Aure hesitated briefly, wanting to make another plea that it wasn't the champion's fault that he'd attacked Rezik, but it wouldn't particularly matter. The young King's word wasn't enough - and that was fair, he supposed. He dipped his head and conjured a small, phosphorescent ball of light. It danced and hovered in place for a moment before being directed in a back-and-forth pattern towards Opal. Darting to and fro to indicate was easier than trying to set a specific pace and concentrating on that.

Once the stag had gone off, he turned to his family, ears swiveled back, "war. He said war." Swallowing, he gave each of them a once-over, "this is all of us - except for Wilder and, and Aries. Have any of you seen them?" His feathers ruffled, and he called sharply to the rest of Canis: "Bonebound!"

His wings flexed preemptively, but he stayed rooted to the spot, looking to his mother, "we're still going to help the Children and - whoever's trapped by the fungus, but - at least we... have Astraea on our side?" It was said lioe a question, an uncertainty. Would the stag just outright kill them all? Would he leave them all in the proverbial stocks?

[calling all Bonebound!]
@Wilder @Aries

Astraea. His very voice made the eel's blood run cold.

He knew this day would come, and it finally was here. Nothing could prepare him for it. Originally, he had resigned himself to flee. Now that he had gained the Bonebound's trust, it would have been easy, but, where would that leave them? Astraea would surely have their gems then.

No, he had to stay and face the coming storm. He got them into this mess, now he had to get them out. Astraea may be cruel, but Mother- for all its deceitful sweet talk- was no better than the Masters, maybe even worse. The reality was, he needed Astraea. He was the only one who could eliminate "her".

The Opal cursed the sense of honor he picked up somewhere along the way.

_________________

The blue glow of the wisp illuminated the disheveled form the eel creature. Behind him, was Aries. "I'm here, Aure." The ram said.

The eel squinted and blinked, shooing the bright light from his face. Surprisingly, he had came to them. He still looked worse for wear, but if he was in pain, he did a great job of hiding it. "Master Astraea." He rasped, once it flew away. The Opal bowed his head respectfully, submissively, and crept foward. There was a slight limp in his step.

He glanced at the Bonebound, unable to help what he over heard. "With all due respect, Master," Opal was almost to nervous to even suggest it. "You send them in there blind like this, and that fungus will only add them to its ranks." He gulped. "There's a hive in Fornax, the gembounds who live there are probably under its control by now." Thanks to him. He dared himself to look the stag in the eye. "If they were freed, they would be very, greatful allies."

@Auré @Game Master Dark

Wilder heard the call from the place where she had planted Mother, from the growing hive she'd created and she froze. Oh no. She'd been taking too much time! Now her chance was probably up to infect the Bonebound. Mother. I think something's going on. I'm being called. Astraea might be back to check on Rezik. I'll tell you when I know.
She peered out of her cave, across Canis, to where the call had come from. She...she might as well get close. Not too close - she'd noticed the strange odor on her fur, no matter how much she cleaned it and the fungus started to grow on her skin would give her away. She didn't know how much they knew about Mother but if they knew enough...she would be putting her in danger.

So she crept out of her crevice, padding through Canis, staying on the hills, until she saw them, in the distance. Figures, many of them standing there. As she got a little closer, staying in the shadows of the bones and rocks, she at last recognized Aure and paused. She was far away - too far to see them properly, or for them to see her, but she could pick out which was Aure, at least.

She cast her magic forward, to touch Aure's mind, making her voice sound small and nervous. "Aure? Friend? What's going on? I...I don't think I should get close. I haven't been in control at all today. I'm over here," she pointed his mind to the place where she was hiding. "But if you come over...p-please don't bring them. I don't want to hurt anyone."

@Aure

The wisp fluttered back to him once Astraea'd gone far enough away - presumably finding Opal - and the young King looked to it as a source of comfort. It was, in a literal and metaphorical sense, a light in this bit of dark.

Aure's ears flickered towards no specific direction, a quiet "Wilder?" slipping out from his beak. He belatedly realized that searching the floor was going to be futile, because the little black cat was nowhere to be found but the place her conscious directed him towards. Telepathy, then. The wyvern deliberately put up his guilt (not knowing that the connection was just one-way) for Wilder to feel and called, "I can't come over right now - Astraea wants us to go to... war?" After a long pause, he realized that she'd not brought up a link, herself.

His skull thrummed with magic via his stone, and he pried the distant boundary between himself and the cat back open, exposing himself as he looked in. Concern thrummed clearly through the connection as many voices swarmed. None were the one that seemed to persistently twist her out of her own control, drive her magicka flow into mania. They were - subdued. Normal, but subdued. Sedated, almost.

"I think you should come out anyways, Wild," Aure offered, deliberately shoving down his running undercurrent of is this what mom heard when she listened to Opal? and hiding it from the cat, "it's okay. You've been hiding ever since the whole thing with Pride."

