Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Viridi opened the metaphorical door to her Domain, made less metaphorical for the moment to make a point to the visitors. Pit waved to her, Palutena standing beside him with a wide smile.

Viridi held in a groan. "Ever since you guys found out my domain has a buffet you've just been inviting yourselves here at every opportunity. Cut it out."

"Were you planning on inviting us yourself anytime soon?" Palutena asked.

"Obviously not. You guys are obnoxious."

"Then I guess we'll keep on inviting ourselves!" She replied with a smile, strolling through the door with a skip in her step.

Viridi stepped out of the way to allow the other entry, though she looked irritated about it. Pit hung back a moment before entering too. "Uh...you still have nachos, right?"

"Yes, Pit, I have nachos."

Pit did a tiny fist bump. She walked behind him as he followed his Goddess to the dining hall.

It was a routine she was unfortunately familiar with by now. She didn't mind Pit visiting as much as she pretended to, but Palutena's presence was entirely unwelcome. Mostly because she kept accompanying the angel under the excuse of 'chaperoning' when she was doing everything but that.

"It's stupid to me that you both can't be bothered to make your own food." Viridi groused.

Pit glanced back at her, then at Palutena, and hung back to whisper to the Nature Goddess conspiratorially. "We can, but, don't tell anyone this, Lady Palutena is really bad at cooking."

Viridi just stared at him with an unimpressed expression. "I know that. Everyone knows that." She deadpanned.

Pit withdrew. "Well. She's sensitive about it?"

"She's really not."

He scratched the back of his head. "Ok, she's not. I just don't like to be mean."

She shook her head in vague amusement.

They arrived at the buffet soon after, Palutena already having served herself. She was seated at a table, speaking amicably with Arlon, who happened to be in the room as well.

"Hey, I see you! Don't pretend you don't know I can see you!" Viridi shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Arlon jerked a little, but Palutena just kept smiling an easy smile. "You preside over this domain, so I would assume so!" She said.

"Not talking to you, Palutena. Arlon....!" She opens her mouth, but then her remark dies on her tongue. "You know what, never mind, take your time, you're on break anyway." She waves dismissively and goes to serve herself something from the buffet as well.

Pit had already gotten himself his nachos, and he's surprised to see Viridi slide down next to him to serve herself lobster. "You eat meat?"

She glared at him. "Why wouldn't I eat meat."

"You're the...Goddess of Nature and everything, so I figured you'd be...I dunno, not into eating stuff you created?"

She scoffs at him. "Plants are my creations too, dweeb, if I couldn't eat anything I created I just wouldn't eat anything ever. Also, you really think I'm not a firm practitioner of sustainable farming practices? Everything here is entirely cruelty-free, I'll have you know."

Pit coughed, seating himself at a nearby table with his nachos and fried chicken. "I guess I never really thought about it."

"Obviously." She sat herself at the table he'd chosen, across from him.

"I just...assumed it be weird for you, specifically, to be ok with things dying just to feed you." Pit continued.

"Eeeehhhh, wrong. Creatures eating other creatures is the most natural thing there is. No ecosystem would exist without predation." She takes a bite of her lobster. "Mm, shircle ov life!" She says around her full mouth.

"Right. In hindsight that was a dumb question." He relents, tearing a chunk off his chicken.

They eat in relative quiet for a while. Palutena and Arlon's conversation drifts across the cafeteria.

"...yes, I understand. Alas, it's still not my decision to make." Arlon is saying.

Palutena has a strange lilt to her voice when she responds. "But say, hypothetically, it was. What would you say?"

Arlon coughs, turning very briefly to look at Viridi and just as quickly looking away when she meets his gaze. "I...can't say I haven't thought about it, but...I am not currently at liberty to entertain that idea in any capacity, Lady Palutena. No disrespect intended."

"None taken, but I think you're being a bit dramatic. It's not like what I'm suggesting is treason or something."

Viridi stills, her fork falling from her hand. The clatter it makes against the plate is loud in the relative quiet, and attention is drawn to her again. She pushes her seat out and stands, and all but storms to their table. Pit watches her with vague confusion, not ceasing his meal but definitely eating slower.

Arlon looks vaguely frightened at her approach. He opens his mouth, but just as quickly closes it.

Palutena still just looks down at her with a smile. Viridi can't help but interpret it as condescending, which angers her, which then tints her response. "Palutena, quit trying to instigate. I'm right here."

She tilts her head. "Instigate what?" She asks, sounding confused.

Viridi feels herself getting angrier at the ignorance, whether it was feigned or not. So she turns to Arlon, who would never try to deceive her. "Arlon, what was she suggesting you do?" She asked plainly.

Arlon clears his throat, and does a decent job at keeping a straight face. "Lady Palutena was requesting...a personal guided tour of the New Lunar Sanctum when construction is complete. In addition, offering her assistance in said construction as payment for said tour."

Viridi growled at that. If she had fur, it would've bristled, too. "And you didn't even bother asking me?!" She demanded, turning on Palutena with heavy offense in her eyes. "You just saunter over to my domain, try to make plans with my Commanders behind my back-" she has to catch her breath, such is the intensity of her frustration.

Palutena takes the brief lapse as an opportunity to speak up. "Hold on, we weren't making any attempt to hide it from you. We were saying all that within earshot. You just only caught the tail-end because you were talking to Pit."

She looked back at Pit, who stared very hard at his plate of nachos rather than be part of the conversation, which was fair and smart of him.

She sighed. "Well. Peacetime or not between us, I cannot allow your request to be fulfilled." Viridi replied. "Should we clash in the future, I can't risk you knowing more about the Lunar Sanctum than you did last time."

Palutena pouted. "Is the idea of being permanent allies really that repulsive to you Viridi? Because I fail to see any downsides, personally."

The Nature Goddess sucked a breath of air between her teeth. "It's not......repulsive. You're putting words in my mouth."

"Then why not, if you don't hate it?"

"You're still putting words in my- ugh! I'm not having this conversation right now!" She stormed back to Pit's table and dragged him out of his chair. "C'mon Pit we're going somewhere else."

Pit yelped. "Aah! My nachos!"

"Later!" She hissed back at him.

Palutena waved him off. "Be responsible, you two!"

"I'm going to kill you for real!" Viridi shouted back.

Pit swung the wiimote around, stealing a glance at Viridi doing the same next to him before returning his gaze to the screen. Wii Sports Resort. Heck yeah. Go sword fighting.

"Uh....what was that about back in the cafeteria?" He asks.

Viridi groans as she swings her arm out. "Less talky, more stabby!" She snaps, her Mii stunning Pit's.

Pit yelps, his Mii just barely managing to avoid getting sent off the platform. "Agh! Sorry, you just sounded upset about it."

Their Miis traded blows, and eventually Pit's Mii does end up in the water. He blew a raspberry at the Goddess, and she did the same in her smug victory.

But then her smirk falls, and she groans again. "I just- ugh. Palutena bothers me. She only comes here to flirt with Arlon I swear to-"

"Wait what-"

"Aughhhhhhh! And she acts all innocent about it! She's manipulating my commander and she thinks I don't notice!" She set her Wiimote down with just enough force to notice but not enough to damage the equipment. She sat down in a bean-bag-chair of a bush and crosses her arms.

Pit frowns and sets his Wiimote down too. Then he sits in a more normal chair, pulling it up next to her. "....how do you know she's not....uh, genuine?"

Viridi blinks at him. "Because, uh...." She pauses, visibly thinking about it. She shakes her head in frustration. "Ugh! Just because! It doesn't make sense! She wants an in, I just know it!"

"An in.....?"

"She gets on my nerves! And she wants to be able to tell me what to do! But I don't care what she says or does, I don't answer to her! I'm a god, not a demigod!" She shouts.

Pit opens his mouth to reply, but another voice cuts in. "Someone call for me?"

Pit jumps a little, turning to face the voice. "Phosphora!"

"Oh heeeeey!" The lightning warrior greets. "Nice to see the light twin once in awhile."

"Oh yeah, Pitoo lives here, I never see him so I keep forgetting. Where's he at, anyway?"

"Training, he barely does anything else, it's so boring." She remarks with a roll of her eyes that even Pit can tell is a little fond. She turns to Viridi with a smirk. "Anyway, you were talking about me?"

"Ugh." Viridi groans. "Just because I said the word demigod doesn't mean it has anything to do with you."

Pit's eyes go wide and he leans forward in his chair. "Wait, you're a demigod?" He asks in surprise.

Phosphora genuinely snorts at that. "Uh, duh, pea-brain. What did you think I was?"

Pit fumbles. "Wh, uh, well, I don't know, I just didn't think about it!" He squints, zoning out for a moment. "Does that mean Arlon is a demigod too...?"

"Pfft, nah." Says Viridi with a dismissive hand wave. "Arlon's a...special case."

She doesn't elaborate so Pit redirects. "So if you're a demigod, then that means you're the kid of a god, right?"

"Thanks for the definition, I had no idea." Quips Phosphora sarcastically.

He cringes. "Sorry. But I meant, who is your..." His gaze drifts to Viridi, still sat in the bush-chair. His eyes slowly widen. "Wait, Viridi-"

It takes but a moment for the two of them to catch onto the question he didn't ask. They both look appalled.

"Ugh! Pit what the heck!" Viridi shouts, offended.

Pit swiftly raised his hands defensively. "What? She works for you, so I didn't think-"

"W-well no! I could never- gross! That idea bothers me on so many levels." She visibly cringes at the thought. "My troops may be my children but that doesn't mean everyone who works for me is!"

