Nightshift 40: Greenhouse

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

((From here.))

The greenhouse looked much the same as it had the last time he'd been in here. Kira paused not far inside to fetch his flashlight and turn it on, having depended on the lights of others up until this point. He scanned the area before he went too far inside, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary lurking behind the trees and plants.

Yet.

"I can show you what to look for," he said as he turned to Meche and shifted the empty pillowcase on his arm. It would probably be another semi-successful night, but the plants in here just didn't seem to be quite what they were looking for. Hopefully, they would still be enough for Hinamori to use.

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[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

Well, he'd definitely gotten the door down, anyway. Meche spared an anxious glance at the two young men fighting, but they were intent on their own problems. Hoping they wouldn't hurt each other--or anyone else--too badly, she stepped inside.

The rush of hot, humid air hit her immediately and hard; Meche shrugged off her sweater and tied it around her waist. The greenhouse looked pretty much the same as it had earlier that day. If any monsters were lurking in there, she sure couldn't see them.

She headed towards Kira, getting close enough to be able to see what he was looking at. "Thanks. I'd appreciate it," she said simply, getting her own pillowcase ready.

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

Where had they been ... Kira slipped through the various low-growing plants, his flashlight trained on the ground, until he came to the patch that they'd gone after the other night. He knelt down and set down the sword nearby - not in the way, but close enough to (hopefully) grab with ease should something decide to attack them.

"These are what we're looking for," he said, and then tilted the flashlight to the side, closer to a tree. "They should be in patches. If you can't find any more, just start looking around close to the trees." Kira reached in and carefully pulled a few out by the stems, not touching the leaves as best he could. "Try to avoid touching the leaves. They're not fatal in any way, but it might sting or leave a rash."

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

Meche leaned down to take a look at the cluster of little plants. She'd never seen them before, but she figured she could probably find other patches if they were here. "Got it," she said, reaching cautiously down for the stems. The first one came out more easily than she'd expected, and her hand almost jerked up into the leaves of the nearby plants as she pulled away. "Good thing I have experience with dangerous plants," she muttered under her breath.

She kept working at that patch--might as well stick with a good thing while she had it going. "Can I ask what you're using these for?" she asked Kira off-handedly as she went. "As poisons, or is there a way to use them in medicine?"

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

Kira kept at the same patch, as it was fairly large and he could work without encroaching on the area Meche was covering. He put the ones he picked into the pillowcase once he had handfuls. It was no more exciting than the other night had been, but there were only two of them this time, and he didn't know if she was at all combat-trained. If something attacked, he might be on his own.

"I'm not sure what their intended use is," he admitted after a moment of pause, thinking her questions over. "As a poison, they wouldn't be very effective unless administered in heavy quantities ... and I don't think they make up part of any good medicines." It was a question he'd thought about several times in the last few days. What did Hinamori want so many toxic plants for? He assumed they would be useful in escaping this place.

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

Interesting, Meche thought, plucking out another stem. So even the real club members--she didn't quite think she qualified yet--didn't know everything about what they were doing. Last-minute plan changes, information on a need-to-know basis...it all sounded a little like power games to her. Suddenly she wasn't sure how much she trusted these Arts and Crafts people after all. She was a little suspicious of shady hierarchies these days.

"Where are you guys getting those swords?" she asked, changing the subject. "I'm not very well-armed; it'd be nice to have something a little better. A lady's gotta be able to defend herself, after all."

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

"Mine was given to me by Hinamori," Kira said, shifting to another bunch of plants not far from where Meche was and bringing the aforementioned sword with him. "I know that there are people here able to craft weapons through special abilities - what hasn't been suppressed - and that's where most of the weapons come from. You'll have to gather the metal necessary for it, though."

He took a moment to shake the pillowcase slightly, letting the picked plants rustle to the bottom. More room for more. He hoped that his delay earlier wouldn't have slowed them down so much that they barely made any progress here, but at least they'd arrived.

"I don't know anyone's names, though. I'm sorry. You might be able to ... check, at least, on the bulletin board." Outright asking would just get the messages pulled down.