Underneath The Flowering Tree (female, allergies) One Prompt # Authors 2024 (first part posted)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

First off, thank you so much to lovely @Reader for organising this again, it's a blast! Unfortunately life hit me with a curveball, HARD, so sadly I have to slam in the first part right now and then post the rest tomorrow.  Wow my time management and planning skills suck so much. Anyway, I have about 1350 words and just getting to the good stuff... soooo I'll be a tease. But you have to live with that until tomorrow.  

Okay, so, the prompts given were CASHIER, SPACE STATION, ALLERGIES, BASKET. I’m not a “space-fic” type of writer so I had to think of a workaround there, lol, but I got one. 

 

***

Few career paths allowed you to work at the International Space Station in the morning, and then in a beautiful and very Earthly garden after lunch. In fact, none did, except acting. And that was why Gina had chosen that career path, despite the scepticism from both her family and her student guidance counsellor. She could be anything she wanted, from one day to the next. Yeah, the income was gig-based and that could be shaky, but she managed alright.

She had just finished filming her scenes in the movie she currently worked on, where she was a science officer at the International Space Station, and an accident would happen. She enjoyed this role; her character was as far from her real self as you could possibly get; a stand-offish, stoic ice queen who didn’t even flinch at having to choose between saving crew members or save the science research. (Spoiler: she saved the research. Not a people person by any stretch.)

This afternoon however, she was going to do some promotion photos for her previous movie, which was just about to be released. A completely different thing, more of a Hallmark-type of movie where an overworked career woman in the big city abruptly leaves everything, re-connects with the beauty of the countryside, and becomes a landscaping artist. A light-hearted splash of colour in an otherwise fairly dark movie year, at least based on the projects she knew was coming out.

She had no idea what the photographer would have in mind, but she thought it would probably be some photos of her in a cute dress (not fitting a landscape artist, but looked good in photos) and a straw hat, probably carrying a basket with supposedly newly picked flowers or sitting underneath a flowering tree reading a book. Fairly generic for the genre, because the movie was fairly generic for the genre, but the weather was fair, sunny and warm but with a gentle breeze, ensuring it wouldn’t get too hot, so it would probably be a pretty easy job.

***

When she arrived at the place for the photoshoot, she was quite early, so she had a few minutes to survey the area before the makeup artist arrived on the scene.

It was beautiful. A cultivated garden – she did have a personal preference for less trimmed and more wild vegetation, but there was no denying the beauty of this neatly tamed garden either – and a white-painted wooden bench in the middle of it. It stood among flowerbeds with dozens of colourful, fragrant flowers, some of which she knew the name of, some she didn’t. The flowering tree that towered behind it, spreading its branches like curtains framing whoever chose to sit on that bench, had interesting brush-like flowers she had never seen before.

The whole scene buzzed sleepily with the sound of bumblebees going about their chores in the afternoon sun. It was every bit as serene as she supposed they’d try to convey in the images.

Then the makeup girl and the stylist arrived together, both women looking suspiciously dishevelled and flushed, an observation Gina kept to herself in case it would get them into trouble, but she smirked a little as she noticed the looks they kept stealing of each other as they worked on her. Ah, workplace romance. She’d had her share of those too, though it had been a while.

The makeup artist finished and the stylist took over; no big surprises, a cute white dress and a straw hat. The dress fabric was so sheer and silky it felt like a gentle breeze against her skin. She hoped it wasn’t see-through.

While the stylist adjusted the clothes, Gina felt something in her eye. It felt like a grain of sand, but was more likely a particle from the makeup. She blinked several times, hoping she’d manage to get rid of it before her eyes began to run and smudge the makeup. If anything, it felt like her whole eye began to sting instead, and her nose was running a little bit as well.

She sniffed, a light, liquid sniffle, and blinked again.

“You alright?” the stylist asked.

“I’m fine,” she said and sniffled again. “Just got something in my eye, I think.”   

“Sue,” the stylist said over her shoulder to the makeup artist, “you’re not supposed to put makeup inside her eyes, they’re beautiful enough as they are already.”

“Oh, hey, making me jealous, are you?” Sue replied. The stylist chuckled as she gave the straw hat a little tilt.

“There we go,” she said.

Sue came over with a clean, folded Kleenex.

“Let me have a look,” she said, and Gina obediently turned to her and tilted her chin up a little.

“Look up?”

She did. The gritty sensation filled her whole eye but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the culprit was.

