xp_logs | Modern Nature: An Unexpect Twist of Events (Reply)

The group finally reach the plant, and what happens is quite unexpected.

There was a definite increase in the buzz in lay the air as the group of students moved nearer and nearer to the main attraction. The excitement was palpable as people in line in front of them craned their necks to get a first peak at the plant. Whispers traveled back through the queue of how unusually pretty the plant was, serving only to feed the crowd's impatience.

It was a struggle for Callie to maintain her excitement. They were witnessing history! Usually these sort of discoveries were made deep in the Amazon, or in Asia, not in the middle of New York City. Even the long wait (well over an hour by this point) failed to dampen her mood. She passed the time taking pictures of the plants and chattering happily away with her classmates. After all, it was better than sitting in a classroom when the weather was so beautiful.

"I feel like we're about to see a celebrity or something. Only it's... a plant. Does that sound weird?"

"Why can't plants be celebrities too?" Catseye answered. "I do not think it is weird for a plant to be a celebrity. The plant is special! I think it is weird that there are no birds here when there are birds everywhere else," she mused, "but I do not think it is weird for a plant to be special, because people and animals and other things that are alive can be special so a plant should be allowed to be special too."

"That's true Cats," Nick added with a grin as he moved in behind her, a grin on his face. "I mean, back in Wisconsin, people are more excited about a badger than they are about most movie stars." The cold air outside had made the boy nostalgic for his old home, and for some reason he kept finding parallels. But as long as he didn't slip into a Minnesotan accent, he was ready to embrace it.

Klara didn't get people's fascination with celebrities. They were just like actors in a play, weren't they? Only they appeared in television and movies. She was far more interested in this plant, although being a chlorokinetic like Callie might have had something to do with it.

"I hope we will not have to wait for too much longer," she remarked.

"We only have a short wait ahead of us now," Crystal said, trying to reassure Klara. She was glad that most of the students seemed excited to be there, even if the field trip so far had consisted of the trip to the garden and waiting in line. There were no shortcuts in line, no special private viewing; they were four high school students and their teacher taking a day off from class to go on a class-related field trip.

Callie rose up on her tiptoes to try and catch an early glimpse of the main attraction. Crystal was right, they weren't very far away now, she could see it. Well almost see it. But it was really the same thing, right? "At least it's better than having class indoors...," she said as they took another few steps forward. The smile on her face disappeared; not because she was unhappy, no. It was something else entirely. The tangy metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, quite unexpectedly to say the least. She swallowed a few times to rid herself of the sensation, to no avail. Had she bitten her cheek without realizing? Or her tongue? It had to be something like that. It was the only logical explanation.

"Yes that is right Callie I like class here much better than class inside," Catseye agreed, though she was clearly preoccupied with the sights and sounds and smells of the greenhouse. "How come there are no animals?" she asked, finding it odd that there were no birds here when they were present in the other exhibits.

"I think this place is all about protecting the plants. Some birds and insects may hurt them." Nick looked up at the teacher for a second. "Right?" But he dropped his voice down lower so just the students could hear. "Besides, we don't want to take away from the show of 'Bret Michrose'."

Crystal looked around at the openness of the garden. "I believe that the people in charge of the garden are more concerned with protecting the plants from people than they are about birds and insects. I am sure that something would be done were there to be an infestation, but other than that it would be quite hard to prevent small creatures from visiting the garden." She frowned slightly, looking around, wondering the same thing the students were questioning. Nothing else seemed amiss, no oddness in the air, just a pleasant fragrance.

"Perhaps there is thin netting to keep them out and we just cannot see it?" Klara suggested. She couldn't think of any other reason. It was a little strange for there to not be at least a couple of birds in a nest somewhere, but it had to be because it was on purpose, right?

