ximilia | video; un: toxicodendron

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video; un: toxicodendron

[The woman who appears on the video feed is new, and notable for a couple of reasons. First and most obvious, she is fairly notably green. Not just a little green, either. Her skin, eyes, even her lips are clearly and distinctly chlorophyll green. The second, and somewhat less remarkable, is her expression which falls somewhere between irked and uneasy.

If you guessed she's not much of a public speaker, you'd be right. A fact which becomes abundantly clear when she addresses her audience.

Don't you feel smart.]

Hello. Hi. I know there's a bunch of us who just showed up and started filling up your network with, I don't know, I'd call them introductions but I'm not really sure what some of these assholes are doing. Anyway, I'll try to keep this short and no more awkward than necessary.

[Her tone is dry, and the words clearly enunciated and a little louder than natural. As though she's worried the people watching will have a hard time following and she doesn't want to repeat herself.]

I am Dr. Pamela Isley, a.k.a Poison Ivy. You can call me Ivy. I'm not here to stand on formality or wave around my degrees.

[Time to find out if anyone has heard of her. There's no way they'll be lucky enough that no one has heard of her, right?

Deep breath, and:]

I bring it up because I'm a botanist and a biochemist. Trying not to step on any toes here, but I'd like to find out a few things.

One—who can I talk to about using the lab? Are we like assigned space, or is it a free-for-all in there? I don't want to touch anyone's ongoing projects, because I know how I'd feel if someone started poking through mine without checking with me first.

Two—similar question, this time substitute "hydroponic garden" for "lab." You might have noticed... plant theme. Botanist. Like, my thumbs are literally green. It's sort of my brand. If I could get in on that, it would be aces.

[She is trying very, very hard to play nice where the garden is concerned. Ivy is smart enough to know she's not going to get very far making enemies on her first day. So sort of the opposite of prison. Or boarding school.]

And speaking of plants, three—if anyone has any seeds or any cuttings or starts I could persuade them to part with, then I would owe you a favor.

[Each of those last words is drawn out deliberately, her voice growing quieter as she hesitates between words. When she follows up, it's light in contrast:]

I would kill for a spider fern for my room.

[She's joking, but like, is she joking?]

And that about covers it. Just, reach out to me here with any answers. Thaaaanks.

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I've got a few bonsai on the station you can take care of. They're varied.

[nb4 she asks 'what kind']

We just got back from a planet with a whole ecosystem of flora that had mushroom people, too. Sorry you missed it. But I brought back some plants from that world and I just want to point out they're pretty delicate so if you come across the little garden in one medium sized pot in the sunlight room... please be careful. And don't try to replant them, they're not going to get any bigger.

I can work with bonsai.

[Maybe not exactly what she'd have chosen for herself. She tends to favor enormous plants to small ones, manicured ones. But who better to baby a tree, and considering the space constraints, it might not be the worst compromise.]

I know better than to replant them. They would be an excellent source of samples though.

If you want that spider fern, too, I'd ask Viv-chan. She's pretty cool about getting us things to make us feel comfortable here.

[His favorite AI-chan. Viveca was such a charm. He knows it's already been brought up already elsewhere in a reply, but he can't help but reiterate it for emphasis.]

Yeah. I had a few more but the Hivawei needed them more than I did. It was only right to give them some of their world to take with them...

But if you want, I can show them to you and talk about what I noticed about them on their home world.

[There's a lot not to like there, and she feels viscerally what Chishiya said about how she would have been useful on the last mission. Carrying plants from their own world to an entirely new, potentially incompatible one has a lot of potential to go badly.

What if something they're bringing turns out to be their version of kudzu?

On the other hand, she can't exactly blame anyone for saving plants that would have gone extinct otherwise.]

I—I would like to hear more about that.

[Look at her, not leaping to conclusions.]

Especially any information they gave you about the needs of the specimens. If they're the last of their kind, I'll need to know everything I can.

Heh.

[He was no scientist but lucky for her he was studious even now, well out of school but happy enough to learn. Botany was only a hobby of his but he'd been smart enough to listen and learn what he could of the plants on Ciraiwei since he had been so keen to take some with him.

He could at least tell her what each species was natively named, compare it to an Earth species he knew, and what it would need the most to survive here. In layman's terms.]

