It had slipped from its chrysalis in silence, save for the chattered plans it had for substrate. Like most Valkhounds, true ones, that is, Virosa cared little for explanations, words and specifics. It knew innately what must be done, practiced it for cycles before.

It'd begun work cultivating its own little patch of rot closer to home, a project restricted by the space it must share with others unlike it. Virosa didn't mind the crowd. Some places needed a diversity of growth to survive, yes, natural order is a close companion to entropy. It should be welcomed.

When it managed to spread through every corner and crevice of the caves, it would promise to maintain an uncorrupted patch here and there. It was not a despot.

In Eridanus it would be absent of such considerations. Free, unrestricted cultivation, weeds to remove, crops to plant in their place. But preparations were in order - the long journey had left it dangerously parched. It sprinted to the twin pools at the sight of water, slamming its head as it swallowed water in noisy, drowning gulps. Oil gurgled upwards to the water's surface in bubbles, threatening to pollute it further.

Tectus was exhausted. Not for any reasons of "working herself ragged", in fact it was the opposite. The exhaustion that came with inactivity. An excess of rest and boredom that had been born from the quieting of the caves for a while.

She, too, had felt the pull of hibernation, but she had resisted, terrified that she would find herself sleeping for another few hundred years or more again. No, she intended to remain awake. Awake and active, until her job was completed.

Her forces, though...she didn't know where many of them even were. Frustrating...but not an end of the line. Eridanus was so close, so close to being cleansed. It was time she finished up the last on her own. Might as well.

Heading back into Eridanus, she found the infected places and began to rip fungus out as she went - if she saw white, it was swiftly met with long claws tearing deep into the ground, ripping off the barks of trees, tearing off leaves and flowers and grasses that had been taken, tossing all into a pile - she would deal with it all in one go. But not long into her destructive mission, she noticed the black splatter of Oil upon the ground, a trail leading further into the forest. A valkhound here?

She paused her task and followed, ears listening and detecting the sound of splashing. Perhaps at the Eyes. Indeed, as she pushed through the forest and emerged before the twin pools, she laid eyes upon something so jet-black it may have been a shadow. Her gaze flicked to the pool, where corruption was already spreading, and wondered if Artio would take offense. "I would be careful," she rumbled. "The Master of these woods has made it clear we were not to destroy the uninfected parts. Are you one of Master Vargas's?" She figured it was, but she hadn't seen this one yet. A newer design, maybe.

@Virosa

Overseer Tectus was a large, pink blur in its peripheral vision, as its focus did not break away from the water it drank from. With several loud gulps, it thought itself satisfied, pulling its head from the Eye finally. It left a deep, dark stain in the pool.

Virosa shook itself of the excess, smattering oil and muck on the flora surrounding, then finally looked to The Overseer. It chirred in friendly greeting. "The Master of these woods is not mine." it chittered playfully. "Yes, Master Vargas is my creator. "

Aware that this was a figure of some authority, it thought to justify itself more concretely. Punishment would disrupt it. "...Common goals. Excess will be tolerated, until the disease is removed. I am thorough, that is all." It's jaw snapped erratically as it spoke, biting out its syllables as if overexcited.

"Overseer, yes? You've been mentioned."

@Tectus

She glanced down at the eyes as they filled with black oil, and she couldn't help but snort. Perhaps if Farina still lingered in the pools, she'd snap this poor valkhound in half for corrupting her home without question. Thankfully, she doubted the master would ever return to her prison, and might even spit in them alongside the oil now filling their depths.

"You should respect all of them. They are all your Masters. They will not question "if you are theirs" if they find you to be defiling what they protect." She tried not to be...too annoying and doting about the rules, but it would be a damn shame for something so promising to get murdered by Artio for something so foolish.

She shrugged, trying to be more casual. "Not trying to tell you what to do but just warning you. She has already threatened to kill anyone that harms the uninfected parts of the forest." Artio had definitely seemed...high strung when they'd visited. If that damn opal hadn't opened his big stupid mouth.

"But whatever. You're here to clean it out, right? Order?"

@Virosa

Virosa began to make its way to the remaining patches of Order it'd spotted. Food would come later, as the infested fruits wouldn't do it much good. They'd taste awful, too.

It blinked, side-eyeing the Overseer as she attempted to correct it's thinking. It held it's tongue, even if the words chafed. Defiling. As if it was tainting the world just by existing. Do weeds defile a garden, or do they simply grow? Its irritation rippled down its skin, dislodging a few dead leaves.

"She will thank me when I'm done." Virosa dragged its feet where it walked, smearing the white fungus underneath. Slowly, black tendrils began to twist through the growth. It would wither completely in time, though the health of the foliage underneath was yet to be seen.

