10402/Branching Out

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Branching Out
Date of Scene: 09 March 2022
Location: Greenhouse
Synopsis: Pamela returns to find Susan dutifully tending to her plants. Susan makes a request.
Cast of Characters: Susan Sullivan, Pamela Isley




Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan unlocks the greenhouse doors with the key she's had on her keychain since she took on this responsibility. It was never really a 'job' per se. Right now, it's become habit, but also a nice place to meditate. Closing the door behind herself, she walks into the greenhouse a few steps and takes a slow, deep breath. She exhales, then closes her eyes and repeats.
    Taking off her coat, she drapes it on a nearby point of convenience where it doesn't touch any of the greenery, then moves herself to where the plant was she smelled with less than happy qi. Just one of the black-eyed Susans, but those shared her name, so she didn't ever neglect them, even when the blossoms got old. She takes off her gloves and puts her hands on the soil. She looks at the plant as she funnels qi through it, accelerating its rejuvenation like a fountain of youth and miracle grow all in one. She watches the green return to the leaves and the blossom look fresher.
    Leaning down, Susan gently inhales the flower's scent, getting some pollen on her nose as well. "There we go," she says. "All better." She wipes off her nose and nabs her coat before moving back in. Time to start the day's watering!

Pamela Isley has posed:
Pamela has been gone for her babies for what has felt like years to her and without her presence, they've become almost inert, though it would be a gross exageration to call anything grown here 'normal'. The Greenhouse has a life to it. Beyond nature, there's a vibrance and all the greens seem more so, all the scents are more poignant, and everything is pleasant...

At least to anyone who belongs here.

There's a darker melody of nature to intruders, but Susan is not an intruder. She's a welcome guest in the brilliance of Ivy's garden.

Yet, with Spring rolling steadily onward, the lady of the green manor has returned.

Like a song bird flying in through an open window singing beautifully to the midday sky, vines extend upwards to wrap around the green silhouette of the descending Druidess, lowering her into her home with a delicate grace and affectionate stroke of every bit of exposed skin.. of which there is plenty. She strokes her long fingers against the budding flower of a Kadpul, that blooms brighter beneath her touch. Opening its petals to cover her fingers in yellow dusted pollen which she accepts for the gift that it is. "Hello, my lovelies.." Green eyes searching through the over grown menagerie of plantlife to find Susan. "I mean you too, dear."

It's spring... which means Ivy, like her darlings, is in a very good mood.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan is surprised, but not shocked or embarrassed, by the woman's return. While she saw her last in very concealing coveralls, it was in a more public area, and Susan is a guest there. A working guest. She had given up waiting or counting days. Asteroid M was a neat place, and the gardens there were beautiful. She figured any genetically non-baseline human would want to stay there.
    "Hello," she says, maintaining careful eye contact. "I haven't watered, yet, today," she confesses. "I just got here." She looks around the garden and at the life that is returning to all the plants therein. "Looks like they're happy to see you," she says.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Susan looks quite different, but Ivy is a keenly observant woman. She has to be in Gotham, where everyone is so clandestine and nuclear. It might take her a moments observation, but the fact her plants hadn't devoured this poor woman was satisfaction enough. That or she's just in a good mood due to the seasons change.

"And I'm delighted to see them." This is true, she flicks her fingers along the stem of the same Kadpul, but every plant is reaching out to touch her. Each that does is instantly given a whole new life. They become animate, the communicate in a more obvious way to even human eyes and ears.

"You've done wonderfully." One look around, her usually vibrant red hair is a dusky shade. Wet from the recent rain and it hangs clumped together in twisted natural braids down her bare back, visible when she turns and steps back away from her darlings affectionate touch.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    "Hey!" Susan says, jogging forward as the rather exposed woman walks away from her. The plants part for the gothy girl as she closes distance to Pamela. "Could you help me with something?" she asks, looking around and slowing some. She's still closing distance, but it was a bit surreal to be around plant...tentacles, for lack of a better term. The last time Pamela was around, they hadn't been this animate. Maybe it was because of the more public setting.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Different season.

