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[img]https://i.imgur.com/kNmO8zV.png[/img]
[b][color=DarkOrange]wordcount:[/color][/b]  2128 (+3)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Amaterasu: level 8[/color][/b] EXP: [color=DarkOrange]////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (27/80)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Location:[/color][/b] Fields of Gold
[sub][i]with[/i][/sub]
[color=D34C25][b]Primrose[/b] - [u]Level[/u]: [b]11[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 270/110[/color]
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Amaterasu looked rather pointedly at Harry while her true name was explained by Pit, hoping he’d get that she very much preferred it over the silly fake name he’d given her. Or snowball. Honestly Dog Mullens had been better than Snowball, at least it was just sort of nonsensical instead of incredibly ironically antithetical to her nature.

The rest of the info given out was popped away for later analysis, as was making any judgments on the others. Actions spoke louder than words and appearance, and so she’d wait to see what kind of people the rest of the Gold Team were before passing value judgment.

At least one pair quite quickly got said value judgment, however, namely the shortest members (possibly children??) who deployed a large metal machine, and promptly took up the entire road using it, the grumbling metal thing dumping vial smog out of the back of two metal pipes on its back.

She tried to put up running after the tractor shaped metal attacker (not that she knew what any of those things were) for a bit, before swiftly getting frustrated and vaulting the thing, much to the chagrin of its driver, who yelled and shook a fist at her.

She ignored him, only to then find herself being chased by the machine and forced to either get off the road or race ahead of it lest it simply run her over.

Very rude and childish.

Naturally she kept one paw step ahead of it, up until they nearly collided with the broken down cart. Amatarasu herself skidded to a halt, and then, worried that the children were simply going to ram into the back of the stuck vehicle, prepared to try and sundisk parry the incoming machine.

Fortunately, it stopped just in time, preventing an accident, after which the kids promptly abandoned their machine to go sailing on the water instead. 

As Amatarasu fumed, she heard a polite voice softly calling “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, but could you help me out? The wheel’s broken and-” after the children, only for them to ignore her and race off to meet up with the cat lady, resulting in an addition of a sad “oh. Never mind”

The source of this voice turned out to be the owner: a pointy eared woman clutching her side in clear pain as she leaned around her stuck cart and over the low stone walls flanking the road she was blocking.

She sighed, and then started as she saw the white wolf peering at her between the thin gap in between the wall and the cart’s back wheel.

“Oh. Ah. Hello? Nice doggy?” she said, clearly just a little nervous about this large predator, prompting the goddess to give her some intentional tail wags to dissuade these worries as she inspected the wheel. About a quarter of its circumference was off, and several spokes broke entirely, which would be a pain to fix. 

For mortals.

The divine wolf simply paused the world, and painted in what was missing, carefully and methodically completing the circle before adding back in the spokes, and then let time resume as her miracle came to fruition.

In a blink and a swirl of ink, the broken cartwheel was whole once more.

The amazed milkmaid placed a hand over her mouth as she gasped, before glancing around in confusion as to the source of this miracle, before turning back Amatarasu’s way and asking “was that you?”

Not to the wolf, but to the dancer who’d appeared just a moment before the miracle when the armory return sequence the kids had left on the tractor finished, sending it away and ending its own blockade of the road. 

Indeed, while some Seekers found alternate paths and wasted no time in following them, Primrose kept to the simple straightforward path. She'd been content with a steady pace, though once Pit had mentioned a breakdown ahead of them and Therion had seemingly noticed something that made him less inclined to talk with her as he'd rather remain quiet, she had given the latter some space and quickened her steps.

And now that Primrose stood before the woman and her miraculously repaired wagon, the dancer blinked at the wheel, the milk maiden, and the wolf at her feet. Pit had said the animal was a goddess, and though she hadn't totally believed him, well... She was fairly sure no one in the group had the ability to instantly fix things like that, so it had to have been one of the new recruits. And in that case, why not it be the allegedly divine canine?

[color=D34C25]"I believe that may have been our wolf here,"[/color] she said. If it hadn't been, she was sure whoever was really responsible would correct her. She did glance down at Amaterasu to see if she could tell though.

The wolf, after a moment, barked once for yes. Then she hopped up into the air, and then double jumped over the low wall and landed on a meter wide lilypad floating in the rice paddy that had not been there a moment ago.

It supported her weight without issue, as did the two others that sprung up one after the other, creating a handy path around the stuck cart wish she traipsed along and then leapt off of to get to the other side.

“Oh my” the milkmaid said, having seen all this due to still having been leaning over the wall, before stepping back just in time to let the entirely dry wolf plop down beside her. Convinced of Ammatarasu’s supernatural nature if not of any kind of divinity, she gave a short bow as she said “Thank you so much, miss wolf”

Primrose followed after Amaterasu, though she opted just to float up and slightly over the wall until she was also at the front of the cart with the wolf and woman. Her gaze slid to the latter's side where she was favoring it with a hand gently pressed to her abdomen. [color=D34C25]"You're hurt?"[/color]

She raised a hand to beckon the stranger closer. The flame of Warmth blossomed in that same outstretched hand, emitting a soothing glow as she gently pressed it over the girl's injury.

