ArchivedLogs:Mutant Flower Power

Mutant Flower Power
Dramatis Personae Charlie Torres, Daken, Dusk, Isra, Gremlin
In Absentia	8 May 2015 (Followed by an explanation.)
Location <BOM> Garden - Ascension Island
Considerably reduced from what they must have been when this place was /actually/ running at full capacity, there is nevertheless a hefty amount of garden space tucked away behind the main cabin of the compound. Somewhat haphazard in its organization, the rows of plants -- mostly vegetables, with some herbs lining the borders -- seem to be chosen somewhat at whim. Despite the disorganized mishmash of crop selection, the ground seems well-tended, fielding the occupants a decent cache of produce three seasons out of the year. To one side, a fenced-in area with a raised coop houses chickens, often noisily squawking throughout the day. It has been a gorgeous, sunny, warm day without the humidity that comes with summer on the East Coast. Charlie has largely abandoned her paying-work for until after the sun goes down, taking advantage of the day to get exceedingly dirty out in the gardens. While /they/ are seeming entirely less haphazard and random under her guidance, she is coming across a little...dust-bunny in her soil coated hiking boots, camping pants, and grey tee with an abstract sort of black tiger pattern on its front. A wide-brimmed hat partly covers her long ears and tied-back nut brown hair. Assorted tools still dot the sides of the gardens from other stages of work. Finally catching her breath, Charlie moves out of the rows to pick up one of two battered Nalgene bottles and drink from it deeply. Daken wanders in from where the birds are cooped up, having added a few cages of pheasants and quail he's been taking care of. He's dressed in a pair of baggy cargo shorts, a black tank, and a blue vaporizer tucked into a pouch secured around his neck. "Hey there." he calls over, flip-flops slapping against his heel as he makes his way over. "So, I'm thinking of throwing you guys a party Monday." There's a brief shadow overhead, huge wings momentarily blotting out the sun. Only momentarily, and then Dusk swoops in for a landing, thudding down in between a couple garden beds to land in a crouch, wings tucking in behind him. Deep purple wings, today, along his skin, though the soft fur over is a shimmer of blue that swirls across in water-like ripples. There is a thick leather harness wrapped across his chest and around between his wings, a sluggishly stirring bundle poking their head out to stare with bulging eyes towards Daken. Dusk tips his head up in a nod, a quick-fanged smile. "Party? 'You guys'? Eh?" Isra makes a more languid descent, circling the garden in a huge lazy arc before backwinging hard to kill her momentum, dropping neatly to the ground beside Dusk. She wears a sky blue crop top and matching handkerchief skirt. Her skin looks petal-soft in lavender, her horns and talons pale shimmering metallic blue. Shimmering blue, too, the abstract flame designs creeping up from the edges of her royal purple wing membranes. "Good day." Her bright green eyes skim over the rows of freshly turned soil. "Most impressive." Charlie gives a small wave to Daken in lieu of speaking while she's busy pouring water down her throat. "Who 'you guys'? And why...why?" she asks once the bottle is removed from her mouth, the back of a furry wrist wiping across her lips after it. The sudden shadow of two descending forms has her peering up around the brim of her hat. Dusk's appearance draws a smile, though the unexpected gremlin head appearing gets a small startle-jump instead. Fortunately, it's back to smiles by the time Isra lands. "Hey. Thanks. Been working on seeing just how self-sustaining we can get out here. You want /real/ impressive though, should see the mutant tulips I got coming around my cabin now. The early bloomers, at least, making a good promise for the bunch this year." Daken offers the new arrivals a salute. "The island, all you guys. Because it'll be my sixty-ninth birthday." he explains, bringing his mod up to take a drag before exhaling a cloud of vapor. "Maybe I should hold back and do it later that week though, since you guys can get hungover." 