Tectus figured that the amount of time that the fungal infection had lasted now was properly reflecting quite poorly on her. She had, after all, been PERSONALLY tasked by the Hand to discard of it. And while they had certainly done some excellent work in that regard, it was still around and she had not been able to chase the last of it away.
She had been awake for a couple of years now and yet it still lingered. The first task she had been given was STILL not complete. So, frustrated, she strode into Eridanus herself and promised -
She didn't get far in when she reached where it was already starting to cling to barks and leaves. The Overseer wasted no time, reaching up with sharp claws and swiping away at some of the infected plants that dripped with mold. After a few moments, the leaves had been shed, but that left her with a problem. How to actually dispose of them?
She paused and stood over them, frustrated.
He wasn't actively cleaning at the moment, but Rift, too, desired Eridanus cleansed. He had made it clear to the Hive that they were not welcome here - this cave was one he was determined to protect. It was his home, it was many Lessers' homes, and while he held no ill will towards Mother and her Drones, he would work to clean it up.
And he had figured out a quite...clever solution to his problem. The Arborspire's limits didn't allow the fungus to pass. Even existing growths that were brought in quickly withered into dust in the sight of the opalized tree. But alone, it had been slow work. He had asked the Shepherd to help, but the guardian feared a forest fire - his flames would be used for intruders upon their lands, and gembound that posed an active danger.
It was a bit frustrating, but Rift had to agree. Another fire wasn't...really what he wanted to unleash. He'd spent enough time coaxing growth from the last.
But in the midst of his tending, he felt a rumbling through the forest and looked through the trees - he spotted the familiar mass of the Overseer in the distance, and immediately took to the trees to approach. He stopped on the branches overhead (although she was so large he was barely a few feet above her) and watched her mull around her own problem.
Tectus looked up to see that green lion again, the one that had kind of helped them during the fire. She peered at him curiously, running through her head what she knew about him so far - some kind of Eridanus protector, as he named himself, he wanted the Order gone as much as the rest of them did, perhaps even more, and he generally seemed nonviolent. Not a threat to her, perhaps an ally.
She suddenly shoved her shoulder into the tree, slamming it once, twice, three times with all her might until there was a screeching sound as the wood began to give way and the tree, fungus, mold, and all, fell to the ground. TIMBERRRRR
Rift shrugged at her logic.
Horror spread across his face as he realized she was trying to knock it down.
Tectus snorted, amused at Rift's dismay. It was only a tree, and one threaded so deeply with infection that it probably would never be cleansed.
She braced her claws on the top of the fallen log and began to scourge deep wounds with her thick claws that were perfect for the job. While they worked better on earth and stone, it was not such a huge leap for them to function as well on wood.
After about a minute of carving and digging, with quite a large pie of sawdust surrounding her, Tectus had cut out a deep pit into the tree that would hold a good amount of the fungus and mold they collected.
He frowned as he watched her, hating to admit that she'd had a pretty damn good idea. IT still didn't make him happy but...whatever. As long as it helped get this place cleaned up faster.
He noted her claws and figured she had the external stuff covered, so he walked over to a nearby tree and pressed a paw to it, reaching in to draw out the mycelia into blooming. Large fluffy white mushrooms grew from the bark, which he quickly and easily sliced off, careful to use his claws to toss them into the hollow log.
Not that he was very concerned about getting infected. He could cleanse it easy - the Overseer as well.
Tectus watched him for a moment and then got to work herself, beginning to strip some of the bark and leaves of their mold. Her large claws weren't quite suited for the fine-dex task of carefully removing things bit by bit, piece by piece, so she ended up slicing through large leaves of fern, taking much of the plant with her.
She didn't care, of course. But this cat, and perhaps the Master here as well.
Whatever. She had simply been told to stay away from the healthy growth. This was not healthy.
Once she had peeled a good handful, she, too, tossed it into the log.
Rift glanced back at Tectus, just as she had glanced at him, and frowned at her destruction of the forest. True, he could help it heal, and it would regrow on its own, but it still pained him a bit to see life torn apart so easily, so carelessly.
Not that this mold was any better. It had remained in these woods for far too long, choking the greenery. In fact, he had never known it without it.
From the same tree, he pulled out the remaining threads of mycelia, and a large bloom of fungal caps burst from the wood. He pulled and pulled until all of it had been forced to fruit. And then he snipped it off, tossing the large mushrooms into the tree with the rest. This tree was cleansed. Time for the next.
Not as careful as the lion, Tectus quickly got bored of careully swiping the mold from plants and began tearing handfuls of white-covered leaves, grimacing at the horrid feeling of it dripping onto her scales. Ugh...she had never really ranted to anyone properly about how gross this all was. Order itself was foul enough but the mold was just. Nasty.
She turned and dropped the leaves into the log, whiping her claws off on the wide of the wood and saw Rift glaring at her again. She snorted, growing a little irritated by his attitude.
She leveled herself back on the ground.
He shrugged, lobbing more mushrooms into the log.
His long tail flicked as he moved to the next tree over and did the same, pulling and pulling the mycelia out, forcing blooms, forcing it to purge itself from the wood.