The Hiro and the Goddesses - PSL for Hiro and Skuld

[manga_goddess_skuld]

Hey look, another portal to who knows where! There were a few things different about this one though.

For one thing voices were coming out of it in an odd mix of languages before resolving into the one Hiro knew best.

For another? It opened up right beside him, without any tech that he could see on his end that should have opened any such portal.

And if more weirdness was needed? It had gravity. Like a lot of it. He and much of the stuff around him was being pulled towards the center of it.

As to the voices coming out of it:

"You big baka! Mitaru at this mess! Everyone knows you can't make a mon to Yggdrasil with those calculations! That's not a bridge mandala! It's a summoning portal!" A youngish sounding female voice was screaming. "Idiot! Baka!"

An angry older voice, this one clearly belonging to an adult woman was screaming back. "Well maybe if the paper with all the calculations wasn't covered in ice cream I could read it!"

The voices grew louder, or rather, thanks to the increasing gravity, he was pulled closer.

"Maybe if you'd stop making your weirdo medicines and testing them on yourself all the time you could actually read basic Ndiminesional math!" the first voice accused

"Oho?" The second asked, almost purring now, all trace of anger seemingly gone. "Then who should I test it on I suppose? You, dear little sist... OW!" That would be when the first large item made it through. "What in the OW! It's raining... supplies of some sort!"

"I told you it's a summoning!" the first voice called, frantic. "Quick, erase the summoning sigil from the northwest sector."

"If I knew which one was the summoning sigil I wouldn't have used it!" the woman protested as he was falling into the portal.

"How did you ever get your license?" The younger one demanded. "It's this one here!" She started scrubbing at it furiously with the stick end of what looked like a comically large mallet.

Because now he could see the pair on the ground below him. The rapidly approaching ground. The woman was floating above some huge complicated design actually etched into the stone courtyard of some sort of Japanese temple. Her white hair was dancing weightless in the air around her.

The girl, on the other hand was firmly on the ground, fighting to obliterate one of the many complicated symbols, focused and frustrated, her long black hair hanging limp as an odd shaped robot and what looked like a small child tried to help her. "OH FOR GODDESS SAKE!" she finally yelled. "BACK!"

The woman floated up higher, the robot and the child rushed back as the teenager pulled what looked like one of those odd game balls with the wires out... of her shirt.... and threw it on the ground. The ground he was still approaching, though his fall was slowing.

There was a loud explosion that blew him back up several feet before letting him resume falling. More than half of the complicated circle and its symbols had been replaced with a smoking crater. The teenager looked more than a little worse for the wear standing right at the edge of it. She opened her mouth to speak, or cough when the woman finally looked up.

"INCOMING!" the woman said, seeing him falling at them with the last few of his belongings. "Wait, why is he falling as slowly as the book is?"

"SCIENCE!" the teen shouted in frustration. "SAVE HIM!"

"Yeah yeah," the woman said. "On it," she muttered, flying up to meet him, wings coming out of her back, one pure white, one jet black. And as she got closer he'd see that her face, chest, and clothes, had "Idiot!" written all over it in various odd typefaces. Usually with outlines, sometimes with drop shadows.

Comments

[baymaxing]

You -- wait, what?

[She....shrunk? That was new? Hiro tilts his head in initial confusion, trying to determine how that worked, no doubt, as Baymax just stands and lets the teen lounge in leaning against the vinyl robot. He was rather used to Hiro by now and his habits, after all.]

I can be patient.

[Baymax says in reply. Though it seems Hiro isn't as good at it, in fidgeting a bit after mere minutes.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"You have never seen a Goddess teleport before?" Sigil asked Hiro as Banpei came to stand behind her.

[baymaxing]

Huh? Uh. No. I never met a 'Goddess' back home. I mean, we know of some Gods and Goddesses, like, you know, Greek myths or whatever, or the Norse or Egyptians but they're not.....not like this?

[He tries to explain, running a hand through his mop of hair a bit, as if that would attempt to tame it without making it worse with how much of a mess it was in always just sticking up at all directions.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"Why are they not like this?"

[baymaxing]

They....it's complicated. They're old gods and goddesses that people made up back then to explain stuff. Like, if it was stormy out at sea, that meant that Poseidon was angry, the god of the sea, or whatever, you know. That sort of thing? Those gods didn't teleport or whatever like this?

[He's pretty sure considering all the shenanigans they caused (Zeus especially) that they probably didn't go around granting wishes everywhere all the time.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"That is odd," Sigil said, head tilted slightly.

