A Fearful Fruition [Scarecrow]

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

It wasn't very difficult to find out where Crane was staying. All she had to do was ask Oswald, who as always didn't fail to have the information that she wanted. A little polite negotiation about just how much that information was worth, and the address was in her hands.

Of course, she doesn't go there herself - oh, perish the thought! Even though, surprisingly enough, the place is in the affluent northern part of Gotham she's quite certain that it's not worth her time going for a look. So instead she sends someone - a man, drugged up to his eyeballs. In fact he'll likely never talk again, but he's able to find an address and drop off a note.

And if Crane mistakes the man as a gift to go along with the note? Well, the joke's on him - the man will succumb to the poisons in his system within five minutes of delivering the note, and whether he's made it down to a back alley where he'll be mistaken to be another dead druggie or becomes Crane's problem to deal with at that point is up to the impulse control of the so-called Master of Fear.

It's the note that's the important part anyway. It gives an address in east Gotham, a date, and a time. And a little note stating that, 'You can bring your little girlfriend with you if you would like, but she won't be necessary'. Any further information is apparently only to be found by going to the place indicated at the time indicated - it doesn't even have the name of the sender. Then again, between the state of the man who made the delivery, the impossibly perfect handwriting on the note, the wording of the note, and the faint scent of roses the card has about it, it's not exactly difficult to guess who it's from.

And she does hope that Crane will have the good sense to keep the appointment. Otherwise she'll have to go to that address - which means more time, energy... Whatever he might think that he'll gain if he tries to avoid her, it won't be worth what she'll do to him if she has to hunt him down.

She keeps an eye on the clock as she waits at the designated location. She's been here for almost two hours now, packing up some equipment. She's in a small, abandoned apartment located within the area that will turn into the new prison city once the walls are completed. At one time this apartment would have been quite nice in many ways - at nearly the top story of a tall apartment building in the southeast corner. She chose it for one simple reason: its large, floor-to-ceiling windows capture plenty of sunlight, especially in the morning, so it wasn't difficult to use it as a makeshift greenhouse for her little project without risking having anyone finding out about it.

It would have been much more convenient to have done it in her own lab, but of course she'd not about to invite Crane there. Instead she'd cleared out all the furniture that had been left behind and brought in a number of tables, all of which are covered by a large number of pots, and in each pot is a plant - the same plant in every pot. Each is about a foot and a half tall with large, tropical-looking leaves. Most of the plants sport pure-white flowers with thin, wrinkled petals.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

The doctor had indeed received the unexpected invitation. He didn’t debate on going as he knew that it would later lead to an encounter he didn’t want even more. He didn’t consider the man a gift, he wasn’t quite the right criteria for his research. The man was clearly high intoxicated by something, a look in the eyes was enough to determine that by the dilation. The doctor let him go and took the note despite how much upon getting it he wanted to throw it away.

He knew he was going to have to see her again, at some point. The woman was still trying desperately to make a sort of place in Gotham that he didn’t believe she belonged in. It wouldn’t matter soon and then he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.

Still, the doctor showed up and without Miss Glass. On most occasions he would have taken her but in this particular case he considered her much more of a liability than in most situations before. Miss Ivy had a way with women almost as much as she did with men and he wasn’t too keen on the idea of exposing Miss Glass to her too much.

The doctor was careful as he walked into the dilapidated building that from the outside seemed to just barely pass construction code but on the inside seemed teeming with life. He stepped around the plants as he came in, the air heavy and dense with moisture. It seemed like the kind of place that she would settle into. He couldn’t determine whether she was responsible for all the growth inside but he could form a strong hypothesis for it. He eyed the pots around him as he moved further in. He couldn’t recognize the plant immediately. Dr. Crane wasn’t that accomplished of a botanist. He knew everything about the only flower that mattered and that was it. He could have benefitted from being able to grow it, but that was another matter entirely.

