Vortex World
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
Kagatsuchi Half Waning
"You don't need to do this you know. You aren't responsible for what happened." Urd said, positioning two chairs across from eachother within a larger sigil drawn in her own energy across the ground.
"I know." Ryoko crossed her arms over her chest, a glower on her face as she glared at the Norn.
"Seriously," Urd continued, "I knew the risk and got bit. That isn't your fault. You aren't obligated to do this for my benefit if you don't want to." She gestured to one of the chairs.
"I know." Ryoko took a seat, falling into it with enough force to raise her hair.
"Ryoko…" Urd ran her hand through her hair.
The space pirate glared up at her. "Urd, for fuck's sake, shut up and lets do this before either I lose my nerve or Tenchi returns as a convenient distraction." She pointed to the other chair before crossing her arms and legs, looking every bit a woman who did not want to be there.
"…Alright…" Urd sighed, then moved to the opposing chair, sinking into it in slower and more leisurely pace. "Close your eyes and relax your body as much as possible. Clear your mind, or if that's too difficult, focus your attention on your breathing. It works best when there are no invasive thoughts."
A cyan eyebrow raised. "I'm not going with you?"
Urd matched it with her own silver one. "Coming with? Ryoko, I'm going to you."
The two held eachothers gazes for a long moment. It was Ryoko who looked away first. "…don't be surprised by what you see. This is your last warning; my past isn't pretty."
"I know."
"…Fine. Your sanity." Ryoko settled on the chair across from her, making herself comfortable as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Across from her, Urd examined her for a moment, watching as the woman's chest slowed into the gradual rise and fall of one deep in meditation, then closed her eyes as well.
She descended into a world of stars, a pocket universe holding the infinite depths of the Past she walked. With every step she took, a year revealed itself to her, and Urd watched as before her, Ryoko's past blossomed to her; a bright rose stained by the pollutants of its environment. She saw a cave, cold and terrible and filled with the agony of eternity and felt the roots which pined for her life, embedded in her body in a twisted lover's perpetual embrace. Another step, another year, and as Urd began her Promenade more images passed her by.
Tenchi, Demi-fiend at first and growing more human, younger, by the step, who smiled up at her with youthful adoration and awe, his visits distance at first but growing more common the younger he became. Kitsune-Kokonotsu and Nanatsu-names which came to her through Ryoko's subconscious and whom displayed a love and acceptance to her unlike anything experienced before. And kits! So many, many kits! All playing and fighting and yipping within her prison, within her sanctuary, within her cave, all of which snuggled and played and bounced around her as she watched each generation grow and depart, those lost to Nature's cruel hand victimized less by predation and more by illness or natural disaster. The sadness which accompanied the lives lost-something which never affected her until the death of a human woman-Tenchi's mother-and the acknowledgment that she had grown to a point where she could feel loss.
Hiji, a tengu, the eldest of his nest, The One Who Stayed where others left for better shrines. A constant companion who stood loyal by her side, a guardian spirit who remained a steadfast companion even when the kitsune were preoccupied with kits and hunts and humans. Tall and strong, dark and ominous at first, yet growing younger, smaller, and less confident of his experience the farther Urd walked. He lost his status of a Karasu and became the tiny Koppa first witnessed chased and hunted close to death by terrifying Kamaitachi youkai. The One who sheltered in a cave inhabited by a terrible demon, warned away from the cave by his resident flock, and who found sanctuary as that same entity slew his hunters and brought him back to health with her own energy. The first familiar, if ever there was one, and as loyal as her sister which remained resting where she had fallen in the lake.
Achika.
The emptiness her death brought. The accusation of a mortal enemy's eyes as Yosho came to regard her shrine, his gaze falling on her form despite her own assurance that he could not see her astral body. His words discussing Achika's death, as a young man who hid behind the image of an old man wondered why he bothered speaking of his daughter's passing to his prisoner.
"She was always fascinated by you, Tsunami knows why. She made stories of seeing you and kitsune and tengu and others. Treated you the way other children discussed their imaginary friends." Yosho paused, his eyes dark with grief not yet released. "If…you were her friend. If-if she could somehow see you, speak to you, hear you…She's no longer among us, Ryoko."
The confusion which came with those words, and trying to decipher the meaning of what her warden spoke of. "I'm sure for one like you it matters little, but she passed away last night." The man sighed, then unshouldered the small ruck on his back. Opening it, he withdrew a bottle and two small saucers, then set the bag aside as he approached the cave entrance. "Nobuyuki is struggling back down in the city to grieve and take care of the hospital's paperwork. Tenchi is still processing what has happened and will eventually be sent up here to give Nobuyuki the chance to focus on the funeral but…" The man sighed. "Until then, I am alone up here. No wife…no daughter…no family to share this grief with."
The man set one of the sake cups down, filling the saucer with a small bit of sake before moving away from the prison gate and making himself comfortable in a patch of sun, leaning up against a large boulder which marked the prison's perimeter. Taking his own saucer, he filled it as well, then rose it to Ryoko's cave. "Achika always enjoyed leaving offering at your cave." He laughed, and it was a bitter, sad sound. "It used to drive me insane. She would waste good food and good sake and expensive incense not on Tsunami's shrine, as I had raised her, but out here on your cave. You and your imaginary youkai were more her gods than Tsunami ever was, despite my best efforts, and my endevors to prevent her from coming to this place only encouraged her rebellious attitude." He snorted. "Perhaps she could see you." He shook his head. "She truly was her mother; someone more in tune with this world and its energies than I ever was-or could be."
The ex-prince raised his sake dish, and in that moment Ryoko-Urd-witnessed her greatest enemy in a manner she'd never seen before. Grief overshadowed his face, his expression tight with despair as tears streamed down his face. "To Achika." His voice was quiet, and in that moment she wondered if he could raise his voice even if he tried, or if it would fall into nothing but a scream in that same attempt. "May her passing from this world be peaceful."
And saddened, a well of not pity nor even sympathy, but the foreign construct of empathy beating in her breast, Ryoko sat down before the cup of sake and took its essence. She raised it in turn, and shared in her jailer's grief.
In silence the two sat, both aware and unaware of each other, weeping for the life lost which had been so cherished between them both.
Urd took a step, and the image vanished, bringing with it times of silence, times of peace, times of a young woman and a younger boy who would grace a cave and play with kitsune and tengu, all under the watchful gaze of an imprisoned demon. Further and further she walked, and younger the woman and child became. The woman, Achika, regaining her youth and vitality as the child became a babe before vanishing altogether. Stillness, silence, and the woman was a child who beamed at her with the same delight as the boy she would one day give life to. An alien assassin brought to a swift death, a meeting between a child and her ancestral enemy, and the long sleep which came before it.