“Hmm, I don’t see anything, but you probably got it out and now it’s still irritated even with the irritant gone,” Sue said and gently dabbed at the corner of her eye.

“Probably,” Gina agreed, even though it didn’t feel that way, and sniffled again. She hoped her nose wasn’t going to be running the whole time, that would be embarrassing. At least the sniffling wouldn’t ruin takes the way it would with filming a movie, but she hoped that the watery eyes – yes, eyes, plural, because her left eye had decided to join in the protest now – wouldn’t be too noticeable.

“Ready?” Matt, the photographer, asked. He seemed nice but very focused, like he didn’t really see anything unless he looked at it through the camera. It wasn’t the most social behaviour, but Gina had worked with cameramen like that before, and they were usually the best at what they did.

She was just about to reply when a sudden tickle filled her nose, so suddenly there was nothing she could do to stop the tickly sneeze that was coming.

“Heh-ITSSCHeuh!”

She managed to swirl around so she’d at least aim the spray away from the others, but at the last moment she realised that she couldn’t cover. Her arms were bare, and the dress fabric was so sheer that it would probably just melt if it got wet. And she was holding a basket full of flowers – as predicted – with both hands, so she couldn’t even cover the sneeze with her hands. Frowned upon as that habit was.

“Whoa, bless you,” Sue said.

“Thank you,” Gina replied and sniffled. It felt like the tickle was still teasing her nostrils, but not to a point that she would sneeze again. Not right now, anyway. She pressed a knuckle to the side of her nose, not quite rubbing, trying to rid herself of the tickle without accidentally rubbing off any makeup.

She realised that everyone was staring at her, and laughed nervously.

“I’m fine, guys.”

“We never cleared the types of flowers we would use with your agent,” the photographer’s assistant admitted, “so if you’re allergic to any of them just say so and we’ll postpone.”

She gave them a flash of her million dollar smile, pleased to be able to reassure them and put their concern to rest.

“Oh! Oh no, don’t worry, I don’t have any allergies. I’m fine, that was nothing.”

“Okay. Great. Well, we were thinking you could sit on that bench with the flower basket next to you. We’re going to try a few different poses, but first just take a seat so we see how the light and shadow through the foliage looks.”

She sat down at the bench, underneath the tree with the oddly shaped but beautiful red flowers. Its branches were hanging similar to weeping willows, an appearance that almost looked like a slow cascade, and abundantly adorned with flowers. Sitting down, she accidentally brushed against the leaves and a faint but pleasant lemony scent filled the air.

She smiled a little. If it wasn’t for her eyes, which felt more irritated rather than less, and the light tickle that still lingered deep within her nose for whatever reason, this had potential to be a very nice afternoon.

 

To be continued.  

 

Edited January 22 by Chanel_no5

[TartanSneezer]

Loving this so far - perfectly describing how annoying the onset of allergies is, especially in a situation like this! 

[Chanel_no5]

On 1/23/2024 at 12:06 PM, TartanSneezer said:

Loving this so far - perfectly describing how annoying the onset of allergies is, especially in a situation like this! 

Thank you! Poor thing really doesn't know she has allergies...  oh is she about to find out..!   

Hopefully I'll have the second part up tonight (my time. Obviously.  )

 

 

*** Edit: was overly ambitious again, I'm utterly wrecked today feeling like crap, but I'll get part two up as soon as I possibly can! 

Edited January 24 by Chanel_no5

[AntheaHolmes]

Love this. 🥰

[a_nonny_mouse]

I'm excited for this! Drawing me in as usual. 😍

[SleepingPhlox]

This is a magnificent start.  I love the banter between the stylist and the makeup artist and MY GOD, someone excusing allergies by saying there is something in their eye and then someone coming close to CHECK THAT EYE is delicious!

The "it was in a space station but actually exactly like Earth" handwaving at the beginning is the most brilliant workaround for the prompt ever. 

[Reader]

My goodness, your writing is stunning.
From the description of the photographer to the tiny detail of the grain in the eye to show the start of the allergies, it’s just amazing what you produce. 
This was so pretty and set everything up beautifully. 

Don’t let a queen wait too long for the next part! But of course I hope you’re feeling better and I hope things are going better for you. Hugs! 

[poiub]

love this! the make up artist checking her eye is for some reason super adorable. and the little detail of the clandestine workplace romance in the background too. very lovely 

[nyeee]

Love this!! Ngl the compliment at the beginning made me blush