From woodland to wetland

Josef hadn't needed to hide anything, he was a bare face albeit covered in mud and beard right now. But, he wasn't the type to go for subtlety or hidden words, meanings or even masking emotion as it didn't seem to make sense. Like an axe, he was straightforward, blunt end stays in hand, sharp end goes into things. Josef shrugged as she refused the light, whatever her demons, Ira seemed to be fighting off something or another on her own time. "I'd have liked it, but I'm told I won't get a workshop off the ground in the Tangles, so I go where the work takes me as it were," he said with a guffaw while following the woman. Having lived all his life in woodlands, an overgrown place may have been heavenly. But, he needed electricity, metal, and somewhere to ply his trade before selling his doohickies.

"Got the lasti's, should last me a bit and nothin' that I do should cause trouble" making the statement before his hand went to the jar of fireflies, whispering down toward it. "...not blown up anything in a while, so it should be fine". Blinking and almost put off as she suddenly turned to watch him. Spouting off some advice on the 'Forcies', taking him a moment or two to mull over Ira's words. "Ah, enforcers. right, lay low, don't hurt them, and don't get caught, got it" Still not understanding what this curfew was about, nor why Enforcers would bother him, it wasn't like he was, oh right, he was technically illegal. He'd need to figure out the details on that one.

"So, I guess the locals don't like the 'Forcies', aren't they just an arm of the justice 'round here?" Not really understanding the politics of it all. He was an outsider and small things like this were beyond him. Especially as he came to the place looking for work and to follow his dreams. What if the rumors he had heard were more than met the eye as it were? Would this entire trip and his supposed new beginnings just turn to ash like so many smoldering embers?

Ira

"Guess that's true, if that's your goal here." She gives a small shrug and makes another turn down a less crowded street lined by tall, run down buildings and every other street light seems to be broken. "You should be fine then. At least it's a roof over your head and you don't have to sleep out on the street." She adds with a nod to him being able to pay for himself and not causing trouble. Not that it would be any of her business anyway once she has dropped him off.

A snort leaves her at his question about the enforcers and she just manages to keep it from turning into a bitter laugh. "Ain't no fucking justice about them. Bunch of trigger happy bullies." There is clear contempt in her voice. "Some of them can be dealt with, others will just look for any reason to arrest you or kick your face in for the sake of it. Problem is you won't really know which kind you'll run into until it's a bit late. Hope you've got some kind of ID, at least?" She finally fishes up a lighter and sparks up a flame that almost seems uncomfortable bright in the darkness for a second, then it goes out and is replaced by the faint glow at the end of the cigarette.

She shoves her hands into her pockets and strides past a few more buildings before stopping outside one with an old illegible sign next to the door, lit up by a flickering neon light. "This's the place in here, and if they are out of rooms, there's a similar one a bit further down this street." She nods first to the building she stopped by, then gestures down the street where one can make out another door lit up by a faint light in the distance.

It was his goal and Josef didn't mind sharing it, he had very little to hide and looked at the darkened street. Wondering if anyone would say anything if he repaired these lights later on, making this place bright again, or if the locals would break them given the chance. "We all have a roof over our heads, I just want somewhere dry to lay it down" Josef replied lightly before he listened to her begin her rant. No justice in the Drench, he had heard the rumors and mumbling of locals, but he hadn't really given it much mind. "Good to know, I'll keep that in mind if I ever come head to head with one. Hm, yeah, I have ID" just no permits, border pass, or anything else to prove he was here before the lockdown took place. It should be fine, he thought as he watched the light glow for a moment to start burning away at the cigarette.

"I take it that you have bad blood with the forcies, does everyone in the Drench? Or is it just that those on the canopies, the skyhuggers get special treatment?" he asked pointedly, not even hiding any ignorance that was making it very obvious that he was an outsider. Nodding to her as she pointed out the buildings where he could get a room, all he needed was somewhere that flooded less so that he could work with power. Otherwise, he'd be shortcircuiting the local area in no time flat. "Thank you for your guidance, Mm... Ira. If you want to scatter, go ahead, you owe me nothing. But, I do owe you. So, if you ever need any help that either a... man of the wilderness, or a tinkerer. Just give us a holler. I don't scare easy and you seem like a bright soul"

Ira

They all want some place dry, so at least she can agree with that. Nodding slowly while listening to him explaining that he's got an ID at least, she continues to just hold the cigarette loosely between her lips without drawing on it. As if she's still having that inner debate of "should I, should I not". A small huff leaves her then at his question and she shrugs.

