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

[sagramore]

"Exactly. Try it."

[sporesprouter]

She nods and promptly walks up, crouching down and reaching over to unbuckle the saddle.

[sagramore]

He watches approvingly. Usually by the time a squire gets to a knight he's been a page for quite a few years already and knows how to do most of these things, so he's never had the opportunity to do much teaching (and also he's never had a lot of boys interested in being his page in the first place, not when there are knights with better skills and better reputations). He's not surprised that Tress is a quick study; he would have been more surprised if she weren't. But it's still satisfying to see her moving so confidently around the horse she was frightened of a week ago.

[sporesprouter]

Well, she has been back a few times to brush said horse, just to keep getting used to being around her. She has the benefit of the experience of having frightening things become less frightening the more you get to know them, and it's carried through here.

She reaches up and carefully pulls off the saddle. "Where should I put it?"

[sagramore]

"If we had just taken her out, we might clean it first, but as it is now, just put it back on the wall."

[sporesprouter]

"All right." She walks to the wall and hangs it back up, before returning to the horse and sizing up the bridle.

[sagramore]

"Do you remember the last thing I did?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, it was the buckle." She reaches up and unbuckles it before carefully extricating the bridle from Fenyes's head.

[sagramore]

She's only too happy to be rid of it, and when Tress takes the bit from between her teeth she lets out a deep sigh, lips sputtering, before lowering her head to inspect the grass.

"Perfect."

[sporesprouter]

Tress grins and gives Fenyes a pat on the neck before putting the bridle back where it came from as well.

[sagramore]

"There you are. You can practice that whenever you like. You can see she tolerates it well. Now you don't really need any of this to ride, but it helps." To demonstrate, he gets up on the horse just using her mane and his upper body strength, and takes his seat, patting her shoulder. "I know people who ride like this, and just pull the head using the mane. But you'd need a good horse, like her. Plenty of horses don't have the temperament for it."

[sporesprouter]

"Good horse and a good rider, too."

[sagramore]

He slides back to the ground again. "I think you'll be among that number soon."

[sporesprouter]

She smiles a little. "Thank you, but if I can manage not to fall off, I'll consider that a success."

[sagramore]

"All right, I suppose that's a reasonable place to start." Sagramore stretches. "Now I have a question for you. Do you know how to cook?"

[sporesprouter]

"Yes. I'm best at baking, but I can do regular cooking too. And thank goodness, because if the ship had had to eat what Fort was making for any longer than they were..."

[sagramore]

"All right, well, I think my cooking may be on par with this Fort person. I know how to feed myself more or less, but--" He makes a face at her expressively.

[sporesprouter]

"But it's not any good?" She nods. "I could probably make you something. Or teach you to make something better than you can manage already."

[sagramore]

"Yes, I'd like to learn something. I'm not in any danger of starving, but I like to keep busy, so I'd prefer to go beyond the magic box if possible."

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "All right. And how simple would you like to start?"

[sagramore]

"Well-- you might begin by showing me how to use that contraption in the kitchen. I'm more use to cooking over a fire if I do anything."

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "Yes. It's much better than the stoves I've used have back home. It should definitely make your cooking easier."

[sagramore]

"Are these things in the kitchen just-- magic from other worlds? Or are any of them unfamiliar to you too?"

[sporesprouter]

"A lot of them seem to me like... things similar to what I've used before, but more advanced in a way." She frowns. "But not everything. I think one of those boxes is supposed to wash dishes but I don't even know where to begin with it."

[sagramore]

"Christ, imagine having dishes washed for you."