Touch

My parents were still busy with Hunter business when I went to the tower, so I concerned myself with my own matters. The rose was too large to carry comfortable in a bag anymore, so I addressed that first. Recalling the idea I'd had earlier, I equipped the armor I'd used while training with Adam and curled the plant around me. With another feeding to assist the process and some help from Crocea Mors to shape the metal into place, I was left with a number of 'metallic' shoots and stems curled decoratively around my armor, all leading to living roses around my collar and shoulders. Some healing here, feeding there, and liberal use of my power in its presence and it didn't seem bothered by being effectively planted in metal. Later, maybe I could design something more suited to the purpose, but for now, it seemed to work—and though I'd never really considered wearing flowers before, but seeing myself in it, I thought the rose armor was as least as cool as my onesie. My sisters would probably have liked it, at least.

That problem temporarily handled, I moved on to the next matter. I'd bought packages of most of the seed types they'd had available, if with more of a focus on the flowers then the fruit-bearing plants. The fact of the matter was that I just wasn't sure how Aura would mess with things and given that fruits were designed to be eaten—if not by people then by animals—I was wary of starting with them. With flowers, there was still the potential issue of pollination, but it seemed like a lesser risk compared to the possible ingestion of altered fruits.

Still, I'd have to keep a close eye on it, maybe build a greenhouse to act as a contained setting. I already had ideas in mind on what to test; I'd start by comparing different versions of the plants—there would need to be comparisons between ones enhanced early on, ones awakened in adulthood, those awakened young and grown artificially with Green Thumb, those grown with Green Thumb and then enhanced, on and on. I'd need to compare to a baseline, of course, but in time germination, pollination, and fertilization would all need to be tested and the effects on different plants compared.

For now, though, I mainly focused on precisely which seeds to begin with, taking out a few of several different types and storing the rest away in my inventory, before refocusing on my current project. My MP was running low from the awakening and the growth I incited, so I found a quiet place to get comfortable and meditated for a short time, even as I called up a number of skills to burn Aura for the roses. Crocea Mors remained alert in the metal of my armor, shifting it in response to new growth, both allowing it room and gently guiding it.

I noticed some oddities in the plant in the process as it seemed to grow accordingly, bits and pieces of it that should have been in the way shifted—or even shrinking—as it curled around me. Even normally important parts seemed to change…but then, it didn't truly need any form of sustenance but me, did it? Absorbing the cast off light of my soul and profiting from my occasional healings, even systems that should have been vital were unneeded as it curled further and further around me in shifting steel designs. Then, was it growing that way deliberately?

Noting those changes and even more curious, I put off awakening another plant to grow the rose further, letting the steel around me writhe. I guided it away from places that might inhibit my movements and the plant itself seemed to respond to that, paths of growth shifting slightly—not like it was moving a limb, truly, but more like the directions it grew weren't random. I felt prickles as thorns grew, but my armor simply shifted to compensate and between my Vitality, Aura, and various skills, it didn't hurt much to begin with. Getting out of the armor would be a bit tricky, but I could still untangle the vines, stems, and branches. For now, I was just curious to see how much the rose would grow—and how much it could grow.

But I held myself back. Now wasn't the time or place for pushing that particular limit, much as the question cried out to be answered, so I lay the matter somewhat reluctantly aside and moved on. Since the armor's weight was negligible to me now, I drew out some spare metal from my Inventory and drew it over me, hiding the thorns while letting the flowers remain. There was probably a joke or comparison to be taken from that, but I didn't bother, and with the most attention drawing features of my armor gone, I just…

Well. I just sort of wandered, keeping to my thoughts

It actually took me a minute to realize I had nothing else to do. I'd thanked and touched based with Tukson, begun my desired experiment, and…that's pretty much all I'd had planned for my day in Vale. Without room to experiment, I just didn't have a lot else to do, much less on short notice. Tukson was busy, Blake and Adam were gone, and my parents were preoccupied, which left me more or less friendless and alone. I didn't really know anyone else in town, except maybe Junior, and even that was mainly just a business arrangement. I knew the Faunus I'd saved, I supposed, but I couldn't risk drawing attention to them by meeting them as Jian Bing and they wouldn't recognize Jaune Arc.

I guess I just didn't know a lot of people anymore. I didn't really think of myself as cold or unsociable—socially awkward, maybe, but that was different—and I certainly didn't mind people; my mom had always told me that strangers were just friends I hadn't met yet and I'd tried to live by that. It's just…I…I was busy. My power allowed me to train around the clock so…I did. I hadn't had a lot of close friends before, admittedly, but I'd been friendly enough with my classmates—but when I'd gained this power, it had simply taken priority. I mean, this was my dream come true. Could anyone blame me for giving it my full attention? Would anyone else have done differently?

