on the digestive nature of tangleweeds

OIA'I'O

and i asked myself about the present:

Oh, you’re aware of your brother’s strange nomenclature for the world around you. Rarely does it make sense, never is it consistent, and always is it a mouthful. One day, he’s argued in the past, it will be up to the two of you to name everything, when Rae is gone. You explain that Rae never will be gone, but he just shrugs, happy to talk about eventualities that you know will never come to be. It’s like a game you play just for him. Imaging worlds is not something you are interested in, but for him, you will imagine, rusty as you are at it.

The tangleweeds blow, keeping their potential sentience to themselves as four sets of eyes look on. Cocking your head to the side, eyes narrowed slightly to focus your mind specifically on one twig-sphere in particular, you begin to let your mind unravel. “Given that there were few places to hide when the barrier was up, it is possible that the natural camouflage of the local flora and fauna has increased.” Though the tangleweed really is basically a conglomeration of lonely sticks, you treat it as if it might expand at any time to reveal rows of teeth controlled by a predatory brain. “If that is not the case, then perhaps the rate of population increase and decrease was stabilized intentionally?” Whether by Rae or the humans, you aren’t sure.

how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep