Dreadlords Of Plants and Pyres

[Thraah]

"Teach you to mess with me you little weasel faced bitch!"
Shoving Initiate Cassia's face into her own chamber pot would teach her to not to spill her waste on Thraah's boots while she was moving to empty it. The other girl was maybe two years younger than her but that hardly seemed to matter. Cassia's face went in and the scream was electric. The kind of high pitched denial of reality that only came from an utter loss of control.
When Thraah let her go she tossed the wretched girl onto the floor behind her and dumped the pots remains onto her which earned Thraah another delightful scream.
"YOU FUCKING PSYCHO!!!" Cassia cried as she lay there almost helpless.
Thraah smiled like a jackal and flipped Cassia the flaming bird and walked away.
Maybe now she'd watch where she was going.
Class was starting and she was going to skip it. Not because of her boots but because she couldn't think of anything more boring than listening to Blue-boy talk about... fucking, old dead people or some shit.
Thraah left onto the grounds and wandered the gardens. It was a blissfully hot day and the sun made the colours of the leaves shine.
One building in particular shined more than the others.
Because it was made of glass. The greenhouses were all kept together where the sun was best.
Made sense to her.
Just then she noticed a Dreadlord enter one of the greenhouses and curiosity grabbed her like a hook grabs a fish. She walked over to the greenhouse casually enough, cupped her hands over her eyes and peered in through the glass to see what the Dreadlord was doing.

Trix

 

[Trix]

After the events of the Dance, Trix had decided to linger in the Academy for a few days. To spend time with her cousins, to torment Evie, but to also be there if those Urahil brats attempted anything on her cousins life. Humiliation could drive anyone to the edge, and from what she had seen and since gleaned of Leanders character, the boy was always teetering on that knife's edge anyway. She'd already written to Jiya to ask innocently after the collars she had been toying with that would null a persons magic. Sure, they were meant for rogue Dreadlords, but Trix would have no qualms putting one around that pretty boys neck.

Perhaps she could even train him to bark like a dog.

The Proctors had not wanted her getting under foot and so she had found her way back to the old Greenhouses that had once been her playground. Proctor Narcissus had been glad to have her back and had quickly put her to work in cultivating the more... dangerous additions she had added to the Academy's collection. It was into such Greenhouse she had slipped this morning.

"Good morning, beautys," the plants turned at the sound of her voice and the feel of her magic. With a smile she set about feeding them the bucket of rats the cooks poison had fetched up for them that morning.

 

[Thraah]

The big plants just ate up the dead rats. Spilling tiny guts and gobbling up their bones.
It was rad.
"Wooooow!"
Thraah's face got scrunched up against the glass as she watched the gross display.
When her breath fogged up and obscured her vision she wiped it away with her hand and stuck her face against it again.
If this was what Dreadlords got to do all day then she was starting to reconsider skipping out on class.
Her view got obscured again. So she wiped it again.
This time with an audible squeak as her hand travelled across the glass.
The Dreadlord herself looked boss. The hair, the look, the tattoos. Thraah loved tattoos and these ones looked so detailed.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix and the plants all snapped towards the sound. It wasn't that this Glasshouse was off limits per see, it was that Trix did not take kindly to being spied on. Silver ringed her eyes in a flash and then roots were ripping up beneath Thraahs feet, lashing at her ankles.

The ground suddenly widened and then, if she were not quick enough, those roots would yank her down, down through the tunnel, then up again right into the middle of the greenhouse where she would find herself dangling upside down as Trix set down the empty bucket.

"Who are you and why are you not in class?"

 

[Thraah]

"Hey wow, WAOW!"
Being yanked underground by your ankles was a new experience for Thraah who came up inside the greenhouse covered in dirt and facing the cool/angry looking Dreadlord hanging upside down.
Even upside down she looked amazing.
"Who are you and why are you not in class?" She asked
Thraah spat a wad of dirt from her mouth before answering with both great speed and a sort of undefeated resignation.
"Name's Thraah and I'm skipping class because it's boring. Who are you? Put me down! Where did you get your tattoos? Do any of these plants eat people?"
She didn't so much as struggle as waved her lax arms about in mock protest to her situation as she spoke.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix snorted and with a blink the roots let her go non too gently.