'You guys,' Dusk mouths again, this time voiceless though with a hiking up of eyebrows. "Are you -- not one of us anymore? Would a party here not include you?" He sounds more puzzled than accusatory, confusion in his expression. One of his wings curls in around his body, wrapping in around the squirming bundle of Gremlin strapped in against his bare (albeit heavily padded, where the Eggling is swathed) chest. "Wait can we eat /tulips/?" This thought seems to excite him before he catches up to the 'cabin' part, rocking back onto his heels to look around the gardens. "... what-all's planted out /here/?" Isra cocks her head, pointed ears pressing back against her hairless skull. "Oughtn't your birthday party properly get thrown for you, and not for...us? Nevertheless, happy birthday in advance, then, and many happy returns." She settles her wings down onto her shoulders and stoops to study the garden as though she finds the whole concept quite novel. "What particular trait inspires you to call them mutant tulips?" Her smile comes with only a slight glimpse of fangs. Charlie just shakes her head along with the confused questions Isra and Dusk seem to cover pretty well regarding the party. “You can totally eat tulips. Usually in salads. Prefer you didn't eat mine, though. Growing 'em more ornamentally. Could still get some bulbs in for eating at this point in the season if you're interested, though.” Her lips and nose twitch in time with amusement. “And they're mutants on account of the spectacular mutations that're still viable in tulips. Extra petals, petals all different shapes than they're supposed to be, multiple blooms, split blooms, mixed colourations... The ones I got coming in right now look like the piranha plants from Mario. All red, little white fringes all inside look like /teeth/. Some others coming up angular and kinda yellow-red tie dye. Bunches of other kinds still waiting on the blooms.” She /might/ like her plants a bit. “All kinds of things planted. More seeds started inside still waiting to come out. Got most of the greens in already, kale, spinach. Tomatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots, beets. Still early in the planting season yet.” "I mean that the party is more for you guys, because I can't get drunk or high. Far as I'm concerned I'm still one of you guys, you're family." Daken says, hitching his shoulder in a slight shrug. "Even if some of you are worried I'll try and kill you." A slight pause before he adds, "Not likely to kill anybody for a bit, can't get a proper description of the woman that shot Ion." Charlie gets a slight nod, "Sounds fabulous, gotta have something you're into. Why I raise birds." Dusk's brows just raise higher. "... dude," his sharp teeth bare further, grin bright and crooked, "you're saying you've spent sixty-nine damn years on this planet and you don't know how to fucking party without getting drunk or high? /That's/ kind of sad, man. All this time, maybe we need to finally show you how to /live/. And I got a descr --" Though here his words break off, smile twitching before his head bows. He loosens the harness around his chest, folding the Gremlin into the crook of his large wing instead. "That does sound kind of badass, really. Do you -- breed them? I mean is there shit you're trying to get in yours, specific?" Isra's smooth eyebrow ridges rise fractionally at the list Charlie rattles off. "I confess my near-complete ignorance about gardening, but I admire your dedication and look forward to seeing this come to fruit...and leaf, and root." Her eyes snap to Daken and cease blinking. "Perhaps you might consider making a list of activities which would please you, and focus the party around one or more of them." Her tail sways slow and rhythmic beneath the hem of her dress. "/Ought/ I worry that you'll try to kill me?" This mildly, as if discussing a matter of minor intellectual interest. Nestled into Dusk's wing, the scrawny, six-limbed infant squirms but issues no audible complaint. Their toothy maw opens to worry--weakly and ineffectively--at the nearest phalanx. Charlie's eyebrows lift at the mention of concerns about killing, a knowing nod added as Daken goes on immediately to talk about his future killing plans. See? Totally justified. "Man, you gotta step up your party game. You can still eat and drink and dance and interact with people and whatever else, right?" A broad grin answers Dusk's apparent interest in the flowers. "I'm kinda an amateur at it, but yeah. You get a strong mutation like a parrot or a fringe in a parent and it'll almost always breed true. The mutant strains in tulips're often dominant. And they hybridise so easy! It's a lot of just...putting things together and seeing what comes out next. I don't got a whole fancy greenhouse operation or any of that. The people you get the nice mutant starters from, they usually use some radiation on the bulbs to induce them to start." The hare girl gives a little nod and tip of her hat-brim to Isra. "I'm hoping it'll