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Last Edit: Apr 9, 2011 20:36:03 GMT -5 by nmartin
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Post by nmartin on Apr 9, 2011 20:13:33 GMT -5
Natalie is impressed with the knowledge the woman obviously has in the botanical realm, but not overly so. Half because she doesn't know much about botany in the first place, so it's not as if she could judge whether or not the lady was just full of hot air to begin with, and half because she didn't really care about the study of plants. Why people would concern themselves with things that basically needed no human interference was beyond her. In fact, she basically saw botany as the 'study of how to leave nature alone to it's own work.' Sort of. It had it's uses, just like everything else in the world.
Knowing however that the woman obviously had a fondness for the plants she was speaking of simply by how intelligent she sounded with the subject and the little tone of passion that she could detect in her voice, Natalie didn't speak her mind on the subject. Instead, she just listened quietly and nodded near the end, uncapping the iced tea bottle and taking another sip. "Sounds like you have it all figured out.." She said quietly, looking back at the door, specifically at the name on the door.
".. but.." She started, keeping her eyes on the door, "..What makes his opinion such a threat? He's not a botanist. He's a geologist. So what if he doesn't think a particular forest is important." The notion that what the woman was protecting was a guess. A complete and utter guess. But the fact that she was passionate enough to destroy an important building for it, and that she seemed to be very into plants gave Natalie the hint that it was something environmental, and more important than perhaps an acre of wooded land. A guess, yes. But, and educated one. Offending opinions aside, she didn't really get what the problem was. "It seems to me it'd be like if a firefighter didn't agree that Lithium is a good medication to suppress the symptoms of bi-polar disorder." At least, that was her take on it. She just didn't see how his opinion would really matter in a professional setting. At all.
Speaking of 'fire,' that might have been a decent solution to the problem she was in the midst of creating for the professor and the university both. Pretty much every plant burned down. Then again, burning the plant would probably destroy a good chunk of the building as well. "Why attack him here? Why not take a more.. personal approach?" Her question didn't have any malicious tone to it. It was a suggestion, but also a completely innocent inquiry.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 9, 2011 22:24:58 GMT -5
The young woman's reply has Poison Ivy looking at her all over again. Most people would assume that she's crazy to have the idea in the first place (and they'd probably be right) or would object to it on the grounds that it's impossible. And if they believed her capable of it, they would probably now start trying to stop her. But instead her plan is met with unaffected curiosity about her reasoning. And her motives for it are correctly guessed on top of that!
"Hmm, a better analogy for that would be if a chemist said it, not a firefighter. There's some minor overlap in the fields," Poison Ivy explains easily, "Geologists sometimes study soils - not that they really understand what they're doing. And Professor Benson's pet theory about measuring a rain forest's value based upon the quality of the soil..." she says that last word with particular distaste "...rather than the irreplaceable plants that grow there is actually attracting interest." Interest from the most vile sorts of people imaginable if Poison Ivy's tone is any indication. And she looks like she could easily say more, but she does realize that people get annoyed if she rambles on about the subject for too long.
The last question causes the smirk to return to Poison Ivy's face, and it's easy enough to tell that she's very pleased by that question. "Oh, I how I would love to do that," she enthuses immediately, "I could do so many things to him." And all of them with a great deal of pleasure, too. "But any of them would require someone with my more specialized skills - my scent is my fault, you know..." she explains, easily offering that as just a small hint of what she means by that. And actually, she's rather proud of her pheromones since the fact that she's successfully managed to alter what Dr. Woodrue did to her is proof positive that she understands and is able to apply even something that complex.
"If I were to do what I can really do, then Batman would be on my doorstep in the blink of an eye with the GCPD right behind him. A simple process of elimination, really: only a handful of people in the world can do create botanical hybrids at my level, and the others aren't in Gotham. So instead I have to limit myself to what a more common hybrid plant specialist could conceivably do," she explains quickly, sounding more than a little annoyed by that fact, "Otherwise I wind up behind bars, and all my work will be for nothing."