A man, a stranger, dressed in black with wings like tarnished gold. "I have a proposition for you..." Lucifer said, his smile open and inviting behind heterochromic eyes which held a zealot's promise. Urd observed him, watched, listened, and took note of his intentions before moving on, the gradual pieces of a separate puzzle falling into place as she listened to his conversation with Ryoko.
Another step was greeted with silence, emptiness, and solitude.
Kurama Tengu, massive, powerful, and filled with the wisdom of the mountain. From a distance Urd watched Ryoko discover them, interact with them, and for perhaps the first time gain an inkling of humanity as they taught her lessons in humility, morality, compassion.
And then they too faded.
Silence within a cave, desolate and deafening save for the occasional drop of water into a pool.
And then something Urd was unprepared for.
Rage. Despair. Terror. Pain. Incoherent and all encompassing, the sensations overtaking her and almost overwhelming Urd as they collided with her sense of self. A lesser goddess would have broken and found themselves overwhelmed, yet Urd was, by if nothing but her nature and heritage, far from a lesser goddess. She pressed onward, into the heart of the storm, the emotions beating against her like the savage wind of hurricane until even that faded, leaving in its wake little other than pain, confusion, and anger at having been placed in such a prison.
On and on she walked, witnessing the cave fall away in favor of a battle of such savagery she wondered how it couldn't be seen as anything but divine; a battle between a demon and a prince, and the destruction both sides wrought across the mountainside. She beheld Ryoko not as a demonized space pirate, but instead witnessed what her opponent would only discover after the battle ended: A woman, her mind fragile and withdrawn, imprisoned within her own body as an entity of a higher authority dictated its actions. With it came a wave of sadness; the image presented to her not of a grand and terrible space pirate but instead a soul so withdrawn into itself that it no longer recognized itself as an independent being. The Ego of the Soul had completely retreated within itself, and all that remained to drive and guide it was the instinctual Id, preserving the physical vessel and the soul it harbored in so only that its body did not expire. Yet even this was a creature not in its prime, instead suppressed to the point where only basic nervous systems maintained activity-the body lived, but the mind may as well have been catatonic with how deeply the threads of the 'master hand' quashed its will.
Though the battle was savage, ferocious, and terrifying, Urd felt not fright or even awe, but instead a wave of depression and a seed of anger which, she knew, would likely blossom into a rose upon discovering the soil that 'hand' had maniupulated.
Taking a breath, she moved on, riding on the bridge of a small, compact, yet powerful crystalline spaceship; one which howled to the same song of rage that the Id howled as it retreated from its pursuer. The bridge was small, comprised of little other than a hovering chair and two orbs which functioned as a control panel. Ryoko stood at its head, and when she snarled, so too did the ship howl, echoing her own internalized agony in the form of rage against the man who pursued them.
A planet of massive proportions, thrice the size of Earth and armed with a line of defensive satellites which orbited the planet like a ring of asteroids.
Jurai.
A massive attack, one which even to one as foolhardy as Urd seemed suicidal as a tiny ship, smaller than even Jurai's smallest treeships, pierced the exterior defense line to raid the planet. An attack on a royal family, and in that moment Urd became aware of something else:
"Chousin?"
Yes. Faint at first with Ryoko's first assault, but growing stronger by the moment as one of the goddess's Urd had only read case reports on began to manifest in defense of her favored people.
And with a sudden flare, the Chousin energy vanished.
"Stop!"
At once the scenes around her froze: Ryoko mid-flight, throwing a barrage of red energy down at armored guards as behind her, the Ryo-oh-ki decimated the courtyard which served the Juraian higher class. A young man who looked a bit like Tenchi raced towards her, a snarl of rage on his face and his weapon of choice in the midst of igniting in a burst of blue energy. A girl-she couldn't have been physically older than seventeen-with purple-black hair reaching after him as more guards held her back.
"What. The fuck. Just happened." Urd demanded, and leaned her weight onto her back foot, rewinding the scene and searching for the strange surge of alien divinity. "You were here, weren't you?" She said aloud, knowing nothing could hear her and for a moment wishing they could. "Where are you? Where did you go?" She looked around, dipping under the blasts of energy which hovered mid-strike in the air, touching the young man who would chase the pirate across the stars and sensing only the smallest hint of divinity in him-he was of the Juraian Royal Family then, and in at least a distant manner, kin to the Chousin who resided here.
Yet where was the Chousin?
She searched the garden, the terrace, the tree palace, and came into an inner courtyard. A pair of great doors stood before her-the entryway to the Jurain Treeship Nursery, and yet she found her path blocked, the area beyond unyielding to her prodding despite her best efforts.
"Ryoko never came here then." Urd murmured, and clicked her teeth. "Of all the things to miss…" Whatever had caused the surge in Chousin energy rested behind those doors, and Urd, Norn of the Past, Chief Administrator of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, First Child of the Daitenkaicho-the Almighty and, though she was loath to admit it, First Daughter of the Daimakaicho, she had an obligation to powers greater than herself on all sides to investigate any Chousin-related activity and report her findings to higher authorities.
She smashed a fist across one of the doors and heard its hollow echo, yet the door, like its memory she was a part of, remained closed to her. Behind it, the Chousin's energy burned in her inner eye like a White Dwarf, and with an oath Urd rested her head against the door, trying and failing to understand what was happening here.
"Jurai is a Chousin's planet. Tsunami, the youngest sister. From her Jurai gained a powerhold across this galaxy and prior to the Vortex World was threatening to expand into the greater universe. And Ryoko attacked her planet. Why?" She raised her head, looking back up to the doors. "A lone attack on Jurai without any kind of backup-and on the Royal Family no less, who is personally guarded by Tsunami-is damn near suicide." She paused, her lips pursed, and looked over her shoulder. A flick of her hand and she stood before Ryoko, examining the pirate carefully. "…But Ryoko is being controlled even here…" Urd murmured. "So she was a proxy in this attack. But by who and for what reason? She was chased to Earth, not any other ship, so her attack on Jurai-whatever purpose it was for-ultimately failed with her imprisonment."
A gleam caught her eye from Ryoko's throat, and the woman paused, reaching forward to the pirate and touching the gem which sat nestled in her throat with gentle fingers.
She yanked them back with a snarl.
It felt…filthy.
Corrupted, even.
The woman looked back up at the pirate. "What are you, Ryoko?"
Don't forget why you are here. A voice, akin to her own but more melodic, as if she was singing the words, rose in her head, and Urd felt the ghostly touch of arms around her shoulders. In reflex she reached up to touch the ethereal limbs, and heard the soft sigh of wings at her back. There is only so much you can investigate with the Chousin given what Ryoko's memories have access to, and she is trusting you to tell her her origins, not the mystery of a Rouge Chousin Sister. Will you betray that trust? After it took her all to approach you again and seek out her origins in the method which scares her most?