"Get out," was her only reply to the stream of questions from the girls mouth. She was in no mood to deal with students; if she had any patience for it she might have become a Proctor. Or at least agreed to become a 'Big Sister' - what a lame idea that was.

The plants continued to watch the girl though they inched back to allow a pathway to the door. One looming plant which was a strange bulbus shape and a vibrant purple speckled with sickly looking green spots, began to drip something akin to sliver onto the floor. Wherever that liquid dropped it hissed.

 

[Thraah]

"Ouch!"
Thraah's head and shoulders took most of the short fall and when she began to stand she wiped the muck off her face and clothes. It didn't really clean her, only smeared it more about. What fleck fell to the floor about her seemed insignificant.
"Well I WAS out. YOU'RE plants dragged me in here Lady."
She threw a double take at the one that seemed to be leaking... Acid???
"Woohohoho-yeah. That's cool!"
Her dirty face lit up as she took in the much larger form of the spotted plant. Though her good mood faltered when she saw the very deliberate path to the exit.
"Hey, let me help out here!"
The words erupted from her mouth with an energy that made her physically hop and just like that she was beaming again.

Trix

 

[Trix]

The plant seemed to bare its fangs but Trix stepped over unfazed and patted it like one would a loyal hound. It even seemed to purr.

"I'm not a Proctor, go back to class. Perhaps if you're good Old Cranky will let you help her with the more tame plants, these are not for amateurs," indeed these plants had tried to kill the Greenhouse keeper more than once. They were loyal things despite being not really being alive in the sense most at the Academy would acknowledge. She picked up a trough and moved over to where some potted plants were laid out next to larger pots. She begun to fill the later with fresh soil.

"Shoo, before I go find whatever poor Proctor is missing you."

 

[Thraah]

"Aw no please don't tout on me to Proc Gamble... He's just gonna give me extra studies and I'll skip out on them too. Besides he's so old he probably doesn't even know I'm not there."
This was a half-truth though Thraah did not know it. In fact Thraah had taken leave of so many of his classes he had quite forgotten about her altogether.
She stood up, back straight and faced Trix' back while the monstrous plants looked at her as if they were making up their minds on whether to eat her or not.
"And these things don't frighten me. I'm tougher than I look."
Every fiber and muscle in her form tried desperately to project the word *CAPABLE* which was partly defeated by her earthy coating.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Gamble was still here? Good grief. Trix carefully pried her tool into the occupied plant and with a gentle encouragement eased the roots out of the soil. When she held the plant up it was easy to see why it had been cumbersome; the roots had the appearance of sharp teeth. She eased it into the new pot, piled soil around its stem, then spritzed it with a water mister.

She'd almost forgotten Thraah was there when she caught her staring as Trix reached for the next plan. The Dreadlord pulled a face then sighed.

"Fine, you can repot these plants and then you're leaving. Understood?" she offered out the trowel.

 

[Thraah]

In an instant Thraah was up by Trix and mimicking her actions best she could.
Clumsy but ernest Thraah yanked a plant up from its bed and shook the loose earth from the roots before plopping it down into a fresh pot and saturating it with new soil.
The result was in essence done but it lacked all nuance and grace. Soil spilled onto the table and floor.
"So do these ones kill people? What's your name? Where did you get your tattoos?"
Thraah asked wondering nothing of how her work differed from the work of Trix.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix hissed.

"Gently. Would you like it if someone yanked you up by the hair and shook you?" she snatched the pot away from the girl and inspected the plant with tenderness. Nothing bent or out of place, thank Kress. Still she sent a little magic into the plant to make sure it thrived then set it next to the one she had completed.

"My name is Trix. I believe you know my cousin, Maz," she'd seen the girl dive for him at the ball when he had been sent sprawling. "Do you always ask so many questions?"

