ORIGIN - it's a real fun-guy

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Lichen took a moment, paused mid-step, to consider the question. What questions should it be asking? Truthfully, she hadn't thought of that. She only knew that new life often had many of them. She'd had a lot when she first emerged; or so she thought, it'd been a long time ago now. To buy for time, she instead answered their first question.

"No." Lichen lowered her head towards the soil, resuming the following of the trail. "I think, there are many ways to be strong, and I'm not many of them. There are others bigger than me. Others who are better at talking and making allies. There are even more that are better at magic than me." She took a moment to pause, she wasn't used to speaking so much.

"I think you are extraordinary. And I hope you're strong." Lichen continued, it was easier to talk about someone else. "There's something..." As she mulls over her words further, she noses at the soil, loosening it just slightly. "Odd. Here. I hope you don't ever meet it or that you're strong enough to keep it away, if it comes here."

To buy for more time, she hums flatly, focusing instead of pouring magic into growth. Into food, water, nutrients and strength, everything she hoped would help her Budding-Buddy...

Nothing. Odd.

With a grumble, she focused harder; perhaps her mind had wandered as she thought about her friend.

Still nothing.

Usually something happened by now. She'd feel it, but all she felt was drained. Then, there was a tingling, near the end of her snout. She stoops her head back down. Just a delayed reaction! She was getting old, after all. With her claws firmly planted in the soil, she tenses, ready to unleash the building magic...

Instead, she simply sneezes, spittle and all sorts of nasty gunk flicking onto the soil. The force of such a sneeze was enough to make her not-eyes water. Before she can register what'd happen, there's another sneeze. And another. Lichen quickly found she couldn't stop, groaning in her distress between sneezes.

Her throat itched, her eyes watered, her face felt puffy. Just like hayfever.

@The Chorus

They considered the words she offered. Bigger then her? But she was so large already! Granted, they knew that they rivaled her in sheer space taken up, but in density she far exceeded them. To think there were larger then her...would they collapse the soil when they walked above? Could they scoop all the earth out with a single swipe? That was a scary thought and they all agreed - they would keep their location secret.

"We understand. Then tell us this, compared to what you have seen, are we strong?" It was an honest, earnest question. They wanted to know, how did they compare to other denizens of these caves, if Lichen did not consider herself strong?

"What is odd? We are sure....there are many odd things. But if it is a danger, make us aware. We would like to know before we find it." Knowledge, it had learned quickly, was its greatest survival tactic. Knowing was what set them apart from other fungi in the area, and what gave them the edge. They would need more, more knowledge. More to be stronger.

They chatted with each other quietly, asking what could this be? Odd thing? Bad thing, good thing? Hmmm...but their attention was taken by Lichen, and strange sounds she was making. They felt for movement in the soil and realized she was...convulsing? Flinching? Concern sang through its cords, wondering if they could help. "Are you alright, walking one? What can we do to help?"

@Lichen

Though Lichen made a valiant effort to answer the Fungus-Friend, she found herself unable to stop sneezing. It was beginning to make her ribs ache and her throat sore. Her face felt damp with tears and other, less pleasant, bodily functions. All her attempts at speech were just half-aborted syllables that sounded like utter nonsense. She swayed as each sneeze forced her head down or to shake, and she was quickly losing her bearings on where she was within the space.

Until one particularly large sneeze had an odd coloured clump expel from her nostrils, something within the snot and other grossness she'd hacked up. Foreign spores from a different fungus, likely one carried from Orion. It seems they'd grown just enough to cause irritation in the dragon's system, no doubt from the misfired magic.

Lichen grumbled, wiping away the dampness on her face against the nearest bundle of ferns she could feel for. "I'm quite alright. Perhaps I'm allergic to something growing nearby." Lichen tries to reassure, but her voice comes across nasally and weak.

She shakes her head once. Right. What were they talking about? "Oh, the oddness. I cannot see it, but the fungus there feels," she uses the pause to wipe her snout with a hand. "Ugh. Everything here is-- There isn't a pattern, mh? It grows how it sees fit, where it can. The trees grow where the seeds fall, the paths are made by others walking the ways they wish."