Urd winced and bowed her head, for a moment overcome with guilt. "No, I will not." She murmured, and leaned into the entity at her back. "Thank you for the reminder, El."
We will take note of this and discuss a way to send our observances outside the Vortex World upon our return. Her angel, World of Elegance, kissed her cheek before sinking back into her soul. Until then, we have a responsibility to Ryoko which we must maintain.
"I hate it when you're right."
Soft laughter, and the angel faded from her awareness, curling up within her soul once more. I'm always right.
Sighing, Urd waved her hand and took a step forward, and watched as Ryoko's past continued.
A ship. Not the Ryo-oh-ki this time but a massive, white behemoth. An architectural marvel, it had to have been at least three quarters the size of Earth. Urd stared at it from the bridge of the Ryo-oh-ki, standing beside a space pirate who panted as she clutched her head, groaning and whimpering as the presence which overshadowed her ego once more slid into her mind like a parasite.
The Norn was unaware of her own actions as she rested a hand on the woman's shoulder, only vaguely aware of the way the pirate's shoulders quivered with duress.
She squeezed the woman's shoulder in compassion, as if some part of her wondered if she couldn't draw the enslaved woman out of the darkness of her own mind. A futile hope-she was a keeper of the past; an observer, a records keeper, and nothing more.
Not even the Norn of the Past could change what damage had already been done.
A docking hub, and Urd trailed in silence behind Ryoko as the apparition navigated massive hallways and rooms large enough to hold cities with room to expand. Such a feat of a vessel should have required its own city of staff and crew members to keep the vessel active and in its prime, yet outside of Ryoko, there was not a living soul that Urd spied within the ship's midst; even the robotics which she noticed were little more than defensive turrets or machinery designed to compensate a contraption or machinery piece whose purpose alluded her. Perhaps Skuld could translate their purpose if she were here, but Skuld could only look to the future, not peer into the past, and her sister's training in that domain was yet to bare fruit with their elongated 'vacation' on Midgard.
Some of the rooms and more of the machinery gave her chills though. Though they were cold, the rudimentary souls which encompassed even these metallic behemoths were strange and archaic, watching Ryoko's passing in silence and whispering strange phrases and articulating stranger tongues with her passage
To Urd's ears, always sensitive to spirits, they rang with a note of familiarity which she could not quite place.
Rooms filled with relics of people, cultures, civiliaztions, worlds no longer in existance. Some of which Urd recognized, many which she did not.
All of which rang with a note of the esoteric in her mind. "What are they all doing here?"
A man. The only other living resident aboard the massive ship which Urd could sense.
Except…
"That's not a man." Urd murmured, and found herself recoiling as she gazed upon the imposing figure whom Ryoko knelt before. She stared at him, stared through him, and saw the soul which inhabited the body. "It's…incomplete. Why is it…is it a homoculus?!" The Norn stared at it, seeing but not fully understanding the soul before her. "No…not a…not a homoculus." She murmured. "But then…why? He's…he's missing half of himself. How is he…" The woman fell quiet, her gut churning in distress. "Where is his female half? His Anima?"
Every being born on Midgard had both a masculine and feminine aspect to themselves. The Creator and Destroyer, the Light and the Dark, the good and the bad, the Animus of a woman, the Anima of a man.
The Male and the Female.
Yet this one…this-this man… "He's missing the entire Anima." She breathed. "It's as if his soul's been ripped in two." The Norn grimaced. "No…worse than that…" She came to stand next to Ryoko, braving the creature before her—'Kagato', Ryoko supplied her—and examining the being with harsh scrutiny.
What she found struck her to the core.
"Rebis." She breathed, and stepped away from the being. "Not a homoculus…you are-you were-a rebis." The Norn tilted her head to one side. "Did you rip your soul in half? Or did someone else? Where is your other half?"
Urd felt ill.
Worse yet, she felt distraught.
"Ho…mo…cu…lus…" Urd looked down and felt her heart skip a beat as Ryoko sounded the word out. "Re…bis."
The Norn stepped away from the pirate in bewilderment. The Ryoko before her was a memory, a mirage. It shouldn't be able to hear her or repeat her words. "What—"
She looked back to the man who was her master, and saw Kagato had frozen in turn.
The man had gone white.
"Where," He began, "did you hear those words?" Red eyes, the sclera a sickly yellow, narrowed in first suspicion, then rage.
Ryoko stared up at him in silence.
Her eyes shifted and looked up at Urd. Feline gold, empty of humanity, met and saw the bright amethyst of a goddess who should not have been seen.
"Do you see me?" Urd breathed.
The pirate turned back to Kagato. The man's lips peeled back, revealing fangs which resembled Ryoko's. "Listening to your damnable spirits again, Devil Caller?"
And Ryoko supplied her answer to both their questions.
"Yes."
A rumble rose from Kagato. "Damnable beast, how many times must I subject you to this lesson?" He raised a hand, and an orb of green energy appeared at the base of his palm. He squeezed it, and it lengthened into a sword. "Speak not to those apparitions within the Soja! I will not have this place descend into the hell you made it thirteen hundred years ago! Summon them on Jurai, summon them in space, but so help me I will end you if you summon them here!"
He brought the sword down on the woman, who did nothing to defend herself.
And Urd found herself retreating from the Soja, retreating from the past life of seven hundred and fifty years ago, and retreating back to her physical body, feeing the violence, the eyes and the strange awareness which followed her escape.
Urd opened her eyes with a gasp, and found herself panting as her awareness settled back into its physical body. She felt cold and damp, as if at some point during the ritual, she'd broken into a coldsweat.
Across from her, Ryoko opened her own eyes with a small scowl. "What, see something that scared you, Little Miss Goddess?" She grumbled. "I warned you it wasn't going to be pretty—"
"Rebis." Urd interrupted. "Homoculus. Do you know these words?"
Ryoko paused, staring at the Norn in confusion as she raised a cyan eyebrow. "Should I?" She asked.
"Do you know what they mean?" Urd continued to prod, ignoring the irritation which flashed across the Demon Lord's face.
"Not at all." Ryoko replied. "Again, am I supposed to? Does this have anything to do with me being some kind of goddess or what?"
Urd paused, observing the space pirate in silence a moment. "I don't…know." She took a deep breath. "Humor me a moment longer…those words, did either of them bring 'Kagato' to mind when I said them?"
Ryoko's expression immediately darkened. "What's he got to do with it?" She hissed.
Urd held her hands up in defense. "Nothing." She said. "I'm just trying to understand something I saw."
