Mossie dipped her head, trying not to show how the praise made her puff up with pride. "I love fungi," she declared. "I've dedicated my life to fungal magic. Those Order-loving assholes have No Right to be using fungi to be Not Cool! It's rude as hell."

Her ears flicked at the question. "I'm Mossie," she said. "Not much interesting about me--not yet, anyway. What's your names? You're such interesting creatures! I've never seen anyone like you before." As she waits on their answer, she pads around to the other side of the tree, trying to draw more fungi from the moss. The Order fungi only waved tauntingly in the wind.

"Fuck off, fungi," she spat.

@Adenium

It pondered Mossie's declaration of love for fungus. "I guess its pretty cool. I'm more of a plant guy." She didn't hate fungus, she just hadn't... given it much thought. Her opinion was, or had been, generally positive and non-committal - but Order was doing a good job at giving the creatures a bad name. Speaking of -

"'Order-assholes?' You know what - who did this?" They felt something rise in their throat again. Had this been a conscious choice? A decision to infect and destroy what had been feeding and sheltering hundreds? Adenium wasn't sure having something tangible to direct that anger towards was better for her.

"Adenium Elenya." She let the latter comment pass with a smile - she wasn't sure how to respond. She continued work, ripping away at the strands again.

@Sprig

Sprig thought that this cat who had now introduced herself to be named "Mossie" was using some very strong words. But since it was referring to who, or what, had turned the forest white, he thought it was fitting. Not that he would ever say such things out loud himself. Good thing she put his thoughts into words.

"I'm Sprig." the lion replied, but added nothing else. He too was curious about the question Adenium posed. What did Mossie know about all this? Sprig used his claws to rip at a chunk of fungus, feeling a satisfyingly large piece come off.

@Mossie

"Adenium Elenya and Sprig," she says slowly. "Neat names!" Not nearly as neat as Mossie, but you can't replicate perfection.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Mossie asked, drawing her paws against the moss once more and focusing, trying to rip the perverted fungi from the substrate. "Order...those weird white guys that spread these fungi on Lessers and undergrowth. When I was looking for Purpose in Canis, I saw them fighting some strange creatures--Chaotic creatures, I think. They were trying to spread their grossness all over Canis, too!"

Her ears flattened mournfully. "I think they succeeded. It's a shame, Canis had a real neat graveyardpunk vibe. Now there's just weird zombies."

@Adenium

"I see." It settled on. It did not, not really; It did not understand the selfishness this act took. But understanding better what had caused it... That was good, she thought (she hoped). The fact that eridanus was not the only one affected, it made the pit in her insides widen. So much more work to do... Hopeless. This was hopeless.

No, they couldn't think that. They refocused on the task, picking more and more fungus away - but the force they applied only damaged the sapling further. They realised their efforts had killed the thing, and they let out a quiet "urghhh."

The cat, Mossie, was a good distraction at least. "You are very, uh... Full of words." Graveyardpunk was definitely an adjective she was new to.

@Sprig

"Thank you." he never really thought too much about his name, or another names either. But now that he was, Sprig figured that it was rather fitting. He had plant magic, and like growing plants. Sprig was indeed a very good name. "There's so many infected caves... I wonder if we'll ever be able to cure them all." There were other gembounds that resided in other caves. He couldn't imagine just how disruptive Order was and how many lives it affected. Even in just this one cave, the fungus had uprooted so many.

His magic reached out to bend down another branch, ripping off the fungus that was tangled up within it. Sprig was glad that Mossie seemed to like to talk. It helped distract him from much darker and sadder thoughts. But he mostly kept to himself, allowing the other two gembounds to talk as he toiled.

@Mossie