Open Post: Hard at Work

[sporesprouter]

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.

Comments

[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."

[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?"

[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."

[wickedwit]

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

[sporesprouter]

"I've never tried to make something with wings out of midnight spores before. Maybe... I don't know, maybe, since they aren't really alive, one can fly farther than Temeraire could, and I could see what's beyond the barrier. It might not work, but it's worth a try."

[wickedwit]

"Certainly. Whether it makes it past the barrier or doesn't, it will tell us something about the nature of whatever force is keeping us here. Do you have some way of seeing through them, then?" he asks, just trying to picture what's involved here. Claudius saw her grow the verdant spores before in the garden, and he gathers there are different kinds of spores with different properties -- spores that can rise higher through projection from a firearm or from the addition of wings. It doesn't quite follow how Tress can see past the barrier with them.

[sporesprouter]

She takes a slow breath. "Midnight spores are... different. With water, they make... well, the best way to describe them is a creature. Offer it water, and it will follow your directions to an extent. If you link closely enough, though, you can see through it's eyes as if you were the midnight creature, and control it, although it gets harder the more time goes on."

[wickedwit]

The possibilities of such a power stun Claudius for a moment. Truth be told, if he had some of those spores, he doesn't know whether he'd trust himself to use them altruistically. It would be tempting to set up spore spies to gather information on the people in the house, rather than on the outer limits of their cage. "In what ways?" he asks.

[sporesprouter]

"It's... sort of a trade, with them. You give them enough water, they'll do what you want." She hesitates for a bit, wavering, before going on. "But when you're that connected, they're taking the water directly out of you."

[wickedwit]

"Ah." Some details are coming together -- the bottles of water by the workshop table, primarily. He nods towards them. "Are those to replenish your resources?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "As long as I drink it fast enough after the bond severs, anyway. Once I figure out how to sever it myself when I'm not in myself."

[wickedwit]

"This is just a thought," Claudius says with a very studied sort of casualness, as the risks become more obvious. "Will you want company when you try this experiment? Someone to keep an eye out in case things turn awry?"

[sporesprouter]

Tress brightens for half a moment. "That could be--" She pauses, then, looking just a bit uncertain. "I mean, if it's all right? I really would hate to impose for something that might not work anyway."

[wickedwit]

"It's no imposition at all. When we first met, we talked about the importance of collaborating and sharing different perspectives, didn't we? If we work together, we're more likely to catch things we might miss alone."

[sporesprouter]

She nods slowly. "You're right. And it would be... useful to have backup." She's absolutely not going to mention that this will be all of the... second... time she's gone this far with midnight spores. It's important to at least try and she's determined to do that much.

[wickedwit]

Claudius nods, satisfied that if Tress is going to do anything dangerous, she won't being doing it on her own. He's not convinced he can make it less dangerous. "There you are," he says. "Whatever support I can offer. But tell me, have you been hard at work on this problem the whole time? Have you had any pasttimes?"

[sporesprouter]

"I've done a bit of baking?" She thinks a bit. "Oh! And I met a horse."

[wickedwit]

"Sir Galahad mentioned you teaching him to bake. He's taken off with it -- he baked a pie for me, believe it or not. I believe you've been a positive influence," Claudius says with a wry, but appreciative, smile. "Was the horse Sir Sagramore's?"

[sporesprouter]

She noticeably brightens at that. "Oh, good! He was having a really rough day. Missing home. I thought making some pie could at least help keep his mind off of it for a while. It's always good to have something to do." And clearly better to have way too much to do. "And yes, it was Sir Sagramore's horse, Fényes. He taught me how to brush her."

[wickedwit]

Claudius doesn't spare too much thought to what Galahad might have been forlorn about. Missing home is a fair explanation -- though from what he's heard, it isn't home the knight misses so much as having some purpose and direction. "Your instincts were correct, I think, with Galahad. He needs something to do. And you've gathered intelligence I haven't," Claudius says, in playful (or perhaps sincere) congratulations. "All the names in the mansion I've collected, and I hadn't gathered Sagramore's horse's. Was it your first time meeting one? I can't imagine there were many on a saltstone island or on the spore seas."

[sporesprouter]

Tress nods. "She is. I had a cup with a painted horse on it, but I'd never seen one in person. I was a little worried about how large she was, but she's very sweet."

[wickedwit]

"They're always larger than you imagine they've any right to be. I admire anyone who can keep a horse tame and sweet." Claudius interrupts his own private admiration of Sagramore to ask, "Do you think you'll take up horse-riding?"

[sporesprouter]

"Maybe at least a little. He's offered to teach me and I figure there are definitely more horses here than ships, so it might be useful to at least know how to do a bit."

[wickedwit]

"It's all I can do to sit on a horse and not fall, quite frankly. But you might do well at it. It can be freeing -- no less than sailing, I'm sure, for those who are skilled at it."

[sporesprouter]

"If I can achieve not falling off, I'll count it as an achievement. Even if I do fall, I'm sure they'll both be very patient with me."