Chapter Text
Vine Staff stood out on the balcony of her flat, watering her various plants. Their petals and leaves glimmered with plump dewdrops in the waxing light of the morning sun, which cast a warm glow on her pale skin. At this time of day, she could comfortably see, especially with the cover of the tall trees that stretched tall over her apartment building.
Her eyes, a delicate pink, stayed focused on each plant for barely seconds before flicking to the next, similar to how a bee would go about pollinating flowers.
The sound of covers rustling behind her startled her, and she accidentally dumped too much water on a bonsai. She cursed quietly under her breath; a rare occurrence, she detested cursing in itself, and carefully spilled out some of the water over the railing, praying to the gods she wouldn't accidentally soak someone below.
The pattering of padded feet echoed quietly throughout the small flat she, her brother, and Slingshot resided in; without warning, Shuriken skidded right out onto the balcony, nearly knocking half of Vine's plants off the railing.
"Morning!" Shuri said cheerily, as Vine shot him a scathing glare.
"That's the fourth time this week you've almost swept all my plants off the balcony. Do you ever not run inside?"
Shuri pouted theatrically. "No good morning today? You'll kill me like this someday."
Vine snorted. "Yeah, sure. G'morning to you too."
Shuriken breathed in the fresh morning air, gazing out at the treetops that stretched out past the city borders. "It's nice out today. We should walk to Sling's cafe and have breakfast there!"
Vine glanced at Shuri. "And you're paying, I presume?"
The shorter inphernal suddenly froze up, as if he hadn't thought that far. "Uh...how about we just go for a walk?"
Vine snorted. "It's fine, I'll pay. I expected that. Go put on something nicer; I'm not letting you walk around in public with...that on."
She beckoned to his shirt and pants, an oversized pajama set he wouldn't stop wearing. "You look like a child wearing his father's clothes."
Shuri opened his mouth to speak in protest but suddenly stopped and grabbed her arm by the wrist, tugging her closer to see better.
Vine was startled at the sudden motion, looking down to see what he was staring so intently at.
Her pointer finger was covered in...soil? It was something hard, solid, and brown. Shuri tapped it with a claw. "...How the phuck did you get wood all over your finger?"
Vine's nose crinkled. "Don't ask me, I don't know either. Anyway, it'll probably come off pretty easily--
She quickly dusted her finger off.
Nothing changed.
Furrowing her brow in frustration, she pulled at whatever was encasing her finger more harshly.
Her whole finger came off in her hand.
Vine froze. Shuriken's jaw dropped, seemingly to the floor, before he suddenly let out a screech that scared a few birds into flight.
"HOLY SHIT??? YOUR PHUCKING FINGER JUST FELL OFF? OH MY GOD WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO??"
Vine stayed frozen, staring at whatever used to be her finger in shock, before squealing and dropping it.
"EW, EW, EW, IT'S ENTIRELY WOOD, THERES NO FINGER!"
"WHAT??"
"LOOK FOR YOURSELF SHURI!"
He crept forward, poking it with a toe. It rolled onto its side; Vine was right, the entire thing was just...wood.
"Good god, how are we gonna get your finger back on?"
"You're telling me you're worried about putting my finger back on, and NOT THE FACT IT TURNED INTO WOOD?"
"...Does that mean you're turning into a tree?"
"SHURIKEN."
Shuriken huffed. "It was an actual question! Gosh."
Vine pinched the brow of her nose. "That's not the matter now. Forget the walk, we have to go see a doctor or something."
Shuriken stared at her, dead serious. "I mean, you're a healer, right? Can't you just... do it yourself?"
The contemptuous look Vine Staff gave him nearly made him want to jump off the railing. "DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK I CAN JUST WAVE MY STAFF AND STICK MY PHUCKING FINGER BACK ON?"
Shuriken opened his mouth to reply, but Vine cut him off abruptly. "Don't say what I know you will. Go get dressed or I'm leaving without you, emergency or not you are NOT leaving the house like that."
—
Vine Staff sat on the edge of a hospital, kicking her feet mindlessly. Shuriken had fallen asleep in a seat behind her, and Slingshot was chatting with a nurse outside.
An inphernal donning a bright white coat knocked on the open door. Vine snapped back to reality, looking up at him with closed eyes; Shuriken on the other hand, remained sound asleep.
"Hello.. Vine Staff, is it? I'm Doctor Healing Potion. You're here for a...severed finger, right?"
Vine nodded.
"If I may ask, why are your eyes closed? If there's something wrong, I can get that checked out."
