ORIGIN

Ten was here in Canis, as requested by Master Vargas. Apparently, it was supposed to get rid of bad fungus? Truth be told, Ten didn’t really understand how there could be bad fungus. Fungus was their first and pretty much only friend. It was their constant companion, growing on their shell.

Said shell flickered between glowing and not glowing as Ten thought more and more about this conundrum. Reluctantly, Ten tried to removed some of this ‘bad fungus’.

It worked, feeling much like when Ten grew ‘good fungus’.

Unfortunate but necessary… Ten wanted to grow good fungus everywhere, and that simply couldn’t happen with the Valkturtle limited to Draco.

A question occurred to them, and so they spoke it.

”What does V-Onyx-Three want to do with the reward for cleaning the ‘bad fungus’?” Curiosity drove the Valkturtle, as if often did.

@V-Onyx-Three

Onyx-Three had offered come along to Canis to help with cleaning out some of the fungus here. There was no such thing as having nothing to do. There was always something to do, whether it be continuing his work in Draco, or helping with tasks such as these. Improvement, he knew, was something that was endless. When one thing has been mastered, there is always an endless amount of even more things that could be learned.

His bow and arrows had been brought along as always, knowing that in infected caves, drones could appear at any time. Onyx-Three had his dagger as well, but he knew to be careful about getting infected himself, and much preferred taking down any threats from a range rather than risking getting up close. But his arrows served another purpose as well. In places where the white fungus was harder to reach, accurately landing his arrows would be able to dispel them.

Their sight landed upon a cluster hanging off one of the stalagmites. It was closer, a good starting point to aim for. And... he missed. Ah well. At least the arrow was retrievable. An ear turned to capture the valkturtle's question, which he answered as he went to retrieve the arrow. "I do not know. Perhaps... a name. And you?"

@V-Chaos-Ten

"A name?" Ten was astonished at the very notion. "What does one do with a name...?" The question is asked with genuine curiosity.

"I wish to roam! There is so much 'bad fungus'. So I wish to spread 'good fungus'," Ten proclaims earnestly. It was tempting to ramble on about their love of fungus, but Ten visibly hesitated. Not everyone wanted to hear all about their friends, the fungi. Especially since the 'bad fungus' was giving it all a bad reputation.

Ten attempting to remove another patch of the 'bad fungus', focusing on the prior feeling. Attemptwise, it was about as successful as before.

@V-Onyx-Three

"A name is a designation." Onyx-Three blinked, then realized that he had probably made it more confusing than it had originally been. "A name is oneself. It describes you." Though he really hadn't thought all that far about what name he would even want. Onyx-Three was a pretty good descriptor of himself. He had an Onyx gemstone as he was a child of the Sentinel, and he was the third one. Though it did capture some of the most important aspects about himself, it did not capture what he had grown to be. Onyx-Three wanted something that fit who he had become. "I am Onyx-Three. But I think I am also... more." At that point, it was getting much too philosophical for him to think about, so he just returned his mind to the fungus at hand.

"That is a good goal." Free roaming was the most important privilege to himself as well. And he wondered if the fungus would also serve to make it harder for Order to emerge in those places as well. "Do you know what role you wish to serve?" Onyx-Three wondered if Chaos-Ten could possibly ask for a new role that would allow them to do something involving growing fungus throughout the caves.

Finding the arrow now, he cocked it once more into the bow and tried aiming for the same clumping of Order fungus. It succeeded in ripping it off rather cleanly, and his eyes shone just a bit more at this success.

@V-Chaos-Ten

"But I am Ten," the valkturtle pondered this with a confused air to them. "All of me is Ten," they repeated, trying to understand. After all, understanding was very important.

Ten did their best to always understand their friends, the good fungus, so that they could care their fungi friends properly. Understanding another was very important, yes.

A role, V-Onyx-Three asked, and Ten paused. "I would like to grow 'good fungus', not just remove 'bad fungus'," they decided, searching for a word. "Maybe... some kind of... Fungi Ambassador?" the valkturtle suggested tentatively.

"Spreading 'good fungus', so fungus doesn't get a bad reputation," the valkturtle nodded decisively.

Speaking of bad reputation, the valkturtle attempted to get rid of some more 'bad fungus'. The 'bad fungus' they were focusing on went away, pretty easily.

"Does V-Onyx-Three have a role in mind?" the valkturtle asked in turn, regarding the other with proportionally tiny glowing eyes.

@V-Onyx-Three

"You are V-Chaos-Ten," he agreed. Perhaps they had not yet grown to desire a name yet? Or perhaps their current one was fitting? Onyx-Three had no problem with the fact that his name indicated his position as a member of the Forge, but when there were many others with similar names, it was only natural to want something that fit who you were within, rather than your physical characteristics. "I am V-Onyx-Three. But that is outside-me. I want a name that is inside-me." A weird way to explain it, but that's the closest he could get to expressing this idea.

"Good role. You are good at removing Order." Onyx-Three had been watching the valkturtle's efforts as defeating the fungus, and it was almost enough to compel him to want to learn the magic himself, despite not liking to do so. Though he had trained in physical combat, it was not helping him very much in comparison to V-Chaos-Ten who was good at removing fungus. "I learn about fungus from you."

Onyx-Three nocked another arrow into their bow. "I wish to fight." They were, after all, the child of two champions. It was only suitable, no the minimum expectation that they at least live up to that achievement. They had been training in combat for so long, it was only natural. Plus, they did enjoy using the bow. "To be a warrior. Like my parents." Then they aimed at a piece of fungus, and released the arrow.

