It is a "house".
I know this because she whispered the name of the building to me as we approached.
Now, my fox friend is rummaging around the house. If I understand correctly, it's a lair of sorts, built by her kind.
This explains the gray spots, the remnants of many houses that were burned to ashes. That explains the car hole where the old gray man lived before we ate him. It is also a house.
-However, the house seems to be unoccupied.
It is empty.
She'll be on edge as she looks around with curious eyes, and her claws will dig into anything soft and moveable as she searches for mice to eat.
At least I think she is. After all, isn’t that what foxes do?
However, there are no rats here.
——Thank God.
The internal frame of the house is made of wood.
I don't like being here. In this place, the sun cannot find me. It was like being in a cave, but stranger.
Why square?
I do not understand.
Looking around, I took in our surroundings. This is unusual. It looked nothing like a bird's nest, a non-bird's hole, or a rabbit's hole. Their unevenness is predictable. In those places, there are round things, tufts of down, sharp things and strange corners and so on.
The house is very modest.
I don't think I care much about it.
Do all foxes live this way?
How strange.
"Hey, there's something here," my friend and I said, looking in her direction, but only because there was no sun here.
-I think she's the best choice.
I watched her tear the unusually square and slender piece of wood from the ground, pull it out, and stick it into the hole.
Another bunny?
--No.
She pulled something out from under the board. Another square thing.
How boring.
She clamped it between two stumps, then, coldly, tore it apart with her bare claws as if it were nothing.
Wow.
I had no idea my fox friend had such a killer instinct. What a beast.
She tilted her head, looking at the smooth, white interior of the square thing. There were stains everywhere. On the surface of each slab there seemed to be a swarm of rats, their dirty, muddy feet leaving imprints on both sides.
"this is a book."
"Book"?
Um. I didn't care, turned around and walked towards the entrance. Whatever this is, I prefer the sun.
However,
I looked back one last time and watched her rummaging through the contents.
My friend looks happy.
I guess that's good enough for me.
"Backpack".
I'm in my backpack.
This is most unusual for sunflowers.
"This will be a lifesaver," she said, wiping her forehead.
That's what she said, but I don't know who said it? We're all still alive, friends. I see no danger.
We left the house and she found the book and this new thing inside, the backpack.
It is soft. She filled it with moist, fertile soil and placed me inside. My roots are now in this strange hands. I figured it would be better than her holding me in her lap.
My stems, my leaves, my petals, my head, they all rose from the backpack, and I also rose, flying higher and higher toward the sun.
Very magical.
I looked down at my hard-working fox friend. She seemed to wrap the other side of the bag around her thighs and then stood up, lifting me into the air.
She turned her gaze behind her, swaying slightly as she adjusted her posture, and we stared at each other for a moment.
Maybe she was gauging whether I was feeling uncomfortable?
-It's so kind of you.
I turned around and faced the sun, which was now closer to me and as tall as my fox friend.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 156/160
What a blessing.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 160/160
I was thinking, and she stopped and looked up at my new word, "wood."
Level!
Congratulations! Your current level is {6}!
-[sunflower]-
Health-Poi
ts: 15/15↗ Soul-Poi
ts: 11/11↗
Level: 6 ↗ Experience: 0/240
Category: You are a sunflower. Subcategories: none
Competition: You are a sunflower. Opel: 000
-[statistics]-
STR: 02 Agility: 02
Wisconsin: 07 INT: 06
Lu: 08 ↗ Value list: 06 ↗
new
- [Photosy
thebiosis]{toggle} -
While Positive: Inflicts the [Bake] effect on your symbiotic partner at a rate of {Bake Speed}
Attach your roots to a living body and engage in symbiosis with any connected, living, non-fungal organism. Allows you to passively exchange nutrients and healing sugars, produced through photosynthesis, for minerals and hydration from your partner's body.
really weird.
But it's not the word "wood" that I want to know about.
-What I want to know is why the non-birds are chasing us?
From my vantage point on her back, I could see no such creature around us now. But the remnants of fungi in the dirt in her backpack whispered to me that they hadn’t been here yet.
But that just means they'll be doing it soon.
Are they just hunting? Is this just for food and territory? Or are they specifically targeting my friend?
I can't say.
I'm just a sunflower, taller than I've ever been.
- Unparalleled luxury.
Something interrupted my thoughts. My fox friend wants to get my attention. She spoke to me. It's unusual for this to happen three times in one day.
"Can you use this?" she asked, pointing to the word "wood." "Okay?"
What a hassle.
My sugar is precious and rare. They sustain me.
I turned to the sun, stared at it, and sat contentedly with myself for a while.
However, I do love having a friend who shows me the world and all its wonders.
Maybe now is the time, from my calculation of a few days ago, the price of long-term friendship returns, to its natural conclusion?
My friends are very nice to me. Now it's my turn to be nice to her.
——Reciprocity.
This is the most unusual feature of sunflowers.
(Sunflower) Activation: (Photosy
thebiosis)
My friend jumped like a frightened mouse and squeaked like one as my roots broke through the soft barrier of the backpack's interior. They dug into her, pressing through the skin of her back and digging into her flesh like worms into rain-soaked soil.
Her body tasted red, like a kiss from the sun.
-Very good.
I spread out the leaves and looked up at the sky, which was glowing so brightly above us.
She wasted water again and made more sad noises.
Be careful what you wish for, friend.
One day, you will understand.
Sounding uncomfortable, she moved on and got what she wanted.
I'm a good friend.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 01/240 EXP(Birch): 22/35
In front of us sat a large body of water.
Pouring down from its beautiful sea was the crimson glow of the day's fading halo.
So surprising.
Wow.
I never knew there was so much water in one place.
We bent over and she fingered it, taking a big wet sip. As she drank, my roots drank too, and my roots absorbed her slowly thinning blood.
-We must be very good friends.
The water is sweet. I don’t have to taste it to know.
But what do we do now?
She sat down to rest and I swayed with the backpack. The two of us stared at the sunset, which occurred across the water, toward the west.
We headed west as before.
Is that our goal? The west? But why are we going there? The sun comes to us from the east, my friends. Maybe she is confused?
I was thinking as we watched the last day of the day draw to a close.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 06/240 EXP(Birch): 27/35
Something interrupted our clear view and we were treated to the most incredible sunset I have ever seen.
——A flock of birds flew behind us, flew over the water, and flew to the west.
Oh no.
I looked down nervously at my friend, and then I understood.
Maybe I'm wrong?
Her kind build strange nests. She made a squeaking sound. She likes sunflowers. She is sailing westward.
Maybe I've been wrong all along? Maybe she's not a fox? Maybe she's a bird?
I lifted my leaves and covered my head so she couldn't see my precious seed. They're not ready and won't be for some time. I can't let them be stolen too.
However, she seemed uninterested in them and just continued staring at the water.
I think if she wanted it, she would have taken it, right?
-In that case, maybe she's a bird that doesn't like seeds?
How unusual.
I let my guard down and turned west again, and we both stared out at the vast sea, stretching to the distant horizon.
Looking at the sun, I wonder what is on the other side of the water?
wait……
Are we chasing the sun?
We go west, where the sun is.
-Is this our goal? Is this what we've always done? At the end of the day, do we look for where the sun went?
Wow.
Life is amazing. I wonder what that place is like? All the suns went there once upon a time and now sit and wait with nothing to do.
--Heaven.
This is our goal. I get it now.
We will find heaven.
