>>31445301You'd actually be shocked by how simple you can pull it off. It's not easy, but it's doable.
Infant saplings, the green plant balls with the leaves on their heads, don't really have the cognitive ability to understand who Fauna is. They aren't mentally developed enough to understand such things yet. But they do get stressed out when they go long periods without stimuli from Fauna even if they've never seen her before in their entire lives. This is why it's recommended that you buy things like a speaker to play her music, pictures of Fauna, or a doll for it to imprint upon. Once you have those, the "separation anxiety" they experience is mitigated.
Grown saplings, the tiny little Faunas, are more complicated. Fauna quickly imprints upon them as their mother, and pretty much nothing can dissuade them from that notion. Like an infant sapling, you can soothe this somewhat with Fauna-related stimuli, but they will miss Fauna given a prolonged absence from her and begin suffering from intense anxiety attacks. This is why, for at least four hours a day, it's recommended that you place a sapling before a screen with Fauna's stream on it, otherwise the stress of separation can and will lead to health complications. VODs work too, but loose their effectiveness over time. The fact that a grown sapling is usually so attached to Fauna leads to a lot of pet owners get rid of their saplings once they reach maturity, since it's such a hassle to keep it from freaking out.
As for your water question, you only need to water your infant sapling like a plant. Their "skin" is actually a woven mesh of roots that absorb water, which they need to survive. The same applies to their growth cycle. This is also the reason why you don't bathe an infant sapling in soapy water, since it's potentially toxic. Grown saplings, however, lose this ability. They consume all sustenance orally, but still need some exposure to the sun to remain active.