 

[Thraah]

Maseno's cousin!
*Badump*
Thraah was uncharacteristically quiet for the next few moments as she tried to replant another one while remembering to be gentle which was ironically easy because all she had to do was treat it like it was Maseno's very strong and no doubt well defined body.
She said nothing until it was done with a marked improvement before she realised she has been quiet for what must have been way too long.
Then the verbal floodgate opened.
"Anyone-who-picks-me-up-by-the-hair-better-be-wearing-fire-proof-undies-Your-cousin-seems-nice-I-don't-know-him-very-well-though-so-it's-not-like-we're-friends-or-anything-official-or-anything-I-have-been-told-I-ask-questions-because-silence-freaks-me-out!"
Thraah took a deep breath in and reached for another plant.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix blinked.

"I see," she didn't. In fact she was pretty sure she only understood one or two words. At least she seemed to be learning plants weren't things to be manhandled like a chew toy. She watched her do another one before finally grunting and getting on with another task, satisfied the girl wouldn't fuck this up.

"Yes these plants kill people. Some of them have come from the Wilds - even as far as Malakath," the new outpost there had sent a few carnivorous plants back from their expeditions and they were now housed here with the rest. "These like to eat people, these can poison you," she motioned to various groups.

"And my tattoos came from a Dreadlord named Aramis."

 

[Thraah]

Yeah answers.
"That's COOL!" Malakath was one of the places she hoped to go one day.
"I heard there's giants in Malakath that can swallow a whole fleet in one bite, just *GULP* AND GONE!"
Thraah finished potting another plant and used the angle (her back slightly to Trix) to slip her tunic and undershirt down past her shoulder to reveal a rather small but detailed tattoo of a coiled fire-drake.
"Check it out!" She said with a tone that expected nothing but awe and reverence for this clearly most badass of tattoos. She kept meaning to show people and she knew Maseno would be impressed.
Maseno, he was still hurt when he came to her a few days after the Dance
Then the smile faded from Thraah's face and she asked another question.
"Is, Maseno alright? Some dink got me all fired up before I could even help him find a seat after he fell at the Dance. He apologised for her but like, I'm still mad about it. Y'know?"
She could feel herself getting angry again but didn't want to follow it. At least this cousin of Maseno's wasn't some upitty bitch. Two cousin's and a Sister at the Academy. The Luana's were well connected everyone knew but this was feeling a bit overrun to Thraah.
The idea that the completely righteous person in front of her and the overbearing figure who shoved her out of the one good thing she tried to do in a month was the same person never crossed her mind.

Trix

 

[Trix]

"Nice ink."

Trix kept her face perfectly blank as she continued on her new line of work; attempting to trim the thorns on the populus comedentis. The ferocious looking plant was covered in them, the size of Trix's little finger. Each spike was coated in a deadly paralytic that would render a victim prone so the plant could devour the body in its own time. It's orange flowered head seemed to turn towards her as she approached casually with the clippers.

"Maz is fine. He doesn't enjoy being injured, but the reasons behind his injuries even it out," she didn't know the exact details. Even her shadowy court of spies hadn't been able to reveal much other than it involved Zana. The Archon had trained her cousin before the revolution, perhaps she was merely eager to continue that work.

 

[Thraah]

She smiled at the compliment.
Though she had never seen it she always knew her tattoo was cool.
Maybe she'd track down that Aramis person.

This next plant was different kinda. Looked bad, sick like. Not that Thraah actually knew anything about plants but there was brown on the leaves.
*Did it kinda smell?*
She leaned in to get a whiff finding it was rank.
"Eck!"

"Oh heh, yeah good. I know he wouldn't get hurt unless it was like, important. He was probably saving like, a dozen people from a rampaging wyvern or something. Heh heh!"
A hint of desperation was in her voice.
The idea of Maseno being such a hero was surprisingly easy to come by really and it kinda made her feel giddy. She gave the plant before her another whiff.
*Wow this plant stinks of wrong.*
"Uh, Trix... This one, it kinda smells... Funky?"