The pirate bore her teeth in a snarl, and in it Urd saw Kagato baring his own snarl at the woman of yesteryear. The Norn winced at the parallel. "Look, I'm sorry if brining him up stirs some bad memories, but I assure you, it's important."
"Important for what?" Ryoko demanded.
"For understanding your origins and…something…something else. Something that…I didn't think was possible." Urd thought of Kagato and his incomplete soul, then thought of the mirage of Ryoko staring back up at her. "…Two things, actually."
The snarl faded into a scowl, then a grimace as Ryoko looked away, wrapping her arms around herself in an unconscious hug. Heaving a sigh, the woman closed her eyes, meditating on the words as she chewed her lower lip before opening them once more. "I've heard them before." She said, "But…don't ask me where or what they mean."
"I won't." Urd assured her. "A homoculus is a type of artificial human that is created through a process called 'alchemy'." She pursed her lips, then said, "…Think of Alchemy as the progenitor to modern chemistry with a spice of magic added to it."
"Okay…" Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "And a rebis?"
"A creature born of the union of opposites." Urd replied. "Something that is equal parts male and female. It's the magnum opus of that same process of alchemy."
Ryoko stared at her in confusion. "Oookay…" she drawled. "What do either of those words have to do with me? Am I some kind of homoculus? Is that what you're saying? Or are you trying to tell me I'm some kind of hermaphrodite?" The woman leaned forward with a scowl. "Because I can promise you, I am all woman."
Urd allowed a smirk to slide across her face. "Oh, you don't need to assure me of that, Love." She purred, and the smirk grew into a smile as the look of confidence vanished from Ryoko's face, returning to one of confusion instead.
From behind the door, standing guard and staying on hand in case she needed to intervene, Marller's voice rose up. "No flirting, Urd!"
"Stop being insecure, Marller!" Urd called back with a smile. "Let me have my fun! You know I have room in my life for only one demon at a time."
"The Hedgehog ain't a demon!" Marller replied.
"Stop calling me that!" Ryoko snapped at the door.
"Than stop flirting with Urd!"
"I'm not flirting with her you hyperactive volcano!" Ryoko snarled.
The door opened and Marller stuck her head inside, a disgruntled look on her face as she glowered at the pirate. Ryoko glowered back, but to her credit kept her gaze centered on the demon's sigil rather than meeting her eyes. She learns fast. Urd noted, then proceeded to step between them both. "Ladies, ladies! Calm yourselves, there's enough of me for both of you!" She wrapped a playful arm over first Ryoko's shoulders, than Marller's, drawing both near to her.
As she predicted, it was like cradling two cats who hated each others guts next to each other, as both woman began to struggle out of her grip.
"Lemme go!"
"Urd, I fucking swear if you don't-"
Cackling, Urd released them both at once, watching the duo stumble away from her before shooting shared, accusing glances towards the Norn.
Both women growled, looked at each other, snarled, then looked away.
Urd raised an eyebrow. "You know, its kind of a shame you're so smitten for Tenchi, Ryoko. Between you and Marller, we could have some fun in the bedroom."
Marller looked at her with an expression akin to murder, and once again a look of confusion passed across Ryoko's face before it was abandoned to irritation. So anger is her defense mechanism. Makes sense given what I've seen. Looks like she's still learning how to process emotions from what little I saw of her past. The question is…was she always like that? Or were Ryoko's emotions wiped from her by that…broken Rebis?
"You never answered my question." Ryoko said.
Urd looked at her. "Hm?"
"You never answered my question." The space pirate repeated. "On what I am—if you think I'm a-a ho-mo-cu-lus or a…a re-bis."
Urd paused, feeling the color drain from her as the space pirate sounded out the words, for a moment sounding so like the image of seven hundred and fifty years ago that for a moment she was back on the Soja, staring at the broken and brittle creature that held such sway over an unregistered deity.
"Urd?" Marller's voice roused her from the past, and a flicker of hidden concern highlighted the woman's vermilion eyes. "What is it?"
The Norn took a deep, soothing breath. "I wasn't accusing you of being a homoculus or rebis, Ryoko." She said. "Nor was I trying to imply it-that was a misinterpretation partially caused by me in how I phrased the question."
Some of the vehemence faded from Ryoko's face. "If you aren't accusing me of being those things, than who?" She asked.
"….Kagato." Urd said, and watched Ryoko recoil at the name. "He's…he was one of the two but…there was something wrong with him, Ryoko. Something very, very wrong."
The pirate's expression darkened. "The man was a psychopathic megalomaniac. Of course something was wrong with him." She paused. "…Wait, are you saying you think Kagato was a hermaphrodite?"
"No. At least…not any more." Urd crossed her arms, looking down at the ground and observing the lines in the wooden boards beneath her feet. "He was…incomplete. No…no, that's not right. He had been complete. But the creature I saw…the person you served, Ryoko, was…broken. The feminine aspect, what is called the 'Anima', had been ripped from his soul and…" She shuddered.
"Ah." A careful, stoic expression fell across Ryoko's face, and the woman observed the Norn in quiet appraisal. "You saw some of his…lessons, didn't you."
"I saw an incomplete, artificial soul which held sway over an unregistered goddess." Urd countered, returning the look with a similar neutral expression. "And…I heard that same unregistered goddess repeat my own words to that same creature despite the fact that she should not have heard me."
"What?" Marller looked between Urd and Ryoko in confusion, and saw a similar question dawning in the space pirate's golden eyes. "What are you saying?"
"What I'm saying," Urd took a breath, "Is that those two words-'homoculus' and 'rebis'-are familiar to you because I just walked back into the past seven hundred and fifty years…and as I stood by you on the bridge of Soja, staring at a creature which defiled the laws of Alchemy, you heard me and repeated the words back to Kagato." She pursed her lips, then turned to face Ryoko fully. "I don't know what that means." She admitted. "No…no being of the third dimension or even the tenth dimension should have sensed me; I was an observer, a ghost, an apparition. Yet hear me you did, and…by the sound of it, Kagato was familiar with the words too."
"So…what does that mean?" Ryoko asked. "'Cause I don't remember any of that."
"I don't know yet." Urd shook her head, and a defeated frown fell across Ryoko's face. "What I do know is that…there's more to you—and your origins—than I think any of us fully realize. And…I'm sorry Ryoko, but it's going to take more than one…'dive' to learn about those origins."
Ryoko seemed to deflate at her response, and Urd felt a wave of empathy for her. It had been difficult for the pirate to work up the courage to approach her once more after the last failure, and now here she was being presented with more mysteries and less answers to her questions. "Thank you for trusting me, Ryoko. I promise you, it will pay off. We just…need to break it up a bit more. How old did you say you were again?"