Once the healing was complete, a fairly quick process, Primrose withdrew her arm. [color=D34C25]"You're part way to getting back on the road already, so why don't we see what else needs fixing up..."[/color]

She glanced at the wolf again, as if to ask for her to inspect the wagon, its cargo, and the mule's harness with whatever power she'd previously used.

“Oh my goddesses, thank you so much! That was really smarting” the milkmaid replied, rubbing the magically healed injury as if to double check that it really was all sorted. “I hope it isn’t too much trouble to ask, but my poor mule sprained his leg too. I don’t suppose you could also...?”

Said mule was looking a tad bit nervous about the wolf, even if his owner seemed fine, and Amaterasu had backed off a bit in order to give it space, even as she padded to and fro to check that everything was in order with the cart, just as Primrose had suggested. The dancer herself approached the beast of burden once it had calmed down some, placing her hand on its shoulder to push the healing spell into it. 

[color=D34C25]"Hopefully this gets you moving again,"[/color] she said, both to the donkey and the milk maid. The statement was only half altruistic - after all, there was a fairly sizable group that needed to take the road... though to be fair, with the giant lilypads still floating on the water, a few had already gone around once they'd arrived on the scene - such as Therion, who nimbly hopped from one to the other and then vaulted the wall to continue on. 

Pit had opted to simply leap over the cart with his wings, landing lightly on the other side with only a glance back at the girl and her wagon. Since it seemed like Amaterasu and Primrose had helping out handled, he gave the two of them a wave and then sped ahead to act as a scout. 

“It will it will, thank you so much, let me just get old Grumblers back in the harness and we’ll be on our way” she replied with an appreciative nod, before setting about doing just that.

[color=D34C25]"...Amaterasu?"[/color] Primrose questioned once she was finished, carefully pronouncing it the first time as she'd done with a few of the other Seekers' names. 

The wolf’s ears perked up at her name before she glanced over and up at the helpful healer. 

If Amaterasu really was a goddess, then likening her to animals like Linde was probably blasphemous. But that was Primrose's frame of reference. Linde was such a smart creature that she could understand most human speech, and so Primrose just spoke to the wolf as she would another person.

[color=D34C25]"I trust everything else is in order?"[/color]

The goddess gave a (not very enthusiastic) bark for yes, having done some little patch jobs that weren't really noticeable, but otherwise found everything just fine.

“It is, yes. Only a little bit of spilled milk,” the milkmaid, who had assumed she was talking to her, not having really internalized that the wolf was magic. Rather than correct and potentially embarrass the poor girl, Primrose smoothly nodded to Amaterasu and then turned a small smile on the woman they'd helped in one fluid motion.

Sat atop the seat of the wagon, reins in hand, she seemed ready to go. “would you care for a ride, miss? It's the least I can do.”

[color=D34C25]"How could I refuse such a kind offer?"[/color] 

The dancer climbed aboard, taking the seat beside the maiden. Though she may have healed the girl and her mule, she had hardly done all the work... so after a glance back down at the white wolf, and some of the other Seekers nearby, she asked, [color=D34C25]"would you mind giving a lift to a few more of my group as well?"[/color]

Not enough to overload the cart, of course, considering how heavy some among the Seekers were let alone the sheer number of them... but since they and the girl were all headed the same way... well, given that she wouldn't even be able to go anywhere soon if not for the helpful passersby, the milkmaid was more than happy to extend the offer to her saviors' friends as well.

[color=D34C25]"Sakura, Juri?"[/color] Primrose called as she turned around to invite them for a ride as well. She didn't know the two of them that well, but since Nadia and Rika had gone off on the water they were the only other women in the group at the moment, and so the only two that the dancer extended the offer to. Well, besides Amaterasu, though whether the wolf preferred to walk on her own paws or hop into the back of the wagon was her choice. Of course it wasn't Primrose's cart, so if its owner didn't complain then she could hardly stop any of the men from hitching a ride if they were so inclined. 

After a moment Primrose turned back to their new acquaintance and casually inquired, [color=D34C25]"where are you headed?"[/color]

“Esaka,” she replied, flicking the reins and getting the accidental roadblock moving once more “It's a hungry city. Those fighting fanatics need their protein and our farm is happy to provide”

[color=D34C25]"How fortunate,"[/color] Primrose replied lightly. It likely wouldn't come as a surprise that anyone traveling this road would be headed to what appeared to be one of the largest cities in the area, so she didn't disguise the fact they were traveling in the same direction. 

As the two ladies talked, Amatarasu had been busy fixing the road beneath them as well, scribbling away with her ink to repair the local public infrastructure to prevent any repeat incidents, leaving the pair, and any who joined them, with a smooth off ramp and begin their journey. Only then did she join them for a ride, settling down behind the pair, curling up for a rest, though keeping one eye open, watching the road and periodically filling in potholes and other minor hazards with her brush as they traveled forwards.