RP Drumming

[Ira]

SHE was waiting. WAITING. What in the name of all that SHE is was worth HER -WAITING- for? SHE was the greatest and oldest of all who existed among the cosmos and multiverse. Since the return of Ira from the land she calls 'the Dreaming World,' SHE had singlehandedly thwarted seven hundred, one assassination attempts on HER and Cait and her lives. SHE had half a mind to crack the fabric of all reality and rewrite the pillars of mulitversal existence into naught but piles of dust for this insolence!

And SHE, SHE was WAITING!

Yes.

SHE was waiting, because SHE was going on a date.

SHE tapped HER foot gently against the dead flesh of The-Sphere-That-Hates, a gentle rumbling echoing from her mind and coalescing into a slowly gathering storm of red miasma in the sky. The gases, powerful concoctions exhumed and inhaled by the Sphere, were made to race across the sky for but mere moments before being pulled back into the great lungs of the world SHE had a hand in creating. The gases were HER idea too- the world was alive, it needed to breathe, and breathing needed to serve a purpose for the continuance of its life. Everything had to have a purpose, and every purpose a logical reason. It had to be right.

So it was that they arced their way through the atmosphere, glowing red gases of incredible light and power. And so it was that they swirled and twisted over the head of their supreme GODDESS in response to HER emotions. HER anxiety. Anxiety! For the sake of HERSELF was SHE really feeling ANXIOUS? It was just a mortal! SHE could flip HER fingers and, at a whim, recreate him perfectly as a being made solely to love and pleasure HER! It would be so easy!

It would be wrong.

SHE was anxious, because SHE was going on a date. Because that was the right thing to do. For purpose of real love, for the logical continuance of life, SHE was going on a date. It had to be right. By HER own rules, she could not be wrong. She could not make herself wrong. So she waited, anxiously, for her date. Dressed in a simple, clean white tunic with an elegant Tyrian purple palla draped over it, SHE was worried SHE had not prepared HERSELF properly. But SHE had forgone HER stola, a clear sign SHE considered HERSELF unwed and eligible, what more was there to do?

Releasing the tension in HER fingers, the storm above the sky slowly dissipated, leaving HER in total darkness a few miles away from the Foundation's little site on HER Sphere. SHE would not approach closer than this, it was for everyone's benefit. It was only right. He would come to HER, that is what was done, what was right. GODDESS SHE was HER head beat so terribly, a noise so powerful and great it threatened to drown out all else. Anxiety, the waiting, the terror...

It was right.

 

[illirica]

Rhythm & Blues

"This is crazy, right?"

Nic wasn't sure what he was looking for. Confirmation, maybe. Probably not reassurance. Maybe that, too. He was seated in one of the corner tables of the upper level of Imagine nightclub, which anyone with any experience would have pegged as a Foundation cover location in about five seconds flat. It wasn't the atmosphere - neon sci fi dystopia was perfectly valid, the beats from the dance floor below were most frequently a mix of metal and techno and anything else that cared to be in the mix. Maybe it was, in part, the bar specials - an equal number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, catering to the always-alert agent and the one that was trying to stop remembering.

Mostly, though, it was the people. All of them a bit too aware of their surroundings, even the surroundings that weren't really there. Nic knew about the door to the back, outlined in dimension-darklight and invisible and intangible and nonexistent to anyone who didn't already know it was there. Cait had done something to the entryway, so that it wasn't just that people didn't know it existed, it was that it actually didn't exist until people knew it existed. He wasn't quite sure how that all worked, but he supposed you didn't have to explain things, if you were a goddess. Officially, the location didn't exist; there was no L-i, because it was just an imaginary location. Or, rather, it wasn't even a location at all, until you were cleared to know about it, and then it was. Cait hadn't really bent reality, she'd bent unreality, which was something he was pretty sure no one had ever thought of before, which made it just about par for the course for her.

The man across from him didn't exist for the uninitiated, either, Nic was aware. Brian Connor, definitely not A-Class-E in the same way Cait definitely wasn't SV-6. He'd gotten the rank for being Cait's direct staff, his title being only listed as Messenger. Anyone who had the clearance to know he existed also had the brains to know they ought to be pissing themselves about that. Nic was terrified, too, but more for him and less of him. They didn't talk about it. It was a guy thing.

