2025-06-16 - Plant Gathering
A small expedition returns to World 0001 to gather some samples and sees the winged horse again.
IC Date: 2025-06-16
OOC Date: 06/16/2025
Location: World 0001
Related Scenes:
World 0001 as it has been so designated because it is the first world that was explored by those venturing forth into the portals has been deemed, thus far, the least dangerous and the most earth-like of those that have been ventured into. For that reason, additional teams are being allowed to visit this one with fewer restrictions than the others.
The team includes a member of the Security team named Jean, a medic named Luis, and a member of Magical Studies named Cammi who will be traveling along with Bethany, Dodge, and Hayley on their first foray through the portal and into another world.
Jean, a woman in her mid-40s dressed in her security uniform waits by the portal for everyone to assemble for a quick briefing before they go in.
Dodge has, of course, a camera slung over her shoulder as she arrives and falls in to the gathering alongside Jean, who gets a congenial grin. Then Dodge is patting herself down to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything--cell phone, left behind. Flashlight, check. Snack, check. Camera, check. Wallet, left behind. She figures she won't need those...
She pulls out her pocket flashlight and tests it a few times, shaking it to make sure the batteries are still good and, yep, check.
Despite a late night and a copious amount of alcohol the night before, Hayley arrives at the portal chipper and bright, a cup of coffee in one hand to stave off any late-night sleepiness and a walking stick in the other. She also has a small hiker's daypack on her back, filled with some rations, water, a camera, and emergency first aid gear (not that she's particularly skilled there).
In short, she overprepared. But still, she looks excited and curious at the portal itself, and sidles in alongside Dodge and Jean.
Bethany MacKinnon had the day off, from marching around in an unsettling yellow yuru-kyara bunny costume... so, what's a girl to do when she has some free time?
Sign up for an expedition, of course! Why the heck not, right!?
Attired in a pair of black bike-shorts paired with a loose team logo tanktop (Canadiens represent) ... she's just a vision. Add the hiking pack and a baseball bat and Beth is ready to roll.
She joins those assembled, offering an upnod in greeting.
"This world has proven fairly hospitable thus far. There are signs of former possibly humanoid habitation though we are uncertain if there is a current presence in the area. Wildlife seemed semi-familiar, with miniature deer and a number of different bird-like species sighted. And the presence of at least one winged horse that was seen flying overhead," Jean addresses the group. "There are ruins that we have begun to study as well from a structure that might have been some kind of fortification. On our trip today, we will have a couple of hours to look around though if we encounter any signs of danger or signs of sentient beings, we are to withdraw and avoid contact if possible at this time. Observe, but do not engage. Any questions?"
Dodge smiles at Hayley and waves amiably to Bethany, as well as shooting a wholesome grin at Luis and Cammi, too. She arches a dark eyebrow at Bethany's accoutrements and mouths the words 'I like your bat' to her while Jean is giving them a synopsis of what to expect.
When Jean asks for questions, Dodge raises her hand. Are we raising hands, do we do that? She does it anyway. "Yeah, hi, I haven't fully caught up on the debriefs from the other trips, but does magic work just the same way through the portals, or--or how does that work?"
Immediately, Hayley is shooting her right hand up into the air, coffee held high. "Are we able to bring anything back?" she asks, with clear hope in her voice, after letting Dodge ask her question and nodding along with it. She's always on the enthusiastic side, but this one, there's a keen level of personal interest there. "Plants, or insects, or -- anything like that?" she clarifies, shuffling a foot in excitement.
Bethany is noted, and grinned at, with a point to Hayley's ears and back to her, and an approving thumbs up following that. "Hayley," she mouths in introduction, motioning to herself and her nametag.
A little twitch of her lips: that is a Bethany smile. Seriously. While she hopes to NOT have to use said bat, it's nice to have it complimented. Think of it as her version of a toddler's stuffed animal or lovey!
But then, her newfound travelling buddies are asking all of the very useful, very valid questions... though...
... was there just a twinkle of something in those scarlet irises, at the mention of winged horses? Is Bethany secretly into whimsy and fantasycore!? She shuffles in closer to the group, not much for words.. but very obviously attentive.
