Star Trek: Theurgy

Day 28 [1300 hrs.] Botanical Bondage

May 13, 2020, 04:22:01 PM

[Lt. Zephyr Praise | To the Bone | Plant Bonding | Botany, My Old Friend | Zephyr's Lab]
@fiendfall

The lab had been her predominant home lately.  Since everything had gone down, with Khorin, and the virus, and things had changed for Zephyr dramatically it was all she could do to keep working.  At least here, she was not judged.  Here she had enough things to keep her mind busy she didn't have to worry so much about feeling alone.  Her desk, though, behind where she worked reminded her every time she wheeled over there on her rolling stool.  There were distinct empty spaces were holo images of her and Khorin had sat until recently.  Now, they were gone, her heart was broken, and so like Zephyr would do she threw herself into her work.  After her last major break up she had gone back to the Academy, learned the Medical trade, and done her internship.  This one she didn't have that luxury.  So she had thrown herself into working on the plant-life she had collected over her time on the Theurgy.

One such, the Savi plant that sat in the corner still growing reminded her heavily of Khorin.  He was the one who had gotten the plant cutting for her.  But, she would  not scrap such a precious plant, it had so many properties yet to be discovered and of course, she would really prefer to get some more Botanical cuttings if possible.  Especially, from the Savi.  But, she wasn't sure how she was actually going to be able to get that to happen.  However, she had heard rumors that the Savi might be coming on board, and with their scientific advances maybe she could snag one of their Scientists to talk Botany with.

That could be refreshing.

Zephyr also had a bunch of Aldean samples that were sprouting and taking root in various pots once she recreated some of the Aldean soil with a bit of tinkering to promote better growth.  Her plant wall, in the back of her lab, was filled with the hydroponics ledges and plant life bursting forth.  She had not been able to bring anything with her from Azurite, however, it would have all been taken by the Savi anyway.  So she supposed that was a good thing.  Though, she still wanted to get herself re-established here with a full Botany lab.  She used the hyrdoponics lab as well, where more of the plants were, but here, she preferred to grow her own things in a heavily monitored room.

Zeph pushed off her work table which took up much of one wall and was covered with various pots, sprouts, soil samples, and what not.  Above the work table, were tube racks of all sorts.  Many of which were filled with various samples of soil that she had grabbed on Aldea and one from the Savi pot back on the ship.  Some of them were filled with seed pods, and what not, that would be preserved until she wanted to use them or needed them.  It was always good to have multiple selections of pods and seeds just incase the first one was not fully viable.  It also helped when you were trying to hybridize plant-life into created certain properties that you sought.

Something that had gotten her into trouble, considering the truth of a certain virus had come out with her name on it.

After soaring across the clean room, she landed at her desk with a solid thump stopping her momentum with a hand on the edge of her desk.  Firing up the mini-console that she had installed, the screen above her desk came to life as she began to log her findings of the Savi seedling that was still growing, and well.  She had not gotten to the point to take the cutting and begin testing but that would start happening soon.  Who knew what could be found with the alien plant life.  If one was to find Zephyr working it was clear that, at least at this moment, her plants were better cared for than herself.  She was quite thin, not that she had ever been thick but what little fullness she had after she came back to the ship had gone.  The dark shadows under her eyes proved that she was struggling through sleepless nights and long days, if nothing else. 

A small squawk like squeak came from underneath her desk where a fluffy blanket had been curled up down there.  If you weren't looking close enough you wouldn't even see Jasper.  He was so buried in the fluff, he liked soft things and tended to take over and dominate the ones that he could find.  He was a little gryphon like creature, with feathers mixed with fur, a small beak, the size of a small Terran dog.  He didn't weigh much and had recently stopped growing so she assumed this was as big as he would get.  Orphaned on Aldea, she had been  unable to find his parents and she and Khorin had adopted him.  He was rambunctious and liked to eat fish.  He was a good cuddler, and loved to play.  Right now though because Zephyr was at work, he was curled up sleeping.  Later, when she finished, or when he reminded her it was time to leave because he wanted to play she would let him romp around the Arboretum for a while.  It was his favorite place too.

