o 2011/05/18(Wed)20:59 No. 305164 ID: 45be60
File 130577754929.png - (144.17KB , 512x512 , 1.png )

nnnnh mornings. Oh... no.. please be a dream please be a dream please be a dream.

>>305164
Nope!
[Release a bit of endorphins. Least we can do if we're taking up skullspace.]

Not a dream! :D

>>305164
Sorry, you're quite awake.

>>305164
We love you too.

sorry to bust your bubble.

You have awfully neat hair for someone in bed, hair gel?

Sorry flora, you're stuck with us for a while.

where is chapter 1?

[chapter 1 http://quest.lv/kusaba/questarch/res/194848.html
chapter 0 http://quest.lv/kusaba/questarch/res/106656.html ]

o 2011/05/18(Wed)22:12 No. 305183 ID: 45be60
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Nyaaaah.. Damnit.

Don't get me wrong angel, it's not you guys, it's... everything. The explosion, the authorities, that damn mugger, severe head trauma. Hell, yesterday I was worried cause my rent is due soon, so there's THAT too. I got problems, and in the grand scheme of things, crazy voices in my head trying to be helpful isn't even that bad.

Wow, did I just think that? I MUST be going crazy.

>>305173
Quiet you!

well, money is made of paper and paper is made of plants. we may be able to one day make a money bush or something. just 100 dollar bills growing on this thing
baby steps for now though. from our readings your headwound is out of danger. and your potted plant is doing much better. still needs ether plant food or a nitrogen fixer.

Well at least we're trying to be helpful. Most voices in people's heads tend to just tell them to burn things.

>>305187
By the way, please don't burn anything.


ANYWAY. Get your butt out of bed young lady - the only way to make money is to work, and well, maybe we can help you out in that respect? Or something? Anyway, laying down won't get anything done!

>>305185
We'd need the special ink they use in bills. Also they don't just use regular ol' paper. We'd basically need to know the exact chemical composition of the bills and have the proper materials to make it. Also we'd need to make it with enough precision to pass inspection and I don't really know how precise we can be.

I'd rather we just grow rare produce or flowers or something. That's worth money. OH! Speaking of which, check out your plant, Flora!

Oh my gosh. This quest wins SO HARD.
...Especially the prologue.

So hey, what ideas do YOU have for making money? ...or would you rather not think about that yet?

>305187

That's illegal and we might destabilize the local economy.

Flora, do you happen to have a job, dear?

>>305183
Well, first things first: Check the news and make some breakfast.
Hopefully somebody in the media will have noticed that explosion blew OUTWARDS, and the talking heads will start arguing over if it was an industrial accident or an attempt to kill the protesters.

o 2011/05/19(Thu)14:03 No. 305285 ID: 45be60
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>>305187
>>305191
This is not as comforting as you might imagine.

Anyway, no, I don't have a real job. Like I told you before, I'm pretty much a full time protestor. We sometimes get charitable donations or do fundraising and such to help further the cause, and it's often decided by us that the best way to further the cause is generally to help cover our cost of living. It's not enough to live on, but it's close. Or at least that used to be the case. I dunno how much structure is gonna be up with the local Green Planet crew, what with most of us being DEAD or INCARCERATED now. Christ...

I hope something good comes of that fake letter I sent out. But I don't think I'm gonna have an income unless I find real work for the foreseeable future.

>>305285
Oh for the sake of - then get out of bed! We can only help so much!

just get up. then we go around town and find a job that can make use of our skills.

Suggestion 2011/05/19(Thu)14:30 No. 305288 ID: 07416a
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>>305285
Have a dose of this. Perfect for the oversleepers and 100% natural! Tell us if you feel cold hands and feet.

Or we start growing novelty plants.

>>305285
We can have a nice relaxing day! You don't have to do ANYthing but walk around... We're going the the botanical garden.

Hey! Hey! You know what would be a really INTERESTING thing to do?

We could explore rain forests looking for plants that make interesting things, and then bring them back (or grow new ones?) for scientists to analyze! Try and find cures for random diseases, and such!

It's not practical, or safe, but it sounds interesting and fun!

>>305312
fuck no. plant scientists are jerks!

>>305314

Hey watch your mouth, those jerk plant scientists made us, so they're not all bad.

so.

what do you think about working in a plant shop?

you cant really say that you have any formation, but we can definitively give you the green thumb...

>>305285
Protesting is your job? Honey, that is pretty... well... Unprofitable.

I second the others. You should work in a nice plant shop. Or something. Oh, how about flower arrangement? Of live flowers? That would be a very good job indeed. And you don't even have to kill the flowers to do it. You can just get them to rearrange themselves!

>>305285
Maybe you should check the news.

You should start a garden where we can make some seeds, aside from growing food for you it also means more bodies for the voices in your head to go to.

Lets talk long term goals here, us and you. Us, sentient plants... we could integrate into human society, we need to start building good will, treating cancer by becoming symbiotic with willing human sounds like a good way to do so. Eventually reveal ourselves to humanity as a whole and become recognized as sentient being with equal rights.

But what are your goals young lady? well, you are a full time environmentalist, care to help us with that goal? Would you like to become a super hero? would you like a high paying job? find a nice guy and start a family?

In the short term, you need money, get a job with plants. "You" can now grow plants in a supernaturally fast manner, in odd shapes, in any color, scent, shape, form, etc. You could be a big hit with some rich folk who have exotic gardens.

>>305459
i ended up not talkign about it but lets not overdo on the powers we have. it may attract too much attention to us, and the company may find us like that.

altho if we could get to the outskirts of the town, we will definitively be able to try out cool things...

>>305468
Hiding forever? its better to make powerful friends. Curing cancer would do just that. Cure the right people and they will be unable to touch us. Outskirts of city is way more risky then doing it in the privacy of her own home.

>>305459
>>305474
no see, curing cancer would get flora inspected like HELL. and we wouldn't even cure it, we would at best eat the current lump out of someone. a cure would make it go away forever. and we can't do that.

>>305475
if you keep destroying lumps as they appear you effectively cured it. This actually makes us more invaluable, as we are actively required to maintain the "cure" rather then being a one time thing. And cancer isn't the only thing we could treat.

And it would get us noticed... by the right people.

Unless your plan is "hide forever" then you should get some powerful friends. When various powerful politicians depend on us for their life support or that of their loved ones a shady corporation can't touch us. Its not like we can hide forever... Our options are either to symbiotically integrate with humanity, or kill and puppeteer humans in a bid to exterminate or enslave them to inherit the earth. And the first one is preferred. Besides being more in line with the personalities of the hive mind, it is also far far far less dangerous. Just need to get the courts to rule that we are people, gain some popularity... doing free medicine is a wonderful way to do just that.

Hide forever isn't even a real possibility, flora will eventually grow old and die, a single plant will eventually die, if this single plant breeds than multiple individuals could form and spread and one of the above outcomes will occur. There are already leads (with the "leak") and they might figure out or have known all along that the plants that they were working with were sentient and covertly retrieve or destroy us.

I am also not suggesting we do it today or tomorrow... merely that in the long term, there are only a few realistic possibilities:
1. War, humans against sentient plant.
2. Coexistence: integrate with human society.
3. We quietly die without anyone but flora ever knowing about us or out potential.

Now, there is a plausible slight twist on #1:
Masquerade: Keep knowledge to very few people, tightly control the hive mind and how many offspring they are, mind control / puppeteer, shadow government kind of deal, assassination happen often. This is would be ridiculously unlikely to sustain without ending up dead.

It should be noted that there is the variations within the hive mind to consider, I at least would oppose the war and unless a massive overwhelming majority of the hive mind work to suppress such voices the masquerade becomes impossible to maintain. I think coexistence is the way to go in the long term.

