The Burned Man clasped his fleshy hands around the Girl’s shoulders, preventing her from moving. “Here she is!” he said with fiendish glee. “The person responsible for attracting your ire! Feel free to punish as you deem fit!”
The Florist slowly raised its stumpy hand in the direction of the Burned Man, and lowed a solitary finger. Instantly, leaves started to creep their way across his eyes.
“What? No - no! Don’t!” he begged, trying to rip his newly-formed eyelids off. But with only one hand with razors, his efforts at success were limited, and he couldn’t hold off their coverage. When both eyes were fully closed, the Burned Man started screaming in terror, shaking his body from a horror that couldn’t be perceived. After five seconds of this, the Florist lowered his arm, relieving the Burned Man’s torture. Then the Florist turned to look at the Girl.
“MMMTHRRLLRRYXX.”
The Girl struggled to come up with an excuse for her actions, trying to think of something that could be convincing enough to spare leniency. From over the Florist’s head, she could see in the distance, the Pale Boy running over with her bag. What was he doing with her stuff? Before she could get an answer, the Pale Boy ran alongside the Florist, waving wildly, and engaged in silent animated dialogue with his boss.
The Florist talked back in accordance to the Pale Boy’s actions, using truncated sounds of his rumbling noise, ranging from “MMMTHRR” to “RRLLLRR” to “RYXX?” During the midst of this, the Burned Man had recovered from the leaves covering his eyes, and looked disoriented at first. “Where - ? Oh, right. I almost forgot.”
The Girl tried to ignore him, being more interested in the action in front of her. The Burned Man had only been blinded for five seconds. He shouldn’t have forgotten what happened in that brief timespan. But the Burned Man wasn’t having any of it, and insisted on having attention paid to him. “This is what I brought you here for. Now, tell me - what are they saying?”
The Girl looked insulted. Was this the main reason she was brought here to suffer in the Forest for all this time? Just to eavesdrop on these guys? Anybody could’ve done that. “Well, it’s hard to make out, but basically... they’re saying that... you talk too much.”
The Burned Man clenched his fist in confirmation. “I knew it!”
In truth, it was notoriously difficult for the Girl to understand just what the two of them were saying. The Florist had a notoriously heavy accent that wasn’t mitigated by its unusual form. But with some helpful signals from the Pale Boy, she was able to fill in the gaps of what was being said, getting the main gist of the conversation.
When the two of them finally finished “talking”, the Pale boy handed the Girl’s bag in her arms. His mood said something to the effect of, (It’s all up to you now)
The Girl turned to face the Florist once again, who she could slightly understand better now, with the opening salvo of; “MMM”, which she heard as, (So, you’re expecting)
“Yes, and I can tell you, I’m looking forward to when it’s all over. I didn’t ask for this in the first place. I was just looking for a little fun.”
“THRRLL?” (Why are you here then?)
“It’s really stupid. I heard this place could turn lies into truth. But I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to make that happen. And along the way - ”
“LLRR.” the Florist interrupted. (That’s not what I mean. Why are you in the Forest?)
“I was getting to that. I hoped that the City would stop me from smelling the awful odor emanating from my Pregnant body. But it refuses to help me unless I play by its arbitrary rules. Somehow, this Forest seems completely separate from the City.”
“RRYXX...” (And you were hoping to...)
“Stop smelling seafood so much. Why aren’t you asking about the plantkiller?” She was wondering where this line of questioning was leading, and why the Florist wasn’t addressing the reason for revealing its presence in the first place.
“MMMTHRRLLRR.” (You were set up to fail. Those bags were only supposed to be used in times of emergency. Considering how much you handled those things without incident, it’s astounding that you didn’t do as much damage as you did)
“So, it’s not my fault?” she asked, sounding relieved.
“YXX.” (Come closer)
The Girl leaned in to get a better look, where a solitary flower in the middle of the Florist’s chest bloomed open. And then she got a facefull of pollen dust forcibly shoved up her nose. She wasn’t allergic, but the surprise assault left her sneezing. When she recovered, the Florist said to her, “MMMTHRRLLRRYXX.”
“What?? Why would you - ” but she never got a chance to give a coherent reply. Almost immediately, she started suffering a violent reaction from the current surroundings. The very air of the Forest started to affect her, and she needed to get out of there.
What the Florist had done was change her physical makeup, temporarily making her nose resistant to her Pregnant smell, but also made her extremely allergic to the Forest she was currently in. All this was clearly conveyed in sounds that, loosely translated meant;
(The Tenderer spoke well of you, and talked of how you were struggling with being able to breathe. Consider this your reward. You came seeking experience of your own free will. But in your ignorance, you also hurt the fertile soil on my land. As penance, you shall not be allowed back here for as long as you live)
The Girl’s nose and eyes were watering, her skin breaking out in rashes, and the only source of relief was back in the City she’d escaped from. She stumbled, trying to make her way through the rough foliage with no clear discernable path to guide her way.
The Burned Man looked in content amusement at the Girl’s anguish. His restrictive lifestyle was limited to looking after plantlife, which were notoriously healthy, so the chance to torture a trusting innocent was immensely satisfying. He’d gotten what he’d wanted, even if he didn’t get to understand what his Boss said.
“C’mon. Forget about her. We’ve got a job to do.”, he said to his partner.
The Pale Boy looked in sorrow in the direction the Girl had gone. Then he turned and went back to work.
As soon as she left the boundaries of the Forest, the allergic reactions she’d activated suddenly faded away, leaving the Girl fuming in frustration. The Florist clearly said the incident with the bags wasn’t her fault, but still felt the need to punish her anyways. But she’d hardly had time to reminisce on her thoughts when the leaves surrounding her ankle bracelet crumbled away, and the long pent-up signal suddenly activated. She was now being pulled by a strong invisible force back to the limits of the City of Lies that she’d unknowingly crossed. She hopped on one leg for a long distance across uneven ground, traversing across piles of refuse, crashing into people and structures that stood in her way.
Her attitude from this imminent forced dragging started out as mild annoyance, and quickly turned to abject terror as she saw the shortest distance she was taking would take her across a large hole. She barely had time to scream, “No! Not the - ” her outburst being cut off before plunging down the steep ravine, only to be dragged out on one leg, hopping all the while until she was finally back within the proper confines of the City, where she mercifully stopped.
By then, she was able to catch her breath. Her throat no longer burned, but breathing was still painful. Instead of the stench of rotten fish, she now smelt the fragrance of freshly blooming flowers in her nostrils.
She said she didn’t want to be bothered by the smell, but that didn’t mean she wanted to only smell flowers all the time. As temporary curses go, it was a step up from not smelling anything anymore. She should’ve been grateful that she still had a sense of smell, but all she could think of was that she’d been given another bum rap.
At least she’d had the proof of job experience now. But as she currently was, she was in no shape for an interview. She was caked with dirt accumulated over her the past several weeks, and her little return trip had only dirtied her further. She constantly felt sick and tired all the time. But she couldn’t afford to let herself fall prey to inactivity.
Fortunately, not far from where she stood was a lodging where she could rest and clean herself up. She still had some money in her bag that she’d miraculously managed to hold on to during the frightening forced marathon. She hoped the residents within would accept her currency.
Upon closer inspection, the structure was strangely situated. It was leaning in the direction of the Ravine, and the sign dangling at an angle read;
The Lopsided Hotel
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