9779/Knightfall: Watering the plants

Knightfall: Watering the plants
Date of Scene:	26 October 2019
Location:	South Channel Island, Nantwich
Synopsis:	Batgirl comes to check on Ivy and make sure she's being a good girl. Ivy realizes something's amiss in Gotham.
Cast of Characters:	Spoiler, Poison Ivy
Tinyplot:	Knightfall

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Spoiler has posed:
It hasn't been the best of nights. Batgirl knew that the Electrocutioner was working in the area, but so far she'd failed to do more than arrive after the fact. Two armed robberies that resulted in small payroll thefts, and then the disabling of an expensive SUV and the robbery of the driver and his wife.

The worst part, the villain was a cohort of Stephanie's father before his current prison stint began. As Spoiler, she had a hand in thwarting them at the time. But this time she was having difficulty catching up with him despite the improved training and equipment.

"Time to babysit," the blond heroine mutters to herself as she looks over at Ivy's vegetative palisade from a roof across the street. Stephanie had read up thoroughly on her patrol area, including the most notorious resident of Channel Island. "Just a check in, nothing to set her off, but let her know she's still being watched," she says to herself as Stephanie looks about, her hand on a small package she's brought with her, deciding on the best way forward.

Poison Ivy has posed:
The dominion of Pamela Isley is as far off the beaten path as a person can go in a world surrounded by humanities ever extending grip upon the land. A sore point for, no doubt, as she busies her days with tending her garden, amongst her beloved plants. The people who call South Channel Island home steer well clear of the expansive garden and labs, and for good reason... keeping to the portions marked for public traffic and venturing no further.. apparently Stephanie isn't the only one who wouldn't want to set the Ivy off.

Isley is here, now, in her garden. Barely visible through the dusky windows of the greenhouse, speaking quietly to a plant that as about as abstract from normal flora as could possibly be. She's notorious for her cross germination, but at least this doesn't look terribly deadly. Whatever she's saying, it clearly has a smile on her pale face.

Her hair is pulled back and she's no makeup. A pair of wire framed glasses rest on the bridge of her nose as she goes along the rows of, mostly, over grown vegitation checking their status with but a solitary glance and a quiet word.

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl zooms her cowl's magnified vision back out, and finally seems to decide on the direct approach. She picks up the package, an arm wrapped around it as she hops off the building's roof. Across to the other side of the street, landing on a fire escape two floors down, then leaping back to the other side another two floors down on a fire escape on that side. Descending with each hop until she's back at street level.

Batgirl secures the package on the back of her Batcycle and then hops on, revving it and pulling forward. She weaves in and out of a some obstructions in the alley, emerging into the street that leads to the gate of Ivy's florific residence. She stops the bike at the gate and leans over to gently pound a fist on the speaker button and wait for a response. Should there be a camera on her, the blond hair is a decidedly different look for Batgirl.

Poison Ivy has posed:
No cameras, but then Ivy hardly needs them. The plants themselves are watching and giving information back to the Queen of this small haven. The response is not immediate, however. Likely taking her time to get to one of the junction boxes sparcely dotting the green house.. she doesn't get many visitors.. and the only one that comes this late rarely knocks first.

When she does answer, her voice is sweet, even through the old speakers. Like honey dripping from a bees nest, it's just as dangerous for the stingers of the guardians of that delicious treat, "Batgirl... and a new one at that. Interesting.. What do you want?" There's an audible click from the ancient technology, which likely resides from the original occupants sometime in the late fifties.

Ivy has little use for it, aside from her lab equipment.

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl had considered just appearing, as she knew that Bruce would. But then, she's not Bruce. The Bat on her chest has seemed to make some difference in how she's perceived by the bad guys. But Stephanie decides to try another tact, just the same. Some honey to go with the stinger. Or something like that.

A deep eggshell purple glove pats the box strapped behind her. "I brought something for you. Figured you might appreciate me coming in the gate instead of other delivery methods," she says honestly enough.

The tingle going down her spine is a reminder this woman is dangerous, despite the attempt at civil conversation that Stephanie is attempting. Some of the things she read in the file... yeah. Not good at all.

Poison Ivy has posed:
The length of silence that follows would get just about anyones heart racing.

