(Thanos Voice) Fine. I'll do it myself.

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 - "I will finish this NOW."

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. "How do I get rid of you," she grumbled under her breath as she nudged a white leaf around.

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. Ah, she's here to clean more. Perhaps this is a good opportunity. He swished his tail through the leaves and cleared his throat, so he wouldn't alarm her.

"I may be able to help." When the Overseer looked up, he turned his head back towards the Sanctuary. It pained him to have to use its safety like a weapon, but he was growing desperate. "Back there...the mold can't pass. It dies, even if you bring it in yourself. If you take it there, you can be rid of it."

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.

"Okay. I'm listening." And listen she did, glancing at where he looked with interest. She hadn't put too much into the sanctuary, they named, figuring it was just Rift's home that he protected carefully. But if there was truly some kind of force, there, that killed the fungus...then it would be incredibly useful.

"Clever. I assume that you've already started doing that." Her mind was working quickly. While she didn't really need Rift's help for anything further, it might go quicker with him along. So she figured she might as well share what she had quickly come up with. "It'll be a waste of time to carry it manually all the way over there. If I could just get something hollow..." Her eyes roamed to the side, a large tree covered in mold. Hm. That would work.

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. "I started, but yeah it hasn't been very-" well he was planning on explaining how yes it was inefficient but it was better then nothing, but the valkhound suddenly turned from him and threw herself against a tree.

Horror spread across his face as he realized she was trying to knock it down. "What are you doing?!" he shrieked, jumping away from the branch he was on, too close to the tree as it was. He felt the tree's pain like it was his own as it simply tumbled to the ground, destroyed. He balked at where it had fallen, confused and hurt.

"Wh-why?! We could have cleansed it!" He rushed down to the floor, right at the base of the tree where the broken stump lay and pressed his paws on it, trying to surge magic through the wood to grow the tree once again, but in his worry and rush, it rebelled and backfired. Rift found bark beginning to crawl up his legs, rooting him briefly to the ground. He hissed in frusteration and glared up at the Overseer, trying not to show her that he was, well, stuck. "Now what? Did you just do that for fun or something?"

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. "To use it, obviously! We're going to pack the fungus inside of here and ill drag it over to your sanctuary. Everything in it, immediately dead. Easier then carrying it all piece by piece."

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.

"There," she said with a snort. "Now, if you want to help, pile it in, alright? You can regrow your tree later!"

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. "Alright," was really all he offered.

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.

Not...in this life, at least. He could vaguely remember a time when it wasn't this way. He hoped he could return it again and see it with his own eyes, and not half-remembered from a distant memory.

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. "You don't approve? That's just too bad. If we did it your way, we've be under Order's thumb for endless cycles while it keeps regrowing and regrowing. Unless that's what you want."

She leveled herself back on the ground. "Plants can be regrown. Better to tear them out - or burn them - to allow new growth, wouldn't you agree?"

He shrugged, lobbing more mushrooms into the log. "Maybe. I can't help it, though. I've spent my life guarding the Sanctuary. I love nature more then anything else. It hurts to see it destroyed."

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. "This stuff isn't natural though. It doesn't belong here and has thrown off the balance. Lots of sick Lessers. Plants are sick." He carefully sliced the mushrooms off of the tree and flung them into the tree. "You're right, though. It'll grow back."