crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September quickly shook his head. "No, it was pretty gross. I stepped on some of it, it was all sticky." He frowned, nose crinkling at the small memory. "I got out of there pretty fast. Didn't look tasty at all." Even the smell of the room had put him off of it. Like bones and dust and also like rot. Ugh.

He tried to imagine what Arsu explained, but as he'd never seen mountains and forests and fields or even a river, he didn't really have many pieces to put together to make a full picture or even a partial one. Well, it sounded nice, whatever it was. An open field sounded like something he wanted to run through at full speed. "That does sound pretty," was about all he offered in reply, although he followed it up with a question that quickly started bugging him. "But if you like it so much, why do you live here? Why not move there?"

The words "manicured" set near words like "garden" and "fields" made September frown. It sounded like someone would organize their grass in a row and stop others from munching on it, lest they ruin the perfect alignment. "Sounds real stuffy," he snorted. Nah, didn't sound like the place for him. They'd probably yell at him just for running around.

His eyes widened at the sight of the garden, quite a different sight then the rest of Orion. With glowing lights and plants that were deep, rich, healthy greens. Without another word, he stepped forward to begin grazing on some of the thicker grasses, not realizing exactly how hungry he'd been until that moment. "Will you thank Mercy for me? He sounds nice. This is nice." He managed to get some words out between mouthfuls of grass.

september

@Arsu

He settled in, curling up into a lying-down position as September began to munch away. "I lived in Eridanus, mostly, but the Hive-mold there has made it hard. My family, for the most part, lives here. They have a sort of... guardian organization, though it's loose in nature. If I lived in Pegasus I'd be quite far from them." Arsu relaxed a bit, tail flicking over his hocks as he listened.

"It is stuffy," he agreed, with a short laugh. "And yes, I will thank Mercy for you--I'll pass that on, I mean. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it helped someone."

He glanced over, watching idly. "Pegasus is something like that garden, but it's the entire cave. Eridanus, too, but Pegasus is wide-open spaces, and Eridanus is very thick with vegetation." He wasn't sure which September would prefer, really. "There's forest in Pegasus too, though, so I suppose you can have the best of both worlds, there." He glanced over, eyeing the spot September was grazing. "Let me regrow some of that for you," he suggested, a curl of magic reaching for the patch. A few of the younger shoots rapidly grew, curling upward and spreading leaves and flowers. Good, he thought; he didn't want to leave the garden too impacted by the grazing. And anyway, it was nice to give September more of the foliage he seemed to be enjoying.

Arsu fell silent, but fear laced that lapse of conversation. He didn't want to drop back into his other thoughts. So he sought something to speak about, anything to break the quiet. "So what do you think of everything so far-?" he asked. "Everything you've seen up until now?"

A sort of 'how are you liking life,' he supposed, but he'd never been the best at conversation.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September continued grazing as he listened, finding a nice bit of foliage that tasted quite nice and began to slow, going from hungry gulps to a slow munch as Arsu spoke. He had never been able to eat such luscious plants yet in his life, having went from "dry bones and rot" to "crumbling ruins". He swallowed and looked up thoughtfully at Arsu. "Hm, well. Maybe someone should do something about that." He remembered the magic he'd used against the asshole back in Canis. It had burned away fur and also the fungus, he'd discovered as he'd tested later. But if that happened then...the whole forest might burn down. How long would it take to regrow it?

He pulled back in surprise as, with a quick flick, the leaves he was eating began to suddenly regrow. He stared at it for a moment as an idea began to unfurl in his mind, just like the flowers in front of him. He was staring for a moment when he realized that Arsu had asked him a question.

"Oh! Right, it's been...well, honestly, you're the only real nice person I've met. The first guy I met that I mentioned kind of attacked me. Literally minutes after I hatched! I was being rude or something and he scratched me and I felt all weird and euphoric. It freaked me out. He said he was teaching me a lesson. Some people." He shook his head and then stood up a little straighter, turning fully towards Arsu.

