Muddy waters

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

It wasn't long ago that he had gotten himself all cleaned up, and washed all the grime and filth off his clothing as well as his body. Yet, here he was, post-flood in what was called the Dust Fields. Muddy areas spread out from the Lake. His heavy boots were covered in gaiters as he shuffled from pool to pool, a good few buckets nearby ready to transport eels that he was hunting today. Josef didn't mind the dampness, the mud, or even the little critters that seemed to love biting him. It was peaceful out here, as he dug channels in which water flowed toward netting, all so that anything that slithered would be funneled further down with him disturbing the mud. "You know, if I had a lasti for every time my boot got stuck, I'd be rich by now" He murmured to himself, his metal glove already covered with a layer of dirt.

In his right hand held a makeshift shovel. Slogging between the two ends of his canal trap, he began to hum as he worked not a dozen meters from a path that stretched out of the mud and water. He didn't even quite know what time it was, only that the air was cleaner than he expected, feeling at home with the length of time he worked collecting mud eels. The bounty on them was astonishing as it never gave a limit, only that they needed to be alive. Which meant it was harder to transport the squirming things than it was to capture them. Digging into the mud and dirt, he followed the slight bubbles which were telltale signs that the creatures lay just under the water. His duster was hidden in a bush nearby, so all he wore was a dirt-stained tank top, showing off the massive scars on most of his arms and shoulders. The metal glove reached almost to his elbow, while the cables still carried themselves to the firefly jar at his waist.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

Several shacks of rusty corrugated metal stands bunched together by the edge of this part of the fields. Inside walls missing here and there, creating a lot of interior rooms one can move through. Their inhabitants had abandoned them before the flood season. Perhaps even before the last one even. The floors covered in mud and grime left behind by the flood water and most things placed high enough had still gotten more or less damaged by the leaking roof. Nothing of value left, taken by those that once lived there or already found by someone else.

Stepping out through one of the entrances, Ira squints at the brightness from the open sky and looks across the mud fields. In her hand, she holds a leather-bound pocket book, miraculously in a decent condition despite being left in the damp for so long. She is quick to spot a lone figure further away in the distance and curiosity has her to jump down from the rickety "front porch" made of rotting pallets and start walking. Flipping through the book in her hand and making it seem like she's just out on a stroll and not deliberately heading for the person in question.

Coming up closer, the first thing she recognize is the odd metal glove and the jar of fireflies. Having only seen his face briefly in the gloomy Chokes, she wouldn't know it in the bright light out here. Especially not if it looks different after a clean-up.

"Got tired of the dark?" She calls out, taking a guess that it is who she thinks it is, while putting the book away in the bag hanging over one shoulder. Stopping on some distance from the canals he's dug, she gives the scene a curious look. Opposite from Josef, she's covered up in a long-sleeved hooded poncho made of waterproof Dipund wool, looking a size or two too large for her slender frame.

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack

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

Josef had sort of sensed another person was nearby, but given that he was looking for eels, he doubted they would do anything to him as it didn't look like he had anything at all. Like those desperate for a Lasti, which, of course, he was. But when he heard the person stop and the telltale voice which he hadn't heard in a bit, he glanced over with his eyes squinted before chuckling. "Well, if it isn't Missus Ira in the flesh... Not really, just out here eelin', you on the other hand, why you all the way out here?" That smooth angel-esque voice still not matching his form, yet a little better in the light as she could see that he wasn't much older than her.

Taking a deep breath as he tried to move toward the drier areas, his boots making sucking noises. Sighing as he made it a quarter of the way in his gaiters before stopping. "I'd come on out to greet you, but I feel like it'd just make more work for me when I need to return to the trap" Half tempted to continue moving, the other half wanting to stay where he was. His eyes were still on her, taking in her form and outfit, now that they weren't surrounded by darkness. Ira was quite the woman, now that he took a second to think about it, still too skinny from his count and probably wouldn't be able to carry a hog long distances.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

She wrinkles her nose in a displeased grimace at the "Missus" part, but doesn't say anything about it. She can let it slide this time, unless he keeps at it. "Come out here sometimes to just clear my mind. Get some peace and quiet every once in a while when my schedules allow it." Too much peace and quiet often just makes her restless, but sometimes, even she needs to just stop and breathe for a moment.

She herself stands on a dryer spot of land, seemingly at least somewhat aware of where she can step to not have her boots sink too deep, and she watches as he struggles through the mud. "Oh, no need to stop what you're doing just to say hi." She makes a dismissive wave with the hand not holding onto the shoulder strap of her backpack and gives him a look over in return, then turns her attention towards what he's been working on. "What are you capturing eels for, anyway?" She has some suspicions, but doesn't want to jump to conclusions.

