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Prompt 8: It's important to take care of yourself in the winter months, especially with the dry, cold air Destiny City has been seeing. A warm bubble bath might be just what you need to stay warm and treat yourself; a local shop has a Seasonal Special--'Marshmallow Dreams' and they seem to be highly recommended and have become a hot item in Destiny City. Somehow, you've acquired one of these bath bombs, and it smells divine. Everything is going well; the bath bomb seems to be dissolving normally--and then all of a sudden, fluffy, plush bubbles seem to emerge and grow, and get denser--and all of a sudden, you are sitting in a bathtub full of what feels like warm marshmallows. It feels a bit heavy, like a weighted blanket, but it's warm and smooth and nice. Except, it's also a little restricting and is incredibly hard to move in. You wind up trapped in a tub full of smooth marshmallow fluff for nearly half an hour before it begins to completely dissolve and pop like bubbles--leaving your skin feeling magnificently smooth and fragrant. It's the perfect way to trap someone in the bath for half an hour, though arguably it's far less relaxing if you don't know what's going to happen before getting in.
Orias was nothing if not hip and with trends. Obviously he knew what was going on at any given time due to his penchant to sit in the Reggie's living room and marathon K-Pop concerts and K-Drama when he wasn't down in his lab tinkering. Infomercials thankfully kept him abreast of what was hot in Destiny City. Today's on fire ticket item? The Marshmallow Dreams bath bomb, guaranteed to fill your bathroom with a scent most divine and give your skin a glow the gods themselves would envy.
Orias couldn't often see his skin, what with it being buried under luxurious thick fur, but perhaps the bomb could work its magic on his body coat as well. So it was that the Mauvian found himself at the closest bed and bath store in the city, tail held high and ticking from side to side as he brazenly followed a woman with a stroller right through the automated front doors. He didn't have to search for long, there was an entire display dedicated to the salts... and it was very nearly empty. As he watched, an eager mom snatched the second to last product and nearly skipped away with her two confused children.
One left! It would be his. Or so he thought, as a very well-dressed man in a suit and a woman in athletic wear both reached for the single remaining Marshmallow Dream. Capitalism really did bring out the best in people, Orias realized, as the two humans immediately started arguing and gesticulating wildly. In the commotion, neither noticed a searching paw reach up and over the edge of the display, padding around for a second until it alighted on the contested bath bomb.
"Ah, hello gorgeous," Orias murmured lowly, clutching the prize to his chest with one paw and walking right back through the store and outside on three legs.
He did, of course, snicker at the lack of an alarm from the shoplifting sensor. Silly humans. Despite his large size for a cat, Orias still slunk right under the scanners. Better yet, the two who had been fighting over the last Dream were now staring dumbfounded at an empty display.
Once home, Orias headed immediately for the water closet and began to draw a bath. Before locking the door, he instructed B.U.T.L.E.R. to post himself on guard duty just outside to deter any would-be intruders on relaxation team. The stage was set. With a flourish and aplomb, the Mauvian unwrapped his Marshmallow Dream and plunked it into the steaming water. As promised, the bath started to fizz and fill the room with wonderful scents.
Time to test the claims! Without any decorum Orias flung himself into the tub. It was nice, but not amazing. While musing over the disappointing lack of zazz, the cat failed to notice that the bubbles around him were growing larger and thicker and heavier. By the time he realized that he was being enveloped in a gooey cocoon, it was too late. He was going under.
"Red alert!" Orias cried, floundering for the little utility belt that he always wore and had set on the side of the tub upon coming into the bathroom.
Grabbing a little device capsule at random from a pouch, he pulled it close and inspected it before giving a cry of triumph that was muted by a bubble sealing over his head.
"They called me a madman for creating an instant one-cat submersible, but who's laughing now?!"
With a squeeze between his paws, the gadget began to whirr and expand around its creator like a shell. In a few short moments, a very small submarine floated in the marshmallow ocean that now dominated the bathtub. Now insulated from the insidious fluff, Orias breathed a sigh of relief in his protective vehicle.
"Well, that's winter holidays for ya," he muttered, trying the controls to find that the propeller did in fact work... very slowly. It was nearly completely gummed up in the sticky marshmallow. He wouldn't be getting out of the tub that way. He had no choice but to hit the distress beacon and wait for B.U.T.L.E.R. to figure out what it even meant.
Twenty minutes later, Orias was nearly driven mad with boredom. It didn't help that he hadn't been able to load any games onto the submersible's onboard computer yet. It was a prototype after all, he was lucky it had deployed in the first place.
"Captain's log, date and time unknown. I'm not sure this fluffy hell will ever end, or how long life support will last. I've lost track of the days, and Butt is as dumb as I thought he'd be. Help isn't coming. I'm going to die a kitty s'more. Nami, if you hear this, I'm going to come clean. I'm the one who stole the entire cake from the fridge. I'm not sorry, just thought you should know. It was delicious."
A small beep from the console indicated lowering pressure on the hull, and Orias peeked out the viewport to see the suffocating bubbles starting to recede. Victory! Popping the hatch and breathing in the heavily-perfumed air as he clambered out of his sub, the Mauvian hopped calmly out of the tub and unlocked the bathroom door as if nothing had happened.
Despite everything, his fur did seem rather lustrous. He gave a Fabio flip of his damp fur at his robot attendant at the door and strutted down the hallway to search the fridge for the carton of Chinese leftovers he knew Nami had waiting for later.
