I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
Nekomi, Japan
'Meet me at 12 o'clock in front of the amusement park…'
Recalling the same memory over and over again, Mara was feeling even more anxious about the whole event than she was moment ago. It was funny, since the blonde demoness was far from the person to suddenly get all self conscious about anything and besides, this wasn't the first time she and Urd were going to hang around.
Sure, those were rare occasions these days, given that their assignments and natures prevented them from spending too much time together. While not unheard of, friendships between celestials and infernals were often strained by a conflict of interests as well as suspicion about the motives of those involved and how genuine their intentions were. Occasionally, that would extend to the close circle of friends and family who often disapproved such interactions, trying to dissuade them from fraternizing with the enemy
Just the fact that things like the Judgement Gate existed was a clear sign of some people's attitude towards the possibility where a friendship could evolve into something more and in Asgard's views, such a thing was undesirable. While the whole point of a measure like that was to avoid some impending tragedy, more than enough immortals doubted about the honesty of such an explanation.
Still, even the thought of going that far was kind of intimidating for Mara. Enjoying some time with Urd was one of her favorite things to do, but… taking a step beyond that was far too terrifying. To begin with, neither she nor the half demoness had any success with relationships. Granted, she had almost no prior experience, with her clumsiness being the primary reason. Most demons she tried to date weren't particularly thrilled with her tendency to mess things up and worried that she wasn't the ideal partner for them.
Demonic society was all about social status and the reputation of their members, and Mara no matter how much she hated to admit it, was a bit of a weird case. She was indeed a first class demoness and somewhat successful in her line of work, although, her record was far from spotless. There were enough incidents to write an entire comedy book out of her mishaps and that was something that made those around her to avoid her, worrying that they could somehow get involved in her antics and become the laughing stock for the rest of their colleagues.
While she did have the right connections and even acted as Hild's vassal in more than one occasions, some didn't hesitate to called her the Daimakaicho's jester. Of course that could be a mere case of jealousy at how such a seemingly unimpressive demoness had managed to attract their leader's attention, while others struggled very hard and yet, Hild never acknowledged them.
Either way, her clumsiness and bad fortune made Mara reconsider her decision to ask Urd out. Just the fact that she called this a date was more than enough to cause a lot of stress for her. The sheer realization of what was at stake here was a bit too much for the blonde to handle at the moment and the fact that, Urd was slightly late wasn't helping matters either. She had more than enough time to freak out about all the things that could make her look silly; an almost impressive list by anyone's standards.
'Ugh… what was I thinking?! I'm gonna mess this up and Urd's going to laugh at me! She might not even want to hang around with me anymore! T-That stupid bucket of bolts! It's all his fault! Take her on a date… Sure!... What could possibly go wrong?...'
Pacing around in front the amusement park's entrance, she took a moment to make sure that her attire was still presentable and at the very least, she wasn't going to embarrass herself by wearing something utterly boring. Admittedly, the synthetic was right in his assumption that she had started to pay more attention to her appearance than before. There was even a time when she was mistaken for a man due to how she used to wear baggy clothes; a sharp contrast to her current attire.
A tight pair of shiny leather pants, with a matching jacket, as well as a low cut red top, were specifically chosen to accent the blonde's curves. After all, she was far from flat and was more than willing to demonstrate that fact, especially while she was going to stand next to an even curvier immortal than herself. Even more, this time she had chosen something that was far more stylish and while it involved a lot of leather, Mara had avoided the 'biker girl' look, opting for a more feminine style for herself with more subtle lines and far less metal decorations attached to her clothes. Her goal was to impress Urd, after all, not to look like a member of a rock band or even a gang.
And to accomplish such a task, she also wore a few more accessories than she'd normally do; like her red beret and the few bracelets around her wrists. Also, a choker with a tiny black bow was around her neck to make her look less plain and her lips were a glossy red color to match her facial marks. It was a sharp contrast to her much more casual style, but this time she wished to to impress her friend; or at least she hoped that Urd would be somewhat appreciative of her looks.
All infernals were somewhat vain and prideful, although it varied from one individual to the other and even then, each focused on certain aspects of themselves. Most preferred to display their power, whether magical or physical in nature to impress others and in the process, gain their respect. Another large part of the demonic society attempted to emphasize on their skills, smarts and decision making to bring some nice results in their line of work, securing the required promotion that would ensure an even better position in their hierarchy.
There were those, however, who would primarily employ their social skills and physical appeal to ensure alliances with select, key members of their respective realms in order to ascend the social ladder. In most cases, such alliances were regulated and maintained through various means, and while it often depended on how charismatic those individuals were; more basic means of enforcement were far from unheard of. With demons being a considerably less prudish and a somewhat polygamous society, keeping several relationships for the sake of solidifying one's status was far from unheard of.
Still, that was the least popular method of gaining respect, often seen as an act of desperation and a last ditch effort from someone who only had an attractive body and nothing else. As a direct result of that, there was a balance between the innate sensuality of demons and how openly they would display it in public. While provocative clothing and flirting was common, shameless displays of debauchery were frowned upon. Worse, while polygamy was theoretically not prohibited, most avoided it; unless they had proven themselves worthy of their social status. No one wanted to get stamped as a bed warmer, one of the more… polite terms used for those who sought to court others in order to gain favors and prestige.
Mara had always been a demoness who tried to do her best in securing profitable contracts for Niflheim and was mostly successful in her line of work. Her problems started whenever she got any serious opposition from their competitors and in most cases, that ended up in one blunder or another. For a second class demoness, that wouldn't had been a serious problem, although the time she used to hold that rank was a distant memory. While a tremendous success on her part, securing a first class license immediately imposed some much harsher expectations from those around her. And more than often, Mara felt that she was too close to lose her license thanks to her mishaps, making her focus more on her work than anything else; romantic relationships included.
Even more, she had no desire to make her peers think that she suddenly decided to go all out by wearing sexy clothing and seeking for boyfriends and girlfriends that could save her neck whenever she messed something up. However, what started as a facade whenever she was around others had eventually become and actual habit, with Mara favoring some rather bland clothes even when she was on her own.
'That Urd has no idea how lucky she is… She thinks that the life of a demoness is all fun and games, but… she doesn't know how hard it can be when you have to explain why you failed yet another mission. If she was working for us and messed up as frequently as she does in Asgard, then it would've been all but impossible for her to keep the position of a system administrator. Not without pulling some big favors from her mother and that was just going to make things worse… way worse, actually.'
"Hey, there beautiful! Sorry to keep you waiting!"
Mara nearly screamed as she was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice the bronze skinned demoness that stood next to her. And the moment she actually turned to face Urd, all she could was stare at her, not trusting to say anything to save herself the embarrassment of making a stupid comment.
Urd was a fashionable immortal and for anyone who personally knew her, seeing her in an impressive outfit was the norm, not the exception. Still, the form fitting white pants with a golden belt, and the purple sweater with a horizontal keyhole cut, gave her a very alluring appearance. However, while not unusual for her to wear something like that, the small purple purse she was carrying seemed an unlikely accessory for her. Even more, having her hair in a ponytail was also something rather unusual, too.
"Hey there, Ma-chan! Sorry for the delay, but… I couldn't decide what underwear to put on."
"Oh, no worries, Urd, I…" pausing for a moment, Mara's smile vanished as she processed the last bit of her friend's words. "Wait!… what.. underwear to put on?"
"Hey, don't look at me like that! It's a date, so, I need to be ready for everything!" countered the half demoness with a shrug. "What if we end up in a love hotel and I'm wearing some white cotton ones? Talk about embarrassing! Not that I'm using such simple undies, mind telling you! Uh… Ma-chan… Stop drooling, you'll ruin your lipstick."