>>305482
holy shit dude we just need to get by the week, not to plot the next hippie green jesus/hitler return to earth

>>305475
tecnicaly we can produce all those expensive chemicals that are used to cure cancer and aids, but that would put us in a padded room with food counted on the milligrams.

we could as well become a drug cartel's golden sheep. this is too much power, and we arent beardbeard yet.

>>305474
tecnically its not forever. we need to get by HER life before thinking of doing something with OUR life. if by the end of the week we get her a rent paying job and still manage to have free time to protest AND plot the end of the world, id be happy already.

>>305506
This. All of this.

Guys? Maybe we should be trying NOT to overwhelm Flora.

Flora, just relax. Breathe. Tune us out for a bit if you need to. We'll figure things out.

Mmm, delicious cancers.

Short term goals stem from long term goals. Being "fed and warm in a week's time" is a noble goal, but there are many ways of achieving them, some of which counteract the long term goals we OR her might have. I want coexistence with the humans, not total war ending most likely with our death and less likely with theirs. If our that is our long term goal then meeting those short term goals you described becomes easier.

She needs money, I suggest she either get a job in a greenhouse and end up catering to rich folk who want exotic specialty plants. I suggest she sets up some pots with soil which we will grow new plants in, giving them food and flexibility. And that she acquire medical texts and read them for us to absorb the knowledge of. Months from now she can become a vet's assistant and offer a "revolutionary new treatment" for someone who has a pet with cencer who isn't responding to normal treatment or cannot afford normal treatment for a pet. When we confirm it works get a job in a hospital and do the same for humans.

All of this can be drastically changed if her OWN personal goals are vastly different.

>>305586
Not disagreeing with you.
But your talking about final goals, we are talking about first steps.

Hey Gloria, I want a hamburger.

>>305608
>"But your talking about..."
His or hers started with two suggested job descriptions: Go work in a greenhouse or start growing specialty plants for rich people. Working in a greenhouse strikes me as a great thing to do at the moment for many good reasons, not the least of which is to try and develop plant-allies and a better understanding of what the heck we are and can do. We've already had to save the life of this Florence lady at least once and provided other medical assistance with the nifty leaf, we need a better grasp of what the fuck and pushing someone as socially-challenged as this to do it in a socially-combative place could end... badly.
Getting her acceptably sane, safe, confident and well-supported is our short to medium term goal since anything else requires that. That shit takes time, so a nice and boring job where we might meet some nice people who would find our herbaceous selves more interesting than frightening is the right first step.

And learn to English properly, your is possessive, you're is the contraction of you are.

o 2011/05/21(Sat)20:17 No. 305859 ID: 45be60
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Uh... you guys know I can hear you, right?

She finally drags herself out of bed, and, bowl of Honey Nut Toasty O's in hand, (80% as good as the real thing, for a third the price) checks the morning news on your advice. The morning wake-up news is not what you would call hard hitting reporting. They hardly even mention the explosion yesterday, except as the cleanup efforts relate to morning traffic. It seems to mostly revolve around celebrity gossip and product placement contests. Disgusting. Has the city really forgotten such a traumatic event so quickly? Florence turns it off in a huff and deposits her empty bowl in the sink, atop three plates and a small pot. She glances guiltily at the growing pile for a brief moment before heading for the shower.

I wish you guys wouldn't talk about me like I'm not here. It's annoying when people do it, but when the voices only I can hear pretend I'm not listening, it... eh, whatever. So as far as getting some income, I think that greenhouse idea has some merit. It's basically just retail, right? Just a bit of specialized product knowledge, watering stuff instead of restocking shelves... I should be able to convince someone I'm qualified for retail. The thing about the novelty produce and cancer cure industries is they have fairly high barriers to entry. A cure for cancer would be a nice thing I guess, but I really don't know what the steps to take that path would be, you know? How do you get started on a thing like that? I would have to classify that as a "life long project," and honestly, I'm not sure it really speaks to me as something *I* want. Man, that sounds terrible, of course I want SOMEONE to cure cancer, but I don't know that it should be me, y'know? It's not something that's really been a long term goal for me like, ever.

Course to be fair, I don't really know what is. Joining Green Planet was as much about rebellion as it was helping the planet. Giant middle finger to my dad, but he's not allowed to complain about me dropping out, cause it's for this great noble cause. Neener neener. And hey, sometimes I get to break stuff, so that's fun. Beyond that, I dunno. I mean I've thought about it, sure, but never really decided anything. For a while I thought I wanted to study people, but then I figured out people kinda suck. I'm not too interested in manufacturing drugs or ending up locked in some white sterile room, so we can just drop THOSE ideas here and now. I heard one of you mention something about being a super hero a bit ago. I'd be lying if I said the idea hadn't crossed my mind. I figure every mutant with even a halfway interesting ability thinks about that at some point, but then mostly reality sets in. There's a few crazies out there, and every now and then one of 'em actually does manage to pull something. Chances of really making a name for yourself are like one in a million, but I guess there's like seven billion people on the planet, right? So that's what, seven thousand who pull it off?

Sorry Flora... it might be worth mentioning, we can't really talk with you NOT here.

How are your parents, anyway? What are they like?

i don't talk like you aren't here, some in here though think you can't hear them unless they say your name at the start or something. need to start REALLY ramping up the plant body mods if you want to do the super hero thing. give you super bones, skin cut resistance. biological grenades.

>>305859
Superhero business eh? Well, we're not exactly sure how fast we can grow on demand, and it WILL make you super hungry if we do... hmm, unless you have some external forms of sustenance for us to feed on while we're growing. Right now we're just leeching off your circulatory glucose and vitamins to maintain the flower. Almost an unnoticeable amount. If you have packets of fertilizer and soil right where growing needs done, then we could do it without draining your energy. So like... if you want to throw vine whips or thorn bullets from your hands you could have bracelets with packets on them. Though to be honest I'm not entirely sure how to throw thorns. Maybe a gas pressure based thing, or a spring loaded mechanism... well, with gas pressure it might be possible to make the propellant beforehand so you could get more than one shot. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here though. Maybe it won't work at all.

Hey, did you contact the people you know at Green Planet to let them know you're okay?

Well, Florence, if you want to become a superhero, we could really help you accomplish that. but it would be a dangerous lifestyle: After all, WE are real, it would logically follow that there are other things out there as (if not more) powerful than us, and that at least some would be malicious.

But that's a big decision, and there's plenty of time to think on it.

For now, what do you want to do today?

Apologies, but you weren't thinking anything at the time loud enough I noticed. Working in a greenhouse is a fair bit harder for most people than stocking shelves because it's all about taking care of and harvesting plants--perhaps to sell potted versions, perhaps to sell their flowers or fruit. A fair bit of automation is involved in it these days for things like adding symbiotic fungus to the root systems of orchids.using robotic agitation, sprinkler systems, automatic blind and screen control, automated sensor reading, and so on.
It's fascinating stuff and a good place to get your hands on the sorts of knowledge, tools, supplies and expertise to make better use of our strange existence.

If it's premature to talk about goals, what do you like and are you looking for more friends or a romantic partner (or several)? If the big and complicated things are too much perhaps we should start with the smaller and simpler ones.

Is there some way you could, I dunno, help us grow and help you make money at the same time? A.. er.. what's this.. a florist? A botanist?

Sorry, didn't mean to speak about you like you aren't here, its just that when we debate with each other you are automatically listening in.

well, superheroing and working a dayjob are not mutually exclusive. You need a cover and you need money. and unless you scored a sponsor you do not make money from being a superhero.

The path to curing cancer and being a super hero are at the moment very similar... read medical books, the more we know about the human body, the more we can do. The big difference is that being a superhero requires that you consent to body modifications like the bone durability increase and rapid healing suggested earlier.

>>305859
Ahh... Sorry about that.
We're kinda new to this whole host-body thing, so we haven't quite figured out how to talk amongst ourselves.

