Summary:Hod wanders the DZ at night, bringing what comfort he can to the lost, and finds a woman in a big giant tree. She seems okay with it. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's Christmas at Ground Zero
The button has been pressed
The radio just let us know that this is not a test
… and so it goes, as Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy, notorious (ex-)supervillain is listening to music playing over a portable speaker as she…
… decorates a Christmas tree? Currently, she's in the branches of a rather massive looking pine tree, which already has been decorated with several strands of garland and LED lights. Chuckling softly under her breath, Ivy is currently hanging a few ornaments up at the higher levels, not really worried about falling since… well, that's a nice thing about having a rapport with trees.
With the sun just dropping beyond the artificial horizon that is the famous skyline, shadows like mile long fingers curling away from the city proper and creep over the DZ like a slowly closing fist bringing with it's clench the promise of night. From the shadows a man walks, more easily heard then seen at first, as to try and seek him out is to stare into the setting sun. It's all very spaghetti western. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The metal tip of a cane striking broken pavement with a regular note as the man walks headlessly through the DZ. He wears a blindfold made from a a bit of black cloth who's ends float on the chill winter breeze, and some sort of well made hiking boot under heavy canvas gray pants and a black knit cable sweater with a high neck frog buttoned across his chest in the manner of old fashioned English war time infantry sweaters. Slung across his back is an old beaten up guitar case, and hanging from the hand not using the cane is a smaller black case that appears as though it holds a different kind of instrument.
Despite being in the DZ, laden with expensive goods, and blindfolded, the man doesn't seem to show any signs of concern. He pauses in his walk when the cane strikes something, and uses the toe of his boot to kick a fist sized chunk of shattered concrete out of the way before continueing on towards the towering tree.
Ivy glances down from her perch in the tree, sensing that well… someone is approaching, which is unusual enough. The fact that he seems to be blind is even odder, particularly in the DZ, but she does shout down, "Hello down there!" Her voice is a pleasant enough alto, though she's definitely not a musician by trade as she finishes hanging up an ornament.
Hod fiddles about as he nears the tree, his head turning this way and that, tilted at an odd angle. He taps the cane a couple of times before heading towards the husk of a stripped car. Once there he sets down the case in his hand and begins to run his fingers over the frame, checking for something, "Hello." he calls back up towards the tree, "Unless I'm mistaken you are climbing an evergreen in the heart of a part of the city that isn't known for that breed. Or any really." he points out with a dry tone.
Ivy snickers at that, "True enough, I thought it should be a bit more festive, plus it's a surprise for a… friend." And with that, she starts walking easily down the branches of the tree, the tree itself shifting slightly to aid her along the way, "Though I wouldn't say it was climbing, so much as the tree was being agreeable enough to let me up to hang a few things. Otherwise, I'd say you were pretty accurate in your assessment."
Hod nods his head a bit, "My sister-in-law has a similar gift with plantlife, making gardens grow like magic. Grows /literally/ the best produce." because when your apples grant immortality it's hard to argue against their quality. Not that he feels like getting particular about it. "She liked music too." he says as he finds the trunk of the car, and climbs up a bit so that he's sitting in the space where the back window used to be, his feet in the empty trunk, and his back leaning against the rim of the roof. He makes from the car a sort of throne, with room enough to put down the cases he was carrying. It's a bit outlandish, using a stripped down husk of a Chevy Volt as a place to sprawl a bit, but there you are. "Tree that size," he waves a hand lazily at it, "gonna need a shit ton of ornaments."
A soft laugh at that, "Ornaments I have, there's a lot of places selling them for cheap now, since the demand has come and gone with the fall." Ivy steps down onto the ground, looking over at Hod with a curious expression, "I don't think I've seen you around here before, and I've seen most that come out this way. Though, in fairness, people don't concern me all that much."
Hod smirks a bit, "I'm pretty forgettable." he notes, "But I'm out here often. This is the first time I've heard your voice though." he keeps his head tilted towards her, just cocked to the side, "These are my people and I bring them what comfort I can when I feel it's needed." he pointedly drums his fingers across the guitar case, "But you sound new to me."
Ivy hmms, "Well, I've been out here for a few months, doing environmental restoration here in the Zone. Hoping to turn this into another Central Park, eventually." She smiles a little wryly at that, "Government parole, and this definitely beats sitting inside a little cell with not nearly enough sunlight coming in." At the memory of that, she can't help but repress a slight shiver.
"Anyway, you can call me Ivy, if you like." Not too many metas with that name that have an affinity for plants, anyway.
