So a starship captain and an ex-imperator walk into a shop...[ tagging Furiosa]

[smartass_captain]

Getting a bit of fresh air is good for JIm anyway, and he looks a little less miserable as they stroll toward a busier part of the Nexus. The commercial district is a mecca of all types of wares and services, shops upon shops lining the street and every kind of food you can imagine (plus ten kinds you couldn't until just now) sold in little corner cafes and diners.

Sure there's a scrap shop selling auto parts Furiosa will recognize, but there's also stores like the one they pass where a tiny man seems to be intent on building and selling as many ludicrous inventions as possible--including a nuclear powered toaster. Jim takes this in stride, stopping to chuckle at something every so often while they go.

Eventually Jim will lead Furiosa into a room so white she'd think she wa dead. The Print Station from an office supply store is only happy enough to accept the data off of Jim's PADD (and somehow convert the data into something they recognize, Jim doesn't think too hard about that) and cheerfully tell him he'll have his manuscript ready in an hour or so.

"Welp. Looks like we've got about an hour to kill. Let's see if we can find some gardening supplies. And possibly a solar powered moisture farm starter kit. Since Furiosa's world is quite lacking in water.

Comments

<3

[eumenis]

That thing is so strange. Fascinating, but strange. Not for the first time, Furiosa wonders about the technology available in the Nexus. How much can be adapted to her world? How much should be attempted?

She wants a leg up over the omnipresent dangers of road scavengers and gangs, but not at the risk of unbalancing their fragile society. Might take some trial and error.

In the meantime, she peers cautiously over Jim's shoulder. "We have seeds for desert sage. One of the Vuvalini kept them. A couple seedlings to get a jump start wouldn't hurt, though. And I haven't heard of the grass before. We have food plants for the most part now, and then a few things like dandelions, soapwort, suicide nettles, hens-and-chicks. More aloe would be nice."

[smartass_captain]

It's a place to start.

"Aloe..." Jim scans over the device, licks at his bottom lip while he concentrates. It's a nervous habit. He nods a few times before slipping the device away again. They've got a hero list, time to start digging around the shop.

Jim heads for the seed bank first, leaving the seedling hunting to Furiosa for the moment. The grass, aloe, and several desert wildflowers are picked up after a few minutes of poking around.

Jim pauses when he passes by several small cacti. That's an important thing in desert ecosystems isn't it? Something something wildlife? He frowns thoughtfully at them.

[eumenis]

She lets him wander away, comfortable by herself despite the strangeness of the location. It's almost like falling into a trance, walking among so many living plants. Like working in the gardens on the terraces, only better because these are all unfamiliar and different. Some are so delicate she's afraid to touch, some are budding or fruiting and some are--some are moving. Completely by themselves.

She gives a yelp of surprise as something green and knobbly bonks into her right arm. Backing up a step, she checks to see if it's bitten her, but that's silly. Plants don't bite. It's still moving, though, scrabbling in a slow circle, and she tilts her head, crouching slowly just out of its range.

Tartary Vegetable Lamb the tag reads. Yearling cutting.

"What the hell--Jim!" She waves him over with a flailing metal arm (best approach from the right). "Have you ever seen one of these??"

[smartass_captain]

Jim's head snaps around. He jogs over , holding several pouches of seeds close to his chest.

"Yeah?" She's pointing at a plant moving on its own and the captain stops and stares. Moving plants weren't a completely unheard of thing, though in his experience that usually means they're about to spit something deadly or caustic at his landing party. He immediately grabs Furiosa's arm and pulls her out of its reach, just in case.

"I haven't." Jim frowns at it. "I don't want to think they'd put something dangerous out in the shop randomly, but....I've lost men to strange flora before."

[eumenis]

She lets herself be pulled, but she also twitches at the grip, a violent little motion, and bares her teeth briefly. Jim can add does not like to be grabbed to the laundry list of things he is discovering about Furiosa, if he's keeping count. She doesn't swing at him, at least.

"...try never to do that without warning," she says. "I've been known to punch first and ask questions later."

His concern seems valid, though, and she checks the spot on her arm that brushed the plant, for a second time. "Thanks, though. It doesn't seem very coordinated, whatever it is."

The squat little woman behind the counter has been watching them idly, and now she emerges and comes over to see what they're reacting to. "Oh, goodness. He must be getting ready to flower. They're always hungry when they're trying to bud. Don't worry, it's harmless unless you stick your fingers in its mouth. They prefer moss."

"...do...you need to feed it?" Furiosa feels way out of her depth all of a sudden.

[smartass_captain]

"I'd rather take a swing from you than have lethal spores shot into your airways." Jim retorts, but lets her go quickly. "Like I said, lost lots of good men to shit like that before. Makes you kinda jumpy." Jim sucks in a breath, glancing back at Furiosa then to the plant again.

He startles at the woman's voice. Jim's usually so good about people. He immediately puts on a disarming smile.

"I meant no disrespect, of course, ma'am. I've seen some interesting plants where I'm from, and not all of them are content just to nibble."

[eumenis]

She almost snaps right back at him, I never gave you permission to put your hands on me, War Boy--I will take care of myself and don't ever forget it--

...except, of course, he's not a War Boy, and something about his tone seeps through the little burst of adrenaline. Something familiar. She scowls, anyway, but the shopkeeper's interruption gives her some space to recover and re-analyze.

The shopkeeper, by contrast is either oblivious to the tension or happily ignoring it. "No offense taken, love! I do have some dangerous specimens, but I keep 'em in back."

To Furiosa, she adds, "Probably should. No good to let 'em wear themselves out foraging. Tell you what, if you have a weed problem, this is exactly the plant you need. Be right back..."

She bustles off, and Furiosa is left looking half confused, half sullen.

[smartass_captain]

"You're alright." Jim isn't sure if it's the idea of a plant--something so rare and valuable to her world--being dangerous or his pulling her back that has her upset, but either way, no one was hurt.

"...Holy shit." Jim hands Furiosa the seed packets, each with a handy little tag, before he circles around to a plant toward the back.

"She has a borgia plant! That's some serious gardening interest." Jim whistles, clearly impressed. "Yeah we may want to double check everything is safe here. This thing," Jim points to an innocuous plant with lumpy green pods. "This thing will kill you faster than anything if you eat it."

[eumenis]

Mostly the pulling her back. She doesn't take well to chivalry to begin with, and is prone to defending her little bubble of personal space with punches and sharp elbows jabbed into soft tissue. Come right down to it, she doesn't much care for him telling her she's all right, either, but there are more interesting things to focus on than ruffled feathers. She raises an eyebrow at the seed packets, flipping through them gently with a hum of approval.

Thus mollified, she follows him slowly and tilts her head over his shoulder to eye the plant he's pointing at. "Then I don't think I want one." Her lips quirk.

"We already have a Stinging Tree. I think that's all the mean plants we need." Horrible stuff, really. The Vuvalini used it for defense, when they were living in areas where they could cultivate it. Dag has grown one specimen only, and they're looking into extracting the poison for weaponry but otherwise making sure it doesn't spread.