Orbits in Decay
Chapter 2:
"The moon is not, per se, in a stable orbit. It will take time to finally fall to Earth. The accident that pulled it bodily from where it had started from couldn't have placed it in any sort of true non-decaying orbit. The shear power involved would have turned us into another asteroid belt."
-High school Physics instructor, when asked about action and reaction..
Urd, by the simple fact of her hovering nearby, was the first to answer the phone. She placed the receiver by her ear, knowing that it involved the current wish that Bell had just been told to grant. "This is the Morisato and Odinschide residence. May I help you?"
Skuld, who had recently decided that she was finally experienced enough to take another shot at being an adult, stuck her head out of her room and made a 'who is it?' gesture. She received her answer as she watched her eldest sister blanch slightly and stick a single finger straight up, then clench her fist and flash it open. She gave Urd a quick nod. 'Pop', indeed. She waited patiently until her now whey-faced and shivering older sister hung up the earthly device, then her curiosity got the better of her. "So, Urd-neechan," she hummed in a somewhat sly tone, "did Father chew you out?"
The white-maned goddess stood blinking for about a minute, then seemed to pull herself back into the here and now. "Squirt," she stated in a flat voice, "Kami-sama just set up three Labors for that girl of Ameratsu's."
The youngest of the Norn began to bigsweat. "B-b-but that means...," she stuttered out.
Urd tucked her legs up underneath herself. "I know," she agreed. "What makes it even worse is that Ama-chan wants us to administer them."
This registered to the younger megami. "Uhhh," she gurgled, "doesn't a Labor-level testing need a..."
The older goddess sighed. "It's being handled," she confided. "They'll get here in about an hour."
***********************************************
}}SENBEI!! MARA!! SCARLET!!! GET IN HERE, NOW!!!{{ The overwhelming bellow of a disturbed Hild caused the three summoned to move with such aclarity that they managed to wedge themselves into the doorway.
Scarlet, who looked surprisingly like a fiery-haired version of Nabiki Tendo, managed to elbow the other two backwards and propel herself to stand in front of the onyx slab that served as the fallen Goddess' desktop. "Whatcha' want, Boss?" she growled. "I was just in the middle of a really good assignment."
The white-haired 'Goddess of Nielfhelm' glared at the snide demoness. "I don't give a set of warm rat's entrails what YOU wanted," she hissed, letting her aura crackle around herself. "My brother is letting that Tendo girl have a chance to be with her soul mate."
Mara was suddenly within a half centimeter of facefaulting onto Hild's desk. "WHAAA!" she shrieked. "The little mortal that couldn't hold her temper is getting a chance at THAT??"
Hild chuckled. "Yes," she replied. "Three Labors, the girl has to pass two. The Norn are the administrators, you three are the controls." She let her face fall into a rare neutral look. "But we have a little problem."
The tiny 'God of Misfortune' spoke up. "Senbei asks what problem, Mistress?"
The Archdemoness continued in a flat voice. "Her sponsor is Ameratsu," she husked.
Their reply was unanimous. "GULP!"
************************************************
Kami-sama sat back in his chair. "So," he stated in a neutral, almost-mortal, voice, "do you think that this girl has what it takes?"
His visitor belted her sword around her waist, over a set of mortal-looking clothing: a pair of bleached denim slacks and a red wool work shirt. "That girl has a lot of drive," she replied. "I haven't seen her like since... well, since Susano-o managed to get me out of my last funk."
The leader of the heavens let out a booming chuckle. "She's really gotten to you, hasn't she?" she asked around his chuckles.
Ameratsu pulled her hair from it's customary bun to allow it to hang free around her neck, lightening the color to a strawberry blond as she did. "You should know why," she chided.
His smirk widened. "Yes, I do," he conceded. "As it was said in America, 'She's a real spitfire'." He tilted His head to one side, looking at her a bit quizzically. "But why in My name are you dressing like that?"
The Japanese sun goddess grinned as she tweaked her eye color to a glowing red-amber. "It wouldn't do for her to catch on to just why I have such an interest in her, now would it?" she snickered.
"No," He agreed. "It wouldn't." He waved her off. "So say I, meet with thy charge, watch over her and bring her to me and My sister, here when it is done."
Ameratsu felt her hair 'toing' out into a full halo. "WHAT...!!!!" she squeaked as she faded out.
**********************************************
[[[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't get your panties into a knot over this... It's all just setup.]]]
