madnovel Chapter 1603 Even the Plants?
Chapter 1603 Even the Plants?
--- Kamiko ---
As Kamiko was finishing up the last bit of those twenty steaks, one of the twins asked "So... we got a bit lost there because Brella arrived... but could we go back to the whole 'sentient plant' thing?"
Kamiko stumbled slightly at the question, nearly throwing burning oil over herself. Not truly dangerous to her but it wouldn't have been great for her clothes. Kamiko managed to recover, and glance over at... Chen, probably. "Oh... um... what do you want to talk about in regards to that?"
The twins shared a look and the other one spoke, "Well we sort of just assumed that talking plants weren't real, or that they were just monsters... so like... what's up with that?"
"Um..." Kamiko glanced towards the door. "The specifics are probably something Hunter and Meg could go over better... when I say they hunt things... I mean they hunt just about everything. Still... I guess I can try?
"Um... ok I can try? Just... bear in mind that I'm massively simplifying here and just taking these three examples as a spectrum of sentience for plant based lifeform. It's no hard and fast rule see. Most dimensions are different even if there ARE trends for it so... um... let's go with treants, alarunes, and dryads. In that order.
"Now, once again, I'm about to provide you with a massive oversimplification for a lot of things. They can all be sentient to varying degrees but... most generally it goes like this. Treants are at the bottom. They are basically trees that can walk. Sometimes they're more like 'the will of the forest' but pretty often? They're trees that can walk around and... well that's about it.
"They aren't smart, they react to 'attacks' against trees as if you'd attacked one of their 'pack' but fundamentally aren't that smart. Interestingly enough though? They don't, normally, eat any sentient creature. Attack and kill? Yes quite regularly but they don't need to eat meat because... well they are trees. They just sit around and absorb silent for the most part.
"A step up from that is the 'classical' alarune. They, in this example, are our sentient-like monster example. This can range from simply looking like attractive people, usually women, all the way up to forming real sentences... that don't always mean anything..."
"Hold on," interrupted Malt. "What do you mean but 'full sentences that don't mean anything'. I feel like the treant section made sense but I feel like you're losing me a bit here,"
"Um... I guess I can give you a more in depth example?" offered Kamiko awkwardly. "So... um... at a base level alarune are attractive looking flowers with... varying anatomical accuracy that use powerful pheromones to first draw in, then befuddle prey with the intent on drawing them in close enough to eat. Sort of like a pitcher plant? If you have those? Or venus fly traps?
"Right but they're kinda..." Chen trailed off and Shen picked up "...intense. In just a lot of ways..."
Kamiko winced at the accurate description. *I see the question for what it is. They want to know more about those two and I gave them a good opening for it... how much do I really want to say though? Yeah they are intense and I'm quite sure Meg would happily slaughter you all if prompted? And like... how would I even begin to explain why Hunter is the way she is... that's... that's like a massive ask.*
"Um... I'm not... well they're not... hmm... I'm good friends with Kat but I'm not good friends with Meg and Hunter. Um... I've known Kat for a while... and Hunter is... getting there I suppose. I deal with a..." Kamiko's mind flashes to Sue. "... another extreme personality as a regular friend. Um... she's called Sue and a bit... like hmm... imagine Sephy squared?"
"That would be a lot of sex," added Malt casually.
"Um... yeah. She's... she's trying to branch out a bit but yeah that's basically all she thought about for a long time," said Kamiko with a wince, glad they'd taken up her deflection despite, or perhaps because of her nervousness... and feeling a bit bad for using Sue as a misdirection.
It felt rude and wrong in some way Kamiko couldn't really understand, even though what she'd said was fundamentally true.
"How do you even deal with someone worse than Sephy? Like don't get me wrong Sephy's alright but she does have an off switch... and I'm not entirely sure she's ever actually had sex with anyone," said Shen slowly.
Kamiko winced, not really wanting to say more about Sue without working out why she'd felt bad about what she'd said earlier. Clearly she was missing something... but the question was asked and knowing Sue? She'd be more than happy to explain... which made the feeling even harder for Kamiko to work out. "Um... well as I said she's branching out but sometimes she does still go for it...
"But I guess it all comes back to her being a great person at the end of the day? She's unashamed and confident in a way that I never felt like I could be. Um... not that I want to go out and have sex or anything... I'm comfortable to have that wait for a few more... centuries if it comes to that but like... hmm.
"Consent has always been super important to her for example. Sue is objectively quite attractive and she has no need to coerce anyone, or trick them into anything or use force. She's upfront and bright with her honest intentions and will happily play along for a unique experience. Sue is... Sue is a strange person but she's a dear friend and..." Kamiko sniffed. "... and the steaks done!
So we can all go eat now"
Kamiko totally wasn't running away from any further questionable questions.