I liked having friends, of course; I mean, who didn't? I was kind of proud that I'd managed to reach out to Blake and Adam, to the people I'd saved, even to Penny. It's just that I didn't mind being alone anymore, either, because I could always train, could always improve myself. For me, someone who'd always been weak…I was fine working constantly for two weeks or two months or even two years. And if someone came up to me or I came across them, I would reach out—but that didn't happen a whole lot while running around a forest. Even with the people I was friends with, it didn't really bother me if Adam and Blake went off to do something and left me behind. I didn't like being truly alone, but in the same way I knew that my parent's and sister's frequent absences didn't mean they didn't love me, I understood that there was more to friendship then proximity. Added to the fact that I had my Elementals to keep me company and I was never really alone anyway.

Did that make me seem distant? I knew I'd kind of blown off a lot of my school life when my powers had set in and I'd be dropping out of school soon, too, but I really didn't mind anybody and I'd never be against making friends. If I saw some of my classmates, or even people on the street, wounded, I'd heal them. If I saw someone looking sad, I'd ask what was wrong. I just got…wrapped up in things. May parents understood that. So had Blake and Adam.

Right?

I sighed. This is why I prefer keeping busy. I don't know if it was just me or a result of being an INT and WIS focused character, but my thoughts just tended to wander.

Screw it.

"Levant, Suryasta, Xihai, Vulturnus," I murmured quietly and calling my Elementals to my side. I didn't manifest them, but I didn't need to in order to see them when they appeared, reclining in various states of ease on the surround architecture. I didn't say anything and I didn't have to, but as I continued my walk through the city, I saw them whenever I looked up. Not necessarily nearby, oftentimes just looking at the city or the people in it, but always there and that put me at ease. When my aimless wanderings took me down a dark alley and through one of the worse parts of town, it didn't both me for a moment. In fact, I just found a place to sit and watched people pass me by.

Oddly enough, even the few people walking the darkening streets didn't come near me.

It was probably the roses, I thought with a smile, cheek resting on a fist as I rolled a seed between the thumb and forefinger of my other hand. I pondered it absently, noting it was a Zinnia, and chuckled to myself. Since no one else was around and the armor covered my face besides…

"To absent friends," I said, lifting it a tad as it grew into a small flower, roots curled about my covered fingers. I coaxed them away, draw the flower up to the blossom into my armor gently touched the white petals with a finger, quietly falling into a trance as I worked to draw out the light within it. It was glowing a gentle white as I opened my eyes to check on it before returning to my meditation, drawing in power. I saw the rose, roots and stems growing through my armor in a color distinct from both my own and the new flower. After a moment though, I felt something shift and change, like…like a drop of coloring diluting in water, except upwards. The dim white of the new flower mixed with brighter red of the rose, starting a shift where they touched that grew out from their connection, quickening as Crocea Mors shifted to make room.

I drew myself from my focus carefully, looking down at the new plant with a slight frown. Already, it's coloring—it very shape—was shifting closer towards…a rose? Something new?

I looked above it and then at my rose, finding the same words above both.

Who Would Inhabit This Bleak World Alone?

LV 4

?

Race: Plant Amalgam

Sex: N/A

Level: 4 Next LV: 37.2

Age: 1

STR: 2 DEX: 1

VIT: 3 INT: 2

WIS: 5 LUCK: 15

Specials: Animasynthesis LV. 5 (Passive), Green Binder LV. 1 (Active & Passive)

Points: 15

"Well," I mused, pondering the plant—plants?--thoughtfully. "You're good at making friends, obviously."

I reached out to check the changed skills when a whisper of wind touched my face. I looked up to see Levant suddenly sitting next to me, eyes staring down the street.

"Levant?" I asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

She turned her gaze back to me, float up to my ear with no other motion. When she spoke, it wasn't with her mental voice but as actual sound, carried on the wind. I looked up to see Vulturnus stretched idly atop a lamppost, unbothered by it being a Hologram. Xihai stood at the edge of a drain, eyes closed as water rushed beneath her. Suryasta stood behind me when I looked back, his demeanor at once reminiscent of a fire about to start and the works mankind had drawn from the flames—dangerously and restrained.

"Okay," I said, patting Levant's head as I rose. She smiled slightly, a simple, gentle expression not at all fitting with the sounds that had come from her lips. "Let's go see, then."

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