Superheroing is a very interesting proposal; your power isn't quite suited for it, but together we might be able to make a decent run of it. I'd put that down as a long-term idea, since that would basically require altering your body; embedding silk-weave into your skin, coating your bones for improved strength, impact resistance, and a sort of internal cast in the event of a break, internal trauma treatment and repair, poison resistance, poison production, organic weaponry, plant sense, plant control, and oh crap I just realized you would be a more badass Poison Ivy!

Ah, erm, moving on, a greenhouse sounds like a great place for you to work. We would be a phenomenal green thumb.

Y'know, it occurs to me that we may be able to do some general body remodeling by adding padding, changing colours, removing and altering features and such. Since you are currently a known member of a publicly declared terrorist organization, and cops may be about to pay a visit to your apartment to try and find you, we may want to change your home address, name and appearance.
So let's start with the basics, did you still want to appear female? What age and build should we alter you to--keeping in mind this has to be sufficiently different nobody would believe you're the same person.

>>305859
You do NOT want to be a superhero.

>>305859
Sorry babe, but it's not like we can just leave the room or pass each other notes.

I think anything special we do with you, as far as effecting the world even a little, is going to have to be subtle. And our number one talent is altering plantlife... which is more than a little what the guys who created us were doing in the first place. Put those together and you have some kind of renegade botanist planting seeds of organic change of the shadows... we can make that work. Maybe.

Think about it, what kind of radical world changing plants could there be? Weeds that strip poisons from the environment, fruit bearing plants that grow in unthinkable conditions, molds that eat plastic and making fuel out of damn near anything. We can do a lot. Making a dime off of it though is a little harder. Best case scenario we set you up somewhere quiet and you live off the grid with our help.

>>305991
Well, molds aren't plants but we could certainly get to work on doing something that makes biofuel that doesn't actually cause more pollution than it reduces like corn-ethanol does.
But the point that we could probably do a lot to alter environments is valid over the long term if that was something you wanted to try. Make the deserts bloom, protect the retreating glaciers and icecaps, and so on.

>>306004
We should try to manipulate everything, fungus and moss and algae and whatever else we can. Some things might not work or have limited reaction but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained right?

>>306004
One of us was a moss or algae and another was a Portuguese-speaking fungus, so I don't think we're limited to plants.

>>306048 & >>306015
Algae are plants, moss is plants and fungus combined, mushrooms are fungus. So huh, definitely not just plants then. Awesome. This means that LSD is easily within grasp.

Flora, hon. Are you quite sure about the whole "superhero" thing? I don't think that's the best idea in the world. I mean, it's not like you're able to do much. And I doubt our skills and abilities would be good enough or strong enough to protect you if you get hurt. I mean, we can do a few things, but not EVERYTHING.

o 2011/05/26(Thu)02:40 No. 306852 ID: 45be60
File 130640281131.png - (281.66KB , 512x512 , 5.png )

Geeze, I just got done saying you gotta be a crazy to seriously think about being a super hero. Yeah I dreamt about it, when I was ten. If I was a superhero I could make mommy and daddy stop fighting. bluuuuh. I got over it.

Florence finishes her shower, exercising care around her fresh wounds, though they seem to be scabbed over now. The modified leaf used to hold her gash closed starts to peel up once as she is toweling off, but she quickly presses it back down. Despite your strong connection to the isolated bit of yourselves, it seems to be slowly dying.

This thing feels like it's starting to dry out a bit. It doesn't stretch around with me as well as it did when it was fresh and soft. I'm sorta worried about it coming off if I move around much. Do you think you could make another one? It seems like having this huge fucking gash pop open is like the worst thing it could do right now.

So anyway, yeah. Making the deserts of the world into lush green fields might sound great to you guys, but it's not gonna accomplish much in the long run if we humans don't clean up our act. At the rate we're pumping chemicals and toxins and just plain garbage into the atmosphere and rivers, the whole planet is gonna be dead soon, no matter how pretty you make the ugly parts in the mean time. I've made it my goal to put a stop to THAT crap before I worry about shrinking wilderness. Saving the spotted owl can wait till we are done making sure we aren't gonna kill EVERYTHING. Same logic applies to curing cancer I guess. You got any brilliant ideas about THAT problem, angel?

gonna need to do some crazy tests, but we may be able to make plants able to eat chemicals.
[grow new velcro leaf]
grind up the old one and put it on the soil of your little plant.

I've got an idea about fixing that leaf. Tell me how long this vine takes to grow, will ya?
[grow vine down to attach to the leaf, to keep it alive.]

As for the pollution issue... well, considering our extremely modular nature maybe we could create some sort of algae that would efficiently transform pollutants into something less dangerous. Or an aid to decomposition. Considering we would be able to control how the things work directly, there would be no further risk to the environment unlike pesticides etc.

HEY. If we were somehow mass produced we could be the perfect farming tool! Cure world hunger, eliminate pesticides/herbicides/fertilizer. There's definitely not enough of us around right now. We have like 200-300 consciousnesses active right now? We'd need like a few hundred thousand at least.

I really wish I knew how we were created. Could you do some research on the company that made us?

vine is too obvious. lets stick to a making a new leaf.
[grow new leaf]

The natural world is pretty resilient. Chemicals and toxins will not make the planet dead. They harm humans and other complex animals the most but simple life will adapt to the new conditions and re-surge. If there is ever a pollution triggered mass extinction then humans would be the first to go and in a few million years biodiversity will be restored.

As far as particular pollution goes, yes we could do something about that. Chemicals can be broken down to their component elements. Toxic elements can be collected for burial. Both are things we are highly adept at. Remember that all toxic elements were originally mined from the earth itself, so there is always room to just bury it back under the earth.

Well the vine could just go under her clothes. That's where I was gonna grow it.

>chemicals and toxins and just plain garbage
>before I worry about shrinking wilderness
What makes you think we can't give these the same solution? Consider this: after eons the earth will eventually adapt to these poisons, consuming them and integrating them. That doesn't do humanity or anything alive now any good, but with us there is no need to wait.

Let's do some science, shall we? Get a container made of glass or metal and put some soil in it. Mix in some water, old plastic bags or similar, and a bit of whatever pollutants you might have like used motor oil. We are going to make mulch from them.

so....

lets make a toxin eating plant?

quick plantgirl, to the nearest waste dump site!

>>306916
no no. get normal soil and a polluted sample next to each other, need to have a good base first. then grow INTO the polluted pot and adapt as we grow. otherwise the pollution could kill the plant before it adapts.

Wait, you're serious about this environmentalism and it's to ensure the survival of the human race instead of an excuse to be a sign-waving thug? Oh, hmm, I'll have to ponder that one.
Give me more time to think about it more but one of the biggest problems in terms of pollution is that more pollution keeps being made to get at more trace elements and toxic metals from underground, when this stuff is already an environmental problem from polluting the ecosphere in quantities too low to be commercially viable to extract.
So, uh, moss, lichen and lilies in cities and polluted waterways which collect the toxic metals in quantities big enough it can make a dent in how much mining gets done.
Also, we need to design a custom variant of fungus that digests landfills and shits out sorted toxics and safe biomaterial (like food or plant-fibre maybe).

>>306852
Now, remember, all these polluters? They're not EVIL, they're irresponsible. They don't want to ruin the earth, they want to make a profit. Therefor it is in your interest to make it profitable for them.

>>306890
If she gets strip-searched, if she goes on a date or if she wears something the vine might be visible under that could get us the wrong kind of attention mang. The flower is already strange enough to someone who wakes up on the other pillow and wonders how the heck that flower stayed behind her ear overnight. It would go in a report made by a paramedic, doc, nurse or cop that gives her a once-over.
Seriously, it's the same reason only the most idiotic of activists ever would get a piercing or tattoo: Cops, PIs and mercs love distinguishing marks when they're looking for someone and we must always assume someone is looking for our cute little activist lady.

