Red Lichen

"I'm sorry," Aaron apologizes to Beau, realizing his mistake. Beau stands with his hands on his head, tears welling in his eyes, feeling overwhelmed by his poor luck.

A nearby recruit speaks up, pulling Beau in the process.

"We should get you checked out by the nurse." The man's voice seems more nervous and admonishing of Aaron's actions, being unfamiliar with the possible effects magic might have on a person.

Beau follows the recruit robotically as they make their way over to the medic's room.

Aaron goes to follow so he can explain his side, but is met with dismissive gestures by the other recruits on his approach.

Falling back towards Darian, Aaron is left with a sour taste in his mouth. Darian's laughter towards the situation has entirely died at this point, having not expected harsh reactions from the other mid-tiers.

"You were just trying to help. They are just overreacting. I don't think Beau was actually hurt. How long would it have taken to clean all that out of his hair, anyway?" Darian attempts to reassure Aaron.

"I shouldn't have rushed to use magic on someone. Especially since a week ago I could barely control it without blowing myself up," Aaron admonishes his own actions, almost entirely ignoring Darian.

"I encouraged you, so I have to accept some of the blame. Even still, you tested it before using it on him; maybe think about hair and clothes next time." Darian continues.

"The rest were just standing there doing next to nothing, smearing him with rotting guts; he could've gotten sick or some shit."

Aaron doesn't respond, his own mind countering each of his friend's assurances. Attempting to keep himself from falling further into his mind, he decides to just pick up the work the group left behind.

Grabbing the beastial rodent's tail, Aaron hoists the prehensile appendage over his shoulder and begins dragging its large form towards a growing pile of furred corpses in the distance. The ruptured corpse leaves a trail of blood, bile, and viscera along its path.

Many groups slow down, if not stop completely, as they watch the young man drag a one-ton corpse on his own. Aaron focuses on his task, doing his best to ignore the growing murmurations about him. Darian attempts to provide interference by forcibly meeting individuals' lines of sight, staring groups down until they go about their own business. His efforts are mostly in vain as Aaron creates a much more distracting sight.

Reaching the pile that appears to be of corpses in worse shape and likely to be discarded, Aaron lifts the body, pushing its deflated form on top. He immediately steps back, trying to avoid the various fluids leaking from the pile, but he gets his chest and arms covered in a mixture.

"Fuck," Aaron exhausts in his mind. "I'll just try that spell again. Maybe I can avoid hair and clothes."

He recalls the shower of energy and tries to envision the individual droplets clinging to debris and pulling off of any surface before disappearing. Aaron gathers the energy which falls over him in a cloud. Individual violet orbs of energy cling to his skin, clearing away any dirt or grime on his body and clothes before separating and fading away. Inspecting his form, the additions appeared to be successful, his shirt even losing its stench of sweat.

"There, see," Darian calls out, admiring Aaron's technique.

"Yeah, I'll just need to find a way to make it up to Beau," Aaron says as he looks at the long trail left in the wake of the rodent's corpse. He steps away from the stench of decay for a few seconds to gather a few breaths of fresh air. Aaron begins gathering all of his energy and uses his new technique to clean the concrete and clear all the way back to the scene of the rupture. 

Sanitizing the area, however, reveals remnants unaffected by Aaron's technique. Red spores drift up in the air before settling back on the concrete, quickly forming into an oddly fleshy lichen, stretching out along the ground like roots. Aaron steps away from the strange lifeform, gesturing for Darian to fall back as well. The mass spreads, but thins as it goes, desperately looking for some source to feed on. The body of the lichenous growth is drying and shriveling with each passing second. Eventually, its pursuit for nutrients ends as the growth dries, its roots browning and curling up from the ground inwards towards its center mass, like a dying spider.

"What the fuck?" Darian shouts out at the strange sight.

Aaron steps forward and lightly kicks the dried mass, which detaches entirely from the ground and rolls for a few feet before coming to a rest, resembling a tumbleweed.

"You should probably go find Eryn and the Corporal. I should stay here and make sure this doesn't roll away or do something else weird until we can figure it out," Aaron suggests to Darian.

"Where should I check?" Darian asks, accepting the task without complaint.

"Probably the communications office. First floor towards the back," Aaron recalls.

Darian heads out quickly, eager to get away from whatever organic abomination that was. The main building grows in his sight on his approach. The front door opens easily as Darian rushes in, charging straight back through the main hallway. Most people are outside engaged in work, leaving the path unhindered, though some voices can be heard through the Sergeant's office door. 

Darian quickly slows his approach as he notices someone stepping around the corner. The Headmaster looks fairly absently towards Darian before turning his attention to some documents on a clipboard he holds and passing Darian without interaction. Darian attempts to be nonchalant as he continues his way, a seemingly unneeded effort. He approaches the end of the hallway, marking the left direction as a back entrance and the right, where the Headmaster turned from, leading down a short and straight hall to the communications office.

The door opens before Darian has a chance to do so, revealing Eryn and the Corporal.

"We found some weird plant-thing," Darian speaks up before the two say anything, gesturing for them to follow.

Aaron stands watch over the organism. The still wind leaves the growth to remain in its place. The uneventful guarding is interrupted by the graveled voice of the approaching Headmaster.

"Mr. Maker," he addresses Aaron.

"What is this?" Headmaster Case asks, looking at the strange shape.

"One of the mice bloated from decay and split open." Aaron summarizes, though he does so hesitantly given that certain suspicions are already on him, "when I was cleaning the area, this grew quickly before drying up like it is now."

"Ah, and your friend was getting Mr. Preacher. Good. I'll be in the workshop when you're all ready," the Headmaster says vacantly before moving back towards the main building.

"It's Mr. Eeris, sir," Aaron corrects Darian's name for the Headmaster, noticing a trend of certain dismissive titles. He gives no sort of response, continuing on his path.

"I think he knows," Aaron marks in his mind, expecting the Headmaster to be aware of the group's suspicions.

Aaron's speculations end as Darian returns with the others.

"We saw the Headmaster, and Darian told us he was outside the communications room," the Corporal speaks up.

Eryn walks towards the dried mass, giving it a close inspection but keeping his hands free from it. 

"I'm not really sure what I'm expected to look for; I'm better with machines," Eryn notes upon his study.

"We'll need to go to..."

"The workshop? That's where Case said he was going," Aaron informs.

"Are we going to be court-martialed for conspiracy, or something?" Darian asks.

"He's not technically an officer," the Corporal speaks up, adding,

"He was assigned here because of his research. At least that's what the Sergeant and I were told. The 'Headmaster' title is meaningless and doesn't make sense, he has no responsibility except research."

"We may as well just go then," Aaron decides, picking the husked lichen up and heading to the building.