Lichen takes a moment to sit, it was difficult to describe. Perhaps if she had eyes, she'd be able to describe it clearly, perhaps the things she'd sensed had a certain look to them. "But these, they grow... straight. In shapes. Perfect shapes. Er, I'm certain there's a word for it-- Er, neat, perhaps." The descriptor felt weak to her own ears.

"A friend of mine, she senses small things. Bacteria, I think she calls them. And even they're perfectly shaped together, not out here where things are wiggly and free." With a huff, she stands once again. "We don't know what it is, we don't get close to it. You'll know it when you meet it. It's not right. Not like us."

Lichen, now clear of foreign spores, hopefully. Turns her head towards the soil that contains her Mushroom-Mate again. She knew how, strange her own wording sounded, it certainly didn't sound kind. She just had to hope it would understand when it noticed the Stange-Being that lived elsewhere.

"I think you're strong. You're good at magic, you can grow as much as you please-- I think. But, this thing is.. it's.. something else." She mused aloud, it felt nice to share the worries with her friend; though it was young.

This time when she turns to her Fungi-Fella's networks, she manages to project the magic outwards, towards it, rather than inwardly. Her focused wobbled, but she hoped at least some of the strength seeped into the networks this time, opposed to backfiring inwards again.

feel free to make the spores whatever you wish (also sorry i wrote a small novel for this post)!

@The Chorus

At her insistance she was alright, they backed off. They could still detect something odd about her, a different in the tenor of her voice, but it did not pry or push. If she said she was alright, then she was alright, and they would trust her word.

They'd also detected something strange on the ground that had fallen. Electrical signals were sent through the soil and bounced back - an enemy. But a young on, barely more then spores themselves. They would consume it soon, they figured, and ignored it for the moment.

It tried to understand as she was saying. It tried to comprehend. But it did not. Perfection was not something it had any capability to understand at the moment. Everything was utterly imperfect, and this imperfection was what supported life, what spurred it onward. If it had grown in perfect lines, would it truly have expanded the way it had? If it were perfect, then would it feel the need to grow?

They were quiet as they considered this. It sounded utterly unnatural. If they found it...they would kill it.

Or eat it. Both seemed like good options.

But now there was focus on the fungal ends where the friend lurked, and they felt her magic stirring them to grow, just as they did with themselves often. They happily took the magic and used it to push forward, letting a bit of the magic go into fruiting a few small caps right where she was standing, as if to say "thank you." Beneath the soil, the mycelium continued to expand rapidly.

@Lichen

Lichen did stay poised as if awaiting a response, looking almost like a pointer dog after seeing a duck. Yet, when her Fungi-Friend didn't say anything, she went to keep talking; at least until the caps under her feet began to move. She lurched off them, as if they'd burnt her; trying to find some less occupied dirt to stand on. "Sorry I-- I didn't know you were there." Lichen winces in the direction she'd felt the growths.

"I wish I had a way to show you these things." She likely didn't mean literally, since neither could see in the traditional sense. "It's not as if I could just take you with me, I'm not certain that's how you work, or that you'd appreciate that." Lichen mused, loudly towards the dirt. To any passerby, she faintly realized, she'd look as if she were talking to herself.

"I think things are easier to understand when you experience them for yourself." She continued, scooting back around the Porcini-Pal. "I'm not certain if you'd agree.

Mindlessly, she pawed for a new spot of its' network. She liked it. It didn't mince words, and she was faintly certain it'd once laughed at her. It was an admirable trait to have in a friend.

At this new spot, her 'eyes' itched as the magic seeped from gem to soil. Trying to feed her friend further, she'd only glimpsed the Odd-Fungus, but she knew it spanned a good distance. Her friend had a lot of catching up to do, especially if it couldn't flee.

@The Chorus

The Chorus wanted to tell their friend that it was okay, they had not meant to fruit to scare her, but simply show that her spell had worked. They were growing farther. It wanted to tell her that they would learn, soon, a way to see into the mind. And while she could not take them places, she could bring back her memories of them. But something went quite wrong in the haste to get the magic out, running through the network up to the caps that it had grown at that moment. It, well, for lack of a better term, tripped. And as the magic stumbled through the caps, a garbling sound came from them as the arcane fried the poor fruits.