"Oooooh guys look!" Callie could hardly contain her excitement. After much waiting in line, they had finally arrived at the main event. Before them a large, unusual, plant came into vision. It was tall, only a few inches shorter than Callie, but there were multiple stems growing from its root system. Atop each stem there sat perched teal flowers (a color she had never seen in nature like that before), and the air around them was filled with fragrant aroma. Along the ground there lay long, tubular leaves, much like on an aloe vera plant, their length hidden by the fact that they were curled up beneath the plant.

Callie stopped to catch her breath, ignoring the taste of metal that would not go away, and whispered, "It's beautiful."

Catseye didn't really understand what all the fuss was about and why they'd had to wait in line for such a long time to see a plant when it looked to her like... a plant. "I thought it was a celebrity plant?" she mused. "I do not understand. It looks like a regular plant to me."

Nick had removed his glasses and pushed them up on his nose as he stepped closer to the plant, trying to get a better look at its flowers. "Well think of it like a lot of people at the mansion. It may not look that much different on the surface, but inside there's a lot that makes this guy different and unique."

"I have never seen a plant exactly like this," said Klara. "Not even in books."

Crystal examined the plant, noting the different reactions her students were having to it. "I think that it is a very beautiful plant," Crystal mused out loud. "My mother always had such a beautiful garden, and I am sure that she would have enjoyed seeing this one as well. Her powers dealt with plant life, as do those of Callie and Klara."

As the visitors talked and milled about, a small bird swooped in, attracted by the scent of the fragrant bloom. Landing behind the plant, it began to walk about exploring the area and searching for small bugs and worms. It was one of the city dwellers that did not fly south for the winter, and the botanical gardens, with its plethora of dirt and bugs and people, usually provided some sort of meal. But it appeared not this time, as there was no foodstuff to be found. As the bird prepared to take off and seek a meal elsewhere, it was necessary for it to step on one of the curled up tubular leaves of the newly discovered plant.

That, it appeared, was the wrong action for the bird to take. For as soon as the weight of its body was applied to the leaf, the plant quickly wrapped itself around the bird and using its poisonous secretion, soon devoured its tasty meal. Although the bird had provided much needed nutrients for the plant, it was small, and the plant was big. It needed more. But there were no more birds or bugs in the area. However, there was something else making large enough vibrations to guide the plant's leaf towards it, and wrapped itself around a fairly dense object.

Hopefully, this would be enough to satisfy its need.

Nicholas Gleason had turned his head, and was about to say something to Catseye when a sudden pain shot up his entire right leg. "OW!" He looked down, thinking that maybe he had stepped on a loose nail from a remodeling job at the gardens, but he was shocked to see that instead a piece of the plant had been wrapped around his pant leg. He bent down to try and look closer, but every movement caused a throbbing pain up his entire side. "What is going on!?"

Catseye frowned at Nick's exclamation, stepping closer to get a better look. "Why is the plant holding on to you?" she asked, eyes wide. "Plants don't do that." As if in total defiance of her statement, however, another tendril waved towards Nick. She had heard pain in his voice before, and could smell Nick's fear, the tang of blood. The plant hurt him? "The plant hurt Nick!" she cried out, and shifted instantly into BigCat form. With a fierce growl she leaped at the base of the plant, intending to rip it to pulp with her teeth and claws.

As the plant felt the attack from the unknown object, its natural defenses kicked in. The stores of poison flowed through its leaves, aiming to protect itself from the hostile action.

The sting that resulted from the plant wrapping itself around one of her forepaws had Catseye roaring, enraged, and she fought to bite the offending vine off with her teeth, and the eruption of the tuberous casing sent a trickle of liquid into her mouth. Choking and gagging in surprise at the sensation, Catseye tried to disengage, jumping back to regroup her attack.

"Do not touch the plant!" Crystal's voice rang out as she took in the scene in front of her. One student had been attacked, another one had attacked his attacker and been attacked in return... and the attacker was a plant, the same plant they had come to see. "Stay away from it! Do not approach it!"