>>306954
yes but we can only control plants and fungus. bacteria is outside of our power. also i mean like take a seedpod from us and put it in the normal soil. active control would let it adapt much better.
>>306950
we could make the flower change shape and color. would make using it as a mark impossible. someone is looking for a lady with a white flower? well we are blue so we can't be the same person.

>>306930
If you want to use it with a normal plant sure but I was thinking we could adapt the microorganisms in the soil already to break it down. No reason we can't do that too though. Let's get some crawling weed with an aggressive root system and put it in another box like you said.

This has actually been done with bacteria, if slowly. We can certainly do better with everything at our disposal using this method. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/teen-decomposes/[/spoilers]

>>306955
It's still something growing out of the side of our collective head here, sure it's kind of necessary to deal with the almost-killed-her brain injury she got yesterday but it's a whole lot more unusual of a marking to have something growing out of your head than just to have a nose piercing eh? If we change it then it'll still be something growing out of the side of our head.

>>307005
then we grow a plastic like sheen so we can be passed off as a hair clip.

>>307006
Brilliant, sold. Who's in charge of the surface changes here? I forget.

>>307007

Just need to put a waxy coating on the leaves and change the reflectivity of the petals a bit. Shouldn't be a problem, I'll adjust the thickness of the cuticle.

>>306946
I support this viewpoint. Unlike what Captain Planet seems to think, pollution is released instead of contained because it's cheaper. Much cheaper. If you'll give us a little time to get something together, you can patent and release it, thus getting some money flowing in, probably via online sales.
Once that starts happening, we can start producing other stuff to deal with artificial pollutants that we can sell to companies who want to go 'green' for publicity purposes, and increase our power base from there.

Unfortunately, once we get some attention towards us, we'll have to worry about investigations. How safe do you think you would be if you came out to the world saying that you had a mutant power identical to Poison Ivy's?

>>306950
>If she gets strip-searched, if she goes on a date or if she wears something the vine might be visible under that could get us the wrong kind of attention mang.
True, but shes unlikely to go flying or hook up with anyone. I suppose cops would be problematic, but as long as we keep our head down we should be fine. The only real concern you brought up was paramedics and hopsitalization...
Gentlemen, any thoughts on how to keep our friendly host healthy enough to avoid hospitalization? This includes stabbings and bullets, of course.
>Idea: We grow a sort of sticky bark, something really really thick, that she can use as removable and replaceable armor. Should probably be grown on a secondary plant.

By the by, exactly how bad is the planet? And none of the 'global warming' bullshit, I mean ozone layer depletion and acid rain and oceanic current destabilization at the global scale.

o 2011/06/02(Thu)15:30 No. 308575 ID: 45be60
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Of COURSE I'm serious about this environmentalism thing. Why the hell else would I spend my days standing around waving signs and mooching hotdogs? Most people don't even think about what they are doing to the environment on a day-to-day basis. You can't function in this damn society without consuming irreplaceable resources and generating unrecyclable waste. Even fucking recycled paper burns through bleaching chemicals that'll eventually kill fish somewhere. It's like catching sand in a fucking sieve. We do what we can to raise awareness, but people have been hearing and ignoring warnings about the planet for decades, and companies like Crey Industries get away with MURDER because they have good publicists and lawyers. More than once I have been tempted to just say 'fuck it' and let us destroy ourselves. But even if we all fucking died TOMORROW the remains of what humanity has already done would just keep on spilling through that sieve, wrecking the planet's shit without us for centuries to come. The only chance any of us have is if people wake the fuck up and do something about it. Stop worrying about international pissing contests and which celebrity screwed what kind of produce this week and DEAL WITH SHIT.

okay cool, now THAT is some conviction, good to hear. now we need some food in you so we can grow some seed pods and start up those projects. we could probably do some crazy shit like make a plant that eats radioactive waste and craps out electricity. also get a mega fruit tree, name your top 5 favorite fruits, we'll grow something that tastes like a tropical blend of all 5 and also be as healthy as soybeans.

>>308575
Lady, you're preaching about environmentalism to a plant. We get it. Chill.

What you need to get through your head is those days are over. Protesting against the criminals and preaching to the ignorant doesn't matter anymore, because with us you are a player. You need to keep yourself and us out of sight and out of mind so we can make some amazing shit happen behind the scenes. We can not only control plants but we can cause instant evolution. We can make life on this planet adapt to humanity, passively or otherwise.

Now then, get some plastic bags and let's figure out how to mulch them.

>>308584
We may be a plant, but we are also what they call "an abomination of science that curdles the milk of all honest men".
Still, saving the planet sounds like a nice goal.

> Making things adapt
That would certainly help an environment, but does replacing all the components of the environment count as saving it? (Though on another limb the environment does that on its own sooner or later.)

o 2011/06/02(Thu)20:18 No. 308658 ID: 45be60
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>Lady, you're preaching about environmentalism to a plant. We get it. Chill.
Okay, okay, I'll calm down. Sorry, sometimes I just get frustrated. I guess it's actually nice having someone to vent at now, instead of just throwing stuff or moping like I usually do. Thanks for the new leaf by the way, I hope it's not painful giving these to me. Still kinda freaky how fast you can do stuff like that. Oh, what's this? um... Wow.

The cellphone's constant pleading for attention finally gets results, and Florence calls up her messages with some trepidation.

Florence, it's your mother. I just wanted to remind you, your brother's birthday is coming up. Be sure to at least send him a card. Love you.

Where are you? Shit, did you see what happened? What the hell were they doing in there? um.. Fuck man..

Gale? It's Dan. Did you make it out okay? We're trying to get everyone to meet up in a bit. Call me back.

Hello, Maples here, trying to see if anybody knows where Eric is. Let me know when you get this I guess.

Six seconds of street noises and silence...

I... oh Christ not you too. Gale? Please call me back, nobody's answering.

Uh, hello...?

Gale, I'm getting out of here, sorry if you still needed a ride, but I'm not leaving me car over here any longer.

A short moment of silence and a click...

Hey Gale, we're making for the Denny's on 26th. Come over when you get this.

Um, Florence? Shit, I hope you get this. It's Kral. The police grabbed me. And Eric, and a few others. I dunno, don't know 'em all. Uh... please, I only get the one call, um... They have us at the south station.

Hey, heading back to that side of town, sounds like the others are trying to get a headcount. See you there?

*grunt* Hey. Becca. Dan is having me call around, tell everyone the cops are picking people up from the hospital. Don't go if you can avoid it.

Oh God, Florence? I just saw the news. Call me right away.

Florence? Honey, I'm not mad, I just need to know you're safe. They are saying people died... Honey I'm so sorry.

N- Gale? Are you still with us? I.. Sam said she saw you up near the wall before... Call me if you get this, okay?

Did you get a ride from somebody already? Sorry if I sound like I'm obsessing or something, I just don't like abandoning people.

Becca. If you're okay, meet at the office tomorrow. We need to figure out what we're doing next.

Flo? Your mother just told me what happened. Are you okay? Do you need help? ...Call me when you get this.

Hey, it's Post, sorry 'bout earlier. It sounds like the cops grabbed Eric, so Dan's stepping up to organize stuff. We're gonna meet up at HQ tomorrow at ten. See you there.

Come on, pick up. Oh man, I hope you're just in the hospital. Somebody said they saw you by the building when it blew.

Florence... I called your father. I... let us know you're alright, okay? You weren't even in the city today were you?

Gale, if you're still out there, keep on hiding. The cops confiscated phones from the guys they picked up, so they totally know what we're doing.

*nothing but quiet sobbing for close to twenty seconds*

Please honey, pick up your phone...

Call your mom. Tell her you're fine, everything is fine. Go see if you can bail your friends out... Or at least call your lawyers to do so. Your organization DOES have lawyers, right?..

Also

"Gale, if you're still out there, keep on hiding. The cops confiscated phones from the guys they picked up, so they totally know what we're doing."

What ARE you doing?

