I Am A Carnivorous Plant

Well, I guess being in that cute little human form of hers doesn’t mean mom can’t use her magic, although it does seem to be throttled a good bit; From what I could tell, just summoning a fully grown Shui and using its speed to kill and steal away a woman that was headed for the gate was already causing quite a strain on her. Honestly, even with the crazy amount of energy that she used to make this special little condensed body, I’m sure with how much she had stockpiled up before this, she should still have had no problem in the resources department with summoning Shui, so yeah, she must be getting throttled for sure.

 

And also, uh… As much as I like this appearance, I’m starting to realize that it actually kinda maybe… sucks? Like, we’re already in the Wind Spirit’s territory, so there was already gonna be some discomfort due to that. Heck, even I, trapped away inside of my own mind or whatever and viewing everything as a spectator, still have to deal with that stupid territorial discomfort! But now, with mom having forced my body into this form for almost an hour now… Damn if it’s not also really freaking uncomfortable! It feels like my body’s been forced into five sizes too small clothes, and with every couple of minutes it’s like I can feel the clothes shrinking ever further!

 

I seriously don’t understand how mom isn’t showing how much she must be suffering right now.

Is it… Is it just me?

Does mom maybe just not feel it like I do…?

 

…Well anyways, like I said, it’s been an hour. After getting the clothing situation all in order, mom snuck into the town through some back way that she knew, and began wandering around in it like she really knew the place. She’d managed to nab a cloak off of that woman that she’d killed for clothes, so her face was pretty well covered up, and none of the animal people and humans that she walked past really paid her very much attention. And you know, maybe that’s a good thing, because when she came into a certain backdoor of a tavern without knocking and took the cloak’s hood off, the people in the back room that she’d barged in on immediately gasped as if they’d seen a ghost or something.

 

“Cythia, you returned to us!”

 

<Of course. Didn’t I promise that we’d meet again one day?>

 

Hmm… You know, it’s a little concerning to me. Even with this cute little replica of her body that mom made, her voice still isn’t coming out 100% right somehow. I mean, apparently it’s not strange sounding enough that the humans that she’s talking to seem to care, but I can certainly hear the difference… I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m a naturally magically sensitive plant? Maybe regular humans can’t feel that mom’s voice, however well trained in sounding human it is, is still 100% made out of magic and not air like theirs.

 

The female human of the pair that she was talking to began to tear up, so the man next to her patted her shoulder and continued talking for the both of them.

 

“...We thought that you were dead. Or, well, we were told that you were, I mean.”

 

<Yes, I’m sure you were… Just like I’m sure that I know who told you.>

 

Oooooh, mystery and intrigue! This must have something to do with mom dying in the forest before and making me. Actually, hey… Now that I’m thinking about it, this town must be where mom used to live before she died, right? I mean, it’d make sense, since these people seem to be her friends or whatever, or at least people she trusts enough. So then is the forest I grew up in super near to here or something? Or, you know, at least spaced far enough away that people like to dump the bodies that they want to hide there? Are we actually that close to where I sprouted right now?!

 

Geez… My sense of direction is 1000% screwed up if that's the case, for real…

...Maybe I should think about getting a map sometime…

 

“Cythia…”

 

The crying woman sniffled and stepped closer to mom, clasping her hand like she was begging her for something.

 

“Please don’t think that we had a hand in any of it! We did absolutely everything that we could have for you!”

 

Huh, so the plot thickens! It seems there’s a chance that these people somehow might have been related to my mom’s death! But then why is she coming to talk to these people in the first place if that’s the case? Does she just not have anyone better to come see, and needs something from them? Or maybe she’s doing it because she promised or something, like she said? Well, I suppose if she distrusted these people, then she wouldn’t have come here like this to see them in the first place; She probably wouldn’t have gone out of her way to become human, and would have just bulldozed this place like all the others.

 

…Also uh, it's bugging me and I can’t help but wonder: Does that hand that the woman’s holding feel like real skin? If so, that’s totally crazy; I mean, the outside might look human, but I know for a fact that it’s still completely made up of folded over plant fiber. I would completely believe it if mom felt spongy or dense or something to the touch. Well, the lady is upset right now, so maybe she just doesn’t notice the difference yet. Or maybe it's magic or something? Who knows…

 

Mom just stared at the hand that the woman was holding for a while before worming it out of her grasp and quickly hiding both of her arms behind her back, causing the humans to look at her like she’d broken their hearts.

