"Why not people?"

An unusual introspective wave feel over Raf and he held out his hand in front of him. He watched his fingers unfold and collapse, seeing it like a flower aging in time-lapse and back again. He saw the junction separating finger and hand - the leafy florets around a great furrowed node - and took into account where the edges of palm ended, and where finger and finger would sprout.

Fingers tensed and relaxed. At the beginning of each movement, aware of each individual finger, they felt as if he could control them independently, but noticed that their movements were ultimately connected. The palm, the heart of the bud stood out on its own somewhat, but the fingers accentuated its presence like a great sunflower's goldenrod mane. Thoughts of picking them off individually - like a young girl's lovebird mind playing with a daisy - arrived but realization of the calloused, wrinkled digits at the ends of his branches dared not be plucked. The junctions between florets and head came clear, as if they could be removed if pulled in exactly the right trajectory.