**********************************************
Akane's first image upon awakening was the sun just passing behind the tiled roof of a temple. Allowing herself a few moments to get her bearings, she had to chuckle at herself for her obvious daydream.
"Tendo-san?"
Which lasted for all of a half-second. She moved as if Gosunkugi had just laid one of his cold, clammy hands upon her tail bone; in a move that Belldandy would later swear upon her own godhead was a instinctive teleport, the dark-haired mortal was suddenly plastered against the inside of the compound's wall. "Belldandy-sama!" she eeped.
The gray-maned goddess, once again in the sundress she was wearing in the restaurant, stood there giving her a look that her own sister often used; the one that seemed to say, 'why in the world are you acting so silly?'
She allowed her back to unmold itself from the plaster-covered stone. "Ah-heh," she chuckled weakly. "I thought I was just dreaming all this."
"It's no dream," a gently smiling Belldandy soothed. "In fact, Ameratsu is waiting inside the shrine itself to talk with you."
A soft, warm contralto voice sing-songed from the large structure mentioned. "Bell-chan?' the young-sounding voice called. "Could you send her in here? I'd like to speak with her/"
The mortal woman staggered slightly to the indicated doorway, her face in a ghastly, grin-like rictus. "Ara,ara,ara,ara," she stammered.
The door slid open in front of her, revealing a goddess that appeared to be around her own age. The deity was clothed in a nondescript pair of faded jeans and a button down scarlet work shirt. Her sunset-colored eyes twinkled with an inner fire that matched the asterisk-shaped sigil centered on her brow. "Ah, hello Akane-chan," the Japanese deity in drab greeted her. "Come in." She grabbed the mortal woman's arm and bodily hauled the girl into the building, shutting the door behind them. The fair haired goddess took a few minutes to walk around the stiffened mortal. "Ah, yes, hmm, well, alright, acceptable," she muttered as she poked, prodded and judged. She paused and took a closer look at her charge. "Akane-chan," she probed gently, "what is wrong?'
Akane felt as if she were being laid open by a gigantic mad doctor; every bit of evil she had ever done, as well as all the unrewarded good, was on display. She felt...
"WAAAAAH!!!!!"
...extremely unworthy. She spun away, shaking like a leaf and bawling like a baby, until a set of warm arms wrapped around her.
"Shh," the fiery-haired goddess murmured into her ear. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Akane-chan. No matter what may happen, I will be there to help you."
The dark-haired girl hiccuped a couple times as her tears slowed. "You w-will?" she managed around a tight throat.
The slightly taller goddess leaned over her shoulder to look into her eyes. "I sponsored your wish," she pointed out. "You want to be with Ranma, right?" She watched Akane nod, then smiled grimly. "And that will be your greatest strength in your Labors."
The Tendo girl could hear the emphasis in the final word. "Ameratsu-sama," she began.
The goddess pouted cutely. "Call me Ama-chan, ne?"
Akane gulped. "Ama-ch-chan," she reiterated, "Of all the wishes that are filled..."
The goddess lifted a single finger to place upon the mortal girl's lip. "Why yours, right?" Not waiting for a reply, the goddess released her and turned Akane to look her in the eyes. "Why not? Of all the people that I can claim as my 'worshipers,' there are darn few that have the conviction to stand up to the abuse that you did. Right or wrong, you were always honest with what you believed in, never backing down or giving an inch unless it was truly necessary." She wiped a stray tear from the blushing girl's cheek. "You, one of the few who were never a conformist, were also the only one to stick to this self-imposed ideal. And as Aphrodite says, 'Love will find a way'." A sly smirk formed. "So, stick to your guns, girl."
Akane giggled softly. "Alright, Ama-chan," she promised. After a moment, she sobered. "Um," she inquired softly, "what are these Labors I'm going to have to do?"
The sun goddess' expression was suddenly all business. "Sit, Akane, and I will inform you." She followed the other woman down and waited a few moments for her to get comfortable. "Now, I can't tell you exactly what your Labors will be right now, but the practice is one to test the qualities that are needed by a particular being to fulfill a contract. Wishes like yours are just one sort of contract; but a wish of the magnitude that you made is such that it automatically falls into such a test."
The mortal girl twirled her thumbs. "How does the testing work?" she asked quietly.
Ameratsu sighed. "The judges in a Labor are generally those who are not involved directly. In this case, that is a problem; your wish rattled a lot of the structure in the spirit plane. So, the judges in this will most likely be..." She cleared her throat, then pointed one index finger up and the other straight down. "The bosses."