Cammi has a notebook and a small backpack with some gloves, sample kits, and the like. Luis has his medical kit and seems prepared, as well. They're both quiet but friendly, giving hellos of greeting before listening to Jean lay out the plan and check for questions.
"It does," Jean says to Dodge. "Magic works the same in that world as it does in this one."
"Yes," Jean says to Hayley. "We are there to take photographs, document, and take samples which we will bring back. Luis and Cammi have gloves and Cammi has sample containers. Do not bring back wildlife. Yet."
"Alright, everybody through," she says, stepping in first to lead the way with Luis and Cammi taking up the rear.
"Bangarang." Dodge nods at the answers that Jean provides and then scrabbles through the portal right after her, checking to make sure her camera is secure with the lens cap still on. And it is; it's fine. But she will check about a dozen more times.
"Bangarang?" Hayley asks in confusion, though she's visibly thrilled about the answer that Yes, There Will Be Samples. Nonetheless, she follows on through, eager to see what's on the other side.
"Bangarang....?" Echoes Beth as she slips through the portal into this other world! Ahhh!! But wait, no bringing back wildlife...? Good thing our girl is fairly stone-faced but in absolute honesty? She's crying inside because she can't steal a pegasus.
ahem
"Can climb trees, collect stuff up yonder." Bethany finally supplies.. she has a surprisingly pleasant voice.
Stepping through the portal is an interesting experience. There's a kind of thrumming feeling, something vibrating in the pit of one's stomach. It's not uncomfortable, just strange.
And when they step out on the other side, it is into a forest of silvery-trunked trees with blue and green leaves. The forest floor is a combination of dirt, loam, and smooth grey stone. The sound of bird calls can be heard here and there and the rustling of small mammals moving about in the brush.
A little further down rom the portal area are the crumbling walls of the structure that Jean had mentioned. A little further in the opposite direction is the sound of running water, and the river running through the trees.
"Have neither of you ever seen Hook?" Dodge asks Hayley and Bethany, mildly incredulous. She runs her hand over her face. "I can't explain it to you. It has to be experienced. I'm putting it in the movie night rotation and I expect you both to be there."
But now is not the time for that; they're through the portal! And suddenly in a forest of silvery-trunked trees.
"Ohhhh," Dodge purrs, dark eyes lighting up. She cocks her head at a puppydog angle when she hears the distant bird calls, and pulls her camera out to prepare to take shots. Immediately she drops into decision-making mode. "What if we go check out that structure and see if we can learn more about whoever built it?"
She can't steal a pegasus unless she doesn't get caught, Bethany.
Hayley just shakes her head to Dodge's question, used to those looks when it comes to movies, and she falls silent as she steps through the portal on the other side. As she does, she, for once, goes utterly silent, her jaw literally dropping as she steps just far enough from the portal for there to be room for others, and turns her head to each side.
"I would love to get in and see what grows in the shade there," she finally agrees, her voice ten decibels lower in hushed reverence as she turns to look to Bethany and the away team for their opinions.
Something seems to relax in Bethany, the moment they step through into this particular realm. Do those sharp-boned shoulders relax? Yup. How about that tight-lipped expression of 'wtf' and 'WTF?!' ....? That, too, is gone: she looks positively enthralled.
But Hook is important and Bethany turns to give Dodge a look... did she just get roped into a screening of one of the best movies of the early 1990s!? You bet your bippy! Another twitch of a smile; it carries over to Hayley, as the gardener's enthusiasm IS catching.
"I'm all for checking out the structure."
Jean seems fine with them checking out the structure, "The first team looked it over a bit, but you're welcome to take a look." She then begins heading in that direction, making her way toward the places in the walls where the stone has crumbled away and there is only foundation left so that they can step through where trees have grown up and around the stone in some cases.
There's a large foundation of what looks to have been a multi-story structure. Some of the upper floors are partially intact and there is a staircase or two that lead upward. One is broken in the middle, but another in the darkness leads upward. There's the remains of what might have been a forge, and there's etchings in the stone, carvings in some manner of language native to the area, most likely.
Cammi explains that samples of these are being studied back at the library.
Dodge hoists her camera and follows along behind Jean, slipping through the tree-forged cracks, the shutter click-clacking like a wooden fan as she takes photos of damn near everything.
