Origins of Olympus S2 One-Shots

Beauty and the Tree Boi

All Bri did was mention off-hand needing some certain mushrooms for potions while mistakenly in hearing vicinity of her friend. She was planning on just going by herself or taking one of the coconuts with her. She was not planning on Sekah very enthusiastically volunteering to show her where they were. Colin was in the sea somewhere and Austin was still asleep in the volcano, neither within distance to save her, the traitors.

Without many other options, Bri agreed to his delight and surprise. They traveled to a nearby island, one bigger than theirs but already inhabited by creatures on its rocky and elevated hills. A dense forest covered near the entirety, shielding the landscape from the sun and sky.

Trekking through, Sekah pointed out the different kinds of fauna and said hi to each tree they passed. Apparently they said hi back, which Bri didn't bother to question. It was just nice to be surrounded by somewhat familiar territory. They eventually came to a wide gorge that split right through the island with a shallow river cutting the very bottom.

Sekah stopped and took a deep breath. "I found this place the other day while looking for berries with my coco. There's a small field of podzol on the other side with plenty of mushrooms."

He looped a vine around a branch strung halfway across and held a hand out to her, eyes practically sparking a bit too much. "Want some help swinging?"

"Um, I think I'm good," Bri said and spread her wings to cross the gorge. She hopped into the air and took flight easily, rolling her shoulders as she soared. A sweep of wind whipped past her and she glanced around. Sekah was swinging across right beside her, a bright smile stretching across his face.

Reaching the other side, she landed gracefully while he did a frontflip off his vine. "See that?" he smiled smugly. "Colin and Austin wish they had that-" His coco jumped off the vine and bonked on his head, successfully shutting him up and joined Bri.

"Oww, was that necessary?"

The coco nodded and Bri giggled. "I'd say so."

Sekah just grumbled and continued to lead the way through the forest. The trees opened up more as they went along, the grass's great height diminishing and more flowers bloomed on the farther side of the island.

They bypassed a small field filled with small animals that greeted Sekah happily. A family of bunnies scuried as their footsteps approached, dodging under bushes for safety. The smallest, a baby Bri guessed, poked its head out though and darted right back out. It bounced right up to Sekah and nudged his ankles, hopping through his legs and meeping for his attention.

Sekah laughed and crouched to pick it up. He cradled the bunny in his hands and turned to Bri, gesturing down with his head to it. Bri gently petted the bunny, her heart tossing as it purred under her hand.

"Wow, the animals really seem to love you," she remarked.

Red spread across his face. He laughed and looked away. "It's because of my dad," he admitted sheepishly but still managed to cough out confidence. "He's the god of creation and all living creatures. Including this little guy. Pretty big deal, you know how it is."

Bri just grinned and kept petting the bunny, getting more used to his boisterousness by now. "So what exactly are your powers, then? Besides talking to plants and raising entire islands from your brother's sea," she asked, taking the bunny into her hands. Soft fur ruffled between her fingers and ears twitched at her fingertips.

"Oh! Watch this!" He kneeled down and placed his palms on the ground, digging his fingers into the dirt. A moment passed and the faint smell of pine whiffed through the air. A couple feet in front of them, a sprout shot its way out of the grass. It climbed up, extending outwards as it quickly grew as tall as the surrounding trees. Leaves flourished out of its limbs, popping out like chorus fruit.

"I can do more than that at once, as you saw, heh. But I didn't want to disturb the other trees. Anyway, my dad taught me that you got to pay attention to the little creatures, not just the larger cute ones. Look at that," he pointed at the tree trunk.

Bri leaned down and, after letting the baby bunny run back its family, looked in between the bits of cracked bark. A stream line of black ants marched their way up the tree, a few carrying what looked like seeds on their backs. "Aren't ants harmful to trees?"

"Some of them are, but some aren't. Depends on the type of tree really. These will just use the tree for transportation, so it'll be okay." Sekah patted the tree lovingly and stood back up. He twisted his mouth around, eyebrows scrunched together in thought before his face brightened up and he kicked some dirt over the base of the tree.

A river of moss grew over the dark bark, crickling covering the tree's trunk in a thick layer of soft lichen. Bri smiled. "Once again, missing just a little thing." She snapped her fingers, and petals sprouted from various places in the moss. Specks of pink, light blue, and red mixed in with the deep green.

"So beautiful," she heard Sekah murmur and sighed.

"Sooo the mushrooms?"

"Oh, right! This way." He took her a little ways deeper to a much smaller field with podzol patches scattered around. Each patch held a different type of growing mushrooms and Bri carefully picked a few of each. She wasn't sure which one she was going to ultimately use for her project, but having a good supply of what she could would be useful for other potions.

Once she had what she wanted, they walked to the edge of the island. Sekah squinted out over the sea. "If we head this way and go around, we should get back in no time."

Bri's shoulders drooped. "I'm starting to regret complaining about whale Colin carrying us."

"I meeeean," Sekah drawed out, flinging an arm around her shoulders, "I could carry you the way back if you want- oof!"

The arm was quickly ripped from her as Sekah was thrown over the rocky cliffside and into the sea below. He plunged under the water, disappearing from view. His coco took his place next to Bri, calmly watching his demigod reemerge from the water coughing.

Sekah glared up at his coco, spitting out a spurt of water. "Ha ha, coco!" he sarcastically yelled up the cliff. He wrapped a vine around a tree trunk and swiftly pulled himself back up, landing expertly back next to Bri.

"Okay that was kind of cool," Bri admitted.

He grinned and she instantly regretted speaking out loud. "I can do it again- That was not an invitation to throw me again, coco!" The coconut stepped on his toes and stared back up at him. The two stared each other down, unblinking, while Bri backed up.

"I'll see you back at the island. Want to fly with me, coco?"

"What?!" Sekah watched incredulously as his coco nodded and let Bri pick him up, taking flight over the sea. "Tch, of course."