318. Sickness and health, 6

(Rose)

B - Ah ah, sorry to have you worried... No, I'm fine.

R - Thank goodness...

B - I just can't take it off by myself as you can see... I know it's ridiculous. But it just doesn't come off...

Bleue is in a ridiculous condition indeed.

The prismatic crystal she picked up, stuck to her skin ferociously.

And as she instinctively tried to use her other hand to pull it out from the first... She got both of her hands glued to that stone.

Oddly enough, that solid prism sticks perfectly to skin but not at all to cloth. And thank goodness, it doesn't seem to be trying to eat her flesh or anything dire like that. It's just very sticky.

We try everything we can find to wash it, but it's not really glue in between. Chemistry as much as we can do here, doesn't do. So only the hard way remains.

I wear makeshift gloves and try to chisel the rather large block of crystal out of Bleue's hands, cautiously. We're sitting atop a large house near the planned meeting point, to get as much light as possible.

As I try to wear off Bleue's skin very carefully, we discuss slowly our respective findings.

The pond of fresh water and the foam tree win me two aspects.

Her sticky stone wins another for weirdness. No one wins for the house location.

B - Where I found this stone is a little creepy. And it would take a lot of work to make it liveable. It was interesting otherwise, with that inner greenhouse.

R - it's worth taking another look. I really haven't found any place that was promising.

B - I think it was an embassy...

I manage to release half of her left hand, at the cost of shredding the top layer of her skin. She bears with the pain all along and moreover when I accidentally cut too deep.

R - Did you know Ana can talk?

B - Of course. She yelled at me more than once. And she also said your name before flying to get you.

Ana is pecking Bleue's legs, making her twitch repeatedly, either to play ot to teach her to be more careful next time.

B - I get it, I get it... I'll craft us thin gloves for future explorations.

One hand gets free. Bleue begins to carefully lick it as her derma is on fire and bleeding on many spots. She holds back her tears from pain.

R - Dear Bleue, dear Bleue...

B - Come on. You would have been caught too.

R - That's true. Stay still.

She tries her best; holding her tears. I'm ripping her skin as thinly as possible, but it surely hurts a lot. And she has to keep her free hand open, because any movement of her skin is painful.

After one more hour of slow torture, Bleue is free. She collapses on the rooftop we're on, to breathe heavily. She's twitching, fighting the urge to close either of her itchy hands.

I'm holding the stone the size of a ball, with two slightly uncanny handprints on it. It doesn't stick to the cloth wrapping my hands and moves freely.

Bleue is licking her wounds while I'm packing the curiosity safely away.

R - It's the first wish stone I see that looks like that and does that... I guess they come in all sorts and shapes as well.

B - What should we waste its power on?

R - We'll think about it... Just making food grow or a source of water appear would be fine I guess.

B - We could...

R - Forget it. Just rest for now.

I know what she was going to suggest. I'm not open to the idea of body modifications, even if it meant returning me to normal. I remember Blume's warnings somewhere in a corner of my head. As much as I hate it, I'd rather keep a status quo and keep that stone as a last resort. With what we know of human anatomy and biology, things could be done, but dreadful mistakes just as easily. We're not doctors or surgeons... It's already a miracle nothing bad happened to me after that change...

Sometimes there's no path ahead I really want to take, not that it makes me happy to feel that way. I'm reluctant to risky changes yes...

~

The next day we're returning to see that house she found the stone in.

Bleue carries Ana on her shoulders, and carefully keeps her hands free from touching anything.

The leash of our flying tree is attached at her belt and follows as well.

We notice that the humidity and pestilence evacuated through the broken window allowed mould to develop over the pile of rubbles below it and the walls around. It grows fast and looks even more ominous now.

Bleue stays outside with Ana while I head inside to have a look. If the first room is more dry now, as soon as you get inside the first corridor, everything is covered with sheet or film of fat and moisture.

I scrap some of this goo covering a random wall and exit the house right away with it.

We don't have a microscope with us since we left it on the boat near Issos, but we have found a magnifying glass.

I look as best I can to this fat, with my two sights.

There's clearly some living activity, including deaths, since the bacteria are exposed to fresh air and sunlight.

It's dying. Most of it is. A minority species in this goo then takes over, and spreads in this new drier environment.

Coloured stains appear on the piece of glass I had spread it onto.

R - This house is... Really infected. I think you're right, it's probably not worth trying. If all the walls are like that, it's like a giant stomach or bowel.

B - The basement is even worse, but that's about all there is inside.

R - Well, we'll find a nicer place to stay.

B - Okay... So you won. Congratulation.

There wasn't much enthusiasm there, but her hands hurt her a lot.

I also suspect that she's been infected with all sorts of things she breathed in there. She's beginning to look feverish.

R - Come, let's go somewhere else.

~

Bleue did end up falling ill afterward.

We went as close as we could, as Bleue managed to walk, from that small lake I found.

Bleue got a painful diarrhoea. And I had to help her as she can't use her hands right now. She was not happy.

I left her under Ana's watch as I went to fetch some water. When I returned, she was coughing dust and droplets of oil. She drank two litres in less than a minute, feeling awful.

I can see her body and her flora being in complete turmoil because of the disease trying to spread and settle inside of her flesh and fluids.

I also notice something odd, that makes me wonder if it wasn't the wishstone she found that was trying to absorb something from her, as much as Bleue's flesh trying to absorb something from the stone. Something sipped through, but I can't say if it was good or bad, or related to the disease inside her lungs. It might have been.

B - So I guess... We shouldn't try using either wish stone to cure me just yet?

R - if your body can overcome it, I think it would be better than taking the chance of fulfilling the disease's wish to grow instead.

B - Ah ah... You're right.. I'm not feeling so great, so stay with me please?

R - I will.

Her fever reached a critical point later. Bleue fell unresponsive whilst I was looking after her.

~

I keep refreshing the wet cloth around her forehead. She's burning hot. I'm worried for her but I think she will survive. She won't need to gamble her salvation with stones of daiûas.

Random happenings can evolve so quickly, it's a little scary.

I turn toward Ana, who is looking at Bleue with what appears as just curiosity, but may be more emotional.

R - Do you think she will be alright?

A - Yeah.

I pet Ana's head. She's confident too.

Bleue is sweating oils. She doesn't look well, nut I can see in the turmoil going on within her that her body is pushing the contaminant out this way as well.

All I can do for now is help the outside of her body as best I can, with nutrients and washing her.

The inside of her body is at war, and winning it at the cost of exhausting her and leaving her consciousness aside for a while.

We need fresh food, something better than old biscuits.

I whistle Ana.

She looks at me suddenly, surprised at first to hear me calling her like Bleue does. She then joins me as requested, eagerly even.

I cover Bleue carefully and leave her to rest. Night is already well set, but Ana and I are going hunting.

~