Skuld came back out of the water glass again, landing before them. "Forgot to ask, is Baymax going back to his own world, going with you, or staying here?"

[baymaxing]

I guess coming with? I'm not sure if there's a Baymax in this other dimension or whatever?

[Hiro still can't help but to blink in seeing her coming out of the water glass like that, raising an eyebrow a little in still wondering how it worked. How she could do that. He's not just content with the Goddess explanation.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

She nodded. "Okay, I don't need to go back for more figures then. I can do the calculations to add him to the mandala."

She landed on the ground and pulled a hammer off her back, it was white and pink and looked a little like a toy rubber mallet. the handle extended out until it was taller than she was. She walked over to the house and drew a line using the narrow end, on the ground a half foot in front of the porch. "Everyone please stay between that line and the house."

[baymaxing]

A....wait, a mallet? Hammer?

[Or at least. It looks like one to him? And then it extends and his eyes widen in surprise. But, well. it wasn't like Hiro was here before. To see how she figured the mandala last time around? So he just stares, watching until she gives her instructions. He pulls Baymax over to where she indicates for them to stand.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

Sigil and Banpei went as well. Skuld walked away until she was almost halfway to the walled edge of the property. She took a deep breath and then she began to sing. Her voice wasn't a human voice. At all. It was beautiful, but it implied the music that could be found in water. The rhythmic crash of waves as percussion, a thin stream over stones as melody, water in pipes as harmony. She started to float lightly, toes pointing down as they hovered a half inch off the ground. Light surround her. What looked like a small winged person emerged partway from her back, the bottom of the figure wrapped like some of cross between a mummy and a djinn. the creature's bottom part narrowed to a small point in the center of Skuld's back.

Skuld's clothes changed. Gone were her coveralls and goggles and normal looking gear. The clothes exploded out from her in a blast of light and reformed as a pink and red outfit without ever letting anyone have a glimpse of skin not shown by the final product. She kept singing, and the bottom of her mallet started to glow as well.

The creature from her back had an expression of joy that exactly matched Skuld's and opened her mouth, joining her voice to Skuld's, and her voice was reminiscent of the life in water. a hint of children playing, of dolphins calling, whales singing. It transcended simple sound and yet their voices combined into something that was undeniably music.

Sentaro, Belldandy, Urd, and Keiichi came out to stnad on the porch and watch. Sentaro's jaw was all but on the floor, Belldandy looked proud, tears in her eyes as she held onto both of KEiichi's hands. She too was floating slightly, long white wings sprouting from her back.

Urd had her arms crossed and looked something like irritated. She turned to Belldandy. "I know," she said very softly. "I want to sing too."

Belldandy nodded. "I know," she whispered. "This song is Skuld's, but my throat feels like it will burst with the melody."

Urd nodded once, turning back to face Skuld again, wings coming out of her ack as well, one black and one white. She frowned as she studied the floating girl at the center of the yard.

Skuld seemed unaware of her audience as she lifted her mallet. Light shot from the butt of it, where it had been glowing, and the light struck the ground. It burned. still singing, still floating, she started to turn slowly in place. Her hand was steady as she went, and by the time she was facing them again, eyes still closed, there was a perfect circle etched deeply into the ground.

[baymaxing]

[Hiro just gapes, never having quite seen anything like this. Perhaps outside of comics or movies or something. He's more used to science. Not.....all of this. He can't help but to stare a the outfit, and the creature from her back. He isn't sure if doing much besides watching might distract her and interrupt or something, so he simply watches as things unfold, as she creates the circle with her hammer.]

So the hammer? That'll be how we get to this other dimension?

[He whispers in asking the others closer to him, not wanting to disrupt her.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"Hmm?" Urd asked. "Oh, she uses it as a focus. When she gains control she won't need something like that," the words normally dismissive were said quietly. "Well, except for debugging the universe, and it works well for that, so the Almighty said to leave her be about it for now."

Belldandy moved to his other side and sat on the edge of the porch so she could speak softly and still be heard by him, one of her wings going around behind his back. It didn't touch, but there was still the sensation of a warm hug. And not the Olaf sort. "She is making a travel mandala. That will summon and beseech the gate to allow you passage."

"What exactly was your wish?" Urd asked, eyeing Skuld through narrowed eyes.

Unaware of all this, Skuld continued to sing and to draw what was becoming an increasingly complex design, each stroke, spiral, swirl, and dot exceptionally precise.