"Huh? No, I'm not drooling!" Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the blonde demoness muttered a curse under her breath, unhappy that she was caught while contemplating such things. 'It's her fault for even suggesting something so… Ugh!... She got me for good…'
Grinning a bit, Urd tried to avoid teasing her any further and in the process ruin their date. She had gotten the point across and nothing more was actually necessary; at least for now. "So, this is the place, huh? I remember it from a while ago, but… I never decided to try it."
"Well, it's not like we ever had any real opportunity to come here for any reason," said Mara, as he followed her friend's gaze.
"Oh? And what made you pick it this time?" Urd was in fact pretty sure that this wasn't the blonde's idea and after bribing Excalibur with promises of a new pedestal for him to use as a bed, she had managed to make him spill the beans.
"Uh, it's… different!" tried Mara, with a hopeful smile, that was so adorable, Urd had to resist grabbing her in a bone crushing hug. "We usually hang around bars, so… I thought it would a bit a nice change!"
"If you say so, Ma-chan!..." Wrapping her arm around the blonde's, she started to tug towards the amusement park's entrance. "Now, let's stop waiting here and get inside!"
From a certain safe distance, two figures were watching the demonesses' every step, with one of them clearly overjoyed with what she was seeing.
"Aw!... This is so sweet!"
"Well… it is made out of molten sugar," came the reply from her side, even though she wasn't expecting one.
"I'm not talking about the cotton candy, Surt..." Letting a sigh, the childlike version of the Daimakaicho glanced at her equally small subordinate who had argued that letting a part of himself to participate in this was more than enough.
"Oh…" Eating more of the rather popular delicacy, the dark haired demon appeared to pay more attention to his own entertainment than observing the cute couple on their first date. "Why didn't you say so?"
"Because it's obvious? But, never mind that… We need to tail them!" said Hild, only to feel a hand grab the back of her dress. "Hey, what gives?"
"You'll ruin everything if you get caught by them; especially if that happens to be your daughter. Hell, I'd be pissed if you pulled than on me too," said the ruler of Muspelheim before he let his leader go.
"And you've got a better idea?" asked Hild with a somewhat sarcastic tone, crossing her arms.
"Actually… I do!" was the rather laconic reply, as he reached into his pocket to retrieve what appeared to be a beetle at a first glance. "Here, take a look at this thing."
"Uh… you're collecting bugs?" However, before he even answered her, Hild started to feel that there was somewhat eerily strange about how that insect was moving. "Wait a moment! That's not a living thing!"
"Correct! This is a tiny insectoid spying drone and while it seems innocent, it's capable of capturing and transmitting audiovisual information; perfect for spying others without getting caught. Sure, we could use tiny familiars, but, those buggers have the tendency to carry a faint, yet noticeable energy signature," explained Surt, as he held the small robot in front of his leader. "This thing uses no magic and as such, it's way more difficult to detect, unless someone sees it directly. Even then, it can be dismissed as a simple bug and avoid compromising its cover."
"Hey, that's kind of handy! How come you decided to make something useful?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what I said… Most of the things you commission is one form of a weapon or another."
"Well, I beg to differ, and this is the proof of that." What he failed to mention was that this wasn't exactly commissioned by him, but made from a hobbyist demon who build it to spy on the ladies' baths for some rather spicy photos. When they figured out what was going on, they confiscated the drone's blueprints, as well as the photos; for further research, of course. Releasing the tiny robot, the dark haired demon turned towards one of the nearby stalls and scratched his chin. "That's a nice place to start."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Blinking, Hild followed her subordinate's gaze, but got even more confused instead of finding an explanation to his words.
"Well… you did ask for a fuzzy bunny, right? I'd hate to make others think that I can't even do something that simple!" Walking towards the targeting game, the Eldjotunn was fairly sure that winning a prize was going to be a walk in the park. Even with the cork shooting gun that was provided to the challengers, missing the targets from such short distance was all but impossible for any trained warrior. All he really needed to do was pick a prize, and the one he was interested in was currently moving away from the stall as a guy already won it for his girlfriend. "Hey! That's mine!"
"Give it a rest, Surt!" said Hild, thankful that they were too far away for the oblivious couple to hear them. "We shouldn't make a scene or our cover will be blown."
"Gr… Well, we can always get another." Checking the rest of the plushie dolls of all sizes and descriptions, Surt was rather annoyed to find out that while there were plenty of options, none of them was a bunny. "Great… that was the last one."
"Shouldn't we focus more on following them?" urged Hild as she raised an eyebrow at her former student, who had apparently taken her joke as a legitimate request.
"No need. We can use the drone's feedback to do that," said Surt, who was already looking around for other alternatives. "Hm… there's another game over there, so, let's go!"
"Wait a moment! We're here to…" started the demoness, only to end up getting dragged along.
'I sure taught him well. He's not listening to anyone…'
XXX
Hagall's mansion, Niflheim
"Are you positively certain about this?"
Looking around her, the Daimakaicho's second in command tried to make sure that nobody was listening in to her conversation over the phone. It was a secure line and one that bypassed the broadly used communications network. Actually, it was a totally private one, set up specifically to only serve two individual phones; a rather rare and costly arrangement made for a sole purpose: to discuss topics that she'd rather not want anyone else to even know of their existence.
"I'm afraid so," came the reply, as the god on the other end of the line let a tired sigh. "It's really hard to get my hands on any bits of information as everyone is absolutely crazy about security right now. That single rogue had apparently stirred up a lot more trouble than anyone had expected. Not only they're trying to figure out where he came from and perhaps his possible motives, but also how he avoided being detected for this long. So far, it's an unfruitful attempt and I fear that in meantime, access to all the records will be closely monitored. This makes it extremely hard to fulfill my end of our deal, I'm afraid."
"Don't worry too much about that, Ullr; it's less of a priority at the moment. Any information about that rogue would be greatly appreciated, though."
"I didn't agree to do this for free," said the god, trying to sound as polite as possible. "I'm merely offering some information about Ymir in exchange for something I'd like to know as well."
"My apologies, I didn't want to sound as if I was giving you an order," was the demoness' hasty reply. "It's just that the whole situation is causing a lot of problems for us too. Some of your officials are more or less insinuating that we're harboring that rogue and even provide him with resources."
"I've heard of that. It's hard to ignore the whole Enemy of my Enemy principle and right now, it seems that the ones who have more to gain from this is your kind." Pausing for a moment, the god appeared to check something, as the sound of his communicator indicated that he got a message. "Hm… I'm sorry, but I'll have to go. My sister is looking for me and I don't want her to find out what's going on. I just hope that I'll get a break and find an opportunity at a later point of time."
"Yes, please do that, if possible. However, anything about this latest development could also help your side as well. We don't deal with rogues as most of the time they prove to be unreliable and we hate people who cannot adhere to their promises," said Hagall trying to ensure the god's cooperation. "And I might admit that things are a bit too strict here, too. Still, I'll try to see what I can do and find any information about your father's fate; providing that we have a file about him."
"That was the agreement, after all. Now you'll have to excuse me."
"Of course. Until next time."
Ending the call, the blonde demoness was both frustrated and puzzled. While Ullr avoided to get into great details about what was really going on over at Asgard, it was more than obvious to her that the celestials had lost all semblance of control over this situation.
'Hm… Perhaps asking Ullr to provide me with information about that rogue is too much even for him. It assumes that the gods know something and so far, there's nothing to imply that.'
