30 ❦ Video

[chlorophylliac]

[Ivy is sitting in the lovingly upgraded greenhouse, on the edge of the fountain pool she's created at the centre, and absolutely nobody was surprised. There's a plant/animal hybrid on her lap; anatomically a small rabbit, but what it's covered with is more like moss than fur and its eyes are completely black.]

The first greenhouses used on Earth were recorded by Pliny the Elder, two thousand years before my time.

The Roman Emperor Tiberius wanted cucumbers all year round, so, his gardeners made it happen. Their specularium predated the invention of glass; they used oiled cloth or sheets of mica. They weren't used constantly, only at night, to protect the plants from the cold after they'd had the benefit of the sunlight during the day.

More sophisticated versions appeared over a thousand years later. The Vatican, in the thirteenth century, to house plants brought as trophies from tropical exploration. Korea, two centuries afterward. What my contemporaries would consider a modern greenhouse didn't appear until the eighteen-hundreds.

By my time, commercial technology allows plants to be grown out of season, thousands of miles from the environments where they evolved, untroubled by parasites or predators or the vagaries of the weather. Even the most diseased specimens can heal in a place designed for precisely that.

[She falters, briefly, gaze going out of focus. It looks like she's fighting something off, consciously or otherwise.]

Which is perfectly fine, if all you want is something that will thrive in an artificial environment. But when you return it to its home -- with all the threats and dangers that plant is subject to --

[Ivy tunes out again, gaze going flat and empty.]

The following Warden and Inmate have been paired:

A.J. Crowley // sauntervaguelydownwards → Arthas Menethil // darknessb4me

The warden should expect a file to be delivered to his cabin shortly. Please familiarize yourself with the information therein and introduce yourself to your new Inmate as soon as possible.

[She blinks slowly, coming back to herself.]

Sometimes the rot runs particularly deep, of course. I hope you'll be very happy together.

Comments

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

When you were already there, yes, I asked you to open the door.

[tucky]

You knew I thought you was an inmate 'cause I called you one. You didn't ever correct me.

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

You didn't ever ask any questions. No one did.

[tucky]

But you knew what I thought.

You lied to me. You were laughing at me. Making fun of me, just like that time on the deck.

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

Don't be so hard on yourself.

I was making fun of everyone.

[tucky]

I thought you were my friend.

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

And you are.

[tucky]

No.

I don't think I am.

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

Because of this? Let me know what you think tomorrow.

[tucky]

'Cause you lied to me to make fun of me for months! You did it for fun; you didn't have a good reason.

[sauntervaguelydownwards]

Number one, I didn't technically lie, I played-along. Two, don't take it so personally, I made fun of everyone. And three, since when is fun not a good reason?

[tucky]

You made fun of everyone for months and months, probably longer, and tricked your friends for a really dumb reason. You ain't a good friend. And you're a warden, so you don't need me. Bye.