So many cycles had passed since the purple gemstone had settled into the depths of Eridanus, somewhere up in the trees, nestled within the branches. It was quite large, relatively, but more tall then wide, almost slab-like in its shape. Probably because it held a gigantic sleeping fairyfly, whose wings could not bend.

Consciousness returned to the bug in a sudden rush and she was seeing fractals of purple and pink from behind the prison of her gemstone. Oh...she hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep for so long!! Her spindly legs, which had been curled up around her thorax, stretched, pushing delicately along the walls of the chrysalis, and that was all it needed to break open, shattering like glass around her, the pieces falling to the floor of the jungle.

Immediately, she fell a few inches, but she was quick - she snagged the branch the gemstone had been fused to, wings fluttering to keep her steady, and looked down.

She thought she was going to see Eridanus as it had been when she was last awake - lush, beautiful, peaceful. But what she awoke to was a jungle overtaken by white - fungus everywhere, strings of its stretched across the trees. Some of it was destroyed, obvious char and burn marks like scars across the forest, but the fungal infestation was far more concerning.

Fairy gasped, horrified. "Oh, oh dear!! Oh no no no no, this is terrible!" She wasn't sure what else to do, so she fluttered down to the floor, making sure she wasn't touching the white stuff as she landed, and then reached forward with a single leg to poke and prod at a bulbous white mushroom. It immediately burst, throwing up a puff of spores.

"EUGH!!" She startled back, fluttering her wings to keep the spores from getting all over her. "Oh, gross! Bad! Very bad!"

This place was kind of dumb- There were lots a plants, yes, and plants.. The plants were amazing! But it was all coated in an icky whit substance, that after Andy's paw touched once, he has been doing his best to avoid. What even was this- Spider silk? It was dumb.

He walked along quickly, with a pep in his step, ad he hopped over white tendrils and dense plant life. He paused as he saw... What was that, a huge bug? Gross. Bugs were gross. He shook his head, continuing his straight walk, planning to walk right past the massive insect- Seemed harmless.

"speaking" and thoughts
Trashy code by ✨ ME ✨

The giant butterfly was at a bit of a loss of what to do. What had happened to Eridanus in her absence?! They were going to build a village here, right? With homes and stables and a welcoming community! Had it happened while she was away? Oh, she hoped they hadn't been destroyed or chased off or anything!

A snap of a twig alerted her to movement and her attention turned to the sight of something wandering in the trees a way off. Usually, it would have blended in well against a backdrop of brown and green, but now everything stood stark and obvious against the blanket of white. Fairy did not hesitate and turned towards this stranger - at last, someone to explain what had happened!

"Ohhhh, hello! Yoo-hoo!!" She waved her antennae as she skittered forward, delicate legs very carefully stepping in places without the fungus present as she made to catch up with the civet. "Excuse me! Do you know what happened here? What is this icky white stuff!"

@Andlát

The civet yelped, turning towards the giant bug. He couldn't help but make a disgusted expression as the thing spoke to him. His paws stumbled over one another, white tendrils strangling his paws and legs. He turned his disgust away from the woman and too his legs, which he frantically shook.

"I- I don't know! Help!"

He yipped as he reached his mouth down to remove them. He hesitated- Maybe putting this stuff in his mouth wasn't the best idea.

"speaking" and thoughts
Trashy code by ✨ ME ✨

The fairyfly froze in place when the civet turned and yelped in shock, wings fluttering behind her to stop her momentum. Oops, she hadn't meant to scare them! "Hey, its okay darling, I'm not going to hurt you! Shhh, shhh, its okay." She waved her front legs towards him as if to motion for him to settle down, but to someone not a huge fan of bugs, it probably looked a little frightening. But she at least didn't advance any further, especially upon realizing how little this thing was. It was a kid!

"Oh, look at you!" she couldn't help but croon, "You are so little and cute! I am sorry for scaring you." It was a little hard to tell where she was looking at exactly, with the gigantic eyes and all, but her attention flitted down to his paws. "Oh, are you stuck? I wouldn't...put your mouth on that stuff. I don't think its good." She tried to lift it with magic, but, fresh out of her chrysalis as she was, it didn't listen to her commands.

She held her front legs out, pausing and waiting a moment, halfway between her and the civet's paws. "Will you let me help you?"

@Andlát

Andy grimaced as the thing spoke to him. He wasn't very fond of insects, especially talking sentient ones, but she felt kind and caring enough, so he nodded with a slight whimper. He shuffle forwards, leaning his head away from the bug and its many legs, keeping its paws close by.

"Yes, please. Can you get it off?"

His tail quivered behind him, as did his voice. The stuff felt stocky.. Gross. It clung to his fur like a parasite. It almost wrapped around his paws like a cast.

"What is it?"

"speaking" and thoughts
Trashy code by ✨ ME ✨

Fairy's wings quivered behind her in joy that the creature was letting her help. "Of course I can, dearie!" She tried again to tug them off mentally, but same result - magic wasn't cooperating with her at the moment so she resigned herself to getting them off manually. Stick-like legs reached forward and gently began pulling at the threads of fungus around the civet's legs, the tiny otherwise harmless claws trying to hook into them and pull them free without scratching up their unfortunate victim.

It would be a little strange, a little uncomfortable, and Fairy was a little awkward - her legs were really not made for such fine, dextrous movements, but she did her best. She talked while she worked, to at least try to keep the obviously uncomfortable gembound's mind elsewhere. "Hm, I'm not sure! I was going to go find somebody to ask! I only just woke up, you see, and it gave me such a fright! What a state this place is in, oh its horrible! It was much cleaner when I was last awake, all green and lush and beautiful! Lots of pretty flowers!" She sighed softly. "But, anyways, what's your name, sweetheart? You look like you are fairly new yourself!"

@Andlát

“ I thought it would be clean too-”

Andy paused, as the spindly threads almost completely gave way to his tiny, cat-like, clawed paws. He jerked away from the butterfly, shaking the last bits off hurriedly, and planting his paws firmly wide spread and apart from the spores.

“Sorry- I’m Andy. You call me Andy. Who are you?”

"speaking" and thoughts
Trashy code by ✨ ME ✨

@Fairy

Eventually, enough of the fungal threads came off the civet that it could tear itself free and Fairy retracted her legs, although she held up a stray piece in front of her eyes so she could look at it a little closer, intrigued. "Wow, so gross! Ugh, if only I could, like, do something about it!" But alas, the spells she had at her disposal were almost purely cosmetic. This wasn't particularly a bad thing, but it was very unhelpful in the current situation.

Her attention flitted back to the kid and she quickly flicked off the remaining white stuff from her tarsal claw and settled back, antennae reaching forward as she fully observed the kid, learning his scent, remembering his name, all that fun stuff. "Oh, what a lovely name! I'm Fairy, delighted to meet you!" Front legs raised a bit and softly waved, a strange gesture of joy and excitement to mark the meeting of a new friend. "How long have you been around, Andy? Any juicy gossip you've heard or seen? I'd love to hear anything, I don't know how long I was asleep for!"

@Andlát

The pair of gembound talked for a little while longer, but Fairy could tell she was wearing on the younger one's patience. Ah, that was okay! Not everybody really understood true beauty. She considered leaving some of her pretty dust behind so he could be more convinced, but she remembered someone telling her to be careful with that stuff. Not that she understood why.

She fluttered off after saying her goodbyes, anxious to leave this cave. It had been her home for a while, but not with all this nasty white stuff! Ugh! She would have to find someone that could enlighten her a little more.

*exit due to inactivity (and character death)