It didn't take very long for Uzume to find the house, probably only about half an hour of walking. It was a small little building painted in a warm purple color. There were a few windows, but nothing very fancy. Surprisingly, it seemed to fit. The house itself just seemed to ooze this calming and lazy aura around it. That only added to the flowery meadow it was built on. It was hard to tell which part made Uzume want to take a nap more. The sun shined warmly in the clearing; a nice little oasis in the middle of a forrest.
The girl shook her thoughts free, trying to knock off the drowsy feel she was getting and looked around. In front of the house, a small girl in a blue winter coat and large blue hat sat, drawing in the dirt with a staff. Uzume waved, "Hey!" She said as she walked forward, trying to sound as nonthreatening as possible. She'd hate to have another misunderstanding again like she had with Histoire again.
The small child looked up and noticed Uzume walking up to her. She quickly held out her staff that she had been using to draw, "Stay… back..." She said in a soft voice that couldn't be threatening even if it wanted to be.
Uzume held her distance, "Okay… I'll stay right over here. I'm looking for Neptune. Histoire sent me." Now that she thought about it, Neptune was kind of a dull name. Wonder if she's opposed to Nepsy? She wondered as she returned her attention to the girl in front of her. Her dark blue eyes were wide with fear and her hands shook, even though she was holding her staff tightly.
"Histoire? Histoire doesn't let humans go. What did you do to Histoire?!" The child asked again. She stepped back again, but as she quickly looked behind her she noticed that her back was close to the wall. She was going to run out of space soon. And if that happened, Uzume didn't want to see what would happen if she felt like she was cornered.
Uzume gulped, taking a step back. Hopefully, it would be understood that she was not trying to agitate her, "I didn't do anything! Histoire's fine. We can go back and talk to her if you want." She said, trying calm the smaller one's fear. A part of Uzume wondered what would cause this girl to be so scared by her appearance.
"Hey Rom! I'm here!" A voice said as both of girls turned their heads. A lavender haired girl wearing a white hoodie with large pockets and a large zipper with a N on it ran out of the forest, "See! I'm here just like I said! So let's not tell Histy or Noire about the little delay..." She paused as she noticed the scene in front of her, "Oh, hi. Uh… what are you doing here?" She asked as she addressed Uzume.
"She hurt Histoire!" The smaller girl yelled, running past Uzume quickly and behind the other's back.
Uzume sputtered, hoping that this newcomer wouldn't become aggressive based on the the smallest one's words, "No I didn't! She told me to tell Neptune that she sent me. I'm just trying to find the Goddess so I can ask her to come back to Gamindustri! That's all!"
The lavender haired girl looked amused for a moment, before smirking. Though something about that smile made Uzume somewhat uncomfortable, "Oh. So Histy sent you huh? It's okay then, Rom. You can put down the staff."
"Thank you," Uzume sighed as Rom reluctantly followed who must have been Neptune's decision. However, her unease was still there.
"So, uh… what's your name?" Neptune(?) asked. She walked forward to Uzume, sporting that smile that the red haired girl was trying to figure out whether or not meant that she was in trouble.
"Uzume?" Uzume said, gulping under the lavender haired girl's look. Her purple eyes seemed to stare right into her soul.
She chuckled to herself, "Uzume. Well, Uzume… if Histy really sent you, then you must know the password." Her smirk widened into a smile. Uzume felt as if something was crawling up her back.
"Pass… word?" Uzume raised an eyebrow. Which she immediately dropped once she realized the situation she was in, "Oh right. Of course… The password… um… I think she said something about a free pass on that one. Special rush case." She lied, trying to not aggravate Neptune(?). Surprisingly, she could actually feel fear beginning to overtake her. What was with this girl?
The lavendar haired girl shook her head, "No password huh? I don't like it when people lie to me, Uzume. You know what happens to people who lie to me right?" She walked closer to her. Uzume had never been scared of anyone shorter than her in her life until now. Some reason she started envisioning the girl as shark circling around some prey.
"Uh… I guess you killed them?" Uzume responded, not adjusting well to the sudden tone shift the girl was causing.
"No silly, they become liars. But liars and bad people...," The girl smirked. Uzume could've sworn her eyes changed color from their purple to a blue. The power buttons that were in her eyes made Uzume freeze in her place, "... tend to get nep'd."
Uzume gulped. She didn't know what getting nep'd was an euphemism for, but she guessed that she didn't want to find out. Something inside her told her to grab the Dream Megaphone, but her brain was no longer communicating to her arms and hands. Instead, it was trying to tell her legs to run but even they weren't listening to her!