She comes to a stop near the forge and kneels down by it, examining it. "A forge, huh? So, whatever society was here, they'd moved beyond basic hunter-gatherer and early agricultural stages. Societal organization, resource management, and some kind of need for defense or specialized production." She clicks her tongue against the back of her teeth. "That's a lot."
She stands up after taking a few pictures of the forge, and then focuses on the carvings and etchings, photographing those, too. And then looks longingly up the intact staircase, and bites her lip as the overwhelming curiosity to see what it leads to carries her away. "Did anyone try going upstairs?"
As soon as they step inside, Hayley is craning her head upward, looking to see what's going on in the upper floors as she keeps that hushed silence, but the grin on her face is ever-growing at this point as she takes a quick sweep of the area. Then, it's to the climbing, finding branches and roots she can angle along to try to investigate the upper floor, unless she is stopped. She very much is the kind of person who was on a harness as a child.
Jean lets them explore where they want, only calling out if they start to get out of her line of sight. She's here to keep an eye on them and tell them when it's time to go back, but she seems comfortable letting them guide the actual exploration and collection. Cammi takes some rubbings of some of the etchings while Luis parks himself on a low section of wall, one arm draped over his med kit.
"Don't think anybody went upstairs, no," Jean says. Not that she knows of, anyway. "Careful if you do. Not sure how stable they are."
"I can try," Going upstairs.. that'd be Bethany, who cannot take photos worth a damn and she actually DID succeed in killing an artificial plant (srsly.)
But risky stuff? She's down. She looks to Jean for confirmation and if nobody tells her to back off? Well! Beth is gonna set down her belongings and suss out the stairs!
"They look sturdy enough," Dodge decides, perhaps trying to manifest that into reality. She slings her camera back over her shoulder and pulls out her pocket flashlight, clicking it on and shining it up into the darkness, falling in behind Bethany and gallantly participating in the enduring tradition of Letting Someone Else Go First, especially the person with the bat.
Well, then up and up Hayley goes, grinning at the warning. "Seems sturdy enough to me!" she calls down, over-confident as she finds multiple handholds along the branches to climb along, every step taking her higher as she starts to scout a path toward the top floor. The coffee cup has long since been finished, crinkled and stuffed into her backpack, so it's with the aid of walking stick and hand that she's moving along.
Of course, she's probably not the climber that Bethany is!
<FS3> Dodge rolls Athletics: Good Success (6 6 6 5 1)
<FS3> Bethany rolls Athletics: Good Success (8 8 7 4 2 2 2 1)
<FS3> Hayley rolls Athletics: Great Success (8 7 7 6 6 5 4 3 1)
The intact staircase toward the rear of the structure is precarious mostly because it's dark and shadowy and somewhat uneven due to wear and the elements, but it is stone and it is sturdy, and all three have little trouble ascending them to what little seems to be left of the second floor. There is even less left of the third. Empty rooms with ragged holes in them that allow a view of the lower floor(s) below. There doesn't seem to be anything higher than the third floor remaining. If the towers were taller in the past, there's no real ready evidence of it.
There's nothing in the rooms. This place was obviously abandoned long ago and picked clean quite a while before anyone present ever arrived. Most of what is in the rooms is detritus blown in by the winds including leaves, twigs, bits of dirt, and nests of small creatures that seek shelter from storms.
"Cool," Dodge determines, despite the general emptiness of the structure's second story. She kneels by the corner and takes a few photographs of the small creature nests.
"I wonder if whoever made this is human," she muses. "Not the nest," she adds, gesturing around to the rooms. "This place. They're definitely at least humanoid, with human-adjacent needs. And the fact that this building is so empty, so barren, means it was abandoned a long time ago, and that maybe, I don't know, scavengers or something like that have been by here."
"Huh..." Bethany exhales slowly. "No alien remnants..." Damn. "No pegasus babies..." Damn.
She looks to the other intrepid explorers, "Any fun plants?" Asked with earnest interest. "Photo ops?" She is legit curious!
"It's linked to our world, ain't it?" Hayley asks as she leans against a wall, shaking her head toward Bethany's question and bringing her hand up to rub at her face. "You know. Beautiful place, people once lived here, kind of a paradise full of wonder. I have to think this place kinda feels like Eden to me."
