[ At that "good catch," Steve considers making some sort of baseball related comment before he thinks better of it. He remembers that he had to explain sports like volleyball to Hilda when they all went to Aquila, which means it would be much the same with Claude. That should probably wait for another time.

He's ready for the fruits that get thrown down this time, and is easily able to catch them and carefully tuck them all away in his pack. Steve's a little surprised at how easy this has turned out to be — he'd been preparing for some sort of ambush.

There's still a chance that something that lives out here will decide to strike, so he hasn't completely let his guard down yet, but he doesn't mind considering Claude's more casual conversation as they work at their task. ]

Yeah, I can't say I have either. [ Does such an ability exist in his world, or the greater galaxy beyond it? Possibly. But it's definitely not common. He reaches out, setting his hand against the tree trunk and watching it turn from a washed-out gray to a warm brown. ] It kind of comes back to the same thing as it always does, right? We're special because of our connection to the Singularity. It's why those cultists wanted us too.

[ It's why they'd been dragged into that ritual chamber. ]