Ivy stands in her greenhouse staring forward with a hand up, running a finger along her bottom lip with the small lines of her forehead curling inward thoughtfully at this change of tactics. It is hardly the first she'd had a bat to visit, Barbara had come around for tea several times when Pam was feeling far more inviting, but this is an unknown.

Her hand curls out from beneath the other and taps the button to the intercom, "Alright darling, I'll meet you in the garden." The soft click indicates the transmition has ended and the mundane lock of the gates have been disengaged.

Which hardly means things are safe... not until the poisonous vines begin to retract from over the iron bars, pulling back and away to permit entrance.

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl eyes the vines pulling back with their nasty looking thorns. "Oh yeah. That's not creepy at all," she mutters to herself. "Seriously, why isn't there ever a bad guy that just makes big soft teddy bears and has them sitting around. Maybe just engages in identity theft?" she asks herself.

As the gates open, she starts up the Batcycle and rides it slowly inside. Batgirl's first time seeing the garden up close is an interesting one. Not that she's actually a plant aficionado, but she can appreciate what she's seeing.

She keeps the bike down to just above an idle, coasting forward and pulling it over and shutting it off when she's near to where she finds Ivy. She climbs off the bike, unstrapping the box and walking over with it. Her first time seeing Isley up close, her eyes sweep over the woman briefly before saying, "Miss Isley. I trust things have been quiet around here for you?" she asks after a moment's considering how to start.

Poison Ivy has posed:
Pamela stands amidst the light glow of grow lamps, set dim to simulate the night beyond the greenhouse walls. The trees themselves providing a canopy of shade even in the heat of summer, but with winter quickly approaching, the interior is set to a constant eighty five degrees. The woman, for what little she resembles one anymore, is elegant. An athletic build, which is easily assessed because she wears very little. A red shirt buttoned up across her torso, but only the grow of vines covering her lower portion and now shoes at all.

Her hands rest upon her hips, jut slightly out to the right, and her eyes remain fixed upon Batgirl. "You're new." It isn't a jab, just an observation, "Still familiar, but this.." Pointing with one finger moving up and down indicatively to the new, purpler, Batgirl outfit, "Anyways." Flicking her wrist, motioning to a small section beneath the hanging Dogwood tree. Roots coil up from the soil, erecting into seats and table for them and it's into one of them that Ivy drops, one leg up and over the other and both her palms resting upon the bent knee.

"Something happened or you wouldn't be here."

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl holds the package under one arm as she walks over with it towards the newly created seats. She had watched their being formed with interest, and after a moment a soft, "That is so incredibly cool."

The blond heroine, quite a bit shorter than the redhead that Ivy would be familiar with, sets the box down on the table, showing a little bit of care with it as she does. She moves over to take a seat as well.

"New, old, still Batgirl," she tells Ivy with a little shrug. "Unles you really wanted to call me Batbabe instead. But... no, probably better to stick with Batgirl,' she says, giving Ivy a smile with a flash of pearly white teeth.

"I'm working the area and never met, so decided it was a good time to stop and amend that," Batgirl says. "And I thought you might like this," she says, pushing the box towards Ivy.

Poison Ivy has posed:
Ivy keeps her eyes on the blonde, if it appears predatory that's because it absolutely is. This is as much a sizing up moment as it is a social visit and anyone who comes this deep into Isley's garden should know as much. The fact that she's grinning, a ghosting expression as it might be, changes the nature inherent in her very little. Her hands remain upon her knee even once the box is set down in front of her, only reaching out once Stephanie has taken a seat. The gift is pulled closer by a nail slipped in behind one of the folded edges to let it settle against her raised knee enough for her to opent he lid and peer inside with down turned eyes.

"Allium Schubertii... you've a good eye." She says, slightly impressed as she retrieves the potted plant so that it's held up in the palm of her hand. Gazing across the small gap of the table at Stephanie through the wire like flower buds, "So this is your beat is it?" her eyes turn away to the multitude of flowers, her other hand coming up to brush along them affectionately as she leans in to smell one.

"It's been some time since one of you came out here. I was starting to think he'd forgotten about me." There's a dangerous edge to that last part.

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl watches as Ivy checks the contents of the box. A slight smile turns up one corner of her lips when Alfred's choice turns out to be a good one. It's all she can do not pump her fist and say, "Score!" or something like that.