They withered as a small amber spark snapped out from the earth. The stalks quickly turned a dark color and the caps sagged. Each of them fell to the side, dead in the earth. The mycelium just below the fruits was uninjured, but the voices in those caps went silent as they were killed. A mournful sigh echoed through the network, met by frustration. Why could magic simply not work all the time?

@Lichen

Lichen furrowed her brows, turning towards where she thought she heard the noise. Odd. Perhaps a nearby bird flew into the tree, or there was some sort of predator nearby; at least it sounded small as the sound came from somewhere below her head.

It was when she turned her attention back downwards that she wrinkled her nose. Why did it smell... crisp? No, that wasn't the right word, perhaps, dead? Almost like crunchy leaves. With a curious hum, she gently prodded around with her nose, feeling something rather sad and limp as it brushed the wounded fruits. "Oh."

Strange. Had she done this? No, no, she would've felt it. Were they under attack? She strained her ears to listen...

"Is there something there?" Lichen whispered towards the soil. Her feelers reaching out into the surrounding air. They coiled and swayed, as if they had minds of their own as the two appendages got a taste of the surrounds.

Nothing. Had the intruder not used magic? "Who's there?" Lichen announced, perhaps if this person knew that she knew they were there, they'd get scared and leave. Yes.

@The Chorus

They realized the mistake as soon as Lichen was kneeling down. Curse this existence, to have to put effort into every moment of communication, when it was what they craved! They threaded their magic back, thankfully managing to snag onto her again to reassure - "There is no threat. Our magic simply rebelled. We must find a better way to communicate..." Already ideas were swimming through the network. Perhaps forging some kind of mental connection, perhaps taking over a Lesser? There were many ideas, but none within its reach right now. They needed to get stronger.

"This odd thing. We will search for it, and destroy it. Nature should not be this way." There, again, was a faint sadness - how many experiences they may be missing as the thing they were. They agreed, understanding better came from living rather then speaking of things. But what could they do, but simply watch and listen?

"If we find a way...will you show us your memories? We very much would like to see things. Other things, beyond here. We will reach them eventually but...it may be a long time."

@Lichen

Lichen hummed, turning slack again. The news wasn't good, but at least there wasn't an intruder. The dragon did take a moment to sit back down to consider the conundrum as well. Was there a better way to communicate that didn't exhaust their friend? It was food for thought.

"Destroy it?!" That had caught Lichen's attention back from her thoughts as she whipped her head towards the tree. While she didn't doubt her Portabella-Pal's abilities, it hadn't sensed what she had; could something like that simply be destroyed? She had her doubts.

Truthfully, she had no idea if anyone had even tried to before. "I.. Yes, of course. It wouldn't do you any good to try and fight that thing without knowing what you're looking for. If you find a way, I don't see any reason not to." Though, admittedly, she was trying to reassure herself more of the latter than her Shiitake-Sidekick (she duly noted, that 'Shiitake-Sidekick' wasn't her finest work).

Did she have anything to hide? A few embarrassing run-ins seemed trivial compared to the chance to show her Morose-Mate what was outside the tree and soil it occupied. It was a pity she couldn't take it with her.

"I think there are nicer parts you'd like to see too," Lichen considered. "There's a place that tastes sweet and another where magic is everywhere. It makes me feel.. tingly."

@The Chorus

Why was their friend so surprised? They had said before they were extraordinary, right? They were a force of nature - this wrong-nature, this too-perfect-thing would be theirs to destroy...they would see to it. "Yes. Should we not...? Do you wish it saved?" She only had to speak now and they would spare it. There were not going to be the kind of being that destroyed what their friends held dear.

But from her words, it had seemed like she didn't want it around. She didn't like it. And so they did not like it. A song of battle began whispering at the ends of the network, voices itching to get their hyphae around the enemy. They must be safe, though...they had more to think about then this one battle to fight.

They were intrigued by these other places. A place that tasted sweet? They did not know sweetness. They wondered what that sensation was like...oh how they wished they could extract the very memory of it straight from Lichen's mind! So that they could feel as she did, sense as she did, beyond the soil they could never leave. "We...are intrigued. Please, will you tell us more of these other places? We so very desire to experience them for ourselves..."

@Lichen

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