Turning her attention to Mokkurkalfi's report about Loki's gift for Keiichi, she was rather intrigued about the ramifications behind the talisman. While seemingly harmless, the magical device was a bit more aggressive in its purpose that it was supposed to. I did fulfill its role of keeping Keiichi healthy, although it went beyond what's normal by any mortal's standards and achieved perfect cellular replication. It was a bit easy to oversee and it actually took Mokkurkalfi a while to figure it out, but, the mortal's cells were no longer plagued by the random errors and their cumulative effects; the primary one being what the humans called as old age.
'Is it even correct to call that boy a mortal anymore? If his body doesn't get any more damage on such a low level, he's not going to get older. And unless he gets horribly injured, well beyond what that talisman is capable of dealing with or even his angel's healing spells… he's going to stay like that indefinitely. Sure, he still needs food, water, and air to breathe, unlike us, but… I must take this to Hild-sama.'
Taking the data crystal with her, Hagall headed towards the Daimakaicho's office, wondering what her boss' reaction would be to those news.
XXX
Nekomi, Japan
"A haunted house? You know that it's mostly tricks with mirrors and silly noises to scare the kids, right?"
Giving her friend a sideways glance, Mara wasn't sure if she should be laughing or feel offended by the half demoness' words. Her idea for a place to start was indeed a haunted house, something that made Urd giggle a bit as she probably considered it as an obvious choice. "We can always make a good laugh out of it…"
"Well, no arguments there. Still, it's going to be so embarrassing if you end up getting scared!" said Urd as she gave her a wink.
"Me? Scared? Ha! It's far more likely that you'll be the one who's going to scream like a little girl!" countered Mara with a grin, challenging her friend. Old habits died hard and for those two, it was far more likely to play this sort of game instead of acting like a couple on their first date.
Their past experiences of hanging out did actually make everything a lot easier by eliminating much of the awkwardness from their current situation, but, at the same time they did occasionally revert to their old antics.
"Want to make a bet?" asked Urd with a raised eyebrow, making the blonde pause for a moment.
"Depends… What do you have in mind?" Mara was certain that agreeing with the half demoness that easily would've most likely ended up with her in a bad situation and had to be careful before she agreed to anything. She had no desire of getting humiliated by losing one of Urd's challenges today; which typically involved things she really disliked. Those included lucky charms and listening to rock for extended periods of time, something that Urd wouldn't hesitate to use against her.
"It's simple, actually. Whoever wins gets to chose the next attraction we'll visit!"
It was so innocent that the blonde couldn't help but feel that there was something more to it than that. "Okay… where's the catch?"
"There's no catch. We're on a date, silly!" said Urd with a shake of her head. "If we keep annoying each other then we'll most likely ruin everything. So, are you in?"
"Yes! Let's do it!"
At a first glance the interior of the haunted house was nothing far from what they had been expecting. While described as scary, everything was done in a rather comical way, since the attraction was intended for all ages. As such, anything particularly terrifying or gruesome was out of question, leaving the two demonesses stare at the supposedly spooky ghosts with a bored expression on their faces.
"Uh… Urd? What happens if we end up in a tie?" asked the blonde as she glared at the annoying girl in the back who kept on screaming every time she got a glimpse of a skeleton. And while her boyfriend was enjoying the fact that she was hugging him tightly, Mara was more than tired of listening to her high pitched voice. So much that she toyed with the idea of using her powers to spice things up and show them something that was genuinely scary.
"We improvise," replied Urd after some thought. This was indeed far from intimidating to a demoness and as such, the whole challenge was totally pointless. They had already passed the mid point and she doubted that there was anything in the remaining half of this attraction to make either of them scream. 'Hm… not unless I do something about it.'
Glancing at the blonde next to her, Urd's lips curved up in a smile as an idea formulated in her mind. From a certain perspective, there wasn't any need for either to scream out of terror; anything that produced such a result was technically speaking acceptable. And the best way to do that with Mara was a simple, yet somewhat dirty trick. Without any further delays, Urd's hand moved closer to her date's posterior and gave her a firm squeeze that was more than enough to make her let out a startled and deeply embarrassed scream.
"W-W-What was that for?!"
"Just me appreciating that excellent booty of yours, Ma-chan…" purred Urd with a cat-like grin, enjoying the blush on her friend's face. "And by the way… You've lost."
"Wait! Hold on a second! That's cheating!" protested Mara, narrowing her eyes at her. "This had nothing to do with this failure of a scary attraction!"
"You know what they say… The end justifies the means."
"Like Hell it does! I demand a fair game!"
"Fine, I'll let you pick something," said Urd, trying to appease her before this escalated to the point where spells would fly all over the place.
"A shooting gallery duel then! Whoever scores the most points, wins!"
"Sounds like a deal to me!"
XXX
"Well, Mr. penguin… join the club and have some fun."
Tossing the stuffed animal to the top of an already impressive stack of trophies Hild had to carry, Surt was still trying to get that bunny; a task that had devolved into an obsession by now.
"Uh… I think I'm okay with those plushies… I got a cat, an elephant, a puppy, a duck, a chicken, a donkey, a giraffe, a lion… Seriously, I'll end up opening a plushie zoo!" said Hild as she discreetly used her magic to keep that stack from collapsing. "Besides, we're here to spy on Urd-chan and her date, not…"
"Nope! I'll get that fuzzy bunny! I won't let a filthy rodent make fun of me, especially a fake one!" responded Surt, looking over his shoulder for the next target; another game that offered some kind of prize. "Even if I have to empty all those stalls!"
"They're not rodents! And if we won't find one, then what?" counted Hild with a growl, already regretting her decision to drag him along with her.
"There's a toy store across the street. We can get one there," was the demon's surprisingly calm and collected reply.
"Then why haven't we done that already?"
"Because that's the last resort! I refuse to lose to a stuffed rodent!"
"For the last time, they're not rodents! They're Lagomorpha of the family Leporidae!" said Hild as her patience was running thin. "And I'm tired of this, already! I'm here to… Hey!"
"Yeah, yeah… Tell that to someone who cares. In the meantime, to the next game!" Pushing her along the way to his next target, the ruler of Muspelheim paused for a moment, as he waited the response from his main body that was still on board Naglfar and monitoring the insectoid drone's video feed. As such, he made sure to take her as far from the cute couple as possible; memories of her meddling during the time he used to date Sinmara leaving him little doubt that letting her do the same here was a bad idea.
'I really hope those two appreciate all this trouble I've gotten myself into…'
XXX
"Dammit! I've missed!..."
Urd couldn't help but grind her teeth, watching yet another yellow duck cross the shooting range in front of her without getting hit by her dart gun.
"Someone's getting angry," said Mara with a big grin as she looked at her frustrated friend who was almost ready to switch from the plastic darts to lightning balls if her luck didn't improve. So far, the blonde demoness was dominating this challenge with three consecutive wins out of three matches, making Urd wish she could fire the darts at her.
"Someone's too happy," was the half demoness' grumpy reply, as she tried to ignore Mara's grin. This seemingly simplistic game was proving to be a much bigger challenge for her and the more she tried, the worse it became for her.
"Hey, give me a break! I'm having a great time for once!" protested Mara with a frown. "On most other occasions, I'm just ending up losing like… uh… you, right now!"
The blonde's attempt at a joke wasn't particularly effective with the irate half demoness whose hair started to stand up a bit, as static electricity started to build up. "Oh yeah?... Keep this up, sweetheart and it's the carousel for you, next!"
Taking a look at the dreaded attraction in the distance, full with kids sitting on some ridiculously cute looking seats shaped after all kinds of animals, Mara felt a shiver go up her spine. "No! Anything but that! I'll behave! I promise!"
Smiling as she felt that the blonde got the message, Urd turned towards one of the food stalls and considered her options. "Hey, Ma-chan? Want some ice-cream?"