Glancing back though the window at her vision of what could be she smirks again as she adds, "Though I'm sure this one will raise eyebrows; I don't think that I'll be able to limit it to this classroom, so if they don't figure out how to stop it then it will invade the entire building by the end of summer and they'll probably have to condemn the building... The only real flaw with it is that, on the whole, the vines will be a warm-weather plant and I can't fix that without making it something less basic, so I'll have to wait awhile longer to plant it, and the poor thing will die next fall." She frowns mildly at that thought as she finally lapses into silence. But given the nature of the plant she described, one has to wonder what she could be capable of if what she'd described is something she considers to be so simple. And especially if her mood-manipulating scent is a sample of her true skills.
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Post by nmartin on Apr 11, 2011 3:06:31 GMT -5
It didn't really take all that much effort on Natalie's part to assume the woman's motives properly. She obviously held a deep love for plants; too much, from what she could reckon so far. So much that she was using them against someone that she clearly had a strong, strong dislike for. Revenge, if she felt like using the term. In a sense Natalie was employing the methods of psychoanalysis with the woman even as she was simply explaining her plans. Albeit those little habits of Natalie's, constantly picking at every word that came out of someone's mouth still needed to be perfected before she could ever become a good doctor.
The correction of her own analogy is met with a slight narrowing of her eyes, though hardly noticeable unless she was actually looking for any rebuttal from Natalie. "I understand." She offered, but said nothing more on the subject of who was selling who the 'lies' about the rainforest. She had no idea what was going on, and frankly, she couldn't say that she cared either. However, she could understand where the woman was coming from, just like she'd said. It'd be like if someone were to claim that electroshock therapy had no positive side effects. Even coming from an ethical psychiatrist's perspective; and a lousy bunch they were, electroshock therapy had proven time and again to have many positive side effects. It was only when the victim was abused that the negatives tended to show. Though in Natalie's own opinion the negative side effects were far more interesting than the positive 'cures.'
The fact that the woman really can't attack the professor personally is met with a slight slump of her shoulders. Well, there went her attempt at protecting the unversity from the plans that, from what she'd heard, sounded solid enough to actually work. Then again, she couldn't say that she really cared about that, either.
"As long as you don't plan on planting any seeds until after the second week of May.." She muttered, knowing that that's when she would be getting out of the Unversity and moving on to her medical training at Arkham Asylum. Though, thinking more on it, there was another danger to the woman's plan that she didn't really like the thoguht of either. Dr. Crane's office, his classroom, and his laboraty were all in this building as well. Either he'd have to move his stuff under her own persuasion, or this lady would have to find some other way to get her revenge on one man. She certainly wasn't going to let an overgrown plant destroy all of Dr. Crane's research, either.
Taking another sip of the tea, Natalie looked down at the floor for a minute, and re-thought the idea of the woman getting her revenge on the professor, personally. "Though it might not be as interesting as the whole.. plant plan.." She began, and pursed her lips together slightly in thought, "I have access to some records here. I could get you some information on ... Professor Benson."
Her offer to help was probably misguided. For one, she was willingly offering to help this lady commit what could be considered an act of eco-terrorism on a man's house, person, or property; whatever she thought would be best. Secondly, it wasn't the building that she cared about, but the personal research of her professor. Finally, the fact that she had no interest in Professor Benson's well being might have given away at least a tidbit about her own state of mind. Either way, her offer was given, and she looked back up at the red head, waiting for her response.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 11, 2011 4:11:14 GMT -5
Yet again Natalie manages to divert Poison Ivy's away from her vision of what could be. At first only mildly - when she hears the young lady's muttered time-frame, she idly notes to herself that it isn't that much different from what she was planning anyway, and adjusts it accordingly. Why is something she doesn't bother to speculate on, though the truth of the matter is that she sees a bit of herself in Natalie. They're both a bit obsessed in science, after all, even if they're in vastly different fields. And they're both brilliant young women. Of course, she has more experience and is much more rich and attractive, but nevertheless...
The next thing that the young woman says gets more of her attention - a lot more. And only partly because the information that Natalie is offering could be very helpful indeed. The other part is understandably wondering just why the offer is being made in the first place. There's a long pause as Poison Ivy appears to consider the offer, though she's actually thinking over much more than that.
"As it happens," she starts, "I'm also interested in being a bit more... dramatic this time." She was being honest when she said that she didn't think she could restrict the damage, but she also isn't very bothered by that at all. And once she's hit upon the perfect idea, she hates to abandon it so quickly - the plant in her mind is magnificent, after all.
