001 \ video \ open spam for tree hugging

[onlysurvivor]

[The video feed is pointed toward a series of plants in the garden. There is a very excited blond man very gently touching the leaves of one of the plants. It's like he's afraid he might break it. If one looks closely they might be able to see thin white scratch like scars covering his hands and forearms.

He smiles brightly toward the video feed.]

I knew plants were supposed to be green!

But! I didn't expect flowers to smell this good. They were said to have pleasant scents but... [he stops to smell the flowers, literally. He closes his eyes and looks truly blissful for a second.] This is amazing.

[He excited turns back to the camera.] Most of you come from worlds with green plants, right? I need you to tell me something... [Somehow his grin got broader.] Was the sun yellow? The sky, was it blue and clear of smoke and ash?

Comments

[tolaywaste]

[Eventually Alex will stop being surprised by the questions new arrivals have, but not this day. The grin's infectious, though, and he can't help smiling back.]

Yeah, it was. Pretty much exactly like that. Not yours?

[onlysurvivor]

I knew it! [Triumphant and oh so happy.]

No, no. Our sun was red, the sky was a haze of smoke and ash from the Ashmounts. Plants were short and brown with thick stalks. Aside from trees, most plants couldn't grow on their own, they needed the ash cleared away from them every day so they could grow.

Not like these. [He's back to gently touching the leaves of the closest plant]

[tolaywaste]

Well, that sounds depressing. [Super tactful. Always.] There's usually - well, where I'm from, there are usually a lot more plants. [Smirk.] And they're all green.

[onlysurvivor]

It was. [he's somber for a moment.]


[Then back to smiling!] They were everywhere, right? Big forests and... [give him a second to recall the word] jungles?

[text]

[godsays]

[ He's seen images, artist's renderings, sketches of the Survivor. This can't be him, it can't be, and yet...

He mentions ashmounts. The red sun. He's from Zane's world.

So Zane tentatively puts forth a single word, unwilling to speak aloud to him yet: ]

survivor

[text]

[onlysurvivor]

[ That... is incredibly creepy, Zane. Way to put a slight damper on his joy. ]

who is this?

[text]

[godsays]

Are you him?

[text]

[onlysurvivor]

Some people call me that. My name is Kelsier. Where are you from?

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[some_kinda_hero]

[Claire's features are a compilation of amusement, sadness, and surprise. He's adorable with the excitement, but it's also super sad that he has to get that elated at all.] Yeah, sun was yellow, sky was blue. Well. Mostly, when it wasn't hidden behind smog, but that's more of a city con. Why, what colors were they were you came from?

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[onlysurvivor]

The sun was red, the sky was a smoky brown haze and most plants were brown. There were some yellow and red plants but they could only be grown in conservatories.

Now-- [his smile brightens] -- There was a time when the sky was blue, the sun was yellow and the plants were green but that was a thousand years before my time. The Lord Ruler suppressed that knowledge. He didn't want anyone to know how the world should really look. If we knew that, well, we'd have hope, wouldn't we?

video;

[some_kinda_hero]

That sounds horrible. Did you not have vegetables or fruit, then?

video;

[onlysurvivor]

It was.

Oh, we had vegetables and fruit but our fruit... it didn't come from flowers. They just grew without them.

Spam

[chlorophylliac]

[Ivy's been a fairly regular presence in the greenhouse and garden since its official staff both departed the ship; she visits at least daily to water the plants and make sure they're getting along and aren't coming to harm.

This time, there's already someone unfamiliar there when she arrives. He's touching the plants and she has mixed feelings about that - people go from handling to breaking so easily - but he's being delicate with them, almost reverent, and she relaxes marginally.

But she doesn't talk, yet, so there's just going to be a green woman wearing leaves walking past to fill a watering can from the faucet.]

[onlysurvivor]

[Don't worry, he's being very gentle when he does touch them and he doesn't dare touch the flowers.

He has his tin on in a low burn, he wanted all of his senses engaged to enjoy the plants. Due to the tin he hears Ivy before he sees her and his eyes still remain on the plants. He's squinting slightly, tin enhances his sight and makes his eyes sensitive to light.]

I can move. If I'm in the way.

[He's sitting in front of a bed of flowers. Of all the plants he's most fixated on them. He glances up and noticed that... she has green skin. It gives him a moment's pause.]

[chlorophylliac]

You're not.

[She fills a plant mister while she's at it, hanging it from a vine wrapped around her hips for the time being. She starts nearby, watering a planting bed filled with fragrant herbs.

And okay, he is acting a little oddly, plenty of people like flowers but very few people are quite so...fascinated.]

Are they new to you?

[onlysurvivor]

[His attention turns back to the flowers. Oh, if Mare could see them.]

Yes and no. My wife had a picture of one... these ones. [He gestures to the flower bed.] Green plants and flowers haven't grown in a thousand years. The plants we did have were sparse and shades of brown and red. Thick stalks, wide leaves. No flowers.

[He smiles, seemingly at the flowers.] The Lord Ruler suppressed all knowledge of the days when plants were green and the skies were clear of ash.

[fuckity]

Well, my sun wasn't yellow. More of a horrible orangey red ball of burning magma fire and awful.

Plants really depended on where you lived. There was plenty of grass and all that pretty crap but not within a few miles of my hive.

[onlysurvivor]

Ah, that's an accurate description of the sun I'm familiar with.

[Still grinning] What color was 'all that pretty crap?'

[fuckity]

Oh yeah? Does your sun burn your skin off if you're out in it too long, pal, because I think your sun is a piddly little thing compared to an Alternian one.

[ He pauses, folds his arms. ] Green mostly. Like yours. Some purple flora mixed in with all the fun. I didn't spend too much time frolicking.

private/text

[patheticvillain]

[As of now, Zane is his business. Which means that this person, whoever he is, is also his business. Just in case.]

what kind of survivor?

private/text

[onlysurvivor]

[ What is with these people and their creepy texts.]

The Pits of Hathsin. A punishment. A mine where every prisoner was worked to death.

private/text

[patheticvillain]

how did you get out?

[silvestris]

Depends. Where I lived, there was so much smog over the city you could bounce a spotlight off of it. [And a certain someone did...] I heard rumors you could still see green grass in New York.

You got plucked out of a warzone?

[onlysurvivor]

You could say that.

[silvestris]

Then you'll feel right at home here, soldier.