Stephanie
*Curious, Ica listened to the singing that came from the higher branches. He couldn't sense any of his siblings nearby... The voice had to be a mortal's, then. Despite the simplicity of the song, it would not have surprised him to find it was a deity, singing their heart out on these walkways. Ica had met plenty of gods that enjoyed these simple pleasures.*

*When the mortal came into view, Ica stopped to look. She clearly had not seen him yet, cheerfully continuing to roam the World Tree's branches. She was not of any species he had seen before, he noticed. He wondered which of his divine siblings had created her. Although, he realized, he had been left to sleep for a long time. It was very much possible for this child to have been made by a sibling he had not had the opportunity to meet yet.*

*Oh, but he could simply ask her, could he not? Honestly, he had almost forgotten that mortals- at least, many of them- could be interacted with. Ica wondered whether part of him was still asleep. With all of these minor, superficial things he was seeming to forget, it was a miracle he had not killed any mortals yet without realizing.*

*He shook his head. It was best to hurry, before the mortal girl left his sight.*

*A slight hum came out of Ica's throat, as the branch he had been treading shifted and connected to a branch right in front of the mortal. Taking the opportunity, he stepped on the newly formed walkway, following it to emerge near the girl's position.*

**"Hello there, child,"** *He greeted her.* **"I would be careful here, if I were you. It's... Inadvisable for a mortal to fall down from this height."**

*Of course, she had wings, so she should be fine. Probably.*
Richard
The sudden appearance of the god surprised her, causing her to yelp and trip over her own feet. "GOLDEN DELIGHT!" In an almost comical matter, she tipped off the branch that she had been on at the moment, falling straight down towards the void. Fortunately for her, she did have wings, which began to beat faster to stop her descent. After taking a moment to regain her bearings, she righted herself so that she wasn't flying upside down and put her fists on her hips. "Hey, what gives?!" She huffed as her wings carried her back up to hover above the branch that she'd been on.

Despite the fact that the little fairy was face to face with a god that could smite her in an instant, she showed no fear, having the audacity to put a hand on her chest. "You nearly scared the Granny Smith out of me." She shook her head before finally turning her attention to what he had said. She would have responded, but given that she was already hovering in the air, she doubted that there was a much better reply that she could give to that little piece of advice than by flying. Oh well, she supposed that it had probably been a good faith attempt to help her, since her mom had told her that a bunch of mortals couldn't fly and he might not have seen her wings. She *Supposed* She could forgive him.

It was only then, though, that it occurred to her to ask. "Wait, who're you?" She squinted at him. "Are you one of mom's goddy brothers?" He did kind of give off that vibe with her, some super icey stuff. Then again, she hadn't actually met a god before besides her mom, so maybe she had it all wrong. Either way, though, she figured that it would turn out well. Either he was really a god and she was right or he was mistaken for a god and he was flattered for it. She puffed out her chest, proud at this revelation. Given that she'd not given voice to her thought process, though, it would be a little weird for her to do so, since it looked like she had just puffed out her chest in pride for nothing.
Stephanie
*Ica's eyebrow raised as he watched the mortal stumble about. Luckily for the girl, her wings were indeed enough to keep her from falling down towards her death. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, letting her ramble out anything she wanted to. At her last question, he let out a small laugh. The phrasing was amusing, but Ica had to admit, she was observant enough to tell what he was.*

**"Oh, I suppose I am one of your mother's "Goddy brothers","** *He said.* **"Although, I'm not sure who your mother is. You see, I... Have not been the most active as of late. There are many of my siblings who I simply haven't met."**

*Then, he hummed. He should introduce himself now, right? Oh, how he had forgotten even the simplest things in his slumber.* **"By the way, I am Ica. God of Winter, Ice and Snow."**

