when the seams start wearing thin

hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper
it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later

“Like poetry?” He teases the question with another small amused laugh, taking her in as she mentally calculates when she works next. He’s also enjoying this — it’s not often that he gets company from his sales, let alone ones so interesting and fun. So he’s content to wait until she tells him when he can find her there next, enough to make sure he can scrounge up a decent amount for a tip for her.

It isn’t today, though, which does have its pros and cons. Pros, he has more time to plan for it. Cons, now what’s he supposed to do for the rest of his day? The Platers aren’t biting and the Drenchers see him nearly every day this time of the season, so it leaves him a bit at a loss. “Sounds to me like you need some good sleep then.” His smile shifts a tad more gentle, hand rising to brush away the stray dyed hairs from his face. “I was just about to wrap up here. Could give you company back home if you wanted…?” Everything he has fits in the case at his feet anyway, and he rents the booth space in the meantime, so it wasn’t really a huge loss for him to close up shop early.

“I’m Uldren, by the way.” He offers in the most nonchalant way.

Uldren

"Yeah, like poetry. Poetry with words that would make the nobles gasp in horror." It is a very funny mental image; horrified aristocrats stuck in that rowdy bar. Not that she has seen any nobles in there. That she knows of, at least. Maybe they were very well disguised. Coming down to escape their boring lives, perhaps.

She nods in agreement. Sleep is at the top of her wishing list and she would have been happy in her bed had her father not sent her out. On the other hand, had he not, she would not have run into this unexpected new company. "If you are heading in the same direction, or if not, not minding to walk a bit. My apartment is in the area south of Drun." She gestures in its general direction as she speaks, then slings her bag onto her back to be able to pick up the grocery bags again.

"Name's Ira." She gives back, as if she had not even thought of introductions. Most people she spoke to either knew her already, or they were customers that did not care much for formal introductions in the first place.

IRA

hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper
it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later

Another rumbling chuckle slips from Uldren as he nods his agreement, his smile remaining mischievous when he responds. “My favorite kind, then.” He agrees with a snort to follow up on it. But soon enough he’s already working out his day, figuring out where to go from here and as soon as she agrees (he probably wouldn’t tell her even if he was headed elsewhere) he hops off the booth and pulls up the case to set on the table instead. The ash tray is emptied and set underneath where the case had been, and then he carefully starts to put the gems and jewelry away in their respective places.

“Drun’s nice.” He comments, locking away each individual piece before he closes the case and locks it up right with its straps and buckles, before shoving it into an unassuming bag not unlike her own backpack. He looks up toward her as her name’s offered and flashes her a somewhat smaller, more genuine smile. “Pleasure doing business with you, Ira.” He hoists the bag up on his shoulder and smooths out the cloth on the table before rounding it toward her. “Ladies first.” His hand gestures out, letting her guide the way.

Uldren

Ira makes sure she has a proper grip of the bags and nothing is about to fall out, and waits for Uldren to pack everything up on his side. Observing how all the pieces fit neatly into the case and imagining how it might be like having a job like that. She is sure she would become incredibly restless with sitting in the same place for hours. Or rather, she knows, because she does become very bored and restless during slow days at the diner she works at during the day.

She lets out a soft laugh and starts walking when he is ready, offering him another wink. "Pleasure is all mine.".

The way she takes them is a rather fast way towards the road going across the river. Knowing which shortcuts to take and what backstreets to avoid. "So, what do you do when you are not selling stones and picking up customers?" She asks with a teasing smirk and glances to the side at Uldren.

IRA

hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper
it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later

He finds it relatively relaxing. It gives him time to work and sell his gems while also doing research and whatever else he needs to do. Plus, it helps with his off times being able to spend time crafting. There are times where he feels bold enough to take some of the material out to the booth to work with, but only when he’s sure that there isn’t going to be an enforcer patrol that drops by.

An amusing smirk is shot her way as she mentions his off times in between picking up customers and selling his gems. And for a moment he debates how he’s going to answer her, the ball of his pierced tongue clicks against his teeth when he goes to speak. “Well, I’ve got to make the pieces. And when I’m not doing that, I’m fixing up my place from the last flood.” An ongoing affair it seems.

“What about you? When you’re not working your bajillion jobs or sleepin’?” A wink is sent her way in turn, another low chuckle leaves him.