Hod leans back a bit in his little seat and squirms to get comfy, "They call me all kinds of stuff out here but I mostly go by Hold-" he stops, considers, then sighs heavily. Maybe it's time he gives up the pretense of the mortal ID. It hasnt' been doing him any good at all, not since the Embassy landed and the city was flooded with family. "Hod. I go by Hod." he says after a moment, correcting himself. "So this is community service for you? Honestly seems like a pretty good gig. Christmas tree decorating is a good job to pull."
Ivy laughs a little bit, "Hod, then? I'm a little familiar with you, I think. One of my favorites has a bit of prominence in your tale." She walks over towards the impromptu throne, finding a comfortable spot nearby to perch, "Well, community service is more breaking down torn down buildings and replacing the concrete with soil and plants. Though occasionally I do get a meta wannabe strolling through looking to show how tough they are." Her lips curl in a smirk, "At which point they learn the error of their ways."
Hod lets out a slow breath and slumps a bit more in his seat, of course he'd find the one fucking person in NYC what knows old myths and legends. Two thousand five hundred and seven years he's spent hiding what he is, careful to never draw the ire of his father or most of his brothers, sisters, … Mother. And these days he can't go fifteen feet without someone figureing out who he is. One day he's giong to have a conversation with the Norns about this, and he has every intention of punching those ladies in the face. Hard. "Eh." he says, apparently happy to leave his responce to her joke about his 'story' to a monosylabic grunt. "So you're the big bad in the DZ? Could be worse then a gardner on steriods I suppose."
Ivy smiles faintly, "If it makes you feel any better, I only know about the story since it's related to mistletoe. I'm rather aware that history has painted me in the past as a villain, and rightly so. Though these days, I'm thinking my aims were right, but my actions were wrong, though the government doesn't exactly look at it quite that way. If that makes sense." She hmms, "But yeah, I do try to keep things quiet here, and I do have some government minders that help. Though they let me have relatively free reign around here."
Hod is quiet for a long moment before he merely offers a shrug, "I don't know much about you honestly. Eco terrorist was the word, out of Staten Island? There was something came across a news feed I heard once a few years ago, but no offense, I don't uh-" he waves a hand at his face, "watch a lot of TV." for obvious reasons. "Making a city into a garden though, that seems to follow with what I heard. Good for you. It's good to have purpose."
Ivy chuckles, "Yeah, I was a little infamous for that. Did have a few fights with some caped types until I got caught by the Batman. Was serving time when everything happened here in the Zone, and then the government offered me a deal. Since the alternative was rotting in a jail cell, I took them up on it." She glances back towards Hod, and smiles, even though he can't see it, "But the past few months… it has felt good to have a purpose here. I've even done some speaking at local universities, since I did get my doctorate before I… um, changed."
Hod makes the 'ah' shape with his mouth, though by now the light is fading fast and with so little power out on this side of the city, the only illumination comes from bleed over light pollotion from the city as a whole, casting hard hard line shadows and deep unsetteling dark pools. One of which, perhaps conviently, Hod is currently sitting in, making his legs sticking out into the trunk the only clearly visible part of him. When night falls, it seems to fall fast this time of year. At least the tree offers some illumination in the area directly around it, which Hod is also sitting /just/ outside the ring of. Blind guys. No illumination awareness. He /can/ however hear a smile, and returns on in kind, maybe she'll spot the flash of teeth in the shadows, "So /Dr./ Ivy then." he says, offering a little nod, "You should use the title when you introduce yourself. Presumably you worked hard for it, earned it, it's yours."
Ivy laughs a bit, "Well, Doctor Isley, technically. I prefer going by Ivy when seeing people for the first time. I mean, it's not like I'm a medical doctor, so I prefer not to confuse the issue." She grins, "I did, however, work very hard for that degree, and I do still have my diploma framed."
Hod seems to consider that for a moment, "I wonder why." he says after a long pause. "I've met scientists of all shape and type, and they use the title. I wonder why you don't?" he sounds thoughtful, "A year ago I would have dug into that, curiosity getting the best of me, and asking you all manner of personal probing questions about your thought process. I would have applied years of listening to people, of my own experience, and come up with some sort of half cocked theory as to why you use a name or title given to you by media rather then the one you earned by the sweat of your brow. Figuretively speaking. Luckily for us both," there's the sound of metal scraping metal, a gulp, and then a hand appears from the shadows, thrusting out a flask her direction accompanied by a little portable shot glass, "I've found wisdom in keeping my mouth more full of drink and less full of questions. Christmas chocolate?" he offers, wiggling the flask.
