Chapter 4: A Match Made in Sky Garden

To Venus's surprise, this human had impressed her on their first date. Whether it was from Kyu's coaching or unlocked potential, Venus's initial disappointment had been unfounded. Indeed, she looked forward to their next meeting.

Then, on their second date (after some lovely gifts were bestowed upon her), she was impressed even more. In fact, she wasn't just impressed, she was enjoying herself.

So far. It would take much more than that to get her in bed.

Besides, she had something else on her mind now, something making this human particularly interesting in a way she'd never experienced, let alone expected. That feeling she had, like they'd met before, it hadn't gone away, and the fact that there was anything to do with relationships that she didn't understand was both curious and troubling.

After their second date, she returned to her room in Sky Garden to think this through. It made no sense that there could be anything she'd need to consider, especially when this came from just another mortal. What could possibly be so special about a human?

As she slowly paced around her room, a habit she'd never fully lost in the rare times she needed to think deeply, she started with some self-affirmation. Even if she didn't have the answer now, there was no mystery of the heart that the Goddess of Love couldn't solve. She had all the power and experience to approach this from every possible angle. She looked back at that one particular tapestry hiding her secret as she told herself she'd learned the last lesson needed to fully understand love, even if it cost her-

Wait.

She stopped in her tracks when that made something click in her head. She knew a piece of the puzzle just fell into place, but where in the puzzle, and what was the completed picture supposed to look like?

Thinking it through, she noticed this moment of realization came when she thought about Ishtar. And, now that she thought about it, there it was again. With a wave of her hand, the tapestry pulled itself aside and she looked at the painting and letter it hid.

That twinge she felt in her heart when she was near them and allowed her thoughts to turn to them, that sentimental feeling that could almost overwhelm her, it was like she was in Ishtar's presence again...and now she had that feeling from being around this human.

But Ishtar was gone. By her account, she left not only Sky Garden but existence itself as far as she knew.

Venus's brow furrowed as she thought about the dates she'd been on and how she felt during them, and it furrowed deeper when she compared them to memories of her time as the Hand of Ishtar. She felt...sort of like her old self again. That put one last question in her head, one she didn't have the answer for and one she wasn't ready to think about yet, in case the answer ended up being yes:

Was this human, somehow, Ishtar?

She hummed in thought as she moved the tapestry back into place and turned away. She needed a drink, and whisky wasn't going to cut it this time.

This theory Venus had come up with, that she and Ishtar were crossing paths again but Ishtar had somehow reincarnated as this human, was almost too much to even consider, yet it was so out there that she couldn't get it out of her head. It was the closest she'd come to an answer, anyway, and as far as she was concerned, it would also help answer why this human had become such a natural at attracting women with just a little love fairy guidance and was already getting on her good side.

On their third date, she took a different angle in how she spoke with her would-be paramour and tried to tease out Ishtar's memories. She brought up events from the distant past that she and Ishtar used to talk about. She hinted at things only she and Ishtar would know to see if her date could fill in the blanks. She tried over and over to get a response that would convince her Ishtar was in there somewhere, just waiting for the right trigger to be herself.

Nothing worked. The date left her unsatisfied and Venus had no hesitation in saying so. But since some of that failure was because she had her mind on testing her theory instead of testing her date's worthiness, she also said she wasn't ruling out the possibility that this human may yet succeed. "You're only human, after all," as she haughtily said.

The next time she was alone with her thoughts in her room, though, she still wasn't convinced that this human was "only human." She didn't have an easy way to test that theory anymore, but she would keep watching and waiting. Besides, it wasn't every century she met a mortal she looked forward to seeing again.

That wasn't all. Now that she'd had time to process the disbelief that there could be a question about relationships that she couldn't answer, she noticed that had a very unexpected upside. Namely, she was excited to feel like there was something new for her to learn and understand, that there was a question she had to work to find the answer for. Being the Goddess of Love came with a lot of perks, and it was a position she knew she'd rightfully earned. But it had been so many years since she'd felt like there was the thrill of really needing to apply herself to find an answer, to solve a mystery, to earn a well-deserved victory. Humanity was going through a lot of changes, and they kept her interested, but this was something where that interest was personal.

