video; un: toxicodendron

[greenpower]

[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.

Comments

voice ↪ un: unohana

[kenpachi]

Hello, Doctor Isley. It's very lovely to have a botanist on board — I'm a hobbyist in that venue as well.

I do have a selection of cuttings and seeds if you wish — I take duplicates of everything, and I am happy to share should they prove useable for you. No spider ferns, unfortunately.

voice; un: toxicodendron

[greenpower]

Now that is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to hear. Were you on the last mission? I've heard I missed a lot of very interesting samples.

[Beggars can't be choosers. Right now, an amateur botanist sounds like Ivy's new friend. Figuratively. She doesn't have that many friends.

But it is getting on her good side.]

Spider fern is just an example. I do like a good fern, but I'm not that picky.

[kenpachi]

I was. But given the scale of Cirawei, many of the seeds and cuttings are naturally smaller as a consequence. They do seem to propagate as normal, however.

I happen to have a Japanese painted fern on hand, if you would like a cutting from it?

[greenpower]

You would be my second favorite person on this station if you did, and I admit that's not really saying a lot since my girlfriend is here and I don't know anyone else, but ah, yes.

Yes, please.

[kenpachi]

（ that gets a soft laugh, and a faint rustle to the earpiece as unohana shakes her head. ）

I can hardly hope to displace so important a person, can I? Second place would suit me just fine.

Where might I bring the cutting?

[greenpower]

[Ivy will take the laugh as a good thing? Not awkward? Probably. She'll worry about it for a few seconds too long, though.]

I can meet you in the common area. Just give me a few minutes to get a pot ready for it.

[kenpachi]

Very well. I will see you there. I am a Japanese woman with long black hair.

（ best to communicate that ahead of time, to prevent any confusion. not as if she expects the common area to be busy at this time of day, but one never knows.

in the interim, she takes a cutting of the plant in question, gently pruned from the fern. the severed end is then wrapped carefully in damp paper towel, and tucked securely into a little plastic bag for transportation.

clearly, a lot of love has gone into this!! a true plant mom.

she will be sitting demurely when ivy arrives, in one of the overlarge chairs near the bookcase. as the woman was kindly enough to provide video, unohana does happen to know what she looks like. green skin, red hair. so when a woman matching that description enters the room, she lifts a hand in greeting. ）

[greenpower]

[Ivy doesn't so much consider she won't be recognizable. She's green, which tends to make her stand out, and she doesn't imagine there will be a whole lot of women on the ship looking to exchange a plant.

It's also possible (likely) she just wasn't thinking about it that much.

Either way, Ivy spots Unohana without much problem, and her faces softens when she sees the fern cutting the way some women's might if they spotted a kitten.]

Oh, that is precious.

[She sets down the pot of loose soil and extends her hand. Not excited excited, not too excited, but she was getting antsy about having such limited plants around her.]

You've taken good care of it.

[kenpachi]

That's kind of you to say so, Doctor Isley.

（ the cutting is handed off without ceremony, and then she adds a little envelope made of neatly folded paper — it's almost like origami, precise and certain. ）

This has a selection of the seeds from Cirawei as well. They're wrapped and individually labelled. Hopefully, something can be done to preserve them here. I thought about attempting to set them up in the hydroponic garden, but given that it's difficult to identify how they may interact with more traditionally sized plants, I thought it best not to risk having them choked out or overgrown.

[greenpower]

[Ivy accepts the little envelope daintily, holding it with care even as her attention is divided between it and the fern. She gives packet a careful look, making sure it won't spill before she sets it carefully on a chair.]

This is exactly what I was hoping for.

[Not much, not so far, but she can't blame Unohana for that. It's a better start than she expected though.

She starts digging into the soil with her bare hands, working as she speaks.]

That's a reasonable fear. With so few samples, it makes sense to be careful. It's hard to know how the different plants might interact. We don't even know for sure if they'd take well to the hydroponics.

[Though in that respect, their small size would be an advantage.

When Ivy has a suitable hole prepared, she unwraps the fern cutting and sinks it into the soil, balancing it upright with one hand while she pushes the earth around the stem. Then with the fern well situated, she calls on her power and experimentally encourages it to grow.

The fern shivers on its own, responding, sinking roots and shooting up two or three new fiddleheads.]

There we are.

[kenpachi]

（ she sits back and observes the woman with a patient, gentle smile. contented, perhaps. at the sudden, rapid show of growth, she makes a soft noise. ）

Goodness. Your power...?

[greenpower]

[The plant's reaction seems to relax her, and make her more genuinely happy. They can't be cut for too long or she wouldn't be able to still control them.]

Like I said, plants are my thing.