Vine smiled sheepishly. "I have albinism. My eyes are a little sensitive to bright light..."
The doctor scrambled to turn the lights down. "Oh, why didn't you mention that to the nurse earlier? My deepest apologies, hopefully this is a little better--"
Vine opened her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the world around her. The room was blurry, but it looked how she expected it to.
Healing Potion sighed, flipping through his clipboard. "Severed finger... If you still have it with you, we can put it on ice and get it reattached."
"Not sure if that's possible," Vine replied, holding up her bandaged hand.
The doctor squinted, as if he couldn't see something, before furrowing his brow in a puzzled expression. "That's...odd. I don't see any blood..."
Vine rummaged through her bag for an uncomfortably long moment before pulling out a ziploc baggie with her finger in it.
"Is that a...twig?"
"It was my finger."
"...What?"
"My finger. It turned into wood, I think."
"...Forget the reattachment, but I think I've heard about this somewhere...It's a sort of 'curse'. Forgive me, I'll have to read up about it, but I doubt this is anything a hospital could take care of. I suggest you go to Lost Temple to talk to a shaman or a healer, they'll know more about it than any of us."
Vine Staff nodded.
"Other than that, I'll take your finger. I can get some labs on it to see what's going on and whether it'll pose a threat to your body in the long run, though I don't doubt it will. Do you have a phone number I could call back with info?"
"Yes, it should be listed in my file somewhere. I remember giving it to the nurse."
The doctor gave her a thumbs up. "Other than that, you're ready to be discharged. A nurse will come in with paperwork in a bit, and after that you can go home. Take care, and try not to lose another finger, alright?"
Vine Staff laughed half-heartedly, not wanting to hurt the doctor's feelings-- but in reality, she didn't find it that funny.
—
Vine leaned back into the sagging couch in their shared living room, reading about Lost Temple. Her back ached; Sling had to go back to his cafe, and Shuri had fallen asleep in the taxi back from Blackrock, so she'd carried him all the way up to their flat.
Her stomach churned with uncertainty. She glanced at Shuriken snoring softly beside her, his head resting on her shoulder. Raising a hand, she gently stroked his hair to calm herself, but the worry still gnawed at her relentlessly.
What would happen if she had to amputate her entire arm?
What did the curse even do?
How would she be an older sibling to Shuriken like this?
What if she really did turn into a tree?
She shook her head vigorously; there was no way she'd actually turn into a tree. It couldn't be possible.
A knock on her door snapped her out of such thoughts. Gently laying Shuriken down on the couch to avoid waking him, she tiptoed to the door, peeking through the peephole.
Her vision was completely obscured.
She cracked the door open, wary of who could be behind it; to her relief, it was just Katana, holding what looked like the remains of a trampled monstera leaf plant.
"Oh, hello Katana! Uh...what happened here?"
He cleared his throat, looking quite embarrassed. "Hyperlaser knocked it over after a few drinks too many."
She heard an offended gasp behind him. "Did not! You're the one who knocked it over."
Silence.
Hyperlaser coughed uncomfortably. "Anyway, he was wondering if you could nurse it back to health."
Katana frowned, though it didn't show. "I can speak for myself."
"Sure, big guy. Anyway, thanks for the help, Vine Staff. Appreciate it." He took the plant from Katana's hands and shoved it into Vine's arms quickly, before grabbing Katana by the shoulders and steering him around. "About that date you said you wanted to go on..."
"Date? I asked if you wanted to accompany me to a drink or two at a bar."
"Katana, you basically asked me out."
"..."
The duo's conversation trailed off as they walked back to Katana's apartment. Vine stood at her door, speechless; she hadn't expected to see this side of either of them.
Or the fact Hyperlaser had basically asked Katana out on a date.
Or that there was now soil all over her new kimono and freshly cleaned floors.
—
Now that the plant was in a fresh new pot and looking much better before (with an added pink bow on the pot, because why not?), Vine rested on the couch next to her brother. Slingshot still hadn't come back from his cafe; a late shift, she assumed.
The tv buzzed quietly in the background, and she flipped through channels mindlessly, before landing on a particularly interesting one.
An event...called a Phestival? Two brightly dressed inphernals sat chatting away on the screen, whom she vaguely recognized from the idol group Flipside.
The thing that caught her the most attention was the prize; bux for the winning teams of each Phight, and a grand prize for being the most likeable phighter in the Phestival.
The two droned on about themes, like Comedy and Tragedy-the theme for this year's Phestival-but none of that interested her at the moment.
The only thing on her mind were the hospital bills, and how she would pay them.
The Phestival had to be it, right?