"Of course it is." Spoken, of course, like this all being crazy wasn't necessarily a bad thing. That was the reassuring part, Nic supposed. It was absolutely, completely, bat-flappingly insane.

So, that just made it the sort of thing they did every week. Right? Nothing to worry about.

Nic was still worried. "I've just... never... you know." He knew. He supposed he could at least say it, right? "...Dated a goddess. Before."

An exhalation, surprisingly sympathetic. "Nic... it's all right." No. There was something lurking there, in the sympathy. Something just a little bit... what? "No one's going to be mad just because you're a little slow."

Ah. Snarky, that's what it was. Nic snorted, in spite of himself, or maybe because of himself. "Screw you," he objected, with fondness. Fondness, and dawning horror - now that was the default state of things if anything was. "Wait, it hasn't been everyone-? I mean..."

"Well. Joshua's not into that sort of thing, regardless of divinity, but, you know." A shrug, uncommitted in the sort of way that implied someone probably ought to be committed, psychiatrically speaking. "What, you want advice? Ask Agent Weber."

"I did."

"What'd she say?"

"'Use protection'." Nic had not considered this statement particularly helpful. Or, rather, it had been particularly helpful, in multiple ways, none of which were actually... helpful. Neither was Brian snickering about it, which he definitely was.

"Look. You're overthinking it, all right? Deities are unfathomable, but in fathomable ways. It's the Domain situation. There are things that are expected of them. Back- back in the waking world, everyone knows what to expect from HER. It's been that way for a long time. SHE is just looking for something different. Just... treat HER like any other girl and you'll do fine."

"Yeah. Sure." Nic pretended he hadn't noticed the part that hadn't quite been back home, kept himself from thinking something like so it's like that, is it? - because of course it was like that, and he'd known for... a while. Because Brian might have been over here, on this side of things, but he was just visiting. Nic... wasn't like that. Maybe it was just that he was different, or maybe it was that he had less to hold onto, so he was holding onto it all the more tightly. "...You know I don't remember ever dating any other girl, either."

Not to say he hadn't - he probably had, back before that thing in Idaho, but he certainly didn't remember it. And after he'd joined the Locusts, well, he'd been busy, and all the girls around him had been absolutely bonkers.

Nic contemplated the fact that SHE was actually comparatively less bonkers, and didn't know what to make of it. He supposed it was that fathomable ways situation. Ugh, he hated it when the nonsense started making sense.

And he loved it, because that, too, was just the sort of thing they did every week.

"What, you want advice?"

"Uh... sure?" Nic wasn't sure. A sense of impending doom made him regret his claim to certainty, as did the little smirk that seemed more Cait-like than anything else.

"Use protection."

By the time Nic had stepped through the door that couldn't be seen into the place that only existed in the imagination, he had mostly just decided that what he was taking out of that conversation was that he should never ask for advice again.

 

[Ira]

SHE could feel her presence, the infuriating, bloody child. She came bearing emotions and feelings that SHE was simply not interested in entertaining, songs that SHE possessed no intention to hear, and words that SHE would prevent inception from HER mind. Yet, still, she come, and still she spoke.

"Nervous? It is 'ok.'"

Her voice was like the rumbling of an earthquake. So much power and authority laid behind it that merely breathing within her presence was impossible. She was not like SHE, she was a force of nature. Immovable mountain and stoppable force combined. Dichotomy defined and deposed. Truly, despite SHE being the oldest and origin, SHE existed at her pleasure. It infuriated HER. But HER rage quickly began to die as Ilah moved behind HER and began to touch HER hair.

"I know, your thoughts. Your desires. You seek companionship. You are alike to me."

SHE wanted to scream. HER fists balled up and HER body shook, but SHE restrained HERSELF. "No, I-" SHE began, but was swiftly cut off, "Yes. I am not ignorant, well- no, yes, I am. But not like before. Now, I am knowledgeable, and ignorant. Her hands began to intertwine in HER hair, weaving its waist length into a French braid. "I know what you seek. We seek it together. Love. Acceptance. Companionship. We simply seek it within different- erm, forms."

