#fungus lore

[consultingzoologist]

WIP Wednesday 🧛‍♀️🩸🍂

Thank you for the tag @bumblepony and @childofthebarricadewrites ! Since it's the first day of spooky season, here is a snippet of a prequel to Strange Highs/Cordyvamp verse, another sandbox @liveandletcry23 and I are playing with! This snippet happens after Joel is stabbed at the university...

Tagging @justwantedaccess @stumbling-away @deervsheadlights @messitydepressity @sixhours and @justplainsalty

[intheglade]

(Croakswell. Found near the cedar roots.)

[consultingzoologist]

Can you write something from you Fungus lore? Maybe how Ellie can here the echo of people through the cordyceps?

Thanks for the ask! So sorry it's taken an age to get to it! Read more about the Fungus Lore/Grandeur verse here

~

The first few times it happens Ellie dismisses it as her overactive imagination, her tendency to wallow in her guilt. Is convinced the whispers she hears at the edge of her mind, the emotions ghosting against hers, are hallucinations, the last ramblings of her mind's last struggle against the fungus.

Of course, she realises later (more like comes to terms with) that is not the case.

She watches the kids in Jackson play, running and shrieking with laughter as they kick an ancient football around the grass.

(At the same time, she feels the impression of a silent cheer, sees a smile so bright for a kid on the run.)

(The smile that she grits her teeth and forces herself to remember whenever the image of that sweet face morphed into that of a monster rears into her memories.)

I'm still here, the echo whispers, birds dancing in flight like hands flowing from word to word, slow for her benefit, I am not alone.

~

Ellie's joy is doubled when she finds herself dancing, and not just because here dancing is safe, here dancing won't be interrupted by death.

When she dances Riley dances with her, beneath her feet. She knows, in her bones, that this is true.

She can't prove that the echo of Riley somehow caused the ground beneath her feet to lurch, sending her crashing into Dina.

(who caught her, of course)

But what harm is it, to hear her friend's delighted laugh in the call of a bird when Dina blushes and tells her (fondly!) to watch her step?

~

Ellie used to dream of Tess, in-between the other nightmares. She was sure Joel did too, when he startled awake and refused to tell her why. Was quiet (even for him) the next day.

Now, this dream Tess is peaceful. Unmarred by blood and fear and fire. Fungus weaves itself through her hair, lends a shine to her eyes that isn't quite human, the same shine Ellie spots in her own when she catches brief glimpses of her reflection passing mirrors. There is greenery around her, foliage rustling in a gentle breeze.

"You did good kid."

"I didn't," Ellie says, "I didn't save anyone, or the world."

"You saved one person," Tess tilts her head, as if listening to the wind. She looks different, less human, "you'll save more, in time."

"What does that mean though?

Tess shakes her head, grins. She looks solid again, as solid as a dream, an echo, can be.

"Tell him, ah forget it. He'll know soon." She reaches for Ellie, touches her shoulder, her touch gossamer as a spider's web.

Ellie wakes, knows for certain what is in the future, what will become of them. As she sinks back into sleep she decides that's not a bad future, not at all.

The next morning she remembers nothing of the dream, but wakes calm, reassured.

~

The first time Ellie slept outside the QZ, she felt cradled. Like the Earth was holding her close. It was an easy thing to dismiss. As time goes by, when the feeling arises, she lets it. Allows it in, relaxes into the sense of safety, of love. She imagines this is what being held by a parent must feel like, hopes that somewhere deep in her memory the echo of that feeling is there, even if she can never recall it.

There must be a reason the Earth is called mother after all.

I wish you'd write a fic where... ask game

[mirrorful]

Mario Maker solved something that's bothered me for years now: where are the Goombas in Super Mario World? (It's those guys! I failed a Fungus Lore check at a tender age, and never made the connection.)

But really, that is one of the coolest parts of Mario Maker, seeing the same level in different Marios. They didn't explore all the corners of the Super Mario World ruleset, but they did a pretty decent job of harmonizing all the rest, re-arting components to fit them into games that never had them the first time around.

Mario's physics are enjoyable, but the relased games never stretched them to their limits. I have a new appreciation for their restraint. it's really easy to make super hard levels, and that Mario is as fun as it is is all on the level designers.. I've erred in the opposite direction and whipped up a handful of boring levels. If I was dedicated I could use them as a base and slowly crank up the difficulty until it's fun, but... I already sort of knew I don't have the temperament to be a level designer.