Astraea took a few steps closer.

His gaze regarded Wilder stoically, without any hint as to his thoughts, his feelings; he reached out his magicka (rolling) and then tossed his head lightly aside, the movement of his antlers mirroring the pull of his power.

It was stronger than he'd expected, all told. That was worrying. But he worked it quickly free, what remained, sending it strewn across the rock, leaving the black cat wholly untainted. Cut off, then, and purified, completely.

The great stag looked around. The rest seemed to be under control, bar the babbling of that rank-smelling beast. Eythan had done well in restraining their target, and Aure was, to his senses, also cleansed.

Astraea looked between Wilder and Opal, and his voice was commandingly stern as he spoke. "Now. Tell me what happened, and where the nest is."

@Aure

Aure's one eye rolled in its socket to meet Opal's, a feeble nod given before he fell still again - trying to focus on steadying his breathing and getting as much air to his lungs as he could. He was limited to just one nostril, and he wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes. The young King had a sneaking suspicion, though, that he wouldn't wake up from that sleep. He needed to focus on his magic, peel the rest of this off of himself and -

Oh, mother... the one he knew and loved and trusted. His legs failed him as he tried to stand, lungs seizing with fits of coughing and wheezing as they were suddenly free to do whatever they pleased. As fungus was wrenched from his throat, Aure's head tilted down involuntarily and spit out the rest of the fuzzy mass onto the floor. His eyes watered with the strain, but he blinked it away and sucked in great lungfuls of air, as if resurfacing from a deep dive.

A few moments were spent searching desperately for oxygen, and the next was spent getting to his feet and pressing against Giggle, grounding himself by focusing on the - strangely relaxing - scent of gore and death and spores. His conscious reeled briefly at the smell of fungus, so fresh and rotten, but he brute-forced his way through it as he tried to regain his voice in another series of coughs, "ah- ack! I'm - I'm okay, mom. I'm okay."

Aure managed to find the strength to step away; "I - I didn't feel anything for long. It all - cut off and I tried to get it out of myself and it - didn't go just right." He raised a wing to scrub at his right eye, still adjusting to the light again, staring at the glob of fungus on the ground. "Can we get A-Aries to burn that?" On the off-chance that it decided to suddenly attach itself to someone else. He wasn't particularly aware of its status as inert.

His mind caught up to reality, concern surging, "Wilder -"

Questions swarmed like flies to a pot of honey, but so did a sickeningly unfamiliar feeling. Worry, concern... those were at the back of his conscious, but genuine upset reigned at the forefront. Aure's ears flickered back, knowing that it was unfair to blame her for something that was outside of her control but what about before? If all of this was focused in Cetus, then what was she doing there? Was she still - a part of the Children? How had she been brought into this -

The wyvern couldn't help but be upset for what she'd done to him, however brief and reversible it was.

Aure moved quietly, then, towards where Eythan was still holding Wilder down and Astraea was questioning her. She seemed okay, but he couldn't find any words to put to his thoughts at this sight.

@Opal Three-Seven-Six
(skip eythan lol)

There was... A lot of going on outside of Serek's mind, but not much he could do to help. The Bonebound were called for; he only nodded when the order of helping the Children was given.

The hybrid looked to Aure when more words were spoken after a moment of silence. Infected? They were here? In Canis? Serek took a step back, moving away from the group with his eyes wild. The others were crowding. Mother was furious, and Astraea was charging, and his brother was-

Oh, caves. Serek's guts flipped in their confines as he backpedaled, too much coming in in the panic of his family erupting into chaos. They were everywhere if they were all the way out here, they were- The mushrooms- Where? Where else in Canis? Where- Panic flourished through him and erupted in his magic as he reached out, frantic to purge with his mother, frantic to hold himself down by focusing on something, frantic to remove the sight that triggered his flight and shove it into the dirt where nobody else could see it.

His mother had gotten the most of it, but the reaching out of magic calmed his nerves enough to actually let him see and step forward once more. His teeth grit as he looked down to the mass. What- Why had it grown like that? A reaction to Aure's specific magic? Serek's pelt shook uneasily as he tried to let out his nerves, quiet as he took in everything.

He was unaware of Wilder's own dilemma as he focused on his brother. However, when the king's attention changed, his flickered interest in her in response, following his gaze and stepping closer to Giggle when Aure moved towards the pinned feline.

Relief filled Opal as Aure was freed from the fungus. He set down the rib and stared at the grotesque mass of white fuzz on the ground.The stoicism on his face did not betray his deep disgust. This had been inside him at one time, controlling his thoughts and feelings, stealing his body. He knew they made new members eat parts of Mother, but under her control, he thought nothing of it; only that it established a link. In truth, it was how it stole their minds.

That fungus was an abomination.

The figure of the stag approached in his peripherals. Opal lowered his head as his red gaze fell to him. He couldn't help but of feel intimidated. Newer gembound would to, if they had any idea of what Astraea was capable of.

"It-it all started when I touched these.. fuzzy pebbles.. in Fornax." He told him, trying to control the tremble in his voice. In hindsight, this was definitely fungus. "And I started having strange.. hallucinations and urges to share them with others." Opal lowered his fins, disappointed in himself for allowing a fungus to get the better of him. "I only knew of some in Cetus and Fornax before I was severed." He continued, then glanced at Wilder. "She may know more."

