Classes had been taking more of her time than she'd expected, but Ginger finally had some free time to explore the island's unusual plant life. After checking that she'd packed everything she planned to, she put on her backpack and headed out of the dorms. Her breasts were restrained by a elastic bandage under her white tank top and thin beige shirt, while a pair of cut-off jeans showed off her legs. Although she expected to be in the shade most of the time, her exposed skin shone slightly from the sunblock she'd put on; there were more than a few clearings in the woods, and she burned far too easily if she wasn't careful.

As she headed towards the edge of the forest, she remained blissfully unaware that she was being watched.

Indeed Ginger was being watched. She'd been watched for the past few days to be honest. Xenoanthropological Officer N!xao Cangelosi had come across the aspiring outdoorswoman's file a week ago. She'd be a trick catch to be sure, but worth every second. From bush to bush the blob followed, eyes darting here and there, following the hiker into the woods. Plenty of plant life to distract her there for sure.

At the moment, she had no particular destination in mind, instead just following a path and keeping her eyes open for any unusual-looking plants. While there were quite a few in Birch's garden, she was interested in seeing some in a more natural setting right now.

It wasn't too long before a flowering vine wrapped around a tree caught her attention and she sat down on a nearby rock, taking out a sketchpad and pencil to make a drawing of it. A slight noise from a bush caused her to pause briefly, but she quickly dismissed it as the wind; all evidence she'd seen supported Birch's statement about there not being any animal life on the island, and she strongly doubted she'd just happen onto another animate plant in almost the same circumstances as how she'd met him. Returning to work on her sketch, she shifted her position slightly, giving her unseen observer a good view of her butt.

And a nice bottom indeed. Cangelosi was making a few observations of his own. Artistic leaning, prefers solitary places, interested in flora...hrm, that gives him an idea. Quickly the blob whooshes through the brush, simulating actions of a small woodland creature. It knew a copse a few yards down the path that would make a perfect setting for Ginger's despoil kent, picturesque view of the beach below, flowery vegetation, and above all, far away from everywhere else.

She'd just about finished the sketch, apart from a few notes about the plant, when there was another rustling in the undergrowth. This time, there was no question of it being the wind; it was too loud and too confined to one place. Despite turning quickly, she still wasn't able to see what had made the noise. It was reasonably clear which way it went, though, based on the movement of the plants. Curious, she put her things back in her bag and followed the trail, attempting to see what had made the sound.

While she couldn't get a glimpse of it, it kept disturbing vegetation as it fled, allowing her to track it to a nearby copse. Once there, however, she could no longer see any trace of it; if she didn't know better, she'd swear it had deliberately led her here. She was quickly distracted from any attempt to find it by the scenery of the grove itself; while she recognized some of the flowers, others were completely new to her, and none were types she'd seen in the wild before. With a silent thought of thanks to whatever had led her here, she began to explore the botanical treasure trove.

There was one group of flowers in particular that seemed to stand out among the ones in the copse, a group of roses, black as night, with stems a darkish red, almost something that you'd find on an alien planet and not in a forest like this. The scent wafted over to Ginger's nose, so delicate, yet so insistent, like a young lover beckoning to their betrothed for one last dalliance. A slight wind blew, the birds keeping singing in the branches above, enough to convince her that maybe...there wasn't anything lying in wait for her.

The roses first caught her attention simply because they were almost familiar, but not quite; in addition to their odd coloration, they weren't growing in the same way roses normally did. A new hybrid, or a different species entirely? she thought as she moved to get a closer look.

As she got closer, the flowers' scent seemed to lure her even further in. While Birch had warned her that a number of the island's more unusual plants could attack sexually, her guard was still down; the roses didn't seem large enough to be a threat, and surely birds wouldn't stay too close to a dangerous plant. Setting aside her backpack, she leaned in to get a better whiff of the scent.

Indeed unusual and indeed dangerous, the scent of these roses started to cloud Ginger's mind, almost like a good whiff of Acapulco Gold or so she'd be told. Colors seemed sharper, noises seemed softer, crisper, the air against her skin feeling so good. She could probably not feel the thorned vine starting to creep out from the foliage, loosely wrapping around her ankle, ready to give her a good tug as the yellow centers of the rose seemed to...wait...was it staring back at her?

In the back of her mind, she suspected that the euphoric feeling was probably a sign that this was one of the dangerous plants. However, she dismissed these worries; as far as she could tell, it hadn't actually tried to do anything yet, and didn't look like it even could manage to hold an unwilling person.

It was at this point that she got the impression that the flowers were looking at her. Despite her mind telling her it was probably an illusion due to the way her senses were heightened, she still took an involuntary step back in surprise. That was when she discovered the vine around her ankle, as it caused her to lose her balance and land on her butt.

The thorned vine drew into a tentacle shape, tightening around the ankle as the rose bush seems to...draw out from the foliage, scooting closer to Ginger, eyes blinking softly as more tendrils seemed to draw out. "Nice colors, aren't they? I discovered them on one of the tropical islands I was deployed on before I came here. Proper scent that dulls the mind and sharpens the body, makes everything seem so...sweet." The bush shakes, a tendril flipping between her legs, giving a bold touch to her inner thighs. "Are you just as sweet?"

If she hadn't already met Birch, she'd have been sure that the plant was making her hallucinate; as it was, a second intelligent, mobile plant was a bit hard to believe.

Intelligent, mobile, and perverted plant, she mentally corrected herself as she felt a tendril rubbing her thighs. "Hey! Stop that! I don't like plants that way!" she yelled as she grabbed the tendril and tried to pull it away from her. At the same time, she tried to pull her leg free of the other tentacle, but couldn't get the leverage to do so. "Let go of me!"

The tentacles just drag Ginger across the ground slowly, lifting her off the ground by the ankles, student hanging upside down as her captor reformed into the familiar blob shape, yellowish eyes staring back at her. "You'd run away if I let you go, and I just have sooooo much information I want to get out of you. It'd be unfair.". A tendril pokes the girl markedly in the chest, dangling her.

She quickly found herself dangling upside-down in front of the… well, it wasn't a rose bush anymore; in fact, it wasn't anything more than a formless blob. Her struggles stopped; while she wasn't that high up, she had no desire to be dropped on her head.

"You'd run away if I let you go, and I just have sooooo much information I want to get out of you. It'd be unfair." As the blob spoke, it poked her in the chest.

"Hey! Quit it!" she said, moving her hands to try to block the tendril. "If you just want information, put me down so we can talk." Given the way the thing had been poking and rubbing at her, she suspected that it wanted to do something other than talk, but she could hope otherwise.

"Nice try, but the last time I did that for a girl, she ran away and I couldn't find her for a week. Caught her when she was lacrosse practice. Boy was she sore by the time I was done with her,". The blob chiggers at the recollection as the tendril slowly ran across her t-shirt, melting the cotton like acid, yet with no damage to the underneath skin. Those eyestalks narrowed. "Nope, you're gonna stay where I can see ya..."

Her shirt and tank top dissolved under the blob's touch, leaving her breasts hidden only by the elastic bandage she used to bind them. "What are you…? Hey, stop it!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. "At least turn me right side up; all my blood is rushing to my head." Despite her protests, the effects of the flowers' scent had left her sensitive, and the feel of the air on her skin was beginning to excite her.