Plant file · Maple Falls — Upper

Cuscata

Parasitizes a plant, refunds it, and removes hypnotism too.

Sun50

Recharge0s

Durability400

Lore

Pujiang finds Cuscata unconscious at Maple Falls and takes the plant home to recover. When the travelers reach the upper falls, the friendly zombie asks them to provide care and perhaps help Cuscata find home. Cuscata cannot explain where that home is; memory leaves more gaps than answers.

Lily Pad and Sunflower immediately take to the pink, catlike plant. Eager to help in return, Cuscata explains how parasitism can remove hypnosis and return a companion to seed form. The contribution is less about direct firepower than giving a plant in trouble another beginning.

Both protagonists wonder about Cuscata's origins in their diaries, while Hurriclover recalls only a vague familiarity. Those impressions do not establish a history. For now, Cuscata is learning to move plants, cooperate with friends, and find a place in an unfamiliar journey.

Mechanics

Role

Plant refund · State restoration

Base data: 50 sun; 0s recharge; 400 HP.
Can only be planted on an existing plant; after about 3s, the target leaves, creates its card, and refunds planting sun.
The generated card preserves runtime state, but clears hypnotism and returns to the player's side.
Binding can pause a target's explosion or attack routine; replanting still follows the target plant's own rules.

Parasitism turns a planted object into a temporary packet carrying its state. Refund, charm removal, and replanting are separate steps. 100 cs = 1 second.

Parasitism, refund, and cost

Cuscata must attach to an existing plant. After about 300 cs, both leave the field; a packet is created and the target’s planting cost is refunded. A zero packet recharge does not remove this delay.

For target cost C, recovery without replanting changes sun by C−50. Replanting the same target with the refund leaves a net cost of 50 sun.

\Delta S_{\text{move}}=-50,\qquad \Delta S_{\text{recycle}}=C_{\text{target}}-50

Replanting the same target costs 50 sun net.

What the packet preserves

The packet retains remaining HP, genes, upgrades or Twin state, timers, and bottle contents. Recovering a damaged plant does not heal it to full HP.

Charm is cleared during recovery, so the replanted object belongs to the player. The old position is discarded; terrain, carrier layers, and support are checked at the new tile.

Retain state, clear charm, recheck placement.

Replanting requirements

Replanting changes position while retaining plant type and stored state. An upgraded Sunflower, a particular Peashooter genotype, or a resting Hygro Plantago resumes its own rules.

Water placement still requires an eligible aquatic plant or Lily Pad; a Corchid platform still needs all four corners. While held as a packet, the target is absent and cannot attack, block, or produce.

The new position must permit planting.

Binding and suspended actions

The target becomes a packet only after the roughly 300 cs parasitic process. Attaching Cuscata and leaving the field are distinct events.

Binding can suspend CocoBottle Shine’s attack and explosion processes. Its packet retains liquid and relevant timers; replanting resumes stored state and checks whether the new location permits lobbing.

Attachment and departure are distinct events.

Journey notes

Pujiang brings the lost Cuscata to the party at Maple Falls. The story leaves possible abandonment unresolved, and Hurriclover only vaguely remembers it.

Dialogue about modified poles connects Cuscata’s mental cleansing to the charm substance identified by Hygro Plantago. Later discussions also mention recovering plants scattered by wind.

Interactions & counters

Hypnotic Pole Zombie
Can remove plant hypnotism while refunding the plant as a card and sun.
CocoBottle Shine
Binds the bottle to pause its explosion and attacks; refunded cards can preserve off-cycle day/night state.
Hurriclover
Can recover key plants after tornado movement disrupts the layout.