A boom of sound flew through the air. Wind followed, washing over the land around the cottage. Yani held a spoonful of kimchi rice mere inches from , but she had a strong, depressing feeling she would not get to finish it. With a sigh, she let it go. As it tumbled back into her bowl with a tink-tink sound, Dominique looked at her with a profound expression. "Run?" She asked, and Yani knew who was her new best friend for life. "I'd love to." She replied.

~~*~~

Dominique knew the story. Yani had told her most of it over lunch. But she was not prepared for the actual visuals. As three - no, four - divine men stalked across her grandmother's lawn, she couldn't help it. She stopped. And stared. And oggled. "Who is That?" She stage whispered to her new friend-possibly-soon-enemy.

Yani sighed, exasperated. "Which one?" She replied. "The tall one, with the shoulders." Dominique nearly drooled. Strange. She'd never drooled over a man before. Except for at the odd superstar, of course. 

 "That's... Leo, I think it was," Yani answered absently, "He's not as scary as he looks, and his voice..." Yani made a sighing sort of sound, and Dominique felt her curiousity rise. If she'd been a dog, her ears would have stood up straight, whole body at attention.

Without looking at her, Yani continued: "If he'd been a singer, I bet I could listen to him all day." Turning her head to look at Dominique, she said only, "You know..." and then stopped. Dominique waited, cocking her head. "Dominique?" Yani whispered, "Where did you go?"

Dominique whined, then stopped herself. Did I just... make that sound? She felt weird. Her body made another whine, and she couldn't stop herself. She panicked.

~~*~~

Leo felt weird. Something about the earth around here felt... weird. Displaced. As if they'd somehow sidestepped reality a few meters back. He wasn't sure he could shape the dirt beneath his feet without actually using his feet, or hands, to do it. It... didn't feel good.

"Is that a dog?" Someone, probably Hongbin, asked.

~~*~~

She was a dog. SHE WAS A DOG! Dominique had no idea how it had all happened, but- but- she had PAWS! Staring at her tiny claws, screaming wasn't enough. She couldn't handle it. She fainted.

~~*~~

Ravi frowned at the furry creature by his feet. Something fluffy and brown had dropped down to the ground before him. The ball of fluff had immediately rolled up and now lay snoring, paw on Ravi's foot. He had to fight the urge to kick it and run away, but as he stood there, very still, staring, the view grew on him.

"Is that the dog?" N asked, pronounced innocently.

Leo shuffled over, shoulders hunched. "Dog?" He asked. As if recognising the voice, the fluffball opened up to reveal a beautiful little dog, stretching sleepily, front paws scratching the air in front of Leo's feet. Leo stretched his foot another inch forward, and the pup laid both paws on his big toe, then went out like a nightlight at dawn.

 ~~*~~

Yani was praying. She was praying to Buddha and every Boddhisatva of mercy. Sitting in the saddle between two large branches, she stared down at three heads of hair, and prayed none would turn around and look up at where the dog had come from. She looked down upon the puffy, brown ball of fur currently hugging Leo's feet, and envied the like mad. If only she could have done the same, if only she could hide out in plain sight like that, but no. No dog version of Yani.

As she sat up high, looking down at the little fluffball, she felt her chin sink onto her arms, and sighed. The little beauty seemed so happy there. Almost as if in love...

"Hey, there," a voice called out from behind her, and Yani nearly fell out of the saddle with a yikes. Spiky was behind her, formerly known as Kind 1, otherwise known as Lavi. Or maybe Navi. Yani wasn't sure. Either way, he hung from the branches behind her like a big baby monkey, grinning widely, with a wild look in his eyes.

"N wanted me to fetch you," he said, reaching out a hand. Just as Yani decided to take it, though, he pointed at her instead, and lightning struck.

~~*~~

The cracka-boom shook the air, as a bolt of shiny white struck the tree above them. Hongbin looked up, quickly swallowing the light, but all that was left was a top fried tree and a black faced god of thunder. "What the hell, Ravi?" Hongbin shouted up at the man. The coal man just looked at him, shocked.

"Where did she go?" Ravi asked him.

"Who?" Hongbin asked, fear growing in his chest. He had a bad feeling...

"The woman," Ravi said, "the... goddess, or whatever."

Hongbin felt the blood leaving his face, felt his heart press against his ribcage. "What did you do?" He whispered, almost hissed the words at the idiot above him.

"I..." Ravi stopped to focus. "I tried to zap her down, teleportation style." Then he added, almost as an afterthought: "Ladies love teleportation."

Hongbin wasn't sure what to think. He was sure of three things: One: His face was red; Two: Gods couldn't die, not really; and Three: How he wished Ravi could just implode right there, and vanish forever, the damn idiot.

"Only gods can teleport, you assnut!" He shouted at the mad clown, "Trying to teleport a mortal; you probably killed her! Fried her flat, into dust!" And for some reason, Hongbin really hated the idea. And then he remembered. N had warned him about this. He had told Hongbin straight out, that if Hongbin didn't save the woman, Ravi would kill her.