A big shrug, and then she looks out the window, seeing what might be visible in the landscape. "What else is around here?" she wonders.
Given the height of the distance between floors and the height and depth of the staircases, it would be reasonable to assume that whoever navigated them was of an average humanoid height comparative to those on Earth. There aren't a lot of plants inside since they seem to like the sunlight, though there are vines that curl here and there along the walls and across the empty spaces.
"Ain't Wookie-sized..." Bethany muses, "No aliens." Harummph. Even a dunderhead like this one can understand what the depth indicates.. and these people had to have been average-to-middling-wonderbread-human-height. Boooooo!
But this is a good thing. Whilst Hayley checks the window, Beth folds her long bones down toward the floor to poke at some vines.
Dodge scans the rooms and then pads back towards the top of the staircase, descending back down below to the rest of the away team. "Not much up there," she mentions to Jean, Luis and Cammi. "Some little critter nests, but everything looks like it's been picked clean by scavengers. Which means at some point, there were scavengers. I wonder why," she muses, having a look around the the base of the staircase. She calls upstairs. "Hey! Do you guys wanna have a look by the river?"
Finished looking out the window, Hayley chirps out in her twang, "Y'all want to go see what -- yeah, the river!" Hayley laughs as Dodge has the same idea. "There might be caves or more wildlife that direction, and there should be a bunch of different kind of plants compared to what's right next to the portal." She starts to make her way back down the staircase, in no real rush as she looks around.
The structure itself doesn't seem to have much more to yield other than the mystery of who made it and how long ago it had been left to crumble back into the earth to be reclaimed by vegetation. But there is the sound of the river nearby, and when they begin to discuss taking a look around there, Jean nods and begins to head back out of the structure. Luis and Cammi follow suit, joining in as they begin heading toward the sound of the water until they reach the riverbank.
It's not a very large river at this point in its flow. There's no telling it's larger or smaller in either direction for the time being. But they begin a slow trek upstream along the banks. There are all manner of plants along the way, mostly little scrubby bushes between the trees, ferns with long curling fronds festooned with little leaves, and the odd little flower here and there as well ass moss and mushrooms on trees and rocks nearby. There is a rich variety of flora.
Up ahead, Jean calls them to a halt silently with a lift of her hand and then points as a herd of tiny little pale colored deer-like creatures have stopped to drink along the water's edge. They're no taller than knee-height even at their tallest.
Dodge takes pictures of all the flora, even the most mundane, centering each one in the frame and taking shots from several angles, including straight on and from above. Someone else has probably done the same, but she doesn't care. This is for her own edification and if it happens to benefit the MSD and their efforts, then great, all the better!
She stops abruptly when Jean raises a hand and points to the little herd, her dark eyebrows shooting up into the middle of her forehead. She aims her camera and takes a series of photographs of the little deer-esque critters, kneeling down to shoot. She mouths the silent words 'So. Cute.'
And so, they go forth to check out... the river!
Bethany, whose descent along those crumbling stairs was (blessedly) uneventful, hefted up her bag and set off!
Right when she is about to crouch and give a native flower a careful sniff, this is when Jean implores that they stop and ... oh.
OOOHH.
So like, this is Bethany right now as she gazes raptly in the direction of the little deer-esque creatures, one slender rough-skinned palm lifting to her lips as she chances a slow exhalation.
"Fwhooa..."
It shouldn't surprise anyone that at one point in this whole process, Hayley has bent down, plucked one of the strange flowers, and tucked it near the base of her braid while they walk, letting her hair hold it in place as they keep moving. She's definitely looking around, eyes drinking in the scenery around them, even reaching out to touch the water at points.
But that stops as soon as she sees the deer, her eyes going wide and a high-pitched noise of joy almost completely stifled as she crouches down as well, hand lifting up to cover her mouth as her eyes bulge.
"I want one," she eventually whispers.
Cammi is collecting samples along the way, little bits of fern fronds, some blooms from along the river's edge, bits of moss here and there. They all go into little baggies or containers and get tucked away in her bag. She, too, pauses to look at the little deer. Luis makes a sound that is suspiciously like a squee.
