I honestly don't even know how to respond to this comment. I ended up crying while reading it haha. Thank you so much for taking your time writing down your thoughts about it. And the flower allegories <3 It means so much to me that someone took the time to take in and analyze these charaters and their relationship. They will probably return in some way in the future as they are very dear to me.
The sprites (and some other assets) were indeed drawn on paper and photographed! I was initially only gonna use traditional art for my placeholders but ended up sticking with them cause I liked the look. I'm glad you liked them as well!
Thank you so much again for your wonderful comment <3 I'll frame it or something