Huck looked over at Critchun for a moment. While the deity's speech was garbled, he had quite a bit of experience translating those who weren't well-suited for typical conversation (the elder Bushbeasts couldn't really speak if their heads were 20 feet underground, anyways), and he was fairly certain he knew what the other was asking. "Mostly about the existence of Corrupted Deities. And how death works for deities." His ears swiveled briefly around the room before responding again. "Some small talk, too."

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Orphos had elected to stay silent for most of this, preferring to people watch. He didn't know most of those gathered in the room-- the pantheon had changed more drastically than he had anticipated while he dropped off the map-- and he thought it best not to make waves. However the way he rolled his eyes at all the questions didn't help that goal, and his expression turned somehow more unhappy as he realized Apollo was sitting down next to him, and made no attempt to disguise the way he leaned away from the other god in annoyance. Orphos had been hoping this would be a simple "get in, get out" event, but it was rapidly becoming apparent this was not the case. I'm too sober for this.

At that, a large tankard of mead appeared in front of him. He snatched it off the table in an instant and held it close, as if expecting someone to take it from him. He took a long sip, eyeing the image of the ambrosia flower that Ark had conjured as he did so.

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The hare had been munching contentedly on its pile of grass this whole time, making no move to contribute to the conversations happening around it. It didn't care about the Corrupted Deities or anything else that was being discussed, until one of them created an image of a familiar flower. The piece of grass it was chewing on fell from its mouth as it stood up on its hind legs as tall as it could, reaching for the image with its front paws. It had only seen the flower once, next to some mortal bleeding out on the ground. Funnily enough, it was before all of this deity stuff happened to it. Not that it mattered now. That flower was the best thing it had ever tasted in its life! To hear that the flower was still around somewhere was great news. Perhaps it could snack on it again.

Nemesis grumbled under her breath but otherwise raised no other protests to Ruin's weapon. She eyed the image of the flower, waiting for further elaboration.

Marsh tilts their head with an expression of equal parts confusion and intrigue, "Yeah, what's so special about that one?"

Somnus has floated back up, his beanbag chair shifting to the four poster bed he was laying on before. He seems to recognize the flower judging by how he won't, or can't, stop staring at it, "Oh wow, those still exist?"

"Why, thank you for the greeting," Germaine replies to Galaxian with a light chuckle. "And thank you again. I hope the same goes for you."
She noticed the moved chair but wasn't sure if it was meant for her or... what it was moved for in the first place. Maybe she should get another chair instead. So, as Ark began to speak, Germaine pulled out the other chair nearest to her and made herself comfortable on it.

Naiyan was swiping boredly on phone-sized blue holographic tablet. One of the jacks hanging from her headphones was plugged into the bottom of the tablet. The other swayed slightly, as if blown by a non-existent breeze.

(Considering Marsh is still here, I'm assuming in the vague nebulous timeline this meeting takes place before the domain starts? And only one flower is mentioned so maybe the other two haven't popped up yet?)

Nemesis says something for the second time during this entire thread, "I believe Ark is referring to the odd terrain surrounding the flower. My..." She paused, searching for the right words, "follower's friend is one of the 'contestants' I believe. He's told me about some dream-visions he's been having."

Somnus pipes up at the mention of dreams, "Oh I know that place! It's been showing up in a few minds lately, thought it was just mass hallucination."

"This doesn't seem very good to be honest," Marsh admits, "People would kill for that flower right?"

((Actually, I think that would probably be a really good time point to place this meeting. So before anything goes down at the DoF, but still far enough for most contestants to be present and waiting))

"Yeah. That too. I though ambrosia flowers were more subtle when showing up. I don't remember anything like this happening before." Time shakes his head.

"I believe we shouldn't get involved either. At most, we spectate. If the flower is trying to do some sort of test to those who deserve it's power, then I think it would be wrong to attempt to bias it towards contestants."

"I didn't hear about the dreams part... but... isn't that the flower trying to communicate with people? Not only that, but a notable group of people??" Time says, squinting his eyes. Its clear while he's calm on the outside, the idea of ambrosia flowers having the ability to communicate is outstanding. Could all the flowers do it? Or is it just this one instance? Are the flowers in question special?

"Oh? Time raises a brow to Ark, "Do tell."

"And you're assuming none of the contestants can fly high enough that they'd be able to see?" Ash leans against the table, pressing his weight onto the edge with their elbows. "I don't believe we'll need to keep such a close eye as to require a vessel like that.  Patrols to sense out influence from other divinities would likely work fine enough for the flower's game."

Something about the conversation doesn't sit right with Marsh, he can't quite place it. "Were...is it not expected? To inform everyone involved that the pantheon is spectating their actions?"

"Spectating as in watching the event like it's entertainment." Nemesis cuts in, "The guy's right, if this was just regarding the safety of the contestants, there's no need for such a vessel. It's intrusive. Probably planning on placing bets too huh."

Marsh looks dumbfounded, like the thought of deities using mortals as entertainment had never even occurred to him.

