Open Post: Treat

[sporesprouter]

Now that the latest burst of activity has actually settled into something like calm for a few days, Tress has settled into a temporary project. In fairness, most of the temporary project took place the previous day in the out of the way kitchen that she had previously commandeered small appliances from. But today requires a bit more wandering.

So she is currently in the process of going around various at least semi-frequented common rooms leaving trays of both nut and honey balls and chocolate coconut balls. Next to each room's tray, she sets down a small card that says in careful handwriting, 'It's been a tough week. Help yourself!'

She's not putting a whole lot of fanfare into the process, but she's also not being particularly secretive about it, so she's easy enough to find throughout.

Comments

[az_fell]

"Ah," says Aziraphale with understanding. "He wanted to protect you." Crowley would be very moved, and pretending not to be, by this portion of events. It's a shame he doesn't read.

[sporesprouter]

"He did. And I was trying my hardest to get to him and save him."

[az_fell]

"The romance runs both ways, of course." Aziraphale smiles at her, charmed. "Don't let me divert you from the tale as it happened, though."

[sporesprouter]

"All right. Where was I? Oh right, sending Charlie to go listen in on Crow and Laggart. It turns out that Crow was trying to force the crew to become deadrunners in order to force them to stay with her and sail into more dangerous seas. The ship I had come from was their first attempt at it, but it didn't end up doing what she wanted, because the one sailor she had left alive in a lifeboat apparently died before any rescue arrived. So with no survivors from the ship, there was no one to pass on word of who'd done it."

[az_fell]

"That Captain Crow," says Aziraphale with a sincere sigh. "I'm looking forward to finding out what becomes of her." Unless Tress' genre is much darker than he assumes it is, based on her demeanor, he has to imagine Captain Crow will get some very just desserts.

[sporesprouter]

She smiles just a little bit. "That's one thing I don't think you'll be able to guess in advance."

[az_fell]

This only serves to further pique Aziraphale's interest. "Don't leave me hanging, then, dear girl."

[sporesprouter]

"When I heard what the plan was, I thought that I might have a chance of getting off the ship. Because there was a survivor of the Oot's Dream that Crow hadn't thought about." She gestures to herself. "So I let her overhear me quietly muttering about family that I'd supposedly lost on the ship. It made her decide to change course, but she still kicked me before leaving. Salay, the helmswoman, checked me over to make sure nothing was broken, and then... probably to make me feel better, I don't know... she decided to show me how to steer the ship. I found out she was sailing to try to find her father, who was also a sailor, to pay off his debts and bring him home. I also found out how to steer the ship, obviously, and that was... there was something special about that. When I got my dinner, I was going to try and warn Fort about Crow's plans, but he wouldn't let me even talk about it. She had the entire crew terrified, and for good reason.

"The ship docked that night, and it was clearly set up to let me sneak off. But... I couldn't. I knew I had to help them. So I told Crow I'd lied about having family killed, and I asked if I could join the crew. They needed a sprouter, and even though I was terrified of spores, I could figure it out."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale listens to this rather fondly. Tress is so utterly a protagonist, resourceful and brave and aided by coincidence, but even more aided by her own courage.

"Well done," he says. "And clearly you did. Figure it out, that is."

[sporesprouter]

"Well, I had to. I got Weev's old cabin, which had an actual bed, which was delightful. Thankfully, nobody else had wanted to take it, because it's a sprouter's cabin, so it didn't have silver in the floor and walls. But there was a little workshop in there, and he also left notes behind, which definitely helped in figuring out what I was doing. Plus it gave Hu-- Charlie a place to hide out because they'd picked up a ship's cat when they docked."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale puts a hand to his mouth, trying not to look too obviously amused at the unfortunate circumstance of a rat being placed in close quarters with a ship's cat. His poker face is mediocre at best. "Poor Charlie," he says, with genuine sympathy but also a bit of a laugh around the edges of it.

[sporesprouter]

"He was so nervous." She shakes his head. "Anyway, while I got used to my quarters, I re-replaced the cannonballs in the false bottom with actual cannonballs meant to stop a ship instead of sinking it. Which is good, because we came across another ship. Crow ordered a warning shot, Laggart fired directly at it instead. However, it exploded into water instead, which activated the spores the ship was sailing on, grabbing hold and stopping it. The crew was ecstatic, Laggart was confused, and Crow was... angry."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale winces. "That was well-done of you," he says with appreciation, "but I can only imagine how Captain Crow must have taken it." Tress is so lovely, and Aziraphale already liked her quite a bit, but this act of bravery, also an act of mercy, makes him like her even more.

[sporesprouter]

"Well, the crew was thrilled, so she managed to rein it in enough, probably just to keep up morale. The other ship fired a surrender flare and the crew was about to board when the seethe stopped. Now that we didn't have the advantage of mobility, the other ship took the chance of firing at us. They got a good hole in the side of the ship. Crow immediately managed to shoot and kill their cannonmaster, but then she ordered Ann and me belowdecks to patch the hole before the stilling stopped. Keep in mind, I had only really just gotten somewhat familiar with my quarters. I hadn't really worked with the spores yet."

[az_fell]

"Oh no, after all that and you still took the hit!" Aziraphale's reaction is one of genuine dismay. He really is getting quite invested in this story. "How did it go, then, with patching the hole? Did your spores cooperate with you?"

[sporesprouter]

"Well, I got my tools... after Ann pointed out to me what the tools actually were, because Weev worked with different ones than I'd seen the sprouter on the Oot's Dream use. And then I got to use them for the first time on a ladder. It... well, it wasn't a perfect patch? I was still in the middle of it when the seethe was starting up again so I had to rush a bit, and one of my tools got stuck in it, but it held."

[az_fell]

"Considering the circumstances, I'd say that's still a fair accomplishment." Resolve weakened by the enjoyment of the story, Aziraphale sneaks one more chocolate coconut ball and pops it tidily into his mouth.

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, I'm glad it worked. What would have happened to all of us if it didn't is..." She shakes her head. "Anyway, we got back up to the deck where Crow was just ordering everyone to board, swords ready. Thankfully, that's the job of the helmswoman, so Salay stopped it immediately. They just went to get the bounty, but... well, that's when I found out why the crew was so scared of Crow.

"One of the crewmembers on the other ship aimed his gun at her. Crow was the only person who didn't just freeze in place. Instead, she took her own gun... and shot herself in the head."

[az_fell]

"Oh my," says Aziraphale. He blinks at her. This is interesting, because he's far less certain where this detail is going than he's been for most of the details shared in her story thus far. "Please, go on."

[sporesprouter]

"Vines sprouted out of her face and caught the bullet. It turns out that Crow is something called a spore-eater. From how Ulaam described it... it's like she's infected by the moon, and the infection protects her from anything that tries to pierce her skin."

[az_fell]

"How interesting." Aziraphale cocks his head to one side, trying to picture what Tress is describing. It's certainly striking. "Gruesome, but very useful for her purposes."

[sporesprouter]

"Useful, but only to a point. She had to keep drinking water, because the disease leeches it from you, it's painful, progressive, and fatal. She was actively looking for a cure. That's why she wanted to induce the crew to sail the Crimson."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale makes a mild, disgusted face at this, like he's just sniffed the milk carton to determine whether its contents are still good and come up with an unsatisfactory answer. "And how did that go for her?"

[sporesprouter]

"We'll get there soon enough. Anyway, Salay managed to get it in her head that I was secretly an assassin..."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale pauses. He squints. "With all due respect, my dear, you?"