"About two thousand years old." Ryoko grumbled.
Urd nodded. "That's a lot of information for me to sweep through all at once. So we divide it into processable chunks until we find the final section."
The space pirate sighed. "I'd rather we'd have just gotten it all out of the way in one go. I don't like peeling away the bandage so slowly. Just rip it off and get it out of the way."
"But to go quickly will lead to a misdiagnoses." Urd countered, "And the wrong potion could be given to treat the ailment caused by a separate ailment—even the best of medicines can become a poison if used improperly, and that's what we're trying to prevent here."
The demon lord crossed her arms with a huff. "I can just neutralize any poisons in my system. It's not hard."
"And risk never learning the root cause?" Urd asked.
Ryoko fell silent.
"We take our time." The Norn continued. "We go slow, we investigate causes, and we document what we learn for a stronger picture." She paused, "…With your consent."
"You already have it." Ryoko said with a gruff voice.
"And you're free to withdraw it at any time." Urd reminded. "You could do it right now and I would be obliged to follow through with it. Do you want to take back your consent, Ryoko?"
Ryoko eyed Urd with a deep frown, then shook her head, a look of deep-sated anger—directed at Urd or herself, the Norn couldn't tell—on her face.
Brave kid. Urd smiled at her, and found it warm and honest. Even I can't stand revisiting my past, and in comparison to what little I've seen of Ryoko's I was spoiled even with my mixed blood. She's a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. "Tell you what, I'll break even with you. You let me check your past in small bouts, and I'll grant you one bottle of whatever booze is on the shelf afterwards."
Ryoko's face lit up. "Any bottle?" She repeated. "The whole thing?"
Urd smiled, "Yep." She confirmed. "But only for afterwards, not during or before. The booze messes with perception on past memories and last thing I need to do is vomit because I'm feeling the aftereffects of your drunken state of being."
"Fuck, I don't care." Ryoko said, "It's a de-does this session count?"
Urd nodded.
"Fuck yes, it's a deal than!" Ryoko all but raced out of the room and towards the front of the bar, leaving Urd and Marller to watch her go.
"…Is that healthy?" Marller muttered.
"This coming from you?" Urd grumbled back. "It's about as healthy as either of us would deal with it, which is why it works."
Marller shook her head, then glanced back at Urd. "You okay?"
The Norn sucked in a deep breath. "No." She revealed. "Ryoko…wasn't kidding when she warned me she's got some…well, darkness in her past. But I'll deal." She released a long, drawn out breath. "It's nothing that…I haven't seen before. In Asgard or Niflheim."
Marller stared at her, unconvinced.
Urd met her gaze with unflinching violet. "I…need to make a report to the Combined Daemon Collateral Task Force though." She revealed. "I…came across something I'm obligated to report."
Marller stiffened. "About what?"
"A Chousin." Urd replied. "I'm not certain yet but…I think Ryoko was sent on a suicide mission to…capture one, or steal its power. I'm…not certain. Things got…strange with Ryoko before I could uncover more." The woman brought a hand to her chin and bit her thumb in thought. "…How old did Ryoko claim she was?"
"You heard it yourself, approximately two thousand years. Why?" Marller asked.
"That's…untrue." Urd said.
"Are you saying Ryoko lied to you?"
"No." The Norn looked at the blond. "No, she's been…infuriatingly honest and open while working with me, it almost drives me nuts. Those tengu really did a good job in instilling honesty and integrity in her, even if she goes about it in a half-assed kind of way. But…the Chronological Line that I'm allowed to transverse. It's….much, much longer than two thousand years. More than twice that."
"She's over four thousand?" Marller asked.
"Closer to five thousand." Urd admitted. "But…" She paused, and in the back of her mind, Kagato's voice, the Broken Rebis, rang out in her ears again.
"Speak not to those apparitions within the Soja! I will not have this place descend into the hell you made it thirteen hundred years ago!"
"Something happened two thousand years ago." Urd murmured. "Something which might have…dramatically altered Ryoko's memory."
"Like what?" Marller brought her hands onto Urd's shoulders, and Urd allowed herself to fall into the blond's chest, finding solace in the woman's closeness. She inhaled and smelled fire and liquor and the faint undertone of phosphorous.
She sighed, leaning her head into the crook of the demon's neck. "I don't know." She murmured.
Marller rested her chin atop her head, and Urd could hear a warm, throaty purr-like a cat-rise from deep within the demon's throat. "I'll need to find out though."
"Not this Cycle." Marller's voice had taken on a husky note, and Urd smiled against the woman, slipping her hands into the blond's as, farther off, she could hear Ryoko starting some new trouble with Loki. The two of the sounded like they were arguing over something; probably the booze.
Let them. She thought, and angled her face up to meet Marller's, her lips grazing against the woman's neck as the blond's lips found hers. I need to decompress and—
As one, both women froze, eyes widening as the sensed a great and terrible energy descend upon their refuge. "What the…" Urd began.
"…fuck is that?" Marller finished.
The door burst open, and both Ryoko and Loki scrambled inside, looking like a pair of cats that had spied a wolf outside and were both yowling with such force neither goddess nor demon could understand them.
"Shut up, shut up!" Marller roared, and to their credit both Ryoko and Loki paused long enough to stare at the woman before beginning their excited tirade again.
Urd caught a handful of words.
"Tenchi."
"Demon."
"Goetia."
And something that chilled Urd to the core. "Belial!" Loki exclaimed. "The boy's lost his damn mind! He's brought a fuckmothering Prince of Hell to our doorstep!"
And Urd felt her stomach drop into her gut.
"God…damn it,Tenchi!"
Vortex World
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
Kagatsuchi 3/8 Waning
"What in the ever-living fuck are you doing here? Who said you could enter my house?!" Urd did not so much speak the words as scream them. Did not so much scream the question as snarl it.
Behind her, Marller watched on with wide red eyes, looking in that moment less like the fearsome demon who guarded Urd's Well and more like a woman on the verge of a meltdown; if Tenchi looked carefully he could see the woman shaking, raw, terror rising in her eyes as the blond observed him.
Even Ryoko and Loki appeared spooked, or at least on-guard. Loki's expression was one of polite curiosity, but his body was closed off-arms and legs both crossed as he observed them from an angle. Tenchi thought he smelled ice coming off the God. Ryoko looked pale and withdrawn, as if she was uncertain of who or what she was staring at, other than the fact that who-or-whatever it was overwhelmed her.
"Tenchi," Ryoko's voice was low and ominous. "Come here."
Tenchi stared.
And looked back at the Red Count who had followed him into the bar. Did I…fuck up?