A chime sounded at the door while Zephyr was deep into typing up her findings.  “Enter.” she called out, though she had  no idea who would be seeking her here, she figured she might as well let them in, she had no reason not to.

Re: Day 28 [1300] Botanical Bondage

Reply #1 – May 20, 2020, 02:27:59 PM

[ Xelia | Corridors > Botanical Lab | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ

No one had thought to tell her just how much waiting around there was to do on the Theurgy. Which, rude. She couldn't start her work until she'd spoken to someone about it, and she couldn't speak to anyone until she'd spoken to someone else, and she couldn't do that because they were too busy contemplating the difference between various shades of cream or whatever. Ugh!

She'd spent the morning exploring, although she'd quickly found everything looked the same and there were very few places that were remotely interesting. It was like, one bathhouse, a public gym, a couple of bars... Whatever.

It was only as she was wandering the boring, identical corridors -- completely lost at this point, of course -- that she came across a botanical lab. And oh sweetling, she knew what that meant.

She didn't actually know yet what kind of recreational substances the Theurgy might offer, although considering what she knew about the Federation she was willing to bet their idea of a 'recreational substance' was, like, a sugary dessert. No, no, she needed something with a little more character, darling.

Also, when she'd come aboard and they had someone check through every single one of her possessions in case it was secretly, whatever, a bomb or something, the poor boy doing it had looked at her vape like it was some foreign Orion devilry. Admittedly it was probably more bedazzled than anything he'd seen in his miserable life.

Of course, she'd not been able to put it to much use yet -- what she'd brought with her to smoke had been confiscated, because again, Orion devilry, and she'd only looked at the replicator in her room long enough to figure out it was useless for making anything fun. But a botanical lab! Now that sounded like fun.

Not that she really knew anything about botany. Honestly she'd never paid any attention to plants or whatever. She'd had houseplants in her old apartment but she hadn't done anything with them; they'd just always been gorgeous and healthy. They'd been just for show, as she'd gotten her smokeables from the proper merchants. Why mess about with all that yourself when you can just get it delivered?

But presumably a botanical lab also had a botanical lab worker? She could work with that.

She pressed the chime to be let in, and stepped over the threshold when the door whooshed open for her.

The room was as boring as everywhere else on this monochrome ship -- a desk, some kind of table, various racks, all very practical and not at all stylish. Even the plants were kind of underwhelming. The one saving grace was the lab worker -- finally a woman! And a cute one too! Oh thank god, she wasn't going to have to pander to some stupid boy to get what she wanted.

'Oooh aren't you lovely?' she said brightly as she entered. 'Hello sweetling, so glad to meet you. I'm Xelia. Is this your lab? You really must show me around, I'm sure all of this is just fascinating.' She moved towards one of the plants, lightly stroking a stray leaf. 'What's the flavour of this one like?'

Re: Day 28 [1300] Botanical Bondage

Reply #2 – May 25, 2020, 03:56:05 AM

[Lt. Zephyr Praise | This is My Lab | Don't Touch the Baby Plants | This is Not a Salad Bar]
@fiendfall




Zephyr looked down at the small sappling, it was doing well, and though it would need more care before it could be transplanted to a larger pot, it was flourishing slowly.  Sometimes, the best things did and this plant just seemed to need additional time to just become sturdy enough to do what it would.  But, when it took off she knew that it would be a beauty.  The small triangular shaped leaves, little soft fuzz on the edges of the leaves that looked prickly but was actually quite soft.  She was intrigued to see how long the fuzz would grow and what she could do with it, this was a completely new plant that she was working on and waiting to see what all it would come up with.  For now though, she pushed it to the side, and began to take her notes on the matter.  It had made great progress.  The computer scanned the plantling and logged all the measurements into the system and she began to enter her own notes when the bell to her lab rang.