Uldren

"Ah, sounds to me like you are mostly working as well." It is nothing she is surprised by. It seems to just be the common way of life down in the Drench. Working to make a living enough to afford working on keeping your living space from falling apart. A soft sigh leaves her and she shakes her head with a small smile.

"Helping my father around the apartment and doing the shopping." A meaning nod is made towards the bags she is carrying. "But when I do have actual free time, I tend to mostly roam around. Even after living here my whole life, I still manage to find places I have never been. Small alleys, back streets. New ways to get across the buildings. Really helps clear the mind and free me from the spinning wheel of work for a while."

Her opportunities to go exploring came and went depending on, surprise surprise, work. Whenever her father managed to get enough work, she could take a few extra days off instead to do whatever she wanted. They both worked together to keep the rent paid and enough food on the table. Most of the time, it wasn't too bad and money wasn't a constant worry hanging over them. It wasn't a life of great comfort, but it was a decent one. They survived.

IRA

hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper
it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later

“Sometimes with very little pay.” But at least it kept his home comfortable enough, his sister happy, and enough time to come up with new ideas for the jewelry he created. It seems she understands as well as he bends slightly to peer at the bag she refers to in reference to helping her father.

He leans forward again to peer at her as she guides him along the pathway in ways he wouldn’t have gone himself, but he typically doesn’t head this way that often. “Have you been to the Drowning Trails? Been curious but never gone that far out of the Drench.” Plus the stories about it were brutal and he’s always been interested in learning about the insane traditional things the nobles up top did.

He steps over a curb of the sidewalk, his boots scuffing along the side as he turns toward her shortly after again. “I’m curious about the Tangles too.” Comes the next comment, paired with a soft snort.

Uldren

Lots of work and little pay is something she is familiar with. Her day job pays a stable sum, while the bar payments are all over the place depending on how busy the night was and how much tip people were giving. Despite that, the bar was a much more fun place to be at by far than the diner, but only the bar would not be enough to pay rent.

She does not seem to notice him peering at her. Too keeping an eye on every alley they pass by. When the Drowning Trails is mentioned, she makes a small face of disapproval. "I have been in the area a few times. Often worried I would wriggle through some shrubbery and suddenly fall over a hidden ledge and into the waters. I did spy on the nobles once, years ago. Didn't stick around long though to watch them drown their own kids... The whole thing is just disturbing."

Sometimes she wonders if the Platers really did not care for people at all, judging by them building their part of the city on top of everyone else and throwing their own children away into the water to see if they sink or swim. "The Tangles are nicer... Sort of. If you do not get stuck in all the thorns. But it is quite pretty there. A bit of nature beside all of this..." She turns around once as she walks to give the city around them a 360° look.

IRA

hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper
it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later

“Yeah.” He begins, the ball of his tongue piercing rolls between his teeth before he shakes his head, the red tips of his dark hair falling against his cheek before he pushes it back, readjusting the backpack on his shoulder simultaneously. “I don’t remember the nobles in Undunli doing shit like that.” He comments offhandedly. The Aristocrats had their own strange traditions, of course, but nothing like the swim trials.

He supposes the rest of the states don’t deal with as much flooding either, though. That’s probably the main difference.

“Eh, even if you get pricked, at least ya got a story to go with it, right?” A little memory of the time one escaped the prison of buildings for the wilds. “I’ve never made it out that far. Was thinking about going when Kivan comes.” Maybe being out of the city would make it less unbearable.

Uldren

Her eyes catch the piercing for the first time and they follow its movement, until the movement of the red hair and his hand distracts her from it. She looks ahead again in the next second, focusing on where she is going. "Maybe it is all the sunlight up there. Fried their brains or something." She huffs and shakes her head. Even if a nobles was to explain their reasoning to her, she is sure she still would not understand why anyone would get such ideas.

"There is an area overgrown with bushes and brambles south of the neighbourhood I live in. Just by the edge of the lake." They are coming up towards the bridge leading over to the other side of the Drench and Ira throws a glance down river towards said lake. "Nowhere near the Drowning Trails either, so no risk of running into any crazy nobles."

Another small smirk tugs at her lips. She is not exactly inviting him for a future hike to the Tangles. Too soon for something like that perhaps. But it might leave an idea out in the open, even if he felt like just having a look for himself.

IRA