17308/Botanicals

Botanicals
Date of Scene:	01 March 2024
Location:	Park Row - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	Phoebe is caught in the Wayne Botanical Gardens drawing by Talia, Caleb, and Josh. Josh provides her with some help for her immune system, Caleb finds out his friend has been hiding her powers, and Talia keeps a watchful eye over the younger folks.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Talia al Ghul, Caleb Dykstra, Joshua Foley

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Wayne Botanical Gardens were a nearby refuge that Phoebe could journey to from the safety of the 14th street garage. A tropical, warm respite from the cold of Gotham's winters and distraction from her own troubles.

    Right now, Phoebe was in among an orchid room. The smell of Curve perfume (based on the nun orchid) and vanilla (from the vanilla orchid, naturally) swirl around as she occupies a bench near a waterfall. She's shed a borrowed jacket, which provides padding for her back as she draws. The object of her attention was a violet and yellow orchid, hanging from a straw basket with others of its like.

    Her pink hair was back to black, now, and was cut short, some of it sticking haphazardly out of the orange knit hat she was wearing. She had band-aids with Super-Man and Batman on them around her fingers, and she holds a sketchpad against a borrowed board.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And sitting somewhere nearby, but not close enough to be interfering in things sits Talia Al Ghul. She's not knitting.. But is whittling. She has a few small pieces of bamboo in front of her that she's working gently on splicing her way thorugh. A quick series of cuts in it along with several other ones to the side.
    That she was assembling quickly over into a series of pipes that were being bound together with reed.
    She does not speak, just occasionally looking over at Phoebe if gestured to.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Friends.

Catching up on them, wanting to know how's it been since the last time, maybe just hang out.

For days, Caleb sent texts to Phoebe, then calls. And the result turned out to be... Nothing.

Complete, utter silence.

And he began to worry. Still, no news that something had happen, so he played it cool. Life sometimes gets in the way, but... So sudden, simultaneously on social media and personal contacts? In Gotham, that often means one thing.

So, he did the once thought unthinkable - he came to Gotham to search for answers. And, very recently, not even half an hour ago, he noticed a post from Phoebe. And he recognized the spot.

So, he comes to the Botanical Gardens, and finds the lonely figure, drawing. He approaches, calmly, until he's standing near her.

"Heya, Pheebs." Voice is neutral. "You're a hard person to reach."

Joshua Foley has posed:
A mother's intuition.

That's what brought Joshua to ping Phoebe's location and make his way into Gotham. Normally, the golden mutant doesn't make housecalls... well, he does. Under special circumstances. This is one of those times.

He arrives at the botanical gardens, a hoodie over jeans special as he carries a small bag with him. As he walks through the botanical gardens, he's looking around for someone, eyes sharp.

He spies her in the orchids room, but she's not alone. Approach with caution, he reminds himself, but even at this distance, his biokenesis is screaming at him that something is wrong. "Phoebe?" he asks, his breath catching. "Do you consent to treatment?"

Quick, simple question, he's already coming forward, others be damned, using his powers be damned. His skin already gives away what he is.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Silence, then a full mailbox. And then no communication even on public channels. Wayne Enterprises simply said she could not be reached.

    Phoebe wasn't aware Talia was nearby, definitely not that she was whittling away in a conservitory named for her adopted grand... great grand parents? She was a little fuzzy on which Wayne this was named for. She pauses on her drawing of the orchid in front of her, and as Caleb makes his approach known, she reaches for a mask and pulls it on.

    "Somewhat by design." Phoebe answers back to Caleb as she turns to look to him. She has circles under her eyes. It's Phoebe, but it's not Phoebe.

    "Sorry, I've been sick. There was an accident. So I'm just... sort of... staying away from where did you come from Joshua?!" she finishes in a squeak, suddenly spotting the golden mutant. And she looks up, and spots Talia some benches away.

    "Ohmigod. I should have stayed at the garage." she whispers, and just leans forward, head in her hands.