all come out well. Most of the actual /fruit's/ still waiting awhile on planting, though. Vines're delicate. Melons go out about last, along with beans and squash and things." "I can still get drunk and high, just have to do a lot more. Doesn't last very long." Daken turns his attention towards Dusk. "Suppose I couldn't get it? Don't wanna kill them, but I do want them to know you don't fuck with us. And I'm sure you got my description and name, too. Apparently I'm a stalker, even though I have better shit to do than follow an X-fucker around. And they don't understand that if you threaten me, I'll threaten you back." He reaches up to rub his jaw, giving a mildly annoyed huff. "But I didn't put my claws through his door, so I'll take the small victories where they come." Dusk's expression is sliding back into confusion. "Right, but, like. You don't -- /have/ to? You can still have a party -- without alcohol. Or drugs. At my house," he's leaning juuust slightly inwards as though he is confiding a great /secret/ to the others, "we have a party /every week/ that's largely substance-free. And everyone still has hella fun. So why... can't you have a party, again?" His confusion is... really not lessening at the talk of the X-Men. "X... who? Wait, which X- what? Who was threatening you? Who were you threatening?" His brows crease. "Couldn't get what? Who are you stalking?" His wing shifts its hold on the Eggling, curling up further to cup the infant in more of a secure scoop. The gnawing does not seem to /bother/ him much, though he does habitually reach down to gently nudge the baby's mouth away from its jawing. "... what's a parrot-flower mean?" The mention of mutant strains being dominant brightens his grin again, as does: "Waitwait. Holy shit. Radiation really /does/ help with kickass mutations?" Isra follows Charlie's description of tulip genetics with interest. She does not break into a fangy grin over the dominance of mutant strains, but she does bump Dusk lightly with the index phalanx of one wing. "I must make a point to go by your cabin and see these remarkable flowers of yours." Studying Daken more closely now, she frowns. "Did you have some sort of altercation with one of the X-Men?" Despite a general lack of coordination, the goblin manages to free one of their own wings from beneath Dusk's much, much larger one. Said wing flails about, not much resembling any effort at flight, and finally settles across their face. To say that they did it to shield their bulging green eyes from the sun might give more credit than entirely deserved, but the pose has a vaguely ludicrous "face-palm" sort of effect. Charlie's brows furrow, expression painted as if she might be trying to decide if Daken is speaking in tongues. The 'X' portion finally gives her something to latch on to. "Is this about your daddy issues again?" Oh, but she's being invited to talk about her plants some more! "I'm really just pleased to have all this /land/ to work. Never could do things /quite/ like this working on grow lamps and window boxes and rooftop gardens. Read about it a lot, though." Her head nods eagerly at the questions. "The parrot mutation is one of the most awesome. They range from being a little ruffly to having these petals that full-out look like feathers growing on a plant. And you can have multiple mutations in the same plant. You get a bicolour, double bloom, parrot? Crazy-amazing looking." A chuff of laughter puffs her cheeks and flares her nostrils. "Yeah, they actually put the bulbs under X-rays. And they'll put young seed buds in with pressurised nitrous oxide and the plants just...pick up whole extra /sets/ of chromosomes. Usually just has the two, typical diploids, right? But you get these triploids and tetraploids if you mess with 'em enough. Tetraploids are the hardiest things out there. People say look out for the mutants with the lasers and the lightning bolts and the teeth and claws and all that. Man, you find me a /tulip/ person, look the fuck /out/. That's the force to be reckoned with." Charlie's hand sweeps in the general direction of her cabin. "You're sure welcome to come by. Only a couple strains're blossoming this early on, but more'll keep coming. Part of the fun, watching the new waves of blooms show up." Daken listens to Charlie for a bit, before he decides he should just nod. Isra and Dusk have his attention shortly after, "Er, yeah. Jackson. Went to ask a few questions, and it was like trying to talk to a wall. Couldn't comprehend what I was asking, even when I explained myself several times. Then got angry and threatened me when I decided