However, it's easy to tell that the young woman wants her to change her plans, and for once someone else's opinion matters to Poison Ivy, if only a little bit. "However, if you'll tell me why you want to help me, I might change my mind and accept your help," she offers. Which is really the best offer that she can give. She's not going to promise anything because she doesn't know that she has to - she already has a perfectly good plan, and is only offering to listen to the young woman at all because she's somewhat curious about her. And whether or not she's willing to discard the plan for a new one depends strongly upon if what Natalie has to say, what information she's able to provide, and if she's willing to go to the trouble of creating a new plan in the end. Then again, Natalie has nothing really to lose trying, because either way the worst case scenario would be for Poison Ivy to carry her plan out as described.
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Post by nmartin on Apr 12, 2011 1:35:44 GMT -5
In all honesty, Natalie couldn't care less if she struck the woman as interesting or not. Her only goal here was to prevent the univeristy from being the blunt of an attack when it was only one person who really deserved it; if offering some half-baked theory on soil that happened to threaten a rainforest in who knows where was even worth it. Natalie personally didn't think so, but Professor Benson's well being didn't mean a thing to her. She'd already taken the class.
"If I may suggest so.. while dramatic .. schemes are nice and all, I think what you should be most worried about is the message you can send, and how you can really get him to change his mind about the whole thing." Taking another drink of the tea, she capped the bottle again, and shrugged. "At least, that's my opinion on it."
Not that the woman was really asking for her opinion, but she seemed to take all of her other suggestions to heart so far. That's what Natalie could gather, anyway.
The next question is interesting to Natalie, since she really didn't know why she was offering to help either. It wasn't as if she had any interest in the matter at all.. aside from protecting the building, which meant protecting Dr. Crane and his research. It wasn't as if she was going to admit to something like that yet, though. "I guess I just admire your passion for the whole thing. I kind of feel the same way about something else, I wouldn't want somebody demeaning my work either. Plus.. I'm here pretty much all the time. It wouldn't be a hassle for me at all."
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 12, 2011 3:06:59 GMT -5
Poison Ivy has to scoff at the first thing that Natalie says, "Change his mind? No, that hardly ever works. If you start talking about the state of the environment, all you hear is people saying that worrying about that is nice, but it's just not important. And it's not that big of a problem, or it's bad for business." And it's easy to tell that she absolutely loathes the people with the latter opinion.
"Or in his case, it's simply not feasible to save everything. No, I gave up on changing anyone's mind a long time ago. I need to do more than just stop him, I need to send a message to everyone that if they dare to cause such harm to the world that gave them life, that they will pay dearly for it. I need them to fear me," she concludes, getting more and more visibly angry as she continues on that vein of thought. To say that she's passionate about what she believes in is actually a bit of an understatement.
Fortunately, Natalie's next words are just the thing to stroke Poison Ivy's ego and calm her anger. She's not admired nearly enough, especially not by people who manage to fight off her pheromones. And once again the vague thought of how like her this young woman seems to be surfaces. "Psychopharmacology?" she guesses with some confidence, based upon the analogy that she'd used before. She'd expect someone to come up with that sort of thing based upon whatever they're most familiar with. "It is fascinating what a few chemicals do to a person's mind..." she says with a smile, having had plenty of experience doing that intentionally to judge by the pheromones.
She pauses thoughtfully for a moment, considering. If this young woman is so passionate about something that she's working on it at this hour, she can well imagine that she wouldn't like having the building where she's doing it destroyed. And given that she can relate to that feeling, she actually starts to feel a bit of hesitation in carrying out her plan. "If you're so certain that it would be better for me to be more direct in his case, though, I'm sure that I could just as easily find another way to send my larger message," she says offhandedly, purposefully making it sound as if she's not really granting a favor but is simply changing her mind on a whim - which is more like half of a lie than a whole one.
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Post by nmartin on Apr 14, 2011 1:45:27 GMT -5
Clearly, the woman mistook Natalie's suggestion of changing the professor's mind for something that could've been considered.. normal. A regular, average persuasion that someone should or should not do something. That wasn't what she meant. She did say that dramatics were second place to getting her message across, but she never said that they didn't have a place at all. For the reason that she believed there to be a misunderstanding and because she wasn't in the mood to turn the conversation more toward a debate, she ignored the first comment, and instead just gave a slight shrug.
