Pamela Isley | Poison Ivy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chlorophylliac) wrote2012-09-05 09:41 pm
chlorophylliac) wrote2012-09-05 09:41 pm
Entry tags:
011 || Video
[It's been a long while since Ivy last surfaced on the Barge network. She's sitting on deck, one wall of the greenhouse at her back; her mood's taken a swing for the contemplative. Or rather, a swing for the 'let's talk about plants so I don't threaten you all with the ludicrously OP superpowers I totally have now, thanks T'Pol'.]
Nikolai Vavilov.
No, I don't anticipate anyone knowing the name. He was a Soviet botanist and geneticist, most famously credited with Vavilov Centers - the eight geographical regions he identified as the origin points for the human domestication of crop plants. He was also an academic colleague of William Bateson, who I hope at least some of you know was first on Earth to use 'genetics' to refer to the study of heredity.
His ideas didn't go down well with Stalin. Naturally, his ideology had no time for the notion that a living thing could be innately superior to its siblings - genetics was the science of fascism, at the time. He was alternately marginalised and blamed for massive food shortages, not least by a former protégé who invented a more palatable theory.
[She pauses for thought.]
Vavilov died in prison. Of malnutrition, ironically. But that's not my point.
His other legacy to the world was one of the planet's first seedbanks. He had collected almost half a million seeds and roots from across the globe in the hope of making that diversity easily available to his successors, and perhaps to protect those species from the predations of an increasingly hostile, polluted world.
[Her tone's darkened and a moment she looks like she's about to derail into something angrier and less educational, but her brow smooths out and she goes on.]
The Soviets didn't recognize its significance, of course. Even as they were emptying out their museums, they had no idea that Hitler was more interested in the real treasure hidden in Leningrad. When the city was besieged, they didn't even try to protect it. Twelve scientists - unsupported by their government, followers of a man already dying in prison - these men took it on themselves to guard the bank for over two years.
Surrounded by tens of thousands of seeds they knew to be nutritious, nine of them voluntarily starved to death.
[She sounds about as impressed by this as Ivy will ever be by the self-sacrifice of a male human, i.e. 'not actively disgusted'. The vines around her wrists shift and writhe as if they're fidgeting.]
It isn't widely known. One small anecdote in a greater story - but what if things had been different, I wonder. If they hadn't died, but killed, in defence of the riches of the Earth. Not martyrs, but guardians. Would history have marked them as villains, or elevated them as heroes?
[She gives the camera a look which suggests she already has some strong ideas about the answer, and then her communicator switches off.]
[Private to Erik; Text]
My abilities have been restored.
Nikolai Vavilov.
No, I don't anticipate anyone knowing the name. He was a Soviet botanist and geneticist, most famously credited with Vavilov Centers - the eight geographical regions he identified as the origin points for the human domestication of crop plants. He was also an academic colleague of William Bateson, who I hope at least some of you know was first on Earth to use 'genetics' to refer to the study of heredity.
His ideas didn't go down well with Stalin. Naturally, his ideology had no time for the notion that a living thing could be innately superior to its siblings - genetics was the science of fascism, at the time. He was alternately marginalised and blamed for massive food shortages, not least by a former protégé who invented a more palatable theory.
[She pauses for thought.]
Vavilov died in prison. Of malnutrition, ironically. But that's not my point.
His other legacy to the world was one of the planet's first seedbanks. He had collected almost half a million seeds and roots from across the globe in the hope of making that diversity easily available to his successors, and perhaps to protect those species from the predations of an increasingly hostile, polluted world.
[Her tone's darkened and a moment she looks like she's about to derail into something angrier and less educational, but her brow smooths out and she goes on.]
The Soviets didn't recognize its significance, of course. Even as they were emptying out their museums, they had no idea that Hitler was more interested in the real treasure hidden in Leningrad. When the city was besieged, they didn't even try to protect it. Twelve scientists - unsupported by their government, followers of a man already dying in prison - these men took it on themselves to guard the bank for over two years.
Surrounded by tens of thousands of seeds they knew to be nutritious, nine of them voluntarily starved to death.
[She sounds about as impressed by this as Ivy will ever be by the self-sacrifice of a male human, i.e. 'not actively disgusted'. The vines around her wrists shift and writhe as if they're fidgeting.]
It isn't widely known. One small anecdote in a greater story - but what if things had been different, I wonder. If they hadn't died, but killed, in defence of the riches of the Earth. Not martyrs, but guardians. Would history have marked them as villains, or elevated them as heroes?
[She gives the camera a look which suggests she already has some strong ideas about the answer, and then her communicator switches off.]
[Private to Erik; Text]
My abilities have been restored.
[Spam]
She pulls back, and her expression is relatively serene. But there's a slight noise behind her breathing when the effects begin to sink in, a growl that's not even mammalian (though it's not meant to be unfriendly).] How do you do that?
[She asks, even though she knows she won't understand the answer.]
[Spam]
[Spam]
She just is.
Then, with a bright grin she hunkers down and rolls at a speed that would rival some of the heros of Ivy's world (and thankfully without damaging the ferns more than making them spew seeds from the undersides of their leaves as she passed over them).
When she comes back, unlike a normal person she doesn't even look dizzy. She looks like she might bowl Ivy over playfully, but not dizzy. She ends up just clinging to her arm and laughing, still under the influence.]
Look! Look, I did it.
[Spam]
You did.
[Despite herself she cracks a slight smile.]
Do you know how, this time? What you were thinking beforehand?
[Spam] One of these days, Zev, you're gonna poison yourself by being overeager.
[Spam] 'Ivy what did you -' 'SHE HUGGED ME UNEXPECTEDLY >C'
Before what gets away?
Re: [Spam] She would forgive you, Ivy. Her bad!
Just something. I don't know what it was. But I wanted to catch it. So that's it! [She suddenly is excited, as if she's figured something out. And she has! She'd prefer to do this without psychological trauma accompanying it, thank you.]
Spam
[She ponders this.]
It would be extremely useful if you could learn to control when this trait emerges.