Ivy obeys nature just like any plant must. As the seasons shift, so too does the Druidess who resides in the glade. This season? Ivy and her plants are in far more harmony. The garden is an extension of her.. and she an extension of it.

The red headed woman turns at Susan's call out, still smiling, but there's a natural predatory glent that is probably unintentional. "Yes love?" No sooner does she stop moving that the garden tries to wrap around her again. This time it continues to coil, twist, and braid until she's wearing something suitably natural to cover up some of her more sensitive and exposed body.

Decency is important.

"You helped me while I was away, I believe it only fair I return in kind."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan watches the nudity be covered in a living outfit. The mechanics of that astound her. After a moment of admiring the flora clothing, she realizes she's staring and snaps her gaze back to Pamela's eyes. "Sorry," she says. "I'm trying to figure out where to start."
    Susan reaches out to her side with an open hand. She knows where all the garden implements are, and a hoe lifts itself from the wall and weaves a path through the animate plants to meet Susan's splayed fingers. She closes them around the old, dead handle and says, "Okay, so I've been buying dowels from the store to use for training and combat." She shakes her head and hesitates. "No, let me back up. I seek to exterminate vampires and vampirism from this planet," she attempts with a nod.

Pamela Isley has posed:
The summoned garden tool draws Ivy's attention, but she gives it only a cursory glance before looking back to Susan with a wicked grin at her staring. One brow curls, delicate, perfectly shaped, over a green eye. She doesn't say anything, however. Instead letting the woman work through what she's trying to ask.

When she finally has, she inclines her head with a hiss. "Vampires.. they live outside nature completely. Not even within the wheel of life at all. Like some grotesque anomoly that perverts the very concept of the world around us." It's not outright contempt, but it's pretty close. Several vines tremble and shake threatening, feeding off Ivy's shifting mood.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan hesitates, quietly contemplating how to react to that. She finally just says, "Yeah." She says the single word slowly, not really wanting to agravate the plants around her by kindling that fire in Pamela. She takes a quick breath before saying, much more quickly, "So, I keep smashing dowels. They're just weak softwoods and they're dead. They're also soaked in chemicals that makes them harder to manipulate than most deadwood. What I want to do," she continues, the hoe floating up horizontally in front of her, "is get a branch that's alive, preferably peach tree root, though it doesn't have to be." She puts her hands around the handle of the hoe. "Wrap it in a solution of garlic-infused holy water in segments of coin iron and silver."
    Susan huffs a bit in frustration. "I don't think I'm really explaining it well," she says. "I can keep plants alive by manipulating the flow of qi. They move slower, and I can put fresh qi in if it's lacking. Like when some guy gives me flowers...I mean, if anyone ever does..." She's basically trying to justify having a living plant part that's being used to hurt the undead without being part of the plant it came from. Like carrying around a human's severed hand and keeping it alive while doing it. The way she's talking, she clearly didn't think this through before pitching the idea.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy crosses her arms beneath her bountiful breasts, which are now thankfully covered by her usual vine like apparel, and listens to what Susan is trying to say. Her long neck tilts, watching her try to wrap her words around thoughts to form an explanation for what she's looking for. "So you want specific wood, treated to be different, and make an effective vampiric killing weapon."

She inhales slowly and looks around at the surrounding garden.

"Well, for your purposes, there's likely not going to be a wood that grows naturally that suffice... at least not for extended period of time, but I believe, given the nature of what you're using it for.." She wiggles her fingers and reaches up to casually stroke the underside of a blooming flower coming up closer to her face. "We could infuse a seed with the treatment and grow it specifically. You'd have to assure me that it would be cared for... that you would respect the gift you're being given."