Her face turned a shade of red unseen, but SHE could feel the heat. Ira's embarrassment, combined with HER own, warmed the space between the two. All at once, SHE was forced to 'see' at HER younger form in a different light. SHE had blocked so many memories from Ilah, actions and experiences the little she was too young to see or understand. But SHE was aware that Ilah was growing up. To a degree now, even with those memories cut off from her, Ilah understood HER desires.

HER fingers were shaking and twitching as Ilah finished the braid and gently reached out to grip them. Moving around, she kissed HER forehead once she had taken a place in front of HER. SHE looked up at Ilah in a mixture of confusion and annoyance, when had she gotten taller than HER? Reaching out, SHE brushed a lock of hair from Ira's face as the young woman giggled, "I stand a head taller than you now. How feel you, shorty? Hahaha! Relax, my greater half, you will be fine. You will be loved."

At that, Ilah faded from view. Her movements were swift. Today was not a day that the Cait Ghost spent regulating Ilah's strength and emotions. It was only natural, the Cait Ghost had work of Her own, SHE did not fault Her for it. And Ira, still occasionally struggling with her immense power, saw to it to leave before any harm might come to HER date. SHE smiled gently as Ilah left, the infuriating, bloody child that SHE loved. Not so small anymore, was she?

A new presence, an arrival. He had entered HER dimension. Breathing deeply, SHE stepped forward and was, at once, before him. Her form, standing no taller than a human's five foot and two inches, looked at the man called Nic. Suddenly hyper-aware of HER dress, HER eyes, twin pools of black, and HER hair, SHE pulled a hand up and tucked a lock behind HER ear. Quietly, SHE spoke. HER voice, all at once terrible and lovely, whispered,

"Hey you."

 

[illirica]

Nic wasn't ready. It didn't matter if he was ready, though, because it was happening right now, whether he was ready or not. That much, at least, was familiar. He was, he figured, pretty much an expert in not being ready.

Oh, the Locusts prepared for things all the time, it was just that when things happened, there were inevitably going to be things that not only hadn't they prepared for, they were things that couldn't possibly be prepared for. They just had to roll with it, whatever it was. Being prepared to be unprepared, Nic supposed, which seemed like it was edging into philosophy somehow.

Regardless, here SHE was.

Brian had left him alone with HER, too, Nic noticed - not that Brian had been being particularly helpful, but-

-Well, it was less about the moral support and more about the fact that Brian just glooped in and out of places. Nic supposed that the Locusts had always sort of glooped in and out of places, but it had been one of Cait's weird spells before, rather than something intrinsic. Brian doing it naturally made it harder to ignore the fact that he was... different.

An anomaly.

A sanctioned one, to be fair, but an anomaly nonetheless. And Cait was a goddess and Gail had a goddess and Nic was... just Nic.

He kind of wondered what SHE saw in him. He certainly wasn't special. Brian had implied that maybe it was because he wasn't special, but that couldn't be it. Or maybe it could. Nic didn't know that much about goddesses, after all - and he knew even less about dating.

He was definitely going to mess this up, somehow.

Nic swallowed, as if this would keep the nervousness at bay, and regarded the diminutive figure before him. SHE was, he knew, quite a lot bigger on the inside. He wasn't sure whether or not this helped.

"Hey." As greetings went, it probably left something to be desired, but maybe SHE got enough of the proper formalities elsewhere. Or maybe SHE didn't. It wasn't like Nic actually knew what SHE got up to in HER spare time. "It's been a little while." Inane. Should he have said that? He shouldn't have said that. SHE certainly knew how long it had been, SHE was a goddess.

"Um. Anything interesting happen lately?"

 

[Ira]

SHE froze before Nic as he spoke, a feeling so alike terror yet so very much not terror seized HER heart. It was as if the waves of sound, vibrating across the molecules of the sparse air between the pair suddenly made the man 'real.' It wasn’t that he was not real before- of course he had always been real, but the waiting, the anticipation, SHE-

Well, SHE was suddenly aware SHE had built him up to be so much more since their last meeting. SHE felt silly. Then he asked her if anything 'interesting' had happened lately. SHE was vaguely aware that this was a natural thing to ask as a sort of 'awkward icebreaker.' SHE had not lived as long as SHE had and not understood such things. If anything, there was so much knowledge and experience inside HER that all at once nothing that had ever happened or ever could happen would classify as 'interesting.'

