Secret of the Flower Maiden

[Polka]

(ooc: August 18th. Open mainly to Polka and Wilbur, but anyone else that could be considered a friend of Polka's could join in later.)

Several days had passed since Polka had come to the island, and up until then she hadn't had any problems. She'd been slowly integrating herself into the activities around the island, making friends, and becoming less timid as the days went on. It was fairly safe to say that the young flower maiden was beginning to feel safer and more relaxed on the island. One would have thought she had forgotten entirely about what had kept her so timid and isolated for the years leading up to that point.

...Reality had a funny way of pulling her down from her supposed cloud nine.

That morning, when Polka had woken up, she had been hit by a strange dizzy sensation that had kept her from leaving her room for several minutes. She'd been so lost in bliss in the days prior that she hadn't even considered that her disease might start to catch up with her. But in spite of that, she'd tried to shake it off and go about with her plans for that day. Polka didn't get very far, though. She found it far too difficult to leave the mansion so she could explore around the island. So, wanting to play it safe, she decided to instead go to the gardens in hopes that the fresh air and flowers would help alleviate the dizziness she was experiencing.

Polka wasn't even aware of how long she had been standing in the garden by that point. Things were slowly beginning to blur together and she had to shake her head every so often to keep herself from losing her grip on reality. Polka absolutely refused to give in to the illness. She knew it would be better for her to lay down so the dizziness would pass and she could go about life as per usual, but she couldn't make herself do that. She was determined to stay put and go about spending her time in the garden.

"Why now? Why did it have to come back to bother me now?" Polka murmured. Everything had been going so perfectly. No one even seemed to suspect that there might have been something wrong with her. Why had fate chosen right then to mess with her? Polka couldn't answer her own question, instead choosing to lean against the closest tree in the garden so that she might find some stability and silently hope that the dizziness would pass. By that point her dizziness had gotten bad enough so that she couldn't take notice of anyone else that might have come up to her.

[Wilbur Robinson]

"Hey there Sunshine!" Wilbur smiled as he came walking out with a smile on his face. He was actually having a good time and it was very strange that he liked it. He was not expecting to like such a girly place but now he had a reason to like it. And she was very pretty. Her eyes and everything about her. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

[Polka]

"W-Wilbur...?"

Dizziness could be ignored for the moment. Even with it Polka was able to at least recognize Wilbur's voice. Part of her was grateful that he had found her, but the other part, the part insistent that she should retreat before things got to be too bad, was trying to get her to leave. In spite of that, Polka stayed put and shook her head once more to try and get rid of the dizziness. This time it worked, if only for a moment. Now she had a problem, though. How was she meant to keep dancing around the issue at hand?

"I... I just came to... to enjoy the gardens. I thought a b-bit of fresh air would... would be good." Polka replied. Silently she cursed herself. Was her voice really that tired and shaky sounding? At that rate, it seemed impossible to hide the fact that she wasn't all right. Hopefully she could make herself hold out a while longer, though. Wilbur still seemed oblivious. Maybe he just hadn't noticed yet...

[Wilbur Robinson]

"Be good?" Wilbur asked tilting his head to the side. "Are you feeling okay?" he didn't want to bother her but something about her today just seemed different. "You don't...sound like yourself..." he replied worried. Since when did he worry?

[Polka]

You shouldn't have come out here, Polka. You should have just stayed in bed the minute you figured out that your illness was acting up. Then you wouldn't be in this situation.

Despite the silent reprimanding, Polka knew there wasn't much she could do to hide the fact that she wasn't okay. But maybe there was still a way to tread carefully around the subject without bringing it up outright. She just had to be extra careful about how she worded her answer.

"I... wish I could say I was. I... haven't been feeling like myself since I woke up." Polka finally said. So far she hadn't passed out, which obviously was a good thing, but the blonde had no idea how much longer she could keep standing in the same spot. Even with the support of the tree she was leaning against, she still felt awful. Unless she was mistaken, she thought things had started to spin in her sight and blur together once more. Another head shake followed, as she hoped she could successfully get rid of the dizziness again, but this time it didn't work. It was getting worse. She could feel it. "M-Maybe it would be better if we... we sat down to talk. So very... dizzy..."

