A Botanical Daughter

It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregors business is exotic plants lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant hes seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter. Driven by the glory hell earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.