But she doesn't want to project... let's call it her normal self. Not on this visit. "Glad that you like it. My beat? That's not exactly how it is," Stephanie replies.

That is exactly how it is.

"More that I'm in the area a lot right now. Hopefully things will be nice and peaceful again soon enough though," Stephanie replies. She glances around the garden but says, "Oh no, you've not been forgotten. Trust me on that," she says, looking back and giving a pleasant enough smile.

"Beautiful what you've done with it. The garden I mean. The borders are kind of... Grimm's Fairy Tale a bit," she says, looking back to Ivy again. "Appreciate that you're keeping up your part of the bargain. I'll try to drop in from time to time. Neighborly like," she says.

Poison Ivy has posed:
The pot is set down on the edge fo the table and be damned if it doesn't look like the stalks are bending in her direction, but that couldn't possibly be the case. Once again the womans eyes are fixed upon Stephanie, clear that she's picking apart everything being said, digesting it. People forget, due to her criminal record, that she's a scientist and.. actually rather brilliant.

"Interesting. I never took Batman to divide up his city amongst the children." There's barbs, but they're dull tipped, and delivered with the smallest of smiles. Make no mistake, she's testing the resolve of her new jailer.

"Thank you." To the compliment of what she's done with the gardens, "It's a shame I'm contained to so small an area.. imagine what I could do if allowed to beautify the park." Her hand flicks, dismissive, fixing upon Stephanie once more.

"Bargain. That's an interesting choice of words... is that what he called it? A bargain? Ultimatum... but you know him better than me, I'm sure. Very little is up for negociation..."

Spoiler has posed:
Batgirl crosses one leg over the other, gloved hands moving to lace fingers about her knee. Doing her best to appear non-plussed about the comments. They probably might have bothered her a few weeks ago. But Stephanie has been through a lot of perspective-changing events lately.

"Well, that hasn't gone so well in the past. There was the incident with the Meyers boy, for instance," Stephanie says, calling up one of the more tragic incidents she'd read in the file.

She looks around the area and motions to it with a gloved hand. "And this is a fairly large area. Few have this amount of space in an area the size of Gotham," she comments. She looks back to Ivy. "I get it. It grates. My life has been a study in not being able to do everything I want. But it seems like you have a nice thing going here," she says. "And everyone co-exists. I figure, why rock the boat. Er, tree? Wait, I need a better plant analogy, don't I?"

Poison Ivy has posed:
"Do I look like Harvey?" Ivy asks with her head cranking off to the side, regarding Stephanie with an even, almost humored, stare. "No need to play into any gimmicks on my account, dear. I'm more than capable of carrying on a civilized conversation without mentioning plants.. A budding friendship.. I'm sure you'll grow on me." She might not even realize she's done it for how deadpan she delivers it.

Like she's aware though, if her slight grin is indication at all.

"You have no idea." She laments quietly, peering around at the garden, "Around me in every direction are the trappings of humanities wasted atunement with Gaia... and here I am, the bastion of hope sitting, by Batman's estimation, as an obtuse scar upon all this civility.. TSK.." Sucking her tongue back from the roof of her mouth noisely.

"So far, I favor you over him... even your contemporaries. Following dutifully in the dark steps of the shadowy Knight like ducklings, quack quacking his rhetoric as gospel.."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie picked up on them as well. "Always good to put down some solid roots with someone new," Stephanie adds. Hey she's getting this whole patter thing down. Barbara would be impressed.

Or, probably not.

"Yeah, everyone has different views on things, I'm finding. But figuring out how to get along is the important part. And... well come on, that hasn't always gone well in the past, you have to admit," Batgirl tells Poison Ivy.

Stephanie raises a hand and finger guns at Ivy. "And backatcha. I'm much more enjoying my talk with you than I did with Killer Moth," she says. She waves her hands about and the vivacious blond says in an imitated voice, "'Help, get me down, I'm being electrocuted!'" Stephanie lets out a sigh. "Like it wasn't his own fault for fleeing into a power line. You're far better of a conversationalist," Stephanie says. "And a better dresser too." She waves a hand at Ivy's... let's call it attire.

"Well, I always did enjoy baby ducks. But following someone blindly isn't always all it's quacked up to be. But, I do want to make sure the problems of the past don't happen again," Batgirl concludes.