Fairies thought of the passage of time differently than mortals did, whose existence revolved around their limited time, but Venus was feeling like her earlier days as a lower-ranked love fairy, when she spent so much time among mortals. She couldn't wait to learn new things about them and putting that knowledge into practice was just as fulfilling. Back then, she gave a few special mortals a chance with her, and they failed. Now she was being tested too.

The last time she was pacing through her room while her thoughts were on this promising human, it was with a look of deep contemplation on her face. Now it was replaced by a persistent smile, a smile that only faded a little when she once again looked upon her hidden keepsakes.

For now, Venus had one last question for herself. Suppose she could prove she was right, and Ishtar had, without knowing it would happen, reincarnated as a human. Then what? The answer...

She didn't know.

It depended on how much memory Ishtar retained. So far, her experience suggested that was "none." If that were true, then this human may have the awakened instincts of Ishtar's vast experience with love, but without Ishtar's memories, she might as well be gone.

If Venus could somehow awaken Ishtar's memories and personality, truly proving Ishtar was back in a different body, she didn't know what she would do then either. She would have some strong words for the last person she'd given her heart to and the only one she wanted to stay with forever, words that she could only imagine should never leave the lips of a Goddess of Love. During her time on the throne, she never wasted time missing her former lover, and the possibility of forgiving Ishtar was a hard one to even consider.

Ishtar had been right about the last thing she did: When she left, it made Venus more empathetic to mortals who lost loved ones. From death to betrayal to unrequited love, their reasons varied, but inspiring them to try again helped her keep herself from becoming jaded about love. They were some of the most difficult mortals, but the successes were some of the most satisfying. Now, maybe she'd been given another chance at love, herself. It was doubtful at best...

But she was ready to find out.

Taking a look at the painting of herself and Ishtar, her gaze went back and forth between the two of them as her smile widened. Ishtar intended that learning how to handle the loss of a loved one would be her final lesson. Maybe there was yet more to learn about love than either of them thought.

She raised her hand and a drinking cup in the style of ancient Greek pottery, decorated with an image of herself, appeared in it. It was filled with wine from the stockpile she'd saved from way back in those days, kept from spoiling through the millennia by magic, which she'd saved for only the most special occasions as it couldn't be replaced.

Venus's eyes fixed on her old self in the painting as she held the cup out in a toast. "To the beautiful love goddess," she said before taking a drink. Then she looked at Ishtar, then Ishtar's letter, before raising her cup to them too. "And to you, human," she added, drinking again and finishing her toast, "whether you are your own self or whether you are who I think you are...may love, as always, prevail."

A/N

This was supposed to be a three-chapter story, ending with Venus meeting the player. I didn't expect to come up with the headcanon that the player might be a reincarnation of Ishtar, but sometime after I started writing, I had this thought: What if that explains how the player character in HuniePop 1 and 2 is so amazing with women, because they're a reincarnation of the last Goddess of Love? And I liked the idea too much to let it go.

I started writing this story intending to finish it in time for Venus's birthday on September 1. That ended up not happening, but I at least had enough to get the first chapter up as planned.

So, happy birthday, Venus. Sorry your present wasn't done on time.

But I have to say, as always, the Hunies are really fun to flesh out. Like Celeste, Venus doesn't have as much insight into her past or what she's like since none of her compatibility-related questions have her talking about herself, so also like I did with Celeste, I had to extrapolate from what we know about her and make more stuff up that sounded good. But that only made it more rewarding to feel like I'd pulled it off, and it went beyond my expectations.

Here's to you, Theiatena Venus.

If you enjoyed it too, you have my thanks.

HuniePop (c) HuniePot.
"Sugary," the story that inspired this, can be found in this site's HuniePop section.
Thumbnail done for me by NailsTRabbit.
Thanks to the Dictionary and Thesaurus websites, which I consulted a lot more than usual, for help with some of the vocabulary.

This story's copyright policy: "Sharing is caring." Do what you like with this story, not like I can do anything to stop you, in fact I'd be flattered you'd want to share it or save it so you can read it whenever you want. All I ask is that you link back to the original source. Versions that can be copied are on my DA and AO3 pages.