Blocking his own thoughts turned to words from the cat, Aure quietly chirped towards Giggle, "Mom, I think - I think Wilder's been infected, too. She just - spoke into my mind and I heard other voices."

@Giggle @Wilder

Wilder felt Aure's mind touch hers and he spoke gently into her mind. She sent a confirmation back before it closed. She still hesitated, though - would they notice? Probably. She wasn't sure she wanted to risk it. She tried to think about what she could do next or if there was any way to infect Aure without the others noticing - or if there was even a way to infect them all at once!

Suddenly, she was seized with horror. Aure had spoken in her mind. He had heard her. He'd opened a link - could he hear the voices of the others in the hive? Could he hear and see Mother?! No...oh no, this was bad. This was really really bad! She had to think of something, fast!

She couldn't wait here for them to just waltz on over. She needed to act first. She couldn't follow behind them now and spy - they weren't going to let her go if they knew. Even if they didn't know it was Mother...that was too suspicious to just let go! She was freaking out and the first thing that came to her head...well, that's what she was going with!

She reached up with a claw and sheared off a bit of fungus that was growing on her fur - a small piece - and had it hover close to the ground. She kept her head cast down, both to look nervous and to keep her eyes on the fungus. As she approached, she paused, still a good distance away from the gathering, but close enough to speak to Aure and moved her eyes to have the fungus creep away and get closer, trying to keep it out of sight of the Bonebound as much as possible - wherever they were focusing...she kept it out of their line of sight.

She waited for a moment, trembling on the spot, until there was movement - any movement would set her off - a single pace forward or backwards, a turn of the head, and she flinched. The little piece of fungus that was hovering just out of sight suddenly twitched and flung towards Aure's face.

Giggle's brows drew down at Aure's murmuring. A mental whisper to Omen, and the bird was airborne, circling, its single red eye peering down.

And the hyena turned, dark eyes narrowing, gaze searching the rocks. If she was speaking into Aure's mind, then she had to be close. She had to be in sight. But the hyena couldn't immediately spot her, and so she let out her senses in a wash, a magical tide that swiftly swept over the area around them, searching.

"There," the hyena whispered, and then more loudly--"There!" Omen banked, sweeping overhead.

The hyena could see Wilder rushing toward them, the small ball of faint fungus... but so intense. So concentrated. It was startling, how strong it was. "Fucking cats," she spat, her eyes narrowing with hatred.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

Please give others a chance to react first next time before taking actions ; posting twice as I was skipped

As the cat came in for an apparent attack--not close, but not too far, either--the hyena angrily cast out her own magic. As she did, she warned Omen not to lose sight of her--and she bellowed angrily for the stag.

"IF YOU WANT ONE OF THE INFECTED, NOW'S THE TIME." She sent out her magic again, aiming for the little traitorous clot of the stuff, trying to purge it as she'd purged Opal.

If Astraea wanted to do anything with this one, he'd better be fast.

What she caught wasn't Wilder's magic; her magic instead stumbled across loose mold-like nothing, a gray-green patch not far off the cat. It bloomed and tore away across the rock, useless, pointless, serving little point but to warn Wilder of an approaching fungal-user.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

The stag turned, eyes narrowing--even before the foul hyena called out.

Something isn't right. He could sense it--the presence of that filth--and it was close. Hooves lurched into motion, clattering over stone, ruby eyes flaring with fury. He began the rush back the way he'd come--and he hadn't yet gone far at all.

Astraea will act in one turn.

Wilder's end fell silent just before it closed, the deafening nothing after her confirmation (a lie?) stifling. His mother was searching keenly, and found the little cat near-immediately, sending Omen to mark the spot. Aure inhaled softly, trying to still his rapidly beating heart. Spinning on a heel, the wyvern looked to the skies for a moment, tracing the general center of Omen's circlings downward.

If he squinted hard enough, he might've seen the bright pink eyes staring out after him.

Something came closer, and Aure started trying to take to the air. His wings beat unsteadily, and his wisp rolled into action, swelling into an arcane fire and subsequently shooting after the concentrated mass. It lacked the strength and focus to sustain itself, though, and faded to nothing long before it met the projectile.

It was only a few moments before the clot of fungus just smacked him across the cheek and slapped rather wetly onto the ground. Maybe there's spores. Maybe there aren't. Navy doesn't know.

It was but a short touch, and then Aure heard it: the quiet whisper, the rising presence of... others.

Confusion. Alarm. It wasn't yet clear, the link, but it was swelling in him, the fungus rapidly reaching for his mind... for his brain.

Mother's thought was clear enough to Wilder, but to Aure it was garbled, half-missing.

"WILDER? WHAT IS GOING ON?"