Backup plan, quick! Fortunately, this was exactly what advance planning was for! Jinyi reacted quickly, holding out his hands to spray a blast of chitin at-
FUCK, himself?
A blast of cold, glassy, magical chitin shot from his hand, backward, directly At Jinyi. Freezing his chest directly to his legs, and his legs and feet directly to the branch he was standing on.
Waves of dark swirls crashed through the chromatophores on the Drone's face. Um. This wasn't good.
The Golden Charger was pissed. It had just been minding its own business, only to be jumpscared first with an explosion of sparks in its face, and now-
It recoiled from Jinyi's backward chitin blast, hissing angrily, and then lunged at him. Desperately, Jinyi threw up his third and last-case scenario plan: if he just covered himself in enough armor, maybe it wouldn't be able to bite him through it.
The Charger's strike smashed its face directly into a thick layer of chitin that formed just in time. Dazed, it swayed back, and Jinyi seized the opportunity for one last attempt at controlling it. Go in the OTHER direction! he commanded without hesitation. Miraculously, the Charger seemed confused enough, or maybe his desperation-fueled magic was just powerful enough, that it actually obeyed despite being more than ready to bite him literally a second ago. Get on the other tree and eat one of those fruits!
He didn't know if his control over the snake would last enough for it to make it to the other tree, and he hadn't wanted to have it consume one of the fungus-laced fruits if he could just magick fungus directly into its mouth, but he needed it to get away from him while he was vulnerable. Plus, he felt a wave of dizziness and bone-deep fatigue creeping into him. He'd used too much magic too quickly, and wouldn't be able to do more until he recovered. Maybe it was even lucky that he'd accidentally frozen himself to the tree branch, or else he thought he might have even fallen off. Certainly he did not feel a lot of grip strength in his hands right now.
Still, he curled his fingers around the branch however weakly, just for the extra sense of security. It was rather uncomfortable to stay in this kind of squatting position, and he wished he could lean on something, but there was quite literally nothing he could do until the effects of his self-inflicted stasis wore off.
It'd listened to Tectus since the encounter, meandering closer to the heart of the infestation and away from the untouched flora. This was of some inconvenience, as sticking only to purging infection left Virosa with less foliage to pick at, and less to hunt. The infected were skittish, and could warn each other of its approach from great distances. When Virosa did manage to catch one, the meat was always foul, and it would not be able to share it with its crop due to its disease.
This was the task it had been made for, but it did not find it easy. Perhaps that would come with time.
It'd moved off from the more densely infested areas for a moment, managing the small tufts it found while treating itself to the uninfected plants and animals from time to time. It took note of how the rot seemed to start higher up and out of its reach, as if placed there strategically rather than organically. A rival cultivator?
It followed the trail leisurely, working to root out anything at floor level. But it kept an eye on the branches above, as if expecting to catch the culprit red-handed. The chances were low, but not zero.
"Hello, drone." It clacked its teeth as it emerged from the ferns, smearing the plants below it with its oil. It wormed its way around the trunk of the tree Jinyi was currently stuck too, craning its neck to examine him and his odd prison. It was difficult to read intent in its tone, and its face was a mess of black ooze and shrink-wrapped skin. Its eyes dug into his chitin.
Everywhere it touched the bark below left a dark, ugly stain. "Are you stuck?"
Sorry to say, Jinyi had not been paying particular attention to his surroundings, exhausted as he was. Thus, he missed a few important details, like the sound of something large moving through the trees. It had all become background noise to him, fading out as he rested in that awkward frozen squat.
That was, until the dripping Valkhound actually emerged and directly addressed him. Then it was kind of hard to ignore.
Jinyi found it hard to think fast when all he wanted to do was to collapse into a sack of white chitinous limbs right now. However, the thrum of fear did help somewhat. Mother, he thought with a burst of deep alarm. This was a very awkward situation for him, to say the least (Are you stuck? it asked him, and—yeah, yeah he kind of was), and the sooner backup arrived, the better.
However. Eridanus currently belonged to Order, despite repeated attempts to reinfest it with Chaos. Friends were never far away, and the Hive as a whole were stronger here; he remembered at least one Host who spent most of their time in Eridanus, not to mention the Drones that sometimes visited, and there was always Mother’s army of Lesser Gembound. Potentially, if he managed to not die within the first five seconds, this could turn into a very awkward situation for the Valkhound as well.
It did not seem aggressive right now, at least. He just needed time. The chromatophores on his face flickered and shifted into a quizzical and entirely innocent expression, and he tilted his head at the grotesque creature below. "What’s a drone?"
Virosa blinked up at him, purring in thought. It could've been wrong to assume, of course. This could be a completely unaffiliated greater - one that had fallen afoul of the creature planting fungus in these branches, and had been imprisoned as a result. But it didn't buy that, and it also didn't want that to be the truth.
It shifted back onto its haunches, creeping upward with its forelimbs and testing its weight against the tree, inching closer and closer to Jinyi. "A servant of order. Opposed to chaos."
Claws gripped the bark of the branch and it hauled itself upward, until it too was squatting next to Jinyi. Already the wood creaked with forboding, and its eyes darted to the branches nearby, in case this one snapped. It was light for its size, but that didn't mean much. "Opposed to me."
Once Virosa had settled, the branch seemed stable enough to hold it. "Mind if I join you?" Its flank was brushing the chitin, staining it too, threatening to sink deeper.
Jinyi had a deeply unfortunate front-row seat to the effects of its corruption as its spell failed. The skin underneath its shoulder bubbled with movement before a new growth of fungus tore through. Dark blood leaked from the edges of the new wound, dripping slowly onto the forest floor.