"Huh? Sure, I'd have some," was the confused reply. In reality she wasn't entirely sure why Urd was even interested in that frozen delicacy, although being Skuld's sister might've something to do with it. That and the fact that booze wasn't exactly an option available to them here.
"Excellent! Let's go to grab some for ourselves!" Dragging the baffled blonde by the arm, the duo missed an overly large bug flying after them; only to be hit by a beam of light, causing it to fall on the ground where a metallic tendril grabbed it and pulled it towards the gap between two adjacent stalls.
Moments later, a tiny white stuffed bunny wearing a black leather jacket and matching shades walked out of that space, scanning its surroundings slowly; an eerie red glow shining through its sunglasses. Without delay the seemingly harmless yet sinister looking bunny headed after the couple.
XXX
'The feedback was interrupted? But… how? Who did that?...'
Taking a bite of his burger, Surt seemed rather skeptical after the most recent status update he got from his main body. Stopping for a quick snack was another of his delaying tactics and for once the demoness with him wasn't complaining.
Instead, Hild was enjoying her own share of the food, sitting on a bench and surrounded by several plushies; a rather silly sight, given how childish she seemed to be. Yet for some reason, the Daimakaicho seemed to have no problems with her current situation, making Surt wonder whether she actually liked those toys. As a matter of fact, he didn't remember her owning anything that could be described as such, back when they were young. Instead, her tiny apartment was almost bare with only a couple of utilitarian pieces of furniture and not much beyond that.
'Did she even had any toys? I've never seen anything while we lived with her, so, either she never owned any or she got rid of them before we moved in. Perhaps as our caretaker she didn't wish to look immature? On the other hand, she never tried to act in a mature way; meaning that it's a really unlikely possibility.'
"Something's on my face?" asked Hild between bites, raising an eyebrow.
"No. It's just that for someone who's interested to go after them, you sure don't seem to be in a hurry," replied Surt, before he actually realized what he was saying.
"That's ironic, given how hard you're trying to delay me. Or you think that I haven't noticed what you've been doing all this time? I'm not as naive as you want to believe, nor you're better at plotting…" said Hild with a smirk, making her subordinate wince a bit.
"I guess that the cat's out of the bag, huh? Look, I just wanted to avoid your attempts at helping them. Which would've probably left me with a fine mess to fix," countered Surt, as he tried to defend his actions. "I can still remember how you tried to make my dates with Sinmara more interesting…"
"Someone had to! You two were the least romantic couple I've ever seen! I mean… not even a kiss?! Come on!"
"What are you talking about? We did kiss!"
"Outside of intercourse, I mean."
"Well excuse me for not living up to your standards!" started Surt, before he paused for a few long moment. "Wait! How do you know about that?!..."
"None of your business!"
"It is my business!"
"That's my line! As your caretaker, it's my duty to make sure that my charges have grown up properly!"
"Excuse me, but that happened well after we've both turned into adults and certainly not under your supervision anymore!" objected Surt narrowing his eyes at her.
"Details… It's merely commons sense to see what kind of fine adults I've raised you to be! Surely you would've done the same!"
"You've almost convinced me…" Pausing for a while to finish with their lunch, the ruler of Muspelheim turned his attention back to Hild. "Since you know what I was up to… what are you going to do, now?"
"Let you get that stuffed toy for me and then follow them around. Plus, there seems to be another one who's interested to monitor them, as they've dealt with your drone," replied the little Daimakaicho, looking around to make sure that no one was looking at them and used her powers to shrink down her collection of plushies and put them in a backpack for easy transport.
"How do even know that?"
"Easy! I've got a little fly as a spy for myself too!" replied Hild with a wink. "What? You didn't think I was going to let you be the only one spying on them, right? And my agent happened to notice that yours was shot down by a bunny."
"A what?"
"Well… a robotic version of a stuffed toy at the very least. Personally, I think that it's either something Skuld came up with, although if I had to bet, then I'd say that it was that sword of Urd's," said Hild with a grin, looking at the direction of her spy.
"You mean… Excalibur? That guy's such a pain at times!" grumbled Surt as he got up from the bench and started to follow her. "Let's go and see what he's interested in!"
"Already ahead of you! Come on, don't waste time, let's go!"
XXX
"Let's go to the bumper cars!"
"No, I want to play Whack'a'Mole!"
Looking at each other, the duo took a few moments as they enjoyed their frothy milkshake in between their little competition, with Mara being the one who was surprisingly winning for once. Actually, given that most of them were some kind of targeting challenges so far, it was natural that she was performing much better, although as Urd tried to change the type of games, her friend wished to avoid it before she started to lose as usual.
"Oh, come on, Urd! We should try something… um… different!" tried the blonde with a smile; one so big that it was far too suspicious.
"Not so fast, Ma-chan! Don't tell me you're afraid of losing against me all of a sudden…" purred Urd, glancing at her date. "It's such a simple game, too!"
"Well… I just thought that those kind of games are a bit too… competitive! I mean, we do those sort of things all the time, so… why not try something more suitable for a date?" As transparent as Mara's attempts were, she did have a point and Urd actually stopped for a moment to consider her words.
"That's kind of true, now that you mention it," said the half demoness, scratching her chin. "Of course, I'm perfectly aware that you're trying to keep me from winning at a couple of games I'm good at, but… for the sake of this date, I guess you're right."
"That's great!"
"Then, in that case, we'll have to try some of the more romantic attractions they have here," purred Urd, enjoying the shocked look on her friend's face.
Mara had turned completely white as she realized just what kind of trouble she had inadvertently got herself into. While she did avoid getting beaten on a dozen games Urd was really good at, things had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. "R-Romantic?!"
"Yep! After all, we are on a date and it's merely natural to experience such things together!" said Urd, grabbing the blonde before she got the chance to run away. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Uh… I think that Whack'a'Mole game was in this way!" said Mara but to no avail, as she was being dragged in the totally opposite direction.
"I think the carousel was this way!" said Urd with a giggle, enjoying the blonde's horrified expression.
"No!... Not that! Anything but that!"
XXX
"Are you sure it's okay to do this, Bell? I mean… maybe it's better to leave them on their own and…"
Clasping her hand over his, the brunette goddess leaned in for a kiss; which was more than enough to make her husband pause and grin like an idiot. They had arrived a few minutes ago and so far they've tried to keep some minimum distance between themselves and the so-called cute couple.
"It's alright, Keiichi. We're here to make sure that nothing bad is going to happen. And in the meantime, we can enjoy this moment for ourselves!" said Belldandy with one of her warm smiles, her husband loved so much.
"That's true. Hm… come to think of it, it's been a while since we went on a date. With everything that's going on, we barely have much time for ourselves." Looking around, the dark haired man tried to find out something that the Norn of the present would like to do. "Bumper cars?"
"As long as you promise to drive badly, I'd love to! Actually, why don't you let me drive for once?" said Belldandy, much to Keiichi's surprise.
"S-Sure thing Bell!" As much as he tried to sound cheerful, he was mentally kicking himself for picking something that sounded more up to his alley than hers. 'Smooth, Morisato… Next time let's try something even less romantic, you big fool! Seriously… I need to get this straight before we leave the amusement park. Otherwise she's going to think that I…'
Pausing for a moment as the couple walked towards the attraction holding hands, they spotted a rather bizarre sight; a tiny white stuffed rabbit with shades riding on what appeared to be a remote controlled quad bike.
Turning its head towards them in a slow, mechanical motion, the robot's eyes were briefly visible, as an eerie red glow could be seen seen through the sunglasses. Staring at them for a few seemingly long seconds, the bunny looked over to a different direction, as if it detected something in the far distance.