She turns a sharp eye towards her, "I will know if you don't."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan bows low at the hip, her back almost straight and nearly parallel with the ground as the hoe moves out of the way, seemingly on its own. "Of course," she says. "It will be treated with the utmost respect." She doesn't stand upright again as she says, "I cannot promise it would come back alive. It would be a warrior, not a houseplant." She risks a look up from her submissive position. "If that's an acceptable working condition, I eagerly will accept whatever you offer me and treat it just like I did your gardens while you were away."

Pamela Isley has posed:
With her tongue pressed against the left inner cheek, Ivy considers Susan for what probably drags on to, at least for most millennials, would be entirely too uncomfortable a silence. "Acceptable." She agrees, with her hand extending out towards the gothy girl. As she moves, the vines that had ensnared her arm unravel so she's never impeded. "It shouldn't take long to have the plant for you... It will reward you with as many children as you reward it with attention. You'll get from it what you give."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    "I--" Susan says, standing with wide eyes. "What?" she stammers. "Children? No, I...I just want a stick to hit vampires with!" She doesn't get it, and the blush flaring in her cheeks betrays that.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy rolls her eyes and actually laughs, "What else are children good for?" She teases, "Dear, relax..." Her hand rubs the goth girls shoulder, possibly too forward and way too affectionately. It's spring okay. She isn't rough about it though, "The plant will continue to produce more wood for you, as long as you care for it. That is all I'm saying."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan's blush doesn't lessen as she realizes now how badly she embarrassed herself. "Okay," she says. She clears her throat. "Peach wood is important if I have to fight Jiangshi," she says. "It represents elemental wood in its purest form. Could you use a peach pit for this?" She's trying to keep the focus off how badly she misread the situation.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy retracts her hand and reaches up absently to relinquish her arm to a vine, "If it must be peach wood, then that would be necessary, yes." It shouldn't be too hard. Even if she weren't a Druidess, she's got more PhDs in botany than there are states than begin with A.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan nods. "For Jiangshi, it works the best," she says. "I don't really want to taste their nasty qi and have to hold them all down until the sun rises," she continues. She makes a gross face as she remembers the taste of that sick, stagnant breath. "What will the end result be? I'm curious. It sounds like you're doing something more than just growing a new peach tree, here."

Pamela Isley has posed:
"It's not a quick process, by any stretch, but I'm going to harvest soil, store it in iron and silver containers while I infuse a peach pit with garlic essence.. It'll grow from its container, I'll manipulate the genome of the seed to take on elements of its surroundings, so it'll become like the metal of its pot." Ivy explains, considering. She holds out her free hand and grabs the glasses brought to her. With them set upon her face, she crosses over to a lab station that was hidden behind several retreating roots that pull away with audible groans of moving wood.

"You'll have to water it with holy water, that I cannot do anything about, but as long as you cultivate it appropriately, you should have ample wood for your needs." She does some math, eyes moving back and forth thoughtfully, "Six pots, two harvests per month.. That's twelve ... stakes.. a month." It's not infinite by any means, but... She turns to face Susan again, "Will that suffice?"

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan shakes her head. "Okay, that's cool," she says. "Vampire stakes are good, but..." She furrows her brow. "I need to melt down coins to use in cladding. Jiangshi rules are...kind of annoyingly complicated and specific." She reaches out and plucks the hoe out of the air. "Plus, this," she continues, scrunching up her face as she pries off the head of the tool, "isn't--" It comes off with the crack of the dead, dry wood. "--as easy for me to manipulate as anything alive," Susan concludes, making the separated handle spin. She holds up the other bit in her hand, flat palm upward to support it, but the rusted metal resting with full weight of gravity against her palm. "This has had all the qi smelted out of it," she explains.
    Susan looks around and reaches out, an insect in flight redirecting to in front of her. She points at it as it buzzes furiously trying to flee from her to no avail. "Doesn't matter how big this guy was," she says, "if it's alive, it can be used in my fight against vampires." She lets the insect fly away. "What I want is a living piece of peach wood. The roots work best because they have the most abundant qi, and you often can grow new plants with cuttings of other plant roots. They bring new life, and peach is the pure elemental wood. I can keep it alive by infusing it with qi. It won't know it's not part of a living plant." She points to the hoe head in her hand. "This has the psychometrics of a hoe. That's what it was made for. The purpose it has. If I cold-forged it right now, it would have the memory of a hoe." She tosses the hoe down somewhere under planters where it clatters along the ground. "I need living wood. I am going to water the living root with holy water infused with garlic. The root won't change, but the holy water and garlic will work against vampires. I will contain the water and wrap the root in silver and coin-iron, which will give me the most effectiveness against both vampires and jiangshi."
    She takes a breath and lets it out. "And zombies," she says. "I gotta figure out how to make it more effective against zombies, because that's a thing I dealt with, recently."