*Internally, he smiled at the mortal's strange behaviour. Ica had met multiple odd gods, but he had not seen many mortals like this one yet. He supposed the girl's creator might be similar to her daughter. Ica himself had made many of his mortals, especially his Knights, in his own image. It would not surprise him to hear of other deities doing the same.*
Richard
She stuck out her tongue. "Bleh. That stuff makes it really hard to grow crops, you know?" Of course, she knew her mom would probably spout something about how *Winter made it good to weed out the weak crops*, but she had never understood that kind of thing. As a creature that had been created with the purpose of helping crops to grow, and whose magic ensured that any crops grown were of the highest quallity, she had trouble truly comprehending what her mom meant when she talked about that. Of course, her magic was stronger than a nonmagical winter when it came to crops, but that didn't mean that it didn't make her job more annoying to do.

When the god mentioned that he didn't know who her mom was, she puffed out her chest proudly once more. Following what she had done earlier, she placed an open palm on her chest. "My mom's Triticea, the goddess of the harvest!" It was a deity that Ica had met before briefly, during the ritual that created the Seasons, but the two hadn't interacted too much. Even so, the bombastic attitude that the little apple fairy had seemed pretty different from the quiet goddess that had been present at the ritual. It took a couple seconds for it to occur to her that she should probably introduce herself, as well.

"I'm Mallie!" She said after a long couple moments of silence. She grinned in anticipation, excited to finally use that one introduction that Pruney had come up with for them to use when meeting outsiders. "I'm one of the Ceres that spreads abundance through the realms!" She landed on the branch, causing apple tree saplings to burst out from the branches from her very touch. Noticing this, she waved her hand to stop them, keeping them eternally as saplings. She wasn't sure how badly Grandma Gaia would take it if she started growing trees everywhere, and carefree as she was, she didn't want to find out how her grandma was like when she was ticked off. Better safe than sorry and all that nonsense, that was what she always said.
Stephanie
**"Ah, Triticea. I believe I have met her once, though I did not get the opportunity to really converse with her,"** *Ica said. He remembered the ritual that he and Triticea had been present at, and how it had caused the seasons to change everywhere. Unfortunately, Ica had fallen asleep shortly after the ritual, so he had never really seen the seasons in action. Now, he looked out and away from the World Tree. He could see to the north and east, and a sharp line where the north's winter became the east's spring. It was a strange thing to see.*

*He realized he had become distracted, and looked back at the mortal girl. Somehow, he had heard her introduction despite his own ponderings, and so he smiled at her and hoped she had not noticed his absent-mindedness.* **"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mallie,"** *He told her.*

*Surprised, he watched as Mallie's presence spontaneously caused trees to grow on the World Tree's branch. Ica had known plants could grow on here, but he had not known mortals could possess the power of creation. It was interesting to see.*
Richard
"Nice to meet you too, Uncle Ica!" She said cheerfully, waving a finger. The basket of apples, that had fallen down into the void when she'd tripped, floated back up to her, the apples still having miraculously remained in the basket despite the fact that it had been free falling off of the World Tree for a few seconds now. She was a little ways away from him, because her mom had always taught her not to immediately approach strangers unless big sis Fragarie said it was okay or her mom was around. Her uncle was nice enough, but he was still a stranger, so she kept her distance for now... Well, until he interested her with something, anyway.

The presence of the god made the air around her cold, and so plucked a few apple seeds out of the basket and murmured something in the language of the plants. The seeds dissipated into nothing as she put up a ward around herself with her magic to help stave off the cold. It was nothing too special, most definitely not enough to do much against a direct attack from the god himself, of course, but at the very least it helped her warm up against his cold aura. Even so, the display of magic might be interesting to the god that hadn't attended the magic ritual, and had yet to meet a mortal able to use such supernatural power.