"I'll be back."
Watching the robot with the uncharacteristically deep voice depart as soon as it arrived, the couple exchanged a baffled look.
"I'm not seeing things... Right, Bell? That did happen..."
"I think so, Keiichi. Although, I'd say that this must've been Excalibur. I don't believe that it was one of Skuld's robots," said Belldandy with a thoughtful expression.
"Really? What is he doing here, though?"
"Probably the same thing the two of us..." started the brunette, as Hild and Surt could be seen, chasing after the synthetic, not even bothering to stop and say hello, or even acknowledge them. "Correction… The same thing all of us are doing, by the looks of it."
"Shouldn't we stop them?"
"Actually… as long it keeps them busy, I think it's better for neesan and Mara to let them go on like that," said Belldandy, before she noticed her husband's shocked expression. "Um… did I say something wrong, dear?"
"No, it's just that… I never thought you were this sneaky, Bell…" said Keiichi, struggling to avoid sounding as if he accused her of anything. "I mean…"
Giggling, the goddess found his antics to be absolutely adorable, but decided against letting him worry too much about insulting her by accident. "It's perfectly fine, Keiichi. However, don't forget that I am Urd's little sister. Just because I look innocent, doesn't necessarily mean that I am, too."
"Perhaps… Although, I never saw you doing anything that would be actually called as naughty," said Keiichi with a laugh.
"I don't think so, dear. It might depend on the definition of the word, but, I believe that the latest trend of letting me be in charge during our lovemaking might be considered as such by some," said Belldandy with a thoughtful expression, totally missing her husband's look of disbelief. "Although… I don't think that it's called in charge, more like on top, or something like that. I honestly need to check my sister's notes for the exact term, as I haven't studied it thoroughly to remember all the terminology."
As she tried to walk, Belldandy felt a tug and soon realized that it was due to her husband. Apparently her explanation was more than enough to cause a mental overload to the poor mortal who was simply staring in the distance, his eyes totally unfocused.
"Uh… Keiichi, dear? Are you alright?"
Getting worried by the lack of any response, Belldandy placed her palm on his forehead, in an attempt to communicate with his angel without attracting the attention of those around them. 'Terrestrial Spark? Is everything alright?'
'Actually… Have you seen those sci-fi shows that Skuld likes to watch at times?'
'Yes… Although, I'm not certain what that has with the current situation.'
'Well… In all those series, there's always a space battle and for whatever reason, in the distant fictional future, fuses are almost a lost technology. Which makes every single panel in sight to explode. Are you following me so far?'
'Yes?...'
'It's a bit like that in here, right now…'
'Oh…'
Letting a mental sigh, the tiny angel kept working in order to make his host snap out of his stupor. 'Just give me a few seconds and I'll manage to reboot this bloke.'
'It's alright… I should've been more careful with what I'm saying around poor Keiichi,' admitted the brunette goddess with a frown. 'Although, you seem to be mostly immune to those comments, despite being his angel. How come?'
'Uh… I'd rather not talk about it. The mind of a man is truly terrifying place; or so they say. That, and I guess that my master won't appreciate me talking to his wife behind his back like this,' explained Terrestrial Spark with a slightly humorous tone. 'Image how worse it would get if I said anything that would make him even more embarrassed!'
Smiling, the brunette was enjoying their exchange, while Keiichi who had already recovered, pretended that he was still stunned in order to avoid any further embarrassment.
'Although… master's totally faking it, right now…'
'Hey! Whose side are you, traitor!'
Belldandy's giggle made both of them relax and soon, they started heading towards their original destination, the entire incident long forgotten.
Despite that, a pair of eyes watched their every move from the darkness, seething as he hated how things had turned out.
XXX
'Seriously!... What's so great about him? He doesn't even know how to take her on a proper date and she's okay with it? Bumper cars? Out of all the attractions here, he had to choose something with wheels! Life's so unfair!'
Welsper may had been out of sight during the last couple of days, but the cursed feline had remained within the vicinity of the temple's grounds. He simply kept to himself which was to expected of a cat, as well as to avoid any further humiliation at the hands of Belldandy's sisters or even that blasted synthetic who apparently decided to become his personal tormentor.
'That bullying bucket of bolts is acting like a total jerk and Belldandy's still not doing anything to stop him. And yet… if anyone makes that Keiichi unhappy, she'd make a huge deal about it. Why him? What's so wrong with me?!'
Darting his ears backwards, the cat's heightened senses to spot the tiny thumping sounds belonging to none other than the mechanical bunny that marched towards his location.
"Well, well… Look who decided to show up… Nice getup…. Working as a comedian, now?"
Stopping only meters away from the cursed demon, the white bunny's wrists opened revealing the miniature particle cannons that were hidden under its cotton made skin. "Piss off, fur-tard."
"Oh!... Our metallic Pinocchio thinks he's a real boy and learned some nasty words!... Boo hoo, what am I gonna do?" teased Welsper, clearly unimpressed by Excalibur's current form.
Instead of an answer, the high pitched shriek of the particle cannons going off, along with the strong smell of ionized air, gave the cat enough of a scare to stop. However, as he felt the blast missing his head by a mere inch, Welsper's grin returned and decided to gloat even more. "Where are you aiming at, loser?"
Still, no words left the synthetic's mouth, his actions and mannerisms totally mechanical and devoid of any trace of emotions. He simply stood in place staring at the cat whose grin started to turn into a troubled expression as the distinct smell of ionized air was replaced by an equally strong one; that of burnt hair.
"Ow!... You coward!" Welsper's eyes widened as he ran around in circles, trying to extinguish the tiny flame at the very end of his tail. While it was hardly anything to be taken as an actual injury, the whole situation was yet another case where the cursed demon ended up in a less than dignified state. All members of the demonic race were prideful and Welsper was no exception to that rule, making him particularly frustrated by the fact that during the last couple of years he had been reduced to a mere comic relief; a target for all kinds of jokes and pranks that were hardly anything to be proud of.
Still, he endured all that in order to stay close to Belldandy, although, with her marriage to that mortal the slight chance of having a happy ending to his story was all but a distant dream by now. And to add insult to the injury, the synthetic who tormented him was perfectly capable of socializing with every other demon aside from himself; meaning that this wasn't merely a case of a robot following its programming. Instead, Welsper was now certain that he was simply targeted because the synthetic considered him a convenient target, far too weak and not liked by anyone who would stand up to defend him; and for once, the cursed cat had had enough.
"That's it, you damned bully! Eat this!" shouted the frustrated demonic feline as he pointed the star shaped marking on his forehead towards the mechanical bunny. "Cat beam!"
Despite all odds, the bright stream of raw magical energy hit its target dead on, without any attempt from Excalibur to avoid it or even deflect it. Much to the cat's surprise, his adversary simply stood there taking the blast right on his face, resulting the tiny stuffed animal to be thrown across the ground like a ragdoll. It was so unexpected, actually, that the cursed feline was waiting for a counter attack right away. But as nothing happened for a few seconds, Welsper's expression brightened with a triumphant grin forming on his face. "Ha! How did you like that? That's what you get for messing around with me!"
His gloating was brought to an abrupt end as the little bunny got back on his feet, without any remarks. And while it was missing half of its cotton made face, the metallic endoskeleton underneath it was a clear sign that something was wrong here. Not only the burned skin wasn't an actual part of Excalibur, but apparently, the lack of any damage to his endoskeleton synthetic was a clear indication that he was impervious to a direct hit by one of the cat's remaining powers. Marching towards him, Excalibur's arms raised to take aim at the cat who much to his horror had finally realized that this thing was either playing a game, or had gone into a murderous rampage; and Welsper didn't want to stick around to find out.
