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 Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:19 pm
The weather was colder for a tropical island and compared to the others, colder than the norm for this time of year. Even if he wasn't here as long as some others, he worried about how well the greenhouse would hold bearing its first real chill, and with the skies an wide blue, he hoped that the contained humidity kept all the specimen's inside at adequate temperatures and that the installed irrigation pipes did not freeze or burst.
It had been a few days since he last visited, and it put him on edge. While it did him well to no longer be sleeping in the greenhouse, he still worried about not being constantly there. However, Rin knew best, and he had to admit that it was doing wonders for his back to no longer sleep on a worn cot .
Heading down the path past the training fields, he made his way to the building before he saw a figure on the trail. From here, it was hard to tell who it was. Short and blonde were not uncommon on the island and pretty much left him with most of the Deus roster. It wasn't until he got closer that he noticed the design of the coat and got a better look at the hunter.
"Otto?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:24 pm
Otto was not unfamiliar with taking walks, but most of the time they did not stray from around the Deus building. Once in a while, he ventured further. Curious where this path led, he found himself walking idly without purpose into the Jungle. His thoughts had been muddy and dark, until Melvin called his name. He blinked, shaking himself free of his murky daydreams. "Oh, hey." He said as he looked to the other man, slowing his already moseying pace. "Sup?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:33 pm
"Uh...hi." He said, not sure what else to say. His relationship with Otto was shaky at best so having a conversation was always a roller-coaster of teenage backtalk that made him feel older than he really was.
"Just..heading to the greenhouse." He said, pointing up ahead of the path as he flashed a pair of keys he kept in his hands.
"I didn't know anyone else used this as a walking path." Which is what he assumed Otto was doing out here in the first place. That or taking a different path to the beach or one of the lookout towers for duty service.
"Heading into the jungle for some work?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:36 pm
The young blond had heard of the greenhouse before. Vaguely, anyway. To hear of it and see it were two different things.
Otto shook his head softly. "Naw, just clearin' my head." He went silent a moment, fidgeting as he worked up to ask something. "Mind if I come see it?" He'd gotten a bouquet to use from Rin once, he recalled. Flowers to leave at the graves of choice loved ones.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:49 pm
He was surprised Otto would even ask. The place didn't scream "fun" to most people, and aside from a quick look, didn't really entertain anyone other than those who had a deep foundness for plants and the science behind it. Then again, Melvin was no botanist, and was more attached to the greenhouse for other reasons. It had become a personal sanctuary that let him still feel close to Rin when he otherwise couldn't visit Jan.
However, now that she was with him again, he was less possessive than he had been of the place. That wasn't to say that he was about to just leave the place open for anyone.
"I…don't see the harm in it. Just don't throw any rocks." He said with a shrug and walked down the path. The greenhouse was typical of most in design and approach a front door, Melvin took out his keys and opened it for them.
"It's not that exciting inside, but feel free to roam around. Just…don't touch anything." He said, hesitant. If any of Rin's plants got manhandled and died, he wouldn't forgive himself or anyone else.
He stepped inside and let Otto follow, moving to a few tables and chairs he had up against the wall where he took off his jacket and folded it. The heat from the building was too much for thick clothes. He also took off his sweater, exposing a black t-shirt with a faded logo.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:53 pm
"I ain't a damned hooligan." Otto grumbled, following along. Why a greenhouse needed to be locked was only apparent because of the people the island housed. Thieves and petty, unruly sorts. He rolled his eyes softly from Melvin's warning. They were plants. How detrimental could touching a plant be? Going inside, he immediatly felt the heavy wave of heat hit. He made an audible grunt, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "It's so ********' stuffy in here." He remarked, slipping off his hunter coat for now. "What gives?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:38 pm
"High moisture content of the air allows for the more tropical plants to thrive. It's a bit stuffier because I was worried about the chill." He dug through his pockets before producing 3 runic stones and moving over to a generator.
Opening a side hatch, he took out the now glow-less stones and popped the fresh replacement batteries inside before closing it. "Have a look around. I'm going to test the sprinklers to see if they haven't frozen any. Just be careful about getting spritzed."
