ORIGIN

Having parted from Hog on good terms, Honk stumbled over fallen logs and bent to examine the wildflowers littering Eridanus. It was a very pretty place, they'd decided. Even those strange white strands covering certain areas like a spider's web were beautiful in their own way, though their odor offended Honk's nose.

With a growing bouquet of flowers clutched in one paw, Honk toddled on, adding to their growing collection as they went and nearly stomping a growing mushroom flat.

Bending to examine the poor thing, Honk reached out their unoccupied paw to brush the little orange cap curiously. It had an appetizing color to it, was it safe to eat?

@the chorus

Having grown considerably in the days since its hatching, the being of the Chorus now encompassed more then a small patch of the forest. The roots of the tree they had been buried next to were now fully infected by their mycelia, as were all the plants in its immediate vicinity. Already their ambition was pushing to begin stretching their way slowly to the next tree. A long way off, of course. For now, they fruited.

They learned, expanded. And experienced. Fruiting was counter-intuitive to survival, as they could not spread in traditional ways, but it opened up their senses to the above-ground world. The open air, vibrant life...it was easier to sense in the mushrooms then in the mycelia. Each day was spent basking in this light, resting, and then forging onwards.

A sensation rippled through the colony - one of the fruits had been nearly smashed. Someone was there, inspecting. A song of curiosity moved through the cords and magic curled out from the cap Honk had brushed. It painted a picture for them of an odd creature - unlike the many Lessers that would commonly nibble on their fruits (of which they could not really stop but was not a particularly large hindrance) but different then the first walking one. The one that had buried them here, no much smaller.

They could see in the alien mycelia clinging to its body, unnoticed, in where it touched the ground, in the microscopic spores that had sprinkled off the cap it had touched that were now surveying everything about. Its temperature, its weight, its aproxamate size...they knew every detail about their spores. And so they carefully measured each and everything different about the spores now clinging to the creature to get a vague picture of the curious beast inspecting their fruits.

They were silent, for a moment, as they computed astoundingly fast. But to Honk, the mushroom would just seem like a mushroom - there were a number of clusters spread about this area that looked quite similar.

@Honk

Honk leaned down to sniff the cap, poking it with a bright green claw. As The Choir had noted, Honk was unlike any of the lessers which came and went from Eridanus. Their mind was sharper, able to handle more complex ideas. But she was a child all the same and children are prone to foolish things.

Seeing as they had no way of knowing this little mushroom was part of a much larger thinking, feeling entity. Honk saw no reason not to treat it like any other plant or fungus they encountered.

Their long, pink tongue lolled out of their mouth, giving the cap an experimental lick. It..didn't taste like much really, not very appetizing at all. Disappointing! The fungus' color was so tasty looking.

Ah, it did expect the creature to eat the cap, but a bit of an unpleasant ripple went through the colony at the taste. They hadn't been cut off, so they felt the odd sensation of a bear tongue just lick the skin of their fruits. Ugh...at least the Lessers had the decency to eat quickly.

So disgusted in that moment, that the Chorus lost its concentration for a moment and lost their position, and their attempts to communicate couldn't find the target.

Recovering quickly, though, the fungus re-situated itself. It could still feel the weight on the soil, the rumble of its breathing. It knew where the creature was. So it reached with its magic to plant words into its mind.

"I would prefer if you asked first before eating one of us, if you have the ability to ask. We get enough Lessers nibbling upon our caps without our consent." They did not mention the disgust of the taste, they truly didn't mind if one felt the need to eat one of the mushrooms. It did not harm them all that much. They were longer lived then non-sentient mushrooms, but they were easy to regrow, and the voices lost would easily be reborn.

As was their cycle of life.

@Honk

They awaited the creature's response, but it seemed the sudden voice may have scared off the creature. Many of the voices mourned quietly - they were always curious about the approaching beings, but at least they were safe, for now, from nonconsensual licking.

That was fine with them.

*exiting due to inactivity

Honk

The Chorus

Honk

The Chorus

The Chorus

The Chorus