HANAE | the goddess & the familiar

scene three; hanae and nanami become gods, part three

"You guys were—" 

Just like last night, Furiri's mouth moved, yet no words came from her mouth. Audibly sighing, the girl rested her hands in her lap and relaxed her shoulders. The heavens forbide.  All Furiri could do was ball her hands and pray the truth will eventually set Hanae free, literally. 

"Since your shrine and powers are tied closely to the earth, you were of course professionally close to Mikage and Tomoe."

With understanding and pride in the answers she received, Hanae nodded and finished off her last biscuit. If she was to understand her past life, or remember it, in any case she needed to know the people in Hana's life. Hanae was about to stand and get to work with the linen until her eyes fell upon the girl. She hadn't even thought about asking Furiri anything about herself.

"And what about you, Furiri? What are you?"

More focused on mustering a big cloud of nectar, the girl shone her purple gaze to the goddess before she leaned back with a wide smile.

"If you can't tell, I'm a butterfly yokai. I was honourably chosen by the Hana herself to be her familiar, hence these things." She motioned to the cuffs. "If you're curious about my appearance, let me ask you this: would you rather have a giant butterfly-crossed-human walking around you twenty-four-seven? And plus, this form is easy to do work in. It's only annoying when people say I should be in school or ask where my parents are."

The corner of Hanae's lips twitched to a smile, "Can you change the way you look?"

Without another word, pink and purple clouds fell from the top of Furiri's head, covering her whole body. When Hanae fanned the luscious-smelling dust from her face, in place of a 12-year old looking girl was a woman in her mid-20s with all the characteristics. A small bun was pinned to the back of her head with a pin ornamented with a dangling butterfly charm while the rest of her pink locks cascaded across her back and shoulders. Her beige and pink kimono trailed behind her with lace and silk detailing. If Hanae looked close enough, she could see butterflies in flight and flowers across the outfit.

"Like what you see?" A deeper, yet feminine voice spoke from the woman's mouth. Hanae clasped a hand on her cheeks while Furiri posed in various positions.

"Is this how you really look?!" Hanae ogled at the woman before her. A woman she hoped to exude in presence and stature. 

The same grin child-Furiri always wore spread on adult-Furiri, "If you count my real age, then yeah, this is really me."

At the compliments she received in her adult form and drool she saw form from the teen, Furiri smiled widely as her goddess fawned over her. She would never say this to the teenage girl, but since Hana vanished 30 years ago, Mikage 20 years, and Tomoe falling back into the Land over Yonder, she hasn't had anyone to talk to. Kotetsue and Onikiri get on her nerves when they talk more than ten minutes and she couldn't relate to any kids who looked like her younger form. It was worse in her adult form with men hollering at her every two seconds and constantly being recruited to model. So finally having her goddess back, even if it wasn't the original body, after so long rejuvenated her soul.

Life as a yokai butterly was repetitive and tiring, so when Hana gave her the choice to serve her, out of thousands of other yokai vying for the position, Furiri knew the choice would be escape from the life she would life hundred-fold. It will take some getting used to, but Furiri was confident that with time, studying, and understanding, she'll have her Hana back (to a degree) and Hanae will live the life ordained over her from the heavens.

After drinks and snacks, peace finally drifted into the goddess' bones in her natural habitat: planting flowers and seeds. Hanae had just finished wiping and rearranging the rocks around her temple gardens and now focused on bringing life and colour back to her grounds. Furiri said she tried her best in keeping up the grounds, but her small body got tired and "there was too much for me to do". But Hanae made no argument. She was pleased to be surrounded by flowers, seeds, and grass. Every since she could remember, such things attracted her attention and flourished her love for things alike.