"Listen, you like this Eri-dany place, right? And its filled with that white stuff? Well, that white stuff is flammable. Plants and trees even more so." A grin curled on his face. "What if we burn it down and regrow it? You know, with magic! I can do the burning, you can do the regrowing. Then you can live in a nice green place and still be close to your family."

september

@Arsu

Arsu glanced over, brow knit, at the mention of attack.

"Someone attacked you-?" he asked, shocked. A child-? Or maybe the other one, too, had been a kid..? He eyed September up and down. "Are you okay?" he asked, though the obvious answer seemed to be a 'yes.' "Can you describe them for me?" It'd be good to know, at least. To recognize, if he met them, the one who would harm a new-hatched fawn.

The fawn's suggestion, though--burning down Eridanus--rose his brows high in alarm. "No!" he responded, and then calmed some, shaking his head. "-...No. It's not a bad idea to burn away individual fungus patches. There's Gembounds working on it, all the time--there, and Canis. But there's a lot of Lessers in there, not just plants. And Gembounds who live there. And that much smoke-... It'd suffocate anyone inside, I think."

He thought about it, though. A concerted group effort wouldn't be a bad thing on its own. The sporadic attempts of individuals seemed to have hardly made a dent; that, or the fungus spread too far, too fast, to be so easily eradicated. Or both. He wasn't sure. After a moment's contemplation, he spoke again. "That being said, if you wanted to organize others in trying to purge it together, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Fire works--in moderation," he added, somewhat pointedly, "but that forest has been burned badly more than once already. There's other magics, too. Ones that can pull away the mold, or destroy it in other ways. I'm sure if you wanted, some of my family--maybe their allies--could help? I think they have a few dragons they know, and at least one works as a sort of mercenary, so you wouldn't be alone." If it was 'fire' the fawn suggested, there were plenty of allies who could make that happen. Burning the entire forest down, though--that was a step too far, to Arsu's mind. But if they gathered up those they knew? He didn't know if one so young could really organize an attempt, like that, but if he had the right allies--like the Kingdom of the Seven--well, it seemed like something his family would do.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September smirked to himself at Arsu's outrage. Good, he actually had some commense sense - unlike that guy. "Yeah, I mentioned him before. Had like navy blue skin and golden streaks all over. Walked on two legs. Arms and wings and antlers and a dragon face and gold hair." He raised a hoof and did his best to motion in an arm over his own chest. "Purple gems right here. Like a necklace." Don't ask how he knows what a necklace is.

He continued to graze, but eventually slowed enough until he felt full and satisfied, folding his legs in to sit comfortably on the ground as well. He was a little shocked at Arsu's sudden outburst, ears flicking up with surprise, but his explanation made sense. Still, September had already gotten the idea in his head. Burning the forest down was extreme, but it would probably be a quick and effective way to completely obliterate the fungus from the forest.

He tilted his head. "Well, I mean, it can't be all that bad, if the forest was burned before and it came back to life. But I get it. Smoke would be harder to control and it would be dangerous for everyone that lived there. Still," he shrugged. "I think if enough people helped, it could work. But if your family has some solid allies, I'm sure there's a way we could do it. You said...dragons? Who else? Have they been just trying alone and its not working well enough?"

september

@Arsu

That description gave Arsu pause, and his brows knit a little. Antlers..? A dragon face? It rather sounded like some of those children of Pride and Dread that came by, sometimes. They weren't humanoid, but what if they were Pride's grandchildren? Or great-grandchildren? He sure hoped they weren't part of the Seven. He struggled to find a diplomatic way to warn September of this.

"Dragons, yes. And now that you mention this stranger... there is also dragon blood in our family, from those dragons. Antlers are... common in our family, too. The rest of it doesn't sound familiar, but I will ask around. If it is someone in the Kingdom of the Seven-... Those are the protectors that my fathers are part of. If it's one of them, they should know about it." Attacking children at random was certainly not a very 'protective' thing to do.

