ARTIO

THE PLANT MASTER

Master Artio offered The Chorus a nod at their explanation, and then dismissed her attention after a lingering thoughtful glance. It was interesting, this one's nature, but so were the others: a floating miniature planet was just as unique. Her concern--that one might be a spy--was alleviated, and thus she watched them go.

That wasn't to say she left them entirely to their own devices. She was, after all, making this a competition, and so she circled Eridanus slowly as they worked.

She came to Maw's group first, and they were working so hard it might take them a moment to realize she had arrived: silent as a barely whispered breeze, her bark-like flesh and leafy form blended perfectly with the trees that ringed the clearing around The Eyes. She observed them, noting with approval Maw's cunning leadership, the plan that formed. Larkspur's use--on Maw's suggestion--of their wings, as a strength, spreading seeds from the air. And the natural inclination of Marigold to excavate the best spots in the soil. Whether she knew it or not, Marigold was picking the earth with the best nutrients, the strongest network of supportive life, the best-drained dirt.

The faintest thread of magic spread from her observatory position, and infused the seeds that the trio was spreading, ensuring that they'd take and grow--strong, fast and vibrant, over the next few days, unless the Gembounds used magic to speed the process. "Well done. Continue," Master Artio announced, from her place in the shadowed trees, and then slid away into the forest.

Current Scores:

Rift, Titanite & Clementine: 26
Maw, Larkspur & Marigold: 42
Fahl, Chorus & Calamity: 35

The next post will take place on September 8th!

@Rift (Chorus) @Titanite @Clementine @Maw @Larkspur @Marigold @Fahl @Calamity

Clementine lifted her eyes rather than her head as she was spoken to, flashing Rift an apologetic smile. "Oh, yes. I'm okay," she hummed as if weighing up her options before speaking again. "It just hurts sometimes."

With a sigh as if she were bracing herself, Clementine rose to her feet once again, though her head noticeably drooped towards the floor. "Oh-- Actually, you could help by telling me what to do. Are any of these bad plants?" Her gaze also briefly turned to where Titanite was working, "I don't know if I know how to do mushrooms either..." she murmured sheepishly, her ears drooping somewhat.

"All I really know is this..." Clementine finished before steeling herself to keep her head facing upwards as she loosened the soil with her hooves, creating a few more divots for seeds and spores to rest in. They were all different shapes and sizes, likely on account of keeping her gaze on the horizon and thus her tusks out of the way, along with her wavering strength.

But she toddled on with the work, only wilting once she felt she'd completed this new row.

His eyes caught the drooping of her neck and noted something to himself. "Ah, I see. When this is done, I can make a poultice, if you'd like?" He tilted his head, thinking. "It wouldn't cure it, but it should bring some kind of relief." Yes, some mint leaves perhaps, maybe some peppers mashed together. Or perhaps chewing on some poppy. He could offer her some help.

"This is perfectly fine," he replied, genuinely. "Here, I've grown some stuff that should drop fruits and seeds. If you could start distributing them, I'll get them growing." He showed her how, taking one of the fruits and breaking it open to reveal the seeds within and burying the whole thing in the plowed earth she created. "The flowers and ferns you just shake over the ground, they should drop seeds themselves."

His paw patted the earth over the fruit and called the seeds to begin growing - small shoots began to push up through the soil, leafy young plants emerging from the ground.

He glanced back at Titanite and gave an approving nod, although he hadn't noticed the lack of mushrooms. "That will be good. If there's any remnants of the Hive around here, hopefully that should clear it."

The rat nodded to Fahl. "We will. But if you should accidentally cut our threads, do not feel guilt. We regrow quickly." It was almost with amusement, and perhaps someone, somewhere, could take it as a statement of arrogance, that no one creature could hope to damage them on accident when their network was so vast across the entire cave.

Meanwhile, they continued to do what they did best. However, they paused for a moment, deciding to grow some other species as well, to contribute to the diversity. Small networks that posed no threat to them, that they could manage like a shepherd to their sheep.

Shelf mushrooms began to grow along some old growth that had rotted under Mother's control. Perhaps when that fungus was done devouring the ruin, they would in turn devour the fungus. All things grow and eat, grow and be eaten.

So, they'd dropped all the seeds they'd carried with them. What now? The idea of going back for more seemed like a lot of trouble, and Larkspur thought it might be better to take good care of what was already here anyway. Seeds liked water, and though Eridanus was already pretty wet overall it couldn't hurt to give them an extra head start?