"...honestly?" Phosphora speaks up, looking less appalled than before. "That sounds more palatable than the actual answer. You're provably a better parent than he is."

Viridi's ire fades at that, turning swiftly to Phosphora with wide eyes. "Th-thank you? But you know that's a low bar, right?"

"Pfft. Lowest of the low bars. But still!"

"....so who is your dad, then?" Pit asked again, glad neither of them were mad at him anymore.

Phosphora sighs. "Number one deadbeat dad in his pantheon, that's who."

"Which pantheon?"

"Greek."

"..." Pit takes a moment to think. "Oh, right, Zeus."

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner." Phosphora gives a half-hearted cheer. "Wish he wasn't. Big piece of shit."

"Woah, Commander, language!" Viridi shouts, sounding scandalized. "Our game is rated E for Everyone!"

"Yeah? Well the fic is rated T For Teen. If Hades is allowed to say Hell in the original game, then I'm allowed to call Zeus what he is in a fanfic."

".....y'know what, fair, I can't really argue with that." Viridi sighs. "Makes me wonder, if we ever get a sequel, I can't imagine we wouldn't have that guy as an antagonist. Unless they make more god OCs."

"I hope so! That'd be super cathartic for me!" Phosphora grins wide, the air around her crackling. "That'll teach him a thing or two about abandoning his kids all the time!"

"I mean, if anyone fought him, it would probably end up being me...?" Pit hesitantly points out. "Y-you know, protagonist privilege, that kinda stuff."

The lightning warrior pouts at him. "Killjoy! You'd do that to little old me? You'd steal my thunder like that? You wound me!" She leans forward dramatically, into his personal space.

Pit leans away, half flustered and half nervous. "I-I mean, it's probably not gonna be up to me! I'm not really in charge of uh...anything, honestly."

"Oh, right, I forgot you're competing to be the biggest lapdog in all the pantheons, my mistake." She said, a clear taunt.

Pit can't avoid shooting a comeback. "Just because I do what Lady Palutena tells me to do doesn't make me a lapdog! You do whatever Viridi says, too!"

"No, see, the difference is that I do this thing called 'compromise'~" She wiggles her fingers about with an electric crackle. Viridi rolls her eyes.

"More like you respect me a normal amount compared to Pit." Viridi corrects.

"Whaaaaat nooooo I worship the ground you walk on, oooobviously!" Phosphora sing-songs, draping her arms across Viridi's bush-chair.

It's clear they're making fun of him, and Pit pouts about it.

"As your Goddess I command you stop that." Replies the Goddess with a smirk.

"Right away~" She obeys, standing up straight with a wide, self-satisfied smile.

Pit crosses his arms. "I don't sound like that...." He mumbles.

Viridi sucks the air through her teeth. "I mean..."

"I don't!"

"You go on about her constantly. It's kind of annoying."

"No I don't, I just respect her and don't like it when other people don't!"

"Here's a fun way to end this argument!" Chimes Phosphora. "Would you say you respect Mistress Viridi?"

Viridi has a strange look on her face when Pit chances a glance at her. He turns back to Phosphora. "Uh...yeah? Why wouldn't I?"

"Cool, cool. So talk to her like you talk to Palutena."

Pit widens his eyes a little. "I- I shouldn't do that."

"What, why not? If you talk to Palutena so normally then it shouldn't be weird to talk to Mistress Viridi that way!"

"Phosphora." Viridi says warningly.

"I...it's normal to talk to Lady Palutena like that! It would be weird to talk to anyone else that way!" Pit said in defense.

"Absolutely, Lady Palutena! Anything for you, Lady Palutena!" Phosphora said in her best imitation of Pit's voice.

Pit growled. "Those are completely normal things to say to your Goddess!"

"I dunno, I've never said anything like that to Mistress Viridi. Oh Viridi, I would do anything for you, Viridi-" Her imitation continues.

Pit's face flushes bright. "W-well I bet Arlon does! Th-that makes you the weird one, not us!"

"OH HEY NOT TO DERAIL THE CONVERSATION OR ANYTHING-" Viridi shouts, visibly flustered when Pit turns to look at her. "BUT- ahem, but...Phosphora. Commander Lightning Flash Phosphora."

"Ooo I'm getting full named, that means I'm getting grounded." Phosphora mumbles under her breath.

"Don't be dramatic. It's about Arlon. And...Palutena. What would you say the odds are that Palutena is manipulating his feelings to get what she wants?"

She seems delighted enough by the question to immediately drop whatever it was she was trying to do before. "Oh? Are you finally admitting I'm the love expert around here?! I gotta put this on a calendar, this is a special occasion!" She clapped her hands together for emphasis.

Viridi groaned. "Just answer the question."

"Ok! I'd say maybe 15%."

Both Pit and Viridi go wide-eyed at that, but for opposite reasons.

"That's your low estimate, right?" Demands Viridi, just as Pit says, "No, that should be a zero!"

They turn and look at each other. A beat of silence. Then they both cross their arms.

Phosphora snorts at the sight. "You're both so weirdly stubborn. Would you like to hear my reasoning?"

They both just nod.

"On one hand: it's like, super obvious that Arlon's into her. And I think she's too nice to be manipulating that just to get what she wants." She explains first.

"Well, how are you so sure he likes her?" Viridi demands.

"Because it's obvious?"

Pit raised a hand. "I can vouch for that. He fired a meteor at me once because he thought her sneeze was....pretty? He said it was gold or something, I don't remember. It distracted him."

"That.....is so oddly specific. What are you even saying." Viridi muttered at him.

Pit smirked. "That I'm right!"

"Hey, I didn't say zero, I said fifteen. Because no matter how nice she is....she's still a crafty sneaky little weirdo. If she wanted something, she'd find some way to do it. I just don't think it's super likely that's what she's doing now."

Pit pouted a little. "You guys always assume the worst of Lady Palutena..."

"Hey, I'm the one giving benefit of the doubt! Mistress Viridi isn't even doing that!" She pointed out.

The Goddess in question just gives a resigned sigh. "I think I've had enough of you, Phosphora, no offense. Go bother Dark Pit or something."

"Awwww. Fine, fine, that was the plan anyway. Right there in my daily planner and everything." She clapped her hands together. "Oh! One last thing before I go~"

"Oh great, what now."

Phosphora ignores Viridi and turns to Pit with an almost sincere grin. "You've come here a bunch, but have you gotten Mistress Viridi to read your fortune yet?"

Pit blinks. "I uh...honestly forgot she even did that."

"Well it's a good thing I reminded you, then~! I highly recommend it! Her fortunes are very accurate, it's a perk of divinity, don'tcha know!"

"Commander-"

"I recommend the palm readings the most!"

"Ok goodbye Phosphora-"

"Tarot cards and tea leaves are cool too, don't get me wrong but-"

"GoodBYE PHOSPHORA." Viridi said, loudly, whisking the other away in a burst of leaves.

Pit stared at the spot where the other vanished. "Uh."

Viridi huffed.

Silence for a moment. "So..."

She sighed in defeat, not bothering to fight the inevitable. "Come sit on the floor, I'll read your palm."

Pit grinned wide. "Sweet!"

They sat on their knees on opposite sides of the low table they'd set their Wiimotes on before, though they'd moved said Wiimotes aside now that they were using the table for something.

"So, uh, what do I do...?" Pit asked.

"Well, take off your gloves first. Then lay your hands palm up on the table, both of them." Viridi instructed. Pit did so, setting the gauntlets and gloves on the floor next to him before presenting his palms to her. Carefully, she took them in her own. "Now, when mortals do this, it's about how many lines you have on your hands, and how long they are, what shape, that sort of thing." She lets go of one hand to trace a line in the other with her fingernail.

A chill goes up Pit's spine at the contact. For someone so....bristly, Viridi was being awfully gentle with this. And they were holding hands. He felt his heart rate quicken, and he hoped Viridi couldn't tell.

If she could, she didn't say anything. "I do it a little differently. I can sense the aura you have through your palms, and use that to predict things that will happen to you."

"Aura? Like Lucario?"

She shot him a deadpan look. "You do know Pokemon didn't invent that concept, right?"

Pit didn't respond because he honestly thought they had.

A sigh. "Whatever, not important. Each line in your hand ties to a different part of your future. By tracing it, I can draw a bit of your aura through it and see something in your future relating to what that line represents."

"What, uh." He refocuses, still having a hard time not being distracted by their contact. "What do all the lines represent?"

She smiles, like she usually did when she knew more than him. "Depends on which lines you have. There's the four main ones, the Head, Heart, Life and Fate lines. Mortals can have a bunch more, depending on various factors like age, but Divinity, anywhere on the scale, tend to have something else going on." She traces another line on his hand, near the bottom of his palm. "This one swirls a little, if you trace it."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing on its own, but if you look closer..." She directs his attention to his other hand. "...you only have it on the one hand. And, again, that on its own would be really unusual out of context because your hands are supposed to be symmetrical."

She raises a finger matter-of-factly. "However! The one time Dark Pit let me do a reading for him, I noticed that same line on the opposite hand! So I can only guess it's some kind of secondary Fate line that you share with one another." She frowns at him. "Don't suppose you know if you've always had that line?"

"Oh! Uh, no, I don't think? I don't spend much time looking at my hands, and my gloves cover my palms most of the time anyway, sorry." He replied.

"That's what I figured the answer was. No worries."

"Are there....any angel-specific hand lines?" He asked. "Since you said Divinity has unique hand stuff."

