This thread is set in the past, I'm playing catchup lol


Another morning alone where the unknown laid in wake for him outside his hovel. Well...perhaps it wasn't too bad, a deep set and series of burrows located beneath a large tree he cared for so deeply. It was his home after all- he had been here for as long as he could remember. Many, many cycles ago. He had woken up without family nor friends and at the time he wasn't too worried- he did search for them, but nothing came from it. The entire caves seemed- quiet...eerily so were even the voice of plants and fungi were but faint and tired whispers.

He shuffled through the burrow, making his rounds for what he felt to be morning today. He wasn't too akin to the magic of fungi- that was his father's magic after all. But still, he had evidently picked it up through their time together. He wasn't sure exactly how- but grief was a complicated thing, magic was too, so perhaps something else was at play. Fungi weren't too different from plants- were they?

Regardless emerald eyes glanced over hollowed-out earth. Rooms layered one after another through the tunnels he knew so very well. They were made for a bounty of opportunities and purposes. One of many was sustenance, bugs and fungi, and anything else that would take root in those dark and moist rooms.

Small fingers soon began tapping inquisitively along various fungi that littered the walls and sat bloomed on scattered bedding he had gathered for them previously. Patches of leaf, log, and anything they could feast and grow upon with vigor really. Diot was vigilant in his care for all things of nature. Taking his time and obsessing over what was the best care and routine for them would be to truly flourish into something of their greatest form. They all deserved a fair shake at life and the help to get there. Just as any lesser and greater gembound in his eyes- without the plants there would be no ecosystem for them to thrive within no?

So perhaps he wasn't particularly vigilant in other means this morning. Unaware that his soft and inquisitive touches to fresh soil and terrain had woken spores that spawned through his magic- and perhaps silent memories if the type of mushroom was anything to go by. He hummed, not upset at this sudden appearance, though he did remain silent in wait. Green gaze trailing over the inky caps that were making themselves at home before him now.

He was rather lucky to know some knowledge of fungi from the cycles with his father, it came in handy nowadays. That and the having magic to call them forth was well doubly lucky. He would need it more than ever too-especially now that his father was as good as gone.

He didn't particularly mind the new fungi within this room, they were after all edible of course so there were no worries of contamination there. Though- they were...rather scattered...Littered across the room and near quite a few of the small families of various fungi that too flourished here. This wouldn't particularly do...With a silent breath, he began to pick at the strays, saying his soft regards to the young and gentle things that were perhaps picked a bit before their time in his opinion. He would carry them towards the entrance of his home, laying them carefully in a small basket of sorts...hmm perhaps he'd make a backpack later-he hadn't the need for one till recently...having always tossed fruits and bugs down to a small sled/wagon of sorts that his father would pull, following him on the ground as Diot would explore the word above.

He had made his way back to the room of the hour, eyes flickering over each section, looking for any more stray inky caps. With a small but pleased exhale he smiled, seemed he got them all, excellent! Now that just left him with was tidying them up all in a nice bow- well maybe not bow but vines and roots worked well enough for all the others in his system of organization. He hummed, hands touching the walls around the inky caps in an effort to coax them forth. Though so far nothing answered his call.

His brows furrowed a bit and this time he tried even harder. He could feel it, that swell of magic at his fingertips- even his fur began to stand somewhat on end from the concentrated effort...but still nothing grew. He sighed, perhaps he'd give it a moment or two before going back to the old fashion ways of making a fence. His handmade work had done well enough in the past-

He froze.

There was a sound of straining- from deep within the earth. He listened for a moment- perhaps a bit too long as suddenly he was toppled over by something unseen that came bursting through the soil walls before him. He screamed- a loud screech of panic in his lungs as roots began to fill the room. Haphazardly but dangerously attempting to grow over and around him in chaotic and uncontrolled abundance. He narrowly clawed his way out from beneath the hard and almost squirming plant life as it pushed and spread through the room. Tearing through fungi and breaking them off from their well-established homes. Pushing many up against the soil sufficiently rendering them useless mush that would end up embedded in the walls for possible future use.

He had just managed to make it out, bolting for the door of the room and hastily coming to a sliding stop a few feet down the hall from it. Heart racing he watched as the roots continued to spread, poking out from the chaotic spewn room.

As luck would have it the roots and tangled mess of what seemed to be weak-willed vines stopped their assault. Only emerging from the room by perhaps a couple of feet- though...that still was a great deal of chaos for something he had thought to be a failure...Perhaps the failure wasn't in his coaxing but rather the control he had over it at that moment. He grimaced slightly, a visible wince accompanied it.

He sat there on the ground for a couple of minutes, checking himself over once or perhaps a handful of times. His tail held loosely in his lap as he groomed himself, deep in thought. The roots had almost engulfed him- and while he was sure he wasn't going to die or anything of that sort- it was perhaps the sudden shock of the onslaught that had him feeling a bit unsettled.

He was always a vigilant gembound, knowing that magic in any moment could be a very fickle thing...perhaps it was his wavering emotions as of late. The deep turmoil of loss that still churned in his gut even now that caused his magic to falter. Magic was highly susceptible to one's emotions- at least in his case.

Still, he would not give up, he now had an entire fungi storage room to mend as well as the day's typical chores. Though he sighed, gently walking over the tangled mess of roots. Hand in hand before himself he examined what he could. Trying to get a vague peek through the thick roots that stood before him. They practically formed a wall and that left room for nothing behind and within its tangled quarters. This would... take some effort...

He hummed, fingertips gently trailing over the roots that had ventured out and into the hallway of his home. He would need to start here. Inhaling deeply he slowly closed his eyes, only opening them at the low but audible groan of shifting roots. He didn't move them much, but it was a joyous start to a very long process.

With gentle hands and a guiding want, he had moved the roots from the floor to the very walls where even there he let them sprawl across the hallway ceiling. Hmm...Now that he thought about this- perhaps this would be an excellent upgrade for his home! Suddenly he couldn't stop but think of new floor plans and room setups. Now, he loved his home don't get him wrong. But while the rooms and walls were fairly reinforced...it wasn't by much. But with plants living and nestled tightly- should an emergency ever occur, anything and anyone would need to answer to his call of nature first and foremost. Plus it should greatly lessen the risk of any cave in should something, Maw of Mosses forbid, tear the tree above up by the roots.

With gentle hands, he coaxed the roots from the opening of the ruined storage room. Hearing them strain and groan against one another as he made somewhat of an attempt to untangle them fairly early in this process. He was now able to take a step into the storage room at least, granted he couldn't see much through the twisted and still tangled walls of roots but it was a start. So he could only continue now. He knew the layout by heart, and where each growing colony and bundle of fungi were. All he would need to do is reinforce the very walls, floor, and ceiling with these roots. Perhaps even braid the roots as a form of fencing and loose basket for litter and bedding too.