"Really?" Akane squeaked in so high of a pitch that, had she been talking to anyone mortal, she would have not been heard.
"Mm-hmm," the goddess confirmed. "Now, about the Labors themselves...."
**********************************************
The three Norse goddesses traced the first warding circle in the small lot near the shrine. As the three worked, the youngest of them asked the big question. "Why are we the ones to test this girl?"
Surprisingly, Urd was the one to answer. "Father wanted the test to be complex, I suspect. Between the three of us, time itself is open, as well as love, nature and technology."
Bell finished the sigil she was working on and looked up at her sisters. "Here comes our counterparts from Nielfhelm," she stated quietly.
The other two rounded quickly, to see the three approaching while waving a soot-gray cloth. "Hold, Norn," Scarlet warned. "We come under the oath of Testing." She swept a low bow. "To the goddesses and mortal involved, we only will do as we were bid from our Fell Mistress." A low grumble rose from the ground. The fiery maned demoness glared downward. "C'mon Boss, it's in the script." A softer grumble issued. "Alright, alright." The demoness turned her glare back toward the deities. "Let's get the he...ck on with it."
The three demons each pulled out chunks of charcoal to start scoring out glyphs to match the already drawn deifiic writing. The structure rapidly formed, shining with a combination of golden glory and fitful reddened glare. As the last marks were made, the circle flared once.
In the place of a circle drawn in the dirt with chalk and charcoal, there now stood a disk of swirled white and black marble, with the writing embedded within in alternating black iron and chromed silver.
The six supernatural entities stood then in a rough line, each with a slightly awed expression. "It's ready," they stated in chorus.
*********************************************
As the skies became fully dark, the two groups finally sat together in the modestly sized tea room in the house attached to the shrine. Akane had expressed a few reservations about being around demonic beings, but was reassured somewhat when Belldandy had explained that they were here as the contingent for the 'other side,' so to speak.
Scarlet began the introductions. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Tendo," the demonic image of her year-older sister. "I am known as Scarlet, Demoness of Greed and Rage." She sketched a sardonic bow. "Until that little, heh, 'drama' a few years ago, I was assigned to watch and influence your family because of that mortal, Happosai." The nefarious oni smirked in a condescending manner. "Pity, it would have been fun to drag you down."
Senbei, temporarily enlarged to human size, made a formal bow. "I Senbei, Spirit of Misfortune. Senbei also know Family of Tendo." He grinned in restrained glee. "Made Senbei happy-dance several times."
The final demoness gave her a jaunty wave. "Mara, Demoness of Inappropriate Moments," she chuckled. "Seems we all had worked on you at one time or another."
Akane sighed. "I'm touched, really," she stated, deadpan.
Both Mara and Urd giggled. At the mortal girl's askance look, the goddess in question responded. "We've all looked at your files, Akane-san. Between you and your Ranma, just about every kami and oni has meddled in your life. About the only one who hasn't done anything is Loki."
The raven haired girl blinked. "Loki didn't mess with either of us?" she puzzled. "Isn't he the God of Mischief in Norse mythology?"
Mara answered her. "Yeah," the demoness chuckled. "The one time I ran into him, he was just shaking his head. He said that if he meddled, it would've probably made things better than what they did. Plus, he said that both Hild and Kami-sama forbid him."
Ameratsu began to giggle. "Loki-kun was so mad!" she snorted. "The only way he was able to calm down was to replace Susano-o's spiked club with a inflatable bat."
Everyone pictured this, and began to laugh.
The ice broken, the tension spent temporarily, each was able to relax until it was time for the lone mortal to go to bed. Akane slipped quietly into bed, whispering, "I'll be with you soon, anata."
********************************************
SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF ALL UNDERSTANDING:
The place was neither Asgard nor Nielfhelm, neither holy nor profane. Made long ago, it was a place to allow various beings from either side to get away from the rigors of eternity for a moment.
It was also standing room only.
One entire wall was a television. Or to be exact, something so advanced from television as television was from cave paintings. It didn't matter. The amassed beings were waiting for the entertainment to begin: one half of the 'Nerima Duo' was about to begin her first Labor. With all that this pair had done, this was bound to be good.
Regardless if the girl passed, the entertainment was bound to be good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Here we go! The Labors are set to begin! Thanks to Metroanime for the idea of Laboring, I have a few ideas.
Even if I totally BONE this, I want to have a little FUN! So just play along with me, alright?
Do I need to say anything about who owns these characters? Thought not.