Seemingly satisfied with the temperature that she had managed to cultivate around herself, she allowed her attention to drift back to the deity in front of her. The expression on her face was one of polite curiosity, since this was the first time she had ever met a god before. Besides her mom, but mom barely counted. She was always too busy telling the Ceres to knock any squabbles off and working on her plants to seem super goddy to her mortals, and so this was her first time meeting an actual *Goddy* God. No, goddy wasn't a word, but it was one that succinctly described the feel that she was thinking of, so she figured that it would be a good enough thing to use in her mind.
Stephanie
*Mallie's casual way of speaking was cute, Ica thought. He'd never met any mortals who were this.. Accustomed to talking to deities. Sure, it could be seen as her being disrespectful, but that was not how Ica took it. In fact, he quite enjoyed Mallie's cheerful informality.*

*Before he could say anything else, Ica felt **Something** Hit him. Mallie was using **Power**. His own divine power did not like it.*

*Ica tilted his head, eyes narrowing. What was that? How could Mallie even use this kind of power? Mortals weren't supposed to-*

*Another wave of **Force**, coming from all sides at once. With a gasp, Ica fell to his knees, unable to speak or move. Even the divinity he possessed could not stop... **This**, whatever it was.*

*No. Ica's own power was.. Turning against him. No, **Returning** To the World Tree. This **Might** He felt was Gaia Herself, calling for him to become nothing. To **Die**, once and for all.*

*As he fell apart, his divinity **Streaming** Into the World Tree, Ica wondered. What had he done to deserve this? Had he disrespected Her creation, somehow? Was he simply no longer needed, now that his domain- his winter, his cold- had spread out to every Realm that would allow it to?*

*It took only seconds for Gaia to **Rip** Him apart at the seams. Finally, as the last scrap of divine power was pulled out of him, Ica exploded. A wave of cold burst from him, freezing a pitifully small circle on the branch he had stood on. From where Mallie stood, she would only feel a cool breeze at worst.*

*And with that, Ica, the God of Winter, was no more.*
Richard
She watched as the god of winter imploded on himself with a mix of fascination and curiosity. The little fairy fluttered a little closer but still kept her distance, not sure what was going on. Eventually, the deity before her broke to pieces, icy wind bursting from his body that rolled over her face in a gentle breeze. The little apple fairy covered her face, a little worried that she might get blown away by powerful winds, but the soft winds that blew past her never grew stronger like she expected. After a moment, she lowered her arms to allow herself to see all that remained of the former divintiy.

"Woah." She murmured. "Do all gods seek out random mortals to freak out before they die?" The little fairy hummed, tilting her head as she pondered what to do now. There was a long moment of silence following the death of the god as the fairy considered what to do, hovering in the air with the light buzz of her wings being the only sound that remained. Despite the irreverent nature of the Ceres, though, she still felt like she should probably do *Something* To show respects. She'd never met the guy, but he *Had* Been her uncle.

After a moment, she fluttered down to the little patch of ice on the branch and pulled out a special seed. While she represented apples, she had power over all plants, and so she decided to deviate from her specialty, just this once. She dug a little hole in the branch, right in the middle of the grave of the deity, and carefully tucked a seed into the ground. With her magic, she filled the hole with dirt, and she brought her head low to the ground. A huff of her breath of abundance rolled over the seed, prompting it to sprout into a final blossom to remember the fallen deity.

With that, she plucked the flower from the ground, glowing with the last of the god's divinity. As a mortal in tune with plants, she could tell it wished to be returned to its mortals, and so she tucked it into her basket and continued her way, leaving the cold patch.
Alicia
Aphot watched this bizarre show in stop-motion frame, rendered a hapless bystander in a fantastical gig he was clearly not in on. He stared at Nach for a very, very long moment, up until she yeeted herself and his friend from Yggdrasil- and he stared long after that.

In these musings and wonderings, he would come to a conclusion. What that conclusion was may never be known to another being, but it caused the subtlest of half-smirks to form on Aphot's visage. He'll be damned- Nach was right.

Humming to himself, the ghostly god turned on his heels and resumed his endless journey through the World Tree, not soon to forget Nach's lasting impression.