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013 || Video
Oct. 21st, 2012 06:22 pm[Video: Ivy is sitting somewhere in her cabin, one elbow propped on a workbench. There's a yellowish vine winding its way up her forearm, growing slowly but at a rate more than visible to the human eye.]
This is cuscuta europea - the European dodder vine. An unusual breed, in the plant kingdom: it has negligible levels of chlorophyll. Since it's unable to produce food for itself, it is parasitic by necessity - a seed will grow towards a likely host, penetrating its stems to absorb its nutrients. Unlike more aggressive parasites, the host survives, though inevitably it's weakened.
Still, the names it's attracted....'Devil's hair'. 'Hellbine'. Humans are so predictable in attaching the idea of 'evil' to something that simply does what it must, in order to survive. It's simply one part of an ecosystem that has been exploited and mutilated by the hands of men, and its perception moulded by their expectations.
It doesn't matter what they call it. It's no more evil than anything else.
[Private to Zev]
I don't expect to be able to access the Enclosure again for ninety days.
There was an incident. I acted -- rashly. I didn't consider the impact it would have on our project.
[It's not an apology, but she'd never be able to articulate how horrible she feels anyway. The one thing that's been keeping her centered over the last two months, even through the breach - the one thing that should be more important than her pride right now - and she was so angry she'd forgotten about it.]
I'll continue analyzing and cataloging the seeds we already have. You should continue. I can instruct you in taking samples nondestructively.
( Spam for Erik )
This is cuscuta europea - the European dodder vine. An unusual breed, in the plant kingdom: it has negligible levels of chlorophyll. Since it's unable to produce food for itself, it is parasitic by necessity - a seed will grow towards a likely host, penetrating its stems to absorb its nutrients. Unlike more aggressive parasites, the host survives, though inevitably it's weakened.
Still, the names it's attracted....'Devil's hair'. 'Hellbine'. Humans are so predictable in attaching the idea of 'evil' to something that simply does what it must, in order to survive. It's simply one part of an ecosystem that has been exploited and mutilated by the hands of men, and its perception moulded by their expectations.
It doesn't matter what they call it. It's no more evil than anything else.
[Private to Zev]
I don't expect to be able to access the Enclosure again for ninety days.
There was an incident. I acted -- rashly. I didn't consider the impact it would have on our project.
[It's not an apology, but she'd never be able to articulate how horrible she feels anyway. The one thing that's been keeping her centered over the last two months, even through the breach - the one thing that should be more important than her pride right now - and she was so angry she'd forgotten about it.]
I'll continue analyzing and cataloging the seeds we already have. You should continue. I can instruct you in taking samples nondestructively.
( Spam for Erik )