I should just talk to Jack. Going to be pissed if I lost a contact that I paid two-hundred on." "Ohshit. I'm totally gonna come by and see. You think you can give us some flowers to put around my house back in Manhattan? Oh man, I should introduce you to my neighbor some day, that'd be fun. Or cheating, I don't know. He's kinda an Ent. Not exactly a /tulip/ person, just a /plant/ person in general. Grows -- goddamn anything. He really is a fucking force." Dusk shakes his head, his own wing shifting a little higher to more adeptly shield the babygargoyle's head from the sunlight. After this, though, a quiet growl drops into his voice. "Wait wait /wait/. /Dude/. You went and fucked with /Jax/, come /on/, man, don't /feed/ me that /bull/ fucking /shit/. You are /not/ going to /sit/ there and try and tell me that /Jackson/ motherfucking Holland threatened you as if you didn't goddamn /earn/ it." Despite the growl there's a bit of laughter in his voice. "You know I /live/ with him, right? You're telling me paid someone two hundred fucking dollars to tell you where /my/ goddamn doorstep was and then showed up to grill /my/ goddamn lover -- who, by the way, is the world's biggest ball of fucking sunshine -- and for some /inexplicable/ reason he got angry and threatened you? Given just about every conversation anyone on /this/ island has had with you has involved threatening to kill people I can't /possibly/ imagine why." Isra glances in the direction Charlie indicates, then flashes the hare girl a crooked smile. "I'll make sure to mind my tail among your tulips--not just for fear of knocking any over, but in the unlikely event of encountering a hungry tulip person lurking amongst them." But her mirth drains away at Daken's explanation. For a moment she says nothing, clamping her wings down tight around her as if physically restraining herself. "Please get out of my sight." Her voice sounds perfectly calm, but a faint, low growl issues from her secondary vocal chords. She leans against Dusk slightly, body trembling almost imperceptibly beneath the cover of her wings. "Now." “Sure I could spare a few parent bulbs. Should get more daughter bulbs down the line I can add. Even come help with planting if you need. If you all are wanting a nice /garden/ of 'em, can help you out ordering more online, though. Gotta love online ordering. Get the best starter stock that way.” Charlie's already wide doe-eyes widen even further at the talk of plant people. “Ent? Like full-on 'hoom, after all you are very small, don't be hasty' Ent? Ha! Yeah, I meet your friend if he wants to.” The hare girl's grin widens to match her eyes, though something suddenly seems to perk her ears as if remembering a thing. “Speaking of introducing folks, how do we handle new member recruitment up here? Used to be my uncle did any of this kinda thing when I lived with him. But I met this guy, Ash? Got a 'one of us' vibe off him while talking about that crazy psychic future dream stuff. He says he has people that we can collaborate with on information gathering and taking action eventually, too.” Isra's crooked smile is returned in kind, Charlie /kind of/ delighted at all the plant-and-people conversation, nose twitching away. “Yeah, that 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' song everybody thinks is just a little love ditty? Total horror story. Warning to the others,” the hare girl offers with an amused snicker. “Your tail should be safe, though. My tulips're all in beds close to the cabin walls and up in planters.” Not being overly familiar with Jackson or any of the implications of what Daken is speaking to, Charlie doesn't have much reaction to the rest of his story other than ongoing confusion. Certainly not the degree of reaction the other two are presenting. Her confused expression darkens, brightness from the previous conversation lost in tensing muscles and eyes darting between the gathered individuals. The amused nose-twitching slows to more of an agitated and assessing state. The harsh reaction doesn’t sit easy with Daken either, stepping out of his flip-flops as Dusk and Isra speak. “Finding Jax was easy. I didn’t have to pay anything for that. He threatened me when I mentioned Jack, which I gladly returned in kind. I was playing nice, even told them my slave name. Fucking regret it. Now if I were you, I’d calm down and say sorry. Then we take a deep breath and think everything through.” "Forgive me if I don't believe you." Dusk's voice is low; beneath it the growl still rumbles, soft. His wing has curled further around the infant he carries, fully hiding the wobbly