"And I will return to the Forge when it is done. In my absence, it will adapt. Recover. I'm sure she will understand. It is my purpose."

@Tectus

She was really trying her best to speak her sense into the valkhound, but she couldn't tell what it was thinking. Ugh...she knew that she worked for Rrevalk and all, but some of these corrupted beasts were even harder to work with then the gembound. Ah, she missed the days when they had respect, when they knew their place...things were much simpler.

She walked alongside Virosa (hoping that her presence was at least welcome enough for this task) occasionally pausing to scourge her claws over the infested trees, ripping away the infection where she saw it and tossing it into the places that Virosa corrupted so that they, too, would wither.

"Yeah, I told her something similar," she sighed. "We wanted to burn the whole forest and let it regrow but that was out of the question. I don't understand her thinking sometimes, but I don't question. She is..." she shivered a bit, thinking of the Master's wrath. "Someone to respect." All of the Masters were, of course, but there was something about Master Artio that demanded more respect then, say, Nemean. If she threatened to kill for harming her forest, then she would kill, no doubt.

"Not trying to dispute your purpose. You're doing well. I would rather drown these caves in Oil then see Order thrive." Pure honestly there, although she would rather that not happen either. But it was a far more favorable option then the Hivemind taking over and getting smited by the Creator. Yeah...

@Virosa

Virosa purred in thought. "Burning... Refreshes the soil for new growth. Would've been ideal." It agreed, snuffling the ground below it and pecking at the decay it'd left, as if preening it. It considered diversifying briefly, but its own fungus would not be ideal for an area expecting civilian traffic. Save it for later.

"But it would destroy all life still living. Extinction, maybe. Would give Order better soil, more room to infest, should they return. Its nature is fragile, where Order is not. We are stronger than both, but... Unappreciated."

"I wouldn't drown. Just spread." It planted a palm on a rock, withering away the white that smothered it. "Control. Foster. Places for me, places for them. Cycles. Balance."

@Tectus

Yes, she had thought so as well - even if the forest burned, it would regrow stronger. And they had been willing to help it along! But alas, they had to make do. Their patches of burned forest had already regrown, yet still there was more forest left infected.

"Yes, it would have been devestating. But we had the fauna cleared out. And something about seeds and roots beneath the sooil still there. Agh, no use in complaining over what's done." She spoke nothing of the Task Force's current inactivity - that was her own deal at the moment to solve. She watched Virosa further spreading corruption and did the same as before, slicing the fungal matter from trees and plants with sharp claws, although one slice went too far into a tree and she grabbed her arm back quickly. Shit...well, she carefully peeled just a bit of the mold away instead of the whole swath of stuff, tossing it to die on the rock with the rest.

"Cycles and balance...indeed, that would be ideal. Corruption has its place here, and unfortunately yes. Underappreciated. Feared. It should not be - we are children of the Creator, after all. Gembound have forgotten when these caves were of Chaos." The good old days... "Would you like to see those days again?"

@Virosa

"Trading old growth for seeds is difficult." It pointed out, as it continued to sow its own. Virosa was addressing a particularly thick patch of the infection now, sinking their claws delicately into the cloud-like fluff. It almost enveloped its hand.

"We have better ways. Slower, but gentler. Important for healthy development." It coaxed the corruption from its palm, tracing lines through the fungus, showing it the best way forward in the only language it knew. "Nothing worse than a harvest too early."

It reflected briefly on The Gravedigger, and its fate in the world above. Would Virosa follow it there?

"If Gembound remembered... If they understood, then I would not exist, and there would be no work. No struggle. No life."

@Tectus

Trading old growth for seeds is difficult. Tectus almost laughed at that, not because it was foolish but because it felt like a metaphor for her own existence. How difficult it had been to adapt to a new way of life. How difficult the caves must have found the change from the old ways to the new...

"Yes...but it gives the Hive more time to bring their infection back. Although I suppose that would be more for you to do. Do you enjoy the work you've been given?" She took a long look at it - it certainly seemed that way, the methodical way it spoke, the almost artistic way it turned rot into ruin.

She did chuckle a bit at its assumption, though. "Hmm...I wouldn't say that. Order exists far beyond these caves. You would have been created, one way or another. Perhaps your work would be...different. If the old ways had never died, you might have been out there fighting at the Creator's side. A worthy life, I think." And she would always be here, overseeing the next generation of valkhounds, ensuring their creation was functional and efficient. To never see beyond the walls, to never know of anything else.

She turned back to the tree, continuing to slice the mold away, extracting cords of mycelia carefully from within the tree.

@Virosa