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Description
Enka (炎花) is a fire flower, which is probably closer to "fungus fairy" than actual flower. She normally floats over the woodlands looking for dead or overgrown stems and branches, attaching herself to them when found (thus giving her the appearance of a flower). She then spreads her incandescent hyphae through select parts of the plant to consume it over the course of the next several hours. When her task is complete, she twists off from the charred plant matter (which then crumbles apart) and floats away to repeat the cycle.

Enka's flowerlike appearance coupled with the scent of heated sap will often attract the unnecessary attention of bees. "I'm not a flower! Go away!" Enka will say. "Are you sure? I just want to help!" the bee will reply. "Yes, I am sure. I'm closer to 'fungus fairy' than anything else," explains Enka. "But you smell like a real nice flower, though!" insists the bee. And they will argue like this for a while until Enka starts swinging fire at it to drive it away, only to be visited by another bee with the same questions. The bees are very persistent because they really like that smell, and they also really like Enka but are too shy to say it. Actually, it might be the same bee that returns, pretending to be a different bee.

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I wrote about 4 different descriptions for this piece before finally settling on this version. Early drafts had Enka as a species of pepper (Capsicum alraune) and would go into detail about the anthers on her hair and the nectar in her crown and how the claw arm was actually an ovary that would turn into an incendiary fruit if it ever got pollinated. And while it was kind of fun to make up these facts, it was very sad to think about how she's stuck to one spot forever and is just a jerk to these bees for no reason. It wasn't until the other night when I thought "What if she was a parasite?" that her existence became much more interesting. Her role was later developed into a pruner, but the gist of it was to give her mobility and to free her from the short, weird life of a flower.

Now time for me to go and work on something else.

Short process gif here
Made in Clip Studio Paint (formerly Manga Studio)

Description
Enka (炎花) is a fire flower, which is probably closer to "fungus fairy" than actual flower. She normally floats over the woodlands looking for dead or overgrown stems and branches, attaching herself to them when found (thus giving her the appearance of a flower). She then spreads her incandescent hyphae through select parts of the plant to consume it over the course of the next several hours. When her task is complete, she twists off from the charred plant matter (which then crumbles apart) and floats away to repeat the cycle.

Enka's flowerlike appearance coupled with the scent of heated sap will often attract the unnecessary attention of bees. "I'm not a flower! Go away!" Enka will say. "Are you sure? I just want to help!" the bee will reply. "Yes, I am sure. I'm closer to 'fungus fairy' than anything else," explains Enka. "But you smell like a real nice flower, though!" insists the bee. And they will argue like this for a while until Enka starts swinging fire at it to drive it away, only to be visited by another bee with the same questions. The bees are very persistent because they really like that smell, and they also really like Enka but are too shy to say it. Actually, it might be the same bee that returns, pretending to be a different bee.

---

I wrote about 4 different descriptions for this piece before finally settling on this version. Early drafts had Enka as a species of pepper (Capsicum alraune) and would go into detail about the anthers on her hair and the nectar in her crown and how the claw arm was actually an ovary that would turn into an incendiary fruit if it ever got pollinated. And while it was kind of fun to make up these facts, it was very sad to think about how she's stuck to one spot forever and is just a jerk to these bees for no reason. It wasn't until the other night when I thought "What if she was a parasite?" that her existence became much more interesting. Her role was later developed into a pruner, but the gist of it was to give her mobility and to free her from the short, weird life of a flower.

Now time for me to go and work on something else.

Short process gif here
Made in Clip Studio Paint (formerly Manga Studio)