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix couldn't help the quiet snort; was that what all the smitten girls around here thought of her cousin? It was a wonder he had turned out how he was and had not grown a head as large as the Urahil kid. Still, she didn't do anything to dismiss those claims. If people believed them or thought him strong enough for such things he would be safer. She had just clipped her third thorn, the plant screeching every clip, when Thraah asked after her own charge.

"It looks like a disease," she mused after studying the rancid spots for a few minutes. Taking out a pair of scissors she cut a part of the infection off and set it to the side then took the plant in her own hands. The thrum of magic filled the greenhouse and slowly the decaying plant began to come back to life.

"There," she smiled and handed the plant back. "Good as new. Now we can use this to create more, and see if the disease can be used in war."

 

[Thraah]

"In a war? But it kills plants... how could it help win a battle?"
Thraah's face screwed itself up trying to make sense of the notion. She knew sometimes that sickness was deliberately used to weaken an enemy but a plant sickness didn't hurt folk... unless.
She stepped away from the sick clippings and lit her hands on fire for a few seconds to cleanse them, worried she might have caught the brown rot.
"Agh!"

Trix

 

[Trix]

"Plants are a lot like us in many ways. It's a living organism and these ones... well. They're more akin to an animal than a mere daisy," Trix took the small dish with great care over to another table. Various other dishes sat there along with cages with rodents in. They squeaked as she drew closer.

"Sometimes, things that hurt the plant can also hurt humans. Sometimes they actually help humans. Some of the best medicine there is started off as little more than 'some stinky plant'," her lips twitched in mild amusement. She scraped off a bit of the putrid plant and poured it into a vial then mixed in a few clear chemicals. Once content she made a note in her journal and set it into a funny looking machine that began to spin.

"It'll take a while to mix, but if you like you can come back tomorrow and see if it kills the rat."

 

[Thraah]

This was fascinating.
How come in war studies killer plants never came up? It's way better than marching formations and rationing and other logistics.
Of course she knew medicine came from plants, other things too but yeah plants were big.
"For real?"
Thraah was absolutely up for skipping out again and coming back tomorrow.
"Hell's yeah. Hey if it's a good one can you name it after me?"
An ever hopeful expression flooded her round face.

Trix

 

[Trix]

Trix snorted.

"Sure kid, we'll call it the Fire Drake," she glanced outside to the students now filling the courtyard as they moved on to their next lessons. Whilst she didn't participate care if a student decided to ditch, she would care if she suddenly got the blame for it.

"You should get going to your next class. Tomorrow, same time. Go on," the plants once more cleared the way.

 

[Thraah]

Thraah pumped a fist.
"Yes!"
She exclaimed and headed for the door. Not willing to give Trix time enough to think better on her decision.
"Same time tomorrow." She confirmed as she left, bumping into another initiate as she left the greenhouse.
The last thing heard from her as the door closed behind her was.
"OUTTA MY WAY NERD!"

Trix

 

[Trix]

"Poor Mas..." Trix shook her head, watching the younger girl go with a bemused smile. The plants seemed to nod their agreement and, with a shake of her head, she returned to her pruning.

Much as she had promised, Trix was in the greenhouse once more the next day at the same time. She'd arrived a little earlier to finish the usual chores before the fire started arrived. Thraah had done a good job but tomorrow Trix left on another mission and she sought the comfort of a familiar task before setting off to the Cortosi coast once more.

She was just pulling the vile out of the little rotatory device when she heard the door go.

"Ready?" she asked without glancing up. Trix had never been known for small talk.

 

[Thraah]

"I was born ready. Can't wait."
Thraah rubbed her hand together in anticipation. She bumped into the table, unwilling to stop before reality made her.
Drumming her fingers on the table she leaned in at whatever Trix was working on.
She had added a new piece to her look. A pink flowered hairpin kept the hair from falling over her face.
She felt if this was a day she got something named after her she better look her best.
"So. Did I get a good one?"
Her gaze was fixed on the busy looking countertop. She barely looked at Trix such was her excitement.

Trix