    "Joshua I'll be fine. Caleb there was an accident and Talia -- what are you *doing*?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia sits there quietly, listening over to the others approaching over and then would fold her legs underneath her. Gonig to reposition them smoothly, going over to a lotus position with them, then taking out her knife to take a final few slices over her array of slit bamboo.
    Going to then quickly cut some holes in them, knotting the series together with reed and finishing it. A quick once-over to make sure it was smoothly assembled..
    Then glancing at the arriving Joshua and Caleb, evaluating them attentively. At the disorientation from Phoebe, she pauses and then holds the reeds together, adding a small bowl to it as if a basin.
    "Working on something." The collection finished together, and then Talia goes to blow into it.. And a soothing melody starts to play as she finishes the setup of her insturmentation. A pungi.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"An accident!?", Caleb asks in utter surprise and shock. He can't help but wonder if it could've had any sort of connection to him. But, the next thing he does, is gather himself, and moderate his voice. "What happened, exactly? Why didn't you say anything?"

He looks at the golden mutant, whom he's seen around on more than one occasion, and presents himself, "Hi there. I'm Caleb, a friend of Phoebe's."

He looks at Talia, and he nods politely - he met her too, sometime ago.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Like hell you're fine." Joshua snaps, shoving everything else to the side. Something's happened since the last time the two met. He seems more assured of himself, confident in himself and his abilities. "If you're not medically trained, step aside. Someone..." a glance at Talia, "...contacted my mother, who contacted me, and here I am."

And with that, he's coming forward to Phoebe. "Fine. You can call the cops to arrest me later for accosting you with random healing." he hisses. "Which sucks, I have a girlfriend in the NYPD, but not here." A wan smile as he rolls up his sleeves, exposing more of his golden skin. "You know how this works. Don't pull away, please." he asks her.

His hands wrap around her wrists and his golden glow gets brighter, and his eyes immediately go wide as he realizes something's wrong. "....what happened?" he asks, hissed between his teeth. "I can't... I can't sense your immune system. At all. Your platelets, the neutrophils, fibroblasts -- they're non-existant. And there's nothing there for me to rebuild them off of!"

Grey eyes lock onto Phoebe's. "The wrong cut can be fatal to you like this. The smallest cut can be fatal to you like this! The hell happened?" But even as he's asking and questioning, his glow radiates out, working overtime, using his own immune system and abilities in concert to heal her. "I can give you a temporary heal. I can at least fix what's wrong now. But for all that is holy... you do not need to be out like this. You need to be in the care of specialists, not out here in the flowers."

"Wait..." he hisses in a breath. "All your healing - it's magical based isn't it?" He doesn't ask anything else, instead, his attention turns to his task, using the musical accompanyment to keep himself calm as he knits wounds and tries to find something, anything he can use to give her some sort of healing... and is sadly finding nothing. "Oh, Phoebe." he breathes softly.

He assumes Phoebe or Talia will handle the introduction, he's busy healing.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's shoulders slack at Talia's reply, and the building of a... snake charmer flute? She purses her lips behind the surgical mask she was wearing -- because Josh's assessment was right. Phoebe's immune system? Kaput. She might have asked a question fo the other woman, when Caleb pipes up.

    She motions to Joshua as she looks to Caleb. "This is Josh Foley. He works with one of the super people organizations." she explains to Caleb, and she shakes her head "Soem things you don't need to know, Caleb." she explains, and then Josh's medical assessment begins.

    ".. wait, your mom?" she pauses, and she looks back to Talia, and then to Joshua, and then she tries to pull away in fact when the golden boy grabs her wrists.

    And she pauses, she looks over to Talia with confusion, and then she looks back to Joshua.

    Caleb didn't know about her magical healing.

    "There was an accident." she repeats quietly, though ehr shoulders shake.

