Charles
[Greenhouse...]

"Christ..."

Needless to say, Silas often flew far too close to the sun when it came to ranked matches. Sure, he was naturally skilled, blessed with quick reflexes and a quicker mind, but no matter how hard he tried he seemed to have the worst luck as a result of his successes. It was the end of another six hour sessions punctuated with frustrated yells and plenty of toxicity, and it had hit a point where he'd had to force himself to step away before his monitor took the brunt of his frustration.

And, when in doubt, the greenhouse was there, a city of plants, horticultural heaven for the most devout of believers in Mother Nature's plans for the Earth she had created.

Strolling through the sliding glass door as a sensor beeped once behind him, the half and half lad's head hung low, oak bark eyes warmly regarding the various plants that surrounded him. Reaching up, he plucked a hot pepper of some sort from a hanging branch, biting in before registering that what he'd just bit into was a chili. It wasn't the texture, nor the taste, but rather the searing heat that ripped through his mouth cavity a few moments later, causing him to let out a surprised utterance before dropping the rest of the pepper onto the ground and crushing it with the sole of his freshly-polished black leather shoe.

And now he had to deal with the heat; so, he simply leaned against a table, and began to breathe deeply while clenching the edge with his hands. What a *Mistake.*
Cristal
The greenhouse.

It had become something of a source of frustration for Joshua. He'd been here nearly a month, looking for the greenhouse every day, to no avail. Surely no one could have that bad of a sense of direction, right?

But today was the day. He finally found it. He stopped before the door, just close enough that it sensed him and opened. He could almost feel the variety of plants within, and it stunned him to feel so much life.

Slowly, he walks in, gazing about, awestruck. He doesn't get very far in before a small shrub catches his attention. Stepping over to it, he places a finger against one of its leaves, and feeling the life within.
Charles
"...Evening."

Now, sure, he was in quite a bit of pain. Sweat pooled in beads on his forehead, running through the creases across his forehead from four prior years of smoking like a garden fountain. His mouth felt as if he'd been forced to suck on a dirt bike muffler as a pacifier. However, he still had his awareness, and this awareness alerted him to an unfamiliar presence, someone else in the greenhouse past dark, possibly seeking solitude or a connection to the planet onto which they'd been born. Looking around, he soon spotted the unfamiliar fellow, a tall lad with long brown hair, who seemed to almost be in a trance whilst inspecting a leaf.

▪︎ Not the weirdest he'd seen.

"Don't eat the hanging fruit, it's *Spicy.*" A cough and a chuckle mingled in his throat, nearly choking him in the process. "What's up? Haven't seen ya around, mate, what's cracking?"
Cristal
This gives Joshua a a start. He hadn't even considered the possibility of someone else being in the greenhouse. He jumps and lets loose a small yelp. Then, in a voice much deeper than the yelp, he responds.

"Oh! Sorry! I thought I was the only one here. I was just..." He trails off for a moment. How could he even begin to explain that? "Uh.. I was just checking out the plants. What about you?"
Charles
So, the other lad was surprised... Fun.

"Huh, thought ya could sit here and go goblin mode in peace? Fat chance, mate." A chuckle followed as Silas tried his best to speak through the searing pain. The variety of chili he'd absent-mindedly ate, he wasn't sure, but given his downright atrocious spice tolerance it could have just as well been an anaheim, or a shishito. With the silence broke, he looked up at the lad, a necessity given his short stature, oak peering up framed in black eyeshadow hastily done out of boredom earlier in the day. "As for myself...?"

"Terrible run of ranked games today. Can't seem to get more than one good teammate in any of my matches; fuck, at this rate I'll need a rod in my back to fix my curved spine, heh." A brief exhale followed. "Anyways, saw ya inspecting one of those leaves, mate. Rare plant?"
Cristal
Silas's seemed to have quite an issue, as far as Joshua could tell. Then again, he had absolutely no clue what this guy was even talking about. 

"Not particularly," Joshua answers, deciding not to question the games. "I was just kind of taken aback by all of this." He gestures to the broad array of flora. "I've never seen this many species in such close proximity."
Charles
**"Can say that again."** He nodded, though his voice still ebbed and flowed with the waves of pain that unspecified chili had brought. The sweats hadn't ceased, but at this point all he could do in the absence of milk or honey was tough it out. **"It's really relaxing here, honestly. You see those guys... Over there?"**

Whistling, it peaked as his finger gun aligned with a small planter with several stalks coming out of it. It seemed to be some sort of edible plant, and in the few moments that would soon come to pass between bits of pained speech he approached the planter box. Pinching a tiny bit off of the top, he held it out in the tips of his fingers, a small offering from one urban druid to another. Perhaps it was weird of him to offer up a piece of plant matter like it was nothing, but he knew what was under the dirt, and he himself was guilty of occasionally plucking the greens and eating them as a light snack.

For now, though...? He had no interest.

**"Green onions. I grow 'em year-round, since they're pretty tasty as a snack. These are almost done growing, I think."** Chaos sinking into peace, he held his hand out still. **"Want some?"**
Cristal
"Sure!" Joshua smiled as he took the offered greens. He put them in his mouth. After a moment, he said "That's really good, but there's no sense in the plant having to suffer for a taste."

Reaching out, he puts a few fingers against the stalk, and slowly it grows to replace what was broken off.
Charles
**"Right."** Silas nodded, fanning air into his mouth in a moment of spice-induced weakness. **"Might be cruel, but... Shit, oh we- huh?"**

Well, this was unusual. Sure, it made sense to reason that nothing was truly usual anymore, since parahumans were now out of the shadows and an accepted part of academic study, but something about powers seemed to offend the evolutionarily-ingrained ideas of what it meant to be human. Looking on with curiosity, he watched as the patch of green he'd plucked regrew within seconds of first contact, a botanical miracle driven by whatever powers this lad had up his sleeve. Once the other had stepped back he grabbed the watering can that sat nearby, and with a gentle motion he watered the soil he'd noticed was dry whilst the taller lad was healing his onions.

It was a bit of an odd sight, to say the least.

**"So, is that your power? Plant growth? Something tells me you'd make a killing as a gardener, Christ."** He chuckled in spite of his corny joke. **"Shitty joke aside, that's pretty cool, man... Pretty cool. How'd ya figure it out? Went to eat grass as a dumb kid and found out it multiplied in your mouth?"**
Cristal
Joshua took a moment to assemble his answer. How much was he comfortable saying? He'd decided to embrace his powers here, but could he embrace where they came from as well?

Not today he couldn't. Or at least, not all of it.

"I've been this way as long as I can remember." He starts, "At first all I could do... Well.. Its hard to explain but I guess the best way to put it is I can talk to plants, and if they feel like it, they talk back. It all branched out from there." He pauses for a moment, "No pun intended."

He holds his left arm up, so that his hand, and the barky substance covering it, are more visible. He pulls his sleeve up some, revealing that the bark continues up his arm. "This started a year or two ago, so I figure there's more changes still coming my way."