neutral_omens | (no subject)

Entry tags:

bast,
uriel

(no subject)

Time: September 16, 2006
Place: Swimming Pool
Status: Public
Summary: Uriel swims.

The bad thing about being pregnant, Uriel had come to notice, was being pregnant. Her stomach may not have weighed as much as her whole body had before she got pregnant, but it definitely felt like that. For somebody who loved flying, being tied to ground and losing her centre of balance wasn't too easy.

One thing helped, though, when she got enough of carrying all the extra weight around. In water, she felt almost like she was flying again. 23 weeks along and she looked like full term. That's what you got for being small.

The swimming pool was empty when she got there. For a moment she almost wished Sugarplum was still there, but then decided against it. However cute the tentacle monster was, she'd still rather not swim in the same water with her.

The pool was still empty when she came out of the changing room in her swimsuit. Thankful for this, she slid into the water, relaxing. It felt good to let something else support the baby for a while.

The baby kicked with as much energy as ever, so much so that she could clearly see the movement on her stomach. Placing a hand over it, she let herself float. It was so peaceful...

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Bored and curious, Bast followed the smell of chlorine to the basement, and knelt down on the tiled floor, skirt pooling around her. She cocked her head to one side and wrinkled her nose at uriel.

//Don't know how you can enjoy that for the sake of it,// She remarked mildly. //But it's good to see you're feeling a bit saner again.//

"Oh, it is quite pleasant indeed," Uriel replied, smiling. "The water takes quite some strain off my back. The little one won't carry itself, you know. Although he or she doesn't feel really that little anymore," she added wryly. "I wonder how I'll manage near full term."

She laughed, then, swimming a bit closer to Bast. "Some people," she said with a teasing smile, "might feel insulted at the implication that they aren't, or have not been at some point, exactly sane. Fortunately, I'm all too aware about that fact," she added with a small sigh.

Bast gave a wry grin. //Sorry, but tact is something that happens to other people, as far as I'm concerned. Never did get the hang of it. Hope I've not offended.//

Then she laughed. //I can appreciate that. If it was a hot enough day I'd think about joining you, even, but getting wet for no apparent reason really isn't a feline thing. Also, I wouldn't worry about it. You'll manage, I'm sure - I've seen younger and more mortal mothers get kids about their same size, and still live to tell the tale.//

"Well, I should hope they have," Uriel huffed. "Because if I didn't live to tell the tale, I fear to think what would become of my child. I doubt there wouldn't be anyone to look after it, but I also doubt any of the possible foster parents would be very good influence." She smiled, then. "I'm hopeful, though. This little one now only has to grow up a bit and make his or her way out of there. What comes after that is what I worry about most."

//What, Loki? Yeah, I reckon he's a bit flaky to to be looking after a kid. He's cute though, even being bald. I seem to have a thing for shaven heads this time round...// Bast trailed off, then shook her head, smiling faintly. //Meh, never mind. Getting senile. But you've got my word as a goddess that if anything happens, the kid's safe with me, alright?//

"I wouldn't trust Loki to look after a stone, never mind a child," Uriel said dryly. "He may be my brother and I do love him dearly, but responsible, he is not."

She leant her head back in the water, relaxing as completely as she could. "Thank you," she then said, smiling. "It is quite relieving to know that there's at least someone who'll look after my child and is not likely to drop it on its head during the first five minutes."

Bast's ears laid back flat against her skull at the very thought. //Apophis take anyone who manages that!// She fairly snarled, then looked oddly distant. //I wouldn't like to think what I'd do to anyone who neglects him. A long time ago, there wasn't a separate deity for war, me and Sekhmet, my sister, were called Bastet. There are days when I reckon she's still around in there, somewhere.// She tapped the side of her head.

Then she snapped back to the present and gave Uriel an apolgetic grin. //Sorry. I bet the last thing you wanted was my family history - these days my mind keeps wandering back to the past. It's pathetic, isn't it?//

She shook her head, briefly, as though trying to get rid of the thoughts. //Rrrr. Anyway, I'll guard h-the kid better than any of the males 'round here, you can bet on that.//

"Hey, even family history is more amusing than silence," Uriel chuckled. "Not that I mind being alone every now and then, but it's been quite some time since I really got to talk with someone."