[Wilbur Robinson]

Wilbur's brown eyes went wide iwth worry. "Yeah, sit down sit down. Don't worry about it. I am fine with sitting." the boy said worriedly. "Should i go get someone to help? Like a doctor or something? Are there doctors here?" Great. Now he was panicking.

[Polka]

"I... I don't know."

Polka hadn't thought about whether or not there were doctors on the island. That never had even entered into her mind when she had come there, mainly because she knew it would be pointless on her part to look for them. Before speaking again, Polka allowed herself to sink down into a sitting position and closed her eyes to try one last time at ridding herself of the dizzy feeling. It seemed to help a tiny bit, as the dizzy sensation died down a little, but she didn't dare open her eyes again for a few moments.

"I'm not even sure if a doctor would be able to help. I'm afraid I'd just be told that..."

Polka hesitated. She had feared for quite some time that her illness would come to light and that when it did she would lose her friends, but now she was faced with a dilemma. She could either keep silent about it and worry Wilbur to no end, or she could risk losing him as a friend by telling him what was wrong. Polka did know what was wrong, of course. Her illness acting up from time to time wasn't out of the ordinary. It was just fear that was holding her back from saying anything. But... she trusted Wilbur. He hadn't been afraid of her before then, so why should she be afraid of telling him? He'd worry to no end otherwise. So, she opened her eyes at last and looked his way. She was ready to finish her thought.

"...I'm afraid they'd say that there's nothing they can do for me. Or that they don't know what I have." Polka said. Her expression grew rather sombre and her eyes fixed themselves on the ground. It was almost like she was ashamed, and that was because she was. Polka had never told anyone outside of Tenuto about what she had before.

[Wilbur Robinson]

"W-what are you talking about?" Wilbur asked a bit more nervously. He hardly ever got nervous but this seemed like a big problem, so why couldn't he just go through with it...ok...so he could do this. "What are you talking about? Doctors are supposed to know everything, they are meant to fix you up. That's why they are called Doctors!" his frown got bigger. "Are you saying that they lied to me? I'm sure they can help you..."

[Polka]

What Polka did next she silently regretted. She shook her head to confirm the negative, but that only succeeded in making the dizzy feeling worse again and caused her to bring her hand to her head to stop it. She didn't speak again for another few moments, almost as if she was trying to keep herself from losing her nerve and... potentially losing her lunch. Queasiness vanished after a bit, though, and it felt safe to speak once more. So she did.

"I'm... certain they wouldn't be able to help. The doctors I went to see in Tenuto weren't able to help me, and that was... ten years ago." Polka said. Ten years ago the disease had first begun to show its presence. Ten years ago, she'd learned she was going to die. Ten years ago... how strange that the time seemed to be going more quickly now that she had met someone she truly considered close to her. Polka began to fidget with her hands.

"I suppose I should have said something about this a long time ago. Back when we first met in the library. I was just... afraid."

That was putting it mildly. She'd been so fearful that he'd be afraid to just be in the same room as her. She'd been scared out of her wits about the prospect of him discovering that she was... dying.

[Wilbur Robinson]

"ten Years ago? You mean Ten as in ten right? Not ten as in like ten minutes. You mean ten years?" he shook his head. "What are you doing here then? Shouldn't you be home...oh are you still sick?" he was now freaking out. Almost as bad as he did with his parents. "Your still sick aren't you? I can be your doctor. I can call my dad, maybe he can help. He's a scientist!"

[Polka]

Big blue eyes seemed to grow wider at the prospect of Wilbur honestly trying to help her. His freak out, the offer to help... she hadn't expected any of that. But he had touched upon the reason why she had been afraid to leave home up until then. She owed him that much of an explanation, at least. So she raised a hand to try and calm him down, even though she was positive it wouldn't help, before deciding to break what she was about to tell him down as gently as she could.

