigger reaction to her pinch... But she's too tired to fuss at the moment. Nuking a Hollow and then healing his wound? Took a fair bit out of her. When they reach the rooftop Ishtar frowns, but she lets her feet touch the ground.]

[hatician]

I see.

[It wasn't that he had a talent for discerning honesty but Ishtar wasn't putting any effort into it. Besides, everything about her seemed to line up with her claim, so there wasn't particularly much wiggle room to make anything exciting up. Gradually, Ishtar had been winding down to the point that he noticed easily enough. Did she miss him?

Without thinking, as Ishtar descended to touch the rooftop, he wordlessly cast a binding kido. It summoned fabric made of spiritual particles and it was meant to bind someone harmlessly but instead, he simply laid it flat so she'd have somewhere soft to settle.]

You enjoy his company?

[ninanna]

[Since she doesn't touch the ground very often her feet are bare. Which means it's all the more noticeable when she lands and she's not feeling rooftop on her soles. A soft smile plays on her lips, and before she replies the goddess reaches out to brush the back of her hand affectionately along the curve of his cheek.]

I enjoy your company.

[They are one and the same after all.]

[hatician]

[So, with a gesture he couldn't for the life of him process quickly enough, Ishtar's touch left Kisuke beet red. That feeling when he first laid eyes on her came up, blooming into something that left his throat dry and he swallowed near audibly in an effort to recover. He lifted one hand as if he were ready to touch his cheek and realized she'd still been there and simply let it hang limp, not knowing what to do with it.

It wasn't as if she couldn't disarm him to that extent normally but at that moment, he simply had no idea what to do and he had no idea how to conceal it.]

[ninanna]

Oh, well look at you. I've not been able to see you this cute quite yet.

[Her hand turns around so her palm can cup his cheek properly. Ishtar leans in with a smile as her eyes drink in the sight of him being on the receiving end.]

Would you hate it? If I stole those tempting lips of yours?

kisuke lily has yet to become kisuke alter

[hatician]

[The dangerous nature of her eyes, ruby-red and alluring as her hair rolling over her shoulder as if she were deliberately trying to frame her curves and draw his eyes' attention all over her.

His lips had yet to be touched.]

I wouldn't. As long as you're not teasing... [Her breath, soft on his cheek, made his heart race.]

time to pop kisuke cherry

[ninanna]

Can't I tease and also been sincere? To make it so you keep that lovely color on your cheeks makes riling you up very tempting.

[She loves it. He seems so entranced, so captivated by her. Ishtar finds herself thrilled by this, and wastes no time leaning in to lock her lips softly with his.]

yup that's timetravel JUST to give her his virginity

[hatician]

[He hadn't a clue what romance was until he felt the weight of her words and how they melted against his lips. His occasional little crushes, the ones that went nowhere, seemed pitifully shallow compared to that little glimmer of affection in her eyes reserved solely for him.

It would take him a few moments of surrendering to her lips, when Ishtar took him softly, before he worked up the nerve to kiss her back. Slowly and carefully with none of the familiarity she would recognize in him and still, his chin was the same. His jaw, his ears and even the tousle of his messy bangs were a reminder of who he was while she let him know who she was. Were she tempted she could move him whichever way she found compelled her.]

[ninanna]

[Ishtar doesn't keep his lips overly long. She doesn't want to overwhelm him! Instead she rests one hand on his waist and the other at his shoulder. Almost in the gentle sway of a dance she guides him to turn around so she can lower him to the soft spot he manifested for her feet earlier.]

You're really cute, you know. I could just eat you right up.

[hatician]

[With the gentle lead she took with him, Kisuke dimly recalled a gentle warning from an instructor. Ishtar's touch had been soft and, without realizing, he moved so easily beneath it. Even subtly, the young soul reaper could smell her perfume and still felt the warm memory of her lips brushed over his.]

You're... [He wanted to complain but she said she'd slept with... him. Nothing about him sent her running. If anything, she was almost eager to draw him to his knees and, before he knew it, she had. Their difference in height seemed to vanish.

His voice, somewhat heady, followed as he dizzily recalled something aloud while drinking in the sight of her lips.]

I was told... to be cautious of beautiful women that would devour me. [He swallowed.] Should I be?

[ninanna]

Hah! Yes, you should be. Especially if those women aren't me. However, if it would make you feel better I would let you devour me instead. Do you have a preference?

[He's on his knees now, and there are so many ways "devour me" can be taken. She could even just put on a show for him and enjoy his reaction if he'd like. While Ishtar waits for his answer she fills her time with caressing him. Cupping his face in her hands, moving them upward into his hair to massage his scalp. Any which way she can continue to touch him. To feel him.]

yep she's gonna get pampered fierce for being so sweet...

[hatician]

Ah... [Whatever cohesive thoughts he might have had would have likely offered him ground to catch his breath but Ishtar turned it all to steam when she ran her fingers through his hair. He shut one eye, holding his breath for a moment. Almost apprehensive. He had no idea what she'd do. Her fingers threaded through his hair, almost comforting, and dispelled that moment's anxiety.

He'd been ready for a great number of pains but gentleness was an unknown. Ishtar's offer drew a gentle gasp from him, wondering if his imagination painted the right picture.]

I don't know... but... d-devour you? [Out of all his little meticulous plans--he found nothing at all made him ready for that night.]

she's so sweet because she thinks he won't remember!!!!

[ninanna]

What, don't want to taste a goddess? If you're apprehensive I can offer you something else. But if you don't mind... I'd like to taste you. If just for a moment.

[One hand falls back down to cup his cheek and keep his face still. Holding him for a moment as her thumb brushes affectionately at his bottom lip. While that happens she drags her tongue along his opposite cheek. Brief, but hot and full hunger. Though perhaps not the hunger that would have him fearing for his life.]