It flew through the air, but rather than hitting the fungus, it hit rock instead, deflecting off the side and straight in the direction of V-Chaos-Ten. "Move!"

@V-Chaos-Ten

"Inside-you..." Ten repeated thoughtfully. "And you wish to make inside-you also outside-you?" they wondered. Ten was not a creature that was different outside and inside, they thought, they were not very complicated.

"Is the mycelium of fungi any less part of the fungi for being unseen underground?" they added, a bit philosophical but in Ten's own, unique, fungus-y way.

They beamed with their tiny eyes at the praise from V-Onyx-Three regarding their choice of role. "Thank you, V-Onyx-Three! Does V-Onyx-Three enjoy to fight?" they wondered, knowing there was a sort of difference between parents fighting and wanting to be a fighter oneself.

Then suddenly they were told to move, and they looked up, alert. Danger? Except... they didn't see any danger, their eyes small and unable to focus on the arrow until it hit one of the mushrooms settled on their back.

Ten didn't feel it, per say, let alone see it, but they knew something was wrong. "What happened?" they wondered.

@V-Onyx-Three

"Yes." They supposed that was a way to put it. After all, a name was what other people called you, and in that way it was a form of the outside-self.

"Mycelium?" He asked. Onyx-Three had never heard of that word before, nor did he know what it meant. But perhaps even if he did know what it meant, the metaphorical part of it would still have been lost in translation. He was, after all, not well-versed in philosophy.

Onyx-Three dipped their head slightly in acknowledgement of the thanks. Now that was a strange question. In fact, it caught them off guard. It was not something they really thought about. Things weren't a matter of enjoyment. Everything he did was to serve the Forge and to prove himself, but the matter of whether he actually enjoyed the action of fighting was more complex.

"I take pride in serving the Forge. Fighting is a duty." Was what they settled on. When they were actually in a duel themselves, they found there was a pressure to perform, yet a motive to learn. They wanted to get better, that was the part they liked, but they did not take the joy some others might have from hurting others. The action of coordinating oneself with the weapon, and engaging in a dance of sorts with the enemy, was also enjoyable.

That could've been a lot worse. Onyx-Three was surprised to see that the valkturtle was unfazed by the unfortunate turn of events, and realized that the arrow had luckily only hit one of the mushrooms on their back. "Be still." He climbed onto their back, crawling over to where the arrow was, and yanked backwards. It came out without too much trouble, and he jumped off onto the ground. "My apologies. I did not mean to hit you." If that had caused any pain then there would be real trouble, as he had no idea how to heal. Too many things he wanted to learn, too little time. And then came a question, now that he thought about it "Is your shell mushroom? Or is it shell?" Onyx-Three checked over the arrow, which was still in fine condition.

@V-Chaos-Ten

"Mycelium is..." Ten searched for the non-fungus word. "...Roots, sort of? Fungi roots," they explained with a nod, then paused. "But... not roots. Like roots," Ten added, because there was a difference. Fungi were not plants, after all.

"Is the inside-you any less a part of you for being not-outside, is what I was wondering, I suppose," Ten was genuinely contemplative. Names seemed very strange to Ten. What was inside was still apart, why would you wish to uproot it and change it around? It was confusing.

"I like the Forge. Master Vargas, too. But... I do not have many friends there," Ten admitted with a kind of melancholy. "I have my fungi friends, of course! But..." they shake their head, trailing off. They loved fungi, but non-fungi friends to talk about fungi with would be nice.

"You hit me? I didn't feel anything," Ten stated, confused. But they obligingly let V-Onyx-Three collect his arrow from their back. "My shell is shell! But it is well-suited towards growing my friendly fungus!" they told V-Onyx-Three happily.

Their attention shifted back to the non-friendly fungus, but this time their spell did not work. They were torn between sadness at their failure and a sort of relief at not seeing more fungus disappear. Removing fungus of any kind was hard work for the valkturtle.

@V-Onyx-Three

Mycelium was a rather complicated word to say mushroom roots, but Onyx-Three found he liked the word very much. It was, after all, easier to use one word 'mycelium' which was more precise and shorter than the two words of 'mushroom roots'. He should talk to V-Chaos-Ten more often to learn about mushroom vocabulary, and possibly other ways to say things in such a way.

"I do not know." They admitted, supposing that the name others called you didn't really affect who you were. It would just be nice to be called something that was more of who you were than less. "You will not ask for a name?" Onyx-Three thought that V-Chaos-Ten might have wanted a mushroom-related name considering their love of fungi.

"Friends come from work." They thought about how all of their friends had been found from training, sparring with others. Renasci, Alek, and that weird bouncy thing... yeah they weren't sure if that had been a good experience, but it had certainly been something. "The Sentinel took me to other caves." He was lucky his father had been so supportive of his training, taking him where ever he needed before he earned his wandering rights so that he could practice. "You can do the same?" Of course, he was not explicitly referring to the Sentinel as someone the valkturtle could ask, but rather, someone who would be willing to go with them to spread more fungus and possibly find friends.

"Your shell is strong. Useful for protection and fungus." Onyx-Three noted, thinking it is good to have things that are multipurpose. "Can fungus be offensive?" If he were planning to learn how to use magic to make fungus, perhaps it would be possible to learn it for combat as well.

They readied their bow again, aimed, and released. Crack! The arrow, already damaged from prior failures, weakened along the internal cracking points and shattered. Pieces of wood embedded themselves in his hand and forearm. Onyx-Three froze in shock, looking down at his hand. It hurt but he was afraid of removing the shards should it make the bleeding worse.

@V-Chaos-Ten