noah_browning (noah_browning) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-03-28 13:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | noah browning, rahel verma |
Saturday, March 28
Who: Rahel Verma, Noah Browning
What: Welcome to the pit of vipers.
When: Saturday morning, March 28
Where: The Titan Arum exhibition
Rating: G
Status: COMPLETE
Noah got back from his morning run with Jeff to find a message from an excited and ecstatic Bailey that the amorphophallus titanum had bloomed, that the exhibition was on, that it smelled just as badly as she'd thought it would, and that she'd never been happier.
With a grin, Noah showered and shaved and dressed in black jeans and a black button-up shirt. He was not going to wear a suit; he knew from long experience how hot and steamy greenhouses were, and would not force himself to melt in the heat for the sake of a little professionalism. Bagel in hand, he biked over to UW.
He locked up his bike and made his way to the greenhouse. And good god, it was a stench. His eyes watered, and he blinked it away. Jesus, he was never going to get this smell off him after spending the day with it. But the botanist within him was thrilled. While laypeople might not think that the amorphophallus was beautiful--and for those who thought that beauty lay only with roses and such, it would not be considered such--he did. He gazed at it with a scientist's eye until Bailey appeared and flung herself at him. She'd always been easily excitable, and this had tipped her over into giddy, at least temporarily. Gently he peeled her off him, set her back on her feet, and tucked her hair behind her ear again. She wore one of those sticky name tags that said, Hello, my name is and someone had written in the stinky and wildly-excited Dr. Bailey, which made Noah smile.
Bailey was glad to talk about the amorphophallus, to drag out a stepladder to let him peer inside the unfurled, skirt-like green and maroon spathe to the tiny true flowers, male and female, tucked at the bottom of the spike-like spadix. They spent long moments talking about what she planned to do--after the collapse of the inflorescence, she would dissect and preserve it for future study--and then Nate her TA tugged at their pants legs and made them come down again, because Bailey needed to speak to someone from a botanical journal, there to interview and take pictures.
Noah was glad to let her do that; while he didn't mind delivering mini-lectures, he didn't want to deal with press. Nate took the stepladder from him--undoubtedly they'd be using it again--and slapped a name tag on Noah's chest. Hello, my name is the stinky and loquacious Dr. Browning, he read, which made him laugh, because it was true.
"I think I'd prefer 'articulate' or better yet, 'multiloquent,'" he said, and Nate grinned cheekily at him.
"Too bad. I have the marker and the thesaurus, so I have the power," Nate replied. His own tag read, the malodorous yet strikingly-handsome Nate. "Outside behind the greenhouse is a table set up with coffee and tea and snack stuff, if you can still eat after this. Dr. Hamilton is out there now, if you want to get some air before they start letting people in."
Noah went, because the TAs and greenhouse staff had things well in hand, and he'd be underfoot. He worked frequently at the Botanical Gardens with Hamilton, and they got on well. It didn't take long to be drawn back inside, though, and after a quick cup of tea, he returned. There were many people to speak with from all across the country, here to observe and examine. Most of their fellow professionals appeared before the gates opened to the public, an opportunity to study in relative peace and quiet, and would return again after closing for more quiet time. Noah loved talking shop with other botanists, so he was extraordinarily happy.
The public began arriving, a surprising number of them, and Noah found himself busy. In spite of the smell, which was intensified by the heat and humidity, he mostly remained in the greenhouse, helping where he could, delivering his mini-lectures on the life cycle of the amorphophallus and answering questions, trying to avoid having his picture taken. As expected, the public viewed it as an oddity instead of as the wonder it was, but he didn't mind--no knowledge was ever wasted.
At mid-morning he'd just finished his latest lecture, hopping down from the box Nate had placed so they could be easier seen and heard by the crowd, and had picked up his bottle of water when he noticed a tall woman slipping out of the crowd and making her way toward him. He wiped the sweat from his face and neck, then took a long swallow of water before turning his attention to her.