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy squints at Susan's sudden and expressive explanation of what she actually needs, "Oh, so you need something that doesn't exist.. Of course." She sucks her teeth and turns to look down at the table, "I believe what I've offered will be a good starting point. The wood itself will still be peach wood, but it will have the necessay qualities you would want to treat it with. The coin iron..." That she's no control over, she can only do so muc miracle work.

"I'll leave that to you to figure out, but I can provide you with a plant that has most, if not all, the necessary particulars you've said. To...." Fingers wiggle like a mystic, "Do what you do. So long as the gift isn't sullied or used without care. Which I've faith you will not..."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    "I just want a living bit of peach tree root," Susan says, her voice small as she tries not to anger Pamela. She less and less knows what it is she actually wants. She knows how to fight the undead; she has the iron and silver coins; she has access to ways to make holy water; she can even carve scriptures into the root and let it heal while she's infusing it with qi. However, Pamela knows plants, and it feels like either she's not explaining what she wants and intends or Pamela knows better.
    Does she? She is definitely more confident than Susan. Susan has trouble being naked around other people, even people she trusts. If she gets married, she's likely to keep at least a shirt and socks on while making love, so Pamela is definitely more confident about her body. Susan fallaciously connects the two levels of confidence in her mind without realizing what she's doing.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Realization finally dawns and Ivy inclines her head, "Ah.. so I'm over complicating things." She removes her glasses, folds them in her palm, and sets them down on the table. "Yes, I can provide you with a living peach root. I'll even make sure it's grown enough for you to safely clip it." She smiles, some of the predatory edge returned now that she's not focused upon something scientific.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Relief washes over Susan as a smile brightens her face. "Yes," she says with a nod. "That's exactly what I'd like," she says. She realizes that some of the tendrils of plants around her are seeking her out. Not as eagerly or lovingly as their mistress Druidess, but she's got a couple draped on her for support, and her feet are entangled. Not enough that she can't get out, but she's just 'one of the boys' if boys were plants.

Pamela Isley has posed:
Ivy closes her eyes as the vines enshroud her, head lulling back so her damp hair dangles down like red-moss, "It's the least I can do for your assistance keeping my babies healthy." She murmurs, green eyes once again intent upon the goth when her head rises.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan doesn't feel the pull like the plants do, but she seems to envy Pamela for the way she's nearly worshiped and adored by the plants. "Well, if you ever need me to babysit again," she says, choosing her words carefully, "I'm down. I even took care of them while those fake angels made a mess of things, so you know I'm good in a crisis."

Pamela Isley has posed:
"I'll be spending a great deal of time in Brooklyn over the next few days and weeks. If you would continue to look after my garden in my absence, it would be appreciated." The vines pull away to allow her freedom, padding barefoot into the thicker portion of the jungle. The table once more vanishes behind twisting roots! Ivy, however, finds a seat upon a throne set into the side of a tree.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    "Sure," Susan says. She looks around. "Will they remain this...active?" She looks at Ivy with a slightly worried expression on her face. "I don't have to worry about them getting frisky and ruining my clothes, do I?"