“You value your time Miss Ivy as much as I.” He spoke out to get her attention, wherever she was. He had better things to do than meet with her here.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

When the man she sent for finally arrives, Poison Ivy is nearly finished with her preparations. What she's doing right now isn't difficult to guess - she's packing up and getting ready to leave. An small but probably expensive assortment of laboratory equipment have been carefully wrapped in various packaging, about to be placed in easy-to-carry containers. She could probably be finished with the process within five minutes. Except that she doesn't seem to have made any effort to prepare to transport the plants, which seems like an odd move for her, and there is one piece of equipment that has been left out - apparently not being taken either. Though upon closer inspection it's an ordinary juicer.

Though she knows that he's coming long before he reaches her, she doesn't bother to look his way until he actually speaks to her. "As always, high on efficiency, low on the social graces. It's possible to have both, Crane," she glances over at him and adds, "Well, perhaps not for you." She steps away from the piece of equipment she'd been standing next to and turns to head toward the plants - to one in particular. The plant in the far corner is in the right position to get the most sunlight, but it's also the one that's furthest away from the door. As she heads for it, she comments, "Thank you for coming, darling - it spares me the trouble of hunting you down."

Like he said, she values her time. And while she doesn't consider it to be a waste of time to spend a great deal of time doing things like having a long chat with a friend about shoes and jewelry, Crane is hardly worth more than the absolute minimum amount of time required. In fact, he's probably not even worth that much, but until she somehow develops the ability to do things instantaneously she'll have to put up with the fact that she'll have to waste time on Crane.

So now, without any attempt at fanfare or preliminaries, she reaches underneath one of the leaves where she knows that a fruit is growing, now ripe - the only one currently within the garden. She gently picks it and pulls it out from among the leaves and holds it out on her palm so that he can see it. It looks most similar to an eggplant, though it's much smaller - only half as long. And rather than being a dark purple, it's blue - a very particular shade of blue that Crane would be quite familiar with. But she only holds it out long enough for him to have a good look at it before her fingers curl around it and she holds it more securely in her hand.

"I think you might have an interest in my latest project," she comments, turning to look at the garden around her, "These plants are very hardy. They're somewhat resistant against disease and toxic environments. They grow best in direct sunlight, but will do their best with any lighting. They require temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees to grow, but will go dormant and survive at twenty degrees outside of that range either way. They need to be watered regularly, but again will go dormant and survive several months if they're deprived of it. They require a rich fertilizer to bloom and grow fruit - otherwise they simply won't attempt it." She pauses, looking over at Crane to see if he understands what she's saying or if she needs to explain it more simply.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

Dr. Crane caught sight of her the moment she poke. Social graces were something best left in the world that he left behind. He had no use for it now and even then he was selective about who received it inside his job and even more selective outside of it. When it came to Miss Ivy it was another story entirely. The woman bad a habit of wasting his time. He ignored the insult and the absurd notion that she could do any kind of hunting him down if he didn’t want her to find him. Instead his focus was on the things around her. It was clear that she’d been spending time here, working here on something which he could only assume was botanical.

The woman had an unhealthy attachment with plants to the point to where she was apparently one herself. She had become enmeshed with what she worked on, something that he couldn’t say wasn’t noble but the subject that she had chosen was pointless. Plants had a very short shelf life outside of their element, as he had become all too familiar with after years of trying.

He watched her carefully as she reached into the foliage near her. He didn’t put it past her to try and harm him after all that had happened between them. He was prepared for that scenario to happen but he didn’t want to have to waste his time reminding her where she belonged in the game she was trying to play with him. He had gotten what he needed from her and she was no longer of any use to him.

It wasn’t until he saw the familiar hue that his attention was fully captured. She pulled it away from his immediate sight and then began to speak. She had his full attention. He moved closer to her, wanting the full object to be exposed to him again. It couldn’t be, it was impossible. The plant didn’t even work that way, even if she had managed to do something it wasn’t what he was working on. But he couldn’t seem to pull himself away from the idea that it might…have been possible. “What have you done?” He asked wanting immediately more detail into what she was holding. “Is this bore from the same flower?” he followed up thought the color was unmistakable. He knew exactly what he was looking at, he just didn’t know how it was possible.

