tdr_backup | Relax, Try a Bonsai Garden

~Beauty had almost time to reflect on how gallant a knight Hal was in tending to her before the next wave of horrid stabbing pains had taken them both. She had taken the next opportunity to suggest that they leave while they still could.

Now they sit in a dark recess of the outermost building in the city. She is completely exhausted from the now relentless pain, knowing he must be the same and she has never missed the comforting touch of her mother so clearly as now. She turns to Hal and opening her mouth to speak gives instead a piercing scream which reverberates off of each bull and building. The cause of the scream is evident as small green shoots erupt from her midsection, chest and even her open throat. The scream is replaced by choking and gagging as with a desperation that none have been witness to before she grabs hold of the quickly growing stalk and tears it from her throat. The screaming is back, along with a spattering of blood. She looks to Hal, knowing what she will see but hoping with that small glimmer of optimism she still clings to that he may somehow have escaped the worst of the punishment.~

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*He is tearing shoots out of his arms, legs and midsection as the bamboo rips through his skin- more afraid than he's ever been before, and desperately wants to go home. But he's far too proud to make a sound more than an involuntary grunt.*

Maybe... *He's panting.* We can cure this somehow.

*He's not been here long enough to understand the monthly torments, and he's used to fixing all of his troubles. Not only this, but he can't bear seeing someone like Beauty scream- if he had his way she'd be with him on his racing yacht in the Hawaiian islands.*

*She is gulping back tears, having forgotten to be anything close to cautious so the screams don't abate until her voice has become thin and strained. They echo off the bronze bulls long after she has stopped. When she does answer him, her voice is wispy and it seems to be a great effort for her not only to talk, but simply to breathe.*

There is no cure. It must run its course and we must endure *she breaks off in a fit of choking, wheezing coughs* that is the punishment. I am sorry to make you suffer this, if you had not been sent to be my knight you could be championing your own people.

*She stops talking as she is breaking off the shoots protruding through her stomach. She has the pale grey color of someone who might not be remaining conscious much longer. Her hiccuping sobs are interspersed with more wheezing and choking and as she bends over and gags openmouthed he can swear with a sinking feeling that he can see the green shoot growing back up her throat.*

*Hearing her speak terrifies him- the prospect of enduring her suffering is almost worse than actually going through it. His own shoots are starting to break the skin along his arms and legs, and he brushes them away every few minutes.*

Oh, I highly doubt that. Come here... *He's keeping calm- used to dealing with injured people, though not with being so injured himself. He guides her to a recovery position, trying to make her as comfortable as possible without aggravating her injuries. In this position he stops her from putting pressure on her throat and internal organs- anywhere that might be further choking her. Even if he has encountered the dying-and-rebirth cycle in Hell, the old habit of staving off death is hard to kill.*

*It's with a horrible choking sound- he's too shocked to yell- that he feels a stalk puncture what could be his liver. His arms fold around his waist and he waits, blind with pain, for the inevitable. Taking his mind off of it is impossible. He can feel it pushing as it grows.*

*Hell changes everything. There was a time when when Beauty would have thought the touch of any young man scandalous. To be so bold as to touch a princess without even so much as a by your leave. But here and now she is grateful for the contact and the compassion that accompanies it. She can feel her strength fading, feel her death looming and somehow knowing that it is only temporary does nothing to make it less terrifying. Hal has put her into a more comfortable position even as he is beset with his own forestation. But even so she can feel the stalk growing again, determined to find its way to the light. She has been pulling as best she can at the rest, but it is this one that truly terrifies her. The shoot continues pushing up her trachea even as the roots are splintering her lungs.*

Do not leave me promise, nothing is permanent here not even death. Only torment is eternal here and to be alone and wandering is the worst torture of all.

*She is choking again the plant is more than visible making its insidious appearance as she begins to gag and claw at the ground. It continues until the shoot has grown enough for her to take hold of, she has ceased to give attention to the rest of the the thicket issuing from her chest and torso. She grasps it firmly and yanks with all her strength. Resistance, then a horrid tearing sound and a long stalk breaks free with a hint of root attached accomponied by a gush of blood. She collapses onto the dirt, her eyes wide, mouth open and trickling blood, her body still.*

Relax, Try a Bonsai Garden

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