Chapter 2:
"The moon is not, per se, in a stable orbit. It will take time to finally fall to Earth. The accident that pulled it bodily from where it had started from couldn't have placed it in any sort of true non-decaying orbit. The shear power involved would have turned us into another asteroid belt."
-High school Physics instructor, when asked about action and reaction..
Urd, by the simple fact of her hovering nearby, was the first to answer the phone. She placed the receiver by her ear, knowing that it involved the current wish that Bell had just been told to grant. "This is the Morisato and Odinschide residence. May I help you?"
Skuld, who had recently decided that she was finally experienced enough to take another shot at being an adult, stuck her head out of her room and made a 'who is it?' gesture. She received her answer as she watched her eldest sister blanch slightly and stick a single finger straight up, then clench her fist and flash it open. She gave Urd a quick nod. 'Pop', indeed. She waited patiently until her now whey-faced and shivering older sister hung up the earthly device, then her curiosity got the better of her. "So, Urd-neechan," she hummed in a somewhat sly tone, "did Father chew you out?"
The white-maned goddess stood blinking for about a minute, then seemed to pull herself back into the here and now. "Squirt," she stated in a flat voice, "Kami-sama just set up three Labors for that girl of Ameratsu's."
The youngest of the Norn began to bigsweat. "B-b-but that means...," she stuttered out.
Urd tucked her legs up underneath herself. "I know," she agreed. "What makes it even worse is that Ama-chan wants us to administer them."
This registered to the younger megami. "Uhhh," she gurgled, "doesn't a Labor-level testing need a..."
The older goddess sighed. "It's being handled," she confided. "They'll get here in about an hour."
***********************************************
}}SENBEI!! MARA!! SCARLET!!! GET IN HERE, NOW!!!{{ The overwhelming bellow of a disturbed Hild caused the three summoned to move with such aclarity that they managed to wedge themselves into the doorway.
Scarlet, who looked surprisingly like a fiery-haired version of Nabiki Tendo, managed to elbow the other two backwards and propel herself to stand in front of the onyx slab that served as the fallen Goddess' desktop. "Whatcha' want, Boss?" she growled. "I was just in the middle of a really good assignment."
The white-haired 'Goddess of Nielfhelm' glared at the snide demoness. "I don't give a set of warm rat's entrails what YOU wanted," she hissed, letting her aura crackle around herself. "My brother is letting that Tendo girl have a chance to be with her soul mate."
Mara was suddenly within a half centimeter of facefaulting onto Hild's desk. "WHAAA!" she shrieked. "The little mortal that couldn't hold her temper is getting a chance at THAT??"
Hild chuckled. "Yes," she replied. "Three Labors, the girl has to pass two. The Norn are the administrators, you three are the controls." She let her face fall into a rare neutral look. "But we have a little problem."
The tiny 'God of Misfortune' spoke up. "Senbei asks what problem, Mistress?"
The Archdemoness continued in a flat voice. "Her sponsor is Ameratsu," she husked.
Their reply was unanimous. "GULP!"
************************************************
Kami-sama sat back in his chair. "So," he stated in a neutral, almost-mortal, voice, "do you think that this girl has what it takes?"
His visitor belted her sword around her waist, over a set of mortal-looking clothing: a pair of bleached denim slacks and a red wool work shirt. "That girl has a lot of drive," she replied. "I haven't seen her like since... well, since Susano-o managed to get me out of my last funk."
The leader of the heavens let out a booming chuckle. "She's really gotten to you, hasn't she?" she asked around his chuckles.
Ameratsu pulled her hair from it's customary bun to allow it to hang free around her neck, lightening the color to a strawberry blond as she did. "You should know why," she chided.
His smirk widened. "Yes, I do," he conceded. "As it was said in America, 'She's a real spitfire'." He tilted His head to one side, looking at her a bit quizzically. "But why in My name are you dressing like that?"
The Japanese sun goddess grinned as she tweaked her eye color to a glowing red-amber. "It wouldn't do for her to catch on to just why I have such an interest in her, now would it?" she snickered.
"No," He agreed. "It wouldn't." He waved her off. "So say I, meet with thy charge, watch over her and bring her to me and My sister, here when it is done."
Ameratsu felt her hair 'toing' out into a full halo. "WHAT...!!!!" she squeaked as she faded out.
**********************************************
[[[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't get your panties into a knot over this... It's all just setup.]]]