Arsu shook his head as if to dismiss the thought, though concern remained clear on his face. He looked to September. "Ahh--alone, yes. I think so," he half-admitted. Really, he'd not been doing his part, but... he'd been distracted, as of late. "When you've eaten, if you like, I can look for one of them? Pride or Mercy--my fathers--either should be able to talk to you about what they've done there, and to organize something with you if you like? I am not always here, so they'll be better-informed," he half-explained, half-offered.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September frowned, ears flicking. How crazy was it that he would run into someone that could be related to the random guy that had attacked him at his hatching? Maybe not directly, probably like ditant cousins or something, but internally September hoped that they were related, so that this "Pride" could have a very stern and/or angry talk with that guy. Or even kick him out. That'd serve him right!

On the outside, he just nodded. "Well, if he is, I hope that's not something they'd be upset at him for. It wasn't pleasant. He has this...venom or something. When he scratched me it made me feel all loopy and weird, like I was really happy and complacent and I hated it. And then he got mad when I tried to fight back." He snorted. "Flew away real quick after that!" He failed to mention how he had initially been defensive and flippant, but that still didn't justify drugging a kid, in his opinion.

He stood up a little straighter at Arsu's suggestion. He didn't think that his idea was anything more then an idea, but it was starting to feel a little more possible. With enough gembound, maybe they could do something like this? He nodded. "Yeah, I'm done eating now. Woah, do you really wanna do this? Think we can?"

september

@Arsu

Arsu slowly stood, and then stretched in a way that seemed more catlike than deer: back arched high, neck pulled back. He yawned and nodded to September. "They might be upset. It depends," he said, not sure or willing to commit either way. He didn't know enough about the situation. "If it's exactly how you describe it? They'll probably be upset. If this stranger's even in the Seven. I don't know." Not all Pride's relatives were, Arsu himself as a prime example.

September's question about Eridanus gave him pause, and he blinked at the fawn.

"Were you not serious?" he asked, a little confused. Even on the best of days he didn't have all that much experience socializing. The spitballing ideas of a young child were no different, to him, than adult planning; he'd taken September's suggestion quite seriously. "Oh, I... imagine we can. We can likely make a dent, at least," he mused aloud, turning with a gentle clack of hooves to face him. "I'd say to speak with my father first. He might have insight I don't, and he certainly has the connections that I don't." Then he waited, ready to lead the way.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September rose a moment after Arsu, not bothering to stretch much - he'd only been sitting for a few moments and was already feeling quite invigorated again. "Doubt it. Didn't seem like the protect-y type."

Ears flicked up momentarily and his head tilted about five degrees to the left. "Well, I just kinda said it. I guess I didn't really realize how big the scope is on it. But it sounds like a good time! And if it makes you happy, then that's an even bigger plus!" He nodded. Yes, this was the perfect plan that would go 100% correctly and how he planned and he definitely would not be overwhelmed by the amount of organizing it was going to take to pull it off.

He gave a nod to Arsu. "Yeah, of course. Excited to meet your dad." And made to follow Arsu - how strange to be meeting his dad after just meeting him, but frankly, this was just all very exciting.

september

@Arsu

He doubted it. Arsu nodded, somehow relieved by this. Maybe the antlers and draconic features were a coincidence, then; he could only hope. A selfish thought, though, to worry about the state of the Seven, when this child was attacked.

That thought chastised him, and he looked to September. "Regardless, I'm sorry that it happened to you."

He began to lead the way off toward the Throne; it wasn't far from the garden, and his steps, though delicate, were of a long enough stride. He spoke as he walked. "A good time? Ah, I imagine it will be dangerous, if the forces of Order come to protect their investment," he mused aloud, then shrugged. "But as long as you've turned your plan away from burning the forest down, it isn't a bad idea at all."

The Throne was soon in sight, and he angled for it, keeping his eyes open for any sign of movement.

@September