Beyond how it was possible, Why was she showing this to him? “Why are you showing me this?” He asked finally, expecting the catch to it all to become very clear. Normally he would have been more calculated about his questions but at the moment his only focus was getting it out of her hands. It didn’t belong to her…

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Though Poison Ivy may now be considered to be a supercriminal, she certainly doesn't believe that it's no longer useful for her to continue to practice the same social graces that she learned as the daughter in a wealthy family. Even if you're dealing with the scum of humanity, it's helpful to be polite - it helps you get what you want. It makes what is probably an unpleasant interaction that much more tolerable. But alas, being tolerable seems to be the furthest thing from Crane's mind - which is only one example of why she doesn't enjoy interacting with him.

Her eyes lower slightly at his questions, and though she says nothing her expression makes it perfectly clear that she believes them to be extremely tedious and unnecessary. "Isn't it obvious? I've simply taken the genes that are expressed in the flowers of one plant, transferred them into another, caused them to be expressed in the fruit instead of the flower, and made that plant so hardy that even you can grow it," she explains, as if that entire process was an entirely trivial matter. Holding up the fruit in her hand for emphasis, she adds, "The juice of this fruit, when reduced, has the exact same mixture of active ingredients as an extract of the flower." Which should have been obvious from the color alone, but then again Crane is a man - she should have suspected that he'd need it simplified for him, never mind the fact that he somehow managed to get a science degree. He ought to know that such a thing is possible - it's simple gene theory put into practice - and that she's the best in the world at such manipulations of plants.

She appears to be equally unimpressed by his last question. "Because I made them for you," she says, though she immediately corrects herself, "No... not really for you - but for the flower. Such a small, rare, beautiful little baby, plucked from the mountains for your pointless experiments... I'm putting an end to that. And giving you an ultimatum - now that you have these, you no longer have a need for the flower. Test this and see for yourself if you'd like." Now she holds the fruit out to him, offering it to him. "But regardless, if you ever use the flower again I will kill you," she promises, saying the words very lightly and easily. She won't bother trying to emphasize her words with a more dramatic speech - she knows it won't work on him. It's better to stick with the facts - which he'll probably ignore, but when the consequences of that come crashing down upon his head he can't say that she didn't warn him.

"Do you have any other questions?" she asks, her voice a bit tired as if she's already growing weary of him but suspects that they're nowhere nearly finished.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

Even from a scientific standpoint the doctor could conclude, as a practiced chemist himself that this was not obvious. There was a protect that he’d worked on for years with failure and to be able to get the exact same thing in something so reproducible, he thought he might have been in a dream. But that was impossible, he didn’t sleep. He still couldn’t believe his eyes and for Miss Ivy to be talking about it so casually, like something so complex and so much bigger than herself as just, simple. It was offensive to the plant itself.

The insult didn’t phase him, it was obvious she didn’t know what she was dealing with, despite that she had the ability to grow it. It was even stranger still that it was followed by a “kind” gesture that was quickly retracted. She was a fool. She may have thought about the flower in a different way than himself but the flowers significance in the world was far more than what she was giving it credit for. Just allowing it to live on its own was one thing but not be using what it was providing, its purpose in the world. Dr. Crane had found it and he was using it as he was meant to.

He listened to her Ultimatum and took the fruit from her hand. His eyes met with hers at the mention of killing him. She would be disappointed if she tried, but it wasn’t the first time they had been at each other’s throats. He turned the fruit, observing it in his hands and taking in what it meant if it was real. If this fruit was exactly the same as the flower then this was the one tool to free him from Ra’s. A part of his didn’t want to be in her debt for that gesture, debts were always something that Dr. Crane took issue with. It wasn’t that he never intended to pay them back, the cause was just greater than the reward he could have given. If people understood it would be so much more simple, but getting them to understand was the challenge.