"Got no direct personal experience with them, but most people here dislike them on principle. Even if they haven't beaten you up yet, you are still affected. They come down here to stomp us into the ground and make sure we remember we're just some piece of trash to the high and mighty ones up above." She gestures to the Plate above them. "Dunno if they treat the citizens up there the same. Wouldn't really surprise me. All that seems to matter are the Houses."

She exhales a long sigh through her nose and shakes her head again, as if trying to shake off the growing annoyance the Enforcer topic brings with it and when he thanks her for the help, she gives him a more genuine smile. "No problem, we all need some help sometimes and you seem alright enough. I'll keep your offer in mind and if you ever feel like you want a good drink and local gossip, there's a bar called The Bizu over in the Neon Alley. Sadly we don't get much Plate tourists nowadays, so there's not much entertainment in form of wild debates and arguments between them and the locals."

Josef listened to her rant, or he could have just called it venting, everyone needed to a moment to scream to the skies. He did it at night like howling with the wolves, hadn't done that in a while, but it would be probably frowned on in the Drench. Nodding, his metallic trinkets clinking together as he began to stretch out his back at the notion that Enforcers came down to the Drench to stomp people down. Why did no one just kill them? well, shit, thinking like that would get him executed or jailed probably. Coughing lightly as he shook away the intrusive thoughts before replying only to the latter half of their conversation and leaving the topic of Enforcers as it seemed to agitate the woman.

Seeing the smile, he returned his own, though it was covered mostly by the dirty beard and grime, but it was sincere looking. "I'll take you up on the offer as soon as I start up my business. The Bizu, Neon Alley. I'll remember that, though if it's supposed to be a tourist spot, I better try and clean up. Don't want to go offending whoever owns the joint" Motioning down at himself as he took a deep breath, he didn't smell too bad, just not right by local standards. "Know anywhere one could clean up good?" Looking around, he doubted the places around here would hold more than a bucket with some boiled water, let alone enough to clean off the weeks of grime he had on himself. Glancing back at her, he was still surprised she hadn't taken the opportunity to just walk off.

Ira

She is content with the conversation moving on, perhaps catching herself and not wanting to accidentally vent her whole mind out over the poor stranger. Too used to being the one listening to other people rant and vent, that when he gets to be the one talking, her mind has built up so many thoughts that they just start pouring out.

"The owner is usually quite chill, but yeah..." She responds with another shrug, not wanting to agree too much that he's in need of a wash or two. Instead, she gestures towards the building before continuing. "Not sure what they offer in there. Perhaps a shower. Maybe with warm water too. Otherwise, there are some bathouses around here and there of more or less questionable quality." Her nose wrinkle a bit at the idea of said bathhouses. Having helped cleaning out one, she knows what state some of the pools can be in and even though she has gone diving in the canals in the past, taking a dip in the pools is off her list.

As for walking off already, she might just not have thought of it yet. Another thing she is too used to; being stuck behind one counter or the other and not able to walk away from conversations even if she wanted to. So the times she ends up in conversations with strangers outside of work, walking away in the middle of it is not the first thing that comes to her mind all the time. Besides, she has nothing currently planned, so there's nothing else tugging at her to leave in a hurry just yet.

inventions are out of necessity
it became a necessity to survive bears
ain't pretty, but neither were the bears afterward

Josef wouldn't have minded, but he still didn't have a roof over his head and a place to sit for someone to start venting to him. He was used to it, not likely as much as Ira, however, when people got lost they talk a lot in the woods. Like they are afraid that he'd vanish as soon as they couldn't hear him anymore. Chuckling as she gave a shrug at getting clean. "I know I smell and look like somethin' that's caught the mange. No need to mince words when something straightforward will do", overall he was quite relaxed, even if every part of him felt like it clung due to the moisture and water that found its way into his clothes.

