for hatician

[ninanna]

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Goddess - Intro class

[hatician]

[Kisuke, inspired by that admiration she had shown for his endeavors, decided that testing the psychological effects of her unrefined sugars could have a positive effect in his artificial bodies--the ones he used for rehabilitation. As all his more well-intended experiments went? It was par for course that it would go so disastrously regardless of his precautions and his isolation procedures. Suffice to say, he vanished without a soul in the shop realizing he disappeared.

He woke up as a young man, perched atop the corner of a high-rise building in Karakura's busy center. Looking on as a helicoptor took off from the roof behind him, Kisuke furrowed his brows with a measure of curiosity.]

This is new.[Dryly spoken, he sighed and looked away from it. Clad in the matte black shihakusho of Soul Society's Spy Corps, he leapt from his vantage point to seek out a new point to continue his patrol. Something about that evening had been strange. Many things, really. He woke up with no memory of where he'd been but he was out on a route in the middle of a human city--one that was much more advanced than the ones he'd been to before. There were no thicket huts or villages with dirt roads to be seen. Black stone and grey mountains of glass met him at every angle, save for the carriages dotted with lights on the ground.

Not that it mattered. If he was in the human realm, then he was supposed to be working. No need to wonder about any recent advancements. A hollow, snake-like and massive, ripped apart the sides of a building, glass raining down on the street under its heavy, steel-like scales. He cut a blue streak in the air, severing the hollow's mask in a single passing strike with his soul cutter, adjusting his mask once he came to a halt in the street. With an air sigh, he pulled down his face-mask and breathed out a pained sigh. In his side, a broken fang had been left embedded in his arm, just below the shoulder. He hastily gripped it and tore it free a groan of a sigh passing his lips. With the mask off, he looked quite young. Little more than a teenager.]

That was bad. Not clean at all...

[ninanna]

[Ishtar is quite upset. Very, very upset! She goes to harass her current favorite person and HE IS NOT AROUND? Which resulted in an awkward run-in with the kids (are they really kids, though? Something seems weird about them). In a fit of anger Ishtar zips away from the little ones and takes off into the skies to start looking for him.

It isn't difficult to find him, oddly enough. The sound of property destruction catches her attention, after all. Though when she arrives it's just as young Kisuke is tearing a fang from his arm. She only sees the back of his head, though. So displeased she calls out:]

You couldn't have even left a message for me?!

[hatician]

[Turning, he thumbed the handle of his sword, returning it to its scabbard. The woman who swept in to find him wasn't a hollow or a soul reaper. As such, he wasn't keen on speaking to her with it drawn though he couldn't help but take note of her promiscuous attire. Her strange, floating bow. Her red, spirited eyes. There was something strange about her and, when he reached to feel out the reiraku representing her spirit he found it was gold. A pristine, gold ribbon. He held it in his hand, grimacing. Such a thing was an oddity he had absolutely no experience with. This woman had him on edge even before she could make a further inquiry.

He might have greeted her differently if not for that. What did that mean?]

You have me mistaken for someone else. [The dull, listless look in that young man was turned on her. He didn't recognize her and, really, there wasn't an ounce of friendliness to him to be spared. He must have been there to work.]

Whatever you are, you shouldn't be flying openly in a city this dense with hollows. It's dangerous.

[ninanna]

Huh!? You look so young!

[But it's definitely him. It has to be! Ishtar swoops in to get closer seemingly ignoring his warning and instead more interested in insisting she actually does know him.]

Kisuke, are you messing with me again?

[Is this some kind of game or a joke? Ishtar is NOT a Mommy goddess!!!

Maybe a sexy Nee-san though.]

[hatician]

Because I am.

[He made a dissatisfied little sound in the back of his throat, not at all happy to be inspected by someone he regarded as an incalculable variable. Her clothing and jewelry made her stand out but more importantly, she knew his name. He could stare down the front of her bikini later when he had more information to work with.

He wouldn't be caught dead asking stupid questions. 'How do you know my name?' was on such a list. Dispassionately, he asked--]

What makes you think I'm messing with you?

[ninanna]

[Ishtar opens her mouth to speak, but shuts it after a moment of thought. Time is such a funny thing, even to a goddess, and is isn't stupid enough to forget the joke she made about creating a fountain of youth. Was this perhaps her fault, or maybe just a miscalculation on his part?]

You act as if we are strangers.

[Does he regard her with simple suspicion, or does this "more serious" Kisuke already regard her with disdain?]

[hatician]

I've never met you.

[Yet, she'd met him. He didn't sound driven one way or another. Regardless, if she wasn't a soul reaper then she was someone technically under his protection.

He was already thinking of how to resume his patrol with more hollows of that caliber.]

Yet, you've met me. [He followed through on that for clarity.] I believe it would be fair to suggest you'd stick out in a crowd so I wouldn't forget you in passing.

[ninanna]

Hmph! Very well. If that is the case then I, Venus Goddess Ishtar, shall protect you until you can return to normal. You have responsibilities I cannot let you abandon just because of some freak accident.

[Those kids. His shop. And... well, obviously she includes herself in that. Some odd combination of "he's responsible for her" and "he belongs to her". She has claimed him, after all! Quite thoroughly, she thinks!]

[hatician]

[Ishtar's proud declaration would have been more endearing to some goofy old man but he was on the job. That young man's extensive training covered a whole spectrum of topics and this precise situation fell under absolutely none of them.

Well, except for one. Frowning gravely, Kisuke held up three fingers. Certainly, she looked to be perfectly healthy but he had a touch of concern flash over his face.]

How many fingers am I holding up?

[A concussion test.]

1/2

[ninanna]

Don't mock m—!

[ninanna]

[The air seems to shake and the buildings rumble. Another enemy? Ishtar floats herself higher. Attempting to see most of the skyline as she summons both Maanna and her blade.]

Ridiculous. Who dares interrupt a goddess?

[If Ishtar is allowed to the source first it'd be like using a grenade to get rid of a ketchup stain. While her human body does limit her divinity, she is still by far too much fire power for most common occurrences.]

[hatician]

[Whatever her strange tools were, one of them clearly bore the appearance of a bow in its design. She called herself a goddess but the word was nearly meaningless to him. Those things were mysteries from the countryside to him. More importantly, she was living.

Rising up further along with her, Kisuke shook his head and held out his hand before Ishtar, still dripping crimson.]

It's not your responsibility. Please, return to your home and forget about this.

[ninanna]

Tch, idiot. You're still injured! Take a seat and behold what a goddess of war can really do.

[With ease she flies around him. Tearing off into the air to follow the disturbance to the source. Now, she doesn't really know the inner-workings of a Hollow or how to deal with them. But she never met a problem she couldn't fix by blowing it into shreds so small it can't recover.]

[hatician]

[The hollow she'd spotted had been settling into a park. The creature, shaped much like a spider, had been in the process of weaving an intricate web made of spiritual strands. Kisuke and Ishtar would easily spot the strands but someone without spiritual awareness would likely fall prey to it easily. It stirred, turning its glassy-eyed mask on Ishtar as she speared through the air like a missile to come for it and, barely catching up, Kisuke stopped in the air a few dozen yards above her, lifting both hands to cast an incantation.

A bolt of light conjured from his fingertips, looking to restrain Ishtar, but even before it could touch her skin--the entire strand of the spell simply burst into raw particles. As if turned into raw shards of glass.]

Miss, I'm not the one who matters here--

[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.]