The Botanist's Apprentice (Flos Magicae) by Arden Powell

Author:Arden Powell [Powell, Arden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The Nepenthes anthropophagos swayed in its enclosure as if dancing to an unheard song. Eli sat close to the glass, drawing its details in his notebook and labelling parts as he went.

“People used to use the maneater as a sexual enhancer,” Lord-Harding said. “And you suggest that we bring it back to replace the synthetic drugs that companies now pedal—the synthetics that replaced the maneater in the first place.”

“The backlash against the maneater was blown out of proportion. It was incredibly effective as a performance enhancer, far more so than the current synthetics.”

“Its potency is unrivalled, certainly. Yet men find it rather off-putting once they realize that their drug comes from a plant that would as soon digest their member for nutrients as it would help them to arousal in the first place.”

Eli blushed and tapped his pencil against his notebook. “That’s entirely illogical. The pheromones don’t pose any threat by themselves—”

“But you can see why they might hesitate. The thought of castration is somewhat counterproductive to the drug’s purpose, after all.”

“I know I’m unlikely to overturn any big pharmacy policy, but I’m going to suggest it all the same. The maneater’s pheromone-mimickers are so potent that a single plant could yield a crop for years. The synthetics used now are incredibly expensive and inefficient in comparison.”

“You needn’t convince me of its potency. But I think they’re rather more concerned with losing their bits to the plants while trying to harvest them.”

Eli bit into the end of his pencil. “Ah.”

“Something we can tackle in a subsection of the chapter,” Lord-Harding suggested. “Safety precautions, and the like.”

“All one really needs is a scheduled feeding time and a good respirator. You know this better than anyone. Most of the plants classified as 'dangerous' only require common sense in their handling, and they’re perfectly safe.”

“I forget at times how young you are,” Lord-Harding said, and Eli glanced up at the apparent fondness in his voice. “You’ll quickly find that the world has an alarming shortage of common sense.”

“I like to think it’s a lack of education, and that may be corrected easily enough.”

“People are in love with senselessness. I don’t mean that cynically; I find it charming, in its own way. In small doses, at least.”

“If you respect the plants, they’re no danger to you.” Eli gestured to the maneater behind its glass. “Vilifying a plant is nonsensical—there’s no intent to their actions. It’s no different from a flower turning to follow the sun. They need nutrients.”

“I agree entirely, but it’s a hard sell.”

Eli set his notes down to pace, his pencil still in hand. There wasn’t much room in-between the plants, but walking helped clear his head, and that was what he needed most. It was well and good to swear himself to professionalism, but their days-long talks on the properties of Osculum purpurea and Nepenthes anthropophagos were testing his will to its limits. Lord-Harding was a voice of reason, but listening to him expound on the nature of aphrodisiacs and pheromones caused a most unhelpful response in Eli.

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