Private Barracks/Imperial Condos Jungle in a Bell Jar

[Duchess Dusk Rainblade]

The Misanthropy Greenhouse of Deadly Delights, as it had whimsically been named, was said to have originated with Bloodstone, the first Blighted of the Director's Men. It had grown over the years and under the watchful eye of various experts into the Vulpinsula's premier collection of toxic, poisonous, and generally hazardous plants and flowers. Everything from nettles to nightshade, wakes robin to wolfsbane, and every letter beside had found its way into the collection, carried from across the known world into a beautiful botanical garden of death. Of course, visitation was strictly limited, as much for the risk of liability for injury or death on Ministry property as for the dangers of the collection passing into less scrupulous paws.

Dusk was seated at a small table in the middle of the gardens, framed against a dazzling display of desert roses that Paphnutia had brought as tribute when she'd joined Misanthropy. They had started with a single plant and, with time and patience, were well on their way to breeding an even more toxic strain of the plant. The gardeners assured her that within a decade, a single bulb would be able to kill a beast dead. She waited for the strange foreign dignitary to be shown in, toying with the tea set between them. She always enjoyed serving tea in this room; she liked to keep her guests guessing as to what else might be in the mixture. It helped to give her the upper paw in negotiations. I'll have to host Talinn in here someday, she mused.

 

[Tal'Rakan]

After spending another part of his day being guided by the Fennec Fox priest known to him as Nutty. Tal'Rakan was unspeakably glad to be left where he was. A strange building made of glass and stone, inside of which the temperature and moisture were more akin to his home. Why was it here? He had no idea but the plants around him were... obviously deadly. Just as everything in the jungles. His humble origin from a meager serf who grew the smokeleaf made him decently aware of the dangers plants brought.

But he welcomed this deadly surroundings with eagerness, in part because it was just like his home, in another... because certain beast wasn't making his head hurt anymore.

He walked pasted the garden, admiring and even recognizing some plants as those his home was adorned with. Some small Chaca trees adorned with Cempasúchil flowers in particular ringed close to his heart.

But he wasn't here to enjoy the sights. There was a High priestess (as he gathered) to be met. He knew nothing but her name and status, but after surviving Nutty he was sure it couldn't get worse.

When he spotted her, at the small table with a cup of tea, he wasn't sure at first what to think. A red vixen, greying already but still sharp, as he observed, didn't feel like a holy person at all.

Still, to make sure there is no incident in his mission, he extended his arms to let his coat of feathers look like wings and he lowered his head, holding the pose of a piking bird.

"In the name of Phoenixes, I Tal'Rakan, first claw of their will, khreet you o venerated speaker and scholar of... the Solar Fox. Please, take the word of this mortal, who in his duty shall speak for them." He finally got up and looked into her eyes while sitting down in front of her.

"Hikh Priestess of Dusk." He started. "As in my introduction, I was sent pry the Divine Phoenixes, rulers of my homeland and kind, in order to reestaprlish the contacts we used to have in the past." He gracefully omitted the unpleasant parts of said past.