Crystal's cries fell on deaf ears as Callie slowly began to move toward the plant. She was so concentrated on trying to get to plant to let go of Nick that she failed to noticed the rest of the scene around her. Her eyes focused on the plants tentacle like leaves, her hands clenching into fists as she struggled to fight it off. But it was no use. The plant was too big, too complicated, and its nature was too strong for Callie to be able to control all of it. She could not make it retract.

But something needed to be done or else, well she didn't want to think of what would happen to Nick if she couldn't get the plant to stop. There had to be something she could do, but the only thing she could think to try was risky. She had never attempted something like it before, and it could either fail miserably or work perfectly. And there was no way for Callie to know which.

Now was no time to play it safe, she decided as she rooted herself firmly to the earth. "Nick," she called out, unable to take her eyes off the plant. "I'm going to try something. Let me know if it works." With a deep breath, Callie closed her eyes, keeping the picture of the plant in her memory, and focused on controlling one specific part of the plant.

Nick's leg still burned, but he noticed that the numbing sensation around his body was dissipating. "Whatever you're doing, keep with it." But the words still caused a sting through his leg. "And hurry!"

"I... it's too strong." Callie fought to hold off the plant from secreting any more of its poison. She had no idea how she was able to do it, but she knew that if she let go right now the plant would keep attacking. "It won't budge. I think I can keep it from doing any more damage, but it won't let go, Nick. Klara... you need to... can you... please?"

Klara's pale eyes were wide with fear but she nodded. This was something that she was quite literally made for. Had she not been blessed with these abilities, she would have been powerless to stop something like this. But here, right now, she was not. "Stop!" she shouted at the plant, reaching out to seize control over what it was doing. "Let him go!" Her hands were out in front of her in a 'halt' gesture, and after a moment, the plant dropped Nick, much to her relief. She felt her heart racing in her chest, knowing that she and Callie were the only ones preventing the plant from trying to feast on anyone else.

"Lie down please," she said softly to the plant. At this point, it was too large and unwieldy to be contained by anyone other than herself and Callie. She didn't want to hurt the plant, but reversing its vast growth seemed to be the safest thing for all around.

As much as Crystal would have liked to remove all four of her students from the plant's proximity, she understood that two of them were the only reasons the plant wasn't continuing to do harm. They were the best option in this situation; her own powers did not lend themselves to battle with a vicious plant. "Callie and Klara, please be careful," Crystal said, looking to the students who had been hurt by the plant. The crowd had already moved back a bit at her earlier warning murmured, and they gave her room as the three mutants without plant-related-powers moved further away from the plant.

There was a sigh of relief as Callie ventured to open her eyes and notice that Klara had been able to get the plant to release its grip on their classmate. But she knew, given the strength of the unusual flora, that they had to shrink it or else it would continue to be a danger. And since two heads (or rather, in this case, chloropaths) were better than one, Callie decided to add her abilities to Klara's, reversing the plant's growth.

"That's right, very good," said Klara, speaking to the plant in a soothing voice as she worked in tandem with Callie. "Just lie down and rest."

Callie watched as the plant slowly grew back into the ground. It was like watching one of those videos compiled of still photography, but in reverse. The first to go were the newest flowers, closing up and slinking back into the ground, along with their stems. Many of the leaves went to, sliding along the ground like a snake and disappearing into the base of the plant until only a few short ones were left. Soon, the plant was reduced the only one flower and was the size of a dandelion.

"Stop," Callie instructed Klara as she made her way into the garden bed, drowning out the sound of the crowd behind her. It looked so small and innocuous now, that it was hard to believe that only a few minutes prior this plant had been on the attack. Her focus had shifted back to trying to keep its poison at bay as the pink girl crouched down, and dug her hands into the dirt. Callie reached deep into the earth, feeling for the root system before gently raising the plant out of the dirt. She was vaguely aware of people coming toward her from the side, but could not risk breaking her concentration. If she could safely handle this plant then there was no need risking the safety of others in extracting the plant from the ground.

"Come on little guy," she whispered as a man and a woman, covered in dirt, rushed over. "Let's get you somewhere safe."