#working on sprites for Rose Thorns Cookie so be excited for that

[shadowknightskye]

My boy insisted I post him, so here is the full sprite edit. Some extra behind the scenes stuff under the cut!

design credit to @fishymom-art

Would you believe I had to completely recreate the sprite for this?

I made him with the "paper cut out" method I use sometimes IRL, so not everything is complete, sodjishphf

so everything is individual parts, including parts I felt I had to finish like his neck ruffle

BALD

[soloragoldsun]

Rose Garden Week- Day 7: Cultivate

Oscar had always been able to see what he collectively referred to as spirits. Ever since he was little, and he noticed a lady with green skin and hair the color of autumn leaves standing beneath an oak tree, a lady who no one else could see, he had known of his abilities. He could see, touch, and smell the small gods and invisible beings that lived in the world alongside humans. He saw the dryads that inhabited the oldest trees. He saw the forest guardians, who played tricks on anyone who littered or over-hunted. He saw the ghosts of humans who had gotten lost on their way to the afterlife.

It was actually something that ran in the family on his mother’s side, though his aunt actively avoided talking to the beings that inhabited nature and the small shrines scattered about the land. “They couldn’t save your parents,” she had huffed once when Oscar asked why she so blatantly ignored the fantastic beings around her. ��So, what good are they to us?”

Oscar disagreed. Maybe it was because he had no clear memories of his parents. Though he felt sadness and regret when he looked at old photos of them, he didn’t feel the deep anger that his aunt felt. If he did feel anger, it was directed toward the man who had been drinking, the man who had driven his car sixty miles above the speed limit and turned the Pine family’s old truck to a twisted piece of metal. What could spirits do to stop something like that?

No, spirits were beings of nature and faith. That was what the priests at the various shrines and temples said. Nature birthed them, and the faith of living things kept them from fading. Offerings, prayers, and simply speaking to them was enough to make the spirits grow.

One of Oscar’s favorite spirits was the guardian cat that lived on a road through the woods by his house. She had once been an ordinary black cat, and had belonged to the town’s librarian. One night, when the two had been out walking together, her master had been mugged and beaten to death. The cat tried to fight the men, who were later identified by the deep scratches on their bodies. No one could recapture the cat after that event, but she could be seen prowling the road at night.

Stories spread of the cat saving other travelers, either by warning them of approaching danger or directly attacking an assailant. Soon, no criminals came to that road, believing it to be cursed. Good people walked there freely, leaving food for the cat.

After the cat died, a shrine was erected, and offerings were left by people who wished to travel safely down that road and beyond. The belief of the people was so strong, that the cat never left. She remained as a ghostly protector, and now held the status of a minor god.

She was very quiet and knowledgeable, fitting for a librarian’s cat. Whenever Oscar visited her shrine, she would rub against his leg, purring softly. Sometimes, she appeared as a young woman with cat ears and a cat tail, and would talk with Oscar about the books he was reading. She always had good advice for him.

He visited her one day when he was ten, his face downcast. She took on her humanoid form immediately and asked what was wrong.

“The farm’s failing,” he admitted. “There’s some sort of disease affecting the corn, and it hasn’t been raining enough for the other plants to grow.”

The cat nodded. “If you’re working hard, there’s not much else to do. Have you prayed to the harvest gods for help?”

“I do at night,” Oscar said. “Aunty doesn’t like it when I ask them for things, though.”

“Yes, because of your parents,” the cat sighed. “I’d go to the temple and ask just the same. You could even make a shrine in your room. It probably won’t fix everything, but it might give you a little help.”

“A little help would be really nice,” Oscar admitted.

The next day, he went to the temple. In his pocket was a paper bag of his aunt’s chocolate chip cookies. He didn’t know if they’d be a suitable offering. They weren’t as fancy as the cherry cakes or flower-shaped pastries other people left, but they were the best he could come up with. He knelt in front of the shrine to the greater Harvest Goddess and prayed for help. He placed the cookies on the altar, bowed his head, and left.

The next day, without warning, he entered the fields to find a young girl already there. She stuck a finger in the ground, licked the dirt, and frowned. Her silvery eyes were sharp, and she wore a blood-red cloak that whipped back and forth despite the lack of wind. As Oscar approached, she turned and flashed a smile that was so purely happy, he had to grin back.

“Hi. Are you a harvest spirit?” he asked.

“Sure am!” the girl chirped. “Do you have any more cookies?”