Yet, when he asked that- SHE laughed. Not a full laugh, but an unexpected giggle from someone unaccustomed to doing such a thing. SHE whipped a hand up to HER mouth to stop HERSELF, though SHE had been too late to prevent the sound entirely. HER face flushed red once more and SHE shook HER head in attempt to regain control of HERSELF. Making a small 'mm' sound, SHE replied gentle tones.

"Interesting, yes... Your Ghost, the Cait, has done a great many 'interesting' things. I'm unsure if you would find them as interesting or not, but they are strange movements nevertheless to ME."

And it was true, because 'Magic' was strange to HER. Throughout the lifespan of HER entire universe, its heat death, and its resurrection, SHE had never allowed for 'magic.' Everything- everything made sense. Anything that proved itself a mystery to HER people at any point was simply science that had not been fully investigated yet. Magic, defined as powers and wonders beyond explanation, was a concept fully foreign to the entire Waking Dimension.

Yet, creating those illogical inconsistencies was one of the first things the Cait had done. Much to HER fury, though Ilah had 'set the law' and HER opinion on the matter -mattered- not. So SHE 'let it go' per se. Although SHE did not approve of magic even now, SHE could not deny it was 'interesting.'

Suddenly aware of the limitations of light and sound as the red miasma in the sky began to fade and withdraw within The-Sphere-That-Hates, SHE asked quietly, "You- cannot 'see'? I could change your eyes, temporarily, if you so desired-" SHE caught HER hand, as it had begun to reach out almost of its own accord toward Nic's face. SHE prayed the light had withdrawn enough that he had not seen HER movements. So used to simply doing whatever whim came across HER mind was SHE that SHE had almost just 'done it' even as SHE 'asked' Nic for permission.

No- he had to approve. He had to want- SHE had to listen. That was right. Permission was wanted. Patience was good.

 

[illirica]

He'd made HER laugh? The internet assured Nic that this was a good thing, but he wasn't exactly sure if the internet applied to goddesses, and if this was actually a good thing. He supposed that if it was not a good thing, SHE could just squash him like a bug, so... maybe it was a good thing?

Nic really didn't know what he was doing here.

At least SHE was able to carry a conversation, which made one of them. Were they a them? Or if they were a them would it be more of a THem or would it be more of a thEM? Or did it go ThEm? That just looked like a fourteen-year-old had gotten hold of the keyboard in his brainspace.

Nic really didn't know what he was doing here.

And... SHE didn't know what here was doing. Well, that was interesting. Nic found himself smiling in spite of himself. "Cait is like that. If she weren't, she wouldn't be Cait." And then... well, then there would be Opinions on that, from higher places than Nic, so it was probably good that at least one of them was mostly who they had always been, even if who they had always been was ever-changing.

"Do you... like it? The changes, I mean. I imagine - well, I probably shouldn't assume, but, um, if I were assuming, I would guess YOU already know everything and so maybe having things YOU don't is... well. I guess it'd be different. But I can't guess how you feel about it."

That sentence had been a jumbled mess. Nic was pretty sure SHE now also knew he didn't know what he was doing here before, if she hadn't before.

SHE had definitely known before.

SHE asked him about his eyes. If Nic hadn't been totally aware of the fact that SHE was a goddess, he definitely would have been now. Maybe he was more aware? Emphatically aware.

Thankfully, there was a protocol for this. That, at least, he could fall back on. "I would accept that, for one hour only, as I experience it." It was a little cold, but the wording was meant to be precise. Still, he didn't want to be offputting. "And, um, possibly again later, of my own free will, we'll see?"

He had to be careful, though. He didn't think SHE meant him any harm, but that was the problem. Sometimes beings didn't know what harm was, and before it got thought through, something had already been done that couldn't be undone. Nic just wanted to make sure that he was still himself.

He didn't want to end up like Brian. That was horrifying.

 

[Ira]

SHE watched Nic closely, every facial change, every microexpression, HER eyes observed them all. He was thinking. He was thinking more than he was saying. What was he thinking? What were the thoughts that flowed behind his eyes? SHE wanted to know every single thing, SHE wanted to hear him exhume the contents of his soul to HER, to have and to hold everything. SHE could take it, if SHE wanted. SHE only needed-

To be patient.