Poison Ivy has posed:
Ivy tilts her head back slightly in regard to the woman across from her, absently raising a hand to slip her fingers across the bending flowered stalks moving of their own volition in the direction of her touch. "I never cared for him." Killer Moth, "For a variety of reasons, but before... before I required my own holding cell in Arkham.. he was in the cell next to mine. He never stops talking.. and his voice grates on the nerves. I've thought strongly of killing him myself, many times." Cavalier. But neither of them is surprised by who she is.

Best that the writing be clear upon the wall.

The mention of her attire draws eyes down over the red shirt, then back up to Stephanie. "This is for your benefit, dear. I have little need for clothes. Whatever part of me that thought they were necessary died long ago... but when in Rome." Her hand turns, fingers curl, eyes roll.

"We'll see." She hears the implications in Stephanie's statement. "I'm a prisoner as much as I've ever been, don't mistake it. You think he would let me reside on the mainland, hm?" One red brow elevates ever so sharply above her green eyes. "No. I have to stay here.. and that suits me just fine. If I'm going to be somewhere, at least here is better than Arkham."

Spoiler has posed:
Ivy's description of Killer Moth gets a two-handed motion from Batgirl as if to say, "Yep, there it is!" She lets out a groan. "Oh God I know. I mean, how can people be so clueless about such things. You'd think people who talk too much would catch on sooner or later and just wise up," Stephanie says.

Is Oracle recording this? If so it's probably going on Stephanie's Most Ironic Hits playlist. But then Oracle is off being Batman, so maybe not.

Stephanie glances down at Ivy's clothes. "Oh, you mean you... ohhhhh. Right," she says. A little bit of color comes to her cheeks. "Right, appreciate the consideration. You're alright, Miss Isley. Apart from the wanting to kill Killer Moth. That whole killing people thing?" Batgirl posits. "Not so endearing," she finishes with a shake of her head.

Batgirl looks around. "Well, as long as everyone's on the same page on that point. You've been a swell hostess. I hope that the gift brings a little extra cheer to your day," she says. "I'd rather you be happy out here too."

Poison Ivy has posed:
Ivy is a strange creature, definitely someone who changes when eyes aren't on her. Everytime Batgirl looks away, there's an edge to her stare, dangerous if not particularly violent. A raptor testing whether the fence is electrified, no doubt.

"It has its uses." Killing people, "I haven't had to do much of it recently." Which isn't to say she wont, if needed. There are plenty of keep out signs posted, though... and most people seem to abide given who resides behind the iron gates.

"We'll see." She repeats, tilting her head slightly. "Thank you for being me the plant..." Twisting her fingers into the stalking buds which brush against her palm in response, "It reminds me that I should catch up on things happening outside my gate.. so easy to get lost in work, but I suppose you don't need to be told." Her eyes fix on Stephanie, "You will be fine seeing yourself out?"

Spoiler has posed:
"Most definitely," Batgirl replies of finding her own way out. "I'll look forward to speaking with you again. Soon," she says, the words sounding friendly enough, but also a likely reminder that Ivy has far from been forgotten.

Batgirl rises to her feet, patting the roots that formed the chair she was in. "Ah, thank you for that," she says to the roots, before pausing to turn to Ivy. "Do they understand me at all?" she asks before continuing slowly over towards the Batcycle. Best to know if those compliments you pay a plant are actually being received.

Batgirl pauses, glancing at one of the more beautiful blossoms in the garden. The rest of the city is nearly into winter. Flowers growing naturally are in short supply, and this one clearly catches her eye briefly.

Poison Ivy has posed:
"Yes." Ivy stands up easily from her seat, a seat that returns to the ground as effortlessly as it was erected. "There's a natural balance at play in the world, things that humans have stopped paying any attention to..." She reaches up to brush her fingers affectionately along the leaves of a blooming Dogwood flower, gently nudging it closer to her nose.

"They hear you and they try to speak, but you've stopped listening... which isn't your fault, I suppose." A small frown, hand falling back to her side, "Nor something easily explained. Perhaps another time." Turning smoothly, she walks along the bare ground with her toes curling into the soil with each step. There's a natural vibrant burst of green in her nearly translucent flesh near her ankles and heels when so close to fresh soil like this.

"Good night, Batgirl."