One moment.
Another moment.
More moments.
The girl snorted, her eyes going back to normal, "Ah man! You should've seen your face!" She cried as she fell to the ground and started to roll around on the soft grass underneath her.
The red haired girl blinked as she realized what had happened.
A joke… this girl nearly put her heart in cardiac arrest for a joke? That totally wasn't cool at all! Uzume felt her face heat up, "You..."
The girl stopped laughing after a while and got up from the ground. She extended her hand, "Sorry about that. I just couldn't help myself. My name's Neptune. And that little bundle of adorable over there is Rom." She said as she walked over to the brunette. Despite not being aggressive anymore, the girl still seemed to trying to hide behind Neptune.
The lavender haired girl didn't attempt to move Rom so Uzume merely guessed that this was normal for her, "So, Histy told you to pay little ol' me a visit? I guess you're trying to talk to the Goddess. That's the only reason Histy wouldn't have blasted ya. She's like a cute little sentry unit. Though don't tell her I said that. She's got a small size complex." She smiled. This time, it seemed to be genuine happy one and not something that made Uzume want to hide and hug a pillow.
"Uh yeah..." How did that girl go from threatening to not in under five seconds? Uzume shook her head, clearing her head, "Do you know where she is? It's really important I talk to her."
Neptune nodded, "It's not like there's that many people here." She said, though she had gone quiet for a few moments, "Anyway, yeah. The Goddess will be up ahead. If you just got straight from here, you shouldn't be able to miss her. The writer gave her the nicest freaking house in all of Celestia; it's a palace for nep's sakes."
"Alright. Thanks for your help Neptune," Uzume said, ignoring her last quip. She put on a half grin, "Uh, strange question but do you mind if I call ya, Nepsy?" She asked. For some reason, it just felt completely wrong to call her Neptune. Almost as if there was some force that compelled her to call her by this new nickname.
Nepsy looked completely stunned, "Even in a fanfiction, I can't catch a break. And you had just said my name too." She sighed to herself, accepting her apparent defeat, "Well, at least it's still cute. Sure, Nepsy is fine." She said smiling.
Uzume nodded. She glanced to the side of Nepsy at Rom. The girl had been quiet the entire time, but she seemed to be staring hard at her. Uzume decided against talking to her and gave her attention back to Nepsy, "Well, bye. Thanks for your help once again." She said as she prepared to leave.
"Wait!" Nepsy yelled, as if suddenly remembering something. She looked at Rom quickly before turning her attention back to Uzume, "Um… maybe we should come with you. I almost forgot who's in the middle of the path to get to the Goddess and she really doesn't like humans. She'd probably nep ya up into pieces if you tried to talk to her. So we can take a different route there if you want. It's a bit longer, but I'd rather avoid confronting her if possible."
Rom didn't look happy about this arrangement. She was still clinging to Nepsy, but now was supporting more of a betrayed look as she stared at the lavender haired girl. Neptune gave her an apologetic glance. The red haired girl had a feeling Nepsy had just done something rather inconsiderate. She also had a pretty strong hunch that Rom didn't want to go anywhere with her.
The red haired girl shook her head, "Thanks, but it's cool. It's just down this path right?" She asked. She wasn't sure how she was going to get around this person Nepsy was alluding to, but she'd figure something out if the situation came up. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to either her or Rom to stick them both together for her own trip.
However as she moved, someone else did.
"No. I… I won't let you," Rom said. She had left her safety bubble behind Nepsy and moved in front of Uzume, holding her staff. Her hands were still trembling and her eyes were still wide. But there was something different about them. They seemed to show an internal war; something else was clashing with her fear and that was the force that had moved her in front of her.
Nepsy walked forward, "Rom, it's okay. Uzume's a nice human. She definitely wouldn't have gotten past Histy if she wasn't." However, one look from Rom told the hoodie wearing girl that she wasn't moving an inch from her spot, "Rom..." She glanced at Uzume for a moment before sighing.
Nepsy stepped back.
Uzume turned back to Rom. Whatever was going on between the two wasn't her concern. She was going to have to be her own mediator if she wanted to get out of this, "Look I don't want to fight you. And I don't want to hurt you or your friend or anyone else here. I just want to talk to the Goddess." Uzume explained, trying to keep her voice soft and not startle her. Honestly, the girl didn't even look like she wanted to fight. What the hell had caused her to go on the attack again?
She had her eyes squeezed shut. Rom shook her head, opening them once again to show conflicted blue irises, "I won't… let you pass. I'll… I'll be a good CPU and stop you!"