“Yeah. Do you want some?”

“Well, I need energy if I’m gonna fix this farm!” she replied, putting her hands on her hips and flashing a proud smile.

Oscar hurried back to the house, his heart lighter than ever. The harvest spirit radiated confidence the same way his favorite sun spirit radiated light. Everything would be okay if she was the one helping him. He was sure of it. He returned with some cookies. They were getting a little hard around the edges, but the girl absorbed the energy from them just the same. Her face took on a whole new level of delight, filling Oscar with hope.

The farm showed signs of improvement within only a few days. The spirit flitted from area to area, fighting the corn disease, making quiet deals with rain spirits to moisten the soil just a bit more. As the cat had said, things didn’t get totally better, but they were certainly better than they had been before. By the time autumn came, the harvest was good enough to break even. It wasn’t much, but it was better than going under financially. Oscar was delighted when the spirit chose to remain during the next growing season.

The only catch was that she had to keep her presence hidden from Aunty Em. Oscar knew his aunt wouldn’t be happy with a spirit’s presence on the farm, nor with any interference from an outside force. She was very proud, after all.

“It’s annoying!” the spirit complained one day. “I can’t do as much when I’m hiding from her.”

“Can’t you become invisible to people?” Oscar asked.

“Making myself invisible to seers takes energy,” the spirit explained.

“Would more cookies help?”

The spirit grinned. “Maaaaybe.”

Oscar grew to love working the fields alongside the spirit. They would talk quietly about anything that came to mind. The spirit admitted that she was a young deity, that this was her first farm, and that she had been attracted by the cookies, which were such an unusual offering. “Way better than the honey cakes people always bring!” she insisted. “They may be traditional, but they’re so bland!”

They ate lunch together by Aunty Em’s rose bushes, which the spirit particularly loved. Oscar started leaving fallen petals with the cookies and sweets he would put on the tiny altar he had made in his room.

The spirit learned from Oscar about other deities in the area, and quickly befriended the cat spirit. And, while the rain spirits continued to be difficult, she grew to love the sun spirit Oscar often talked to: a gold-haired, red eyed young woman who took one look at this young sprite and claimed her as a little sister immediately.

“Yang said she’d go easy on the crops, so they don’t wither,” the spirit assured Oscar one day.

“Yang?”

“Yeah, the sun spirit.” She tilted her head. “You didn’t know her name?”

Oscar shrugged. “I never asked. The priests at the temple say that names have power in the spirit world. I figured it was bad manners to ask.”

“If you give your name freely, it’s okay to ask for a spirit’s name in return,” the spirit assured her. “The worst they can do is say no. Yang likes you, so I figured she wouldn’t mind.”

Oscar hesitated before asking: “What’s your name?”

“I don’t have one. I’m still a young spirit, and most spirits and gods get names from people who believe in them,” she explained. “Having a name makes them stronger and strengthens their bond with their worshipers.”

“Can I give you a name?”

The spirit’s eyes lit up like dewdrops in the early, silver light of the morning. “I’d love that!”

Oscar felt his cheeks flushing at how excited she was. “I’ll think of a good one. I promise.”

It didn’t take long to come up with the right name for his harvest spirit. Initially, he thought about just calling her Rose, due to her love for the rose bushes. However, that name sounded too gentle on its own. Even though roses had thorns, people named after them were often seen as soft and delicate, like the petals. This harvest spirit, while obviously gentle-hearted, also was passionate and tough. He had once seen her single-handedly fight off a many-tailed fox god, who had been encouraging his subjects to try hunting in the chicken coop.

She needed a name that was both tough and gentle. He thought of Silver, but decided against that too. Though her eyes were silver, and had been the first thing he had noticed about her, the color red seemed to symbolize her better.

One day, after his twelfth birthday, Oscar finally approached his spirit. “What do you think of Ruby Rose?” He felt that using a stone as her first name would help establish her tough nature, while the flower would emphasize her kind, gentle side. Both would definitely do her beauty justice. Oscar said none of this out loud.

The spirit’s face turned a healthy pink color. “I think it’s perfect!”

Over the course of the next month, the soy beans that were being grown in the old corn plot grew lush and green. A rain spirit allowed several dense, heavy clouds to come to the farm, convinced by a much bolder harvest spirit.

As Ruby’s ties to the farmland grew, so did her connection with Oscar. She taught him how to make an amulet using the farm’s soil, which allowed her to go anywhere with him, even to the parts of town that weren’t close to the temple, even to areas that were far away from the farm.