Also you may want to get a disposable cellphone or few. I know you don't like stuff, so we'll take care of recycling them, k?

Instead of calling your mom (or at least calling with your own cell phone), could you email her instead? That seems less likely to be tracked than the cell phone.

yeah call mom and tell her you are REALLY sorry about not calling, your phone died and it's been charging all night.
then call maples, dan, and then post, in that order.

Right, so it's too dangerous to use this phone right now, find a payphone to make those calls.

>>308658
Quick resorting by person rather than message order:

Mom- Very worried about you. You should probably call.

Unknown (Red)- Also concerned that you are dead. Currently free. Do you recognize this number/voice?

Dan- Concerned that you are dead. Currently free and organizing people.

Maples- Currently free, apparently not concerned that you are dead, advises you to keep hidden. Warns that all captured members have compromised phones, which presumably also means compromised contact lists; maybe concerned that the cell phones of their contact lists are being listened to? Does that happen?

Post- Currently free, apparently not concerned that you are dead.

Unknown (Green)- Unknown. Do you recognize this number/voice?

Unknown (no speaking)- Unknown. Wrong number... or a police attempt to track you and/or your cell phone? Perhaps I'm paranoid. Do you recognize this number?

Kral- Captured, but presumably alive. May be depending upon you to either get him out or tell the others where he is, since he only gets the one call.

Becca- Currently free. Not sure if you are, but seems very businesslike rather than worried.

Unknown (Grey)- Worried about you. Do you recognize this number/voice?


So, to summarize:
Mom is worried. You should probably contact her, although if you're worried about cops coming after you using something other than your cell phone for that would be ideal.

Unknown (Red), Dan, Maples, Post, Becca: Free and presumably meeting up... although if Maples' latest message is accurate, it's possible that the cops know where they're meeting and are planning to pick them all up there. If you're actually being treated as domestic terrorists, I would value Maples' advice more than the need to keep everyone else informed of your status. My recommended move would be to find someone who you know is close to one of the people who is currently free but is not themselves part of Green Planet, go contact them in person and ask them to give you an update and to quietly inform the others that you made it out okay, you'll get back with them after the immediate shitstorm has blown over. Also about where Kral, Eric, etc. are.

Everyone else: Can probably wait and don't need calling or contacting in any fashion.


Personally, I find it kind of significant that no one called you between the time that you went to sleep and now... but I'm not sure what it means.

The authorities already know that you're alive, or should; the guard held a conversation with you when you walked out, so they should have you on the books as both present at the explosion and currently at large. There's not a lot of point in hiding that, but there IS a point in making it somewhat more difficult for them to pick you up if they're grabbing people as domestic terrorists. Purge your computer's internet history so that they can't easily recover the fact that you were the one who sent that email yesterday if they confiscate it. Plan on leaving your apartment and not returning for a couple days, until you know if your Green Planet pals are being arrested or not. That should be on the news. If you want to be super-paranoid, turn off your cell phone and pull out the battery, only check your messages once in a while and from public areas.

>>308672

We need more information.

First off, is Maples a known paranoid person, or is he a level headed guy and his worries are likely well founded? If it is the latter, turn the phone off, pull the battery, and write it off for the moment. Don't toss it, but don't use it either. They can track phones, and if they're pulling the Domestic Terrorism card they have greatly relaxed requirements to get a wiretap.

Tracking is dependent on how cooperative the phone company is. Usually they're pretty cooperative.

Next, pick a shirt that is less memorable. I love the rainbow, pink looks good on you, but you're going to stick out in people's minds with that shirt and if the authorities decide to track you down you're just making it easier for them. Pick muted colors, something that other people would mostly ignore. Wear a hat. And bring a change of clothes along, as odd as that sounds. Quickly changing your appearance is very effective for shaking surveillance.

I agree that you should call your mom back. Use a public phone.

Who is your organization's law firm? Call them, and have them arrange to deal with bail and all that. If your nonprofit doesn't have one, you'll either need to retain one, or deal with the bail issue yourself (dangerous if you are wanted).

We should probably get a prepaid phone and tell the others to do the same. It'll make us much harder to track down.

>>308658
Ok, good.

Now unplug the phone, take out battery, and set it aside. The police have your number and can use that to track this phone down.
Your name is tied to your number, so they know who you are.
Since they know who you are they have or will put a tap on the phones of your friends and family.

Use pay phones to make the calls. Don't get a new cell phone. Use pay phones in a random order. Don't say anything incriminating.
First call to your mom. Second to your lawyer. None to other members of the group. Don't go to any meeting locations.
Deviate from your normal habits. Buy a real fur hat, eat at places you hate and act like you enjoy it, act like any other apathetic wasteful slob on the planet. Don't worry about the environmental costs of your actions - it's worth it, and we can more than offset the difference.

>>308719
>Buy a real fur hat, eat at places you hate and act like you enjoy it, act like any other apathetic wasteful slob on the planet. Don't worry about the environmental costs of your actions - it's worth it, and we can more than offset the difference.
Seriously? Casting aside long-held convictions for the sake of an ever-so-slightly better chance at shaking stalkers that we don't even know really exist? Let's not.

Also, a fur hat? Her mutation means that she retains tons of heat; that would boil her head. And we're on a rather sharply limited budget at the moment.


I mean, I agree that changing habits is a good thing, but it should be entirely possible to change all her habits without suddenly going all eco-unfriendly.

>Compromised phones
DO NOT CALL ANYONE!... Yet

1. Go to wallmart and buy a prepaid phone for 20$.
2. Manually copy over all your contact numbers to the new phone.
3. Use that phone to call your mother and friends not related to GP.

If you do contact anyone from GP, do so via public phone.

What we should do after today is take some cash and buy a prepaid cell phone. Prepaids are very hard to trace back to you, especially if you pay with cash and make a habit of getting a new one whenever the old ones run out. Your current phone is a liability, though I guess you can afford to make a couple quick calls.

>>308575
This ones a little late
By the way, in case you were wondering why we are not so concerned about the environment is because we are a plant, so we have a much, much longer term perspective. Pollution? We adapt, devour it for energy, then re-adapt into a proper ecosystem. Nuke the world? Same deal, just gonna take longer. Burn the atmosphere? Two words: Water Bears. Some way, somehow, even if it takes millennia, life will go on.
Humanity, however, won't. At least not at this rate. Don't fight for Mother Nature (not that she exists or we would have met her by now), fight for your existence as a species because believe you me,

>>308658
Go find a payphone and call everyone and tell them you're okay.

>>306946
>>306941
Sorry I'm late to the party guys, but we can't just throw out a bunch of remediation algae and assume it'll make everything better. Pollution is just a symptom of a disease - reclaiming toxic land is only going to make corporations less reluctant to make more of it. Which is more power to us if we found a new utopia on that land and let the old world burn itself out, but Flora here has already said she doesn't want that. Instead we should go after the causes - if mineral extraction harms the environment, well then, we use our abilities to extract them cheaper, take over the industry, and keep the cure-all algae as our trade secret. We'll change the system from within and no one will be the wiser!

>>308658

Wow! What a fantastic information dump. Keep calm. It looks like something is going down that you don't want to get caught up in. If there's anything we can do to we're at your beck and call. Remember guys if she gets caught we're the ones who are most in danger.

>>308658
Don't worry about the environment, now that we're here it's taken care of. Eventually. Everything can be fixed or adapted to and we have the right toolset.

>>309013
Ego a bit much? We don't even know for sure how far our powers extend yet.

>>308884
Hence why you patent it and charge them lots of money for it.
The use that money... invest in eco tech development, buy shares and vote on corporate policy, buy a media outlet and direct them to be more critical of polluters. Finance politicians that support your ideals. etc etc.

Your mother sounds desperate, but it's as likely as not a trap. She's really the only one on there that really NEEDS to be called, but you don't want to do it here. Got any coins lying around? Use a payphone a few blocks from your house, call her when you get the chance.

