chlorophylliac | 30 ❦ Video

30 ❦ Video

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's a tilt of her head which means 'and you are not exempt from what I'm saying'.]

You're a woman. Take ownership of that.

I think... I think they're just words. That's my opinion.

You're real into all this feminism stuff, huh. With this and the abortion stuff and everything.

Does it not bother you that the society you live in thinks less of you because you were born female?

I mean... I guess it does when I think about it. But I don't really think about it much 'cause it ain't like it's something I can change.

Why not?

'Cause I can't change a whole society. That's millions of people.

And you're just a girl?

I'm not suggesting you go about it single-handed. It takes an army to fight a war.

I am just a woman.

Do you, like, hate men or something? I know they got different brains from us, but...

You're not 'just' anything.

[The question, though, gives her pause. It would be easy to say yes.]

I hate greed, and selfishness, and entitlement. I hate the use of power to hurt the powerless.

Traits you find more often in men.

Yeah, but come on, it ain't like they can help it. It's like I said, it's just how their brains are.

[It takes her a long time to form a response which isn't just low-pitched vowel sounds.]

...Tiffany.

I am not going to argue you on matters of opinion, but on this, I need you to listen to me very carefully.

What you are saying is objectively wrong.

They can help it.

... Look, I don't wanna piss you off and have you come choke me again. But ain't it a part of biology and stuff that they can't sometimes?

Edited 2015-06-16 17:41 (UTC)

No.

It isn't.

Who told you this?

I don't know; I don't remember.

[Hm.]

Men have the same mental faculties as women. Some slight neurological differences do not amount to an absence of self-control. When a man says 'I couldn't help myself', what he means is 'I didn't want to'.

Yeah, and sometimes they don't want to. It ain't like we can change their minds.

Even animals can be trained. Sentient beings can and should learn to control their baser impulses.

You sound like this is something you've just accepted.

My mama told me that's the best way to deal with guys; just accept that they are how they are and let 'em do their thing.

And when their thing is hurting women?

... Look, I’m not saying I let people walk all over me. Okay? I know how to stand up for myself. You know how many fights in I been in with people? Fistfights? Plenty of 'em have been with guys.

I'm not saying otherwise.

What I'm saying is that if you accept that men can't regulate their own behaviour, you absolve them of responsibility. And when it comes to placing blame, it's a question of -

'He killed her but he couldn't help himself. She shouldn't have made him angry.'

'He raped her but he couldn't help himself. She shouldn't have dressed like that.'

[Pause.

Paaaaaaaause.]

I don't know why we're talking about this. It's kinda giving me a headache.

[Ivy goes quiet for a few moments.]

Have I intruded on something?

What do you mean?

What do you think I mean?

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Private; cw: nothing has been expressly said yet but this may end up in rape/sexual assault talk

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