Odd. she thought.  “Enter.” she called out and the door to her office sprung open.  Zeph looked up and over at the newcomer.  She had no idea who this person was, why she would seek out the Botany lab, and what her purpose here was.  But, she supposed that would all come soon enough to light.

Zeph's hazel green eyes looked at the woman as she told her that she was lovely.  Zeph gave a bit of a smirk and shook her head.  “Not sure what that has to do with anything.”  the woman stepped further into the lab and called her sweetling.  Saying that she was glad to meet her, and that her name was Xelia. 

“Hello, and welcome to the Botany lab.” she said with a smile.  “I'm Zephyr.” she offered as she turned on her stool which had a swivel top.  Zeph was thing with brown curly hair that fell around her shoulders.  It was currently pulled back from her face in a small clip so it didn't get in her eyes.  The girl, Xelia, mentioned that she must be shown around and she was certain that it was all interesting. 

“What exactly did you need?” she asked curiously as Zeph tilted her head trying to figure out what exactly the point of all this was. 

Xelia crossed the room and stroked a small leaf of one of the plants and mused about the flavor.  Zeph's brow furrowed curiously.  “Well I'll admit I haven't given it a solid lick.  What exactly can I help you with?” she asked him curiously, as she got up and slid off her stool so that she could speak with Xelia a little more easily.

Re: Day 28 [1300] Botanical Bondage

Reply #3 – May 31, 2020, 09:28:19 PM

[ Xelia | Botanical Lab | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ

Zephyr, was it? Cute name. It sounded almost Orion, except, like, softer. She looked over the woman with renewed interest. What was she? That wasn't a Human name, was it?

'Is this your lab?' Xelia asked curiously. 'Like, you run it and everything?' It'd be so lovely if Zephyr knew what she was doing and didn't have to refer Xelia up the chain to someone. Knowing this ship Zephyr's superior was probably, what, a Gornish man? A Klingon man? Definitely a man. And gross.

Unfortunately whatever she was, it seemed Zephyr wasn't the fun type of botanist -- Xelia gave a bright laugh as Zephyr said she hadn't licked her plant, clearly confused.

'Oh, darling, aren't you precious?' Wasn't she just adorable! 'Oh sweet pea, what is it you do here, then?' She moved on to give the next plant a little feel, running its leaves between her fingers. 'I didn't mean eating it, silly. I meant, like-- Hang on.'

She produced her vape from its pocket to show the other woman. It was a slim little thing, beautifully shiny and sparkly, a bit like a short flute, narrow enough to fit neatly down the side of her bra and short enough it didn't get annoying and stab her or anything. It was cute, and bespoke, with her name engraved down the side. It was also one of the only things she'd managed to take with her from Vondem. She'd had her priorities straight.

'Do you smoke any of these?' she asked, gesturing at the plants with the instrument. 'I'm honestly dying to get high, sweetling, you'd be such a lifesaver.' She raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'Don't tell me you haven't tried any of these gorgeous plant things, surely you have.'

She continued her tour of the lab, variously poking and sniffing at the plants. She'd initially been trying to see if there were any she recognised. There weren't. But then she'd never really been a plant person, she'd never even touched any of the ones in her apartment, and even those the Federation probably thought were, like, evil or something. Like they'd steal your soul and make you horny or whatever. They'd definitely do one of those things, of course, but really the other was just paranoia.

In the end, she just interjected her tour every now and then to ask Zephyr where a plant was from or what properties it might have. Like, 'Okay, what about this one? Earth? Hallucinogen? Aphrodisiac? Come on darling, teach me!'

Eventually she reached a plant set away from the others in the corner. At least, she assumed it was a plant, it looked nothing like anything else in the room, and couldn't have been further from the lush leafy greens of Orion. It was weird.