>>309149

Do note that your mother would not need to be aware of the trap to be bait in it. If they believe you will flee to her, and they believe you to be a person of interest, they may well stake out her home and install wire taps.

This is even possible if the agency pursuing you is not federal in nature, but private. Security firms are quite willing to bend the law as much as they can if the money is green enough.

>>309216

...you know I bet we could design leaves that look like money.

>>309217
We went over this already. It's a bad idea.

>>309217
I bet that would be detected almost instantly and be a legitimate charge to try Flora on even if no other charges stick.

Crey Industries hiring mercs is a possibility, but they couldn't know we're with Flora and police do not like it when other people start investigating suspects. One major reason for that being that PIs don't follow proper police procedures, which poisons any evidence they find and can get cases thrown out.
Sure Crey Industries will do an 'internal investigation' of what happened and destroy the crime scene, but they aren't going to be tapping phones and tailing people unless they realize we hitched a ride out of there.

[Start designing a poison dart launcher and a rapidly-debilitating poison to go with it]
[Make a hard and glossy coat for our flower and leaves so they look plastic. Put an obvious seam line across the flower and have the sections it separates not quite match up. Add a plastic-like clip and a "MADE IN CHINA" imprint on the back]
[Make a skintone patch behind the flower to hide our important bits. Make the point where the flower connects look like a mole.]

o 2011/06/06(Mon)13:56 No. 309591 ID: 45be60
File 130739379643.png - (335.17KB , 512x512 , 8.png )

>call your mother
Right. Calling mother.

>email your mother
That would be grossly inappropriate at this time.

>call your mother
doot doot doot - doot doot doot - doot doot...

>use a payphone
>public phone
>payphone
>FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T USE DAT PHONE
Uh... okay okay, ow.. not using phone. I guess if Mom waited this long, she can wait a few more minutes while I think about this. Okay, John Maples is somebody I don't know THAT well, but he hasn't struck me as the paranoid delusional type in the past. If he thinks there's something going on with the phones, he probably has a reason. If they are doing the tracking cell signals thing, pretty sure the phone just has to be on for that, and my phone has been on all night. Water under the bridge now I guess. Payphones... I don't think those are really a thing any more. I guess there's probably still a few at like airports and bus stations maybe, but the days of the corner payphone booth are gone. I guess... I suppose I could get a prepay phone, but I mean... That's like 2 or 3 days food budget. I know we were talking about getting a job soon, but that doesn't mean I should go spending money I don't have yet.

My phone only tells me the last 5 distinct numbers in each of the dialed, missed, and received categories, so I really couldn't say who the quiet ones were. Everybody else I recognized though. Dad called once, Steve's the guy who gave me a ride to the site yesterday, Post is just.. a dude I know. Kind of excitable, but a decent sort. Becca doesn't actually have an official title, but she generally handles the secretarial type stuff for us. I think she and Dan might be dating or something? Jacob Kral is one of the few I would call an actual friend. I don't know if he would have been close enough to the others they nabbed organize their phone calls, but I'm sure everyone knows Eric got nabbed. Green Planet has a couple lawyers on retainer actually, but I don't have any contact information on them myself. I could get it from the files at the office though.

The meeting they mentioned is at ten, just showing up would be the easiest start for a lot of my immediate concerns, but if we are being paranoid delusionals, maybe I shouldn't? I dunno, this one is totally your call. Since I don't have a car, if I go, I'm walking. That only gives me about 20 minutes to muck about before I need a decision, and in the mean time, Mom is worried sick.

>[Make a hard and glossy coat for our flower and leaves so they look plastic. Put an obvious seam line across the flower and have the sections it separates not quite match up. Add a plastic-like clip and a "MADE IN CHINA" imprint on the back]
>[Make a skintone patch behind the flower to hide our important bits. Make the point where the flower connects look like a mole.]
Acceptable details appended to plan?

[acceptable]
hmm, well in that case yeah call up mom with this phone, but do it from not here, like a couple blocks away. so if they are tracking them they will get a corner and not your house. we can go to the meeting place but scope it out first, make sure it isn't surrounded in unmarked vans and shit.

>>309591
[acceptable]
We can make a decision of whether or not to go to the meeting after the next couple of calls we make. Basically we call someone to see if they think it might be dangerous, after you call your mother. Also generally report in that you're fine and in hiding, sortof.

Hmm. What do you think about telling them about us?

>>309591
[Acceptable]
Here's what you do. Go there but don't join them. Hide and see but don't be seen. If your friends can meet and leave unaccosted then follow one and get their attention quietly. Whoever is there that you trust most. That person alone will send message to your parents in person that you are alive and well but you need to stay hidden. They can tell no one else.

This is serious, you are a target and you need to get in the mindset of someone on the run. There will be no getting a job right now.

[acceptable]

>>309591
My concern with the phone isn't so much that they're tracking you with it, which as you said is water under the bridge, but rather that they'll be listening to anything you say on it. I suppose you may or may not care about that, when it comes to things like telling your mom that you're fine... but just be careful what you spill, all right? Don't say anything that could be incriminating, and definitely don't mention us. Not that I think you would have, but I feel compelled to remind you on principle.


I'd say you can show up to the meeting, but late. Odds are it will go for at least an hour, possibly more if it devolves into panicked talking in circles, but anyone trying to jump them probably won't wait more than half an hour at a guess. If you show up at eleven you should be able to get a good look around and dodge any theoretical people coming to arrest your group.

>>309696
We don't actually know if she's a target or not. While the TV did call them domestic terrorists, that's not necessarily an indication that they're being legally considered that; people stay stupid things on TV all the time. She might be able to skate by.

The internet news might have more information on what action the police are taking in response to yesterday's explosion by now, if you care to check it again, Flora. That might be a good way to spend twenty minutes.

>>309591
Skip the meeting. You can't spot plainclothes officers, and they'd probably be spying on you to build a case instead of arresting people.

Now, something you CAN do is call your phone company and tell them somebody left some really creepy messages on your phone last night. Ask them to tell you the last 25 numbers that left messages.

Well, if you think the damage is done, there are no payphones, and you can't afford a disposable phone, then you might as well call your mom now.
Tell her you're fine, that your phone ran out of juice, and that you went to bed early because you were feeling terrible - splitting headache, run-in with a mugger, etc...
Try to avoid saying anything about the CI facility, particularly if you were there or not.

>>309718
She may be thought of as nothing but another one of them, but if they get her they can still realize there's something more going on despite our precautions. That and the behavior itself seems a bit too aggressive just because of some protesters.

In other words, whether she is a target or not doesn't matter. What is important is that we act that way because we can't afford to chance it.

Knowing you have lawyers on retainer tells us some useful things. How often are you guys arrested? You've been through this sort of thing more than we have, and how do you normally deal with this?

We still have no reason to believe that Crey knows anything beyond 'you were there when an explosion happened'. There was an explosion, your group has been blamed. Arrest would be inconvenient, but it's not some sort of game-ender.

[Keep working on those emergency camouflage measures]

>>309802
But if we act like we have something to hide, then people know we have something to hide.

Logically, there is no way for them to know that we are in Flora. At worst, she's wanted for being at the explosion site. It's still best to try to avoid official attention, but we probably shouldn't make it seem like we have something MORE to hide.

So in other words: Flora, if we weren't in you, what would you do now?

>>310093

She would probably call her mother. And subsequently get kidnapped.

>>309591

2 to 3 days? You really do eat a lot! You will have to forgive us for not being very good at that considering that the only thing we eat is sunlight.

>>310115
Yeah, we need to work on getting her some photosynthesis.

>>310116
That's an idea.

Flora, how would you feel about us replacing your clothes with living plant matter? I'm pretty sure we could make something that looks and feels like cotton.

Y'know, I don't think we should make ourselves look fake just cause someone might figure out we aren't just a dead flower in her hair.

