But in the end Ishtar breathes out, low and heavy, and doesn't shove you off. Your smile widens until it's a grin, wry and wild—and then she rests a knife-thin finger under your jaw, right on the artery and tilts your head further back until your eyes meet. Hers are the red of racing hearts, of flushed cheeks and bitten lips and fresh scratches down a lover's arms. "I came for you, fool."
BAHBABOBO—
—you snap entropy through your veins and it swallows the shallow weakness of your flesh beneath the star-dark at the end of the world.
"Ishtar," you say mildly, hand dropping from the embroidered elegance of her dress to hang by your side as you take a single step back, "I'm married."
Barely into the chapter and Ritsuka's already being seduced by steppy goddesses. It's good to be back in a Magery quest.
Ishtar hums, sweet as plums. "They fear you."
"I've always wondered why," Meltryllis chimes in, flowing closer across the carpet to rest her arms around your neck. She's a cool press against your back, heavy with affection. "I mean, just look at her! The last time she tried to scare off a seagull from her fish and chips it mistook her for one of its babies and tried to feed her the chip in its beak."
You swat Meltryllis on the thigh and Ishtar laughs. It's pitched lower than you're used to and makes you think of biting into dark chocolate. "I don't think they fear me, not exactly. Not these days. They just get a little nervous at the thought they may have once had reason to."
"So they fear you and they underestimate you." Ishtar sounds proud, her smile slow and sharp like it's being honed across a whetstone. It chases away the shadows that press in from the corners of the room and glitters off the bone-bright walls. "Well done, Ritsuka Coralli. You have learned well of war."
Man, I'll be honest and say that I didn't think much about Ishtar for a long time after Babylonia came out, but talking to you absolutely made me realise that there's a depth there that I hadn't seen before because they wrote her as a joke even when she was being serious, and now seeing your take on her as this proud, powerful, dangerous and alluring goddess is absolutely stellar.
Thoroughly enjoy this version.
"I will not tell you why I am walking your Earth, Ritsuka Coralli. It is none of your concern. There are things that I must do and things I must protect. But I will tell you this." Ishtar steps forward and presses a slender finger into your chest. She could kill you like this, faster even than Meltryllis could react, a snap of divinity and a hole in your heart. That's what trust is. The difference between could and would. "Call. When you are cut, when you are bleeding, when you are cold and shaking and the sword is at your throat, call."
A pause, like the space between lightning and thunder.
"Call," Ishtar repeats, her eyes as sharp as stars, "and I will come. No matter where. No matter when. I will come. And my frightful cry will descend from the heavens to devour all who stand before you."
There's been a theme this entire quest that whatever happened with Ritsuka, people are afraid of her. Either are, present tense, or were, past tense, but still cautious that she could regress back to how she was when she was a threat (a Beast?). Chaldea's not a home for her, not anymore, and their jet being attacked in the previous chapters is just the clearest example of that. Having her first night being interrupted by a goddess that it's clear Ritsuka loves and it's just as clear loves Ritsuka back as fiercely as only a deity can, and then having that goddess tell her unambiguously, unequivocally, and unconditionally that she
will be there for Ritsuka...it's nice. It's really, really nice. There are still people that trust Ritsuka regardless of what happened, and they're still there to support her. I like it a lot!
Did—Did she just quote one of her own hymns in order to aggrandise herself? What are you saying. It's Ishtar. Of course she did.
Servants quoting themselves is always incredible, and this is a nice bit of levity in between a really heartfelt and earnest passage. As Ritsuka said,
of course Ishtar would quote herself.
It's a hot blast of flavour every time you breathe in, tickling your nose and making you want to sneeze—you've never been that fond of spices, but Gray seems to add them to everything. Sometimes you wonder if she's really English.
she's obviously welsh duh
You nibble a bit more of your muffin, then plop it down on your ceramic plate, leaning back on the bench as Meltryllis reaches over absently to hold you up. "Did you get any strange visitors in the night, Gray?"
Gray chews for a little bit, then puts her knife and fork down with a frankly Reinesian level of elegance—they make not the slightest clink against the bright metal of the table. She glances between you and Meltryllis, her hood deep enough that you can't quite tell if she's raising an eyebrow. "Reines and I are nothing like the two of you, thank you very much."
"I—I don't know what you're insinuating here," you say, absolutely refusing to blush, "but that's not what I was talking about!"
"Ritsuka," Gray says with an astonishingly innocent smile, "how can you not know what I'm insinuating but also say what I'm insinuating is not what you were talking about?"
"That's not the point here," you stammer out so quickly you almost bite your tongue, glancing in mute helplessness at Meltryllis to come and save you from this cruel and unusual punishment. What did you ever do to Gray to make her betray you like this?! Besides calling her Lady Pendragon. Because that doesn't count. It was too good a chance to waste!
I'm completely unsurprised that you were able to write this little snippet so well, considering how many times you've had this exact conversation with anyone and everyone :^)
"Be well, and remember this: it is never wrong to love," you quote; lovely words from a lovely voice that you can't quite mimic, your own softer and always faintly tired, like a worn-down room stacked with old and forgotten toys. "I'm pretty sure it was just a blessing. Nothing complicated."
Even so, the words have settled somewhere deep inside you, somewhere intimate, in the hollows between your bones and skin where your blood lingers like moss upon a grave. You've always been quiet, introspective, all gangly thoughts and awkward silences. As a kid, it made you seem mature; as an adult, it makes you seem patient. Unflappable. But you've never really been that good at putting those thoughts to language, fitting them in the shapes and songs of sentences—and Ishtar has cut right to the core of you, the truth you have always lived by but never known how to say.
Maybe Ishtar thought you needed the reminder. After all, you're visiting Mash right once you've finished breakfast. You don't need it, though. It's not like that. It'll never be like that. But you appreciate the kindness all the same.
Hmm. I wonder if this is part of the whole Beast thing? Beasts are, after all, creatures of love in the end. If Ishtar's reminding Ritsuka of that simple little fact, maybe instead of being worried about how she'll handle seeing Mash, she's simply hoping that Ritsuka won't let the past chain her down, won't let what might be stop her from changing what is, in the moment. Could be completely off base, of course, but hey if I'm wrong I'm wrong
[X] Fear. As much of her as for her: as much because she might smile at you and you won't recognise the way it curves her lips as because you can't be sure if she'll be able to smile at all. It will be the loving fear, the same quivering, gut-sharp tension that stammers shut the mouth before it fractures complacency into confession whether agápe or philia, but it is the loving fear that most often separates what we say from what we mean.
I like this one a lot, I think. It's been ten years, if I'm remembering right, and ten years away from someone that you used to be so close as to practically be inseparable in people's hearts and minds is a terrifying amount of time. It'd be terrifying if Mash was perfectly healthy and happy, the quiet fear of not recognising someone you used to know better than yourself, but Mash is
dying so it's even worse. It's not going to be pleasant for Ritsuka, but as much as I'm sure she'd love to give in to righteous fury, I just think it's really between Loneliness and Fear for it, and with the added aspect of Mash being on her deathbed, I think fear is more appropriate.
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