Attention, care, love. These were the things SHE wanted, and SHE would not have them by force. Blinking slowly, SHE forced HERSELF to listen. It was not as though listening was difficult. Rather, the difficulty came from seeking contentment in only what SHE heard with HER ears. It would be enough. He was enough. Then, he let slip a rather curious thought.

"I am not omniscient." SHE stated matter-of-factly. "I am- no, We are omnipotent. It is not the same. I no more understand the Cait-Ghost than you do- I think. She is your friend, so, perhaps your knowledge exceeds mine. You-in-your-steps know more than ME-IN-MINE. Is that a strange thought-?"

With a fluid motion, SHE stepped closer toward Nic. He had accepted HER offer, curtly and professionally as only a tool of that accursed agency could. HER face twinged slightly in disgust, though he would not see it as the light had finally faded away completely. The facial abnormality disappeared as soon as it appeared, however, with Nic's mention that perhaps, another time, they would do this again. While outwardly SHE did not show it, inside, SHE beamed.

Slowly, SHE came very close to Nic. HER hair smelled sweet in an unnatural way. Not a sweet, flowery scent of earth, but neither was it one that would curl the lip and scrunch the nose. It was simply- different. Reaching for his eyes, her fingertips lightly graced the strong contours of his cheekbones. Then, carefully, she brushed against his eyelids. Rather than changing his eyes, SHE crafted a soft film over them that would parse the absence of light and generate it into images understandable by his human brain. It would create images similar to what HER denizens would see, though not exactly correct. Some of the colors would be muted.

Despite that, nevertheless, Nic would notice the change. As a world of black faded from view, and a world of color blossomed. To Nic, it would appear as though everything around him was illuminated by light unseen. No star nor light cast itself from the sky. Rather, all that existed was simply visible. And he would see everything. The scorched skin of the Sphere beneath him, the spires of multi-colored bone jutting from the ground, the immense corpse of the dead god in the sky, and- HER.

Quietly, as SHE pulled away, SHE asked, "A favor, I would ask you. For one hour only, MY name- call ME- Ami. Then, perhaps, another time, again?"

 

[illirica]

Well. SHE definitely didn't like that Nic wasn't willing to just go along with the whole sight thing without restrictions. It wasn't that he couldn't see HER point, sure, he'd probably be kinda annoyed as well if the person he were dating didn't trust him, but also, this was pretty much a first date and caution was generally good with those, right? Nic was pretty sure that was right. Not that he had any experience with the situation, but it did seem like that was the way the advice generally went, even with humans.

SHE definitely wasn't human. Nic thought it was better that SHE wasn't pretending to be. That would have been weird. Er. Weirder. SHE had touched his eyes for a minute, without trying to kill him. Nic wasn't exactly used to that. It was nice, but he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be thinking that. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe he could just let it be nice. People were allowed to like things, right?

Even if those things were dangerous.

Kind of like HER.

He opened his eyes, or reopened them, or whatever it was, and he could see again - see HER. It wasn't a surprise - He'd seen HER before, even that first time, when SHE had been standing on the stairs and they'd all been deciding if they were going to kill each other and they'd ended up deciding they only needed to kill each other a little bit - though mostly the killing each other a little bit had been done with by then, and they'd just been deciding if anyone was going to finish the job. And he'd seen HER at that meeting, which had... pretty much also been about deciding if they needed to kill each other.

Hopefully this time went differently. Nic didn't have any illusions about which one of them was going to end up dead if it came to that.

"You look nice." It was the sort of thing people said. SHE did, though. Strange, sure. But nice. He wondered if goddesses dressed up for dates, or what constituted as dressing up. It probably depended on the goddess.

SHE'd given him a Name. He was terrified to use it. Names were binding, after all, and though the binding usually went the other way, she'd also called it a favor, and it was always good to be cautious about favors, when gods were involved.

Of course, declining the favor would probably have been a grave insult, and was likely to be worse than the alternative. Nic swallowed, pretending that the concern went away with the motion even if it didn't, and made himself add, somewhat trepidatiously: "Ami."