Then, she snorted. "It would be hard to be worse at baby-sitting than the males around here," she said. "They are all either completely irresponsible, hate children, want to corrupt children, or any combination of these." She then frowned at Bast's slip. "Do you already know its gender?" she asked. She had been wondering about that. At first she had been determined not to find out, but lately... Lately, she had been wondering whether it might be better for her to find out. She could better decide on a name, for one thing, and buy baby clothes more freely -- most humans seemed to associate certain colours with certain genders for some reason. And besides, she was curious. Not that that was much of a surprise.

Bast's ears flicked slightly - the feline equivalent of biting her lip. //I can sense it, yeah.// she confessed, then grinned. //I didn't tell you as soon as I figured it because alot of mommies want it to be a secret - I remember sekhmet whopped me on the head with her flail when I told her Anubis was gonna be male. You interested?//

Uriel thought about this for a moment. The choice was truly difficult. On one hand, she had originally wanted to wait for the baby to be born to find out, but on the other hand...

Finally, her curiosity won. "I'd like you to tell me," she said with a faint smile.

Bast laughed. //You got it, Uriel - is there any nicknames there that you like? Anyway, you're gonna have a yourself a lovely baby boy. Hope that was what you were wanting.//

"A boy?" Uriel placed a hand over her stomach, looking down at it in quiet wonder. "A boy..." She was silent for a moment, then smiled and shook her head. "I wasn't wishing for either, really," she said. "As long as it's alive, little else matters to me. But if he's truly a boy, I guess I can use Loki's name suggestion."

As she spoke about names, her mind realized the first part of Bast's words. "Nicknames? Do you mean for the baby?" she asked, slightly confused.

//What's Loki name suggestion?// Bast asked, curious. Then she laughed. //Nah, silly, I mean for you! Uriel's a bit of a mouthful, if you don't mind me saying - isn't there something your friends call you instead, like Uri or Feathers or something?//

"Loki suggested Bran," Uriel replied. "According to him, it means raven, and I like how it sounds."

She then blinked as she realized just what Bast meant. "No, I don't think so," she said. "I've never had that many people I could call friends, and none of them have called me anything but Uriel. Well, Loki calls me not-god sometimes, but that's more of a taunt than a nickname. You are free to call me whatever you'd like, though, as long as it's somewhat within the limits of good taste."

//Hmm. In egyptian, that'd probably be ba-ra, which means "sun's soul" - I reckon that's a good omen, don't you?// Bast smiled. //And it does sound nice, to. Is it okay if I just call you Uri?//

"Hey, I said you could call me just about anything you'd like," Uriel said, smiling in return. "As I said, I've never had a nickname before so I really don't have a preference."

//Uri, then. You can call me anything you like, too. Just not kitty.// Bast grimaced. //Only four people in the world can get away with calling me that, and at least two of them've died.//

Uriel smiled. She really didn't understand the point of nicknames, but... "I'll try to think of something else," she said with a grin. Then, curious as she was, she asked, "Neither of those two remaining would happen to be here in the Manor, would they?" She'd noticed interesting people had a tendency to gather there. Especially interesting people with connections to interesting people already there.

//I never said that the ones who died aren't still around, did I?// The cat-goddess laughed. //One of them's here. But it's up to you to guess who.//

"Oh, yes, of course. How stupid of me," Uriel said with a small grin. She was talking with a goddess, of course. "One of those four, or one of the two who have died?" she asked then, her eyes twinkling. "Let me see... It's not Horus, is it?" She hadn't seen the hawk for quite some time, which saddened her -- she had truly enjoyed flying with him, and had been sad when she'd had to give up on those little moments of friendship -- but she hoped he was still around. At least he definitely had a connection to Bast, being of the same pantheon.

//Horus never died, not that I know of, at least not physically - the poor guy just melted mentally.// Bast rrrred slightly. //No, the guy I'm talking about's mostly mortal.//

"Mostly mortal? Well, mortals are almost a minority around here," Uriel said. "Only, if he's mostly mortal, he can't be a full human..." She thought of all the people she had met. Most of them were clearly either humans or immortal. "Of course, there's the Doctor, but I doubt you're talking about him..." For some reason, the thought of the Doctor calling Bast 'kitty' made her very uncomfortable.