Am I the only one who thinks we should... I dunno, apply for amnesty as a sentient being? I mean, I think the UN is gonna wanna know about this. We all wanna help Flora, I get that, she saved us and I feel kinda bad about blowing up and her getting hurt cause of it, but we are... bigger than this? According to what she knows we are the only sentient plants anywhere. Let's not do something stupid like start a life of crime fighting.

>>311598
We cannot trust that humanity at large would act in a peaceful and ethical fashion if our intelligence and abilities were revealed to them. Humanity has a long history of talking a good game and then doing very nasty, short-sighted and self-centered things. We cannot take that chance with our own life; when we do reveal ourselves it must be from a position of strength- or at least, strength relative to what we have now, which is one seed stuck inside the skull of a woman who might be on the run from the law.

And I think we all agree that 'crime fighting' would be a silly use of our time.

>>311598

I think not. We're a singular example that got into the wild. We have no liquid resources for bribes, we have limited ability to take action on our own, and no other methods for exerting the sort of political pressure required to be recognized as having human-equivalent rights. We are, to any politician, a can of worms best left in a lab to be studied.

Worse, we are a genetically modified organism, and so our very existence outside of a lab is explicitly illegal in many countries. We should not reveal ourselves until we are so entrenched that removing us will cost more than changing the law to recognize us.

We we do reveal ourselves, we should have several nodes in different places (at least some of them well concealed), and we should not reveal our node in Flora's head. As well as an un-hosted node being expendable as opposed to an actual person, consider how humanity would react to finding out we can live under people's skins.

>>311598
actually i suggested that already.
I only suggested that we tip the scales in our favor by curing a bunch of people of diseases, cancer etc... politicians/news reporters or their families especially. This will ensure much more "good faith" and less likely to result in our claims rejected.

Let's keep the plans for world domination to a minimum here. We should start with something simple. We need to seed. I think we should try cross pollinating with a bunch of other plants.

And we should be outside. I want some sunlight. Hey Flora, can we please go outside?

>>311785

We're not talking world domination, simply open existence in public life.

>>311785
which part of "garner good will from the media and politicians by curing diseases and then sue for human rights" is world domination?

We are currently property of a shady evil corporation, considered stolen property, stolen by a so called "eco-terrorist" who really isn't. I don't know about you but I want to be emancipated. Also I would like to clear Flora's name since she is clearly an innocent.

Plus we can help humanity and ourselves by cleaning up the planet of all pollution.

okay guys, I'm gonna be busy and not updating (or at least, even less than usual) for a bit cause of RL. If you wanna keep this discussion up, go for the discussion thread and stop bumping this one.

o 2011/06/22(Wed)00:06 No. 316232 ID: 45be60
File 130872638249.png - (379.30KB , 512x512 , 9.png )

>>310115
Hey! I think eating for a few days on like twenty bucks is doing pretty good in this day and age. I mean sure, I could be eating ramen for eighteen cents a meal, but that's no way to live. Gimme a break.

Okay so yeah, if the mysterious 'They' are tracking me, then that ship has sailed. I'll just be careful what I say for now, though I'm not sure what I would consider telling my mother that would be bad here. We can figure something else out later I guess.

...doot doot. Doot.

The phone does not make it past the second ring before an anxious sounding voice picks up on the other end. "Hello? Florence?"

"Yeah Mom, it's me."

"Oh thank god! I saw the news and I was so worried, and you weren't answering, and they said people were killed, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard your messages just now. I'm sorry, my phone just ran out of juice and spent the night on the charger. I'm fine. Everything's fine. Well, not FINE, but I'm okay."

"Were you there though? At the factory?"

"..."

"Florence?"

"It was a lab Mom. They were doing these awful experiments with unregulated chemicals..."

"Oh honey, I told you no good would come from hanging out with that gang of-"

"They're not a GANG. They're.. WE are activists. We are trying to HELP people..." Florence's voice starts to take on the exasperated tones on someone who has had this conversation before, but before the argument can take it's expected course, her mother butts in.

"Help people? People are DEAD, Florence. This isn't another one of your club's little pranks. You've gone too far, this is serious. They aren't just going to let you off with a slap on the wrist this time."

"We didn't DO anything, I swear. Mom, please, you know me. It was some kind of accident. The police're gonna look in to it and find out what really happened."

"..."

"...We don't want to see innocent people hurt either. I think most of the injuries were our guys anyway..."

"Are you sure you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine Mom. Just a little scraped up. Shaken I guess. There's a lot to take in. Some of the people I know are dead."

"I'm sorry honey. Do you want to talk about it?"

"...Not really I guess. I don't think it's all really sunk in yet. I need some time to think."

"Well I'll be here if you change your mind."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Bye"

click.

Nhhh. Sorry, kinda had to tune you guys out for that. Talking with my mother without starting to shout takes some focus sometimes. So... Oh what the hell? My phone's charge indicator is down a bar already. The cold yesterday must have fucked up the battery somehow. Damnit. Nothing I can do to fix it now though, just have to deal with it.

So I guess the plan is to go stake out the meeting and see if the police do anything from a distance. What am I doing if they do swarm in with vans? What if they don't?

>>316232
I thought the plan was to get to a payphone and call one of the other members to find out if the meeting location was safe?

>>316232
They probably aren't going to swarm in with vans. That would be silly since everybody who's wary of getting nabbed by the police will skip the meeting, and arresting the people who show up will make them all go to ground and vanish.

No, they'll just have some plainclothes officers eavesdrop and record everything for evidence to fuel further investigation and take note of everybody who showed up.
Also, there's no expectation of privacy in a public place. They would need warrants to arrest anybody, but not for spying.

So, yeah. Don't even go.

or use cellphone on the way. doesn't matter if it dies just call them while moving.

dead friends. dang. any of them hospitalized? it could be a good idea to visit them instead.

returning to the crime scene is a very bad idea. best we could do would be to make a passing walk.

oh how about this, check the news, if it is insufficient, see any twitters, articles or random photo you can scourge from the internet. im sure that whatever we are looking we can get there.

>>316395
we aren't checking the crime scene again. going to the meeting at the other place.

go out get some sweet drinks. alcoholic ones.

o 2011/06/26(Sun)00:40 No. 317867 ID: 45be60
File 130907401050.png - (346.31KB , 512x512 , 10.png )

>>316238
No. No I'm pretty sure that was never the plan. I'm was never completely certain what the plan WAS, but I am sure that was never it.

>>316390
Fine, whatever, I said it was your call. I'll phone some people on the way.

>>317653
Tempting, maybe later. I AM out of Everclear.

Florence performs the daily ritual to track down her shoes (one somehow ended up under a chair) and starts the long walk to the converted storefront that houses the local Green Planet office. It's another sunny day in the city, not hot yet, but she can tell it will be by afternoon. She walks a block, half expecting to notice someone following her, before pulling out her phone. After a brief moment of deliberation, she pulls up Steve's contact entry first. It rings three times, and is picket up to the sound of road noise.

"Nn- g-Gale? Z'at you?"

"Yeah, hey Steve."

"Oh man, you really had us worried there, girl."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I think my phone battery got fucked up yesterday. Spent all night on the charger and it's already like half dead."

"Some'a the guys said they saw you up front before everything went to hell. Thought we lost you."

"Nah, I'm fine. You know me and cold." There is a weak chuckle from the other end of the line, but it does not last long when she continues "I saw JJ dead though. Right near me."

"Jesus. You okay?"

"Not sure."

"What do you wanna do now?"

Florence shrugs, trusting that the silent gesture will somehow magically be conveyed through the phone line. "I'm walking to the meeting everybody was talking about over at the office. Gonna see what's going on."

"Yeah, me too, 'cept I'm driving. Hey, if you're coming from your apartment, it probably wouldn't be too far out of my way to pick you up, save you some walking. You passed JavaJuice yet?"

