[Mari]

Arle's eyes fluttered open as she was deposited inside the lunar sanctum, possibly the first human to walk upon it in ... forever? Maybe? She immediately took back her normal form, as her valkyrie form required concentration to maintain and she didn't feel the need to stress herself out by maintaining it any longer. Just... normal Arle!

"Phew..."

It had been... one hell of a day. In fact, she was pretty sure hell and it's endless seas of fire and demons couldn't be that much worse than what she had already experienced. ...Right? I mean she knew what fire felt like and probably preferred it to being eaten. Regardless, Arle began to start shivering again. That prickly pins and needle sensation had never quite left her from earlier, though she didn't think it was getting worse either. ...Maybe. It was hard to tell. She felt cold, was the point. Very cold, even though it probably wasn't that cold inside the facility. Arle hugged herself for warmth, wrapping her cape around her. Yet, to her dismay this proved innefective.

Deciding she had to find a blanket or... something, Arle began looking around for a sign of Viridi. She had a feeling Viridi would either come to get her personally or would speak to her in her head, as she recalled being told not to snoop around too much in here. Thus, she refrained from wandering off.

...For now.

[Coolshaymin]

Viridi walked through the Lunar Sanctum as she made to go to where she dropped Arle off. Honestly, she was still not entirely sure about what that Gengar did. Arle seemed to still be capable of movement however so maybe she was fine... for now. Though the amount of things she went through in that temple was a bit unexpected. Despite the fact she was human, Viridi could not help but feel bad for her.

... She decided to ignore that for now as she entered the area Arle was in... Assuming she has not left it which it did not seem like as she entered. "Okay, Arle, I will take you to the resting area I had Arlon set up. Just follow me and do not wander off... So, how are you feeling after the mission?" Viridi asked. She already knew the general gist of the answer but she felt like showing some concern... Just had to ignore the fact Arle was human.

[Mari]

Arle seemed a tad distressed, but she brightened up a bit at the sight of Viridi. "I'm..." Arle began, seeming to space out for a moment. The haunted look in her eyes peered past Viridi at an unseen enemy. Arle seemed to hold her breath for a moment, a very troubled look coming over her as she focused back in on reality. She lowered her gaze in a guilty manner. "C-Cold. It feels like it's freezing in here." Arle replied, neglecting to talk about all the terrifying things that were clearly very much on her mind. It seemed difficult for her to talk about for some reason. Perhaps it was emotionally painful for her, or perhaps she was ashamed of her performance. For one reason or another, when Arle attempted to address what had happened to her she just froze up like a deer in headlights. One thing was for sure, she was deeply disturbed by her experiences.

"I can't... warm up!" Arle continued softly, hugging her cape more tightly around her. It was a hopeless endeavor, as she was fighting the symptom of the problem instead of the cause. Regardless, Arle moved towards Viridi to follow her like a lost puppy. She for one had no interest in wandering off in her current state. "How about you..?" Arle wound up asking. It was a rather odd question, given the recent turn of events, but Arle felt the need to subtly remind Viridi that she cared.

[Coolshaymin]

Viridi looked back as Arle paused as she was about to answer Viridi's question. Yeah, she was definitely in no position to talk about it at the moment. The fact she was constantly cold right now though was a bit bothersome... She had to see if she could figure out something to do about that...

Maybe Palutena had some idea to fix it?... Well, she did not really want to bring up the fact that she had a human in her ranks... and asking for a cure for a dog would probably not aide much. Besides, she was doubtful she would really help much... and there was no way she was going to ask Hades. He would be even worst with the situation than Palutena would be... Even if he might know more... But she expected a troll would be more likely to make it a wasted effort.

Viridi let out a soft sigh as she was not sure why she was so concerned. She was just a human soldier she decided to make use out of... "I am fine... But that is why I am not the one that matters right now. You need the concern right now!" Viridi stated as she led Arle through the Sanctum... Making some detours along the way. Obviously there were things she was avoiding walking into. She did not bring up the temperature since she really did not want to bring up more on the Gengar thing than needed.