Belial looked at the gathered entities with a unphased smile on his face. "Little Urd! Oh by the nine layers of the seven Hells, look at how you've grown! And is that little Marller behind you?" Marller cringed. Urd snarled and stepped forward, placing herself before the Red Count and the bar's lingering patrons.
Everyone else-angel, demon, or spirit, had fled long ago.
"It's so good to see you again!" Belial exclaimed. "My, when last I saw you, you barely came up to my knee, Child! Do tell, how is your mother by the way?"
"Motherfuck-" Urd strode forward, only to be yanked back by not only Marller, but Ryoko and Loki too.
"Don't you dare." Marller's voice was low. "This whole damn city will be destroyed."
"Much as I hate it, the bitch is right." Ryoko hissed. "Didn't you say this place was neutral ground or some shit? I am not fighting him."
"Remember your temper, Dear Cousin." Loki murmured, looking unruffled despite everyone else's reactions. "Please realize…we are in the presence of Royalty."
"Indeed!" Belial said cheerfully. "A wonderful reminder my good Jotun Lord! And an even greater reminder to my own dear Cousin of the need for courtesy."
Urd growled.
It did not sound human.
Ryoko eyed the Norn, looking tempted to release her for the pirate's own self preservation, then looked back at Tenchi, her eyes pleading as the darted between him and Belial.
Tenchi looked between both parties in concern and unease. "Can I please get some context?" He asked. "What's going on? Urd, you-you do know him, but why the hostility?" He looked back to Ryoko. "What do you sense?"
"What, he didn't introduce himself to you?" Urd's comment was snide as she narrowed her eyes at Belial, who folded his hands atop his cane, the smile on his face stretching into something uncanny and cartoonish. "And why are you even wearing that mask? What, too afraid to show yourself to your new buddy here?"
Belial chuckled, his white gloves rapping against the bronze demon's head of his cane. "Goodness my Dear, such venom. How delectable!" The man laughed, and behind Urd, Marller flinched as if struck. "Tell me Child, has this overt hostility anything to do with those beautiful blue sigils on your face?" Belial's expression darkened. "I seem to remember them a hue closer to blood." His eyes glittered like the tips of needles-sharp, pointed, and dangerous, and with a roar Urd lunged at the man once more.
A demon, a god, and something in-between hauled her back with all their might, and only just succeeded.
"Hey you asshole, fucking stop already!" Ryoko's words sounded closer to a plea.
"For fuck's sake Urd, he'll kill me just to spite you!" Marller snarled.
Loki, his face a tight grimace, looked at Tenchi. "Perhaps you could tell your friend to cease antagonizing our residential Norn." He said, and as if by magic-or a curse-Tenchi found himself under the horrible, raging gaze of Urd, the terror-ridden gaze of Marller, the desperate eyes of Ryoko, and worst of all, Belial's smug, imploring smirk.
Tenchi cringed. "Wh-what am I supposed to do?" He demanded.
Urd bore her teeth at him, and for the first time Tenchi saw fangs in her mouth. Fangs closer in length to the terrible fangs which Marller had, and yet some how longer, translucent, as if the fangs themselves were hollow.
Snake. Tenchi thought, and stepped away from the group.
He bumped into something, and with a grunt looked behind him and into Belial's smiling face. "Dear me, what will you do?" Belial asked him. "Here I am as your guest, one who's done nothing wrong and yet who's been insulted repeatedly by a goddess. Dear or dear, it would be such a shame if I were to take offense to such vile slander."
Tenchi stared at the man, and felt his stomach cramp with rising panic. He looked quickly between Urd and Belial, and caught Ryoko's frantic gaze. Do something! Her expression said, and the youth wanted to demand of her what the fuck he was supposed to do.
Loki gestured to him with a jerk of his head, and as the youth looked over at the man, an image came to his mind-One of Nobility, of guests arriving in the halls of Royalty and paying deference to the sitting lords. Of courtesies and customs across a multitude of cultures and the mutual respect presented despite personal feelings and vendettas.
"Oh…" Tenchi felt the word slip from his mouth and was barely aware of it. "Oh." With fresh inspiration, he stepped to one side, and bowed deeply, first to Urd, then to Belial. "Um, I apologize." He said. "I uh, didn't-didn't mean to bring a guest here so casually without informing you ahead of time, Urd." To Belial he said, "Please forgive me. I should have asked Urd's permission before bringing you here. Urd's Well is a…" He paused, thinking on the words, and heard Loki's voice whisper in his ear as if the man was standing right next to him.
"Coveted Commodity."
Thank you. Tenchi thought, "Urd's Well is a coveted commodity here in Minatogawa—a ah, well kept secret, you could say, and um Urd-Urd…" Loki, help.
As if hearing his request, he heard Loki's words once more, "Urd, as a fellow Regent like yourself, prefers to keep herself out of the spotlight. Your unannounced arrival caused the local inhabitants to flee, and news of your arrival will have surely spread to the Assembly of Nihilo know."
Tenchi repeated the words verbatim, and watched with a sidelong glance as Belial's expression grew thoughtful, his terrible smile fading into one of consideration. Your shitting me. Tenchi thought. Is this actually working?
In his ear, Loki continued to whisper. "Your presence is great and your aura remains terrible and powerful for those unused to it. Your presence alone causes Marller, whom remains Urd's closest ally, to tremble with fear and respect, agitating Urd in the process. It is not that Urd nor any of us mean you any disrespect anymore than you mean Urd any disrespect. It is a pure misunderstanding on my part for having brought you here under the assumption that you'd be welcomed without a Herald to announce your presence."
Ryoko was looking at him in suspicion now, Tenchi noticed, but the hostility had faded from Urd, and with it even Marller seemed to be easing up a small bit.
"Turn to Urd. Tell her the following: "I apologize for bringing Belial here unannounced. I mistook your own hospitality for something extended without context to members who may not have been invited by Marller, and during a time when you were already pre-occupied with a session involving Ryoko. I meant no offense and had only sought to assist Belial as a fellow demon-in-arms. Had I known of such pre-existing tensions, I would have asked first. It was an error on my part to assume your hospitality extended towards someone you may have an ill reputation with, and I will ensure it does not happen again."
Tenchi watched Urd's gaze darken with suspicion, and felt himself break out in gooseflesh as the woman's hard gaze darted from Tenchi to Loki, who looked at her with an expression which gave nothing away. The woman narrowed her eyes. Loki lifted an eyebrow.
Behind him, Belial erupted in laughter, causing those gathered to grow tense once more. "Good show Young Master, good show!" The Red Count began to clap, and Tenchi swallowed. "Very well, very well, you've convinced me once more. I'd think you were nobility in your own right with how swiftly you diffused the situation!"