gargoylechild against his chest. "You can't get through a fucking conversation without mentioning murder, and /he'd/ sooner die than kill the same damn people who locked him up and tortured him so /can/ it with your fucking /bullshit/. I've fought side by side with him for fucking years and if /he's/ gotten to the point where he's /threatening/ you, it's /probably/ because you damn well needed to be set on fire. If you were mentioning stalking his /underage fucking students/ that's probably why, dude." The growl in his voice has grown harsher. His teeth bare, sharp -- almost amused, though. "That? /Is/ her calm, man. And don't you know that's a dirty word?" His fist circles his heart, though it doesn't look particularly apologetic; more just explicative. Heeee takes a half-step back. Sort of into Isra's lean but sooort of angled /away/ from the path between her and Daken. His eyes cut over to Charlie after this. "/Ash/? Ash like Earthbender-Ash? He's my neighbor. He's rad. You should ask Regan." Isra's wings unfurl loosely, shaking out like living sails. The talons tipping each spar flex and gleam in the sunlight. She drops her center of gravity low, far lower than human physiology would comfortably allow. No further word does she speak, and when she moves it does not come as a lunge or a pounce. She just /turns/, snapping her wings out to their full span half-way through, once they have cleared Charlie and Dusk. Their tremendous length, so extended, easily covers the distance between her and Daken. She does not slash at him with their claws, but aims for his shins, evidently with the intention of taking his feet out from beneath him or, at the least, knocking him off balance. Charlie continues to look only more confused and more unsettled, not familiar with the people involved in the discussion. “I dunno 'bout Earthbender, but he's kinda a dirty boy. Literally.” A hint of smile manages to show itself between the tension. “I'll talk to her.” Her center of gravity lowers, hand hovering over the knife in her pocket. The hare-girl back-steps to put her nearly up against Dusk and within easy low speaking range. “Dusk, if this turns into a fight and both of you end up in it, you want me to get the baby out of the way? I run fast, take him to the common house even. Or I can back Isra up while you take him.” Turn into a fight it does, though Charlie holds on the question of what to do with the child before acting. Daken seems to weigh his options before just taking the strike, ending up on his face. He looks annoyed, at least until he rises fully and finds the impact smashed the tank on his vaporizer. His fists clench and his jaw tightens as he makes his way towards Isra. “Either you’re going to pay for that, or we’re going to have issues.” "Hngh," is Dusk's answer to all of this, frowning down at the Gremlin halfheartedly jawing on his wingbone again. He carefully untucks the bundle of infant and sling from his wing, handing both off to Charlie. "Yeah, that's Ash -- you should find Regan, maybe, I don't entirely -- mmph. Maybe. Find her. {Just be careful with the Eggling, they bite. … kinda poisonously.}" His brows have creased into a deep frown as he slides baaack another step, freeing up space for Isra's tackle. "{Man, your head isn't on right. Been /had/ issues a while already now.}" As soon as Daken begins to topple, Isra's wings beat down with an audible whump. In a gust of gritty wind, she lifts off. For a moment she seems as though she means to depart, spiraling up and away from her opponent. Then she banks sharply and tucks her wings close, shedding altitude and gaining momentum to slam into him with a hard, bony shoulder as she whips past. “Going to have issues,” Charlie reports in disgust and disbelief. “/Going/ to have.” She bundles the hatchling against her as quickly as she can do and still be safe for both of them. Once she’s situated, she claps Dusk on the shoulder. “You take care of your lover, baby’ll be fine. I’m gonna dash around ‘til I find Regan. I dash /fast/, though.” With that promise, she is /gone/ sure as she took off with a motor, first in the direction of Regan’s cabin. Daken takes a moment to adjust himself, stepping into the dive in an attempt to hook his arm around Isra’s neck and bring her down with him. Either way though, the strike does steal the wind from his lungs. Dusk's wings shiver and unfurl, rippling out to the sides half-mantled. His eyes cut between the other two -- more /monitoring/ than outwardly all that concerned, though his teeth are still bared. "For fuck's sake," he finally does say, "I'll get you a new