"Belldandy! Help!" Running towards his only salvation, the cursed cat could hear the electric engine of the quad bike chasing after him.
Like a horseman out of an apocalyptic and dark future, the bunny rode his vehicle with a sinister look on his damaged face, which was now somewhat obscured by a new set of shades.
Behind them, two demons were laughing at the scene, although one of them was clearly far more amused than his companion.
"Who let that guy watch Terminator?"
"Hold on! You, of all demons, admit of watching a human-made move?" was Hild's response, as her grin grew even larger. "That's rich!"
"Yeah, yeah… Laugh as much as you want, but, there are a few things that I like. As long as it has enough violence, death and destruction, they should be fine," said Surt with a groan, clearly unhappy of his accidental admission. 'She's never going to let me live it down…'
"Sure…" said Hild poking him in the ribs. "Any romance movies I should know of?"
"Not a chance! Hey! Stop laughing, it's not funny! Hild!"
XXX
"Ha! Take that, suckers!"
Urd couldn't help but giggle as her blonde friend bumped their car against another couple. At the last moment she had decided that as hilarious it would've been to watch Mara on the carousel, pulling something like that on her wasn't going to make her enjoy their date. So, as a compromise, the half demoness chose this as a way to make her feel a bit better, while at the same time she did manage to accomplish one of her own goals; sit right next to each other.
Given how tiny those bumper cars were, the lack of space meant that they were literally pressed against each other in order to fit in there. And considering how absorbed Mara was with her childish quest of wrecking everyone else's experience, she probably was blissfully unaware of her proximity to Urd. Or that the half demoness had an arm wrapped around her shoulders and stealing a few glances while the grinning blonde was scanning around for her next victim.
In all irony, at that very moment both of them were thrown forward as another car rammed theirs from behind with a considerable amount of force.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I accidentally floored it. Are you alright over there?"
Both demonesses blinked hard as the voice sounded terribly familiar, and after exchanging a look, they reached the same conclusion and turned back to address the source of that interruption. "Belldandy?!"
"Oops… I'm... sorry about that… I…" Fumbling with her words as she was acutely aware that she had been caught spying on them, the brunette sought her husband's help, especially since she couldn't lie. "Can you say something, dear?"
"I'm not letting you drive again… Not in a million years…" was the dazed response of the dark haired man who shook his head to recover from that experience.
"Dear?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I was…distracted," said Keiichi as he stared between his wife and his sister-in-law along with her date.
"Well, well… fancy meeting you two here. What a coincidence!" smirking a bit, the half demoness enjoyed the sheepish expression on both their faces, especially as Belldandy tried to hide behind the tiny wheel of her bumper car.
"You know what they say… Great minds think alike," said Keiichi in an effort to explain why he and Belldandy were there, no matter how impossible that sounded. It was fairly obvious that the two of them were following them around and fooling them was impossible.
"I would say so. Although, I saw her first, so, you can't have my Ma-chan!" said Urd, hugging the confused demoness, as the equally baffled coupled stared at her. "Ramming my girlfriend from behind… Don't go and steal my ideas, Bell!"
There was a deafening silence as the trio initially failed to figure out what the Norn of the past was getting at, although with every passing, they came closer to understand the meaning behind her words. And that was when Belldandy's face turned beet red, with Keiichi following suit, all while the blonde demonesses was thinking hard.
"I have no such intentions, neesan!"
Urd couldn't help but laugh at how adorable her sister's expression was, as the younger Norn tried to drive away from them. "Well, I'll let you off the hook; this time, at least."
However, before she go far, Belldandy stopped as the sudden commotion for her side, caught her and the others' attention. "Huh?"
It was chaos, with a cat running amidst the bumper cars with a bunny chasing after him on a remote controlled quad. Most people had no idea what was going on here, and merely tried to avoid running over the poor feline or whatever that other thing was. Unlike most, a group of four did know that black cat's identity and even suspected who was chasing him, although what they doing here was a total mystery to them.
"Welsper? Why is he?..." started Belldandy, turning to the others for an answer, only to notice the same look of bewilderment.
"Probably he's here to mess around with you two," offered Urd after some thought. "Oh well, I guess he won't be a problem anymore. I suppose that, Excalibur was the one after him, so it's going to take a while until he's able to go back to his schemes."
"Is that okay, though?" asked the brunette with a frown.
"Sure. I doubt that Excalibur's actually going to hurt that cat," said Urd in a dismissive tone. "Why not we all go back to our business and enjoy our dates?"
"Sure thing, neesan!"
"Then we can…" started Mara as she was about to go back to what she was doing, when Urd placed a hand on her shoulder. "Huh?"
"Let's try something else for now, Ma-chan," said the half demoness with a smile. "There's one thing that I've been wanting to do with you."
"I-It's not going in circles, right?" asked the worried blonde, images of that dreaded thing flooding her mind.
"It does, actually. Although, in a vertical manner," replied Urd with a wink. "Come on, I think you'll actually going to like this."
"Fine… Lead the way..."
Smiling at her sister and her brother in law, Urd gave them a thumbs up. "Keep it up, you two. We can meet after we're all done!"
"Sure thing, Urd! Have fun!" said Keiichi, with Belldandy adding. "We'll buy you lunch after we're done! I know a nice place we could all eat something nice!"
"Okay! See you later!"
XXX
Welsper just ran. There was no reason to even look back, as he could clearly hear the unmistakable sound of the quad's electric engine coming from behind him. No matter how hard he tried, the cursed cat couldn't shake his synthetic pursuer off and much to his frustration, all that he actually needed was a conveniently placed tree to force Excalibur to stop; hopefully losing interest in the process. Yet, his luck was as bad as always and despite the considerate distance he traveled, no such obstacle was presented for him to use.
Further behind them, a pair of demons continued to pursue them as well, although it was mostly for the sake of their own entertainment than genuine concern for a fallen member of their kind. Welsper's actions during his attempt to freeze time for the mortal realm had actually made him a rather unpopular demon, as that impulsive act would've caused the total loss of their entire market. In reality, few would even bother to try and defend him for any reason at all, leaving him on his own whenever trouble came to his way.
Even before that, his decision to put himself under a curse that would prevent his physical growth was also seen as a foolish notion and the only real advantage he had was his reduced mass and size, making him rather successful as a broom racer. Still, far from anything that could've gained him too much recognition and respect amongst his kind, as this was the only thing he was really good at and the rest of his skill set left much to be desired.
"Dammit! Cut it out, you stupid robot! I'll leave them alone, so do the same, will you? Besides, I haven't done anything!"
"Yet."
"So, you can talk after all..." Stopping as he found an alley to hide, Welsper wasted no time and decided to head there. It was far from ideal, but the feline reasoned that it would be sufficient to finally shake his pursuer off.
"You bet I do."
Much to the cursed demon's horror, it was a dead end, instead of a convenient shortcut, and without the ability to scale it on his own, he had to use his last resort. "Blue Lance! Come forth!"
Dismounting his quad bike, Excalibur approached the cat and briefly acknowledged the familiar who was looming above her host, wings extended in a defensive manner and her claws ready to tear the synthetic apart.
'Back off!'
"That should be my line."
"Oh… no longer the scary voice, huh?" said Welsper as he now felt far more confident than before. Even without his full power, Blue Lance should have enough access to his remaining residual magic to be a threat, especially in case of an emergency.
"Keep that attitude fur-tard and you'll end up becoming actual fur…" replied Excalibur, pointing his double particle cannons at him. "The lady's taken, so, back off. I don't care what's your sob story or how butt hurt you are from getting rejected. Not that any sane goddess would ever accept a pathetic failure of a demon whose temper tantrum nearly got her frozen in time."