"Oh! There's of course my not-so-dear nephew, too. It wouldn't happen to be him, would it?" Being a half-god probably counted as mostly mortal.

//Not-so-dear nephew? Now it's my turn to go huh.// Bast tilted his head to one side, giving that look of confusion that only cats can quite manage. Then she actually thought about it. //If Loki's your brother's brother, then Wednesday's your brother - another oath deal, huh? How drunk was he that night? - then you must be talking about Shadow-boy. In which case, you're right. He's such a sweetie. But why not-so-dear? He's a nice guy - he's got Nice Guy written all over him, in capital letters.//

"I don't know how drunk he was," Uriel replied. "I wasn't exactly conscious at the time. Drunk enough to adopt an angel as his blood sibling after healing the results of their suicide attempt, at least." She shuddered at the memory of that night, then sank under the water for a bit. It helped her not to think.

Okay, relax. Don't worry about it. Everything is going to be fine...

After a moment, she resurfaced, letting her lungs draw in the oxygen her child needed. "I thought Shadow was a nice man, yes, very much so. Then, however, he attacked Loki with no provocation. He may be my nephew, but Loki's my brother, and nobody attacks Loki without a good reason as long as I'm around." Attacking Loki with a good reason, however, might be justified, as long as no permanent damage was done. She should know just how much Loki deserved to be attacked sometimes.

//Oh, right. Now you see, I don't really know the details of that, but as far as I can pick up, Loki killed Shadow's wife, and personally I reckon that's a pretty good reason...// Bast paused and leaned forward. //Hey, are you alright there? You look upset.//

"But, according to Loki, she killed Loki in return. So what reason does Shadow have to bother Loki anymore?"

She sighed then. "Oh, it's nothing," she said dismissively. "It's just... I don't really like remembering it. The night he adopted me, that is. I was feeling worse than perhaps ever before, and... Odin promised I wouldn't be alone anymore. He promised! And then he left, no even telling where he was going. Stopping Loki from following him. Way to go with promises there."

She smiled sheepishly then. "Sorry. I didn't mean to dump all my worries on you. It's just... I feel so lonely sometimes. Lonely and helpless."

Bast shrugged and smiled. //Hey, don't worry about it. You ever want someone to talk to, I'm always around. Honestly. I give you my word that until Bran's old enough to look after himself, I won't willing leave you alone, unless it's an emergency or you say it's okay. Alright, uri?//

Then she made a face. //Meh. Shadow's half-human, and humans are really weird about that kinda stuff. He'll probably sulk for a week or so, then go get drunk, possibly with Loki, then they'll be friends again. Or not-enemies, at least.//

"I've got into a habit of not trusting such promises overly much," Uriel said, a hint of bitterness in her tone. "But thank you, I guess. You're certainly more reliable than most of the people I know."

She then grinned half-heartedly. "Humans? I thought that was just men. At least the last part with getting drunk and making up, that is."

No, she didn't consider herself to be, or ever have been, male. Before the Manor she had been sexless, no matter what pronoun had been used to refer to her, and even after that she had only been physically male when she'd had sex with Pestilence. If she'd had to describe herself in terms of gender, she'd definitely have called herself female. Not only was her body currently female (and had been that for much longer than all the times she'd been physically male combined) but she also found her mindset being more suitable for the traditional mold of "woman" than that of "man".

Bast grinned. //You've got a point there. Even with tomcats it's the same - except usually it's more 'you shred my ears, I'll shred yours, then we'll go and make life hell for that terrier down the street.'//

Then she sobered. //You've had a rough time I gather, then. But believe me, I fully intend to stick around for as long as I can. Egyptians aren't prone wanderers like the Norse lot, and cats know a good spot to stay when they see it. Hey, maybe you could even get me a collar with a little bell on it!//

"I do hope you will," Uriel sighed. "I'm sick of people leaving me when I need them most." At Bast's last comment, however, shecouldn't help but laugh. "What, like this?" she asked jokingly, miracling a collar (white, unsurprisingly) that indeed had a little bell on it.