The second comment actually has her attention piqued quite a bit. 'I need them to fear me.' Did she, now? The comment made her smirk noticeably, and she ponders over what to say to that.. if anything. Fear was sort of her specialty, after all. Or at least, her obsession at the moment. While her work kept her more than busy enough as it was, she was going to be in the business of helping people. Helping this woman be feared could be interesting.. although of course her main focus would be on her own work.
Nodding her head at the woman's guess of her work, she averted her eyes for a moment to take a look at the clock. Speaking of psychopharmacology.. she couldn't stand around and chat with this woman forever, no matter how interesting the conversation was. She needed to be back to see the immediate after effects the toxins had on the rats, if any died, that sort of thing. For her own sake, she hoped they didn't. It wasn't like she could just throw them away. They'd have to be taken with her, and thrown out somewhere else. No matter how abandoned the university was, walking out late at night with a bad full of dead animal was always suspicious.
"It is." She agreed with the next statement, and really did hope that her advice would at least minimally convince the woman to at least carry out her plans later on in the year. "Directing your frustration at one person for such an opinion might teach the others a lesson before they consider agreeing with him much more." She reiterated, and looked back up at the name on the window. "Your first plan was good, if a bit.. more destructive than others not responsible for his opinions might like. I'm sure you could think of something more personal, and just as effective."
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 14, 2011 3:20:01 GMT -5
The smirk that the other young woman gives makes Poison Ivy wonder exactly why that had attracted her attention. It wasn't difficult for Poison Ivy to tell that her passion just wasn't for plants, and yet she seemed interested what's being said for her own reasons. Curious... Not that Poison Ivy would ever complain about having been able to explain what she does in secret to such an audience. For someone who holds herself in such high esteem, it's difficult to do such obviously brilliant things and not hear the reaction. Sure her past crimes have made the papers, but much more infamous people grab the major headlines while she scoots in on a side-note and that's just not good enough. That's likely why she was so quick to open up when she sensed an opportunity to do so that seemed less likely to come back to bite her.
And that's also why she's feeling a bit clingy to her first plan. That would certainly make the front page when her little plant began to grow and revealed just how destructive it was. Something more directed at an individual - well, it might be considered important enough to get the attention she craves, but it's much less likely. "If people learn that it's not a good idea to even be around someone like him, so much the better," she has to point out, but she adds, "However, it also may be that I ought to save that plan for a different situation - it's better if I never use the same plan twice, and perhaps it would be wasted here." Which is a happier thought than the idea of abandoning it altogether. And it's true enough - perhaps she should save a plan that can destroy a building for one of the cases on her black list that involves an entire organization, since there are a number of those.
The thoughtful look on Poison Ivy's face suddenly disappears, as if signaling that a decision has been made. "If I'm to going be more direct, I'll need to find out anything I can about Professor Benson - any detail might prove helpful. So if you can get me a copy of whatever records you have access to, I'd greatly appreciate it," she says simply as she looks more directly at Natalie. In a way, accepting help makes her feel more secure about all that she's said - if the young woman helps her, then she's an accomplice instead of a witness. Which is a much better state to have someone who knows too much to be in if you're looking to avoid getting caught by the police.
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Post by nmartin on Apr 15, 2011 9:53:58 GMT -5
Maybe it was the fact that Natalie was going into the field of 'helping people' that she felt so inclined to do so. Because really, she had no reason to help the woman other than that or sheer amusement. There wasn't anything about plant-attacks that caught her interest, and she couldn't care less about the professor himself. Saving the building was one thing, but offering to give up information on the professor so that this lady could still carry out some sort of plan to vent her frustrations on him was another. It was risky, and could jeopardize her degree and her future career if she was caught engaging in criminal activity.. but somehow she seemed very confident that she wouldn't get caught. No one caught her with her electrical experiments. No one caught her with the gas experiments. No one suspected her of anything, so no one would catch her.
Oddly enough though, if Natalie knew that she was feeding a monster by giving Poison Ivy the attention that she craved, she might not have been so willing to begin with. Unaware of her needy nature though, Natalie gives a shrug and a grin at the woman's thoughts on saving the monster-plant project for a later time. If she did, that'd be her own business. "I think it would be. Wasted, that is." She offers minimally, simply trying to add at least a little commentary at this point, not really concerned with how effective it is.