As it was now. For now it was best that Miss Ivy knew as little as possible about his connection to Ra’s and what this meant to him. It would just be better if that wasn’t spoken at all. He turned the fruit in his hand and nodded slowly, still in awe of it all. “If….It works as you believe it does, I will have no need to use the flower.” he made it perfectly clear that if and only if would be the case. If it turns out to be some diluted copy he would know and would not only stop using the fruit, but go completely back to using the flower.

“No questions, It’s obvious in your anxieties for the planet well being that you took the effort to produce the fruit….I have been treating it well. I will try it.” He defended himself in that aspect as the flower was living up to so much more than what she could ever intend for it.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

If Poison Ivy knew just how in disbelief Crane was about what she's done, she'd have taken the opportunity to mock him further. Because what she did was... well, not exactly easy for her, but it's certainly very possible - she's done it a number of times to a number of different plants. The most time consuming part of it was the time it took for this particular crop to mature so that she could test it and be sure that the gene was being expressed correctly. According to the tests on the genome that she'd conducted the moment that she produced the first seed she knew that it should have, but if there was a slight uncaught error she might have had to try it all again. But she has enough experience at it now that those kinds of mistakes aren't very common.

As expected, from his reactions it seems that most of her words are completely lost on him. In fact, his first statement only seems to underline her poor opinion of his intelligence. "Isn't that what I just said?" she asks, not having any patience for his doubts, though she then adds, "It might require a slight adjustment to your formula, but if you can come up with it in the first place then that shouldn't be terribly difficult." No more than a rebalancing of the quantities of whatever else Crane puts in his infamous toxin - she has no idea what else he puts in it, nor does she care, but if she did she could probably tell him. All that she knows is that it any changes shouldn't be substantial at all - in fact, if she wasn't already assuming that he's quite picky about it being exactly right then she wouldn't have bothered to admit that there might be any difference at all.

When he comments upon her anxieties for the planet, she literally rolls her eyes but doesn't comment upon that. But she does frown when he states that he was treating the flower well and says, "You know what? I believe that you actually think that you have been. Which is exactly why I don't want you using it again." Having said that, she adds, "Now, if you don't have any questions, I'll take my leave. But do let me know if you ever need any more seeds - they won't be free, though." He ought to be able to simply replant from the seeds of the fruit, but she's aware enough of his... turns of fortune, that she ought to store some seeds herself, just in case. Otherwise, wouldn't it be just like him to put himself in a situation where he's lost every plant and would have to turn back to the flower?

She turns away from him, planning on simply collecting the last of the lab equipment she'd packed and leaving with it. But though she created them with the explicit purpose of giving them to him, she does feel a slight pang of loss at leaving them in such hands. Yet she's able to comfort herself by reminding herself that she made them extremely hardy - he shouldn't be able to mess up on caring for them too badly, and has his own self-interest to consider, after all. They'll be okay - or at least more okay than many other plants on this ill-treated planet.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

If she thought for a moment that she had him completely convinced she was wrong. He would have been a fool to outright trust what she was doing and trust was something that Dr. Crane didn't even believe in. She was out to satisfy her own end and something told him that it went much further beyond just saving the flowers life. What was more important in this equation was Ivy's life and her plans for it. If she claimed to "care" about the flowers life how much more was it valued over her own? There was always a means to an end and things that would get trampled on the way there. He wasn't convinced that this was all for the "nobility" in saving the flower that had been at his use for so long. Because of this, he had no intentions to immediately part with any of the supply that he currently had and had no plans on telling her about it either.

It was so much more than what she was making it sound like. A slight adjustment to his formula was not a minor change. It was a major change. A slight adjustment to the heart can give someone heart failure, you'd find that out on your first attempt to make a slight change. But he had changed the formula before and if this did what she said it could, he expected that he could handle it. It was the potency that he was skeptical of. How much in the genetic changes would have taken away from the final source? There was only one way to find out and right now he didn't have any viable subjects near.

As much as the thought of using Miss Ivy as the first test subject was pleasant, it would never happened. The fact that she was immune to it in the first place still bothered him and for that fact he had went to great length to get rid of and stay away from her. He had little time to waste on others that wasted his time. Imperfect science experiments, failed ones at that weren't worth talking to for very long.

