Entralling Bloom

16.) Cosplay

Rosalind

After following Jilliana's directions, Ros stumbled into the showers. Her face felt hot and the air around her seemed to be thinning rapidly.

Throwing herself against one of the many vanities in the shower room, Rosalind took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

Today was far too taxing, Rosalind complained to herself.

  Finding out that Albedo suspects me was jarring enough, I didn't need Jilliana embarrassing me in front of him and the Deaconess to boot. 

Barbara is close with Master Jean from what I hear and word of mouth travels fast in a small city like this one. The fact that I have been to the church sweaty, flustered, and disheveled twice within the few weeks I've lived here isn't exactly something I want my neighbors and employer to know.

Rosalind looked up at herself in the mirror. Her skin was sticky with sweat from the hike and her grimy, tired reflection peered back at her mockingly.

Ros sighed and turned to face the plethora of shower stalls that ran parallel to the vanities in the room, then she walked through the one nearest to her and shut the door behind her, securing its latch to ensure her privacy.

The small rectangular space was home to a single shower and a short ledge with a soap dish. Rosalind noticed the dish and picked up the bar of soap that lay within it. She sniffed it and rubbed at it with her fingers. It was a standard bar of lye soap, scented using tall blue mint flowers. The bar had a gentle, peppermint smell and it appeared to be unused so Ros deemed it safe to shower with. 

"Mint plants here are so strange," Ros murmured to herself as she undressed and turned on the shower. She put her clothes on the ledge under the soap dish and turned the faucet.

 "They grow tall bright blue flowers and can be found everywhere. Back on Earth, even if I went into the forest near my house, I had a better chance of finding blackberries or wild onions than mint plants... And none of the few mint plants I could find had tall flowers."

As she got cleaned up, Ros entertained herself with her thoughts, thinking aloud with her careless whispers.

"Gotelinde!" A deep feminine voice from behind Rosalind suddenly exclaimed, " It would be less irritating if you sang in the shower instead of having full-on conversations with it!"

Ros immediately recognized the voice and stopped mumbling.

Rosaria sighed from outside of Rosalind's stall. "Well...you don't have to be dead silent... Just quit muttering. Either way, I just got back after running errands, I brought the nun's uniforms in from the clothesline. I'll put yours on the back of the stall door."

Rosalind heard the soft "plop" of a garment being draped over the door and turned around to see that Rosaria had left her a nun's uniform.

"I'll be off now, Gotelinde. Don't use up all the hot water! The boiler has been faulty lately," Rosaria called behind her.

With a few clicks of Rosaria's heels and the gentle squeak of a door, Ros knew that she was alone again.

She exhaled in relief.

I was so worried that she'd ask me a question and recognize my voice. Well, that answers my question about whether or not Rosaria's truly a nun.

Rosalind decided to make a hasty retreat and quickly finished her shower, placing the soap back on the dish only to realize that her clothes were placed close enough to the showerhead to get wet.