[baymaxing]

To be with Tadashi. My older brother. He -- he died in this fire at the convention where we were showcasing our inventions for the university, to see if we could get accepted. Or, I mean, he already was at the university, I was showing my microbots, but. He went back in, to save the Professor, and....

[And never came back out. Hiro answers, unsure what to make of the circle as he watches her draw and sing, watches the progress and listens to their explanation over the hammer.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"Wait, you wished for her to bring back the dead?" Urd protested, furious. "And the Almighty accepted that?" Her wings flared.

"He wished," Sigil said, "to go to a reality where his brother was alive, but there was no version of him alive."

Urd calmed slightly. "Oh. Wow. Guess you didn't think that one through, huh?"

[baymaxing]

How do you mean I didn't think it through? I just....I miss him. I want to see him again, tell him about everything that's happened since.

[Though they were probably right in the potential for this to go Very Badly. Namely in how Tadashi and everyone else might react if some kid shows up claiming to be his brother, or if something had happened to Hiro in that dimension and then he showed up....]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"A world where either he you there died or never existed? And what about the people in your reality that lost your brother and are now losing you. What about Baymax? Was he included in the wish?" Urd demanded.

[baymaxing]

I didn't want everyone back home to worry. I just....Baymax?

[There's that familiar 'oh no' from the robot as it clicks. Because Hiro hadn't necessarily mentioned the specifics? So it seems he can only hope this works out. Or that it just sends him back home, either way.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"Just didn't think this through?" Urd asked archly.

"Urd," Belldandy chided gently.

[baymaxing]

It's not like I've done this before?

[He hasn't. Wishes were for things like fairytale stories or comics or whatever. Not....something that actually happened like this? Hiro has no idea on the details. On how specific he needs to be with this to get what he wants.]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"Well, you can't mess it up worse than Keiichi did," Urd said with a shrug.

"Hey!" Keiichi protested.

[baymaxing]

Huh? What'd he do?

[Depending on the wish it might not have been that bad? And probably if he was new to this sort of thing same as Hiro maybe he just worded it poorly or something? Didn't give enough detail about his wish? Or so Hiro would hope....]

[manga_goddess_skuld]

Keiichi flushed red, but at an encouraging nod from Belldandy, he spoke. Looked away from them all, but spoke. Still red as a tomato. "I didn't understand what was going on at the time. I was alone in the dorm, dialed the wrong number and then this girl comes out of a mirror and says she's a goddess. I half thought it was some sort of prank. And she didn't seem to care that I was short or broke or anything like that, she said she couldn't understand why I..." he flushed darker. "Anyway, she asked what my wish was and I... kind of blurted out the first thing that came to mind looking at her." And redder still. "I wished that a Goddess like her would be at my side, always...."

"And thus the rest of us got stuck here one way or another," Urd griped.

[baymaxing]

Why you what? But....you could wish for anything and you just wanted to be with her?

[Not even necessarily in making it romantic but....? Hiro would possibly never understand that sort of thing. Still, it wasn't his wish to be with Skuld. And he might have messed his own one up more than he initially thought in not being specific enough. Possibly. Probably.]

It's probably easier to screw up my wish, I guess.

[manga_goddess_skuld]

"And you just wanted to be with your brother," Urd pointed out.

Keiichi took a deep breath and then said softly, "The wish I made was made when I didn't believe, I was overwhelmed and shocked and confused and it is still the best wish I could have ever made. Life since then... it has been insane and chaotic and full of danger.But it has also been wonderful, with quiet moments and a house filled with warmth and love. I have a great job, a great place, and I'm not living alone, and I'm not living in a house full of senpais who push me around like I used to. But even if we lived in a cardboard box, I would still love my life. So long as Belldandy is beside me."

Bell got up, tears in her eyes. "Oh Keiichi..." she whispered and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly.

Urd however rolled her eyes. "Every once in a while he can say something like that. And yet... they still haven't so much as kissed. Strictly kiddy stuff."

[baymaxing]

I know. I'm not saying I have it that rough without Tadashi. I still have Aunt Cass. I have Baymax and our friends. Well, they were his. I got to know them better once I went to the university, after....after the fire. I just can't help missing him. Even after all this time still.

[He glances when they hug, gaze then turning to Urd.]

Isn't that up to them when they feel ready for that?

[It isn't really anyone else's business anyway. Least of all, Hiro's. But he supposes Urd has to deal with them.]