They would run through the woods together, meeting new spirits and conversing with old ones. Yang, the sun spirit, followed them everywhere, her warm, protective light covering them as they lay in the grass.

During the winter, Ruby even managed to befriend a minor winter sprite. The sprite, obviously, had a chilly personality, but she was able to express her kindness in small ways, such as diverting the worst of the season’s weather from the farm.

By spring, Oscar already knew that the farm would do even better than last year.

By the time Oscar turned fourteen, he had made several friends at the temple. His best friend was probably an older boy named Lie Ren. Through him, he met Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc, and Pyrrha Nikos. The four all came from devout families, and prayed to different deities.

Eventually, Oscar introduced them to Ruby. He showed them the secret altar in his room, talked about how she had helped improve the farm, and let them hold the amulet. They all greeted Ruby respectfully, even though they couldn’t see her.

Oscar turned to look at his friend, and let out a gasp. She was glowing softly from within, exerting an inner strength that outshone anything he had ever seen before. Immediately, he realized that the unquestioning belief of his friends had drastically strengthened her.

He didn’t realize it then, but that moment when her inner radiance reached this new height was the exact moment he fell in love with her.

When he was fifteen, he was attacked by a wolf. It was midnight, and he had rushed outside in response to the panicked cries of the cows, and found a starved, lone wolf pawing at the fence. He swung a stick at the wolf and shouted, trying to drive it off. The wolf, likely manic with hunger, lunged forward and bit his leg before a sharp blow to the head knocked some sense back into it and sent it running into the forest.

Ruby was horrified. She remained by Oscar’s side as he recovered, not bothering to make herself invisible. Aunty Em, to her surprise, glanced at her, but didn’t comment on her presence until after the bandaging was done.

“Finally revealed yourself, then?”

Oscar gasped, sitting up before wincing at the pain in his leg. “You knew?”

“Of course, I knew. Your friend doesn’t hide very well,” Aunty Em said briskly. “And clearly she doesn’t care to fight something that threatens her primary worshiper. Typical.”

Ruby looked stricken, and Oscar felt a hot flush of anger. “Don’t blame her! There weren’t any wolf spirits to negotiate with. She can only affect things physically relating to the farm.”

“Or you.”

“Because I can see her!”

Ruby stared at the ground. “I tried to attack the wolf, but I just went through him…”

“It’s okay, Ruby,” Oscar promised. “I’m fine. See?”

Aunty Em gave Oscar a bitter drink. “I don’t like this,” she said bluntly. “But I know better than to try and stop you. Just don’t do anything dangerous.” She looked at Ruby. “Make yourself useful and keep him warm, will you?”

Ruby watched Aunty Em leave with slumped shoulders, then crawled into bed next to Oscar. She nuzzled against his shoulder. “Don’t try fighting wolves again,” she whispered. “Don’t fight anything I can’t protect you from. Okay?”

Oscar’s mind was already becoming muzzy due to the medicine and herbs. He wrapped an arm around Ruby’s middle. Despite her ethereal nature, she felt warm and solid in his embrace. “Okay.”

When he woke up, Ruby was staring at him. Of course, she hadn’t needed to sleep. He realized that his hand was on her side and quickly withdrew, his face burning. Ruby tilted her head at him. “You’ve been kinda jumpy around me lately.”

“H-Have I?” Oscar stammered.

Ruby nodded, shifting closer, which did not help Oscar’s crazed heartbeat. “Are you sick?”

“I…I don’t know,” he admitted. He looked at those familiar silver eyes and simultaneously felt better and more confused than he had ever been.

Ruby continued sleeping at Oscar’s side, even after his leg healed. One day, out of the blue, she expressed a wish to stop being a harvest spirit and to be his personal guardian spirit instead. She wished to make her primary bond with his amulet, once he added his blood to the soil.

“I could do more to keep you safe,” she noted. “And I can protect your children too.”

Oscar felt a weird, sickly pang in his stomach. “What if I don’t have kids?”

“Then I’ll just protect you.” Ruby placed a hand on his chest. “And I guess I’ll belong to whoever else has the amulet next.”

Oscar liked that idea even less.

He approached the cat spirit, who he now knew was named Blake, and asked her what all these confusing feelings meant. Blake rolled her eyes. “You’re in love, you dummy.”

A weird combination of elation and terror filled Oscar’s mind. “Can a human even love a spirit?”