**********************************************
Akane's first image upon awakening was the sun just passing behind the tiled roof of a temple. Allowing herself a few moments to get her bearings, she had to chuckle at herself for her obvious daydream.
"Tendo-san?"
Which lasted for all of a half-second. She moved as if Gosunkugi had just laid one of his cold, clammy hands upon her tail bone; in a move that Belldandy would later swear upon her own godhead was a instinctive teleport, the dark-haired mortal was suddenly plastered against the inside of the compound's wall. "Belldandy-sama!" she eeped.
The gray-maned goddess, once again in the sundress she was wearing in the restaurant, stood there giving her a look that her own sister often used; the one that seemed to say, 'why in the world are you acting so silly?'
She allowed her back to unmold itself from the plaster-covered stone. "Ah-heh," she chuckled weakly. "I thought I was just dreaming all this."
"It's no dream," a gently smiling Belldandy soothed. "In fact, Ameratsu is waiting inside the shrine itself to talk with you."
A soft, warm contralto voice sing-songed from the large structure mentioned. "Bell-chan?' the young-sounding voice called. "Could you send her in here? I'd like to speak with her/"
The mortal woman staggered slightly to the indicated doorway, her face in a ghastly, grin-like rictus. "Ara,ara,ara,ara," she stammered.
The door slid open in front of her, revealing a goddess that appeared to be around her own age. The deity was clothed in a nondescript pair of faded jeans and a button down scarlet work shirt. Her sunset-colored eyes twinkled with an inner fire that matched the asterisk-shaped sigil centered on her brow. "Ah, hello Akane-chan," the Japanese deity in drab greeted her. "Come in." She grabbed the mortal woman's arm and bodily hauled the girl into the building, shutting the door behind them. The fair haired goddess took a few minutes to walk around the stiffened mortal. "Ah, yes, hmm, well, alright, acceptable," she muttered as she poked, prodded and judged. She paused and took a closer look at her charge. "Akane-chan," she probed gently, "what is wrong?'
Akane felt as if she were being laid open by a gigantic mad doctor; every bit of evil she had ever done, as well as all the unrewarded good, was on display. She felt...
"WAAAAAH!!!!!"
...extremely unworthy. She spun away, shaking like a leaf and bawling like a baby, until a set of warm arms wrapped around her.
"Shh," the fiery-haired goddess murmured into her ear. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Akane-chan. No matter what may happen, I will be there to help you."
The dark-haired girl hiccuped a couple times as her tears slowed. "You w-will?" she managed around a tight throat.
The slightly taller goddess leaned over her shoulder to look into her eyes. "I sponsored your wish," she pointed out. "You want to be with Ranma, right?" She watched Akane nod, then smiled grimly. "And that will be your greatest strength in your Labors."
The Tendo girl could hear the emphasis in the final word. "Ameratsu-sama," she began.
The goddess pouted cutely. "Call me Ama-chan, ne?"
Akane gulped. "Ama-ch-chan," she reiterated, "Of all the wishes that are filled..."
The goddess lifted a single finger to place upon the mortal girl's lip. "Why yours, right?" Not waiting for a reply, the goddess released her and turned Akane to look her in the eyes. "Why not? Of all the people that I can claim as my 'worshipers,' there are darn few that have the conviction to stand up to the abuse that you did. Right or wrong, you were always honest with what you believed in, never backing down or giving an inch unless it was truly necessary." She wiped a stray tear from the blushing girl's cheek. "You, one of the few who were never a conformist, were also the only one to stick to this self-imposed ideal. And as Aphrodite says, 'Love will find a way'." A sly smirk formed. "So, stick to your guns, girl."
Akane giggled softly. "Alright, Ama-chan," she promised. After a moment, she sobered. "Um," she inquired softly, "what are these Labors I'm going to have to do?"
The sun goddess' expression was suddenly all business. "Sit, Akane, and I will inform you." She followed the other woman down and waited a few moments for her to get comfortable. "Now, I can't tell you exactly what your Labors will be right now, but the practice is one to test the qualities that are needed by a particular being to fulfill a contract. Wishes like yours are just one sort of contract; but a wish of the magnitude that you made is such that it automatically falls into such a test."
The mortal girl twirled her thumbs. "How does the testing work?" she asked quietly.
Ameratsu sighed. "The judges in a Labor are generally those who are not involved directly. In this case, that is a problem; your wish rattled a lot of the structure in the spirit plane. So, the judges in this will most likely be..." She cleared her throat, then pointed one index finger up and the other straight down. "The bosses."
