"TODAY IS THE DAY WE CHALLENGE A GOD!!!" Merry put one foot on the table and exclaimed that out loud. Yesterday, before we went to sleep, we decided we'd do a rotation of leadership thing where each day, one of us would dictate what the group would be doing.

"Merry… I'm in the middle of eating my fucking sandwich!"

"Oh, apologies." Merry sat down and started speaking in a more calm tone. "Today is the day we challenge a god."

"Challenge a god, huh? Whose bright idea was it to let the potentially a megalomaniac demon summoner be our first leader?"

"I believe it was yours, Lina."

"Shut the fuck up, Myka."

"I think it was yours, sister."

"Oh… that was stupid of me, then."

"I've met a couple of gods. They're not that bad. Also, one of the Shadow Clones seduced a goddess. I think it was the light one."

"Wait, was that the woman who nearly blinded us that one time when she came to visit with that shadow clone?"

"Indeed. She was very blinding."

"You're wearing a blindfold. How the fuck do you know she was blinding?!"

"Nyaa~"

"That is a good point, Mimi. Pray tell, Merry, how do you plan to have us challenge a god?"

"Easy. You see that blue-haired woman with the fox ears over there, drinking some tea on the outdoor tables? That's Vulpia, the goddess of rain."

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it, but right now, we're sitting around the super duper special table Mel and I got from way back at the beginning of our whole thing. We've set up the table in the middle of the street in… I think this town was called Dalia, and this street is filled to the brim with restaurants, bars, and all those other places that sell food, like hardware stores. 

We're still in Sacre Pla, but we should be out of it in a few days time. As for which country we're going to next, we're planning to go to Bellum. It's where Merry's family is, and also, according to Lina, where we could go watch Merida's burning, which keeps getting delayed because we're not there.

"Thanks for the exposition, Maddy."

"Very cool."

"Who the hell said you could speak up?!"

"Nyaa~"

"Anyways, let us approach the goddess! She shall learn to fear the name of Merry Deimos the Summoner!"

"Aye aye, lieutenant!"

"I want to finish my sandwich. Don't misbehave, Madeleine."

"I'm gonna just hang back and watch. Also, considering her current state, someone needs to take care of Mimi."

"Nyaa~"

"I shall also be staying. It would be no fun without Lina."

"Aww… I'm touched."

"I can't mock you and your stupid haircut if you don't go."

"Well, fuck you too." And so Merry and I walked over to the goddess, casually sipping her tea.

"Okay, I would like to take the initiative, Madeleine, so please refrain from… Madeleine?!"

"Hello there, fellow tea lover! It is I, Madeleine the Tea Maid!"

The goddess let out a little giggle. "Charming. I'm Vulpia, owner of this cafe. There's no customer right now, so I decided to have a little break. Are you here as a customer, or did you want to have a little chat with me?"

"I was told to challenge a god, which is why I approached you!"

"Haha… how honest. Pray tell, who told you such an obvious lie? There is no way I'm a goddess."

"She did!" I pointed at Merry, who finally caught up to me.

"How do you move so fast?"

"Maid School."

"I forget how ridiculous graduates from that institute are."

"Ah, the Summoner. That explains it." The goddess tapped one finger on the table, creating a cloud above, creating a barrier of rain around us. "Let me reintroduce myself, then. My name is Vulpia, the goddess of rain. What brings you to me, Summoner?"

"I challenge you!"

"To what?"

"A staring contest!"

"Yes, a staring conte- no, not that Madeleine!"

"I accept."

"What do you mean you accept?! That's… it was a mistake bringing Madeleine."

"It's never a mistake when I'm around!"

"I find Madeleine very fun. Is she a servant you hired whilst on your journey, Summoner?"

"What? No. As far as I can tell, Madeleine is masterless… unless you count her girlfriend her master. Is Mel your master?"

"Delirium is my master, chaos my cause."

"Haha, she sure has a personality." The goddess let out a hearty chuckle. "So, who shall be my opponent in the staring contest?"

"Since it's clear this whole thing has been completely derailed by the insanity of my companion here, she shall be the one who takes you on."

"I have stared into the empty eye sockets of death, I have stared into the eyes of the keeper of gravity, I have stared into your mother's eyes!"

"So Croen and Gravitas… those two have talked about a peculiar maid before, although I doubt that the last claim is true. The only one I consider to be my mother is the Creator, as the gods were born through her magic."

"We could get one leg up on the gods… can I tell her about the revelation we had yesterday, Madeleine?"

"What revelation? The one about the end of the world?"

"Not that kind of revelation! I mean the one about your parenthood."

"Yeah, sure. Doesn't really matter."

"Ah, but it does, for it allows us to brag!"

"Brag? Brag about what?"

"Madeleine here is the daughter of the Creator!"

The goddess looked at me, eyeing me from head to toe as if she were analysing to see if that claim was true. "So it seems… Madeleine… I shall keep that name in memory. Now, will we have the staring contest?"

"We sure will."

"I am disappointed by the reaction to such shocking news. Madeleine, I am returning to the rest of the group. I grow bored of this farce of a challenge."

"Have fun!" And so I started having eye contact with Vulpia, who seemed eager to have a staring contest.

Cool screen, Side Note. Ignored. Back to the staring.

"By the way, I am curious, but who is your mother? I ask this under the assumption that the Creator utilised one of her more… vulgar spells."

"My mom is… umm… Moira, or something like that?"

"Moira Vusser?"

"That sounds right."

"Haha… would you look at the time? It says I have to start a rain somewhere else. Toodaloo!" The goddess tapped her finger, creating a rain cloud covering her and then disappearing alongside the rain cloud that was creating a barrier around us. Huh… I guess I won't know who would win that staring contest.

Character profile: Vulpia

Sacred power: Rain

Reason for fox ears: "Why not?"

Description: The goddess of rain. Vulpia is one of the lower-ranked gods due to her domain technically also being under the goddess of water. The only reason she is a god and not a spirit, like many beings who have control over a domain that falls under the domain of an already established god, is because of the Creator's fondness for rain. The other gods are somewhat envious of the Creator's bias towards Vulpia, and as such, she spends more of her time descended in Mendass rather than the Divinerealm, where the gods reside. On Mendass, she owns a cafe called 'The Raindrop'. She spends her days listening in on the many conversations her customers have.

Chapter namesake: Precipitation by Chris Christodoulou for Risk of Rain

pojlk

I forgot to mention it, but a few days ago, I got a new laptop, so that means I can go back to working on the side story thing I promised... or at least I would if I remembered what the plot of the side story was. I'll get it done at some point. I just won't tell you when it'll be released, assuming it even gets released. Sorry to those who wanted to read it.