sporesprouter | Open Post: Hard at Work

Yes, Tress might have been up late charting stars, but that doesn't mean that she can't get up at dawn to start doing other work on the continued Operation Get Us Out of Here.

So it's barely light outside when she tucks herself into an out of the way workroom that she's decided to repurpose as a sprouter's workshop. She doesn't have much in the way of spores, just what she arrived with, but that was no reason not to use some. What was the point of hoarding a potential resource? Sitting on something that might be able to help? Not a great idea.

So she currently sits at a table with some supplies laid out carefully before her, carefully taking water from a bowl in front of her with an eyedropper to some pink-red spores and shaping the crystals that spring up from them with a small iron shield-shaped plate and a steel trowel. She's working slowly and incrementally, but several finished spheres sit on the table away from her active work.

On the floor to the side of the table are several full drinking water bottles that she found and commandeered, knowing they'd come in handy if she decides to move on to her next idea.

For now, though, pink crystal spheres.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wickedwit

So as not to disturb what looks like delicate work, Claudius raps lightly on the doorframe to Tress's workshop. "Lady Tress," he says in welcome. "Am I interrupting?"

From:

sporesprouter

She manages not to jump at the knocking sound and sets her tools down before turning to look. She smiles. "Oh, hello. No, it's fine. Probably good to take a small break anyway."

From:

wickedwit

"Sometimes it's best to break away from an alchemical problem and return to it with fresh eyes," he says, and smiles in turn. "I must admit I'm interested. What were you working on?"

From:

sporesprouter

"I had my flare gun with me when I got here, but not any flares. I don't know if I'll actually need any, but better to be prepared." She stretches her arms and rolls her neck out. "Vine flares, too, just in case. I'm just making the casings right now."

From:

wickedwit

"Ah, I see." Claudius enters the room, and sits somewhere at the corner of the table, taking care not to unsettle any of her experiments. "So the work is more repetitive than problematic. It's best to take a break from that, too. What's the principle behind them? What happens to activate the flares?"

From:

sporesprouter

She gives him a slight smile. "I'm saving the problematic work for when I've been awake a little longer." She glances down at the water bottles on the floor. "Or a lot longer." She looks back up at him. "It's like a smaller cannonball. The launch will push a plug with a silver bit through the outside casing and inside. It kills a few of the spores in the outside case, but not most, so it goes in and breaking a smaller case on the inside that's lined with wax and holds water. The water escapes and sets off the spores in the larger case." She smiles. "It'll be sunlight spores for the flares and verdant for the vine charges."

From:

wickedwit

Claudius can recognize the signs of overwork, but he's hardly in any position to chastise her for it. "A fascinating mechanism," he says instead, and means it. "Do you have any intentions for them once they're done? Or are you holding on to them until the necessity arises?"

From:

sporesprouter

"Hold on to them just in case. If I wait until I need them, there won't be enough time to make them. Also gets me back in the routines of sprouting before I try doing anything with midnight spores. That's what might actually be helpful. But I'm going to be trying things with them I haven't actually done before, so I don't want to be out of practice with the basics."

From:

wickedwit

"Practical," says Claudius. "And what will you be trying with the midnight spores?"