"Salt Lake is nice! It's full of Mormons, though. I like Mormons just fine but not everyone does."

"I have no idea what those are! What'd they do to earn ire?"

"Mormonism is a religion! They're terrifically friendly people, but kind of judgmental about a lot of things. Most of them won't push about it though."

"Eh. If they don't push me, I won't push them, but if they try to convert me to another religion I won't like 'em. So I guess it'll be by individuals."

"Then ignore the ones who are in pairs dressed in suspiciously clean-cut uniforms," says Ranata. "Those are the missionaries. Erm - some of them might consider Lecasryn being female a reason to suspect the sort of thing they're judgmental about."

"Uh huh. Well if they have a problem with it they can say it to my face. Then to my fist, right after."

"Please do not punch Mormons. We can just do a flyover of the city if you will have trouble restraining yourself."

"Well I wasn't going to just punch them for no reason. They'd have to get all preachy with me, first. Trust me, people have fucking tried to get me to 'see the light' and 'obey the laws of nature' and it hasn't worked out yet so I don't know why they keep trying."

"Please do not punch anyone who doesn't hit you first. The entire state that contains Salt Lake City is heavily Mormon-dominated and it's better we just don't stop there if you can't handle it. For that matter I think Costa Rica is heavily Catholic..."

Zeviana sighs. "Okay. Fine. No punching. Can I be scary at them? I don't think I can turn that one off."

"What does 'being scary' mean?"

"Eh, I dunno, that's what Adarin calls it. I apparently have a look and I growl things? It's vaguely threatening, daring them to say a damn thing about me because I just - let them know who would win if they tried it."

"You may look and growl at the Mormons. They are not going to physically assault you. The worst they will do is offer you literature and ask you if you have a few minutes to hear the word of Christ."

"Kay. That I can handle, I guess."

"This is a civilized country. I don't know what it's like where you're from, but it's fairly uncommon for sober adult civilians to get into physical confrontations at all."

"Yeaaah, we are not like that. I mean I guess they try to pretend to be civilized? It's fake, though. When I left some people flipped out and tried to kill me. It did not take, obviously."

"Well. Welcome to Earth."

"Thanks. I'll try to fit in. No guarantees."

"Here's hoping it works out for you."

"Thank you. I mean - here's already seeming better than where I was, so hopefully it works out. If not, I run off to the wilderness and make another maze."

"I didn't get a close look at your prior one. I'll be interested to have a look if you make one here."

"Sure! If I do make one it'll take a while, though. It was kind of a long-term hobby. I can make plants grow quickly, but if I take it slower they're a lot more sturdy."

"How long were you working on the one you left?"

"Hmmm... Three-ish years? Or so? If I'd have had longer I might have made it multi-storied."

"Was it made of live plants, really all the way through? That's amazing."