 

<...Yes… Don’t worry, I’d never doubt the two of you, Klana. I know how much you’ve both done for me.>

 

The pair looked relieved at what she'd said, but I knew better. I could feel how much mom was holding herself back right now. Idunno… Maybe these people don’t actually know mom as well as I thought they did? Or maybe they were just being hopeful, and weren’t willing to look too deeply into it. Who knows?

 

“Thank you, Cythia! Thank you so much for-”

 

<Could you tell me where Lefrell is hiding?>

 

“Oh…”

 

The woman who’d been talking immediately became quiet, almost flinching back as her hands that had reached out gratefully towards mom again just kinda curled back towards her chest instead.

 

“Oh, yes… Of course you’d be looking for Lefrell…”

 

The pair of humans grew unuuuusually quiet for a while and gave mom a bunch of awkward looks, but eventually the man spoke up, even though his face looked especially like he regretted saying anything.

 

“Cythia… You promise not to hurt him, right? We know it’s impossible for you to forgive him for what he’s done to you, but-”

 

<Don’t worry, Pell, I didn’t come to hurt anyone. I just want to look him in the face and ask why he did it, is all.>

 

Lies! Bald faced lies lies lies~! I’ve seen mom massacre enough towns to know that she’s definitely come here to hurt people. Otherwise, why would she have come here now, right in the middle of her murder-march? But still, I guess even if these people don’t quite believe her that she won't do anything (as well they shouldn't), it seems they still feel guilty enough, because the man still reluctantly pointed off towards a side room, after shutting his eyes tightly with a look of anguish.

 

“...He’s there, in the passage. Take a right and a two lefts once you’re down there, and you’ll find him.”

 

Mom looked lazily off towards the way that the man pointed with a little smile, and then gave him a few head pats as if he were some kind of pet.

 

<See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?>

 

And before they could say anything back, she headed off.

 

~~~

 

Yup, just like it sounded, these tavern owners had a secret passage cleverly hidden behind a bookshelf in that room! Mom opened it like she’d done it a million times before, and then climbed down the wooden ladder that led deeeep down into the darkness, and after walking down a series of mine shafts that she seemed to know like the back of her hand, she came to a dead end and started drawing a symbol on the dirt wall with her finger. Honestly, she knew all of this so well that it made me wonder why she’d even asked those humans where they were hiding this ‘Lefrell’ guy in the first place, since she clearly seems to know it all already. No wonder they gave her such vague directions. ...Maybe it’s one of those seeking permission type deals, or something? Like a ‘Are you going to give me permission, or do we have to do this the hard way’ sort of thing? Or maybe there’s a ton of rooms down here, and she just needed to know exactly which one he was hiding in. I mean, if she were in our natural plant-y form, then it’d be a breeze to just put my roots down and find the guy through the vibrations, but I guess maybe mom can’t do that when she looks like this.

 

This little form is cute, but really, it does seem to have one too many limitations.

I hate to say it, but maybe I’d get really frustrated if I turned myself into that…

And besides, I can’t stress enough how uncomfortable it is!

If anything, that’s definitely the biggest problem with this look!!!

 

When mom finished performing the final stroke of the symbol, the wall suddenly opened up, revealing the room that was hiding behind it. Mom strolled in easily, like she owned the place, and headed towards a certain door in the room, when a blade suddenly came hurtling towards her. Mom dodged it like it was moving in slow motion, which I guess means that she still has the super reflexes and reaction times that my real body has, so that’s neat at least. I’m a little worried about what would happen if she gets hurt in this form (or maybe 'curious' is the real word here), but considering this body is still made out of plant fibers, I doubt she’d get seriously injured or anything.

 

<Wow, what a nice welcome. You sell me out to the patrols and this is the greeting I get?>

 

Mom pulled out the blade that had embedded itself into the dirt and tossed it onto the ground in the direction that it had been thrown from, leading the man who was hidden in the shadows to step out cautiously to retrieve it. Even while he stooped down to pick it up, his green eyes were absolutely glued to mom’s face, looking it over in complete disbelief.

 

Hey… Wait a minute here!

This man…

Those green eyes, that blonde hair…

His ears look a bit weird, but you know-

Isn’t this man an elf?!

_____

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