Task 19: Nettles

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This task, unlike the others, wasn’t planned. I was taking some naked pictures in a forested place about a 30-minute uphill bicycle ride from where I live. I’ve seen people walk here but generally, the place appears to be secluded. Still, when I get there I jump over a fence to steer away from the main path.

Naked Pictures

The spot where I undress can be seen from the path but I am able to notice someone enter before they look this way. Small as I am I will be fine hiding behind a tree.

This spot is essentially just a really steep hill but I can navigate it fine enough to take my pictures. I decide to take one of a submissive stance while I’m looking out at the forest. As I move to the right spot, my foot sinks into a patch of nettles and I stumble so my leg gets caught too. I’m so surprised that it takes me a full two seconds to successfully remove my foot but by then the nettles have already left their mark. Eeeeek.

In my misery I decide to tweet about it, thinking people will find it amusing alongside me.

Roxy Replies

I continue and finish taking my pictures and decide to walk the forest trail as a relief for the stinging is at least a 30-minute bicycle ride away. I receive a message from Roxy and sit down to answer it. In the middle of my answer, I see another notification. She has responded to one of my tweets?

Do you… hate me? Grrr, I know the answer to my own question. But my foot! I can’t imagine feeling this on my chest also, though I am morbidly curious now. So okay, fuck it. I jump back up, pluck some nettles and rub them against my chest. The prickling feeling is instant.

Oh my god, I want to double over and hold onto my stomach. How am I supposed to cycle home when all I can focus on is this incredibly intense burning sensation?

What the hell nettles? I remember being able to deal with them quite well when I was a child. We used toothpaste to soothe its effect but eventually, I didn’t care about the itching and could go without. Right now it isn’t the itching that is getting me though, this is painful. I have to laugh at myself. Who gets herself into situations like this? Me, oh silly I. And I’m enjoying it too. I think…

Back Home

I take a shower when I get home. Not because I’m under the illusion that water will wash the nettles off but because I don’t want a tick. I tell myself I’m not allowed to ease the pain with toothpaste but my foot is dying and I try it anyway. The toothpaste does absolutely nothing. Liam suggests I use Sudocrem which isn’t any more help. I try rescue cream and an icepack next but the intense burning remains. Alright then, guess I’m stuck with a burning chest and foot.

By the time I go to bed, my chest seems to have mostly calmed down but in the morning, my foot is still stinging. Devie tells me she once accidentally sat down in nettles and could feel its effects for days. Great, is that going to be me?

Then Roxy replies again.

…What? Wait, what?

I re-read her tweet a few times because what she’s suggesting doesn’t make sense in my head. She knows I have done it so why does she need any evidence? I recall the times my fans on my timeline say ‘pictures or it didn’t happen…’ and I finally realise that they’re asking for pictures because they want to see it, not because they don’t believe me. Roxy is showing me her sadistic side and it’s clear to me that the tasks or rules she might set don’t have to be fair.

Sigh, that means I need to go for yet another walk. After my trip yesterday I intended to stay inside. I guess that means Roxy wins twice because she said she’d like me to go on more walks. I consider just getting some nettles from my garden and indeed find some, which are really big. I wipe them over my chest waiting for them to sting instantly like the ones from yesterday but they don’t. However, after 30 seconds I can confirm I’ve picked up nettles and not just some random plant. I take a picture and post it on twitter.

Is it Stinging Enough?

I go for my walk, thinking it’ll help me experience the stingy feeling of pins and needles properly. Ten minutes in and it feels like the pain is already easing off or perhaps I’ve grown used to it after yesterday. Liam tells me this is brilliant because I’ve completed a task and I haven’t had to suffer. I contemplate if the feeling is less intense because the leaves were so big and the nettles older, perhaps. Yesterday, Posy told me that fresh nettles sting more.

I walk past a few smaller clumps of nettles and pluck one. I keep running into other people so I’m a bit paranoid when I raise my top and rub the green plant over my chest. The sting is much more immediate and I both dislike myself and like myself for what I’ve done.

I delete my earlier tweet and send out a new one with both pictures attached. In my private chat with Roxy, I write that there are two pictures because I didn’t think the first one sufficed.

Lesson Learned

The stinging remains after I come home from my one-hour walk but it’s still nowhere as intense as the feeling from the day prior. My foot has finally returned to its normal state and perhaps I did grow used to the pain? Lesson learned; always take pictures to prove I’ve done a task. I won’t be keen to feel nettles again any time soon!

Xx Mila

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