"Shut up! How could you possibly understand? You're a..."
"A machine? Still, I've got a lot more common sense than you. Your entire plot was utterly pointless from the very beginning," said Excalibur, keeping an eye at Blue Lance in case of a surprise attack.
"Oh, really? Do you even have any idea how hard it was to keep myself from growing up? I really had to struggle for so long, just to avoid forgetting about her!" countered the irate cat. "Most would've simply given up! Compared to that... what had that mortal done to deserve her anyway?"
"He used his freaking brain, which isn't as advanced as yours or even mine and yet, he did a fairly decent job, mister desperate demon. Had you even considered of storing those memories in a crystal, get rid of your curse and afterwards restore what you had forgotten from that backup?" said Excalibur without missing a beat. "It would've solved your problem with your body, allowed you to try and meet her like a normal person and possibly get to know her. Instead you acted like the perfect stalker and one with a death wish too."
Welsper's eyes grew wider, as he remained frozen for several seconds, processing what the synthetic had told him. He honestly wished to find some serious flaw in Excalibur's logic and use that as a counter argument, yet there wasn't anything particularly obvious and for the most part it should've worked, at least in theory. 'Dammit! I should've done that, back then!'
"Now, to answer your question, I'll offer you one instead. If a person with magical powers failed in such a grand manner, what about a frail, puny mortal?"
"Huh?"
"Not huh… Give me an answer! You're so happy to dismiss Keiichi as useless baggage, just like most dismiss me like a simple robot. Yet, he's done infinitely more than you've ever done for her, and he's apparently smarter than you too," said Excalibur in a somewhat sarcastic way, even though he wanted to avoid an argument and hopefully convince him of his perspective. "See what the problem is? All you've ever done was to throw a temper tantrum and threaten those she cared for. If you expected to have a chance after all that, you're an even greater fool and reasoning with you is just a waste of processing cycles."
"He's a mortal! Sooner or later, he'll just die and leave her alone!"
"Only after a few decades of married life with her," countered the sentient sword. "Do I have to remind you again about your perfect solution? Freezing her in time forever? What kind of sane person would ever take that offer? Besides, don't blame someone for what he is… that's beyond their abilities. Think of all the things you could've done with your powers and what you did instead…"
"Stop acting as if you're better than me!"
"Stop denying the fact that you're not worthy of her! It's that simple, really! Now, back off, before I get violent!"
Growling, the cursed demon decided that he had already heard enough for today, and leaving was much better than keep arguing with him. "Say what you will, but, I think I'll have to call it a day. I've got no intention to sit here explaining things to you and quite frankly, I've done nothing wrong, either. You're also spying on them, too and unless I pull something, you've got no right to interfere."
"Fair enough."
"Then I'll take my leave."
Without any further delays, the cat was carried away by his familiar, leaving Excalibur alone in the alley, before the synthetic changed his mind and opened fire at them.
Feeling that his work was done, the sentient weapon turned and headed back to his quad bike, but as he was about to return to the amusement park, he did remember a crucial detail. Looking over his shoulder at the departing demon, the synthetic almost smiled, despite his otherwise expressionless current form.
"Hasta la vista, baby."
Looking down from one of the nearby roofs, Hild and Surt grinned at the synthetic who was already on his way back to the amusement park.
"You know… he kind of reminds you back when you were a kid," said Hild with a giggle. "He's got an attitude, likes to blow stuff up and bully others."
"I'm still like that, you know."
"Yeah… Although, you got all grumpiness now."
"Who's grumpy?"
"Dunno…"
Growling as he stared at his boss who was smiling like a cat, Surt extended his hand, offering her a small package. "Here… mister grumpy got this for you. Just in case we wouldn't find something like that, here."
Staring at the palm sized box, Hild was suspecting that it might've been a practical joke of some sorts, yet her curiosity got the better of her and she unwrapped it, not noticing that Surt had taken several steps away from her.
As soon as the package was open, it nearly exploded outwards with a giant shadow forming right above the Daimakaicho's childlike avatar. A couch-sized white bunny with a pink bow around its neck so large that would've made Hagall green from envy, came crashing down as gravity started to affect it, moments after it materialized.
"What the?!..."
Grabbing it mere milliseconds before it crashed her underneath its not so inconsiderable weight, Hild tried to look over to the smiling demon who was apparently far too proud of himself. "That's your idea of a gift?"
"Yep! Not bad, if I have to say so for myself. There's no way you can get something this impressive in any amusement park," said Surt, oblivious of the glare he was getting.
"It weighs a ton, too!"
"A mere fifth of a metric ton, actually. And the quality is top notch, as well," said Surt with a big smile. "It's definitely worth of our leader, don't you think? Oh! Before I forgot!... this is also a perfect couch if you want to sit on it and relax against its fuzzy tummy!"
"Uh huh… It's that fuzziness that make is almost impossible to get a hold of it," grumbled Hild as she struggled to heft the bloody thing, given how soft it was for something that large. Giving up, she finally decided to simply levitate it and save herself the trouble of dealing with the overgrown plushie. "Hm… in that case, what was that thing about the local toy store?"
"Oh, come on! It would've ruined the surprise, so, I found an excuse!" said Surt with a shrug. "But, look at this! Isn't that the best plushie bunny?"
"Like always, you've overdone it like an idiot…" said Hild with a sigh, shaking her head.
"I've got a reputation to think of. What would others think if I couldn't keep my word? Although, that idiot part was totally unnecessary, thank you very much!"
"Aww!... You shouldn't!" squealed the little Daimakaicho, bouncing in place, much to the dark haired demon's surprise.
'Uh… why is she that happy? And why do I have a feeling that this seems oddly familiar for some reason?' Racking his mind, Surt eventually came up with the answer, but, it was definitely one he never wished to remember again. And before she got the chance to pull that on him once more, he bolted.
"Oh, no you don't! Never again! Over my cold dead body!"
Instead of an answer, Hild's lips curved up in a grin and she went after him, once she shrunk her new gift and put it in her backpack.
'Just like the good old days…'
XXX
"Hey, I actually like this. The view is nice and it's more quiet and cozy up here"
Smiling at the blonde next to her, Urd leaned closer to her. "See? I've told you that you were going to enjoy this. A ride on the Ferris wheel is a must for all couples."
"Um…" Glancing to her side, Mara became well aware of their proximity, as the half goddess was leaning against her in a way that made her really nervous. In reality, she really enjoyed the warmth and even the smell of Urd's platinum hair as she rested against her shoulder. There had actually been times in the past where the blonde's mind had occasionally contemplated such a possibility; for her and Urd to get this close, and perhaps even more. It had actually been one of the primary motivational forces behind her earlier attempts at turning the eldest Norn into a full demoness, although after her repeated failures she had come to realize that it was never meant to happen.
While this was the best chance she had so far by a long shot, there was one possible problem in Mara's mind: Urd was temporarily a demoness. She may had no serious objections to act like this right now, yet there were no guarantee that she would accept it, once she got back being a goddess and that really troubled her. "Are we like that, though?"
"Hm? Are we… like what?"
"Look, I guess I shouldn't bring that up and probably… like most of my plans, I'll just end up messing it at the last moment, still… I know that I've called this a date and you've accepted to go out with me, but... Are we even a couple? Or rather… can we become one?" asked Mara, as she struggled with her words. Their date had been a pleasant one so far, but, she still felt that there was a certain distance between them. It appeared as if they were merely two good friends hanging out just like they used to, although she couldn't blame Urd for that. The primary problem was the potential of losing the her as both a possible love interest and a friend, if anything went wrong; leaving her with far less than she had right now.
