"I am the work. Do I enjoy myself?" It went quiet for moment, but not for too long. "I think I do." It chittered to itself, at the answer to a strange question.

"Ohhh. I am young. I was not told." The full scope of its faction was also irrelevant to the task it'd been given. Microscopic in scope and focus in comparison, hyper-focused on one part of one planet - not even a planet - but it was its task, and it would do it well.

"I don't think it would be... Me. I am the work. I am this work. I am here, in this cave. Made to remove this fungus, from this cave. For this Forge. Against this Hive. If I were anywhere else. If I were doing anything else... I would not be me. I would not exist."

The corruption began to slow, the flow of magic interrupted. "And I enjoy existing." Virosa said, noticing now the lack of progress on clearing this patch. It hissed a complaint. "-Most of the time."

@Tectus

Ah...she had been mistaken on something. For some, changing forms and purposes did not change who one was on the inside. She was a prime example - her original purpose was irrelevant now. Yet she was still Overseer Tectus and she still claimed her pride and her life. But Virosa...ah, a workaholic through and through. Its work was its identity, its pride, and its life. If Order had been something different, then even then, perhaps, Virosa would not exist.

"I see. Well, then...I am glad for you that that things have aligned for you to exist. It is good to appreciate your own life. But if I may ask..." she paused as her work disturbed a nest of small mice living beneath the roots of the tree. A couple of dark-colored rodents covered in fuzzy white mold darted out of their hole and Tectus quickly reached to snatch them. Unfortunately, she was not dexterous and the tiny beasts slipped through her claws.

Annoying, but not the worst. She turned her attention back to Virosa. "We hope, one day, this work will be complete. Order will be purged from these caves and their infection will never be seen again. What would you do, if that should come to pass?"

@Virosa

Virosa paused its work often to mull over the questions Tectus passed their way, but now it was still for the longest time it would allow itself. Perhaps this was a test? She was an overseer, second to Master. Examining his work, maybe. Studying it for flaws to address in a later rendition - its spine rattled some at the undesirable thought.

Perhaps this was the cost of choosing to remain. It was sure the Gravedigger would never consider itself obsolete in its wars above. He was serving the Creator now, in life or death, whichever had come to pass in the cycles he'd been away.

"You hope." It challenged gently. With the Forge's current resources, management was far more realistic than extermination - but perhaps that was Virosa's own bias seeping in. Odd. It hadn't thought of itself as biased.

"Maybe, I'd cease to be."

The patch of fungus withered underfoot, overtaken completely.

@Tectus

Tectus snorted. "Yes. We hope." She was well aware that Order had been unpredictably tenacious. Efforts had come and gone to wipe it out, and yet here it still was, holding on with all its foul might. And, she supposed, Virosa might not want it exterminated. It had, after all, been created to fight it.

How sad it was that many of them had been created with a purpose. Once that purpose was complete, what were they?

She turned to scrape at the tree again, continuing. "Well, I hope not. We can always find more for you to do if we succeed in driving Order out. And that's a pretty big if." Another mouse darted out from the tree and this time Tectus dove for it. Her massive claws slammed right into a patch of fungus, which spat out a cloud of spores right in her face while the mouse escaped. She jerked back, trying not to inhale any of it, snarling with frustration. "Shit!"

@Virosa

"Kind of you." It noted, eyes flicking back to the Overseer, then returning to its claws just as quick.

Shit! Now Virosa's attention fully broke, and it whirled around to face Tectus at a frightening speed. It noted the spore cloud with some alarm, recognising that she was likely vulnerable to infection in ways it was not. It attempted to intercept some of the cloud with its own, but the spell did not take, and neither did its own fungus.

"Overseer. Are you alright? Infected?" It sat on its haunches, foreclaws hovering near her massive head, as if waiting to pry the fungus from her.

@Tectus

Tectus scratched at the scales around her nose with the end of a claw, trying to get the bits of spores that had gotten in out, but it was too late. She felt it. It had taken a hold of her. It was an odd sensation, like feeling the vague outline of something else intruding into the corners of her mind, but not quite there. A want to return to Hive, to become part of them. Disdain for their activities, and for the one standing next to her.

"Yes," she grumble, angrily. "Don't...do anything. You will corrupt me. I will seek out Master Astraea as soon as possible and have him remove it." He was probably lingering somewhere in Orion. She sighed. "What a pain." She snarled and swiped a claw suddenly, scourging a wound into the tree in front of her, not caring anymore about the health of the bark. But none of the strand ripped out with the bark, remaining rooted into the trunk. "I wish we could get this damn job done with already so we wouldn't have to keep worrying about it. Crawling all over it." She glanced to Virosa. "Wish we had more like you. Vigilant. Focused. And immune to this foul infection."

@Virosa

body horror

The corruption dripped slowly from its outstretched palms, dripping onto the moss below and staining it black. Virosa hung there, eager, waiting - Don't.

It leaned back, claws retracting closer to itself. "...You will be cleansed. Better to hold Corruption than Order. For only a moment." It mumbled, a little wounded. It flinched at the strike, suddenly uncertain of itself.

"Thank you, Overseer." A new plume of floral growth erupted suddenly from its chest, the roots slithering just underneath the taught skin over its ribs and collarbones. It burned unbearably, but Virosa would not acknowledge the sensation, rather sitting on its haunches politely, waiting for Tectus to take her leave.

@Tectus (planning to exit next post!)

If Tectus could smirk, she would, but that ironically-amused glint came to her eye regardless. She was taking this infection thing pretty well, all things considered. "Agreed, but corruption is far more tenacious then this. Master Astraea is nearby and will remove it easily." She eyed the sudden growth along its ribs and felt a pang of regret. Was it angry with her, or frustrated? She sighed. She wished there was a way to explain it so that it didn't sound like disgust or dislike of its natural element, but she had been instructed by multiple parties not to get infected or corrupted. Neither would be good for her.

"I'm sorry, Virosa. I didn't mean to offend you. It's simply a logical thing - Corruption can't be removed as easily as this dumb infection can. Take it as a compliment - your power far exceeds our enemies." But...she didn't want to make this any work. With a firm nod of her head, she gathered herself up and an edge of authority entered her voice again. "Sorry that we have to end it early, I enjoyed our conversation. You've given me good things to think about - you've done good work here. Please continue in my absence." Turning, she began to head out of the cave, hoping that she hadn't left it on a sour note. She would rather be allies with Vargas's creations.

On her way out, she found another mouth, covered in fungus, and in a surge of anger, crushed it under her claws. What a pain.

*exit

@Virosa

Virosa was unused to rejection. It mulled over the sting, refusing to let it seep out of its skin and embarrass itself, more than its magic had done already. Sometimes its whole body felt like an open wound.

It had thought 'cleansing' had meant chrysalis. What the Master could do was something different. It let that knowledge calm it some. This was strategic, not personal. It'd been born different, not wrong.

It nodded, remaining silent as its chest continued to burn and blossom. The petals of the new growth fell, joining the growing dark stain underneath it, the mold withering in a circle around it.

Now alone, Virosa stayed there for a time, before standing up and returning to the work.

exit/end