[Mari]

Arle smiled weakly as Viridi deflected her concern. That had been... sweet. She smiled weakly at Viridi before burying the lower half of her face in her cape, desperately trying to keep warm. It did nothing, however, as to Arle her cape felt as cold as she did. The girl shuddered violently, stumbling for a moment. However, she seemed to regain a sense of control over herself and dropped her cape back to its normal position at her back. "Hey Viridi?" Arle went on to ask, ignoring her discomfort for the moment. She looked up at the other and smiled sheepishly. "Th-Thanks for all the support. Back there. I don't think I could've done it without your encouragement." Arle said, her eyes becoming unfocused as she followed along. Frankly, even if she hadn't become food she probably would have quit after the second or third time getting eaten. Probably the second. That Yoshi was particularly horrible to her.

"I hope I didn't... stink too much out there. I felt like I really botched that mission, even if we wound up completing it by the end." Arle went on to explain. She seemed to feel very guilty over her incompetence, even though she'd managed to pull through for Viridi. She didn't evne blame Viridi, despite it being the other's idea. "I--...I was kinda expecting myself to be stronger." Arle would go on, sounding a tad defeated in tone.

[Coolshaymin]

Viridi did not really check behind her as she knew Arle probably stumbled or something from the events. She did not want to waste a resource like Arle so quickly. She was not exactly recycable like most of her minions tended to be with their natural resources. She did decide just to take an over the shoulder glance to check... And she fortunately seemed a bit better for the moment... Though she was not sure how long that would last...

Then Arle thanked her for her encouragement she gave her during that mission. She then went on to belittle herself because of what happened in that temple. "Don't worry about it. Providing you support is kind of a necessity no matter the form. I know the human mind can be pretty fragile. I simply did what I needed to to make sure my new private stayed functional," Viridi said in response to Arle's thanks. That was not all there was to why she did it... But she decided to keep the other reasons secret for now.

"And what did I say about belittling yourself not fitting you? Seriously, you did not do as poorly as you are making yourself believe. Sure, there was a lot of... bumps on the road... But you managed to fight through it! I highly doubt a human could go through all that and still stay have a shred of sanity. As I said, the human mind can be pretty fragile. The fact you survived that and still functional shows your strength. And you finished what you were supposed to do despite all that! I can honestly say I am impressed," Viridi reassured as she lead Arle further through the halls. She knew the location was coming up soon.

[Mari]

Arle found herself frankly shocked as, instead of reacting as a boss or some other distant authority figure would, Viridi actually ...empathized with her. She understood Arle's feelings without needing to be told. This wasn't just some small issue either, but a massive truamatic experience. Arle could feel her cheeks flush slightly in disbelief. Not only had Viridi acknowledged Arle's resilience in the face of those horrifying experiences, but she had actually praised her for going above and beyond what she expected her to be capable of! Arle's heart went aflutter and for a moment she thought she felt a surge of warmth pass through her. No, wait--there it was again. Arle felt a moment of relief as the power of love gave her soul the strength it needed to offset it's damage, at least for now. What were these feelings?! ...Arle placed a hand upon her breastplate, torn apart by the question of the legitimacy of her emotions. A particular question echoed in her mind, becoming more and more loud with each passing day.

And then she realized. Viridi's kindness made her want to open up to the other. If Viridi understood her other feelings, maybe she'd understand these. ...But would she appreciate Arle's feelings? That remained a bigger question. Maybe she was just like Arle, preferring to keep a respectful distance from people. Why wouldn't she be just like Arle? Arle was the only person Arle knew well enough to compare her to!


