No Questions Asked

[Ignispark]

Munch on some uncut grass to check for vital nutrients.

[victorianflorist]

You bring yourself deeper into the grove, crouching and ripping a chunk of the rich, uniformly green turf using your left hand. You clutch it and stare at the ball of green, you stuff the clump of grass into your mouth in an impulsive and animal motion, chewing greedily. Your mouth is quickly overwhelmed by the sharp, acrid taste, like salt and vinegar, and you spit slightly, your emerald drool dribbling out of the corner of your mouth as you gulp the clump of indigestible plant matter down. 

You start staring at your grass-stained hand in abject horror.  You search in yourself to find some justification but you can't find the impulse within yourself, it has passed. You feel it may have been GIVEN to you, though as you wipe bits of grass from your lips, you doubt it was a gift.

You reach into the blade, worming some part of you into it, reaching for the blood that you GAVE. You find it, entwined within the crimson metal, woven into the fibers of the blade and something else. You sense threads of something, something rich and invigorating. You grasp it instinctually, drawing it into yourself. You TAKE what the blade is holding within itself and you feel a curious warmth in your right forefinger. You look at the aggravated flesh of your fingertip and gasp softly as the hole in your finger knits closed, leaving your finger pristine. 

You look around the clearing, and at its center is another statue, much like the first you encountered. This is of a woman, standing tall, a sapling entwined around its form. The two twist together, the statue leaning into the sapling like one embraces a lover. Her hand is open, palm outstretched outwards.

[Ignispark]

Cut some grass clippings to hand over to her hand.

[victorianflorist]

You cut some more grass clippings, scooping the dry, desiccated pieces up and dumping them into her palm. They simply become dust, blowing away gently in a quiet breeze. glance up at the face of the statue, its eyes bore into you, staring into you. You're filled with a profound emptiness, you sense that you can GIVE her something. But you will not get it back. You've had something similar TAKEN before, but she is asking. Begging.

[skinstealer]

no blood for her. spit in her hand

[Ignispark]

yeah its really rude to ASK for blood, like come on. youre not supposed to do that

[knux400]

yeah its really rude to ASK for blood, like come on. youre not supposed to do that

Unless you're a blood donation clinic but even then.

Seconding giving her spit, maybe chew some more grass first to build up a healthy amount

[victorianflorist]

You tear up a smaller clump of grass, forcing it past your lips in an act that disgusts some part of you. You chew the grass in your mouth and you recall something. The tang brings a memory to mind. You push the clump of grass and saliva into your cheek and poke at the hole where one of your incisors used to be with your tongue.

You're at school, elementary school. Recess has just finished with a fierce cry from the aide who had a harsh voice. Her shriek sent children running inside all helter-skelter, a stampede of sneakers and mary-janes. Skirts flying and hair fluttering. You were one of them, scampering alongside the others, gangly legs trapezing across soil, turf, and cracked concrete. You slip, your legs no longer supporting you. You taste rushing air, dust, concrete, and grass, in quick secession as your body tumbles and you roll. Your mind fills with the sharp, earthy tang of grass as your mind goes black. 

A harsh, cutting cry brings you back to life, it is the same aid that ended your leisure. She hangs over you, supporting your head. She asks you if you can hear her, you nod, and she tucks a rolled-up t-shirt behind your head. She then placed something in your hand, curling your three fingers around it. She tells you not to lose it because a fairy will be by to collect it. You look into your palm and see the big kid tooth sitting in your palm, the first you had and now the first you've lost. 

You GIVE something to the clod you've been masticating in your mouth and lean over the statue's outstretched palm. You spit the green, goopy mess derisively into the cupped palm. You use your fingers to wipe the last vestiges of grass from your teeth, making sure to get the bits stuck between your teeth, of which you have a full set, none missing. 

The statue makes a motion as if sighing in relief, the stone cracking as her palm closes around the clod, around something you can't remember, wrapped up inside. 

The sapling cracks, wood writhing as it stretches, pushing and expanding. The statue shatters, her form falling to pieces as the rapidly growing tree explodes into motion. Its roots rip from the ground, whipping through the air, tossing soil and grass into the air. You get a face full of the rich, uniform soli and are thrown backward. You gasp, and crawl away, scrambling for purchase on the now rapidly shifting ground. You push yourself to your feet, your sneakers finding scarce purchase on the roiling ground. You scamper away, tumbling clear of the grove's treeline. You take gasping careful breaths and look back at the now beastly, gnarled tree. Its bark twists in sickening spirals, and as you look on, the tree groans. It buckles under its own weight, its rapid growth leaving no opportunity for the corrupted growth to have found purchase in the earth. The tree cracks and splits, splintering under its own horrifying weight. Massive shards of bark and tree flesh fall from the twisted form. Sawdust explodes into the air, caking the earth around the shattered tree.

You wipe your eyes, sawdust and dirt caking your face. You spit again, a filthy mixture of all the filth thrown up into the air by this violent act of ripening. You look upon the center of the clearing and in the center, carved of polished wood, is a statue of a woman, kneeling, an open tunnel before her.

[skinstealer]

head into the tunnel, but watch your step- and keep an eye on the statue as you head inside