Before And After(Open)

Mikata couldn't truly claim to know everything and in the grand scheme of things she was very young. Three thousand years to extremely long lived beings or immortals was less then a drop in the bucket. What made her proud, however, was how far she had grown and how much things had changed. She had went from being a normal dancer with her family, to being an influential and very powerful figure in this universe as a whole.

She never forgot where she came from. Unlike many others she wasn't born with her power, she had earned it and knew what it was like to be helpless. She knew what it was like to just get by, she knew what it was like be hungry and not sure where the next meal came. Many beings of her level were born of it or close; it didn't mean bad but it did mean she had a experience unique to those like her. Personally she believed it also kept her grounded as well.

The Zodiac Gems were dealt with and for the moment she could relax. She was partially worried about Anya since she had forced those things out of existence and had to 'reboot' but she would be fine. It was just a matter of when she propped up. She wouldn't admit it but the romantic in her hoped her and Dave got to spend time with each other when things weren't insane.

Thunder was doing their own thing, trying to find his place in this world but he knew where she was if he wanted to talk, same with everyone else.

Now. What to get?

Her red eyes passed the clothes with mild interest in a clothing store, something people may find odd. To her, though, doing mundane things such as these is what kept her grounded and same, as trivial as some would say it was. But when since did she care about random peoples thoughts? She valued the people she cared about, the rest especially some of those high on the celestial political scale go fuck themselves.

Before the Devil of Vengeance, there was just Mikata Ikaruga and she would keep that until her dying day.

Thunder made his way through the streets. Up and down stairs. He sipped his coffee and watched the people. That was actually one of his favorite things to do. He heard one of his friends call it "People Watching". Watching them interact with one another. He had a lot of interaction with humanoids. His best friends were human. Now his friends are... complicated. 

With the end of the Zodiac threat it just seemed a bit... surreal. Anya hitting the "reset button" He didn't know how that worked or what all it involved. All he knew about the situation is Anya had been... reborn so to speak. He shook his head. He knew that Dave and Anya were close. It would be interesting to see how that panned out. Maybe he would go see Dave after a while. He got up and looked around the square after a while. Spotting someone familiar he smiled.

Thunder made his way over. He liked Mikata. He liked her openness and her honesty not to mention she had a rockin bod. He really enjoyed being around her. He walked up to her. "Hey there." Was all he could come up with. He kind of felt like an idiot for not thinking od something more clever.

Mikata hadn't sensed the young deity's presence until he was nearby though she probably should have to some degree with them being so close. It wasn't until Thunder approached her and said something did she notice.

She blinked, then smiled. "We'll, we'll, if it isn't our resident Thunder God. What brings to my little humble part of the world?"

Thunder walked up next to her. "Well, you know. The usual." He paused for a moment. "Okay truth, I was... um.... people watching while drinking my coffee." To emphasize he finished the last of his coffee and tossed the empty container into the rubbish. 

He looked to the clothes "Maybe I could touch up my wardrobe." He gave Mikata a side long glance "So, um... what are you doing later?"

Mikata crossed her arms, thinking for a bit. "To be honest, I have nothing planned. I may go out walking to see the sights but nothing really in particular. After all the drama we had to deal with, just doing more mundane and taking a vacation was kind of a must for me."

Thunder nodded, "Well, I've never taken a vacation." He cocked his head to the side. "How would that work?" He was always connected to the weather around the world. He couldn't shut it off. So how would he take a vacation from it? He shook his head "Never mind." He looked back to her. "Well how about dinner?" He felt nervous and awkward. He really likes her.

Mikata blinked, a bit surprised by Thunder's boldness but she could also pick up on the fact he was nervous by the subtle and not as subtle signs. She had a good idea of reading people with her years of having to do politics and just interacting with people.

"Oh? You're asking me out? Rather bold." Her voice was a bit coy and a playful look in her red eyes. "Not too many men would have the balls to ask something like that of me up front due to being intimidated by me..I like that. All right, we can see how it goes. Besides I enjoy your company."

The Thunder God smiled "T-that's great!" He caught himself a moment. "Ahem, I-I mean. Cool. I'll, uh, pick you up at 7?" He was still a little nervous but he remembered his friend Hydro's advice "Okay man, here's what you do when you ask a girl out. Even if she says yes, you gotta keep your excitement in check, play it cool." Thunder never did get to ask that woman out due to Cho Tsung and his shenanigans.

