Bloom

6: The Annoying Welts

The sound of a door creaking open floods the room. Pepper emerges with their head poking in in search of the prisoner.

"Tulip?"

In their grip are various small bags, each containing different kinds of tea. They hold them tight while closing the door, then look around. Tulip is nowhere to be seen.

"Are you hiding?"

The pitter-patter of their feet is the only noise as they walk further in while clutching the bags. Excitement turns to worry.

"Tulip, if you can hear me, make a sound," they shout, "knock on the wall, tap the floor, anything!"

Thunk! Pepper stops moving. The ceiling light sways slightly, below it a single petal on the floor. The colour has faded and crumbled to dust. A hand smacks it down like nothing. Pepper flinches, almost dropping the bags.

"Tulip?"

Another hand emerges from the dark. It's covered in a yellow substance.

Pollen.

Flakes of it rise up into the air before landing on the floor. An echoed groan, followed by small sniffles. Pepper runs. Runs to them, kneels down, drops the bags to their side.

"Tulip? What happened?!"

As they emerge closer under the light, they reveal more of their weakened self. Eyes shut tight. Covered almost head to toe in pollen. A plumage of purple towers over their back. Daisies, lots of them. Pepper hesitates, but knows they can't help them without coming in contact. So they gently pull Tulip onto their lap while examining them more. Surrounding the bottom of the stems is patchy pink skin. As their eyes travel, they see more blotchy patches. Hives? Welts? Tulip is breathing, but also groaning.

"Hold, hold on," they slowly move Tulip off of their lap and stand up. "I'll go get something real quick!"

In a flash they dash out of the room. Tulip lays on their side, motionless, but breathing. They return carrying both a ceramic-like bucket full of water and a towel. They set the bucket down, then dip the towel in the lukewarm liquid. While it sponges up the water, they pull Tulip partially onto their lap again. Once they deem the towel soaked enough, they lift it up, squeeze out any of the extra water, then begin dabbing it on Tulip's skin. Careful, slow.

Tulip coughs, making pollen that was glued onto their hair skyrocket into the air. Pepper wipes their own face, but still continues to clean Tulip thoroughly. Arms, hands, fingers. Washing away as much pollen as they can. They take tender dabs around the flowers. To their relief, it appears that Tulip's legs are both blotch and pollen free. But then comes the challenging parts: their face and hair. Pepper knows they can't roll Tulip over, so they compromise by moving to the other side. A sigh of relief hits them once they see only the left side of their cheek collected pollen.

Rinse, repeat. They wipe Tulip's cheek, then stop. Look down at their delicate face caked in fever red. Freckles collect a galaxy on their cheeks. Another groan pulls them out of their headspace. No, Pepper, focus. Instead of dipping the towel in the water, they bring as much of Tulip's hair as they can into the water. It goes from clear to yellow in an instant. Using the damp towel, they prop it under Tulip's cheek. Their eyes remain closed.

"Hold on."

Pepper leaves the room. Out, back in again. This time carrying a glass bottle and a blanket. They open the bottle and plop something on their hands resembling ointment. Tender, tentative, they coat as much of the welts as they can. Tulip winces.

"I'm sorry," they say softly, "it'll only hurt for another minute, I promise."

They grab the blanket and spread it onto Tulip. Slowly, they mold it into a shape resembling a cocoon. A hole is just big enough for the daisies to pop out, as the rest of the blanket shields a sore Tulip from more pollen. When Pepper finishes, they wipe off a brow of sweat.

"Okay, I think it's good."

They scoot back to get a better look. Tulip is embraced in warmth, their head poked out with cascading, damp hair. Pepper takes a minute to catch their breath, peeking at what seems to be a sleeping Tulip. The groans turn into soft breaths. Their eyes move down to the tea bags, scattered along the floor. They scrunch their nose tight. Today was an emergency, I'll ask them when they wake up.

They gather all the bags together, then grab the bucket, now filled with pollinated water. They take one last quick glance at Tulip, confirming that they're okay, before exiting the room.

---------------

Another dreamless slumber. Tulip parts their eyes. They feel like they've been asleep for millions of Earth years. As they try to move, something strikes them as strange. They don't feel any pain. When they move more, they realize their hands are pressed against their chest like a mummy, held down by a blanket. Their whole body is encased in it. When they peer over their shoulder, they are met with wilted flowers. Locks of damp hair flow down their shoulder. Confusion hits them. They unfurl themself from the silky chrysalis, then sit up. What they don't realize is part of their hair has dried out into messy curls. Then it hits them - Pepper did this. Why? All they remember was crawling along the floor, then everything went black.

The towered door opens from afar, making Tulip recoil under the blanket. Whoosh. Heels graze along the floor again.

"Oh prisoner?"

Mortelline's tone is enticing, sly. Further she walks in, moving closer. She raises an eyebrow at what appears to be a lump in the light.

"Don't tell me I was mistaking a pesky deity for a butterfly."

Clack, clack, clack. She moves closer. Tulip gives up, peering out from their failed hiding spot. Mortelline stops with a hand on her hip. The slow blink makes her eyelashes flutter like butterfly wings.

"Hmm? Strange, I don't recall giving you a blanket or a towel."

Tulip is expecting it. Anger. Annoyance. Any reaction related to distaste. Yet her tone of voice seemed softer. Suddenly, both of them are alerted to the sound of another door opening. It's the smaller one on the opposite end. Pepper strolls in holding a content expression for a moment. That expression quickly washes away once they realize pink eyes are locked onto them, now flared to red.

*****

Looks like Pepper is in a lot of trouble! What do you think will happen next? Let me know, and let me know how the story is so far. :)