Sunflower - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

I do not understand what we are looking at.

My beautiful butterfly-friend and I stand in a thicket and stare out and across a lush meadow.

It is green. It is good.

Atop the meadow is a thing. It is a thing that I do not understand.

It reminds me of her cart.

But it doesn’t move.

I turn my head, looking at her wary eyes and then back at the not-cart.

Someone exits from inside of it, coming out onto the meadow. We duck, hiding low down in a bush.

I do not like it in the bush.

The sun can not find me here.

The thing on the meadow looks like a cave, but if it was a cart.

A cart-cave.

How unusual.

We watch as the creature, one of her ilk, wanders around the grasslands, plucking and picking of the many dry brambles and dead bushes around its shelter. A forager, male, old and gray.

I do not see any other sunflowers.

She is indecisive. I can see it on her face, in the tenseness of her body.

- Relax, friend. The sun is out. It is a kind day. It is good.

My butterfly-friend comes to a decision and then turns away, quietly skulking off back into the wildlands from which we had come. Apparently, she has decided that contact with her kind is best not made.

I understand.

I am not much of a talker either.

I am a sunflower, after all.

We return out to the other side of the thicket and keep on walking, though to where exactly, I do not know.

But it is a large, beautiful world, so I do not really care.

[You will die in {8} hours if you do not find water]

___________________________________________________________

It is unusual.

The sun shines with glowing intensity, feeling hotter than I have ever felt it before. I find it pleasant, but, at the same time, unfortunate.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 48/160

I am thirsty.

[You will die in {4} hours if you do not find water]

We have been walking for a time now.

She looks at the word-wood, having appeared next to me and frowns. “Sorry,” she says in her strange way. “I don’t think there’s any water here either.”

My radiant friend kneels down, setting me down to the side and digs into the ground, trying to find some moisture for us.

But it is all dried out. There is little shade here and the sun has been so bright and hot.

The soil is as dry as a bone.

How unfortunate.

She shakes her head and picks me up and the two of us keep walking.

___________________________________________________________

[You will die in {3} hours if you do not find water]

My petals are sad.

My roots are sad.

My leaves are sad.

I am… calm.

- But sad.

I would care for a drink of water.

Looking at my friend, I feel as if she feels the same way.

But there is no water to be seen anywhere.

All around us is a grassland, plain, barren. The grass is dry and yellow and it stretches on for as far as I can see.

Wow.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 64/160

I never knew that there was so much grass. The color is very pleasant too, the yellow.

It reminds me of the sun.

The sun is very hot today, however.

I spread out my leaves, trying to keep as much heat off of myself as possible. But that just means I get touched by even more of the sun’s overly generous bounty.

A conundrum.

I am a confused sunflower.

___________________________________________________________

[You will die in {2} hours if you do not find water]

My friend, despite her own struggles with the warmth, seems to be somewhat frantic, though I do not understand why.

Let us be calm.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 80/160

She does not listen and instead clutches to me, running in a strange pace that lies between one of walking and a tepid sprint. Her eyes look around everywhere, but there is nothing to see except for more grass.

I wonder what life is like for grass?

It must be nice.

They get to sit in the sun all day.

Though, I suppose that being stepped on could be unpleasant.

Oh well.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” she says in a tone that I assume is consoling.

Though I do not know why she would do such a thing.

Everything is fine, after all. The sun is shining, we have seen the world and its riches, we have eaten fruit and we sat in the sun and we saw a forest and we drank of the waters of the cave.

We have already been blessed beyond compare.

So I am calm.

If the sun decides to take me, then who am I to argue?

I am a sunflower, after all.

___________________________________________________________

Life is fun.

[You will die in {30} minutes if you do not find water]

We are in a thicket. The two of us stare out through the familiar bushes.

The sun has played a trick on us. Despite our walking, we are back exactly where we started. However, something has changed.

The two of us gaze out from our secret spot, looking at the cart-cave that has been destroyed. It seems that the not-birds have pursued us, it seems that they have found this place and left their mark.

The dry meadow with the not-cart is akin to the gray-place now. Fire burns its way through and the blaze has consumed the wooden bones of the thing, spreading to the dry grasses all around it.

The fire is hungry and it grows fat and abundant as it spreads out in all directions, like many snakes leaving a den.

I like snakes. They make fun noises and they eat mice, who would like to steal my precious seeds.

Something splutters next to us and we turn away from the site of the destruction. She walks around some trees and we see the thing there, the one of her ilk, the one who lived here.

He is gray in face, but his body is covered in red.

It is quite pretty. It reminds me of the red-rock. It reminds me of my friend’s face, when it turned red, after she smashed the not-birds with the rock.

- What a precious memory.

I am so blessed to have lived. What a bounty life has been for me.

Wow.

My beautiful friend sets me down into the dry, thirsty dirt and heads over to the creature that is like her, but older and male. A suitor?

I did not know that you were ready for such a stage in life, friend. But I suppose you have reached adulthood now.

How embarrassing.

I look away. It’s only common decency. I wouldn’t want her to watch either, if that bee finds me again.

But I don’t feel ready yet myself, honestly. Perhaps I will simply die before I can become pollinated?

Oh well. It’s fine.

A disgusting noise comes from behind me. That’s nature, I suppose.

I am a weak-willed sunflower however, so I do turn to look.

She is pressing against him, her stumps below his head, which has become oddly purple in contrast to the red of his body. What a beautiful display of colors. Amazing.

It reminds me of a snake.

I wonder… Perhaps I was mistaken?

A butterfly flies, after all. We do not fly. We are on the ground.

So, perhaps she is actually a snake?

I look at the male of many colors, red on his body, purple on his face, gray on his head. Are they snakes? She constricts his airway, much like a snake would, crushing a mouse.

Forgive me, my snake-friend, I was unaware of the truth.

I did not know that you were a beautiful, deadly snake.

The male falls quiet. He is dead.

Well hunted.

I must apologize. I had crudely assumed that you had found a mate. Perhaps that was inconsiderate of me to hold as a thought?

My beautiful, serpentine friend gets up, making a hissing noise, akin to a snake, as she wipes her face on her stump and then comes over to pick me up.

Without saying anything, she sets me down onto his corpse and then sits down with her back against a dry, old tree, turning around to look at the quickly growing fire that is still a little ways away.

Ah.

Moisture.

My roots dig into his flesh. It is warm. It is moist. There are minerals in here. While I do prefer soil, I suppose that this is better than dying.

Though only maybe.

I do not care about dying, but if there is more life to see and more to experience, then I suppose I must keep myself nourished from something as suboptimal as this.

After all, my snake-friend has hunted for me.

It would be rude to say no. If nothing else, I am a well-mannered sunflower.

I drink greedily of the red-water. It is thick and tastes of metal.

[Bloodmeal]{Passive}

Thirst: Quenched

Minerals: Replenished

+32 EXP

EXP: 120/160

My friend sighs in relief, cleaning her face and I am uncertain as to why she looks sad, or why she is wasting precious water at a time like this.

After all, this has been a brand new experience for us both.

What a good day.