"Yeah, there is. It's this one here." She traces it, a line beginning beneath his middle finger and curving towards his pinky, ending parallel with the side of his hand. "Unoriginally, called the Angelic line, and it has to do with how often you'll be revived. Most Divinity also has...this one, too." She traces another, a pair of more defined lines down his pointer that joined as they met the palm. "The Heavenly line. Has to do with devotion and worship. Giving or receiving, depending on if you're a God or not."

"What kind of use does that even have?" Pit asks, confused.

Viridi snickers. "What, in fortune telling? Well if you ever defected from Palutena, I could use that to tell, for starters!"

Pit gasped in horror. "I would never do that!"

"Yeah yeah, I know you wouldn't." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you want a palm reading still? Which line do you want me to look into?"

Pit thought about it a moment. He was pretty sure that the Heart line would give him more clarity on the nature of the feelings he'd been feeling lately...but he also wasn't sure he was ok with Viridi knowing about that yet. It would make it...weird, he was pretty sure.

He pondered the other ones. He knew he'd never abandon Palutena, so the Heavenly line wasn't too helpful. Angelic....he died plenty and most of the time it was barely a setback, so that one wasn't interesting either. Viridi hadn't said if the line he and Pitoo shared even did anything, so nevermind that one. Head probably wasn't helpful cuz he usually acted with his gut, so that left...

"Life and Fate...what's the difference between those? Is Life like...how healthy I am or something?" He asked.

"Well, ehh? Sorta? There's a Health line, but looking at your hand right now I don't see it, so you don't have that one. And there's also a Fortune line, which you seem to have, but small. The best way I can explain it for you, being Divinity, is that Life helps me see stuff in the short term while Fate helps with things much farther off."

It's a long-winded explanation, but Pit gets it. Mostly. "I....think I want Life, then. That sounds cool."

"Pfft. Yeah. You're not really a long-term guy, huh? Anything in particular you want me to look for?"

He's distracted from the vague insult by the question, which he has a quick answer for. "Anything fun? I don't really know what else to ask."

She nodded. With her own, she guided his hands to be flatter against the table. And then, with both her own, she drew her pointer fingers across his Life lines, feather-light.

It tingled a little, but Pit hadn't the time to dwell on it. In a sweeping motion Viridi pulled her hands upward, and from his palms came a swirl of energy, a wispy mass of blues and golds.

The colors shifted, airy, bright, until Viridi did another sweep of her hands, through the aura, and shapes began to form.

Birds, flying though the air in a coordinated flock, before breaking apart at what seemed to be a tree line. Deer and rabbits bounding though the wood and brush. A serpent, swelling in the image enough to take it over completely as the focus. Feathers rained around it, and it's maw opened wide to swallow one.

Then, it laid itself flat upon the ground, turning to bone, flowers blooming in its wake.

Viridi stared at the pictures with wide eyes, not blinking once until the flowers bloomed. The images in the energy faded as she funneled the aura back into his palms.

A full-body shudder passed through him. "Woah, that felt weird. Warm, sorta? But cold..."

"Your next trip to the surface world will be joyous and unforgettable." Said Viridi. "That's what your palms said."

"That's what you got from all that? You're good at this." He stretched out his hands, wiggling his fingers as if making sure he still could. "Guess I'll have that to look forward to, next time Lady Palutena sends me out on a mission."

"It might be a causal trip down, who knows. Just whichever you do sooner." She pointed out.

Pit paused, turning to her in mild confusion. "Casual trip...?"

"Yeah. Going down to the surface for fun. You do that sometimes, right?"

"No? Palutena's too busy for that. Most of my off time I'm doing other stuff."

Viridi stared at him incredulously. "I don't believe that. You're saying you've really never just...been down there? In nature? For fun??"

Pit gets the feeling he's made an error, the way she says it. "......for some reason I feel like that bothers you."

"Are you stu- no, you know what? This is Palutena's fault again, she's depriving you of valuable enrichment time!" She got to her feet and stormed back off towards the cafeteria.

Pit scrambled to join her and put his gloves back on. "Agh, wait up! What are you mad about?!"

"Sometimes I feel like Palutena just stuffs you in a closet when she doesn't need you." Viridi huffs in frustration.

Pit does a half-run to catch up with her. "No, when she doesn't need me I'm in Smash Bros."

"You're seriously telling me you've never just gone down to the surface for fun?!" She asks again.

"I'm getting the feeling you're hung up on that."

"Uh, duh! Obviously I am! I'm the Goddess of Nature! And you're telling me you've never just existed in nature for fun with no purpose?!" Despite how angry and presumably targeted at him the statement seemed to be, she wasn't even looking at him. Her focus was still straight forward.

He doesn't know if replying would make her angrier or not, so he doesn't. They breach the doorway and they're back in the cafeteria again. Palutena was nowhere to be seen.

Viridi groaned, and then broadcasted her shout telepathically, "Palutena where the heck did you take Arlon?!"

Pit, being next to her, heard double.

"We're playing chess in the garden, Mistress Viridi." Arlon chimed back.

"Stay there." She replied, and stormed off again. Pit just kept following because he wasn't sure what else to do.

They arrived at the garden in short order, entering though a wooden-mesh gate. Arlon and Palutena sat at a garden table with an ornate chess set.

"Hey, Palutena!" Viridi shouted.

"Yes, Viridi?"

"I'm taking your angel down to the surface! You gotta problem with that?!"

All three spectators went wide-eyed at the declaration, Pit most of all. He definitely hadn't agreed to that, and more importantly, she hadn't even proposed the idea to him in the first place!

But to his surprise, Palutena just grinned and raised an eyebrow. "No. No problem with that at all."

From what Pit could tell, Viridi was also confused by this response. "O-oh, ok, good, cuz that's....what I'm doing!" She declared, and then swiveled on one foot to spin back towards the entrance, grabbing Pit by the hand to drag him out. "We'll see you guys later!"

Pit wanted to object, or fight against this....seemingly inevitable circumstance, but....Viridi was holding his hand again. So he kept his mouth shut.

Chapter Text

She lead him into a wide, circular room, with a polished stone disk in its center. He recognized it from his prior brief stay in this domain: this was were deployment out of the domain happened.

Viridi being present for said deployment was unfamiliar, though. "Wait, you're...coming down with me?"

Viridi grins smugly. "Well of course I am! You'll have no idea what you're doing down there without me to guide you! I'm something of an expert of enjoying nature, and you, by comparison, are a noob."

Pit pouts.

She doesn't give him an opportunity to defend himself. "Firstly, before we go down, I need to make you your glamour. I've got mine all set up, but you're a bit...conspicuous, looking like that." She remarks, gesturing to all of him.

Pit blinks. "What's a glamour?"

"Fancy word for a magic disguise. We need to look like, ugh, human mortals. For me that just means a simpler outfit, but for you..." Once again, she gestures to all of him.

He flexes his wings subconsciously, and that emphasizes her point. "You're a dead-wringer for a servant of the gods with those wings and that outfit. Gold-trimming, the laurel crown, heck, even your sandals are overly fancy. The cuffs, the gloves-"

"Ok, ok, I get it, I'm too fashionable for the surface." The angel relents, drooping. "How do you fix that?"

"We gods have many powers at our disposal! Least of all a little illusory makeover!" She raises a hand into the air, and her staff appears. "Observe!"

She twirls the staff, and in an instant, light ripples over her form, peeling away like flower petals. It's barely a few seconds later the show is finished, and Viridi has indeed changed. She wore a far less elaborate dress now, seeming like something a peasant child would wear. Her hair no longer held up by a curl of bark, instead going down her back in a simple braid. Shoes gone entirely and not replaced by anything.

For all intents and purposes, she looked the part of a mortal. It was startling, honestly.

His expression was noted, and her face went an angry red. "S-stop staring at me!!"

He swiftly averted his gaze. "S-sorry, that just surprised me. Is it really that easy?"

A huff. "Well, for me it is, because I knew what to change into. For you it'll be a lot more trial and error." She approached him with her staff, looking him over with contemplation. "Let me see what I can do."

And so she does. The staff waves over different parts of his outfit as Viridi alters the look of them. Simpler sandals and the removal of the laurel crown were quick choices, but she struggled with his tunic for a decent while longer.

In the end, it had the gold trimming removed, the fabric quality reduced by a significant margin, and a fine layer of dust and stains applied. And then she got rid of his gloves and gauntlets.

He looked at himself with mild disapproval. "This....feels weird. I take much better care of myself than this."

"Well, if we're going to the surface, you gotta be a dirty human. Speaking of...this will feel even weirder."

"What will fe-"

And then she made his wings disappear.

Pit let out a shriek. "Aaaah!! My wings!!" He stretched his arms behind his back, attempting to feel for them despite knowing that they were gone. He felt nothing, and it was incredibly off-putting.

"Viridi?!"

"Oh calm down, they still exist, they just aren't perceivable by any of your or anyone else's senses." She replied, waving a dismissive hand.

"That doesn't mean anything to me!!" Pit shouts in distress. "Put them back!"

"Oh don't be a baby, I'll put them back when our little excursion is done."

With another wave of the staff, a door of light opened before them. Sounds of birds and bugs could be heard on the other side. Viridi gave him a mock-bow. "After you~"

Pit pouted. He felt...underdressed, not even from the outfit change, just from his wings being missing.

But.....well, as much as it felt weird to admit it, he did trust Viridi. So he stepped through the door anyway, despite not feeling prepared for it.

As usual, the other side was vastly different from the space he entered from. But unlike basically every other time he'd done this, he wasn't in the sky.