'What's that?' she asked, turning to Zephyr again. 'You just have things from all over in here, don't you sweet pea?'

Having finished her turn around the room, she found herself at Zephyr's desk and hoisted herself up to perch on the edge.

'Well, darling, this is all fascinating or whatever,' she waved a hand dismissively, 'but really I'm just gagging for some fun. What do you say? Anything in here that could help me have a little fun? I'd be ever so grateful.'

Re: Day 28 [1300] Botanical Bondage

Reply #4 – June 04, 2020, 04:33:08 AM

[Lt. Zephyr Praise | What is This? | Is This a Joke? | Don't Harm my Babies! | Step Away From the Plant Wall]
@fiendfall




The woman seemed to have this... aura about her.  Something that just said she wasn't exactly sure what to do with herself so she just went every direction at once.  It was like when she was in chemistry class and everyone was talking about atoms and how they consolidated to do various things, this woman was an atom that was just blown apart in every direction possible.  Zeph just couldn't quite keep up with the slew of things being tossed at her, questions, comments, notifications, and so forth it was almost mind boggling that the woman before her could go through so much territory in such a short time.

“Yes this is my lab, and yes that means I run it and everything.” Zeph said cocking the brow on the right side of her face slightly in wonder.  Just who is this person?

Apparently, she was precious.  If Zeph's brow had a chance to go any higher, it would have completely disappeared inside her hair line at that line.  She could not understand just... what the hell had come into her life.  She wasn't certain yet if it was a hurricane, tsunami, or if cataclysmic volcanic eruption.  Either way, Zeph was growing more uncomfortable by the moment.  Every word that popped out of this strange pixies mouth was something else that Zeph was trying to puzzle out.

“I work with plants.” she said matter of factly.  “I grow them, hybridize them, create new plants.  Test properties, find new seedlings from other plants, cultivate them here, make them into our plants, find out what they're capable of and create other substances from such research.”  The woman told her she didn't mean to eat the plants and then pulled some sort of device out of her pocket. 

She rose her brow.  “I'm sorry, am I to understand you want to smoke them?” she asked curiously as she had certainly never had this request before.

“No, of course I haven't smoked them.  I mean.. I have melted them, or set them on fire under laboratory circumstances to see what the resulting fall out would be.” she admitted.  “However, I have never inhaled the smoke because that is just.. not.. I grow plants not burn them.” she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side still trying to figure out what this woman wanted.  She wanted to get high, obviously, and Zeph had the means to do that, she supposed.  She could point out which ones had the proper fumes that would create reactions in the brain cells of the person smoking them.  But, was that wise?  Was it wise to have someone high on the ship?

Xelia was over at the wall of plants, the ones that she was growing and had been doing well with.  She brushed her hand down a particularly lovely fern that would produce flowers in a few weeks if the woman didn't wrap it up and smoke the whole thing.  “Neither.  That one is from a planet known as Zaroc 11, and it won't do anything to you except give you fantastic hair if turned into a shampoo.”

The woman continued walking around the room until she came to a plant that Zephyr had not finished doing her testing on, and one she had not burned.  It was the Savi plant that she had grown from the cutting that Khorin had gotten for her and the things that she had gotten herself as well.  It had been doing well, and with the Savi coming on board, Zeph hoped to work with some of the Scientists that they had in the hopes that she could expound on her knowledge. 

“That one, I haven't burned yet.  So I really don't know what the fumes do yet and I would be uncomfortable with you smoking it before I know it won't kill you.  I have enough stress on my shoulders without the death of an officer adding to it.” she said rather firmly and sighed.

Looking around her lab she went over to the planet wall and leaned down pulling a bright vibrant red flower with a yellow center off a small cacti looking plant and handed it over to the woman. “This will get you high as a kite, there is a hangover period afterwards so I wouldn't smoke it if you were about to go on shift.”

- FIN