[D6, EA] Welcome to the jungle!

[Tamori Kanna]

It seemed she was making fast friend with Sorato when it came to making trips into nature here on Green Carp! A few messages and the two already arranged for a trip to the jungle-part of the island. At least Sorato had the good sense to say they should bring some bushi friends along in case things got dicey.

Igoro had protested against going on a jungle trip, and in the end had also managed to get Kaida to stay behind with him, since he couldn't stop Kanna from going. (some days Igoro truly hated his job)

Sensibly dressed for a hike, wearing her temperator of course and a wide-brimmed hat to protect against the sun, Kanna was ready for this hike. "Everyone got their water too? It's going to be very hot today it seems!"

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

Ochiba was there with a chunky backpack and sensible hiking gear, although her long sleeved shirt did have the image of a Mantis that appeared to be...dabbing?


"Ready and hydrated Kanna-san, you lead the way and I'll just keep an eye out and stuff. Already seen this team beat up a volcano lizard, so not really worried."
She leans forward and starts lackadaisically stretching her legs.

"But sing out if you see one of those man eating bushes or whatever."

[Shinjo Suh-Hyun]

Suh-Hyun was also here. She didn't have a uniform for this, because pilots were above such silly things as walking in jungles. So instead she just found some appropriate clothing, some water, a backpack with stuff, her aviators, and a menacing rifle that was issued to her for reasons known only to the Navy. It had even been fired. Once.

"Man eating bushes?" She asked, completely believing such things existed.

[Agasha Sorato]

"It's not clear whether they're bushes, or something more like a vine or phorb. Reports are scattered, and not many people have recovered whole specimens," Sorato explains... helpfully? Maybe?

He makes some minute adjustment to the position of the shoulder straps on his daypack. The well-used pack is stocked with all the usual hiking necessaries, plus his sterile sample kit and holorecorder in easily accessible outside pockets.

A somewhat odd-looking firearm is also holstered on the exterior of the bag. Those who have seen one before would recognize a Phoenix-made polymer web gun. He hadn't wanted to say anything directly critical to Kanna (who would?), but he's glad she decided to leave her little dog at home on this one.

[Tamori Kanna]

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Kanna asked curiously, but with a touch of trepidation in her voice. Were there man-eating plants?!

Apart from being sensibly dressed, she had a water-bottle with her clearly, her backpack ready to go. Of weapons, it seemed she carried a small knife and a deflector fan, not even a sidearm of any type. Then again, as a shugenja, her power was not in physical weapons, but the command of the elemental kami.

[Hatoful GM]

The jungle was a dangerous place, but it required a certain amount of bad luck (or good, depending on your outlook) to run into the really dangerous stuff. It seemed that today would not be that day for this group of samurai.

However, it was still dark, and full of life that while perhaps not as threatening, was still certainly there. The group would have plenty of time to investigate plant life, birds, and the occasional mosquito-like insect that would bite them.

----------------

Monsters?!?! | 1k1 ⇒ 3

[Agasha Sorato]

"Oh, you haven't seen that part of the planetary almanac?" Sorato asks, in a kind tone that nevertheless suggests 'not poring over the planetary ecological data before landing' strikes him as at least mildly odd behavior. "Green Carp has quite a lot of types of carnivorous plants. Mostly not very well documented. All sizes, all sorts of habits. Some of them are reported to be very motile."

He warms to the topic as the crew wends its way deeper into the jungle. "There's supposed to be one on Shiawase Island that the local people call a 'Jigoku Flower,' big enough to be a danger to livestock. Or humans."

[Shinjo Suh-Hyun]

"And people say I live dangerously," Suh-Hyun laughed, definitely not nervously, "Space is dangerous Shinjo-san. Space has no air Shinjo-san. Yeah and it has no man eating planets either."

"So flora dangerous what about the fauna. I mean besides the lizard."

[Agasha Sorato]

"The islands have about a dozen lizard species--" Sorato stops himself. "Oh, you probably mean the volcano lizards. Those are the largest endemic terrestrial vertebrates." He tells off the list on the long blunt-tipped fingers of one hand. "Next largest is the jimen tori. They won't bother us if we don't bother them, though. Smaller predators and scavengers, mostly avian or reptile. You're not a large bug or a small bird, so you don't need to worry about those."

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

Ochiba had started peering up at trees and using a stick to overturn logs and look for burrows.

"Wait, so what's the rarest and most valuable animal then?"

The Mantis grindset was in full force.

[Tamori Kanna]

"And people say I live dangerously," Suh-Hyun laughed, definitely not nervously, "Space is dangerous Shinjo-san. Space has no air Shinjo-san. Yeah and it has no man eating planets either."