His surroundings were green and brown, bark and leaves and wild plants of all sorts. A squirrel scurried off as he stepped onto the forest floor, startled.

Viridi followed soon after. Her feet hit the ground, staff vanishing, and the door disappearing behind them. She took a deep breath, and let it out in a content sigh. "That's the good stuff right there."

Pit looked around. It was just...a forest. "What do....we do out here, again?"

"You really have no idea what you're doing. Just follow my lead." She said, walking ahead and beckoning him to follow.

He did, but not before gawking at the trail of clover she left in her wake. Each footstep grew plants, vibrant and healthy and green. "....huh."

She turned a little to observe him, and snorted at his reaction. "Do you seriously keep forgetting that I'm a Goddess, Pit? If I didn't know you I'd be a little offended."

He raised his hands in defense. "I don't, I don't! I just....never saw you do that before. It's cool."

She swiftly turns away from him again, preventing him from getting a good look at her actual reaction to the statement. But he hears her let out a light chuckle, so he at least considers that a win.

She takes him on a winding trail through the forest, and over time the animals that had initially fled from the appearance of the door approach them again, ducking out from behind trees and shrubs.

Pit sees a deer, young, with big shining eyes. Staring right at him.

He stops following Viridi to stare right back. Aside from being a dog that one time, he didn't really have any experiences with animals. Was this normal?

Viridi notices quickly that she's gained some distance, but stops short of antagonizing him when she sees what he's doing. "Hm, y'know, she'd probably let you pet her, if you want to." She informs him.

The angel's eyes go wide. "Wait, really?! I thought that was...the whole thing wild animals don't let you do?"

She merely stares at him a moment, expression blank. But then she face-palms, trying and failing to suppress a smile. "You've never just been down here. I keep forgetting." She laughs. Then she approaches a low hanging branch, reaching a hand out to the small group of birds that had perched there.

Instantly, the birds fly down to perch on her arm instead. Pit watches, feeling...warm, at the sight, for some reason.

Viridi turns back to him with a smirk. "Certain divine beings put animals at ease. I'm the best for that, y'know, being the Goddess of Nature and everything. But fun fact, angels are pretty high up there too! Guarantee you go up to any of these animals and they'll be all over you."

Pit almost finds that hard to believe, but when he turns back to the young deer, it's already begun to approach him, instead of the other way around.

"Oh!" He exclaims. He reaches out a hand, taking a step closer, and immediately the fawn runs over to shove its face into his palm. "Oh, hi! Hi there..."

He feels at a loss. In absence of any experiences like this, he has little clue how to react. He turns to Viridi, hoping maybe she has some non-sarcastic advice to share (unlikely), but he finds her trying not to laugh at him. And also covered in like twice as many birds as before.

"Told you so." She manages, smirking so wide he's surprised she hasn't hurt herself. He can't find it in himself to be mad at her.

A few of the birds are rooting through her hair with their beaks, and she doesn't do anything to stop them despite their efforts undoing her braid slightly. Pit's distracted by the sight enough to not immediately notice that the deer had decided to start licking his hand.

But then he does notice, and yelps. "Ah! Viridi, is this normal??" He pulls his hand up a little, out of the deer's reach, but it just cranes it's neck upwards to chase it.

This time she laughs at him outright. "Haha! Have you never interacted with any animal at all?!"

His pout is apparently all the answer she needs. "It's not that funny." He mumbles anyway.

"Yeah it is!" Her laughter jostles some of the birds perching on her, which fly off her, though most of them return when her body stills, aside from one that chooses to nest in Pit's hair instead. "Look at that, no idea what's going on and still you manage to make friends! How does he do it?" She remarks rhetorically, gesturing with her arms, as if talking to the birds.

The birds chirp in response, and the Goddess laughs. Pit lets his hand fall back down, and the fawn starts licking it again. He can't tell if she's making fun of him so he doesn't bother guessing.

The bird in his hair starts chirping at him too, though, and he looks up reflexively despite having no way to actually see it. "Hi?"

It moves forward enough to lean into his field of vision. All he can tell from this angle is that it's brown and black. It chirps again.

"What kind of bird is this?" Pit finds himself asking.

"Chickadee!" Viridi replies snappily, grinning. "Specifically the Boreal Chickadee!"

"Uh...hi then, mr Chickadee?"

"That one's a girl."

"Ms Chickadee, my bad."

It chirps at him again, a delightful little trill of a sound. The fawn bumps its head against his leg and bleats at him.

Viridi chuckles again from where she stands. A new bird, one that hadn't been perching on her, swoops down from where it had been perching to swirl around her.

"Oh! Well of course!" She says brightly, despite the bird not making any noise to talk to her. It flies off, and she immediately breaks into a run to follow it.

Startled, Pit staggers into a jog as well to keep up with her. "Ah!! Viridi, what-"

"Stopping asking so many questions!" She calls back to him, not turning around. "Just do what you do best: throw your brain away and have fun!"

'Another almost-insult-almost-compliment from the queen of sincerity...' Thinks Pit sarcastically. That was definitely her calling him dumb.

He quickly realizes that there's a procession, now, of the animals, trailing after the angel and goddess as they run. The fawn bounded beside him, a larger deer by its side. Its mother, Pit wonders?

The chickadee was swooping in and out of his peripherals, coasting and rising and coasting, tiny body cutting through the air like a dagger.

He's so distracted by it that he misses the way Viridi vaults over a log in their path, and fails to do the same. He trips forward at high speed and skids to a stop on his face.

"Ow-ow-ah-ah-owww!!" He wails. He pushes himself up in time to see all the animals cross the log with greater success than him, though they stop a ways away and look back at him.

As did Viridi.

"Watch where you're going, dimwit!" She chides, jogging over to stand before him with her hands on her hips. "You're literally constantly on the battlefield, aren't you supposed to be an expert at not tripping on things?"

"Hey-" He starts, defensive, but then the chickadee lands on his head, and the fawn bumps him with its nose. He finds it hard to hold onto his ire. "...I am. I just...got distracted."

She sees her dramatically roll her eyes, but she still holds out a hand to help him up, refusing to meet his gaze while she did.

He stares at it, dumbfounded a little, before taking it. His hands were covered in dirt after falling, but she made no show of minding.

He stands with her help, but as he's in the middle of dusting himself off, he hears a little chitter, and suddenly Viridi dashes away again.

He looks up with a start to see her climbing a tree, seemingly following after a squirrel.

"Viridi?!"

"Keep up! There's a great view up here!"

"How am I-" He starts. He falters before finishing the statement though, because while true, it was embarrassing to admit. "...I'm a noob, Viridi! I don't know how!"

She laughs, loud and boisterous, just like he'd expected her to. "Pffftahahaha! Say that again and I'll help you!"

"N-no! I have dignity!" He protests, face flushing bright.

She turns her head halfway to look down at him with a smirk. "Do you want to keep your dignity or do you want to climb a tree with me?"

He wants to climb a tree with her. He doesn't want to embarrass himself either....but oddly, right now that's secondary to the other thing.

".............I'm a noob. Please help."

She doesn't respond in more eager mocking, to his confusion. He meets her gaze again and thinks she looks....disappointed? But only for a moment before she rolls her eyes at him. "Fine, fine. Here."

She snaps her fingers, and swiftly a thick vine grows, trailing down the tree from the very top. "That'll support your weight. Finding footholds is admittedly a little difficult for a beginner, so here's your training wheels."

Pit grabs on and slowly makes his way up. "Har-har."

"Noob."

He grumbled and kept climbing. Viridi watches him with some kind of....strange look in her eye that he can't decipher. The squirrel she was following has also stopped to watch him, he notices. By the time he's halfway caught up to her, though, they both continue their climb, outpacing him easily. 

They pass through into the canopy, out of sight, and he climbs faster. "Wait up!"

"Keep up!" She repeats, distantly.

His face scrunches up, determined, pride on the line-

-and he slips.

Heart dropping out of his chest, his foot breaks through a branch, he goes sideways, only one hand loosely on the vine-

But as his grip on that too falters, the thing lurches to life. He barely falls a foot before the plant's wrapped itself around his legs and torso.

He's breathing heavy, vision locked on the distant blurry forest floor, but....he's safe. It's startling, mostly because that all happened so fast.

"Agh! Geez, be careful!" He hears, and he tries his best to look up despite his positioning. Viridi's poked her head back down through the leaves, glaring at him.

He almost thinks she sounds concerned.

"I-I'm fine!"

"Can I not leave you alone for five seconds? You nearly fell and broke your head open!"

"I would've been fine! E-even if that'd happened."

He doesn't need to see her to hear the unimpressed look she's giving him. "Yeah, and it would've been the most embarrassing way you'd ever died."

He can't really deny that.

"Ugh. I'm just pulling you up the rest of the way myself. Try not to hit your head on too many branches, dweeb."

The vine tightens around his middle, and he starts to ascend with it.

For the briefest moment the pressure gives him the mental image of Viridi hugging him.

Aaaaand the next moment he banishes the thought because huh?? Who said that was allowed, he had no reason to think about stuff like that haha weird stop. Stop.

And the moment after that he fails to move out of the way of a branch and hits his head. "Ow."

"Do you not do anything anyone tells you if they're not Palutena?? There's no reason you should suck this much at being outdoors!" Viridi chides, out of sight again.

He flushes. "H-hey, I already said, I'm a-"

"Don't- I don't need to hear it a third time, I got the picture. Incoming."