The little deer lift their heads. A couple of them look over in the group's direction, scenting the air, and then they go back to drinking. There are a couple of babies, much smaller than the adults. As the group watches, they eventually all turn and begin heading back up the opposite side of the shore toward the treeline again.
Dodge gets a few zoomed-in shots of the little babies, trying hard not to make any cute-aggressive sounds as she does. She empathizes with Luis' muted squee with all her soul.
As the deer begin to head towards the treeline, Dodge says "Holy shit, they're so cute," very, very quietly. Turning towards the others, she says, "I wonder if any of the shapeshifters have tried turning into one of them, or any of the creatures from the worlds, like if they would be able to do that."
"If they do, I'm marrying them," Hayley says without a second of hesitation on that decision, looking just utterly delighted as she shuffles her way toward the adorable little creatures, her feet moving along the grass floor. "I'll ask Lennox, next time I see him. Maybe if we take a picture of them, or something?" she suggests, being careful as she moves to not get into the shot of Dodge doing, you know, exactly that.
"Stay away from humans, little guys," she whispers. "We're dangerous."
At Hayley's latter words, Bethany angles a truly gentle smile in the direction of the graceful creatures. Truer words have never been spoken.
"Anyone tries to hurt 'em, I'll kick the shi---" Hey, what a fascinating birdcall that was!
Bethany, who cannot attain other forms, is nonetheless amazed by the many, many variations in nature (even in other worlds!) as she watches the final 'deer' skitter off.
Continuing along the banks of the river, there are a number of birds to be seen as well, including some large grey-brown ground-birds that seem to hop along the rocks and poke into the water to pull out little fish versus flying. They do have wings, and they can fly, but it seems they only do so for short hops into low branches before descending to the ground again. Their nests appear to be burrows within the roots of the trees.
It's around then that they hear the sound of what can only be described as enormous wings overhead as a shadow passes over them and just above the treetops, the source of the sound can be seen passing over. It's a winged horse, not unlike the one described by the last group -- white with shinny glossy purple and blue/blue-green wings. It speeds by overhead, visible only or a few seconds before the tree obscures their view of it.
When the shadow passes over them, Hayley -- who apparently does have some kind of survival instincts buried in her lizard brain -- cranes her neck up and away from the delightful sight of the little birds. Her eyes widen, and she reaches out to tug on Bethany's sleeve. "Bethany," she says, pointing upward and smiling brightly. "Bethany!" she says a little louder, to make sure she sees it before it passes.
When it's gone, though, she sighs and looks back at the trees, and at the little birds. "You're sure we can't just take an egg or two home with us?" she asks the researchers, just a touch petulant.
It's a good thing Dodge has her camera in-hand already when the pegasus flies by overhead! She manages to get a couple of decent shots of it, gasping as she focuses the viewfinder on the magnificent animal. "I feel like we are in the land of Pokemon and we just saw an ultra-rare one," she says to the rest of the group, deathly serious about that comparison.
"And no. No eggs. Not yet," she repeats Jean's specific instructions to Hayley, kneeling to get shots of the little hopping ground-birds.
"We need to study them in the wild first," Cammi explains. "If we just take them bac with us, we have no idea whether they will even survive the portal and if they do, then we don't know if we have what they eat or not, or what conditions they need to hatch. Better to be really sure we can give them the best chance if we're going to take any back to study. Besides, there's nothing we need to study there that we can't get better information from studying them in their natural habitat."
Luis and Jean watch as the flying horse goes by. "I wonder if it's the same one," Luis says. "Or if there's a whole herd of them somewhere."
"... What if I'm not looking to study them, but just want a new pet, though?" Hayley asks, just a little crestfallen at the news but managing to take it as well as possible, her upper lip stiffening as she sighs. "Fine, fine, it makes sense to make sure they won't starve to death or get sick or anything like that," she mumbles.
She looks to Dodge, then. "I hope you have a lot of film in that thing. Or memory space. Or whatever it uses."
"This one is digital," Dodge informs Hayley helpfully. "I put a new memory card in before we left. This one can probably hold another fourteen hundred or so raw images, so... we should be good," she surmises. "If it were a longer trip, I'd have brought more memory cards." But for a quick trip? Fourteen hundred should be enough!