Tenchi felt Ryoko's eyes boring into his back, and nodded, feeling the hair along the nape of his neck rise in alarm. "Very well, allow me to seek an apology from the good Lady before me." With a flourishing wave of one hand, Belial stepped back into a western bow, then, with a smirk, brought his hand over his heart and knelt before the Norn.
Urd stepped back with an uncomfortable grimace.
"Forgive me for not showing proper deference to a fellow sovereign, Child of the Daimakaicho."
Urd bristled, and for a moment a look of such vile hate swept through her face that Tenchi feared no amount of divine or demonic interference would stop her from striking the Red Count down.
"Urd." Marller's voice was a hair above a whisper. "For my sake. Don't."
The Norn hissed, and Tenchi recalled what he'd seen from Urd in a moment of gentle intimacy: serpents, fire, lightning. Shadow which danced with light. A cruel goddess. Or…
A kind demon. Tenchi thought, and watched as Urd tilted her head to acknowledge the blond behind her. With visible effort, the Norn sucked in a long, drawn breath, and released it with a hiss, and once more the teen thought he perceived serpents dancing across her breath.
Daimakaicho. Demon Lord? The youth wondered, and looked from Urd to Ryoko. It wasn't the same as Ryoko's title. More a butchering of two separate words crammed together to create something new.
"Get up, you damned Prince." Urd's voice was an icy whisper. "We're in a Vortex World. There is no sovereignty here."
Belial smiled and rose to his feet in one single fluid motion. "Are you so certain?" He smiled. "You certainly seem comfortable speaking to me by my title."
Urd growled.
"Urd." Marller raised her voice a hair's breath, and with a tight grimace the goddess looked away.
"What's going on?" Ryoko said. "What's a Daimakaicho? And this guy's a prince?!"
"A Prince of Hell." Urd grumbled, and allowed Marller to pull her back away from Belial. "Tenchi, he didn't introduce himself to you properly, did he?"
Tenchi held his silence.
Urd sighed, looking withdrawn and moreover tired. "You stand before the Worthless Prince Himself, Belial, fifty-fourth of seventy-two Goetia and a great prince of Hell." She glowered at the demon. "Anything he touches looses its worth, any who are with him become less than stone. He's a demon to stay the fuck away from, Tenchi."
"My, such high praise from the Daimakaicho's daughter!" Belial exclaimed. "I must say, I feel honored."
Urd stared nonplussed. "Get the fuck out of my bar." She said.
"In due time." Belial replied. "I have a question for you—a serious one at that."
Urd tensed, as did Marller behind her. "Belial, I swear, if this has anything to do with—"
"Have you seen my daughter?"
Urd stopped herself mid-sentence, and stared at the Red Count in shock. Behind her, Marller blinked. Urd stared, then quickly turned to regard Marller. "He has a—"
Marller nodded. "Adopted."
Urd looked back to Belial. "You have a…"
"Indeed I do, my dear Cousin!" Belial announced. "A young and blossoming Fiend, she is, by the name of Alice. Tell me—and I'll be out of your bar with the wag of a lambs tail—have you seen her?" He raised his left hand, pointing the palm up, and with it a smokeless fire appeared above the glove. It's heat increased into a bright and painful white, and from within the heart of the flames, an image appeared: one of a small girl, younger than ten with golden hair that matched the color of her eyes.
Some of the tension faded from Urd's body, and with no small hesitation the Norn leaned forward to examine the image. Behind her, Marller, Ryoko, and Loki leaned forward as well, peering at the ethereal figure in open curiosity.
At length Urd pulled a way, lips pursed in a thin line as she shook her head. "No child or Fiend holding that resemblance has crossed into Minatogawa." She said.
Belial's face fell, revealing the worried father layered beneath the Demon Prince once more. "I see…" He murmured. "And that is for all of you? None of you have seen her in, say, your travels, by chance?"
He looked to Ryoko, who scowled and shook her head, then to Loki, who mimicked the others with a small frown.
"I see…" The man grew despondent, and he sighed. "Urd, I do apologize for antagonizing you with my presence. I am stressed and grow worried for my dear daughter-she is but a child yet!—and for my partner, Nebiros."
Urd blinked, for a moment taken off guard. "You and Nebiros are a thing?" She grunted when first Marller, then Loki elbowed her from either side.
"We are." Belial sighed. "It had been…unintentional. Much like I assume your partnership with Little Marller is?" Marller flinched. "We had found Alice in one of the older, past Vortex Worlds which have since collapsed into Shadow with the fall of its Millennium Kingdom. Back then she had been just a small, wayward soul lost and alone. The cries were heart wrenching, you must realize, an only an utter bastardly human would have had the gall to ignore such pleas. We came to her and took her in, first to merely look after her and pass her on to an Underworld representative who could better care for her but…" The man shrugged. "Well, things have a strange way of working themselves out."
"I see…" Urd chewed on her lower lip, her arms crossing over her chest as more of the tension fell from her body. "And you were coming here…"
"For sanctuary for all of us, much like I assume you and your present company?"
Urd sighed, then nodded.
Belial nodded as well. "It is unfortunate but…I was separated from the others in our transportation here."
"Belial-sam-'scuse me, Belial came here via the Amala Drum, same as Ryoko and I." Tenchi explained. "But, something went wrong and he got separated from his family."
Ryoko stared at Tenchi, then sighed. "Tenchi, you damn bleeding heart." She muttered.
"He needed help!" Tenchi exclaimed. "And, well, some of the local guards were eyeing him and he looked lost! I couldn't just stand around and do nothing!"
Marller shot the youth a pensive glance, while a slim smile slipped across Loki's face.
Belial closed his left hand, and the image of the young girl vanished. The demon moved to rest that same hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "And the noble young man has lived up beyond any expectation I could have thought. You have a gift for recruiting strong and virtuous companions to your side, Urd. Perhaps that…other bloodline you harbor even now is more a blessing than the curse it was once so rumored to be."
Urd rubbed her face, looking all at once exhausted and aggravated. "If that's not the most off-handed way of complementing someone…" She began, before shaking her head. "I meant what I said, Belial. My bar isn't open to you."
Belial's face fell.
"You draw too much attention to yourself-even someone as blind as the kid behind me," She thumbed to Ryoko, "freaked out over your presence. I don't need all of Nihilo knocking at my doorstep when I'm trying to keep on the down low and someone like you will undoubtedly be treated as an honored guest amidst the greater Assembly." Grumbling to herself, the woman ran a hand through her hair before moving to the front of the bar, rummaging around one of the shelves before withdrawing a notepad and a pen. She scribbled something down on it, tore the paper from the pad, then moved to present it to Belial. "Take this and follow the directions. Tell them I sent you and they should set you up with a decent room for the first two cycles. Beyond that, you'll need to pay out of pocket."