"Wha-"

He looks up, eyes wide, and swiftly covers his head with his arms, blocking the canopy's branches from hitting him in the face. And when he uncovers his face...

The view he's met with is a lovely one. Bright sky, patchy clouds, endlessly stretching canopy in the direction they were facing. "Woah!"

"Not an angle you see very often, huh?" Viridi inquires, grinning smugly when he turns to look at her. She twirls a finger and the snaking vine unwinds, curling into a ball beside her, little flowers blooming across its surface.

He watches her do it distractedly for a few moments before abruptly remembering that he should probably respond to her statement. "Oh, yeah. Normally I'm either way higher than this or...on the ground somewhere more...constructed? I can't think of the word for what I'm usually doing..."

"It's usually either something human-made or god-made. I got what you meant."

"Yeah, that. I don't get to see-"

He's cut off by a chirp, and swiftly looks up to see the chickadee from before. It's fluttering about, darting through the air between him and Viridi.

His gaze is fixed on it. On what of it's wings he could see, which wasn't much since they were flapping so fast.

"Bird fan?" She asks, and he blinks, as if coming out of a trance.

"It's...neat to see other things flying. That's all." He replies simply, not in the mood to elaborate. It's not something he's particularly defensive about, really, but deeper thought than that wasn't something he had. Nothing he was keen to share, at least.

Viridi is weirdly quiet, at that, expression slowly shifting to a contemplative squint.

He frowns beneath her regard. "What?"

She doesn't reply. Instead, she stands on the branches with purpose in her posture. With him sitting, she's actually a little taller than him, which gives him a good vantage point to watch her fling herself off the tree.

"Whuh?!!?!? Viridi!!" He yelps, scrambling to find his footing in the canopy to try and follow her. Her balled-up vine uncurls to halt him, stretching across his path.

He tries to push it aside, but as it wraps around him a bit again, something soars up into view with a speed that makes him jump a little.

It's a bird. Plum in color with a white underbelly, with trailing tail feathers in a brighter purple.

It swoops and soars and the chickadee joins it, talkative as could be. He watches the aerial display, entranced again.

The way the longer feathers moved with the wind...

He jerks out of his stupor as he abruptly remembers Viridi tossed herself off a tree. Once more he pushes himself forward to try and peer over the edge. "Viridi!! Are you ok?!"

"Dude, I'm right here. Chill out."

He jerks at how close her voice is, and looks around frantically. "Whuh?? Where-"

The bird swoops by him, and as it does one of the trailing feathers whaps him in the face.

"Hey!! Viridi tell this bird to be nicer to me!"

"Are you saying you wouldn't recognize me if I literally smacked you in the face!?"

His eyes blow wide, and he swiftly turns to face the bird. It hovers in the air with strong wing beats, close enough that he can see it very clearly.

He realizes that it's glaring at him. Since when could birds glare-

"....................wait, Viridi?!?!"

She jerks her head in such a way that a long feather on her head flips like hair. "Wooooow, stellar deduction. It's almost like it was obvious!" She says sarcastically, beak remaining closed as she speaks to him with telepathy.

He continues to blink owlishly at her, mouth agape. "Whuh, you, how did, how, is this-"

"Bwuh bwuh bwuh- wow, shocker, the Goddess of Nature can turn into animals, who woulda thought!" She retorted mockingly. The flowering vine begins moving again, and it curls into a new static shape.

A perch, which Viridi lands on.

He's still a little speechless, staring at her. She was more vibrant than any other bird he'd ever seen. She was sitting still enough that he could make out details in the definition of her feathers.

His heart was racing, for some reason, chest tight with emotion. He's scared to speak lest he break the spell he was under.

He jumps a little when the vine moves closer to him, bringing Viridi with it. "Earth to dweeb. You still there?"

He tries to cough out his awkwardness. "S-sorry, I wasn't staring! Or, no, I think I was, but it wasn't weird or anything-"

"-yeah, cuz if you make this weird I'm turning into a different animal." She cuts him off...and then, slowly, extends a wing in his direction.

He blinks at it, once again losing his words.

She sighs. "L-look, you want to see wings? Wings that aren't yours? Here. Take a look." She retorts, something in her tone that Pit doesn't know how to identify.

...embarrassment? No, that's not it. Something else.

With twitching hands, he reaches towards her-

-and she snatches her wing back, folding it pressed to her chest. "HEY!! I said look, not touch!" She hisses at him, the feathers around her neck puffing out a little.

Pit's face lights up in embarrassed fluster. "A-ah!! Sorry, sorry, I didn't, I wasn't-"

"How about instead of just doing stuff you use your words!" She chastises him, with an aggressively flat look in his direction as her tail feathers swish.

"I-I just...I got in my head and I never get to look at feathers very closely. Sorry."

"You literally have wings-"

"Y-you know what I mean! Feathers that aren't mine! It's-"

"Ok. Ok?! Feathers! You want a feather? Feather!" And with a single swift movement, she buries her beak into her wing and yanks a feather out.

From experience, Pit knew that couldn't have been painless. "V-Viridi?!"

The vine moves her closer and she unceremoniously drops the feather into his hand, once again glaring at him as her body fluffs up. "I'm only doing this so you stay out of my personal space! You better be grateful!!"

"I-I am!! I very much am! Didn't....didn't that hurt, though-"

"Hush. Literally shut up."

"I just-"

"HRMPH."

He closes his mouth.

He carefully drags a finger across the feather.

......soft. Firm. He breathes carefully as he takes in the details.

Viridi is watching him. He avoids eye contact with her, not wanting to get yelled at again, but...she's practically staring at him at this point. Would...it be ruder to pretend she's not, or....?

He feels his cheeks warm at her intense attention. Which is embarrassing, especially because there's no way she doesn't notice it happening with how hard she's looking at him.

...a beat later, and she stammers. "Uh, oh, uh...sorry. I just expected you to say something." She says quickly, looking away with a start.

"...nice...color....? Wh-what kind of bird are you right now, anyway?" He tries, hoping it's not a question that offends her somehow.

Based on the way she perks up, though, it seems like the exact opposite. "Well! I took traits from various Birds of Paradise, and mashed them up into something plain-looking enough that, at a glance, no human mortal is gonna go 'hey what's that doing here it looks too exotic for this biome' and then slapped some," Her beak curls in a grin, "nice colors on it. And now I have a unique bird that only exists: right here!"

She spreads her wings out, proud, and the vine she's standing on does a spin, giving Pit a brief 360 turn around.

Pit blinks, but smiles after another moment. "That's so cool! I didn't realize you could just...combine parts together! Can you do that with whatever you want, or is it only things that are...I dunno, shaped the same?"

"Whatever I want! But I'm not interested in making some weird amalgamation of parts just to show off. That wouldn't be natural in the slightest." She puffed out her chest, flicked her tail downward, and then eyed him again. "Don't lose that feather, by the way. It's got some of my godly essence in it."

Pit's eyes bug out. "Really?! Oh no, I don't know if I have anywhere to put it, uh-"

"Calm down, just...here, I'll summon a clip or something, pin it to your shirt, I don't care."

With a faint flick of her wing, a little clothespin appears above him, landing on his head, bouncing off; he scrambles to catch it before it falls through the canopy and only barely succeeds.

Viridi snorts out a laugh.

Pit fumbles a little to pin it to his shirt. "Uh, when you say 'godly essence' does that mean...like, a mortal could do something bad with it?"

She gives a half-shrug with her wings. "Eh. It's a feather, so...maybe minor flight? Definitely briefer than your flight ever is."

His eyes sparkle and he opens his mouth, but she cuts him off. "-you're already divine so any effect it could have would be massively diminished if you tried doing anything with it.

He pouts. "Aw."

"Aaaaanyway. It's time for more forest. Gotta get as much of that in as we can before the sun sets!"

Pit's about the open his mouth again and point out that it's barely even the afternoon...but then Viridi's bird body is engulfed in light. Like before with her glamour, it peels away from her like flower petals.

And.

And now she's a squirrel????

"Uh-??"

"Stop getting all bug-eyed, I can turn into animals, whoopdeedoo, big shock." She cuts him off, launching from the vine to land on his shoulder. "I helped you up here, you can figure out how to climb down on your own."

The surprise of the transformation is pushed aside at the far more alarming statement. "What?! No!"

"Yes!"

"N-no, I'm pretty sure getting down is way harder than getting up!"

"What, you're scared of a little challenge?" She taunts, smacking him in the back of the head with her tail. "Oooooo-"

"Hey, no, I'm not!" He protests. "I've never climbed a tree before, I don't know how to get-"

"Don't be a baby, watch me!" She cuts him off, leaping from his shoulder onto the bark. Her little squirrel feet grip the surface easily, and she looks back at him smugly. "Easy as that!"

He peers through the leaves at her, and swallows. "Uhh....if I had claws that would be easy but I left all my Claws at home."

Viridi sighs dramatically, and scurries back up to him. "Look, just put one foot in front of the other. Step down and then step down again, and keep both hands on a branch at all times if you can." She explains from a branch just below his eye level.

Pit swallows. "And.......and that's safe....?"

"The safest way to do it. Look, you'll be fine. Just chill out and take it slow."

"......you're the expert....I guess..." He relents, shakily lowering himself foot-first onto the closest branch.

It creaks under his weight, but it holds.

He lowers himself into a squat and grips the branch with both hands. He stretches his legs out to another branch.

He hears the click of Viridi's squirrel claws onto a branch by his head. "Why are you so nervous anyway? You may be glamoured to look like a mortal but you're just as durable as you are usually."

"I! Just don't like hurting myself if I can not do that!" He shouts defensively.