"Really?" Akane squeaked in so high of a pitch that, had she been talking to anyone mortal, she would have not been heard.
"Mm-hmm," the goddess confirmed. "Now, about the Labors themselves...."
**********************************************
The three Norse goddesses traced the first warding circle in the small lot near the shrine. As the three worked, the youngest of them asked the big question. "Why are we the ones to test this girl?"
Surprisingly, Urd was the one to answer. "Father wanted the test to be complex, I suspect. Between the three of us, time itself is open, as well as love, nature and technology."
Bell finished the sigil she was working on and looked up at her sisters. "Here comes our counterparts from Nielfhelm," she stated quietly.
The other two rounded quickly, to see the three approaching while waving a soot-gray cloth. "Hold, Norn," Scarlet warned. "We come under the oath of Testing." She swept a low bow. "To the goddesses and mortal involved, we only will do as we were bid from our Fell Mistress." A low grumble rose from the ground. The fiery maned demoness glared downward. "C'mon Boss, it's in the script." A softer grumble issued. "Alright, alright." The demoness turned her glare back toward the deities. "Let's get the he...ck on with it."
The three demons each pulled out chunks of charcoal to start scoring out glyphs to match the already drawn deifiic writing. The structure rapidly formed, shining with a combination of golden glory and fitful reddened glare. As the last marks were made, the circle flared once.
In the place of a circle drawn in the dirt with chalk and charcoal, there now stood a disk of swirled white and black marble, with the writing embedded within in alternating black iron and chromed silver.
The six supernatural entities stood then in a rough line, each with a slightly awed expression. "It's ready," they stated in chorus.
*********************************************
As the skies became fully dark, the two groups finally sat together in the modestly sized tea room in the house attached to the shrine. Akane had expressed a few reservations about being around demonic beings, but was reassured somewhat when Belldandy had explained that they were here as the contingent for the 'other side,' so to speak.
Scarlet began the introductions. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Tendo," the demonic image of her year-older sister. "I am known as Scarlet, Demoness of Greed and Rage." She sketched a sardonic bow. "Until that little, heh, 'drama' a few years ago, I was assigned to watch and influence your family because of that mortal, Happosai." The nefarious oni smirked in a condescending manner. "Pity, it would have been fun to drag you down."
Senbei, temporarily enlarged to human size, made a formal bow. "I Senbei, Spirit of Misfortune. Senbei also know Family of Tendo." He grinned in restrained glee. "Made Senbei happy-dance several times."
The final demoness gave her a jaunty wave. "Mara, Demoness of Inappropriate Moments," she chuckled. "Seems we all had worked on you at one time or another."
Akane sighed. "I'm touched, really," she stated, deadpan.
Both Mara and Urd giggled. At the mortal girl's askance look, the goddess in question responded. "We've all looked at your files, Akane-san. Between you and your Ranma, just about every kami and oni has meddled in your life. About the only one who hasn't done anything is Loki."
The raven haired girl blinked. "Loki didn't mess with either of us?" she puzzled. "Isn't he the God of Mischief in Norse mythology?"
Mara answered her. "Yeah," the demoness chuckled. "The one time I ran into him, he was just shaking his head. He said that if he meddled, it would've probably made things better than what they did. Plus, he said that both Hild and Kami-sama forbid him."
Ameratsu began to giggle. "Loki-kun was so mad!" she snorted. "The only way he was able to calm down was to replace Susano-o's spiked club with a inflatable bat."
Everyone pictured this, and began to laugh.
The ice broken, the tension spent temporarily, each was able to relax until it was time for the lone mortal to go to bed. Akane slipped quietly into bed, whispering, "I'll be with you soon, anata."
********************************************
SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF ALL UNDERSTANDING:
The place was neither Asgard nor Nielfhelm, neither holy nor profane. Made long ago, it was a place to allow various beings from either side to get away from the rigors of eternity for a moment.
It was also standing room only.
One entire wall was a television. Or to be exact, something so advanced from television as television was from cave paintings. It didn't matter. The amassed beings were waiting for the entertainment to begin: one half of the 'Nerima Duo' was about to begin her first Labor. With all that this pair had done, this was bound to be good.
Regardless if the girl passed, the entertainment was bound to be good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Here we go! The Labors are set to begin! Thanks to Metroanime for the idea of Laboring, I have a few ideas.
Even if I totally BONE this, I want to have a little FUN! So just play along with me, alright?
Do I need to say anything about who owns these characters? Thought not.