As Jennifer woke, she felt the soft embrace of the bedding sheets which she had fallen asleep in. It was a relief to be in bed, safe, surrounded by familiarity. She had a fleeting moment of doubt, a thought of hope that perhaps she had simply had a nightmare, but soon realized that she was in the medical tent. She hoped that she'd had an allergic reaction and had experienced a seizure or hallucinatory event.
She sat up and looked around. The curtains were closed, but she could see the forms of the larger instruments through the mostly opaque fabric.
There was a bedside table with some food on it, what looked like apple sauce, bread, and some steamed vegetables. She was hungry, so she quickly ate it all. She felt, full, yet somehow still painfully hungry.
She decided that since she felt fine enough, it would be alright to get up, so she slid her legs off the bed and took a breath. Sliding onto her legs, she found that she was standing without issue. At least she knew that whatever had happened, it was nothing too debilitating.
Sliding the curtain out of the way, she could now see the whole wall of the medical tent. She had been there just before she had left for her expedition into the cave, and everything was arranged differently than it had been.
"Maybe it's just been a busy day?" She thought to herself.
Her hopes were dashed as she saw a calendar on the wall with shifts drawn out. It had been a week since she had ventured into the cave, which left large stretches of unconsciousness between then and now. In fact, she could only remember a few hours of what had happened in that time, a day at most.
She wandered around the tent for a few moments, gathering her bearings and testing her memory. She recognized the equipment: She saw sealed scalpels, a small fridge with temperature-sensitive medicines, some bandages and other supplies. All her knowledge from beyond the last week seemed to be clear in her mind, so she probably wasn't suffering from some sort of retrograde amnesia. Still, her questions about her condition remained unanswered.
"Ah, there you are" came a voice from the door.
Jennifer swung around and found herself met by Ken's friendly smile. "I'm glad that you seem to be sure on your feet. How do you feel?"
Jennifer had to think about how to answer that question. "I'm not sure. I feel fine physically, except for being really hungry...I'm mostly just really confused...and I have no idea what happened in the last week."
Ken looked concerned. "Why don't you have a seat and tell me what happened, from the beginning." He gestured back towards her bed.
"Alright" she said, and made her way over to the bed. She sat down as Ken grabbed a chair and some charts. He sat down beside her, and she began explaining.
"We went down to explore the caves, and what we found was spectacular. There was a whole ecosystem it seems, rather deep underground. In fact, I found a plant larger than anything I'd ever seen, and...that what made the hunger pain start."
Jen's gaze had been drifting down, and she now looked up at Ken.
"Do you mind..." she gestured at the curtains.
"Oh, of course" he said, getting up.
He closed the curtain so that he could have a little privacy to talk with his patient, his friend, about why she was in pain.
"I don't quite know how to put it without sounding crazy, but...I had sex with the plant" she said hesitantly.
Ken looked confused.
"You see, it had this really large stamen...and I don't know why, but I ended up letting it...you know..."
"You penetrated yourself with it?" Ken suggested.
"No...it penetrated me..." Jen said awkwardly. "I was inside the flower. The stamen reacted to my weight, I guess, and pushed up inside of me."