Virosa hissed and clenched the branch harder. "Sorry. Didn't mean to." Ow.
Jinyi held his breath as the Valkhound pulled itself upward, praying it wouldn't come any closer. Unfortunately, it did come closer, and the branch groaned dangerously under its weight. What is it thinking? It didn't have wings; what was going to be the plan if the wood broke under their combined weights—it was twice his height, for goodness' sake! He could feel his magic returning slowly as he rested. Would it be enough to cast the pink-and-gold-wings spell in a split second if he fell? And would it be the best use of his limited magic if things went south?
He allowed the shadows of eyes projected onto his face to flick down at the ground and back up to the branch again, although the way the chromatophores were arranged didn't have much to do with his actual line of sight. It would make his nerves more convincing, he thought, if he backed it up with a reason a regular Gembound would be just as scared.
Opposed to me. Well, if that wasn't the most unsubtle threat Jinyi had ever heard. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm a servant, or that I have any strong feelings about who to oppose," he offered diplomatically. "I mostly like to make chips—crunchy snacks—as a hobby." It was actually his entire day job.
The beast was too close. Touching. He minded it a lot. Jinyi felt as if he had been punched in the gut by pure revulsion at the sight of how its filthy dark goop stained bright silk and pure chitin. He leaned as far back as he was able within the restriction of the icy chitin trapping him, which was to say he could barely move at all. His chest made a funny convulsing motion, as if he wanted to throw up but couldn't. "What's wrong? Is it contagious?" he asked anxiously, chromatophore-painted eyes fixing on the corrupted fungus that tore from the Valkhound's body and the sickening inky blood that followed. That's right, that was his main concern. Not the fact that the stains were an appalling affront that his drive toward Order screamed at him to rectify immediately, nor the fact that he was currently faced with a monster belonging to Mother's ancient enemy.
Virosa sniffed at him, though he was scentless. "You're affiliated then, yes?" There was an edge to his voice that implied otherwise, but whatever this was wasn't against the Forge's rules. It had no intent of harming it, even if its suspicions were true - it held no inbuilt repulsion at its existence. A mild irritation, at most. True disgust comes from insecurity, and it did not fear the Hive.
Its claw tapped against the bark, the skin around the growth itching like a bastard. "It's nothing. A nuisance." As for contagious? Well, if the spell decides to work in the near future, we'll find out.
"A snack... I always like a snack." Its thick tongue slathered against its teeth. "Eating for... more than one." Virosa jerked its head toward the bleeding, pulsating mushrooms.
"Do you have any?" It craned its neck closer, closer, and tilted its head like a dog, the oil pooling in its mouth spattering onto Jinyi's (robed?) shoulder.
The audacity! of this beast to sniff at him!!!
Jinyi was struck completely speechless for a second, though he gathered himself with great difficulty when asked its blasé question, as though it hadn't even noticed that he was trying to suggest completely otherwise with his lies! It was almost offensive.
"I never said that," he sighed, lifting his hands in a helpless shrug. "But I guess I can't control what you believe."
His face brightened quite literally, though, at the Valkhound's interest in his snacks. There was nothing quite like being appreciated for the fruits of your daily nine-to-five. Actually it was more like a daily nine-nine-seven. A good Drone dedicated all of its free time to the service of Order, and Jinyi strove to be a good Drone. "I do!" He reached into his robes, with some difficulty considering the odd angle at which his chest was frozen to his legs, and pulled out three bags. "Three flavors, actually: I've got Krabby Kelp, Arthropod Crunch, and... ah..." A crestfallen expression swept over Jinyi's smooth features as an experimental shake of the bags revealed a sound that strongly suggested the contents of the third bag had been crushed to a sparkling powder at this point. "Never mind the third one. It might be ruined. But would you like to try!?"
He realized, with a sense of nauseated horror, that the Valkhound was LEAKING DROOL ON HIM, and thrust the bags out with a strangled sound. If he could get it to turn its head around going after the bags, maybe it would stop being so uncomfortably close and getting that muck all over him. The buzz demanding Order in his brain rose to a feverish pitch, and—in a crazed moment that he was sure he might regret later—Jinyi reached out a hand and quickly swiped the murky liquid across the exact opposite side of his robes, and then shuddered with shock at his own actions.
If he could not be clean—at least let him be symmetrical.
This creature was certainly entertaining at the very least. Perhaps even appealing? Redemptive of its dubious fertilising quality, if Virosa decided violence was in order - and certainly tolerant of its interrogative prodding. Not charismatic enough to dissuade its attention on his own, unfortunately.
But the flash of the bags did. It tracked them with precision, jaw slowly opening, apathetic to the brand names. The sudden movement pulled the trigger, and it seized both bags in two loud snaps. The branch underneath wobbled and squealed its complaint.
The odd parsels popped in its mouth, flavourless and hard to chew. The insides were dry and crunchy, unlike anything Virosa had previously experienced. It was attempting to determine its opinion on the flavoured dust - strong was the only word coming to mind.
Its attention returned to Jinyi, noting the now symmetrical stain on his other side. Ah.
Now it could confront it on this, and there was a chance it'd be wrong. But. "Ohh. Sorry. I leak. I can... Try and..." it raised a palm, and placed it gently, slowly, where the the oil had fallen onto him. Obviously, its attempts could only smear it. "Ohh. Maybe... Hmmm." Virosa squinted, leaning forward, apparently unaware of the drops of inky black delicately making impact across Jinyi's side.
The branch was beginning to grow an odd, creeping ivy at frightening speeds, enveloping the area around them both. Virosa held hope this would strengthen the branch and elongate the time they had together. :)