Sure thing. I'll tell you what I know. Wanna meet me in the sunlight room sometime?

I'll need to visit again soon anyway. If I could visit some real plants while I was there, it would make the experience a lot more pleasant.

[She needs the natural light herself, even if she's technically not a plant. At least not mostly.]

And I don't have much else to do.

[That first sentence caught his attention but he won't ask. Maybe she just really likes the sunlight room!]

Of course! They'll be there. I'll shuffle some of the bonsai around to make a cozy little place for you to relax.

Just say when and I'll be there to tell you what I remember about the Ciraiwei plants.

How about, say, 4:30?

[What time is it even now? Does it matter? It's just a time so they can connect.]

Sure thing.

[Does Zhao even know what time it is? No. Does he check? Not until it's too late to realize it's past that time already. He'll just...show up tomorrow at that time... it's probably fine.]

[It's not, like, the best impression. But Ivy will be there the next day, scoping out the bonsai because she has her priorities straight.]

[Zhao doesn't care in the least. He's just happy to see her there when the time comes. He assumes it's her--he hasn't met this person yet, and, wow, she sure is a pretty shade of green. He was not expecting that but he rolls with it. He's seen plenty of aliens on other worlds by now.

He smiles as he approaches.] Hey. I'm Zhao. Mafioso over the network.

Zhao. A pleasure.

[She doesn't really sound like it's a pleasure, but she does sound like she's trying to be polite. She's not great at it.]

Should I ask about the username? [She's not in a position to judge if it's literal. She'd probably judge worse if it weren't.] Or should we get right to the plants.

You can if you want. You'd be surprised by how many people gloss right over it. [He said with a smirk and a shrug. He wasn't concerned with her lack of enthusiasm--at least she was trying to be polite. She just knew what she wanted: the plants.]

We can skip right to the plants though if you prefer, Ivy-san.

Are you in the mob?

[Might as well get it out of the way. Hell, if there are other criminals around, maybe she doesn't have to walk quite so much on eggshells with this whole thing.]

[Zhao giggled at the blunt question. His smile was flirting with insanity. (Just a show, always just a performance.)]

My gang is the Liumang of Yokohama, Japan. [Liumang didn't quite literally translate to "Chinese mafia" so he offered that himself.] I run the Chinese mafia out of Isezaki Ijin-chō. The red light district of Yokohama.

You ever been to Japan, Ivy-san? It's great, if you're a temporary visitor or belong there.

[Not so much if you're an outcast from a foreign nation that several times has gone to war with the country.]

So you're not just in the mob, you're the boss. Beats being a henchman.

[That answered that question, and then some. She's hardly in a position to be scandalized by it, shrugging off the laugh.]

I don't do much of the tourist thing.

[Which isn't to say she hasn't been there, but she hasn't been there in the capacity where she gets the welcome temporary visitor thing.]

That's right.

[He made a flippant gesture as he posed briefly. But it was just a show and he relaxed in a second. Not that his arrogant attitude left entirely. There was no reason to put on airs here though.

And he wasn't trying to scare her off. If that was even possible. Her nonchalant attitude was refreshing and amusing.]

Fair enough. You travel at all? [Just curious now.] Well, either way. I love my home, but not everything is always perfect. I guess that's true anywhere... but it's not something I can ignore, it's my life. [He waved his hand dismissively this time.] Never mind all that nonsense. You're not here for a life lesson on the underground of Japan. I promise I'm friendly.

Mostly for work.

[Japan is, it might not surprise him to learn, especially welcoming to thieves and/or ecoterrorists.]

You have been very friendly so far. Believe me. I'm harder to scare off than that.

[At least as long as the plants are involved.]

You were going to tell me about the last mission?

[He laughed.] I guess so. No big scary wolf here.

[He left that persona back home. Here, it didn't matter so much. Why bother? Except occasionally on missions when it became useful.]

You bet! It was a lovely planet...

[And handwavey things here for Zhao telling about Ciraiwei in general and the plants in particular.]

Oh, I'm not sure I'd say that.

[Dryly. Ivy's not a wolf, though. She's more like a strangler fig.]

Until it got shot out of the sky like a clay pigeon on a firing range, right?

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video; un: toxicodendron

audio; un: mafioso

voice; un: toxicodendron

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