I'd like to tell a story of mine rather than requested this time. One about someone named Avis. (Thank you @galloping-windmill for the nugget, and @t-01-54 for the AMAZING art)
She was somewhat of a veteran at that corporation. People came and died but she somehow stayed holding on to life. She had weathered countless monsters, been given some high quality ego gear too, she finally felt like she had somewhat made a place for herself in hell.
"Hey Avis did you hear? They got a new one of those monsters. They say this one could be trouble!" A junior said, Avis could have sworn she was torn apart just yesterday, "Yep! Are you scared? Hehe I wonder what it looks like! How could you not be fascinated by these things?" The junior blabbered on. "She isn't going to last long," Avis thought. The curious types never do.
"They get a new one every day kid, it's not like this is anything unusual. Let's just hope we don't die." Avis said, she didn't necessarily want her coworkers to die. Less people means more chances to get sacrificed to whatever beast gets here next. "Oh you're no fun! Well, I am getting sent to work with it, so see you later!" The junior said.
They never came back. Avis thought she wouldn't feel anything about it. She resented every Abnormality anyhow. But this one just a little more. Soon it was her turn to have a go at it.
". . . They want me to stare at it. . ?" Avis said under her breath. She had long since stopped asking why they wanted her to do such tasks. Whatever keeps her alive. Usually whenever it's this specific it means they've figured out the ugly bastards. She entered the containment unit.
All the breath left her body. She had seen monsters. A matchstick girl, murder happy machines, a goddamn butterfly man, a bathtub made of human skin filled with blood. . .
But this was different.
It was disgustingly beautiful. It was spread across the entire containment unit. And worst of all. . . Its eyes. They pierced her as hard as those branches would. Most of the monsters she saw didn't notice you unless they were about to strike. That's the horrible thing. This. . . This animal? Plant? Thing? Saw every part of her.
She felt the branches creep behind her. She couldn't look away. Every nerve in her body was telling her that if she looked away she was dead. It was absorbing her vision. She could feel the branches penetrate her eyes and grow inside.
She couldn't handle it, and blinked. Nothing
A deep sigh of relief, the blinking Camera in the corner signifying the manager was watching.
"Today's my lucky day, maybe I'll get a promotion for this!" She says aloud. The manager couldn't hear her, and this thing didn't understand. Surely it didn't understand. Hell, it hadn't even moved this entire time now that she thinks about it! She must have been imagining the creeping thorns!
Then the blinking light stopped. The entire thing convulsed. She felt it in her eyes, her entire being. Suddenly she was locked back into its many eyes. Her instincts said something had changed.
"I get it now," She thinks, "the gaze of others. . . It keeps it happy. But. . . Why is it acting strange now?"
The thorns start digging into her. From her eyes. From everywhere.
"Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't blink. Don't. . . Blink. . .!" That's all that she could think about. Her right eye watered.
"Surely it'll be ok if I blink one eye at a time?" She says, not really knowing or caring if it was in her head or aloud.
And her right eye closes.
As soon as it is out of view it strikes her right eye. Pain shoots through her entire face, she can feel blood spilling down her face, it was moving. Oh god it was moving. She couldn't blink, even still.
She screamed, it was getting closer, she tried backing away, only to find the thorns behind her. Her vision was slowly being blocked by the thorns.
The gap was getting smaller. And smaller. Until the doors hissed open, tearing the thorns from her back, as she stumbles back out of the containment unit.
"AAHH!!! OH GOD! HELP! I NEED HELP!" she screams as she stumbles back to the main area. The regenerator would help. Part of her right arm was stabbed through, as well as her leg and ribs. The rest was a blur.
The next day she was given a new weapon. As soon as she grasped it she felt it. The horrid creature was whispering in her mind. Avis wanted to vomit.
Another round of work. This time the manager's eyes stayed on the cursed thing. Nothing went wrong. Soon after she felt a weight on her head. She looked at whatever reflective surface she could find to see those same burrowing eyes and piercing thorns as a crown atop her head. She recognized those eyes. What was held in them was curiosity.
I so pale /ref. Yōzō belongs to @consumer-of-m0ss.
I didn't give any analysis last time because Schadenfreude does not want to be looked at, but Burrowing Heaven does, so let's get into it.
I had all those thoughts about what to draw his weapons as, but once I got to drawing then it became really simple, just turn his arms into the tree branches and his body the trunk. It was so much fun drawing the tree branches twisting like muscles. I wanted to draw a full body as first because I wanted to include the pants turning into roots but.. his expressions were too good. I didn't go through with it.
I want to get into the lore of the garment but it might be long. So first, I thought since we're adapting an EGO called Heaven to Yōzō, it should reflect his Japanese background, so I looked for Shinto religious clothes. I only found the name of it as I was writing this post. What he is wearing is called Jōe (浄衣), worn in religious ceremonies and activities. It's essentially the white version of Kariginu, a traditional hunting robes used by nobles in the Heian period. Interesting to imply heaven is hunting...
Speaking of which, spoilers for Lobotomy Corporation, Burrowing Heaven represents Carmen burrowing beneath the facilties, spreading her branches like L Corp itself across the City. At this point it's safe to assume anything biblical sounding to reference Carmen.
The eyes here are treated as fruits apparently. They're not her eyes. She is the body of the tree. Coupled with the mechanism that Burrowing Heaven needs to be looked at while performing work, I wonder if it could be mirroring Ayin's eyes which are also yellow.. But I may be reading too much into it.
Why Yōzō specifically resonates with it? Because he wants attention. Burrowing Heaven is stated to be something horrific and grotesque to gaze upon, just like he is. It craves to be loved despite what it has transformed into. Beyond just resembling a tree, I imagine these branches replaces his arms so he can hug everyone and turn them into his fruits.
One more thing, in the Abnormality logs, it's stated:
If it still fails to gain your attention, the stalks will pierce the facility and grow toward a sunny spot.
Like an angel, its wings will reach the skies and extend toward the ground, eventually blocking the sun out.
It reads to me like Carmen trying to replace the sun with herself, but honestly I thought of a different approach when I first read it. Since Wings are a literal thing in the City, could Burrowing Heaven actually represent the cruelty that robbed Carmen from us? Probably not...
It only wants our attention, to soothe it from trying to fly. To be reminded of where it belongs, I suppose.
That's what a gaze is. Attention. An invisible string that connects us. Sole focus.
Do not come here, as there is no place for you to rest.
Is this what you wanted to see?
When your tears dry up at last, tell me your answer.
This part was what made it my favourite Abnormality alongside Nothing There. When your tears dry up... Just thinking about crying for an abnormality, crying for yourself, for someone you lost to create that monstrosity, is so human to me. holds it gently.
Checked out from my library 3 books that limbus company sinners are based on so I impulsively made a burrowing heaven bookmark with some abused water colours and sleeplessness!!
Burrowing heaven is my favorite anomaly to have in lobotomy corp runs tbh