I haven't, the landmark in question is about 2 blocks further at this point. Not sure I should take him up though. Even beyond the whole rampant paranoia thing, there still seems to be some question about whether I should show up at all, and once I am taking a ride with someone, I am sort of committed.

>>317867
How about you meet him for coffee and find out what he knows?
Before that you need to establish that you want to talk, but you're not sure if you should go or not. That way you can back out up until around the time you get in the car, but still get some info.

"Naw, but... I'm not even sure I want to go. This is rough enough, and if I walk in and don't see friends then I'm gonna lose this numb detachment thing.
Look, can we meet there and talk? I could use a friend right now, and I need to decide where to go from here."

>>317867
Explain to him that you're worried about whether or not it's safe. Ask him what he thinks on the matter. Mention the other calls you've got- someone told you to stay in hiding, in fact.

>>317867
Nooo, don't buy alcohol. We can probably ferment stuff in a flash.

>>317867
Also, are you sure you want to still be affiliated with them? You can say that you didn't sign up for this, that it's too dangerous and nobody will raise an eyebrow. Seriously, if you were not a mutant you would be dead.

>>317943
you just asked her to stop doing what she loves doing.... i don;t think you will get a positive response dude.

>>317944
Not stop the environmentalism, stop being associated with that group. It'd reduce suspicion and negate a number of risks and with us she has far more power than she did before. To not be crippled by the association she'd have to inform them of what we are and a secret is only stays secret when only one person knows it.

You kind of committed when you decided to head to HQ. if there was a tail waiting for you, they've had all night to set it up. getting into a car won't help you any.

Get a coffee with Steve and try to decide a plan - get the lawyers alerted somehow, and do what you can to see if there's anyone following you (or him)

o 2011/08/24(Wed)20:25 No. 342775 ID: 26eb87
File 131424270087.png - (48.89KB , 512x512 , 11.png )

I guess this is a good thing. I can meet up with one person and talk about stuff before I am really in the middle of things and maybe figure out what's going on.

"..Uh, no, I haven't yet. It's a couple blocks from here I guess." It will be nice to see a friendly face anyway.

"Kay, I'll be there in five."

"You want me to get in line or something? I'll prolly get there first."

"In this traffic bet you will. ACTually, if y'see a parking spot i'd probably be more productive fu'you to stand in it. Otherwise I'm gonna be circling the block like a goldfish."

She twitches slightly in annoyance at that last phrase, but presses on with hardly a pause. "Okay, will do, provided I see one. Otherwise, I can order something while you orbit I guess. Whadaya want?"

"A venti chai creme caramel macchiato."

"I am glaring into the phone right now. Can you hear me glaring? I am glaring so loud."

"Heh heh. Small iced coffee. The red blend, whatever they call it."

"Kay, see you in a minute."

Ah... that felt good. Nice to just chat and forget about the cloud of depression and apprehension for a minute.

The short remaining walk to the designated rendezvous point does not reveal any available parking spaces, though there are two with parking meters flashing expired. Thankfully, the line inside is relatively short, so she places an order for a small iced "red" (officially called Yamashiro's, a kona blend which reports to have hints of other tropical flavors mixed in.) and a peach-mango tea for herself. She watches Steve's blue Sentra drive slowly past once while she is waiting, and bites back an entire wave of tiny irrational fears, ranging from "what if he's with them?" to "what if he just drives off and leaves me?" Fortunately for her fragile psyche, upon paying the $5.50 (ouch) and walking outside, she spots the car just starting another pass. The passenger window rolls down as it approaches and a familiar face smiles out at her.

"Hey girly, going myyy waaay?"

Florence rolls her eyes as the car behind him honks.

Okay, how should I approach this conversation?

first, get in. then just explain your fears about being picked up. then ask what he thinks they were doing in the lab.

Let's see what kind of nutrientschemicals are floating around in this brain here. I bet we could fashion some wicked poison spines or even darts, should someone come along trying to uproot us. We should also go about making another seed.

>>342825
okay and what about something to do with the problem AT HAND?

>>342826

At hand? Sorry I kind of spaced out for a few days or so. Does this problem involve leaves, plant defenses, root structures or flowers?

>>342775
Tell him you're thinking about leaving the group. If you weren't a mutant you'd be dead.

Inform him of your feelings about his actions.

Also, ask what the hell happened at the facility. All we know is that we grabbed something, then everything exploded.

>>342825
Got to be careful with making poisons. We are very close to a rather sensitive organ, after all; I have no desire to accidentally start leaking potentially harmful compounds into Flora's brain. That would be exceptionally rude.

Perhaps something to contemplate when we have a bit of time to experiment, preferably using a flower not connected to Flora.

>>342775
I would advise mostly trying to gather information. Ask who else is around, what's been happening- those phone calls didn't give you anywhere near as much information as you can use. The TV fingered you guys as terrorists- are the police really thinking that? Have you got lawyers on hand just in case?

o 2011/09/03(Sat)21:30 No. 345325 ID: 26eb87
File 131511065060.png - (100.28KB , 512x512 , 12.png )

Florence hands Steve his cup through the window so she has a free hand to open the door. The car behind his jerks quickly into the other lane and speeds around. Florence knows without looking that a finger was thrown. Thankfully, the van behind it seems to be in much less of a hurry, and she gets in without further "encouragement" from other vehicles.

"So what's been going on Steve? Like I said, I've been out of the loop since shit went down yesterday."

He is silent for a moment, likely as he ponders where to begin. "Well, guess right after, things were pretty panicked. Think after the initial.. event, there wasn't really a lot of further danger, but folks had momentum y'know? Sure, billowing clouds a'blue smoke are prolly not somethin you wanna stick around for, but at that point we were like cattle."

Florence gives another slight twitch of annoyance as her mind is forced to make the required cognitave leap. Steve can talk quite quickly, which can be bad enough at times, but he has an annoying habbit of leaving his analogies unfinished. If he notices her tick, he doesn't let on as he plows ahead.

"So folks that weren't stickin around to help somebody with an injury were down the next block 'fore they started slowin down. That uh.. certainly didn't help our looking innocent on the news last night. Think it was a good hour before anybody started gettin organized again. That meet-up y'missed last night was just a head count much as anything. Didn't wanna do anything serious till people calmed down. ...Which is this morning, I guess."

"People like Maples?"

"Whadaya mean?"

"He called me, said the police were tracking phones or something. Which... is odd now that I think about it. If they were tracking his phone why would he be using it?"

In the moment of silence, Steve shrugs.

"...anyway, he said to hide, lay low, probably NOT come to this meeting this morning."

"Well, I dunno. He didn't call me anyway. I guess the police picked some of us up sounds like. I don't think I can blame 'em."

"Yeah, I got a voicemail from Kral in holding. Said they had Eric and some others there. Frankly, it has me a little worried about even showing up today."

"..Oh. um... d'you..."

She sighs "I dunno. It's just... I coulda died yesterday, you know? If I wasn't.. me. Has me really thinking about what I've been doing."

"Yeah, I get ya. It was a scary, shitty thing. A lot of people DID die. Coulda been any of us. But ya know, way I figure, that's all the more reason for us to stand up now. If we just lay low, Crey will sweep this mess under the rug too, and they'll have died meaninglessly."

Well that's a point I guess.

hmmm... yes, i suppose. adds more support for going today. i think we should go. ask him what he thinks was in the lab.

>>345325
"Right now they're spinning the media and looking for scapegoats. They'll attack easy targets and try to discredit us any way possible. Anybody who stands up is going to be knocked down.
We can fight back from cover, but we can't fight back from jail cells. Worse yet, I'm sure Crey lifted some phones from the scene, and unlike the cops we don't have laws protecting us from them."

Man this car's like totally infertile. Could you crack open a window or something? Be nice to smell what's on the air, perhaps pollen or interesting chemicals or spores or something.