He turned the crank a few times over and over to get it started, before pushing the button. There was a putter, a sputter, and then the loud rumble of the runiced generator kicking into life. "Well that works. Now..."
He went over to turn on the water valve and then a few dials before he looked up, flipping up a switch.
After a brief sputter, a light mist fell onto the various plants from a sprinkler system overhead.
"Thank god. It didn't break."
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 2:50 pm
"Are you nuts, dude? We live on a tropical island." Freezing pipes didn't seem like an actual issue on the island. Hurrican force winds? Sure. But winter temperatures were a definite no. The nights got chilly, but Otto only ever needed a light sweater. "Seems like a waste of runic tech.." He slowly shuffled through the greenhouse after insulting Melvin so casually, furrowing his brows at the different species of plants. "So like.. what are all these? Are they all food?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:19 pm
"I...I just worry, okay? What without the fog anymore, I don't know how the winters are going to get. If we'll have snow. I don't want the pipes to burst after all the work put into it and .." He shook his head. "Forget it. You don't care." He checked the generator and set the timers so they would be fine for a while.
Stepping away, Melvin walked out and watched Otto as he moved about the greenhouse, past trees and saplings and bushes and flowers.
"Food items are in the back section to the left. Tomatoes. Potatoes. Zucchini. herbs too. Whatever Rin can get her hands on. The rest are research and ones she is just interested in. I think if she can get it and grow it, she tries." He said, moving to kneel down at a flower bed to inspect the petals.
"Have you been at a greenhouse before?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:26 pm
Otto rolled his eyes. Maybe Melvin was concerned about Joy-born snow. He stopped walking, trying to wrap his head around what Melvin said. He spoke like Rin was still alive. Rin was dead, right? But to bring something like that up seemed tactless, even for Otto. For now, he let it be. Maybe Melvin did it out of habit. "No. I know they're a thing, but I never seen one till now." "What do you need all this for anyway? The food I get. But like... does any of this other stuff have any use here? Or is it just to look pretty?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:03 pm
"No." The Lifer said with a frown. He guessed being young and a Sun didn't help him think that this all had wider applications, but he asked, and Melvin was here to educate.
"It's to find out how the Fear environment, which doesn't support animals and other natural wildlife found in our world, affects living creatures over a long period of time. The food is to test if it affects food in any way, and the rest for plants. That way they can be analyzed over determined periods of time to see what changes can be observed. Basically, why can plants live here and living creatures can and because it is more human than taking a group of animals here to explode." He said with a shrug.
"That's how I always felt it was explained by me to Rin, but she can explain it far better than I can. She is the one that fought for the funding for this project after all." He looked around. "This is her baby."
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:34 pm
So it boiled down to research. Otto assumed that must have been important if it were still here. It was all over his head. He only sometimes wondered why animals didn't survive the area long. "Right." Rin's baby. "So you keep her work goin' then?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:33 pm
"Yeah. We spent enough time together trying to bring this rickety shed into a working greenhouse that she would kill me if I let her greenhouse just fall apart. I don't want her project to loose funding either because she's away." He reached up to touch a few petals, making sure they were okay.
"She spends too much time in here that it would be wrong for me to let it all go to waste."
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:36 pm
Otto was becoming a little concerned. Concerned that he was in an enclosed space with a crazy person. "Away?" Otto uttered. He'd learned enough from his mother and Ripley to know there were different methods of coping with death. He wasn't convinced this fell into the healthy category. "Where exactly do you think Rin is? We're talking about the same woman, right? Black hair, one arm?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 7:22 pm
The hand on the flower stilled and Melvin narrowed his eyes at the bud. "Yes. If you want to simplifies that way. The same woman. And I don't know the specifics of where just yet. Just ....away." His tone was even and firm, with the distinct edge that this was not a topic he enjoyed. He released the flower and rose up, staring straight ahead as he looked off into the distance.
And then, just like a switch, he smiled and turned to Otto.
"Would you like some vegetables to take with you? I'd like to know if they actually match the standard of other vegetables in a taste test." He walked briskly past Otto and started to head down the aisle to the back where the food garden was kept.
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