Mikata couldn't help but laugh slightly at their enthusiasm considering how he normally was, but it was kind of endearing. "Thunder, relax. Just be yourself, its why I like your company in the first place. If it makes you less nervous, just consider it friends going to enjoy each others company and seeing where things go. If it doesn't work out we're mature enough it'll be fine. Besides I won't bite. Unless you're into that sort of thing, then maybe."

Teasing them was so much fun though, admittingly.

Thunder actually blushed slightly. "Um... Yeah." After a half of a moment he seemed to relax. "You're right. You're absolutely right. 7 it is?" It was more a question than a statement. He smiled "My friend Hydro was always 'smooth' with women. In battle, I have high respect and would be honored to have them fight by my side. Socially, I'm kind of awkward." He realized just now how much he missed his friends.His eyes got s distant look for a moment as he remembered hanging out with the young group of Kombatants. They called themselves the "Amigos" His mind snapped back to the present with a visible shake. He looked to Mikata and smiled.

Mikata grin grew a bit at the blushing. To be honest, she found it rather cute and endearing they were around that way about women. A lot of deities she met in the past, male in particular weren't shy about their 'bed room' count or their sexual conquest so seeing this was rather refreshing.

"Seven sounds fine to me Thunder. If you're a bit awkward its fine, you're putting yourself out there and learning which is more then some people. Think of it as a learning experience; same as most things in life." It really was, since most men(and women for that matter) were rather intimidated to straight up ask them for a date so he was doing all right.

There was a shift slightly in the young deities eyes and body langauge causing Mikata's smile to slip a bit. "Is something on your mind?"

If he didn't want to talk about it, she'd leave it be.

Thunder smiled faltered ever so slightly "Heh, yeah. I was just remembering some friends of mine from years ago." He nodded his head to one side. "My friend Hydro, great warrior from the Lin Kuei Clan. He was one of us." Looking back to Mikata "Feels like a lifetime ago."

Mikata didn't know much about Thunder's home, though while he mentioned it not being the best place to live however it was obviously not all bad. It just had its flaws like everywhere else so with that in mind she was curious. "Maybe you could tell me about them? You talked about the more negative effects of your old home, but it obviously wasn't all bad."

Thunder smiled again. "No it wasn't all bad. Mostly it was the corruption of the greater powers by the Infinity stones. However the lessor being were pretty much un-touched. Hydro, Torrrin, Chu Lao, Lee Kang, Janice, Stacy, Rashi and Kyro. It was us. We were the Amigo's." He looked to Mikata "Something  like that are rare." He looked into Mikata's eyes "When you find something that rare, you want to hold on to it. Tight." He let his gaze fall away. "No telling what Cho Tsung has done. He hated us. He and his friends." Turning from Mikata he ran his fingers through his hair with both hands. He let out a frustrated grunt and thunder rumbled in the distance. He took a moment to compose himself. He looked back giving MIkata a side long glance. He smiled weakly. "Sorry, got a tad dramatic there." He chuckled.

Mikata chuckled slightly, patting them gently on the shoulder. "Hm, I'm used to it." She teased good naturedly to the young deity. "Maybe you could tell me a bit about what your friends are like? I don't think i told you much about my own home and you never met my daughter outside that one time, I believe."

Thunder leaned against the railing. He thought about it for a moment. "Dinner topic. I don't want to give away too much too soon." He said and winked. "Seven right?" He really didn't want to get into the topic right now. He needed to further compose himself and meet for dinner.

(Gonna move things along a bit, unless you got something planned then I'll edit)

Mikata chuckled good naturedly. "Now you're learning. Seven it is, I'll see you then Thunder."

Regardless of how things turned out, she was sure it was going to be fun.

* *

After doing her errands and other task, Mikata had gotten settled down but ultimately she had to decide on what to wear for the first date. It had been so long since she had dated anyone that at first she was at a loss of what to even wear before ultimately deciding on a red dress. It reminded her a bit of a book once, though she was drawing a blank as to where.

She wasn't sure where Thunder would be taking her, and that added to the intrigue in her mind.

Thunder stood in front of a large mirror looking at himself. He was wearing a black button down shirt with a matching suit jacket and slacks. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail. As he looked himself over he couldn't help to think he looked like a Bond Villain.