"No, there's clearly something at play here. The ambrosia flowers don't typical appear like this, they appear near dying mortals who either got lucky or passed some invisible test. I don't which, and I do not believe any of us will fully know how they behave. And I believe that it is clear that this is how the flower wished to be found and taken, so we should not decide the winner. I think that it is best that we only exert enough influence to ensure that others do not do the same, and merely keeping tabs on the contenders should be more than enough." Ash puts his cup of warmth down, and folds their hands before continuing, "And I agree with Time, a physical display of some sort to notify all involved that we are watching will likely be useful. But I do not believe that an airship is the ideal marker for such a thing." They pause for a moment too long to be a continuation, however continues to speak, "Ah, perhaps we should put this to a vote? That would certainly help decide the course of action we take in dealing with this."

"Ugh. How totally un-fabulous," Apollo sighed, resting his chin in his hand with a huff.

Orphos folded his arms across his chest, his expression unreadable. "I suppose it would be best for us to keep an eye on things, but not directly interfere." he chose his words carefully. The god would most likely be in the thick of things more than some of the others would like, but it wasn't like him to pass up what would likely be hundreds, if not thousands of people clamoring for a piece of divinity. 

Silence hummed a little before saying, "Yeah, I guess I'd make sense for us mortals to say something, considering that mortals are the ones, like, goin' after the flower and all." There was a pause. "I mean, I ain't got anything to say about it. I don't particularly care about the idea of being immortal." There was a relaxed shrug, and Silence popped a grape into the air, catching it it their mouth. They then nudged Francis, raising their eyebrows.

Francis tilted his head, taking a moment to think. "Yeah, I guess I'm a bit lost." He laughed lightly, wringing his hands. "Or, well, I guess I don't really get it, I think. The whole point of watching, I mean. To me, it seems a little... counterproductive? Paradoxical? I'm not sure of what word, but if this whole thing is the flower chosing, well..." Francis grimaced, not liking where he himself was going with this. "...I mean, wouldn't it also be chosing who lives and dies? Like, some sort of 'fate' type thing?" He air-quoted the word "fate".

"I mean, adding on, wouldn't watching also involve not stepping in at all, even if others do? And then, well, then it just becomes some sort of... gameshow, I guess? Watching each contestant and all." Francis moved his hands a lot as he talked, pushing up his glasses and waving his hands around to emphasize.

Echo said with a frown, "But gameshows are fun! That doesn't sound fun at all." She then went back to drawing on Silence's hand (well, now their arm).

Apollo said, "Hm... well, at least someone could document it or something! Then we could just write it off as some sort of minor historical moment! Ooh, I wonder if we could contact some sort of history or anthropology deity! Wouldn't that be interesting?!" Apollo clasped his hands together in excitement.

Francis didn't like that response, mumbling, "...That's... a little morbid..."

Lumi spoke up, "What Francis is getting at is that he's concerned about respect or whatever. Like, he thinks this whole idea is mocking, right?"

Francis blushed, mumbling even more with, "I don't want to be rude..."

"Yeah, well, I don't give a damn." Lumi rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Francis is just wondering why everyone wants to watch. Not just the whole noble idea of 'making it less biased'-" Lumi made his voice all squeaky and batted his eyelashes, clasping his hands in a very rude way of imitating the deities there. Slowly, he then pointed to each deity.  "-but why each of you individually want to watch." Lumi folded his arms. "Or whatever. Francis won't admit it, but he's nosy as hell."

Francis blushed deeper, feeling embarrassed over both being called out and how rude Lumi was acting. Francis gave Kradly a look that screamed Help! Do something about him before he starts saying worse things!

Seis was reading the pamphlet, trying to hide from the embarrassment.

"I also share your concerns in why spectating would be necessary as well as the potential casualties that may be entailed. However, outside of the involvement of immortality, what difference is there between ordinary conflict between mortals and this particular pursuit of immortality? If it's their choice to pursue godhood, then without regard to their future alignment in deity-involved wars, what responsibility do we have to stop them from pursuing their objectives to their deaths?" The deity seems to be directly addressing Marsh, though his lack of physical appearance combined with his voice makes him sound detached, to an almost abnormal degree. "In essence, if we as deities were to intend to interfere in this conflict, then perhaps we should consider extending our influence to the more mundane."

((Sorry if this states something already said, I'm trying to catch up with the posts haha))

Oh dear, Germaine thought internally when she saw the disappearance of deity and chair.
Despite that, she heard Galaxian seemed to be alright, and decided then to pay attention to the conversation topics. It did seem some of the participants had strong opinions on the topic.
She raised her right hand gracefully. "I would like to say something. Immortality and deityhood are sensitive topics, as is the appearance of the flowers and their undeniable relationship with deities. As far as I understand, the flowers show up in what seem to be randomized patterns. This time, the only difference is that the flower's location is known by several beings, is it not?" Germaine paused for breath, managing a polite smile to add to her words. "This is my opinion only, but should deities truly choose who gets to achieve godhood or not? I believe not. That would lead to a need of every mortal's death and every flower's appearance being monitored. If this flower in particular has attracted even the attention of the divine, perhaps it is so they can be impartial judges. It would not surprise me to find out that those who wish to gain this flower have greed-filled hearts, so it falls to the already-existing deities to be aware of what the outcome will be without influencing it."