"If you're that scared of a little boo-boo I can lower you on vines like I did to bring you up."

His eyes go wide with surprised delight as he looks up at her. "Really?!"

"No!" She chimes back, leaping from her branch to land in his hair.

She says something else but his thoughts momentarily halt as he feels her claws against his scalp. Tiny, scratchy as she holds on, but not painful.

Something hammers in his chest for a moment.

"Earth to dweeb."

He startles. "Ah! S-sorry, I wasn't expecting that." He replies, awkward but honest.

"Yeah yeah. Look, I'll coach you. I'll point at the good branches."

"...there are bad branches??"

"You would not survive in the wild." She deadpans under her breath.

But still, she helps. Pokes her tail into his peripherals to gesture to sturdy branches, Pit reaching carefully to move from one to another.

Eventually they reach the ground, and the angel falls to his knees in relief.

She jumps out of his hair to land on the head of the fawn from earlier, which was still hanging around, apparently. Its mother watches from a short distance away.

Pit assesses her appearance properly now that he's on the ground again.

Red fur aside from salmon-pink tail and ears. Green paws. That seemed less subtle than how she'd described the bird form. Unless squirrels with green paws were a real thing and he just didn't know that??

He can't help but ask. "What kind of squirrel is that?"

"Just a Red Squirrel I gave some personal flair to." Viridi admits, but not without posing a bit, curling her tail behind her to frame her form.

".....you said earlier you didn't want to just...mash parts together because it's not natural, but....?"

She rolls her eyes at him. "Buuuuut, yes, technically I can do whatever I want."  She gets a sinister look about her, suddenly. "Y'know, I don't always take on animal forms with the intention of blending in. Sometimes I like standing out; it can really send a message."

He gets the distinct impression she's about to show off, but it works perfectly because he's stunned into awed silence by what follows.

Off the fawn she leaps, and before she hits the ground again, light engulfs her form. One petal at a time, hooves his the earth, and suddenly the red squirrel is replaced by a large, green....stag.

His awe staggers for a moment in confusion. "Wait, isn't it only the boy ones that have antlers?"

He can tell she's glaring at him immediately despite how odd it looks on an animal face. "Were you not listening when I said I can decide exactly what I look like in any of these forms. Antlers look like tree branches and also make for a more compelling silhouette."

"Right, right, sorry. Stupid question."

"Yeah yeah. Look, like I said, this is a form I use specifically to stand out." She walks over to him, looming above, antlers haloed by light seeping through the canopy. "Now: if you were a mortal, what would you think if you saw me?"

Well, he thinks she's majestic and imposing. But that's not what she asked. "Uh...well normal deer aren't green, for one thing?"

"Surface level observation, but true. Not really my question though. What would most mortals think if they saw something that shouldn't exist?" She presses, leaning closer to him.

He leans back a fraction, but slowly sounds out his thoughts without commenting on the intrusion into his bubble. "Well.....if it shouldn't....but it does....oh! Then a god has to be involved?"

She leans back away, and holds her head high. "Eeeeexactly. And what goddess do you know, who can play with nature like clay, to create such a fine specimen as this?"

Pit narrows his eyes, unimpressed by her boasting. But he at least knows the answer to this question without any thought. "You?"

"Ding ding, right again!" She chimes, head still held high, even as she prances towards the fawn's mother with a grin. "Other gods have their signs, but I have my godly flora and fauna."

The mother deer lifts its head, and bumps its nose against Viridi's, after which she turns to Pit and smirks again.

.......but then the smug look fades, and she turns her back to him and starts to walk away. Pit speed walks to return to her side as she continues talking. "Ugh. Not that I have many followers nowadays who'd recognize a sign from me if they saw it."

Pit...stutters in place, unsure of how to respond. This wasn't something he and Viridi really talked about, and it wasn't like they talked a lot to begin with. He...wanted to reassure her, but he wasn't sure how.

"Whatever." She continues past his silence. "This is still way cooler than whatever Palutena does to clue in mortals."

"Hey!" He fires back, defensive as usual about his goddess's honor. "I'm sure whatever she does is super cool!"

She turns to him with flattened ears and a head tilt. "Wait, you don't even know what she does? Does she never feel the need to...reach out to her followers at all?"

"Uh.......I think the last time anyone realized she was involved with something was.....when they saw me fly in to rescue them....?"

"During the fight against Medusa? Or after that with Hades?"

"Yeah I think so? If she does other stuff I have no idea."

"And everyone just.....knows her. And cares." Her head swivels back forward, expression darkening as she glares at nothing in particular. "Great. I'm sure she takes that for granted and assumes it's just a given."

Pit.......still has no idea what he's supposed to say. So he just says the first thing that comes to mind. "Why do you care so much what humans think of you anyway? I know you said you don't hate hate them but for sure you don't like them."

She snorts, stomping forward a bit more aggressively as she keeps on walking. "Of course I don't like them."

"But.....if they're part of nature-"

She stops in an instant and whirls back around to face him, looming and imposing and very suddenly blocking his path forwards. "Moron, that's why I hate them! They act like they're not part of nature even though they are!"

He raises his hands defensively, backing away from the big deer with sharp sharp horns. "O-ok uh!! I just....! Don't really get what you mean?? When you say that??"

She snorts again, hot breath billowing into his face. It's damp air, but despite the fact that it's an animal's breath.....it smells like flowers.

Abruptly he finds himself trying not to blush. And he can't really figure out why that's his natural reaction to her getting up in his face like that.

Oblivious (hopefully) to his brief lapse in composure, she leans away again with a scoff. "Because. Everything else in nature exists in a balance. And they see themselves as above that balance."

She looks down at the ground, and taps a hoof against a patch of dirt. She swirls it, and a second later something green sprouts up. "A forest is the sum of its parts. Too many trees block the light, and fewer things grow beneath them. Too many deer will eat the saplings before they get too big. Too few roots weaken the soil, and allow stronger rainfall to gather and wash away the rest."

She keeps swirling her hoof, and the sapling grows. "So: predators are vital. Wolves keep the deer in check, which lets more trees grow, which attract beavers, which control the waters- it's a cycle, and if undisturbed by powers above it, it keeps itself in harmony."

And then, she stops, the sapling stills, and she rips it out of the earth with her teeth. Her eyes meet his again. "Do you know what happens, when too many stupid humans get attacked by wolves for wandering into forests that don't belong to them?"

Pit can guess. He loves humanity, part of his job was to love them, but even he knows that people can be selfish and cruel, just as the gods can. ".....they kill them?"

"They don't just kill them, they declare the whole species evil, and go out of their way to hunt them til there are none left in the woods."  She leans her head down to the side, where the mother deer is waiting, and gives it the sapling. The mother deer takes it, and chews, while the fawn tries to do the same as they both depart.

Viridi scoffs again. "Every animal, every plant, every living thing is meant to exist in flux with every other thing. But humans do not see themselves as a thing to fluctuate, they see themselves as a thing to persist. And anything that hurts them is a thing to be eradicated." She concludes.

Pit hisses through his teeth. "......yeah. They're....pretty violent when they want to be." He agrees carefully, not wanting to draw her ire when he has no argument to give.

She huffs, and goes back to walking, seemingly placated.

"..........so why do you care what they think of you?" He repeats, unable to stop himself.

She lets out a long sigh, and turns her head slightly to leer at him.

He raises his hands in surrender again.

"Ugh. For the same reason any god cares about anything." She replies simply, albeit with audible annoyance.

Pit tries to say something else but she cuts him off with a loud groan. "UGH!!! Now I'm all antsy!!! I need to run or something, get this stupid energy out."

Viridi bounds forward a few times, and he struggles to run after her. "H-hey, wait! I can keep up with you if you have two legs but I definitely can't if you have four!!"

At that, she stops, and once more turns to him. But she doesn't address him this time. Instead she shuffles from hoof to hoof, making frustrated sounds under her breath for a few moments.

"Uh-"

"Shut- uh. Pbbbt. Ok. Ok? Ok." She finally stills, and walks back over to him.

With an averted gaze, she forces out, "Get on my back."

His eyes bug out. "Wh-?!"

"DON'T make it weird, just....!" She stomps a hoof again, and Pit's struck anew by the fact that this was just....Viridi. As a big green deer. Offering him a ride. None of this was anything close to how he was expecting today to go.

"I need to move and you'll get lost if I just leave you here! S-so I have to take you with me and this is the easiest way!" She shouts, gesturing around with her head and antlers.

He takes a step back, away from the aggressively swinging sharp objects, but she closes the distance with a snort. "I am not going to wait for you, so get on my back so I can run!" She demands.

And Pit, provided no options, just nods.

And so, she lowers herself a little, low enough that Pit could hop on with ease.

He hesitates, because what was this situation even, but he knows she'll shout at him again if he takes too long. So he swings a leg over her, and finds his place on her back.

She stands to her full height again, and his arms flail to keep his balance. He has no idea where he's allowed to put his hands, she got angry with him earlier for trying to touch her when she was a bird-

"You'll fall off- look, just grab my antlers. Only hard enough to hold on, I- ugh, no, then you'll get yanked around if I turn my head. Uh." Once more she starts tapping her hooves as she thinks. "Hhhhhh. Ok, fine, there's like....loose-ish skin between my shoulder blades and neck on both sides. Just- just grab it and do your best not to fall off."

Given permission, he carefully feels around for the spots she mentioned. He finds them easily enough, and cautiously takes fistfuls of pelt.