Bast stared at it a moment, then laughed. //Pretty, but it's a bit small, isn't it? Not to be fussy, but could I have a wide-ish, gold-coloured one?//

"Wait a minute..." Uriel started to modify the collar she thought it looked like what Bast most probably had in mind. "Is this better?" she asked, smiling.

Bast was so delighted that she leant forward to grab it. // Oooh! Pretty!//

Too far forward, in fact. There was a splash and screech, then bast scrambled back up the side, and gave uriel an abashed smile. //That's what I get for not paying attention.//

Uriel didn't know what to say for a long time. Finally, she settled for, "I'm glad you like it."

Bast fixed the collar around her neck while giving Uriel a little grin.

//Sorry. You see, it's 'coz I'm meant to be like, everycat. The snivelling stray in the gutter, the alpha howling on her human's roof - even the lynx and the wildcat and the lions, occasionally, but that was more my sister's thing. And occasionally, I'm that hyper, neurotic housecat who's only purpose in life seem to be to have her picture shown on The Planet's Funniest Animals - that's a TV show.// She added, at the angel's confused look.

"Why are you apologizing?" asked Uriel, a bit confused at this. "It's not like I'm sensible all the time myself -- or even most of the time. Although," she then said thoughtfully, "I have been a bit more stable lately. I don't know why that is, though."

Bast shrugged. //I don't know. It just makes it easier I suppose - in case I do say or do something that'll may some folk mad at me. //

At uriel's last comment, though, her grin turned a little sly. //That wouldn't happen to be 'coz of a certain pinstriped alien, would it?//

"Huh?" Uriel said, at first confused at Bast's sly comment. Then, she flushed slightly. "Hardly," she muttered. "At least I've no idea how the Doctor could affect my brain chemicals, and, according to Pestilence, that's the main cause of my instability. He should know. And besides," she then added defensively, "I don't understand what the Doctor has to do with anything."

//Oh, come on.// Bast laughed. //You like him, I can tell. And he centres you, gives you something to focus on. He's an idiot and he doesn't like cats, but he's good for you.//

She flicked her tail, her fur already dry. //It's nice to have someone like that.//

"Maybe I do," Uriel admitted, although really, she quite much suspected she did. It didn't matter if it was true, though -- she wasn't sure about it just yet (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/112855.html#cutid1). "And maybe he does help me, just by existing. But what good does that do when he doesn't like me? Not that way, at least."

Bast grinned. //You don't know that. He might do, and just not wanna talk about it. You know what males are like about that sort of thing. Besides...//

Her eyes unfocussed slightly, and she gazed off into the middle distance, ears pricked as though listening to something. //...he's lost as much as you have.//

"Well, I'm not about to ask him," Uriel said. "Not anytime soon, anyway. I've had enough rejection for a while."

At the goddess' last comment, she became interested. "What do you mean?" she asked. "He's lost as much as I have? Impossible. I doubt anybody has left him behind pregnant and alone."

...Well, she had only been left behind alone. The pregnant part was kind of her own fault. But that wasn't very important, now was it?

//I can't tell you much - it's not my place, especially with somone like him. // Bast's mouth twisted slightly, and she let a small cough of wry laughter. //Doubt he's ever been pregnant, but he's alone. More alone than I think anyone else can understand...with a heart so broken it beats in two....//

She stared at the floor, feeling very old and tired all of a sudden. //The past holds too many scars for him, ones worse than I care to imagine. I don't envy him at all. //

"If you went around telling other people's secrets, I would be seriously worried about my own secrets," Uriel noted. "And I thought him having two hearts is only because of his species," she added then, half serious. For somebody supposedly in charge of poetry she sometimes had quite a lot of trouble understanding figures of speech.

She tilted her head to the side, then. "There are few people in this building whom anybody would envy, I think."

//Heh, no, that was a metaphor, uri...at least, I think so. Hard to tell with someone like that, really.// She stared at the light reflected off the walls by the water. //Yeah. I think we've all had a hard time of it, in one way or a another.//

"Well, at least here we can mostly be at peace with our past," Uriel noted, even though she personally was anything but. "Most threats are eliminated within these walls." Unfortunately, this did not mean all of them.

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