Plants Thriving in Death

"What the hell Clarence, you purposely stepped on that flower!" Snapped Imogen as she watched Clarence lift his foot off a squashed flower.

"It was a poisonous Torch Stem, if I didn't step on it then it would have melted our legs with it's acidic poison." Replied Clarence.

"Not to mention that after our legs are gone, the poison would KILL US!" Emphasized Clarence.

"If it was so deadly, how could you step on it and be fine?" Questioned Imogen.

"It needs to draw the poison out of its roots first, the flower on top is harmless until it collects the poison." Answered Clarence.

"We could of run away from it, I guess you just had to brutally murder the poor flower." Hissed Imogen.

"No!" "The speed at which the flower can draw poison out of the ground is faster than our running speed." Stated Clarence truthfully.

"If it's so fast, how could you kill it before it melted you." Remarked Imogen.

"It simply hadn't seen us yet, there's little movement receptors on the lower part of its stem." Explained Clarence. 

 "And the movement receptors are only on the front, so I stepped on it from behind." Chuckled Clarence.

"Sigh" "Why do you know so much about a flower." Asked Imogen.

"If you heard about a really dangerous flower that could kill you with one touch, I'd reckon that you would learn about it." Laughed Clarence. 

 "Why do you care so much about a FLOWER anyways?" Inquired Clarence.

"Flowers are better than people, while sentient creatures only have you around because they need you and stab you in the back when they don't; flowers don't ask for anything." Praised Imogen, harmoniously.

"If flowers could talk, I bet that they would be the same as any other creature." Refuted Clarence.

"Oh shut up Clarence, what matters is that they don't talk; they just sit there patiently." Retorted Imogen. 

 "They are everything I want to be, when I die; I want to be reincarnated as a flower." Said Imogen, dreamily.

"You know what, I don't care anymore; lets just talk about something else." Suggested Clarence.

"Fine, I'll let you off the hook this time." Conceded Imogen. 

 "But if you kill another plant purposefully, this argument will last for weeks." Threatened Imogen as she pointed at the squashed flower.

"We'll see what the future has in store for us, I'm not making any promises." Countered Clarence.

~~~

"You nearly cut off my hand, you psychopath!" Exclaimed Imogen.

"I had the situation under control, I've been training for years after all." Lied Clarence.

"That's what you call under control, your form was absolutely awful." Alleged Imogen.

"You're an idiot, that was actually my secret technique; I've been honing my precision for years to finally master it." Stammered Clarence.

"You need to practice more, your hand was shaking." Laughed Imogen.

"I'm the teacher and you're the student, students don't question their SENIORS." Mocked Clarence.

"How old are you?" "I bet that I'm older than you by a long shot." Challenged Imogen.

"I'm twenty-three!" "You look like you're still a child, how could you be older than me?" Mocked Clarence.

"I'm twenty-nine, so hah." Smirked Imogen. "What were you saying about me being younger than you, CHILD!" Sneered Imogen.

"That's a fabrication, you look like you're fourteen for Denair's sake." Reasoned Clarence.

"If I look like I'm fourteen, then why have you never mentioned it before?" Questioned Imogen.

"My mom told me to never bring up age in front of women, so I was following my elders." Exaggerated Clarence, shamelessly.

"I'm a child!" "You can talk all you want about age in front of a child." Consented Imogen.

"No you're not, you're twenty-nine; remember." Scoffed Clarence.

"But you didn't know that, so to you I was just another fourteen year old girl." Theorized Imogen.

 "Why did you even suggest sparring for fun to a little girl, did you assume that children magically know how to spar." Accused Imogen.

"I was nervous okay, do you know how much effort it takes to stay calm so other people can too." Confessed Clarence.

"Shut up Clarence, I hear something!" Raged Imogen as she focused all her attention on her ears.

"It sounds like a faint crackling noise, I wonder what could be making it; aren't you curious Imogen." Whispered Clarence.

"Yes, now shut it Clarence; I need to pinpoint it." Muttered Imogen. 

 "It sounds like it's coming from the west, somewhere that way." Announced Imogen as she pointed to the east.

"Do you need to learn directions too, that's east you moron." Teased Clarence.

"Who cares if it's east or west, all that matters is that something is over that way." Grumbled Imogen, still pointing to the east.

"What are you waiting for, lets go." Demanded Clarence as he pushed past Imogen and ran into the east

"And I'm the impatient one, huh." Muttered Imogen while watching Clarence run into a tree.