“Obviously,” Blake said dryly.

“Can…Can a spirit love a human?” he asked.

“Yes,” Blake affirmed. “I’ve known several. It can be difficult, considering a human’s short lifespan. Some humans stay behind as ghosts, and eventually become spirits in order to be with the one they loved.”

“How does that happen?”

“The same way it happened with me: enough people associated the ghost with something, and were willing to believe in it like one would a god or spirit. That allowed them to become so.” Blake ruffled Oscar’s hair gently. “Don’t think too far ahead, though. Why don’t you focus on telling Ruby how you feel?”

Oscar blushed. “I don’t know how.”

“Last I checked, it only took three words.”

It ended up being more than three words. It started with “I don’t think you should become a guardian spirit.”

Ruby frowned. “Why not?”

“Wouldn’t you be tied to the amulet?” Oscar asked. “Instead of to the land? Won’t that be limiting?”

“I mean, yeah,” Ruby admitted. “But I’ll be stronger.”

“Don’t you want your freedom more?”

“Yeah, but…” Ruby shook her head, her own face taking on a conflicted look. “What if you get attacked by a wolf again? Or something worse? I don’t know if I could handle losing you.” The two were sitting, and she brought her knees to her chest. “I try not to think about how you’re human, because you’re going to die one day and leave. I don’t want it happening any sooner than it has to.”

“I don’t have to leave,” Oscar pointed out. “I can be a ghost.”

Ruby stared at him. “Now who’s worried about freedom? If you become a ghost, you’ll be stuck until an exorcist sends you somewhere else.”

“Or until I become a spirit,” Oscar said. “Like you.”

Ruby’s face was turning distinctly red, and she turned away, wiping her eyes. “You shouldn’t do that. It’s too risky. What if you don’t become like me?”

“I want to try.” Oscar stared at the ground. “I…I don’t want to lose you either.”

There was a moment of silence with both human and spirit staring at the ground. Then, Oscar felt a touch on his hand. It was warm and soft, and he closed his eyes, imagining that they were both human, that they could just enjoy this contact without worrying about anything else.

When they stood up, he kissed her. She pressed close to him, wrapping him in her ever-moving cloak. When they pulled away, she smiled at him, though it was a smile tinged with sadness.

Another year passed. The harvest sprite’s strength was greater than ever before. The farm had never been better. So it would be for many years after that.

A time would come when the farm started to die. Not because of the spirit, but because the one who was meant to tend the farm was growing weaker. His hair was white and his skin was as weathered and wrinkled as tree bark.

Ruby was at his side, as she always was, appearing as a young woman. She kissed his brow as she listened to his rattling breaths. She saw a spectral crow perched on a nearby tree, and knew that one of Death’s many agents was coming.

When the cold figure came and touched Oscar’s brow, Ruby clung to him. She clung to him even as his body lost its warmth. She cried even though he couldn’t hear. She held him tightly, scrunching her eyes shut and cursing everything she could think of.

Then, she felt movement in her arms. She opened her eyes and saw Oscar, a young man again, smiling warmly at her. She touched his face. It was cold and insubstantial. He was a ghost, barely tangible, hardly even real.

But local legend was taking effect. Stories of the lonely farmer who loved a harvest spirit had spread far and wide. Lie Ren, who had gained much respect as a devout worshiper, spread the story everywhere he went. Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune prayed at the rose bush and searched for someone else to care for the farm. People came from all around to Oscar’s funeral, decorating the entire town with rose petals and stalks of corn

As Ruby detached herself from the empty property, she felt another bond forming. She looked at the ghostly Oscar and gasped. He was already becoming warm, already regaining his color.

He smiled at Ruby, and at the farm that had turned oh so slowly into a thing of beauty, and had stayed that way for such a long time. He wasn’t sure what would come next, but he was more than ready to feel his bond with Ruby grow, and to someday settle down and help another poor farmer cultivate his struggling fields.

Bidding farewell to their former lives, the two harvest spirits grasped hands and returned to the temple, waiting for the prayer of someone who needed them. Especially if the offering was a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

~

Phew, this was a long one. I hope you all enjoyed my contributions to @rwbyrosegardenweek! This was a fun AU I came up with while playing a VN dating sim about guardian spirits. I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of smaller deities and spirits having control over certain things, and having shrines dedicated to them, so I thought I’d play with that kind of setting here.

If you like what you see, check out my Fanfiction page and my Patreon.