Arle giggled in an off sounding way, running a hand through her hair as they walked. "I think I went a little crazy there for a moment, but I guess you're right. I'm not all lost yet~" Arle remarked in a light-hearted tone. She was, of course, referring to the period of time in which she'd taken comfort from being trapped inside an egg. That was some weird stuff. She still wasn't entirely sure what to make of those emotions. Clearly they indicated something was wrong somewhere in her life, but she lacked the clarity to pinpoint the issue. "You really, um--You really read me well, Viridi. I guess it helps to be a super amazing goddess." Arle went on remark, intentionally cheesing her praise in a self-deprecating way. Arle began to fidget as they approached the room. "Y'know... I've been trying to warm myself up since I got licked and nothing has worked, but listening to you right now--It kind of worked? A bit." Arle went on to explain in a sheepish tone, attempting to gauge Viridi's reaction to the idea that her feelings somehow had healing powers.

[Coolshaymin]

It would seem Viridi has once again managed to cheer Arle up. She was not used to having this kind of effect on a person... but it felt kind of nice to have someone look at her as a way to fix issues... Though she was beginning to really doubt she could deny Arle at this point if she showed her feelings... That would probably hurt her quite a bit after everything that has happened thus far... Why was she feeling so much concern for a human's mind anyway? Humans were unforgivable creatures that fully deserved being wiped out for their destruction and disrespect towards nature... Would probably be easier for her to accept taking it so easy on Arle if she was not human...

She got taken by surprise at Arle's confession of her words seeming to heal the Gengar's after effects. "What?! How is that even possible?!" Viridi expressed in complete shock at Arle's claim. She often refused to believe emotions having power was something ridiculous but her love healed her soul?!... That would make it even harder should deny her flat out if she confessed feelings...

"... Glad to help you recover anyway, I suppose..." Viridi stated. "How can her love be that strong?" Viridi muttered under her breath. She was trying to conceal the question she asked herself so Arle did not hear... Though she would easily hear it if she paid enough attention.

"Anyway, here is the room me and Arlon set up for you," Viridi started as she opened a door. The door lead to a golden room with a basic bed with a blue blanket, sheets and pillow, probably made out of environmently safe materials... There were also a bookcase, mirror, and a few other pieces to make it feel more homelier.

[Mari]

Arle seemed slightly taken aback by Viridi's shock. Surely all magical girls had to know of the power of love--right? ...Arle squirmed slightly as she debated her feelings, debated the urge to tell Viridi how she felt that is. It was risky, but perhaps there was a way she could just... talk to the other. Without it being weird! ...No what was she saying? Love was always weird. Especially when Viridi was... a beautiful goddess and she was just... a very beautiful human. Huff.

Arle folded her arms in front of her, only to overhear something that sounded a lot like Viridi discussing love under her breath. Arle didn't know what to say to that, though, so she remained quiet for the moment being until they got to the room Viridi had set up for her. When Arle entered the room, she shivered gently. She wasn't entirely recovered, it seemed. "It looks really nice! I guess I should thank Arlon if I ever meet him." Arle mused aloud, though her mind was somewhat elsewhere. She now had a smile on her face. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she didn't know why but she was excited to have finally summoned the guts to speak of her feelings without forgetting to breathe and hitting the floor. She turned to address Viridi face to face. Arle asked, beaming at the other invitingly.

"Hey, Viridi? We're friends, right..? ...Is it okay if I talk to you about 'personal' stuff?"

The way Arle asked the question seemed to imply that the word personal might be a bit of an understament. For starters, she had asked if they were friends. That alone implied she felt like whatever she was about to talk to Viridi about would be testing previously established boundaries. Second, there was an odd inflection when she said personal. If one were perceptive, or just plain paranoid, they might surmise that there was some implication of intimacy in Arle's mind.

[Coolshaymin]

Viridi noticed the vibrating of Arle's body again. Okay, so love is not really that powerful... Still, it definitely had some kind of effect on her. She had to look into this love magic thing sometime. It did not really make complete sense to her.

