One second she was stuck like Velcro to Kratos’ back, the next she was in Hermod’s arms. Bast wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t recognize the difference in the way she was being held, and she stopped trying to damage the person doing the holding. Because her honey bunny was the only one allowed to touch her like that.
She opened her mouth to explain to him why Ninkasi was a bitch and she absolutely deserved her jerk of a behemoth boyfriend, but before she could answer any of Hermod’s questions, she felt it. Felt it coming off of the Sumerian in rolling waves. She knew what the sensation was. It wasn’t a new trick, Kasi had done it before and this wasn’t exactly their first fight. If the bitch hurt Hermod, though, it was going to be their fucking last.
Even as she turned away from him, she commanded low and firm, “Hermod, get out.”
Two steps was as far as she made it in closing the distance between herself and her opponent, her pose defensively blocking Hermod from Kasi’s line of vision, when she heard the very last thing she ever expected to hear in this situation. In his sweet, gentle baritone, Bast heard the Norse messenger pose a single worded question. And she stopped. And she blinked.
Looking Ninkasi straight in the eye, she mouthed the word as she repeated it silently. Mom. Then she shook her head. Unwilling to take her eyes off the other goddess for even a second, she asked, “She’s behind me, isn’t she? Shit.” Now she had to protect her boyfriend and his mom. Best way to do that was throw Ninkasi off her game before she got a chance to get rolling.
Maybe an apology would work. She’d never tried that before. And if it weren’t for the fact that Hermod was involved, she wouldn’t even be considering it now. But it was worth a shot, and he was worth everything.
In her distracted state, Bast failed to notice the body that had crawled between her and the Sumerian. So when she took a step forward again, her foot landed on a hand. A hand that was abruptly yanked out from under said foot. As she lost her balance, Bast’s natural grace came to the fore and she spun as she fell, her leg extending out to counterbalance. Which meant she kicked an entire pitcher of beer off a table, the force of it sending the container flying directly at Ninkasi. Both feet were barely back on the floor before a very frustrated “dammit, Dio!” flew from her lips.