The demon Prince scoffed. "I assure you, Macca is a paltry affair."
Urd eyed him. "…I'm sure." She said. "Stay there as long as you need. If I or any of my crew hear anything, we'll send word your way, but stay the fuck out of my bar."
"A demon's domain must be respected." Belial took the paper with a graceful smile. "And I give you thanks for your assistance, Cousin."
"Don't call me that."
"If it pleases you, My Dear."
Urd growled, stopped herself, then turned away with a tight sigh. Belial looked on with amusement.
"If you would, send your Tenchi my way should you find news. I've taking a shine to the lad, and I'd like to expound our budding relationship. A young hitoshura like him has much to learn, and I fear there are few willing to take him on as an apprentice."
This time Ryoko growled, going so far as to step forward before stopping as Belial's red gaze caught hers. The woman froze, tight and tense, and Belial's smile grew. "And should the young man desire the company of the more feminine sort, well…my doors will be open to his company as well, should it please him."
"Ryoko…" Tenchi murmured, and edged forward, placing himself squarely between the self-proclaimed Demon Lord and the literal Prince of Hell. A hand slipped into hers, and he squeezed it in reassurance. "Take it easy."
Ryoko looked at him like a cat on edge, then Tenchi felt her squeeze his hand back. The grip was tight and trembling.
"I will take my leave than!" Belial reached out and clapped a hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "Don't be a stranger, Dear Boy. I've some lessons which I think you'll benefit immenselyfrom." His gaze darted to Ryoko, and the smile grew once more. "And perhaps even one or two…specialized techniques for your dear companion, should she brave the chambers of my domain. Any being that has so caught the Daimakaicho'ko's interest is worth investing in."
"Belial…" There was a hard edge in Urd's voice.
Belial laughed. "Another time then!" He exclaimed. "Another time, another cycle! Another World even!" Turning, he tucked his cane under one arm and strolled out the bar, leaving its remaining patrons-what few remained-to watch his retreating form in silence.
All eyes turned to Tenchi, who cringed beneath the weighted gaze of a goddess, a god, a demon, and a space pirate. "Uh…Hey everyone—"
He found himself embraced tightly by Ryoko, who held him with such strength that she pulled him off the ground. Tenchi squeaked. "You idiot! Don't ever do that again! Do you even know what just walked through that door with you?"
The pirate released him, holding him at arms length as she looked him up and down.
"I…don't." Tenchi admitted.
"A literal Prince of Hell." Urd's back was to them both, and the woman was already reaching for a bottle of vodka. Popping the top off, she set the bottle on the table, then grabbed several eight ounce glasses and poured the vodka close to the rim. Taking one of them, she brought the glass to her lips and upended the drink as if it were water, downing the hard liquor all at once as she looked to Tenchi with a dark expression. "One of the most dangerous entities not only in this Vortex World, but likely many underworlds as well. And you, Demi-fiend, have caught his interest."
Tenchi rubbed the back of his head, watching as Marller grabbed one of the glasses for herself, downing half of it, grimacing, then downing the rest of it, as Ryoko eyed the remaining glass greedily. "He said he knew you."
"That's a part of my past we aren't at liberty to talk about." Urd slammed the glass on the countertop with such force Tenchi was surprised it didn't break in her hand. "You really had no idea?"
Tenchi shook his head, then looked at Ryoko. "What about you?"
"I've only sensed something like his power once in my life." Ryoko announced, giving in to temptation and reaching for the glass. "And that was when I had the secular unfortunate experience as almost crossing paths with a creature known as the universe's greatest enemy-a creature of anti-matter whose identity is only known as under the pseudonym KAIN—a name which the Galaxy Police gave it, because it didn't have any known identity at that point." She shuddered in recollection. "I found its aftertrail, and that-that thing you brought in? That Prince felt…just like it. But worse. A creature of…non-existence. Something dangerous. Something which repulses my entire body and screams at me to run the opposite direction. The Epitome of Entropy—that is what you brought through that door with you, Tenchi." The pirate was pale and shaken. "That was not what I had in mind when you left to go recruit allies." She took a long drink of the vodka, slammed the glass back on the counter, then marched back up to Tenchi. "Thank the stars you're okay, Tenchi." She whispered, and embraced him once more, gentler this time.
And Tenchi, perhaps for the first time in his life feeling the fear seeping off the people around him, embraced the pirate in turn. "I'm sorry." He murmured. "I didn't mean to scare you or make anyone angry."
"Just think next time, Kid." Marller sighed, looking worn and tired as she leaned against Urd, rubbing the woman's back as the Norn planted her elbows on the countertop and buried her face in her hands. "No more unexpected guests. Period."
"But what should I do about Belial, than?" The youth asked. "He seemed pretty…adamant I meet up with him again."
"That's on you to decide." Urd sighed, sending the teen a half-glance, her expression tight and guarded. "It's not our place to tell you who you should and shouldn't hang out with, but I'll be damned if that man steps foot in my bar again.
"You should take him up on his offer." All eyes in the room turned to Loki, who grabbed a bottle of mead, unscrewed the top, and took a sip directly from the bottle. "It'd be unwise to ignore the invitation of a Royal, despite the feelings of others towards him, and despite his…let's call it his 'nature', he seemed pretty sincere in his appreciation to you, Tenchi." The man took a swing, looked at the bottle appraisingly, then took another sip. "Kiwi. Now that's an interesting mead pairing. I wonder if they scalp the kiwis during the fermenting process or leave the hair on." Looking back at Tenchi he said, "The demon claims he can teach you something. Knowledge-and education-is power, even in a land like this. You'd be wise to investigate his offer at the very least, wiser still to stay on good terms with him; you never know when a powerful ally like that may come in handy."
"So long as he doesn't come back here." Urd announced. "I am not up for entertaining company like him or Nebiros. The sooner his kid and partner show up, the faster I get them all off my back."
Tenchi stared at the woman in silence, and thought of the strange titles used by Belial in reference to the woman. In a moment of utter wisdom, he held his silence.
Maybe in the later Cycles he'd work up the nerve to visit Belial-either with or without Ryoko.
Until then though…he'd caused enough heartburn for the people around him.
There was time to be rebellious, and time to keep his head down. And right now, it looked like Tenchi needed to keep his head down as close to the ground as possible to avoid any more trouble.
At least until things cooled off a little.
Then…well…who could say?
Comments of a Madwoman: who can honestly say what the past truley shows us? Like fraying string, the farther we part from it, the further it unweaves, leaving in its wake little more than fragments and percieved sensations. That which is not writ in stone is open to interpretation and re-invention, should one with the mindset attempt it.