Giggle sat, smirking at the pup--cub?--and his reaction to the inky caps, which were even now sliding sludge-like to the floor: loosening from her fur and dripping away.
"It is gross," she agreed good-naturedly, and there was humor in her tone.
"But it can keep bigger, meaner things from biting on you."
As for Mother-? Well, perhaps she'd chosen a poor topic for one so young but it was important for him to be warned of, particularly if he were already delving into the magic so strongly.
"...It came from another place, I think. Another sort of magic. It's alive, in its own right--it has a mind of its own--but it's... stupid, really. If you aren't connected to it--influenced by it--you can read it; and all it knows is to try to... sort of clumsily convince you. Just stay away from the white fungus, and you'll be fine. Pull it out of anyone you find, too," she added,
"if you think it's safe to do." It was a horrible, horrible thing to see but she didn't need to tell him
that now.
"As to why it exists? I don't know. Believe it or not, your old Mom doesn't know everything," she added, with a playful nudge offered Bayo's way--perhaps an attempt to lighten the mood a little.
"It might just be a fungus that found a mind of its own, really. All living things have to eat other living things to survive, right? Or it might be something that someone made, far from here."
It didn't come from here, at least. Astraea sure as hell hated it.
"Anyway, let's get off that topic. It's as gross as the black mushrooms, yeah-? Is there anything else you want to talk about, while we're out here? Or to practice?" Her offer was gently patient, allowing her child to go at his own pace--to lead in his own teaching, if he wanted to (he seemed pretty aware of his own learning and energy), or to stop, if he wanted, for now.
rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr