Into the not-so-green yonder! (IC)

[Breella]

September 11th, 2011

Mid Afternoon, Claremont School

Gwen stood in the Jasmine Summers admin building, she had a small black bookbag packed with things she'd need. She was dressed in her heavy hiking boots, thick bluejeans, a black long sleeve under-armor shirt with a green short sleeve overlay. Her thick auburn hair was braided into one long rope that hung over her shoulder under a green and black bandanna. Summers had given Gwen only a time and a place for her pickup. Are we there yet? the Vines mused in her head. No. Gwen's reply was flat and she felt cold as she waited.

[Electra]

Gwen and the vines weren't kept waiting very long. Directly upon the appointed hour, one of the struggling rosebushes in front of the building suddenly began to bloom, one big red flower that grew in a moment and then opened wider, and wider, and wider. It yawned open to emit a small woman in a superhero costume that looked like it had been modeled on a groundskeeper's uniform. Her hair was green and very, very long, but today it was braided into a long, thick plait and twisted up into a bun to keep it out of the way. She looked harried and tired, but still managed a friendly smile when she saw Gwen waiting. "Hello, you must be Gwen. I'm Fleur de Joie. Are you all ready?"

[Breella]

Gwen could hear a commotion from the plants outside the window, she exited the door and watched the odd behavior of the bush. Gwen watched as the woman emerged and her jaw went slack. When the woman spoke Gwen's eyes went wide and she looked like a deer in headlights. You're... Fleur.de.Joie..." Gwen shook her head. Pretty lady! the Vines chimed, peeking out from under the collar of the shirt but still under Gwen's skin. "You don--" Gwen began out loud. You don't understand! That's FLEUR DE JOIE! she didn't wait for it to click with them. "I-- It's--We're honored to meet you!" she finally managed.

[Electra]

Fleur chuckled at Gwen's breathless reaction, holding out a hand clad in a leather gardening glove. It wasn't uncommon to find brand-new heroes who were a little bit overwhelmed at meeting people they'd read about and watched on television. It seemed like an eternity ago when she herself had been that green... so to speak. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she told the girl. "We've got lots of work to do today. Did Headmaster Summers tell you anything about what you'll be doing? "

[Breella]

"I-- forgive me." Gwen took a deep breath before shaking the outstretched hand and beginning again. "You're something of a goddess to some of the plants and trees I've spoken to around here, they think you're the best thing since coffee grinds and eggshells." Gwen turned her head as if listening to a far off voice.

That lady?

I'll explain later! Gwen hushed the Vines.

"I'm going with you, I'll be helping with transforming to prepare our last effort in case of worst outcome." Gwen tried her best to keep a straight face as she said it. It was so surreal to her, specially after the events of the morning and the night before.

[Electra]

"That's essentially correct, yes," Stesha agreed. She didn't seem to hear the voices of the vines, but neither did she seem too surprised at the idea that Gwen listened to what the plants had to say. "You'll be coming with me to my headquarters on Sanctuary, an alternate Earth that we've been terraforming to be inhabitable once again. We're going to begin moving refugees in the next day or two, but there is a lot that still needs to be done. Are you ready to go?"

[Breella]

Will it hurt? There was a hesitation on the Vines part.I doubt it. Gwen responded after thinking it over for a moment. Ok, lets go! The enthusiasm about experiencing a new place apparent in their voice. The Vines always liked seeing new places. "As I'll ever be." Gwen responded, looking around her face got curious, as she recalled Fleur's entrance Gwen's face grew concerned. "How do we get there?"

[Electra]

"Don't worry, I've got it covered." Stesha assured her. She reached out and touched Gwen's shoulder. In a moment, the grass around them shot up till it was taller than fully-grown corn, and they were engulfed in green. A quick sensation of motion, the pervasive smell of freshly-mown grass, and suddenly they were standing in the middle of a forest. A little clearing held a house that seemed to be made entirely of plants, as well as a few outbuildings and a tall windmill on a scaffolding that took it above the treeline.

"Welcome to Sanctuary," Stesha told Gwen. "I need to check on the baby for just a moment, then I can show you around. Can I get you something to drink?"

[Breella]

Gwen was startled as the grass came up around them. A collective gasp came from the Vines. Gwen held her breath. As they emerged she took in a sharp breath and looked around. Sanctuary was not what Gwen was expecting. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but the sheer amount of plant life and green wasn't it. She wondered what could possibly need terraforming here. "Uh... just water." Gwen followed Fleur, looking towards the sky. Maybe we're in a bubble...

[Electra]

Only a slice of sky was visible above the trees, but it seemed blue and pleasant, with no sign of an atmospheric bubble. Fleur led the way into the little house, where a woman was supervising a handful of school-aged children. The kids were sitting on a couch and in comfortable chairs, watching what looked to be a classroom lesson being played on the television. Not wanting to disrupt the lesson, Fleur just smiled and pointed towards the back of the house. As she passed the open kitchenette, she got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and handed it to Gwen.

"Those are some of the indigenous people," Fleur murmured to Gwen as they left the living area. "Their ancestors survived the destruction on this world, and now they live here at Sanctuary. Reading's become almost a lost art with the younger ones, so I've been working with Freedom College extension to get video lessons in." She put a finger over her lips and opened the door into a cute little plant-walled nursery. In an oak crib with yellow trim, Gwen caught a glimpse of a swaddled, sleeping infant with green hair. Assured that all was well, Fleur closed the door softly and led Gwen out the back door.

[Breella]

"I... I thought this planet was ravaged by some kind of chemical, or technological warfare? How were there survivors?!" Gwen cracked the top of the bottle and took a sip before putting it into the holder on her bookbag. She eyed the children and the television for a moment before she turned to see the green haired baby. Gwen's face lightened a little when she noticed the resemblance to Fleur. "I thought this version of Earth was too polluted to support life for the most part."

[Electra]

"For the most part, yes," Fleur agreed, stepping back into the clearing. "They had a subsistence-level existence, and barely that, living in caves, eating lichens and rodents, drinking polluted water. I had no idea they were here until they found me, actually. One of their scouts traveled far enough to reach the edge of Sanctuary and when they saw the trees and plants, the whole group came up. I'm happy to help them, of course, I just wish we could find more. If one group survived, there must be others. Right now they have a village south of what would be Wharton Forest on Prime. If we have time, I'll take you over there."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud buzzing noise from overhead. Fleur looked up, not seeming alarmed even when a massive bee the size of a semi-truck flew over the trees and into the clearing. "ZZZTEZZ... FLEUR DE ZZHOIE," it boomed, seeing her in costume, "ZZHE BIPED-HIVEZZ ARE ON ZZCHEDULE, BUT ZZHE WATER ZZTILL IZZ ABZZENT. ZZOON ZZHERE WILL BEE NO MORE MUD FOR BUILDING."

[Breella]

Gwen nodded and made a mental note about what Fleur said about the natives. It would be interesting to get to know them, she found herself wondering if they had any kind of agriculture system she could help them improve when the buzzing caused her to nearly drop to the floor. Gwen froze like a deer in headlights still facing Fleur but her eyes looking up. The Vines peeked out around her collar and small purple flowers began to blossom there. She waited and listened to the-- was that a BEE?! Gwen's mind raced and she turned her eyes back to Fleur and pointed up without moving her hand very far and made an inquiring face.

[Electra]

Stesha smiled a little at Gwen's reaction to the giant insect. Everyone behaved a little differently upon making the acquaintance of the bees. "Thank you for the report, Beelizabeth!" she told the bee. "This is Flora, she is going to be helping with the water problem. With her assistance, we should be able to open the waterway again by this evening. Flora, this is Beelizabeth, one of the giant bees who live up in what would have been Wharton Forest. They've been a great help with the terraforming project."

"ZZHAT IZZ GOOD NEWZZ," said the giant bee. "ZHEE LITTLE ONEZZ ARE ENJOYING PLAYING IN ZZHE MUD AND BUILDING ZZHE ZZTRUCTUREZZ. IT IZZ GOOD PRACTIZZ FOR HIVE BUILDING. ZZHE QUEEN IZZ MOZZT BEELEEZZED."

"I'm glad!" Stesha said with a laugh. "I'm sure they're learning a lot!"

[Breella]

Gwen's tensions eased slightly, and the vines retracted their flowers. Gwen's face was confused until the exchange finally settled in. "It is an honor to meet you." Gwen managed once her nerves settled. She looked at Fleur then back to the giant bee-- Beelizabeth she thought Fleur had called it. Of all the odd things Gwen had seen in her month and a half since coming to Claremont this had to take some kind of cake. Gwen had seen some giant things while traversing jungles, forests and deserts but giant bee's were a new territory for her. "Yes, I have some samples of plants with me that should help purify the water and air."

[Electra]

The giant bee waggled her antennae at Flora in greeting. "ANY FRIEND OF FLEUR DE ZZHOIE IZZ A FRIEND TO BEEZZ," she told Gwen gravely.

"How's Bay-bee doing?" Fleur asked Beelizabeth. "I know she was disappointed that all of this trouble delayed her entrance at Claremont."

"DIZZAPPOINTED, YEZZ," the bee agreed. "BUT ZZHE IZZ YOUNG AND BEEZZILLIANT. ZZHE WILL HAVE HER CHANZZ TO ZZEE ZHE OLD WORLD IN TIME. ZZHE IZZ AZZIZZTING WIZZ ZHE ZZTRUCTUREZZ."

"That's good to hear," Fleur replied. "Why don't you send her down to the river mouth? She can be a runner for Flora if she needs to send any messages, and that'll give her a chance to meet a future classmate, too."

[Breella]

It took Gwen a moment to realize that they were talking about a bee coming to Claremont. Gwen wondered how a giant bee was going to attend Claremont and not cause a scene but she put that idea away. "This mention of mud drying up, I imagine there's a dam in place?" Gwen reached back and took the water bottle out for a sip. The Vines peaked out farther from her shirt collar, a few more still on her skin made their way down Gwen's arms to her fingers. Big Bee at home? the inquired I guess soon.

[Electra]

"There is," Fleur agreed, "or rather, there are. When the Freedom City bridges fell, they created partial dams, which we were able to expand upon as needed. The South River had a lucky confluence of sand and silt at the Pramas dam, one that kept out a lot of the pollution from the bay and partially filtered the water. Gaian Knight and I expanded on that with additional sand and plants, so it provides the potable water for the south part of Sanctuary. The Wading River... well, I'll show you. Beelizabeth, could we get a ride, please?"

The giant bee obligingly descended to the ground, waiting for the women to hop aboard. A large vine rose from the earth and wrapped around Fleur's middle, lifting her and depositing her squarely on the bee's fuzzy back, just behind the head. The vine then formed itself into a spiral like a playground ladder, inviting Gwen to board as well.

[Breella]

Gwen smiled and thanked the vine as she boarded. "I've got some Anarcharis, Water Hyacinth, cat tails and Water Lettuce for Metals and Nitrates. Softrush, Bulrush and water mint for bacteria like e-coli. Also brought some Sweetflag for oxygenation." Gwen blushed and felt she was rambling. "My parents helped pick the varieties, I told them this was a school project, which it sort of is." Reaching the top and trying to settle as Fleur had Gwen wondered out loud. "Do I have to hold on to something?"

[Electra]

"Beelizabeth's an excellent flier, just hang onto the fuzz." Fleur demonstrated, grabbing hold of a few tufts of yellow bee fuzz as the giant insect lifted off and headed north. "All those plants sound like excellent choices. I have some more seeds here, pretty much any varietal you might need, but it sounds like you've already done your homework," she told Gwen approvingly.

They flew over the forest, which didn't thin the way normal forests would, but ended abruptly on the edge of a cliff that overlooked... ruination. If Gwen looked very hard, she could pick out what might be the outliine of Freedom City below, but there were no real landmarks, no intact buildings, just rubble and ponds of noxious-looking sludge and burnt out hulls that might once have been homes and businesses. Behind them to the southeast was the South River, sluggish and dark near the Centery Narrows, then lightening to something far healthier looking east of a giant plant-studded embankment and through a grove of aquatic plants . The plants were the only healthy living thing in this entire area so far.

"There's the South River Dam," Fleur pointed out. "It's doing a good job of keeping the polluted bay water out, even cleaning it up somewhat. There's another embankment of silt and plants on the western edge of Sanctuary, cleaning the source waters, and between them the water is drinkable. Eventually we want to create a sort of Everglades-like swamp in Centery Narrows, keep the oceanic pollution in check all the way out, but there's no time right now." As they continued north, the Wading River came into view. It was in considerably worse shape than its smaller cousin. Its broad mouth, made even broader by the fact that much of Kingston seemed to be entirely absent, allowed polluted ocean water to flow freely into the river water, sending dark and oily streamers up through the waterway. "This is what we need to control right now."

[Breella]

"Oi! Dios Mio!" Gwen gasped in the tongue of her mother. She whispered a silent prayer under her breath, it may also have been swears but her voice was nearly absent. "This is-- what actually happened here?" Gwen shook her head as she took in more of the scene. It would need a lot of work. She would defiantly need the oil eating bacteria her uncle recommended and was silently glad that she had taken him serious when she described the scenario to him. Gwen bit her lip hard, finding herself worried about the current possibilities of her own version of Earth.

[Electra]

"There was a war," Stesha explained, her own face tightening as she looked over the wreckage. The air quality was noticeably different here as well, murky and hazy, unpleasant to breathe while not actively promoting coughing spasms yet. "We think it was about a hundred years ago, which is why there's so much less rubble than you might expect. They didn't have nuclear arsenals, but they had advanced weapons. We think the Grue may have been involved in giving it to them, but by the time the war was over, there was little of value left. The whole world is like this, or even worse. Here, we've almost arrived."

The giant bee touched down on the edge of the river, in what would've once been the Lindroos Bridge between City Center and Kingston. Now it was nothing but an earthen embankment connecting two peninsulas of ruins, with disgusting water lapping up against the dirt. Fleur thanked the bee with a few quiet words while Gwen took in the scene, then waited for it to fly off. "Gaian Knight put up the embankment earlier this week," she told Gwen. "It needs to be shored up with deep roots all along its length so it can't be washed away, then surrounded by water plants to help the cleaning process. Do you see what we're trying to do?"

[Breella]

Gwen put her bookbag down, several of the Vines trailed down her arm and grazed the ground but quickly came back up. Feels icky. Gwen raised a hand and petted them. "Thats-- that is just horrible." Gwen looked our over the expanse of land. "I've read about constructed wetlands, which sounds like what you're thinking." Gwen pulled out a camera. "Do you mind if I chronicle some of this for my records?"

[Electra]

"Go ahead," Stesha told her expansively. "I'd prefer not to see photos of this place in wide distribution, simply because part of what protects Sanctuary is that it's not widely known about. But you can feel free to take pictures of the scenery as much as you like. Just ask before taking photos of the humans and any individual bees, same as with any photography." She looked over the embankment, shook her head a little. "Whatever you can do, whatever you want to do, I appreciate it very much. There are just so many places that need attention, and this is one of the biggest and most involved jobs."