Ivy grins, "Nothing so insightful as that. While I did earn the degree, and I do go by Doctor Isley a fair amount of time… out here? In the Zone?" She takes the offered flask as she moves to sit near Hod, shifting her position a bit.
"Here, Poison Ivy gets a lot more respect. And fear. And this is a name I gave myself, the media didn't brand me, though they ran with it when I first appeared on the scene. Helps keep trouble at bay, though there are times when goons looking tough or wanting a rep show up. But they'd be showing up regardless of what I called myself."
The flask does indeed contain chocolate. Very alcoholic chocolate. Some sort of irish creme in there, peppermint flavoring, there's the clear bite of perhaps bourbon or whiskey? Could be a spiced rum? It's hard to tell. It's thick, but not syrupy, thick like creamy, like it was hand made and not a mix of store bought ingrediants. And, unsurprisingly, it's goooooood. "Huh." he says after her little reveal, "The more civilized the world becomes the more obvious the barbarism it still contains. You sound like you follow more the tennents of the Huns or Khans then that of Machiavelli. I approve. They were always more successful then he was."
Ivy chuckles softly, "Interesting flavor, I like it. And yes, if you think the world is civilized everywhere… spend some time in prison. That changes things rather quickly." She hands the flask back over, "And well, I would prefer it if I could just be Doctor Isley. But my preferences don't matter when the world is what it is, and I'd have to be a fool to not act on that." Which explains why she became a 'villain' in the first place, really.
Hod nods his head, "I work at a bar." as if that explains the flask, "And I have been to prison." metaphoircally for 2500ish years, literally at least a dozen times in that stretch. "Prison sucks." he admits whole heartedly. "So what was your big plan?" he asks curiously, "Take over the world? Rule it with a…" he searches for the right words, "barky fist? Leafy fist? Fist full of flowers?"
Ivy laughs, "Nothing so grandiose, really. I mainly wanted people to change their behavior. To see the harm they were causing the world, and to themselves." She sighs, "It seemed to take a bit, eventually, though I have noticed some teenagers wearing 'Ivy Was Right' shirts, which I do find flattering." A bit of a snort, at that, "I don't want to rule anything, I'd just like humanity to stop warring against nature and start working with it."
Hod hrms at that, "From what I've seen of the 'kids' these days I'm not sure I'd be as flattered. Then again, people do surprise you when you least expect them too." he offers. "Not sure humanity can stop warring, it's in the nature of the thing to seek out conflict, assert dominance. If not over one another, why not nature?"
Ivy chuckles, "Well, don't all adults make observations about the younger generations that way?" She shrugs a bit, "If they learn somewhere, well… then that gives me a modicum of hope at least."
Hod lets out a sigh, "Perhaps." he says with a slow breath, "I do not trust what I sense from them as a whole. Which is disappointing. I had such hopes…" he reaches out an open hand, beckoning the return of the flask so he can take a drink, "Bah. What do I know? The things that the last 2 generations obsess over are anathema to me. Things of letters and screens, pshh."
A bit of a snort comes from Ivy at that, "I suppose that's true. But they do seem to be connecting people in ways that haven't really happened before. It's a bit of a blessing as well as a curse." She shrugs, handing the flask back over with a wry grin, "Never really trusted people at all, even before I gained my powers. Plants are far more reliable."
Hod takes a hit of the dosed chocolate, "People are people, but reliablility isn't what I look for in a good person. It's not a bad trait mind you, but it's not what I look for. Want reliability? Buy a Japanese car and a Swiss watch. You know what no one ever tells you about those things? How exciting they are. How much actual /life/ they bring to life. There's a place for reliability, obviously, but it's not what I value most. With plants-" he shrugs, "smell good, taste good, that's all I require."
Ivy snorts, "Well, I do have someone that brings the chaos into my life. She's crazy, unpredictable, and funny, and I adore her." She grins a little, "But that's a good point I suppose."
Hod winces, "I have a lot of those two. Brothers." he says the word as if it were about 3/4's curse, and 1/4 something else. "Well. Family as a whole." he corrects. "There is such a thing as to /much/ excitement I suppose."
Ivy nods, "Well, yes, never actually had any siblings, but I can only imagine." Especially as she has a hazy recollection of who exactly they are, and she grins a little wryly, "Of course, I guess that's the advantage of friends, you get to choose them, unlike relatives."
Hod makes a face, "Not much luck with them over the years either." the next hit from the flask is a fair bit heavier then the first couple at that statement, and he offers it back, sinking into his seat once more. "I'm not a merry and gay companion for the season I'm afraid." he smirks a little, "Though I admit, it is my favorite of them all."