goddamn vaporizer. But that's sure as fuck not going to fix the problems here." Daken's arm does find its way around Isra's neck, right before she bites down on it. The snarl that rises from her chest sounds completely inhuman, and her feet touch the ground only long enough to kick off of it. Her wings snap down violently, not really heeding if parts of her opponent's body might get in the way, and lift her--and Daken, if he does not let go--off the ground again. Daken doesn’t let go, nor does it look like he caught what Dusk said. “Put me down, or I’m taking your fucking head off,” he hisses, other hand gripping onto her shoulder. With a low growl and a louder snap of wings, Dusk pushes off to launch into the air, too. He circles up to pull into the air above the other two, wind stirred up around them as his enormous wings do their best to stay out of the way of Isra's as he drops in near. The hand he clamps down onto Daken's is tremendously strong, none too gentle as he pries Daken's hand off Isra's shoulder, fingers crushed around the other man's wrist. "Let fucking go." It's not actually clear /which/ of the other two he's talking to, Isra's teeth in Daken's arm, Daken's arm around her neck. Isra growls louder for a moment, but she does release Daken's arm and begin to push away from him, one hand braced on his chest--talons sharp and ready but not digging in--as she hovers awkwardly in place. Her fangs remain bared, however, and her pupils have constricted to pin-pricks in the sunlight. Blood streams down over her chin and drips near twenty feet to the ground below. The bite is healed over quickly enough, but Daken is obviously still in fight mode. Once Dusk rips his hand away and Isra lets go, he’s attempting to slam his palm into the vampire’s jaw. Dusk pulls back away from Isra, dragging Daken along with him further from the gargoyle's talons as he starts to lower them towards the ground. Smoothly at first but then with a sudden jerk-stutter-spin; he snarls, head jerking back abruptly with the sharp blow. What /was/ a smooth descent turns into a quicker fall for the last dozen feet, fingers releasing Daken as /he/ thuds backwards, wings spread in an enormous splay across the grass and his head thumping backwards to the ground as well. "Embleer motherfucking /Frith/ what is your fucking /deal/." Isra glides in wary circles around the other two as they descend. The growl in her throat never completely subsides, and it spikes into a snarl again when Daken hits Dusk. It happened too near the ground, however, for her to intervene--whether she wanted to or not. She cuts her momentum and drops out of the air to the ground on the other side of Daken from Dusk. Crouching low with one hand braced in the grass, she looks ready to pounce again, though she does not. Her tail whips the air behind her in sharp, jerky strokes. Daken didn’t take the fall near as well as Dusk, landing on the back of his head. His body jerks and a bit of blood trickles out his nose. It’s almost a minute before he pushes up, cleaning the blood from his face. “Talk about some fuck shit. You’re welcome to side with them over us all day, but don’t expect me to go out of my way for you.” A hand comes up to brace against the side of his head and his eyes close for a brief moment. “But you were right, we are family. Just like /my/ family.” "The one who's saved my life over and over or the one who punches me in the fucking /face/ when I'm trying to make sure you don't plummet to the goddamn ground? Yeah, you make that choice hard." The growl is surfacing again in Dusk's voice, his eyes narrowed on Daken. "Trust me, I'm not expecting shit from you." "I know what to expect from you." Isra does not straighten up, does not cease growling, though her alto voice rings clear and impassive from blood red lips. "And you may expect that I shall watch you with great care." “You haven’t seen anything. And I’m done playing nice.” Daken promises, straightening up and brushing the dirt from himself. “Fuck therapy. And fuck pretending I’m not a killer.” He turns to head away, snatching the ruined mod from his neck and throwing it down. "... that was /nice/?" One of Dusk's wings pulls inward, pushing him upward to prop into a half-sitting position. Dusk rubs a hand -- very lightly -- against the line of his jaw. The dark scruff of beard that shadows it hides whatever developing stipple of bruise may lie beneath, but his eye screws up in a small wince. His gaze follows after Daken as the man walks away, teeth gritting together. "... hope Charlie found Regan," he mutters. "Think we got ourselves a problem."