He feels her shudder, but she doesn't say anything more. She just nods, and takes off, bounding forward with a strength and speed he's nearly unprepared for.

He clutches her fur tightly as his eyes shut on instinct against the rushing air. Her hoofbeats set a rhythmic pace, k'tunk k'tunk k'tunk k'tunk against the ground as she runs.

Carefully, he opens his eyes.

"Woah."

The world was rushing by around him. It wasn't an unfamiliar thing, really, it happened every time he flew.

But he'd never seen it on ground level until this moment.

It was so....simple, and yet he was struck speechless. The greens and browns of the wood and leaves. The smell of everything on the wind. The way Viridi dodged and weaved around trees in their path.

.....flower petals burst forth from suddenly blooming antlers, cascading around them as the rushing air dislodged them from their stems.

One catches in his hair, and all of a sudden he has to hold on far tighter, as Viridi leaps across a rushing river.

He lets out a startled yelp, and finally, as she lands, Viridi halts.

"Whew! Ok, better." She sighs, tone far more pleasant than it had been before.

Pit unclenches his hands from her fur. "That was crazy! That's like.....not as fast as the Lightning Chariot but way more obstacles."

He feels her jump. "Geez, I forgot you were there for a second. Off." She declares, and then sits down, not giving Pit a chance to get off on his own as he slides to the ground.

"Agh! Hey!"

"Don't be a baby, you're fine." She snarks back, and then quietly dips her snout into the river.

He watches her drink silently for a moment before crawling over to try doing the same.

Viridi snorts, nose sending up bubbles through the stream. "Pff...hahaha! You're just gonna get your face all wet doing it that way!"

Petals of light engulf her, and he startles as she returns to a form more familiar. She sits on her knees beside him and smirks. "Look, just cup some water in your hands and drink like a normal person."

They're......close. And he's embarrassing himself. He looks away and hopes she doesn't notice his fluster.

But, he complies, shuffling up from all fours to sit like she was. He dips his cupped hands into the water, and then brings them up to his mouth to drink.

He chances a glance in her direction and notices that her smile has softened. She flushes bright and looks away the moment their eyes meet, and he's compelled to do the same.

Ah.

Hm.

Was he....was he supposed to say something...? All of a sudden his heart was hammering in his chest. But he couldn't figure out why.

She just....looked at him. Without a trace of anger or even amusement. Just....something soft. From her. Directed at him.

"You uh......you've got a flower petal in your hair." She speaks up, softer than he'd expect from her. Annoyance, he thinks he hears.....but faint, inauthentic.

He doesn't know what to say, or do. So he just leans his head faintly towards her.

He doesn't look at her.

Gentle fingers brush against his hair, fainter than faint, and then they're gone.

He swallows, and chances a look up at her.

Her face is painfully neutral, but when their gazes meet it tips into a soft smirk. She waves the petal at him, pinched between her fingers, but then she claps her hands together with it in the middle.

Slowly she pulls them apart, and Pit watches in awe as a whole flower forms from it, stitched together from Viridi's power.

She cups the full-formed rose in her hands, smiling down at it before planting it in the soil beside her.

He can't muster words. The silence that's developed has taken on a peaceful quality that he's too scared to break. Viridi doesn't seem keen to do it, either.

That is, until a sharp sound rings out across the forest, and her expression immediately sours.

Pit can't tell what it meant, so he asks. "Uh....is that bad?"

She groans, and pushes herself up. "Depends on what they're here to hunt. I can tell they're here, but I can't read their minds." She replies, just the right flavor of cryptic-with-context to be an answer that prompts another question.

"So....there's hunters in the forest now? So that sound was....them shooting something?" He prompts, and Viridi nods.

"Missed, but yeah."

"...and that's....bad, right?"

"Like I said, it depends. I've got no problem if they're gonna eat whatever it is. But if they're just here for trophies and braggery then......"

Pit feels the temperature drop. She turns to him with a decidedly wicked look in her eye, and he tries his best not to be intimidated.

"Y'know, I do have one more form worth showing, Pit." She says, voice low and conspiratorial. "Would you like to guess what it's for?"

He scrambled back as she leans over him, and he pales. "U-uh.....probably something bad....for them?"

Her only reply is a wider, more evil grin, before the petals of light peel from her form yet again.

But it doesn't end quickly; in fact, this transformation seems drawn out, if anything. Petals break apart in the air as the shifting form elongates, curling, coiling around him. Surrounded. He stares around at her wildly.

When the light finally fades, he's face to face with something reptilian.

Before him, with a long tannish-beige body, spattered with green and red-pink spots....is a snake. Nearly twice, no, three times the length of her deer form, large enough that swallowing a person whole would be a trivial feat.

That's probably what she's going for, though. And as she stares him down, he can certainly say he's appropriately intimidated.

That is, until, she starts laughing at him. At which point 'oh right yeah this is just Viridi' superimposes itself into his headspace and he forgets why he was afraid at all.

"Pfff!!! The face you just made!! Nevermind scaring humans, its way more fun to scare you!"

He cannot fathom why that sentence makes his heart race so he deflects as fast as he can. "N-no, I'm not scared! I-I was just........staring, because, you're. Salsa colored!! Yeah!" He stammers out.

Her expression immediately exaggerates into outrage. "Salsa colored?!?! This is clearly a bunch of rose bushes!!!!! You food obsessed nitwit!!!!"

"But the main color is like....tortilla chips? And the green and red is like salsa and guac-" He tries to explain, but she hisses at him and he shuts up.

"Ugh!! I don't know why I bother! Expecting you to appreciate art. My talents are wasted on you." She retorts, looking away from him, off into the distance.

"I, I can appreciate art just fine!" He argues, and when she doesn't acknowledge him, he stammers out, "I....I think all your forms look really pr- COOL! They all look really cool!!"

He sees her jerk, and whip around to face him with a flushed face. Incredulous, surprised.

He averts his gaze right back. "S-sorry."

"....no, you're. Mm. Apology accepted." She mumbles, snake tongue flicking out into the air.

He observes her silently for another moment before snapping out of it. "Uh. You changed shape cuz you wanna go scare the hunters, right?"

She perks up and grins at him. "Absolutely. Follow me."

She slithers off into the undergrowth and Pit jumps to his feet to follow her. She's not nearly as fast this time, and he keeps pace easily as she slides smoothly across the dirt and leaf litter.

She doesn't go in a straight line, though. She twists and turns around trees and stones, cutting in and out of Pit's path as she does. She's definitely still faster than him....but she's far less direct in her movements, taking the long way forward, and it's easy for him to keep up with her.

That is, until she darts under his feet and trips him. He stumbles forward with a yelp, lands on his face again, but he barely gets to bark out a "Hey!!" before his frustration fizzles out at the sound of Viridi's laughter.

She's curled up in front of him, tail swishing back and forth, and despite how clearly she's mocking him he can't bring himself to care. Not this time.

And so, he engages with the physical banter in the way he knows best: competition.

He pushes himself back up, hops from one foot to another, and darts forward, rushing past Viridi as she's distracted by his misfortune.

"Race ya!" He shouts back at her, turning in time to get a brief glimpse of her baffled expression. He lets out a laugh of his own, and she meets him with a telepathic shout of her own.

"Oh you're on!"

He sidesteps as she darts forward to catch up to him, and stumbles a little when she bumps into him as she passes him again.

Her body undulates as she slithers, still fast, but he pushes himself forward gaining a lead-

-a lead she quickly cheats into hers again, grabbing him in her mouth by the scruff of his tunic, and hoisting him up to hang on a branch before dashing off.

He yelps and scrambles to detangle himself and falls on his face when he succeeds. Again. Lots of that today, apparently.

Viridi stops going forward to watch him get up. She tilts her head. "That didn't take you nearly as long as I thought it would." She remarks.

"Getting the, hhh, hang of it!" Pit replies, and then dashes at her again.

This time, he doesn't run past her.

He tackles her.

It's impulsive. It's stupid. But he knows he'd never have the guts to do this when she was in her usual form, and.....and her scales look soft.

His arms wrap around her tightly, and she tumbles to the side from the force of it. "What the heck, Pit?!"

She rolls her coils and he's immediately pinned. She looks down at him, frustration settling until she's not much more than unamused. "Great. Now what?"

"Hhh....!" He wheezes, breath knocked out of him from the pressure.

"Yep. Dummy. No idea what you expected would happen."

With a shaky hand, Pit grabs a flower beside him, and presents it to her after plucking it up from the earth. "F-for you...? To let.....me up?"

She very quickly looks away from him, tail twitching. "Wh-what are you even doing. That- that kind of flattery doesn't work on me, dingus." She gruffs.

Pit blinks, and checks what it is he even grabbed.

It's a dandelion.

Does that have.......implications, or something? Since that's his favorite flower?

Whatever. He keeps waving it at her because it's the only thing he has that he can bargain with.

She lets out a long groan, but eventually lets him up anyway.

He drops the flower, and immediately falls down again the second he tries to get up. His limbs feel oddly weak.

The annoyance on her face slips again, though she doesn't exactly look worried. "Aw geez, I didn't hurt you for real, did I?"

Pit's still having a bit of trouble breathing, so his reply is a shaky one. "F...fine..."

She's quiet, brow furrowed in what looks startlingly close to genuine concern.

Carefully, she brings her head forward, down. Pit, bracing himself up on his hands and knees shakily, looks to her with a breathless surprise.

It intensifies, as she pushes her head under him, raising her snout up beneath his chest, helping him stand back up, letting him brace against her.