Larkspur swooped toward the nearest patch of earth they'd just seeded, alighting on a twig sticking up from a fallen log. With the encompassing humidity in the air, they wondered if they could simply draw some water out from the air itself—but after a long, awkward period of concentrating very hard, all they could manage was a few drops of water. Almost certainly not enough to 'properly' water the seeds. Larkspur's wings twitched, air ruffling through the feathertips, and they began to brainstorm other ideas.

Accidental self-inflicted injury

The trenches completed as best as an iguana lacking agricultural experience could manage, the obvious next step was moving on to the actual process of planting. While the others busied themselves with their tasks, Fahl kept to his own spot, setting seeds into the exposed earth. Any living thing desired space to exist and grow; therefore, he spaced them apart, mindful of their future root systems. Then, once finished with this, he brushed soil back over each row created by his claws and patted it down. If not for the telltale indentations left by his toes, the land might as well have never been disturbed by the digging of moments before.

He stared down at his work, far from complete. The seeds would need water. And hadn't Artio also mentioned something about providing warmth as well? The second, he supposed would certainly be something well within his capability if his magic could penetrate the soil. Or maybe both could be done at once: warmed water could be offered to the plants-to-be. The issue would be carrying it here since he was incapable of conjuring such sustenance in a reasonable amount. A vessel, however crude, was needed.

Stripped bark came to mind immediately, carefully carried within jaws, but it failed to be a great solution. Harm to trees while restoring the rest of Eridanus, after all, seemed quite against the spirit of the task. Fahl hummed, and his eyes drifted toward his front foot.

Or perhaps he could make his own bark and strip that instead. The pain would perhaps be less if he waited a little while for the covering to loosen on its own as the magic behind it weakened. A potentially stupid idea, but he'd rather try that than risk incurring a Master's displeasure over inflicting additional damage to the surroundings. He focused upon the curved underside of his foot and guided a strand of magic to the region.

The gravest of mistakes. Later intent bled into the actual spellcasting to the point that the little strand entirely misinterpreted its purpose. Where bark should've manifested, scales peeled away in a single thick sheet, exposing raw flesh. Fahl's sharp teeth bit away the agonized scream building on his tongue. His mind was a blur of unvoiced curses, and jagged white stripes formed upon his back in response to the sudden horrifying loss.

CALAMITY

so all the things can grow

Calamity kept mostly kept to itself as it worked, although it did keep an eye on it's other two team-mates- mostly so it could avoid interfering with their work. Calamity was large, clumsy, and often a bit unaware of it's surroundings- much like a bumblebee. It didn't want to bulldoze through any healthy foliage, or crush The Chorus's new fruiting bodies.

It wasn't really sure what was happened at first, just that the iguana had stopped digging. But then it sensed the blood, and the sheet of skin peeling away from flesh. It let out a low, horrified rumble and drifted slightly closer- still keeping quite a bit of distance.

@Fahl

It was their group that Master Artio chose to shadow, the brief flicker of panic in Marigold at sudden, unexpected company smothered utterly by growing, cautious pride. Yes, she was doing a great job. Eridanus was her home, after all - and her only point of real stability, at the moment.

Thank GOD she'd slept through the infestation.

Larkspur's spell sputtered and failed, though Marigold couldn't know exactly what had happened. She stared at the little bird for a moment, struggling to form an independent thought.

The holes had been dug. Now what?

Blank eyes bore into Larkspur's feathers, waiting.

@Larkspur (interaction)

Titanite stared, for a time, at his bark-like talons.

His magic, he thought, hadn't work. Rift was speaking in approval, and an unexpected (albeit thankfully small) wave of shame rippled through him.

"I have failed," he declared, in a near-whisper, and it sounded like he'd somehow damned the universe to utter destruction instead of messed up a low-intensity fungal growth spell. It also sounded like he was on the verge of tears, which for a massive Vargas-like tree-beast might've been hilariously comic if one were totally devoid of empathy.

He took a rasping breath, splaying those talons back out over the dirt, and gathered his focus as best he could. No. I can do this. I will contribute. I will not fail.

After a moment, two things flowed from Titanite: a small spread of visible, fruiting bodies (nothing spectacular: just little brown button-type mushrooms, visibly not white Ordered fungus) and a tremble of relief. He looked to Rift. "-I have not failed," he rasped.

Crisis averted?

Without much extraneous effort, Maw’s teammates took to their roles like fish to water. Speaking of water, in very little time, the next step would be to water these seeds. It was genuinely impressive how fast these two had been at seed spreading and hole digging. Now, it was Maw’s turn to do what she did best.

Maw would attempt to summon forth enough water from the atmosphere and the Eyes to form a rain cloud large enough to spread across the area they had planted.

Dang. It just barely managed to cover it all. Not her best work, but any work at all in her domain was functional. Emuh was no swindler.