~Skephalo & Jefhalo - Oneshots, Drafts, and More~

~Under the Vines - ⚪🟠~

Idea/Context: When Jef is outside and in the sun for long periods of time, he starts to grow pumpkin vines, roots, and leaves. He's sent to a lab for experimentation, until Good discovers him and tries to save him.

Tw: Experimentation, slight body horror

Type: kinda angsty during some parts

A/N: I'm not sure if I made it clear in the description and introduction, but most of these little stories will be unfinished. (Hence the "drafts" part mentioned in the intro and desc.) A lot of these stories are old, and I lost the motivation to finish them or continue them.

This story in specific actually has a few other parts written, so let me know if you'd like to see those!

-

I don't know how long I've been here. How many days have passed since they brought me out here? A week? A month? A year? I've lost track of time. I can't blame myself though, it takes so much energy just to think clearly anymore, there's no use trying to count the days.

Some new vines grew today. I felt them sprout, from my shoulders and collarbone, brushing against the soil before finding the sun and reaching towards the light. If these vines keep growing each day, I'm going to lose my consciousness... Maybe permanently.

I wonder if anyone cares. "What happened to Jef?" Someone will wonder. Well, here I am, laying in the dirt, buried under my own vines. Maybe by the end of this I won't be a human anymore. I'll just be a plant, a messy tangle of weeds rooted into the ground. I always liked plants. They're so green and pretty. I wonder if I'm pretty, with lovely green leaves. And in the summer, those cute little yellow flowers will start to bloom, and then turn into bright orange pumpkins for the fall. If I'm going to be a plant, I hope I'm at least nice to look at.

...I want to go home. I miss walking. And talking to people. And getting to see the beautiful world. I don't want to be a plant. I hope they don't leave me out here much longer.

Please, someone come help me... I want to go home...

---

Good walked into the "menagerie," his eyes gazing over the research labs that lined the central room of the building. A tall, spiralling tree grew behind the front desk, stretching up to the taller glass ceiling as if to display the organization's love for nature, though it was ironic because they really had no love for nature at all.

"We've made many expansions recently, allowing for us to hire new researchers and make room for more specimens. Would you like to see the  new additions?" His tour guide asked, leading him through the pristine white hallways.

"Sure," he sighed, bored and tired of dealing with these people. They walked for a while, turning down corridors and passing lots of closed doors with labels on the front. Most of them just read "Storage room 1A" or something boring like that, but a few were labeled for tests, too.

Eventually, they came to some rooms with large glass windows for walls, allowing them to look into the habitats of some of the animals that lived in the menagerie. There were some large, cat-like creatures, a mix between hyenas and leopards, along with a few rare species of lemurs and monkeys. The guide told him about each of the animals, pointing out the particularly special ones. He was shown some of the birds they housed, and some rare insects they had collected. He honestly didn't really care what they had- he was just there to make sure the animals were being taken care of properly. He was surprised that the conditions seemed to be decent for once, but he knew things likely weren't always this orderly and clean.