She glances over at Luis when he mentions the prospect of a herd. "That's a really good question," she echoes. "Too bad we can't follow it, see if it groups up with any others. It's not like we could go by tracks or anything."
"We could if we could fly," Luis says, though he does not apparently have that ability, or isn't about to use it because he doesn't immediately lift off in chase of the winged horse. It seems more like an idle speculation than anything else. "Maybe sometime, we should bring some people who can fly who could maybe see where it goes."
Jean nods thoughtfully and says, "Perhaps." Though she shoots Hayley a look at the claim of wanting a pet, not saying any more than that look conveys.
Cammi dips some vials into the water to take some samples and asks Hayley, "Can you get a couple of those lily pads for me?" gesturing to some that are near the edge of the shoreline.
Dodge clicks her tongue against the back of her teeth and nods, still watching the spot above the tree where the pegasus had vanished. "Yeah, maybe we should," she echoes after Luis.
She slings her camera back over her shoulder, replacing the lens cap with a tiny pop, and pads over towards the shoreline to kneel down and take a closer look at the lily pads that Cammi is mentioning to Hayley. She doesn't know a ton about lily pads to begin with, but her curiosity is spiraling out in every direction and nothing, not even a lil ol' pad, is immune.
"Have the other samples from previous trips been examined yet? Do they have the same kind of molecular makeup as similar plants back home?" she wonders.
Hayley just returns her bright smile to Jean at that look, shrugging her shoulders with her hands out to the side. "They're cute!" is her only defense at that, before she is distracted by some more important questions. "Oh, certainly," she says with the instruction given her, taking that time to approach the water and squat down beside it, looking it over and sniffing once. "Leave no trace," she murmurs to herself, something in mind as she reaches out and pulls one close, getting a small knife from her pack as she does.
A quick examination of the pad, and she's cutting down as low as she can, trying to leave just a small amount of root in the water if possible -- even if that means sticking both her arms fully in, kneeling right into the much to do so. Cleanliness is not top priority for her in these moments.
"They do," Cammi says to Dodge in answer to her question. "Very similar. There are some differences, small ones here and there, some different compounds, different structures that are similar but not the same as the ones we'll find on Earth, but it's remarkable how close they are in most cases." She seems very intrigued by this fact. "We're not sure if that will be the case on all worlds. There was another one with quite a bit of flora and fungal presence and those flowers and fungi were very different in entirely different ways. It's fascinating."
Hayley is able to extract the lily pad. It's surprisingly tough to cut through but she's able to do so and pluck it from the water, a bit white bloom on top of it and it's thick leathery green leaf waxy in appearance.
"I'm not really a botanist though," Cammi admits. "I'm more of a data analyst, but I loved biology and botany in school, so it's nice to put some of those classes I never really got to use to work."
<FS3> Hayley rolls Plant Influence: Good Success (8 8 7 6 5 4 4 3 2)
Once Hayley has cut the plant and passed it off, she looks back to it with a touch of sadness in her eyes. "Poor little guy, you weren't doing nothing," she murmurs to herself, and breathing in, she breathes out as green tendrils waft off of her skin. Each bit moves from her and toward that little piece of root, coaxing it, spurring growth back from where it had gotten stunted. Her eyes close, and slowly, the roots spread out, then the stem climbs, until another lily pad appears where the one she had removed had gone -- even the white bloom returned.
Satisfied, she stands and dusts herself off (like that'd help), before turning to look toward the others, smiling contently. "I couldn't tell you how it all works, but it's nice seeing that this stuff really does work on this side of the portal."
"I wonder what that means," Dodge murmurs, taking a photo of the re-bloomed lily pad before slinging her camera back over her shoulder. "That magic doesn't work anywhere else in our world, but it does through these portals. Is it some kind of multiverse thing, is this string theory in action, like--why does it work?" she rattles, exhaling a contemplative sigh and rising back up to her feet.
Why indeed? A question that will not be answered on this journey, or perhaps many more, but an interesting question none the less!
For a while longer, they collect more plants along the riverside, gathering samples to take back and witnessing a few more little animals and birds of interest. The winged horse does not reappear by the time that they leave for the portal, but perhaps another time, they will figure out where the winged horse flies.
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