    "It's gone."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The older woman goes quiet, moving to dissassemble the flute that she had been working on, and moves to bow her head to the other two. She goes to rest her hand over on her lap once more and would cant her head towards the two.
    And isn't quite sure how to respond to things. Phoebe is in agony. Mental, physical.. And likely most of all, emotional.
    And that is the hardest wound of them all to heal. She waits for permission from Phoebe to speak. And just looks sad.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb's ears perk up when Josh runs his diagnostic, espeically when it hits the 'magical healing' bit, "Wait... Magical hea...?"

Silence.

And, for just a fraction of a second, he's looking at Phoebe under a whole new light. But that's a subject for another time; his message to Phoebe is two fingers running across his lips zipper style, locking motion at the edge, and throwing the key away. In other words: her secret is safe.

"Yeah, well, I'm no doctor, but I don't know of any sort of accident that burns a whole immune system, girl. You really should be in bed." He's genuinely concerned, that he looks to Josh, "Need anything? Anything I can do to help."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua glances open one eye. "Sorry." it's all he says as he feels around. By now, all of the healing he can do physically is done, but. "You have the immune system of an infant. I'm going to try to jump start it. It won't be much, but it'll keep you from dying from papercuts." he offers quietly.

He holds onto Phoebe, his golden glow intensifying as he draws in his breath as he lets it out slowly. "Nothing you can do at the moment, thanks." he offers tersely. "Unfortunately for me, my ability is not a team sport."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... less than an infant. My immune system is non-existant. Mostly. Because of the accident." she replies. "Platelets haven't begun to form well. I could try and get artificial colostrum but that just looks weird on a requisition list." she explains quietly, "And I should be in a vaccuum-sealed clean room. But...t hen I ... I just..." Phoebe stammers a moment.

    "Caleb's a friend. Caleb, this is Josh. Also a friend. I'm staying with one of my brothers's places nearby." she states, and her head bows down.

    "This feels so *weird* to be on this end of it."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Jesus, Pheebs", comments Caleb. "You couldn't be in a worst place for someone in such a weak condition."

Looking at Josh, he says, "Yeah well, just settle for whatever you can do, man."

He starts pacing around, rummaging over possibilities from the newfound piec of information he just got regarding Phoebe.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Don't worry, my rates are reasonable." Joshua murmurs in response. "As in I'm not charging you anything for this. Friends and family discount." he murmrus as he works on trying to get Phoebe some kind of defense together.

He had made a promise to Sara not to burn himself out. And if she was here, he'd probably do it anyway so that she could carry him home. But he's not with anyone tonight and he needs to keep some of his strength, so eventually, he has to let go.

And he sits flat on his ass, waiting for the world to stop spinning. "I know you're going to stop me from doing it, but I'd like a couple of more sessions to try to get you somewhere near able to handle the everyday bumps and bruises stuff."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Gotham, a state of anxiety and depression, ignoring texts from my boyfriend, planet Earth? I mean, there's a lot of places I'm at. A nearly defunct plant conservitory isn't bad considering the choices." Phoebe replies to Caleb, and she lifts her hands from his grasp, and reaches down to try and support Joshua from falling over further.

    "Easy, Josh." she warns quietly "That is a lot. Even for one of us." she comments quietly, gently to him. "Caleb, help me get him onto the bench?" she asks, grabbing onto Josh's jacket, and struggling to pull him up.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb stops his pacing and moves to give Josh a hand. "Yeah, don't worry." And he shrugs off her helping hand to Josh. "And also, don't bother. Clearly, I'm the guy with the cleaner bill of health right now."

And he takes Josh to have a seat at the bench, after which he stretches what muscles would've become sore.

Then, as Josh seems to rest, he looks at Phoebe, "So... A magical healer?" His voice is cautiously low.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "It's a long story." Phoebe explains quietly as she uses the borrowed jacket to cover Josh as he rests.

    "But... something happened. And now I'm not that anymore. So it's a moot point to even think about it."