#grey root

Twisted child of silk and roots

cause i cant let her go! I was thinking about greyroot's quest(again) and wondered about other parasites that dwell in spiders and went on a google treasure hunt.

I learned about wolbachia (wol-bak-ea) a parasite that latches onto arthropods and spiders and makes its needed for the insect to function at all (reproduction wise and also feminization- but thats besides the point). Obligative Mutualism is the word that got my brain itching.

This made me wonder what if instead of ripping the twisted bud out, you had access to the witch crest while its in. Your needle could hit farther when you heal the roots reach further and as a bonus the twisted bud grew to be a greyroot living in you, that during battles would randomly use your tools to help to further prevent your death. But the downside is that you couldnt use any of your other crests unless you got rid of her via yarnaby. if you decided to get rid of her, she will advice against it, but once you do your crest is back to OG witch crest and you dont have greyroot using your tools and of course access to the rest of your crests.

I think it'll be even better if other bugs found hornet creepy but couldnt put a finger on it.

- @twistedbudsparent

Or are we just doing toxic yuri over here

Time to yap! lmao!!

okay imma break down your question into bits cause brain smooth and it lets me yap longer about greyroot lmao.

To begin, Im using "ship" because i lack the vocabulary to address it the way i want. So imma call it a ship... its a bad relationship- but a ship none the less. Toxic yuri rears it head again!-

"What’s your opinion on the toxic aspects of Hornet and Greyroots dynamic?"

if youre into pokemon to some degress you may have come across parasect. if not here is some pokedex entries:

Red/Blue: A host-parasite pair in which the parasite mushroom has taken over the host bug.

Diamond/Platinum: A mushroom grown larger than the host’s body controls PARASECT.

Ultra sun: The bug is mostly dead, with the mushroom on its back having become the main body. If the mushroom comes off, the bug stops moving.

This is my view on Greyroot x Hornet in concept. But they lean More towards Obligative Mutualism. where greyroot gets a reliable host (cuz hornet is sturdy so shes not dying anytime soon) and hornet essentially gets extra limbs to keep her fighting longer. The downside being greyroot is in the drivers seat 3/4ths of the time.

Obligate mutualism: is a special case of mutualism where an interaction between species mutually benefits each other, and one or all species are unable to survive without the other. In some obligate relationships, only one species is dependent on the relationship.

"-I find what Greyroot did to be an insane breach of Hornets trust and autonomy-"

Oh I totally agree. And I can see why people detest the wood noodle. It was invasive, hornet was visibly ill, her loved ones worried, the procedure to get rid of the bud for a lack of better terms was extremely painful and uncomfortable. But I feel the whole thing did its job well. You are disgusted. as you should be! Just as a parasite should make you feel. so in all terms of writing in game Greyroot is great to me. 💖👌✨No one mourns a tapeworm.

"-I’m curious as to how other people may see them?"

in my rendition of the witch crest wants to live. so she does everything possible to make you (hornet) want to keep her in you. she wants to benifit you so she can benefit. she helps you in battles by using tools, stretches further to help you heal more- but the downside is you dont get as many interactions as you did before because youre uncanny. I even imagine is you decide to go to yarnaby she makes you turn around sometimes when you try to go to their bell. actively trying to convince you to keep her. Like how you get mad sugar cravings to feed the parasites in your gut.

"-are we just doing toxic yuri over here?"

...yes.