Viridi paused her train of thought however when Arle asked her a question. Did she recogonize her emotion and was going to finally ask about it? It was kind of unexpected and Viridi was not sure if she was paticularly ready to handle that possibility yet... Still, she could not really find an excuse to back out of it... Or had she really fallen to loving a human?... She was going to have to think of a way around this if that was true...

"I suppose calling us friends can be accurate. We are not really enemies and I think ally is too vague. Looking at it that way friend seems an appropriate term. In that respect I guess saying something personal is something you may do," Viridi stated. She was not really entirely comfortable calling a human a friend... Which may cause issues if this goes in the direction she is thinking.

[Mari]

Arle lolled her head to one side at Viridi as the other dodged the hell out of that question. Why was she doing that..? It was ominous and it spooked Arle a little. Was Viridi trying to suggest that she resented their friendship, somehow? Arle considered this but shook the idea off. Maybe Viridi would hurt her, emotionally or otherwise, but she wasn't going to worry about that right now. If it happened, it was inevitable. If it didn't, well, that was great! She was totally ready to see where this went, though.

"What's it like being a goddess..? Like, it's hard for me to imagine. You look a lot like me--or us--but you're so much more than that. Is life a lot different through your eyes..?"

The question might seem to come out of nowhere, but Arle seemed genuinely very curious. She had her reasons for asking, and the question seemed somehow important to her. But why?

[Coolshaymin]

The question about the differences between Goddesses and mortals was kind of out of left field. She did not understand where Arle could possibly be going with this... Still, this was an easier question to answer than the one she was expecting and the one about love. She might be a little grateful it did not go in another direction at least.

"Mortals and Deities are not that different if you come down to it I guess. We play games too and we have our hobbies as well. Our main differences is we have a lot more responsibility over things than you do. Like Palutena has to protect the humans on a regular basis from things. I have already told you my area of responsibility is in nature. To fulfill this we usually have our own domains we use as a form of home or base to perform or order our responsibilities," Viridi began to explain.

"But SOME gods tend to abuse their power!" Viridi went on to annoyance. She was of course referring mostly to Hades because of his misuse of souls. It was a major misuse of what he has authority over and annoyed Viridi. Sure, she could be seen in a similar light but she did not see it that way. Viridi tended to think her actions are a bit more justified than others performing similar deeds.

Viridi took a deep breath before continuing. It is a good thing she had the liberty to do that since this is one of the few areas they managed to board off the Starvia. "Anyway, we also tend to live a lot longer. Outside that though I guess we have some common traits like emotions, personality, a mind, a sense of boredom, a sense of fun, a sense of humor and all that," Viridi finished.

[Mari]

It was pretty fascinating, listening to Viridi speak. And everything she said sounded so positive! Arle had, of course, asked for a reason. She had to know if she could even compare herself to a goddess like Viridi, if she was anything more than an ant for Viridi to play with, before she even dares to confess any feelings to her. How could she confess love for someone she couldn't even comprehend? Thankfully though, Viridi's answer was shockingly and overwhelmingly human. She got the whole responsibility part, and the whole great goddess powers part, but other than that... Then, came the issue of aging. Well, she guessed not everything could be perfect. Why would a goddess ever want to date someone like her, who would grow old and wrinkly without her? Who would die and leave her alone? It seemed like a pretty good reason not to get involved in a relationship to Arle, which only served to dissuade her from opening her heart. "Oh... I guess that makes sense." Arle replied.


The mage began to move and set some of her stuff down, including a solitary super bell, a homemade flute that looked like it was made out of a tree branch, a grimoire emblazoned with a magical symbol on it's cover, and what appeared to be a toy elephant, on the bed Viridi and Arlon had arranged for her. "I guess it was just surprising for me to realize that something as incredible as a goddess could be so similar to someone as... normal as me." Arle replied, shrugging gently. She turned back to Viridi and spread her arms, posing goofily. "So, um--How bad do I look..? Not too bad for someone who went gut spelunking all day, huh?" Arle asked in a light-hearted tone. It didn't seem like she was fishing for compliments, judging by the way she casually made fun of the crippling trauma she'd no doubt received. Frankly, Arle didn't look too bad. She certainly wasn't looking her best, but for someone who had been exposed to half a dozen environments that could vaguely be described as 'acidic', she was looking pretty healthy! Her hair had probably suffered the worst from it all, dried out and damaged from all the acidic saliva it had had to endure. Her skin had fared better in that regard, with only the slightest of irritation here and there.