"Good to hear on both counts. As long as the water isn't infected, I don't think I'll care how many bodies have passed through it. I feel like me goin' through them will turn it into sewage" shaking his head again, as he put his hand on the firefly jar, the lights of the buzzing things glowing slightly brighter. "You work at the bar, I take it? You must hear a lot of nonsense... but what do people do for fun around here other than drownin' their sorrows?" His voice was clear in the dark air, his metal-clawed hand going into his coat to look for something before he produced another oddly colored piece of jerky to pop into his mouth.

JOSEF

Ira

A soft laugh leaves her and there's a spark of amusement in her eyes at his comment about turning the bath into sewage. "Wouldn't call it that bad still, but well... Since you don't seem too picky, you should've a few options that will at least get the grime off you. Can't say how free they will be of this algae we've had trouble with lately, so be careful if there's a red tint to the water." Hopefully the coming dryer seasons would help with the problem, if whatever solution being worked on didn't come before then.

She finally gives in and draws from the cigarette, then picks it from her lips and turns her head to the side to blow out the smoke away from him before nodding to his question. "I do and yeah, lots of nonsense sometimes. The usual classic of peoples' partners cheating, people ranting about coworkers or the Plates. And don't forget the lockdown. Honestly running out of fresh gossip that isn't about this damn lockdown." The topics are just going around in a smaller and smaller circle.

"Other than that... Pretty much what people do. Drowning their sorrows, gambling, fighting rings in some shady back alley. M'sure there are a few enjoying a good book in the quiet of their own home too. People sorta find their own fun... Raiding abandoned buildings and trying to avoid territorial squatters can be fun too." She says the last bit as if it's something she has experience in.

inventions are out of necessity
it became a necessity to survive bears
ain't pretty, but neither were the bears afterward

"Not picky at all" Josef replied as he mimes Ira's amusement, he was truly just comfortable being uncomfortable. Honestly, he'd be fine just living as he was covered and filthy, but polite society and norms would likely want him to clean up. It's like his momma said, don't track mud through the kitchen and you won't get a beating. Struck then with a sense of homesickness that he shook off, having come out here not long, he couldn't really believe he missed it all so quickly. Then again, looking up at the ceiling instead of the sky was a stark change. "No red tint, got it" taking in the word of advice as he continued to listen, chewing a bit on the jerky.

"So... about this lockdown, is it that important?" Not quite understanding the situation in the Drench, having been accidentally smuggled in for most of his Lasti's. Though, if she didn't want to answer that, he'd happily continue on with the other topics. "Squatting is a thing? I guess it is..." making the statement before tapping his jar of fireflies and whispering "...people must drop like flies", looking at Ira with some interest in her intonations. "Raiding, I mean, it's not stealin' if it's been left behind, right?" Also interested in the fighting rings, but he didn't mention it, even if he perked up when it was being discussed. "So that be the fun you're into? No pin the tail on the caribou, hog-tying a razor tusk, or wrastlin' a gator?"

JOSEF

Ira

The jar of fireflies steals her attention for a briefly while she is trying to think out the best way to summarize the whole lockdown situation and she lets the conversation drift on for the moment. "Always someone around claiming you're stealing. That they "found it first" even if they just left it lying on the floor." Of course she would never think of actually stealing from places where people lived. But the abandoned buildings, where people had decided to leave things behind?

After taking another drag of off the cigarette, she looks from the fireflies to his face again, perhaps noticing the change of expression over the topic and her head tilts a bit to the side. "Not much for wrestling... At least not any gators. Closest I've gotten was help capturing a giant poisonous toad once." A small frown forms on her face as her mind drifts back to the question about the lockdown. Being ignorant about that whole thing would probably make Josef seem very odd.

"But, going back to the lockdown thing. To keep it as short as I can. They were building another Plate, because five are apparently not enough. There was an explosion at the construction site for the foundation around this time last year and the Houses decided to put the whole city in a lockdown. Saying it would stay until they captured who did it." She huffs in annoyance and shakes her head.

"Platers blame the Drench for sabotage, Drenchers claim the Platers did it to get a reason to stomp on us even more and increase the amount of patrols down here. Nothing and no one comes in or out... Not officially anyway." She gives him a meaning look. "More and more places are running out of resources and we've gotten no news about anything. So people are starting to get real fed up at this point."