"So flora dangerous what about the fauna. I mean besides the lizard."

"I... don't like being without air, but I don't like man-eating plants either," Kanna admitted with some trepidation. Despite her short legs, she kept up no problem with the others for the hike.

"But I hope we find some interesting plants, of the non-man-eating-type, that could maybe be used for medicinal purposes!"

[Shinjo Suh-Hyun]

"I see," Suh-Hyun was on watch clearly nervous, "The jimen tori are those big birds yes? Didn't someone wear a costume of one at Ochiba-san's party?"

She wasn't jump per say, but clearly someone out of their comfort zone. "Just how big are they really?"

[Agasha Sorato]

"The birds?" Sorato asks, glancing at Suh-hyun before returning his attention to the rather minimal trail underfoot (not falling flat on his face is important too). "Not nearly as big as that costume. They're about so high... but a lot of that is neck." He holds out a hand palm-down to indicate the birds' size. Smiling a slightly secretive smile, he decides on the spur of the moment not to reveal his own secret identity as the alter ego of Giant Bird Party Guest. Ochiba could blow his cover if she chose to, of course.

"Hmm, the most valuable animal? That's hard to say. Locals value the jimen tori as sort of a mascot, as I understand it. That's not exactly cash value, though. I don't know if there's much of a market for other endemic animals." Warming to his topic, Sorato explains, "There's a lot the Crab still don't know about this ecosystem. There could be rare species no one has even described yet." Suddenly he frowns and swats at his right shoulder with his left hand, brushing away a largish winged invertebrate that was probably fixing to find out whether Sorato-blood is valuable on the local marketplace. "Not so much enthusiasm for doing detailed surveys, apparently."


---
(n.b.--could not find an actual answer on the forum as to how big the jimen tori are! In my head I've imagined them maybe a bit bigger than an Earth dodo, but that would still be a good measure shorter than a human... if they're horse-sized then, um, oops.)

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

Ochiba would never violate costume party secrecy laws. Not when said bird might be needed for bird lawyering.

She merely nods offering the sage advice of “…so don’t shoot any of those birds if we see them” before trying to work out which direction they should be heading.

[Agasha Sorato]

"Probably better not to," Sorato agrees, and then--"Ahh, what's this?" He stops in his tracks in a way that would be familiar to Kanna (if not to the other two women) from their earlier hike on Mount Nakahama, crouching down to inspect a small ferny plant growing epiphytically on the twisted trunk of a tree.

He records a few images of its growth habit before carefully snipping a sample. Whether or not it ultimately proves scientifically useful... that will be up to the lab types to discern for sure.

--
D6 EA--in the JUNGGLLE! looking for potentially useful plant samples with Medicine | 6k3 ⇒ 24

[Tamori Kanna]

"Oh yeah, that was an amazing costume!" Kanna didn't know it had been Sorato either, but clearly had liked it.

As Sorato takes some images of the growth, the Dragon takes some pictures of the group instead and of their surroundings. "Wow, it's so pretty heeere," she spun around a little bit. "Makes you wonder if someone's gonna up a teashop or something all the way out in the jungle some time, to let people soak in the beauty!"

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

"...."
Ochiba looks around.

"...You think it would be profitable?"
She definitely poses for any photos whenever possible.

[Shinjo Suh-Hyun]

"Well they would have four customers today at least." She mused, "Maybe put it on treads and drive it around."

Suh-Hyun was less concerned with pictures and had taken to eyeballing every plant, expecting some plant murder appendage to appear. Or some poison spines shooting out. Or deadly pollen sprays. Or....

"So what do the killer plants look like? We don't cultivate murder magnolias on New Hope Castle." She chuckled at her poor joke. Nervously.

[Tamori Kanna]

"Ooooh, I like that idea! Portable tea-house!"

Kanna was perhaps even seriously considering that idea as a future expansion for the Dragon.

"Uhh, I don't know what it looks like. But, what do you grow on New Hope Castle? It must be something very cool since New Hope Castle is a very pretty name."

[Shinjo Suh-Hyun]

"Lot's of things. Vegetables and grains of all sorts for a start." Suh-Hyun smiled, nothing that can kill me, "But the vast majority is used for air recycling. So plants that are good at pulling the carbon dioxide out of the air and turning it back into oxygen. I'm not an expert but my understanding is it takes a huge strain off our mechanical scrubbers."

She pushes a leaf out of the way, eyeing it suspiciously, "It's all in large cultivator domes, you can wander in them and enjoy the beauty."