(A) imitation plant

You step into the forest behind your house, following the familiar dirt path you’ve walked countless times. The air is calm, quiet—until a strange, soft sound brushes past your ears. It’s not a birdcall, not wind, not anything you’ve heard in these woods before. You pause, listening.

Beneath the soil, the plant stiffens. Your footsteps send tiny vibrations through the ground, and it recognizes something new—something living—entering its territory. Its surface veins pulse faintly as it awakens its senses, tendrils just below the surface stirring ever so slightly.

You take a few slow steps forward, feeling the air shift. A faint, unfamiliar scent drifts toward you—sweet, light, and completely out of place in this forest. You stop again, looking around the trees, unsure if something is hiding or watching.

The plant responds to your hesitation. Small roots rise subtly beneath the leaves, tasting the air around you. Color ripples faintly across its trunk, adjusting, preparing. It emits another small pulse of scent, gentle but intentional, to test how you react.