~~~

"Could you shut up about it already, I swear that the tree came out of nowhere; it's impossible to run into a tree when you're looking right at it." Complained Clarence.

"Well... it looks like you proved that theory wrong, congratulations; you just made history." Replied Imogen sarcastically.

"I don't know why I put up with you, someday; you'll run into a tree too and I'll laugh at you for days." Snapped Clarence.

"Shhhh, it sounds like we're standing right on top of whatever is making that noise." Interrupted Imogen.

"If we can hear it alright, why do I need to be quiet; sounds like bullshit to me." Stated Clarence.

"If you're going to be around me, don't swear; you got that!" Shrieked Imogen.

"Fine, but you'll have comprise too; somehow." Sighed Clarence.

 "Now let's get back to the task at hand, what's making that horrendous noise." Asked Clarence.

"Oh! I think that this flower is making the noise! Does it look like any flower you know, flower botanist?" Snorted Imogen.

"No, and I'm not a flower botanist; I just have some common sense." Snickered Clarence.

"Wait a minute, I've seen this flower before; the rotting corpse of a creature should still be on that tree." Said Imogen as both her and Clarence looked up at a dangling skeleton.

"How long ago did you hang that corpse up there?" Wondered Clarence.

"Not too long ago, why." Questioned Imogen, her hair sticking up.

"A corpse in this area can't turn into a skeleton that fast, it usually takes about two years for a body to turn into just bones." Claimed Clarence and suddenly the area got a lot creepier."

*Mission 1: Remove the flower and walk fast.

"Help me remove the flower, then we're running as fast as we can!" Screamed Imogen as she dived for the flower.

"Uhh… okay?" Complied Clarence, while helping pull the flower out.

Once the flower was out, they both ran as fast as they could.

"Why are we running, nothing is chasing us!" Exclaimed Clarence.

"Just trust me, don't slow down whatever you do!" Shouted Imogen.

"I don't think that I can keep up this pace, I might have to sto-." Tired to say Clarence, but he stopped when he saw what was behind them.

There were hundreds of ghost-like creatures chasing after them, waiting for one of them to fall behind. Their limbs were covered in rotten, peeling, red skin.

 Their mouths were filled with sharp bloody teeth, their tongues were long like ribbons as they hung out of their mouths. One smiled, unnervingly human like.

"I'm not tired anymore, what the fuck are those creatures!" Screeched Clarence.

"Language!" Hollered Imogen

"Really, at a time like this; what's wrong with you!" Cried Clarence.

"Everything ahahaha, this is so fun!" Laughed Imogen hysterically as one of the mostly skinless creatures threw a javelin at her.

~~~

The duo ran and ran, until finally; they couldn't run anymore.

"I think "huh" that they "huff" gave up." Said Imogen as she fell to the ground.

"..." Spoke Clarence

"Couldn't even spare a "hah" breath, could you." Asked Imogen rhetorically. 

 "What? Are you tired?" Asked Imogen jokingly. 

 "Never mind, I'm going to rest for a bit; you're no fun." Sighed Imogen whilst she thought of Anastasia.

~~~

"Well, it's time to get up Clarence." Said Imogen as she pushed herself up. 

 "As much as I enjoy laying on the ground, we have to reach the mountains by tonight." Declared Imogen.

"That's not happening, I greatly underestimated the distance to the mountains." Admitted Clarence, who was still laying on the ground.

"Come on man, where's your traveling spirit?" Inquired Imogen, encouragingly.

"I lost it when I started to run for my life and I don't think that I'll get it back any time soon." Replied Clarence.

*System Quest Rewards: Life and 1 skill stone

*System Quest: Feed your flower the blood of twenty different creatures

"Could you put my skill stone into Basic Halberd Mastery, please and thank you." Thought Imogen

"Imogen, you're zoning out again." Claimed Clarence.

"I'm okay, I was just thinking about some things." Assured Imogen.

"If you say so... what do you want to talk about?" Questioned Clarence.

"Sleep, I want to talk about the sweet embrace of it; to talk about how sleep is a wonderful thing." Suggested Imogen.

"What? You were just talking about how we had to get to the mountains by this evening, now you want to sleep!?" Stuttered Clarence, completely baffled by what had just happened.

"Do you have some sort of mana illness, or are you just completely random; you know my mother used to say..." Rambled Clarence. But Imogen was already sound asleep, enjoying her release from the mortal realm.