Noticing the different, serious expression on the woman's face, Natalie's expression changes in that manner as well, and she gives a nod. "Everything's locked now, obviously." She said, unnecessarily. There was always tomorrow though. Or the day after.. whenever she wasn't extraordinarily busy as well which, was actually a real concern as to how punctual she'd be with her delivery of the information. Between her actual job, her school work, the hours she spent in class, and all of her research that she insisted on doing, she only had a few spare minutes a day, it seemed like. "It'd be a lot easier for us both if I had a way to let you know when I got everything I think you'll need?"
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 15, 2011 15:17:21 GMT -5
Poison Ivy is also extremely confident that nobody will ever actually catch her for her crimes. She's done enough to make some suspect her, but even then she gets away with so much by simply not seeming like the type that would do such a thing. And when that doesn't work, she's simply too clever about not leaving enough evidence behind. Nobody's even come close to being able to peg her down. Which is actually somewhat disappointing because a part of her is so proud of her work that she'd love to be able to just claim all of it as hers.
However, she's passionate enough about her mission that she'd do it even if she didn't get any attention at all. In fact, if she wasn't getting something from the media, her crimes would have probably escalated much faster since much of the point is to change people's behavior on a massive scale and that just doesn't happen if nobody notices. No, getting attention is mostly something that simply makes Poison Ivy so pleased with herself that she can't help but be happy - an emotion she often fakes but rarely feels.
Nodding to Natalie's words, Poison Ivy quickly fishes a small pad of paper and a pen out of her purse, and quickly writes down her first name and cell phone number on it before tearing off the page and handing it to Natalie. "Call me when you get it, and we can arrange to meet somewhere," she says with a small smile. And for once her smile is actually both real and directed at someone at the same time rather than faked or based upon her own self-satisfaction.
And with that bit of business concluded, she comments, "I should get going - the less time I spend here, the better. But it was nice to meet you..." She hesitates obviously over the name.
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Post by nmartin on Apr 19, 2011 23:15:44 GMT -5
Thankful that she seemed to convince this woman to hold off her plans of destroying the university, Natalie inwardly sighs for a second before she reaches for the pad of paper, which she looks at with a slight tilt of her head for a moment. The hours are dragging by, and with every minute Natalie gets a bit more tired.
"Natalie." She finishes the sentence, taking the pice of paper that was handed to her and looking down at the name and number scribbled down on it. "Nice to meet you too, .. Pamela." She said, pocketing the piece of paper and looking back in the direction of her lab.
"I'll give you a call as soon as I get everything together." Natalie then reached up to push some hair out of her eyes, again, and grinned. "See you later."
With that, she turned and headed off back down the hall to where she came from. The effects of the toxin should've worn down in the rats by now, so she still had a lot of work to do. Work that probably wouldn't be completely over with until midnight or later. The very thought of it was exhausting, but it was for a good cause.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Apr 20, 2011 0:08:55 GMT -5
"Natalie," Poison Ivy murmurs to herself as she memorizes the name. Not that she's ever had trouble remembering names before (a useful skill for a socialite), but Natalie has gained more of her interest than most people. Which is a hard thing to do, generally, but just as some people occasionally take a liking to a particular plant that they find interesting, Poison Ivy occasionally takes a liking to particular people.
Poison Ivy nods to Natalie's goodbye, adding "Until then..." before she turns to head out the way she came in. This evening certainly didn't turn out like she expected, and in a way she feels like she took a step back in her effort to go after Professor Benson, but as long as it doesn't take Natalie too long to call her back it won't trouble her. As long as the man's stopped before he can do much more damage she'll be satisfied, and it could prove interesting to be able to do something more direct without resorting to her more specialized skills that would get herself caught. It all depends on just how useful the information that Natalie gets for her turns out to be.
It's only a minute or two before she's back in her convertible, smiling to herself as she already starts mulling over possible scenarios. And whether things went as planned tonight or not, it's always fun to snoop around where she really shouldn't have been without getting caught. She doubts that anyone but Natalie and the security camera saw her, but the latter will probably never be reviewed since nothing at all will seem amiss. And the former... well, let's just see how well she does first.
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