"Having second thoughts, Ma-chan?"
"No, it's… It's kind of scary to make any bold statement now, and realize that you've changed your mind after this whole training is over," admitted the blonde. "I'm not accusing you of anything, but; If we do go further and then you decide that a demoness isn't suitable for a goddess; things would get really awkward you know… At the very least, we can hang around like this, even after you're back into a goddess; just like we always did from time to time. But, the whole relationship thing can make things worse if it falls apart and then we won't be even able to do simple things like this together."
"I've actually thought about it and to be honest, I can see your point. I'm known for having some hard time dealing with my past and all the implications about my origins," said Urd with a sigh. "However, as much as I try, there's always the fact that I'm a hybrid. Most gods and goddesses in Asgard would love to sleep with me, yet few would stick around after that. I'm not the embodiment of what they'll consider as an ideal mate, based on all the expectations that come with the word goddess. Tell me, do you have issues dating a goddess?"
"Uh… depends on who we're talking about…"
"I'm talking about myself, not my sisters," said Urd with a roll of her eyes.
"I wouldn't mind your nature as long as you don't start distancing from anything that has to do with demons," admitted Mara, worrying that this was probably far too much to ask of her friend. "Other than that, no, I don't have problems with your goddess side."
"Then I wouldn't also have a problem with your demonic nature either," said Urd with a smile. "I've gotten sick of trying to suppress half of my person out of fear that I'd either have to leave everyone behind and join my mother, or just go completely out of control. Still, I'm mostly fine right now and while I need some more work to learn how to use my current powers, it's far from impossible."
"So…"
"So, even while being a goddess I'd like to date you, regardless of what you are. I won't suddenly dump you once I'll change my configuration again and you should know how obstinate I can be; meaning that this decision is pretty much final. Besides, you did like me back then and that's more than I would've ever asked." Turning to the demoness, Urd's smile turned into a grin as she got a better look at her friend's face. "Oh! You're blushing!"
"D-Don't be ridiculous! That's just my markings!" protested the blonde, despite the rather obvious blush that made her cheeks look completely red. "You're just seeing things, I'm telling you!"
"Uh huh…" Leaning even more, the half demoness pressed her lips against her cheeks, making Mara let a gasp, although it wasn't one of surprise but instead, a rather excited one. "Mm… you liked that, naughty girl."
Taking a deep breath, the blonde decided to return the gesture with a twist of her own, and instead of Urd's cheeks, Mara went for her lips. Kissing her for a few long seconds, Mara was happy that there was no obvious sign of rejection, as the Norn of the past leaned into the kiss. 'Yes!... Finally!'
"Oh, look at you! So eager and excited!" laughed Urd as she momentarily pulled away, only to wrap her arms around her, hugging her in the process.
"What can I say?... You're hard to resist…" started Mara when she found herself in a tight embrace.
"Mm… I like that, Ma-chan," purred Urd as she pressed herself hard against her and was about to start kissing her again, when a nervous cough could be heard from behind her.
Apparently they had gotten so distracted that they failed to realize that their time on the Ferris wheel was over and the ones waiting for their turn were no other than a brunette goddess and her embarrassed husband.
"Aw… just as we were about to start making out, too!"
"Neesan! This is hardly a place to do such things," said Belldandy, with a small frown. "There are kids around…"
"No kidding… And the biggest one is over there," sneered Mara, pointing at Keiichi. "What's up? Haven't seen two girls kiss each other before?"
"Uh… I had actually," said Keiichi, as he cleared his throat. "Although, I never thought that it would've been Bell and Urd…"
"Eh?!"
"Oh, that? Well, someone decided to use a cough virus on poor Bell…" said Urd, giving a rather pointed look at the blonde who suddenly found something in the far distance to be rather interesting.
"At any rate, I see that you've finally decided to take the next step," said Belldandy as she smiled at them. "Congratulations, you two!"
"Thanks Bell! It was about time I'd try to get into her panties!" answered Urd, much to the blonde's chagrin.
"Hey! You're not out of control, are you? I mean… you were serious, right?"
"Don't worry Ma-chan, I'm perfectly fine and… yes, I was serious. As much as I can be anyway," said the Norn of the past with a giggle as she got up, tugging her new girlfriend along, allowing the other couple to take their place on the Ferris wheel.
"Neesan! Don't forget to meet us later for having a nice lunch! We're going to celebrate this occasion and it's our treat, too!"
"Sure thing, Bell! See you later!"
As the two couples parted ways for the time being, in order to spend some more time on their own, another duo spied them from behind the scenes; with one being elated by what she was seeing while the other scrubbed his cheek with a handkerchief.
"Way to go, Urd-chan! That's my girl! Mama's so proud!" Grinning from ear to ear, Hild was more that pleased with the outcome of this date between her daughter and Mara. It was about time for her to pick someone who wasn't going to either see her as a cheap way to have fun or as broken goods. Despite her ineptitude and misfortune, Mara was a demoness who saw Urd as an equal, worthy of her respect and affection, making her an ideal candidate for a romantic interest. At least, she was considerably better than all the losers her daughter had tried to date thus far and especially the latest one, who remembered her out of sheer convenience, only wanting to gain something out of her. 'Good riddance I'd say. The nerve of that idiot, treating my girl like some piece of property! I don't know what Skrymir did with him, but, I sure hope I won't see him ever again.'
"Ugh! Dammit Hild! It won't come off!" Struggling to remove a rather obvious kiss mark on his cheek, Surt was more interested in his own predicament than anything else that was taking place around him.
"Don't even bother… You know that the curse attached to that lipstick won't allow it to be removed for several more hours," said Hild with a giggle as she turned to the frustrated ruler of Muspelheim.
"What am I supposed to do now? I can't return to my main body with this stupid curse on my face! It's going to carry over and I'll become everyone's joke of the day; the week, even!" shouted the irate and rather embarrassed demon.
"Either you cover it with some make up and wait until it disappears… or you can stick around and join their little party!" said Hild, as she grinned from ear to ear.
"With that stupid thing on my face?!"
"It's not the only stupid thing on your face, so, give it a rest. Actually, it's an improvement!'
Narrowing his eyes at her, the dark haired demon started to walk away, before his leader decided to stop him.
"By the way… thanks."
"Huh? What for?" asked Surt as he looked over his shoulder.
"Well, I had fun," replied Hild, who started to walk towards him. "And you got me enough plushies, especially that huge bunny!"
"Sure thing. Say… you're not trying to sound nice, so that I won't get you back for this, do you?" said Surt, pointing at his cheek.
"Who knows?" said Hild as she suddenly went silent, getting an update from her main body that was still back in Niflheim, reading Mokkurkalfi's report. "What I do know is that Loki managed to pull something really funny again."
"Really? What is it this time?"
"Let's go and I'll tell you on the way."
AN: I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.
There are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.
This was less of a romantic date and more like the beginning of the relationship between Urd and Mara. There were a few issues that they had to discuss about and the date was a good opportunity to relax and finally consider about their relationship (and the potential of becoming a romantic one). So, technically speaking this was their last time of hanging around as friends and from now on, they're more or less a couple.
Excalibur was indeed impersonating a tiny, bunny shaped Terminator. I've felt that it was going to be a nice opportunity to have some extra humor, without turning the date between Urd and Mara into a complete joke.
Hild was indeed Surt's caretaker during his adolescence (and the same goes for Sinmara and Sindr). However, once they've become adults, both Surt and Sinmara were no longer under her supervision, although it goes without saying that, Hild wouldn't stop poking her nose in their lives just because of that.