Arle's humor did not last long, understandably. "I-In all seriousness, I hope there's a bathroom with plenty of water to spare here, because I-I feel incredibly violated." Arle would go on to admit, hanging her head in a rather lame manner. Perhaps she could talk about fuzzy feelings after she took like eight long showers. Y'know. Because maybe it wasn't the best time to ask someone out if you were covered in egg and drool.

[Coolshaymin]

Viridi was confused when Arle still did not say anything about her feelings. She was almost certain that was where she was going with her questions. Did it have to do with one of the things she said in her explanation. Viridi pondered this as she watched Arle place her stuff in the room...

And one of them caught her eyes specificly. That being the Super Bell that laid down on the floor. The bell gave Viridi an idea to make this a bit easier. "You do look pretty good all things considered," Viridi answered Arle before responding to the question of a bath. "Yeah, you probably need one. We made a bathroom for you across the hall. We should still have enough... But I want you to do me a favor," Viridi stated.

"See that Super Bell? I want you to use that before coming back to me," Viridi said as she pointed at the bell on the floor. Using that will probably make this a lot easier on Viridi. "After you use that item we can continue the conversation. I will be waiting here," Viridi ordered as she sat on the bed.

[Mari]

Arle beamed as Viridi complimented her, glowing from the praise. A giggle escaped her. "You're sweet." she replied light-heartedly. "But I guess if I'm pretty now, I'll look amazing once I clean myself up~!" Arle went on to remark, striking an enthusiastic pose. Arle definitely didn't feel pretty at the moment, and so Viridi's compliment had meant a lot to her. Viridi was so good to her! It reminded her of why she'd chosen to offer her service. One thing was for sure, she wasn't about to wait around in her unmentionables any longer. Suddenly however, Viridi surprised Arle by asking her a favor.


"Oh, alright!" Arle replied, lolling her head slightly in confusion. Now why would Viridi ask her to do something like that..? It was a confusing question, but Arle wasn't about to turn Viridi down. She moved to take the super bell with her, hesitating a moment before taking her golden egg out of it's harness and tiredly lowering the rather heavy egg down onto the bed. "Whew... carrying this around all day is pretty hard!" she remarked light-heartedly, though in all honesty it was back breaking labour for someone of Arle's size and strength. "You'll be here to watch over it while I'm gone, right..?" Arle asked, a tad concerned. It seemed like she was taking raising the egg very seriously.

---

Arle would leave the room with the superbell in hand, making her way over to the mentioned bathroom and quickly ducking inside. It was time to wash away her sins all of the filthy, horrifying memories of her day. How wonderful!

...One very, very long and thorough shower scene later...

---

Arle was busy drying her hair when she remembered the superbell. She'd left it sitting nearby for when she got out of the shower. Once she was fully dried off and her hair tamed, Arle went ahead and used the superbell on herself...

"Nya!"

...To find that it generated a cat themed pajama suit over her body! She blinked, looking herself over. Ooooh! Oh. That explained a lot. It was clothes! ...So why was she in the mood for tuna all of a sudden? Regardless, it suddenly made sense why Viridi had asked her. She needed clothes, and now she had them! Clearly Viridi was just trying to save her some embarassment. Arle made her way back to the room in her new outfit, stepping into the room and striking a catty pose for Viridi by pretending to paw at the air. whilst arching her back forward to emphasize her hips and newfound tail. "Meow~! I feel much better." Arle remarked, beaming at Viridi. She had no idea why she had just meowed, but it came so naturally to her that she didn't question it.