Still breathless, he stumbles to his feet, arms wrapping around her neck. Upright, he wobbles, and nearly falls backwards- but the rest of her body coils up behind him to catch him.

Heart hammers in his chest. He'd be stupid to think she can't hear- feel it, with his chest pressed against her forehead. He lets her go with a start, and slowly she pulls away from him.

Her expression doesn't betray any disgust with him. Just mild annoyance. "Did I break something? Knock the wind outta ya?"

"S....second one." He says, slowly. He takes a shaky breath, and another. Now he felt the air in his lungs had been stolen for a different reason entirely. Because she was being nice to him. With seemingly no caveats.

And her forms were so nice to look at. He'd never been all that interested in most animals before...but this excursion was telling him that that was probably due to inexperience. But his favorites so far were obviously her's.

And Viridi was...creative, with all her animal forms. All of them were....pretty.

He'd.....thought that she was pretty in her normal form....occasionally. Honestly it was hard to really pinpoint when, he just knew he thought that.

Her eyes were the same color as they usually were, it was just that those colors were being used in different ways. Gradient, no eye-whites.

Obviously, he was thinking about them because she was staring at him.

"....Pit. Did you hear what I said?" She says, and he jolts.

He finds himself able to stand unaided....so he does, only realizing he wants to keep leaning on her after he stops doing so. Her coils relax, settling on the ground, forming an overlapping circle around him.

Her posture was relaxed, head just barely above his. Saving him from an achy neck. "S-sorry, no...?"

She sighs at him, and leans a bit closer. "I asked if you felt better, since I healed you."

She.....did? Oh. He did feel better. He must've been too distracted to notice her doing that.

Distracted by.......thoughts about.......her.

Oh.

Wait, did that-?

Oh no.

His face turned red and his heart started racing. No way, oh gods, this was bad, he couldn't feel this way about her, that was....illegal or something!

"Pit, you're weirding me out." Viridi speaks up again. "Do you feel better or not?" She demands.

Failing to keep any level of composure, he stammers out, "Fine and dandy thank you!!"

Or. He tries.

Something interrupts the first, shaky syllable.

Sharp metal glances off against godly scales, and embeds in the wood of a tree in its new path.

An arrow.

Viridi's serpentine pupils shrink to furious slits, and very slowly she turns towards the culprit.

Two human men, middle aged, pointing twin bows in her direction.

The hunters.

"RUN KID!!" Shouts one, firing another arrow. This one impacts against the snake's forehead, just as harmlessly, but the rage burning in response could be felt in the air. "WE'LL DISTRACT IT, JUST GO!!!"

'Oh.' Pit realizes. 'They don't know she's-'

Another arrow from the first to fire, once again bouncing off Viridi's scales, but this time she hisses. "Insolent. Useless. Humans." She mutters lowly, beginning to slither towards them with clear threatening intent.

They don't react as if they even heard her speak. They just fire more arrows as they back away.

Pit realizes something else. 'She's been using telepathy to talk this whole time. I must be the only one who can even hear her.'

"You don't know who you're messing with." She hisses darkly, mouth hanging open as fangs glint in the light.

Pit realizes a third thing, and this one strikes him through like an arrow. 'She's going to kill them.'

He runs, alright.

Runs to put himself between them. He stretches his arms out, staring up at Viridi with steadfast purpose. "Stop!"

She does, but only to hiss at him, this time. "Ugh, get out of my way! They're literally asking for it!"

"No they aren't, they have no way of knowing any better!" He argues with a shout. If the humans can't hear her, he'll just have to loudly imply the other half of the conversation.

"KID ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Shouts one of them.

But Pit doesn't look away from the Goddess for even a second. Their voices fade into the background. It's just him, and Viridi, and even if they are opposed right at this moment, he doesn't believe she would hurt him on purpose.

He is an angel, and he protects human life.

She is the Goddess of all living things.

He knows he can get through to her, even if her anger is.....a bit justified.

She tries to move around him, but he just moves to block her again. She tries again, and so does he. They flank each other a few more times and she gets more and more visibly irritated with him as it continues. "Pit!! Cut it out!!"

"No! They didn't know that we're friends because they can't hear you! They just thought-"

He's startled by her shoving him with her snout. He stumbles but stays standing. "Stop being so loud! If I wanted them to know what we're talking about I'd be talking to them!"

"Then you're just trying to make up a reason to kill them and that's not fair either!" Pit insists, even louder.

"I'm a Goddess, Pit. This is common faire, for gods. They have shown me blatant disrespect-"

"-and that means you reveal yourself and give them a chance to repent before smiting them!" He interrupts. "I-I used to read stories about it, cuz Palutena doesn't act like that! It isn't actually divine retribution unless they know you're divine!"

She seems genuinely taken aback by that, and falters. "Whuh, Pit..."

Finally, he feels safe to let his arms down, and he does, smiling up at her. "I don't like that they shot at you either, but it isn't fair to try and hurt them when they don't even know why it was wrong!"

She hisses, but huffs, resigned. "Big goody-two-shoes, I don't know why I listen to you." She grumbles, averting her gaze from all present.

Pit smiles wide anyway, posture deflating in relief. "Th-thanks. I can owe you one if it's ok."

She does a double take in his direction but doesn't let it linger. The tip of her tail twitches.

And then she faces the hunters, looking them both in the face. One has his arm out in front of the other, both trembling.

You see something shift in Viridi's posture, too.

And then her serpentine body is engulfed in light.

Most of the long form disappears entirely, when the petals peel away. He looks up and sees her staff come into existence beside where the snake's head had been, and a hand reaches out to grasp it tight.

It lowers, and points fiercely in the humans' direction.

The light is gone, and Viridi, the real Viridi, hovers in the air between you and the hunters.

They gasp. "No, no, no that can't be-" One of them stammers, but leaves and birdsong trail behind her, hair billowing as her voice bellows. "Be silent. I am the Goddess of Nature, you are in my realm, and you have sullied it."

It was like she was a million mile tall projection in the sky again, voice compressed into the meager space of far fewer feet. The humans' hands fly to their ears.

Pit felt no pain at all.

"W-we didn't, didn't mean-" Begs the second man, but a tremble shakes the air and Viridi cuts him off.

"I said be silent." She commands. "You've put me in a foul mood, mortals, but you are in luck! Someone far kinder than you or I has earned you my mercy."

She twirls her staff in a circle, and suddenly vines and snakes come bursting from the soil, surrounding them, hissing and writhing as the humans cling to each other in fear.

"On your knees! Beg for forgiveness, and maybe I'll let you live despite  ruining  my d-"

She stops dead, a puff of flower petals raining down around her head.

Shaking her staff at them, her composure breaks. "-n-nice afternoon walk with my friend!!" She finishes, stomping her foot against empty air.

Pit's mind was racing at the implications of her verbal slip-up, but the humans fall to their knees and babble out apologies without a second's delay.

He's.....paying more attention to her than them, honestly.

She's looking anywhere but him.

She beckons them up with a sigh once she's satisfied. "Good enough. Only kill what you intend to eat, and if you hunt for trophies only I will do the same to you. I've done less to armies, et cetera et cetera." She leers down at them. "Am I clear?"

They babble out more apologies but Pit doesn't think Viridi is even paying attention anymore. "Cool. Whatever. We're going back home, Pit."

The birdsong and leaves scoop him off the ground too, abrupt and unexpected. He tumbles through the air. "W-woah?!"

With a swing of her staff the doors to her domain appear, and with another swing he is sent flying through it unceremoniously.

Pit lands ungracefully, limbs all splayed, but he manages to see Viridi sending the hunters a dirty look before the gate closes.

She leans back against it and groans.

Pit manages to sit up, and he fixes her with a....hesitantly apologetic look. "Uh....sorr-"

"Don't- apologize for that garbage." She cuts him off with a wave of her hand, her other hand dragging down her face (after banishing the staff, of course). "You're just doing your job."

....that was part of it....but despite not feeling like he could muster up any other reasoning......he doesn't feel like that was why he did it.

".....hm."

Viridi stands up straighter. "Oh yeah. Here, lemme turn the glamour off."

With a twitch of her staff (summoned again and banished right after), his mortal disguise blinks away and-

"My wings!!!" He exclaims in delight. He hops to his feet and flaps them aggressively. It doesn't accomplish much, but just the fact that he can feel their muscles working brings him no small amount of relief.

Viridi huffs out a laugh. "Yeah yeah, get your wiggles out, bird boy." She chides fondly.

And Pit's heart skips a beat, because that- that was just fond. Not almost fond, or, or maybe fond of he listened for it....

....just. Fond. Because he was doing something....weird? Weird to anyone not him?

.........he opens his mouth to comment on it, but when he happens to meet her gaze, he closes it swiftly.

She didn't like being open with her positive feelings, sometimes. If he pointed out that she....liked him, she'd deny it.

And, right at that moment? He knew hearing that denial would hurt him.

He nearly jumps three feet in the air when Palutena chimes in his head. "Welcome back, Pit! Did you have fun? We were just about to go back home."

He sees Viridi's expression sour, so he knows she heard his Goddess's words too. But when he responds......

....he doesn't feel like he's talking to his Goddess.

"....yeah, I had lots of fun down there." He admits, smiling at Viridi with as much sincerity as he can manage.

Her face lights up pink, and she swiftly turns fully around to walk away from him. "Ugh!! W-whatever, of course you did! G-go back to Skyworld, see you someti- NEVER!!! See you NEVER!!!" She stammers out, furious, as she stomps away.

He's whisked away in a pillar of light, and he goes home, thoughts racing.