seer_beetle

However, as you're walking back together, they begin to bite him. As a rather graphically limited game, it needs to use dialogue to both show and tell. He mentions the bites, as though you could already see the critters crawling on him.
"Oh... I'm probably just scaring them."
Even then, though, he maintains his gentle demeanor.

Until more come, and pile up, and keep coming, even as his character breaks and he tries shaking them off. Beneath the flower crown lies, still, a human - a child.
"There's so many of them... I can't get them off!"

And then, once again, he's gone.

***

There's something about this scene. It isn't at all drawn out, it barely takes three minutes from start to finish. It's a perfect example, however, of "show, don't tell" writing, even in a setting where "showing" can be difficult.

Naturally, this scene is meant to serve as more of a reflection on Sunny's state of mind, but it felt particularly impactful to me.
Maybe it's the terror of goodness being taken advantage of? Or the real and ever-present pressure of a cruel reality, opposed to one's ideals and wish to be gentle?

When faced with something just as real and cruel, both Sunny and Basil's characters broke. They buckled under the pressure, despite the love they had felt, just as Basil did, despite his love of the things others considered creepy and crawly.

I have more thoughts about this, ones which deviate greatly from the those posed here, but sadly, as of yet, I lack the words to properly formulate them.
Perhaps this is why one ought to show, instead of telling?
I will do my best to scribble down something worthy of this feeling. Perhaps, some day soon, you will read it and remember this post!