One more surge of magicka from Astraea, and another wave of agony as the fungus was pulled forcefully out of her system, and Wilder was left panting on the ground, her head clearer then it had been in cycles. She continued sobbing under Eythan's claws, the firm but gentle hold eventually managing to get her to calm down. She felt...oddly safe like this, torn off from Mother's control. She wouldn't be in her head anymore, making her do bad things and she somehow latched onto that idea and got her heart to calm its racing beat, despite still trembling a bit from the ghosts of agony.

She avoided Aure's gaze - she could see him close by but she looked away, too ashamed to look him in the eye, or even at his face. He hated her, surely, just as Giggle hated her too. They all did because she'd betrayed them.

She blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears from collecting in her eyes and swallowed, focusing on what Astraea had asked of her. That's right - she could help like this. She couldn't make up for doing...that, but it was something, at least. "I went to talk to Reji," she said in a shaky voice, "to tell her that I was the one that woke up Rezik and...well, she wanted to know where he was but when I refused to tell her, she tricked me into smelling M-I mean, that thing's fungus. She wanted me to infect the Bonebound but I made a hive here first. I don't know if I was trying to stall or what but it's back there." Her eyes turned to the side and she called energy together, a double of herself stepping out of her body and raising a paw, pointing towards the wall where the hive she'd created was waiting. "There's one in Pisces too. I don't know exactly where, but I know there's one in there somewhere." She hadn't really been paying attention to the making of that one, in the back of her mind, but she could remember its construction.

@Giggle

Astraea looked slowly from Opal to Wilder, his expression imperious.

And indeed, his thoughts were serious. "We must move quickly if we're to save you. All of you," he added. "Gather your allies and march on Cetus. Find the Hive node there and destroy it. I will deal with Pisces, and then come and find you. But you can't let word get back to it," he warned, and his gaze slipped down to Wilder. "If there's any you can't trust, do not let them leave this cave."

Astraea paused. Was it wise, to trust these Gembound? They had only failed him thus far. Failed to root out the fungus before it became a problem (and Rift would pay for that - he would see to it, now). Failed to find Reji; failed to protect Rezik. "The Collector's gifts will be withheld from you... but Rezik is not wholly dead. So neither will you be punished. Now go, and do this not because I order you to, but because your survival depends upon it."

The stag regarded them all grimly, and then turned - and with a great bound he cleared the nearest pile of bones, and was gone toward Tunnel K in a flash of brown fur.

Gembound may now exit this thread.

Giggle lingered near Aure, that frantic fear not quite leaving her. Her gaze--hateful--slipped toward Wilder now and then, and she half-listened to Astraea as he spoke.

Other than that, her eyes were on her son; and on her other son, a grateful nod and quiet thanks offered to Serek as he further checked Aure over.

And then, she waited. What would Aure do? Was he in any state to give commands?

He wanted Aries to burn the fungus. Very well - Giggle grunted. She wasn't quite sure how close the ram might be; she didn't know him well, either, not well enough to search out his mind. Instead she sent Omen up, cawing his name in screaming staccato, and called out, herself:

"ARIES?" Where Aure was weakened, her voice was powerful, deep, rasping loudly through the bones. If he was near, he'd hear her; if he'd been watching over Opal, he'd surely know.

When no response came she turned, and went to find him herself.

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

@Aure @Aries

exiting due to inactivity

Aure's gaze fluttered towards Serek, brief, but so earnest and thankful.

He didn't take too much longer to gather up his breath and his thoughts - casting the wad of fungus one last disdainful look - before he'd scuffled towards the second gathering and listened. All Opal said was already known, but Wilder - oh, Aure wanted to know. There was some desperate desire within himself to hope that the cat had something to imply that none of this was her fault, that it'd all been out of her control and that she'd been forcibly inducted with no chance to escape -

But she'd willingly gone to Cetus, knowing what she did about Rezik and the dangers that could be posed by asking about him... Aure swallowed, head tilting slightly to his right, then the left; towards his mother, he hesitated in casting a bout of magic, seeping gently into the surface of her mind and no further. He didn't say anything quite yet, but there was a particular undercurrent of thought running through his mind, like a gentle nudge to say I'm in here for a moment.

Astraea bid his warnings ("If there's any you can't trust, do not let them leave this cave.") and gave his commands, then scattered off and over the bones.

Bright eyes swept around, and the young King pushed gently - worriedly - into Giggle's mind, Wilder told the Hive we had Rezik. His thoughts halted, hesitating for a moment, she knew that we were told to protect him and she - she went right off to the thing that hated him most. A strong current of disappointment swept through his end of the link, directed towards the little cat, I can't - I'm - is it bad that I can't... bring myself to bring her to Cetus with us? She's going to - do something. Fall back into there - His mind trailed off, stuttering and buffering as he realized that he should probably say something.

Outwardly, Aure regarded his kin - his family - and called softly, "let's - catch some rats and eat and... talk to the Sentinels in Tunnel P. We can approach the Seven on the way. If the Caves are at stake, then - we might need all the help we can get." Bright eyes moved in line with the direction he was facing, ears flickering forwards, "do we know any Gembound outside of those and the Children that'd be willing to help?"

He waited for a moment, steeling himself in the silence and whatever answers one might provide, before fluttering off towards Tunnel P, to find anyone that might be or related to a Sentinel. Many would be needed.

exit due to inactivity (unless stopped, i guess?)

@Opal Three-Seven-Six