Scorched Palate

Dacia sat nervously in front of the two court members as they assessed her offerings. The pile of red peppers sat innocently in the light, their banana shapes glistening under the false lights of Atlantis. They somehow seemed different here, their rosy charm amongst the leaves diminished to the plastic gleam of their waxy skin lying flat on the grass. She chanced a look up at Jasper and Clemmons, the two court members that were processing her offering, and saw them still considering the peppers.

"Well, obviously we'd like you to try them first," Clemmons said eventually, folding his arms.

"Standard procedure to check for poison," Jasper explained, though her tone was informative instead of reassuring.

"Oh! Of course, that makes sense," Dacia chirped. She was excited to taste her haul, peppers had always hit the right spot for her and she loved to eat them alone as well as using them to garnish her plainer meals. She pinched one of the peppers in her beak and tossed it back into her mouth, letting it burst under her teeth. The warmth flooded her tongue instantly, spreading in a warm, tingling wave. She let out a contented sigh as she chewed, savouring the heat that expanded and coated her mouth entirely before swallowing the pepper and opening her mouth. The air in Atlantis wasn't as cool as it could get on the surface but the fresh air still stimulated the taste, her taste buds pleasantly prickling as she huffed through her beak. "They're hot, but I love them," she said, making an effort to speak around her slightly swelling tongue. Both court members seemed contemplative for a second before turning their backs to confer.

"What do you think?" Clemmons asked, eager to hear Jasper's take on the offering.

"She seems genuine, her other findings have been plain and harmless. Still, I've never seen anythign like these before," she admitted, scratching her chin.

"Agreed, we could always pin down the vague relation of the other offerings to plants we knew of, these are entirely foreign," Clemmons agreed, nodding enthusiastically. 

"We need to try them too, I fear," Jasper said darkly. Clemmons grimaced at the thought, he had managed to avoid tasting the common dirt food from above so far but Jasper seemed entirely set on it and he couldn't be seen to fall behind in his duties, especially not in comparison to her.

"We'll be sampling these, for safety purposes," he said to the Styra, who smiled pleasantly at them both.

"Please, enjoy!" she said brightly.

Jasper leaned down to the pile and sniffed it, not getting any particular scent from them. She picked it up, rolling the fruit across her tongue and still tasting nothing. "You have to bite it for the taste to come through," Dacia informed her, clearly seeing her unimpressed face. Clemmons used his claws to pick up his, pinching it between two fingers and eyeing it suspiciously. He didn't typically chew his food, being an Oviraptor after all, so this would be entirely out of his comfort zone. He looked up to Jasper and she was already looking back at him. With a grimace, he threw the pepper into his mouth and bit down.

It didn't hit them at first, just a plain, sort of sweet taste came from the flesh within the waxy skin. It came like an ambush instead, with the first inhalation of air it felt like a fire had been lit inside them, burning the roof of their mouths and the back of their throats.

"Wha- what is this?" Clemmons gurgled, clawing at his beak, "What did you do?" Jasper spat the pepper onto the ground but the burning didn't stop, building until it felt like she had to hang her mouth open before the insides boiled. Her eyes streamed, making the world around her blurry and soaking her cheek feathers in tears. She could vaguely hear Dacia's stammering sounds of regret and her panicked voice asking if they were okay. If even this surfacedweller was confused by their reaction, did this mean there was no hope for them. She could only see the grey and black shape of Clemmons as he seemed to stagger across the grass, maybe seeking water, or just death in general. Jasper wheezed past the burning in her throat and viciously wiped her eyes with the back of her paws. Before they welled up again she saw Clemmons heaving in the grass and Dacia's panicked doe-like expression. 

Clemmons kept spitting into the grass, trying to desperately shift the phlegm from his mouth and rid himself of the flaming pain. He had only burnt himself once in his life, and now that feeling was sticking to his mouth and throat like tree sap. His breathing was ragged and he could hear Jasper wheezing too, massive lungs working to pump air through her swollen airway. His eyes were beginning to roll back in his head when he felt something being poured into his mouth. It was like an instant panacea, sticking to him in the same way as the pain had but flattening it down. The burning didn't stop entirely, but it felt like it was being suffocated. He started to cough from the conflicting sensations and managed to see Jasper through his tears again, Dacia was tipping something into her mouth too. His instinct was to try and bat her away but he realised quickly that it had been her that had cooled his agony.

"Deep breaths, in through your noses please," Dacia said, her voice high and frantic, "Catch your breath and drink some more coconut please!" She offered half of said coconut to Clemmons and he gulped it down greedily now he knew its effects. "That's why I brought them in a pair by oh dear, you're both very sensitive to spice!"