Glancing at the clock his eyes widened as it was 6:45. "Crap!" He was getting a little more nervous. Then it hit him. He looked at the young woman who was helping him. "I'll keep the shirt, however do you have the jacket and slacks in white?"

The woman nodded "'At we do sir." She said and went off to collect what she needed in the right size. Thunder had already picked out where they were going. It was a place called The Narrow. A restaurant owned by someone named Ramsay. The woman came back and handed over a pair of slacks and waited with the jacket. Thunder changed quickly and nodded. "This'll work." The lady handed him a silver neck tie and he shook his head. 

He wanted to look nice without making it TOO formal. He looked to the woman. "I'll take it." Thunder paid for his suit and stepped outside. He made sure the sky was completely clear. Not an easy task for London. Electricity arched over his body and suddenly he was gone. 

He appeared in front of the store they met at earlier in a flash of energy. He adjusted his clothing making sure he looked good. He wasn't a vain God by any means however he wanted to look good for Mikata.

Mikata was there already waiting for them, though she did perk up at a familiar presence in Thunder which got the young woman to perk up slightly at their presence. It wasn't too long before she went over to greet them, smiling a bit, "Well, well that was fast. How are you feeling this night? I do recall a certain young man asking for night on the town."

Thunder smiled and walked over. "I'm okay and That does sound familiar." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he strolled up. He moved his elbow towards her, offering her the crook of his arm. "Lead the way."

Mikata gratefully took his arm before leading the way, she had ideas in mind but really she wanted to play things by ear far as things went. "I am a bit curious about your world, the more positive aspects to it as it were. I always tell you plenty of mine besides you being here so figured it couldn't hurt."

Thunder thought about it a bit. "Well I guess, I guess for me it would have to be the people. Not the super powered ones. Them." He pointed to the people who were around. Shopping, eating and socializing. "The best thing about where I came from was them. Their ingenuity, creativity, and individuality." He stopped walking for a moment and looked to Mikata. "Did you know there's a little mom and pop place in New York City that makes the best taffy I've ever tasted?" He smiled a bit. "It's because of them I want to be a better god. For all the crazy hellish things that's happened. The world being ripped apart and put back together, time paradoxes, the entire ball of wax. They have been the one constant. The one thing that makes it all worth while." He shrugged slightly. "Sorry, I tend to ramble when I'm nervous."

Mikata wasn't sure what he was looking at, at first. Then she noticed all the various civilians of different races minding their own business and going about their lives and instantly knew what he meant. For that reason she respected them, more then she did with most deities she ran into. "I understand. Anya restored your power, but you're not at one hundred and even then, that experience has given you a better perspective, hasn't it?"

"If so, keep it." She continued. "It'll be that connection that helps. I would know since I was like them once. Did you know a long time ago, I was a simple dancer with my family? It was just my folks and my younger sister, we didn't have a care in the world back then."

Thunder gave her s side long glance. He shook his head slightly "I didn't know that." He gestured to a small cafe "What happened to them? If you don't mind my asking." He didn't want to bring up a sore subject if he could avoid it, however he was curious about her.

Mikata gave a longer pause, not that she seemed reluctant rather more gathering her thoughts. "I was born in one of the Netherworlds with my baby sister Rias." She shook her head. "And its not like you typically think of them, but as you probably guess Meus turns a lot of conventions on their head. The Netherworlds aren't evil nor do they have anything to do with the After Life. They're..more I suppose parallel supernatural worlds connected to this one, where demons are usually the most common race depending on said world. Most, if not all, have extremely dense mana and magical energies which gives the residents a incredible amount of power and potential."

"For my family, we were civilians and traveling dancers. Our Netherworld was more peaceful then others I had been to, and the Overlord, that is the ruler of such with incredible power was very kind. However, during war time we got separated and I was for a time in slavery." Mikata paused once again. "And I know what you may be thinking, but fourtnately he never went that far or I would bite it off despite the power difference."


A small smirk formed, she took pride in nothing else of saving her dignity. "I managed to escape with a plan from some of my fellow slaves at the time, but I didn't want to leave some of my friends I had made there. So we devised a plan to get rid of our said 'owner'. One of them was a cook and we managed, luckily to get something in their food to weaken them. It did do it, however, there was a power vaccum to be sorted but that's another story."

"Long story short, I met my husband, was tricked into thinking it was Anya somehow, went to my own realm..and the rest, as they say, is history."