A Futile Rescue from The Berry Fields (Patreon)

Poor Amanda.

She had the very best of intentions! After her best friend Becca had fallen prisoner, she tried her damnedest to mount a one-girl rescue party! She was able to sneak past the gates & avoided the temptation of the ripe berries growing in the rows & rows of bushes. When she was finally able to make it to the berry girls were being held, she gave Becca a delicate, but forceful push, causing her massive friend to start rolling down the nearby hillside. It had been Amanda's hope that they could make it to the treeline. She just didn't account for two things.

For one, there was the matter of Becca's sheer mass. It caused her friend to roll to a stop about thirty yards short of their goal. Amanda caught up, once again trying to lay hands & build up some sort of momentum. Just enough to get her moving again. But the harder she pressed, the more juice seemed to ooze out of her friend, leading to the other unforeseen issue: the infectious nature of the juice itself. Little by little, Amanda started to feel funny. She tried to focus on their escape, but little by little, her clothes seemed to tight around her, restrict her movement. When she went for one more heavy shove, just enough to get her & her friend out of the line of sight, poor Amanda actually seemed to bounce. Not used to her shifting center of gravity, she landed on her butt (much higher off the ground than she had honestly been anticipating). But between her bulging body & stiffening joints, she found getting back to her feet was a bit... tough.

Oh god. It couldn't end like this, could it? With the both of them here? Stranded? Ripening?

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Just an image I started a bit ago I finally got around to finishing. Not super happy with the art, but I still kind of like the concept anyway. I still haven't seen Midsommar, but I kind of like the idea of a horror in kind of a vaguely otherworldy, seemingly pleasant, but mostly sun-drenched setting. So I intentionally went very bright & tried to make it a little hypersaturated. If I didn't have to run right now, I'd give the berries in the background some more detail. But I might try following up with the setting in the future.

I also just wanted to post something else, so there wasn't a bajillion Bellflower posts in a row. The next installment should be up later tonight, but if I'm being honest it might a run just a bit into tomorrow. It's fine, it's just going a little slow & I kind of felt more like working on drawing than writing this morning, which probably didn't help. At either rate, thanks for your patience & I hope you enjoy!