Dr. Crane turned to the fruit as she commented on having any more questions. He didn't and would have been perfectly content tending to the planet in front of him and harvesting it to start working on what was to be his newest creation….Until she mentioned a cost. Just as he suspected, nothing in Gotham was free and nothing came at a fair price. The last thing he wanted was to be chained to this woman, dependent for his supply. If it was between her and Ra's he would have still rather killed them both then be under either of them. But that was not his purpose, it was so much greater than all of them and they were too blind to see it….He would fix that.

The should have been able to sustain the plant and wouldn't need any more seeds but Miss Ivy's words was telling him that there may be something he doesn't know about it yet. "A price….Of course…." He spoke softly and touched the fruit gently as if it was a child to him. It was the only thing that Dr. Crane could be considered gentle with because it mattered the most. He didn't have any money to give her, though it wasn't a problem if he needed it. "I always intend to pay my debts Miss Ivy." He replied in response. He'd always intended upon it, it just didn't always go that way for anyone. "There is little value in paper….a dead tree is nothing to you anymore…Or I…What payment would you require?" He asked his final question.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Now focused upon taking her leave of this place before she changes her mind or has to endure more of Crane's presence than strictly required, she's nevertheless so annoyed when he asks for specifics about how he'll pay her that she looks back over at him to cast him a weary expression. "I suppose you would owe me a favor," she answers.

Turning back to her equipment, she makes sure that it's been properly stored in its containers as she elaborates, "Since everything you can do that I don't is completely pointless, I certainly don't need anything from you. But I'm sure that I could come up with some menial task that I'd rather not do myself if I had to."

Hmm, like hauling around lab equipment, for example. Not wanting to draw out the process any more than necessary, once she's satisfied with how her equipment has been arranged, she snaps the lids in place on the containers, stacks them, and then proceeds to carry both by holding onto the one on the bottom.

Which, given the number and type of scientific equipment she just packed away, reveals that she's quite a bit stronger than she used to be. Not that it would require superhuman strength to lift both containers at once, but she used to be as physical as a multi-millionaire heiress would be expected to be, and now she's clearly more in the realm of a female weightlifter. Not one of those muscle-bound, testosterone-fueled bodybuilding women, but the type that regularly lifts heavy things for the sake of lifting heavy things. Not that Poison Ivy does that, but she has the strength of someone who does. And she doesn't think anything of it - she simply starts off, not intending to say anything more to Crane for as long as possible.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

Everything in Gotham came at a price and he wasn't ignorant to this. Her price may have not been money but it was going to come at a cost. She may have considered herself a false martyr for the flower, wanting nothing in return but Dr. Crane knew it would be more than that. She did it in such a way that he would even continue to get more if he somehow ran out of the ability to have them or he'd lost the fruit and seed for whatever reason. No, Poison Ivy had set this up so that he would owe her something and it was done with purpose.

Upon hearing that he would owe her a favor a glance of reluctance was cast upon the fruit. It was a small price to pay for what it would be in the end though. There were many nights sat frustrated at a cold table where he wondered if freedom was a better solution. Pots were turned over and dirt into piles, squeezed plants that would probably turn the one in front of him to wrap a vine around his neck if she could hear their frightful cry. It was a failure he didn't like to talk about and wouldn't. There wasn't any need. Poison Ivy had already figured out on her own that he was unable to grow it.

The doctor watched her as she picked up the cases and made her way out on her own. He made no movement, no offer to assist with that regardless of her previous statement. Instead he let her walk away from him. It was true, in a small oversight that he didn't expect her to get this far. He'd expected her to get eaten alive by Gotham, but her career was still young. There was still time yet for things to happen that she couldn't stop and in the end she will face the fear that has led her to this moment here with him.

"Very well." He said simply and watched her walk away. He would wait for her to come to him with something that needed to be done and remember the favor. Dr. Crane went to the nearest plant and inspected it carefully. He turned his thumb over the leaves and admired every inch of it like it was pure art. "You know where to find me.."

This was truly something of a masterpiece if it was real.