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

[sporesprouter]

"Well, it was until I found out something from talking to Ulaam. The dragon in question didn't exactly do favors. He makes trades, and the only thing he was really interested in trading for was servants... who, since his lair is under the sea, aren't afraid of spores."

[az_fell]

"Admittedly, Temeraire is uncommonly kind for a dragon -- if any of the legends are to be believed. Most are rather greedy, so I suppose this makes some sense." Aziraphale pauses and darts a curious glance at Tress. "Were you truly unafraid of spores by this point, though?"

[sporesprouter]

"Of course not. But Crow thought I was."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale's expression can only be described as oh no. "I see. So you were a planned sacrifice."

[sporesprouter]

Tress nods, grimacing just a bit. "Crow intended to trade me to the dragon in exchange for a cure. And I had just gotten the crew to agree to sail into the Crimson Sea well ahead of schedule."

[az_fell]

"Well," says Aziraphale with some optimism, "I have a feeling you may have found a way out of that fate."

[sporesprouter]

Tress's practicality can't help but assert itself somewhat. "Well, yes, considering that I'm here and not in a dragon's lair. And I already mentioned I made it to the Sorceress's tower, so it really is taking the suspense out of it a little bit. So that said, I spent a little time feeling sorry for myself and lamenting to Huck-- still Charlie, yes, but I didn't know it at the time so it feels kind of odd calling him that yet? And then I got to work trying to figure out a way out of it." She shrugs.

"I was going through Weev's old notes and starting to maybe get some ideas, when Fort knocked on my door. He was bringing me some food. That's when I found out he had actually been saving aside some food for me first thing, before the rest of the crew got at it... and it was still pretty awful. So I realized how I could at least repay him-- and the rest of the crew, for that matter-- for all of the kindness I'd gotten since getting on the ship. So I offered to help him cook the next day's dinner. And after I made that offer, we crossed into the Crimson."

[az_fell]

The lapse into practicality just makes Aziraphale smile a little. He had been trying to simply go with the flow of the story, but her adherence to facts is charming.

"That was kind of Fort, despite the quality of the food." Aziraphale knows he himself wouldn't have eaten it, but that's the privilege of being an angel. "And what was the Crimson Sea like?"

[sporesprouter]

"The Crimson is... beautiful. In a different way than the Verdant is beautiful, but still beautiful. Everything shifts from green to deep red, and just because it's terrifying doesn't mean it's not amazing. But we also had to turn back for a while almost immediately. You see, what makes the Crimson so dangerous is... yes, crimson spores have much more dangerous effects than verdant ones, but you can take precautions for spores. On the Crimson, though, it's the rain."

[az_fell]

This takes a moment or two to fully click -- yes, yes, it's the sea, it rains over the sea sometimes -- and then it does, and Aziraphale grimaces. "I take it there's not rain over the other seas?"

[sporesprouter]

"There is. It's just very predictable rain that can be mapped out years in advance. Not on the Crimson, though. Almost as soon as we crossed, there was a line of rainstorm heading straight at us, so we had to go back and travel along the border for a while."

[az_fell]

"That sounds incredibly difficult to navigate," says Aziraphale. "What is it that crimson spores actually do? I suspect they don't turn into teddy bears."

[sporesprouter]

The answer to that one is simple. "They grow into needle-sharp spines."

[az_fell]

"Ah." He wrinkles his nose a bit. "Not teddy bears, then. Dangerous indeed. How did you manage?"

[sporesprouter]

"Honestly, at first it was luck. When we did cross into the Crimson again, we avoided the rain for a while, which gave me time to work on other things. I managed to help Fort work out at least some better meals, in trade for a flare gun. I worked on modifying it, and also with spores, and... well, all right, while I was doing that, I never lost my caution about them, but I've never really been afraid of them since then. I also realized that Hoid's curse meant we could figure out where the Sorceress's island was, which would be very useful after getting past the dragon."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale smiles, liking that she was already making plans assuming they would, indeed, get past this dragon. "Keeping caution but not fear is quite wise of you."

[sporesprouter]

"Our luck didn't last forever, though. A squall showed on the horizon and started heading right for us. Salay managed to turn the ship just in time to avoid the spikes, but after they form, they sink into the spores, which just unsettles the sea even more and makes it more difficult to keep a ship upright against the waves. Salay managed, but a wave broke high enough against the ship to send a lot of spores onto the deck. The silver infused into the planks did kill them eventually, but not before we lost a crew member to them.

"So of course, that's when a stilling hit. And the rain turned right back in our direction. For a moment it was like the moons were trying to kill us specifically, but the storm ended up just missing us. It was an awful day, but a lot better than it could have been."

[az_fell]

With sincere alarm and sympathy, Aziraphale takes this in. "How terrible," he says, meaning it. "I'm very sorry to hear it."

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "Crow let the crew open a barrel of something to have with dinner that night. I noticed Salay didn't come out to eat, so I brought her a plate. We got to talking, and she was taking the whole thing hard. During our conversation, though, an absolutely wild idea came to me for how we might be able to fare better if we came up against a rainstorm again."

[az_fell]

"Oh, don't leave me hanging, then," urges Aziraphale. Tress is such an inventive little human.

[sporesprouter]

"Well, I spent the next few days mostly holed up in my quarters experimenting with verdant spores, for that and for something else, too. I'd come out to help Fort with dinners, but I didn't know for sure how much time I had. It turns out I had... well, just enough. We hit another stilling... and there were two lines of rain heading right for us.

"I sent a crew member to tell Salay I needed two long ropes and a barrel of water, while I ran to my cabin to get what else I needed, which was a big roseite ball filled with verdant spores. I ran back to the deck, had them use one rope to lower the barrel of water down near the spores... and use the other one to lower me next to it. When I got down there, I opened the barrel, drilled a hole in the ball of spores, asked the spores to grow upward and hang on, and dropped the whole ball into the barrel.

"Thankfully, they listened to me. The ship tilted a little bit to start, but the vines grabbed hold of it and lifted the entire ship into the air, above the range of where the spikes could grow from the crimson spores. The rain hit and the ship managed to avoid getting damaged. Thankfully, Fort thought to haul the rope with me on it upwards as the ship was climbing. As is, the spikes were already brushing against my shoes."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale takes the time to picture this to the best of his abilities. Luckily, his imaginative abilities are fairly well-honed. "That was incredibly clever of you," he says appreciatively, "and wildly brave, and fantastically foolish. I hope you were quite pleased with yourself for coming up with such a thing."

[sporesprouter]

"Foolish would have been not trying, because that would have been certain death, instead of only probable death. But yes, I was pretty pleased with myself for a little while."

[az_fell]

"That was the complimentary use of foolish," Aziraphale assures her. "I hope the rest of the crew was as complimentary."

[sporesprouter]

"They were. Very much so. Everything was wonderful for the next few hours." A little smile. "Fort even gave me some tea from his own personal supply without even trying to trade anything."