"This... this is the reason I was afraid to leave home for so long. I did want to get out and see the world, but this illness and the reactions people had to me... it kept me home. Mom thought I should come here. She said I should try to see some part of the world beyond Tenuto before..."

Polka hesitated, and she didn't want to finish the sentence. It was hard enough admitting she had the illness at all, even though Wilbur had pretty much figured that out on his own. Admitting she was going to die sooner than most people was something else entirely. She just couldn't bring herself to say it. Especially knowing Wilbur cared enough to not only be concerned but to also stick by her. At least, Polka hoped he wanted to stay with her. She didn't know what she'd do if learning she was going to die did, in fact, frighten him away.

"T-The short version is that what I have is... incurable."

[Wilbur Robinson]

Wilbur's once happy thoughts of making her better had just stopped. All of his thoughts to make her feel better had been clouded. He wasn't sure what to say, he just stared at her. Not sure what to think. His brown eyes turned away from her and stared back at the sky before placing his hand on the ground. "So, you're going to..." he couldn't say it.

[Polka]

Polka's throat tightened as she nodded to his unfinished sentence, and she felt tears she hadn't wished for beginning to form and clouding her vision more than the dizziness had. She felt awful, and it wasn't just because she was being tormented by the dizzying effects of her illness. She'd lied for so long and made it seem like she was okay. She'd lied to herself, too. Polka had convinced herself that her disease wouldn't get in the way anymore... but it had. Now she could lose a friend in the process of revealing as much as she had.

"I... I'm so sorry!" Polka cried. Her voice broke at that point, and she turned her head away as the tears started to appear. She hated it. She hated it all so much. Why was she supposed to die so young? Why did she have to be born with some incurable disease? Whether it was the world tormenting her or just bad luck on her part was unclear, but she still felt terrible that she'd kept silent about it for so long.

"I w-wanted t-to tell you. R-Really I... I did. I just... I just thought you would be like everyone else." At that point Polka realized it probably didn't matter what she had thought. Even still, she wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide away in shame. "I thought you... you'd be afraid you'd get sick too, even though it's not something others can catch by touch. I'm so sorry, Wilbur. I really am..."

Apologies probably would have continued to pour out, but the awful feeling seemed to be robbing her of further words. They were instead replaced by the softening sounds of her sniffling. Were she in better condition right then, she probably would have run off. But as it was, Polka found herself unable to move further until the dizzy feeling died down completely.

[Wilbur Robinson]

Wilbur shook his head roughly. "You thought i would what? Treat you differently? Treat you like you were some dieased demon?" ok maybe that wasn't the best words of phrase. and no doubt that his mom would have smacked him across the head for that. "I would never..never treat you like that. I am still here for you. No matter what." he reached out to hug her, wondering if she would accept it.

"I could never care for you any less than i already have..." he looked nervous. "I would never hate you or not like you because of this. I am here for you..."

[Polka]

Polka's breath caught in her throat for a beat as Wilbur's hug connected. Bright blue, tear-stained eyes grew wider than she had ever thought possible as the realization sunk in that he was, in fact, touching her and not shying away like she had feared he would. He hadn't run away. Better yet, he'd said he wasn't going to treat her differently because she had revealed the truth about herself. Still, it was a bit hard to believe. After being shunned and feared by people who knew nothing about her disease for so long, having even one person that wasn't afraid to touch her actually doing so was more than a little surprising.

"R-Really? You're... you're not upset that I kept this hidden for so long? And you're not... afraid?" Polka asked. The questions didn't really need to be answered, but somehow she felt herself needing to ask anyway. It was almost as though she was trying to confirm if it was all just a dream or not. She couldn't even count how many times she had dreamed of a moment someone would accept her only for it to be pulled away at the last possible moment.