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack

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

Of course, Josef knew what he was doing, she had said before not to call her miss. Now, he was just trying to get a slight rise out of her with his words in the politest manner that he could. It was a friendly jab that he would have done to anyone he wanted to bridge the gap from acquaintance to friend. If you couldn't take a jest or two at your own expense, what exactly were you doing interacting with such people. Honestly, though, he wouldn't make a habit of it as they were hard to break and you never wanted to push too far. "I guess it is peaceful out here, not the same though and sometimes worse" his head nodding to the distant abandoned structures.

"Fine, fine. I'll stick to digging" Josef replied as he used the makeshift shovel to make more canals in his little eel maze, at one end a net and bucket lay in a hole to catch fleeing things. "You could come in and join us, the mud is good for your skin and protects you from burns" He chuckled making the statement as he continued to shovel. Hearing her, he wondered if she just hadn't heard the local bounty on them. "Mud Eels are wanted by the Bathhouses, they'll pay three lasti's per five alive and well," he said motioning with his metal gauntlet at the multiple buckets nearby her that were covered in netting. "So, it's muddy work, but if I can get a few dozen buckets worth of eels, it'll be a nice haul. There may be cleaner and faster ways to get Lasti's, but I don't know anyone who needs my type of expertise yet"

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

At least she doesn't look too offended or annoyed at being called Miss, her reaction more of a silent "please don't". She looks to him as he starts digging again and tips her head a bit to the side at his statement, huffing softly. "Sun's not that strong and I'm already covered up in clothes, so no mud bath needed."

She takes a few steps along one of the canals to have a look at it, and stops again when her suspicion is confirmed that he is gathering the eels for the bathhouse. "Oh, that. I know of it. Helped clean out that bathhouse and make habitats in the pools for them. Was out here last season gathering plants for lasti as well." Even if it had meant sticking her hands into algae infested water, she had preferred that than wrestling with the eels. At least those already captured had looked to be doing alright in their new pools and not being mistreated by Plate scientists.

"Well, what really is your type of expertise? Other than digging in mud." She flashes him a teasing smirk and kneels down by the edge of the canal, slowly letting her gaze wander over the mud as if scanning for signs of the eels.

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack

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

Josef was going to say something, his mouth definitely opened and then just as quickly closed as he swallowed whatever words were about to escape from his lips. Shaking his head as he kept the comment that she could strip down and take a mud bath. His momma raised him to keep such thoughts to himself and if he were to blurt them out, it'd be a wooden stick if not worse. "If you say so" was what he could say as she continued to talk from the dry patch she was standing upon. "Good, I was wondering why they were needed alive and well, rather than on hooks for some kind of stew"

Trudging through the mud, he began to disturb it so that the eels moved away from him, the path of least resistance being the channels he had dug. Where they would wiggle down multiple paths until falling into a netted bucket. "Hm? I guess I never mentioned it earlier. I'm an inventor, I also fix broken things and make anything in-between out of what I've got on hand. Little more than jury-rigging, I suppose. Then there is what I was raised to do, which is hunting things down" Glancing over at her as she knelt near the edge. Moving over toward her, he also looked into the mud for the little bubbles the things made. "Digging in the mud is serious business, though, it could be easier"

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

Had he made such a comment that he was about to make, she might have just laughed and given him some cheeky response. Instead, the conversation stays on the eels in question. "They need them to harvest these little beetles living in their gills. Supposedly the beetles eat up the algae plaguing us, but apparently they don't want to leave their eel friends on their own." It's still unknown to her if that idea even works, but perhaps it would take time gathering enough bugs to deal with a whole city-wide spread of the algae. Her hopes still lie with the algae drying out and disappearing once Kivan comes around if no other solution comes first.

She watches as the eels start wriggling their way through the canals into the net trap. At least it seems like a humane way of catching them and that they won't get hurt from it. Listening to him explaining what it is he does normally, she nods along slowly but doesn't look up at him again until he comes closer.

"Should find plenty of work around, then. Especially in the flood zones. Always something needing fixing, even after the rain season... Though most people living there might not have much to pay and it's mostly neighbours helping each other out. Plenty of workshops around the whole Drench, though. Maybe one is looking for an extra hand."

She gives him a curious look. "What sort of things do you invent? Or have invented, rather."

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack

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

Algae-eating bugs who live in the gills of mud eels, right, and people thought Josef wasn't quite sane. Well, if it worked, it worked. Josef nodded as he tried to digest the idea, it made sense that creatures would find a way to clear the hurdle in order to survive. Having symbiotic parasites which could neutralize the virulent infector made sense given time. But, had it been that long or was the Algae bloom something that occurred more often than not in the past? Having moved a lot closer to Ira as he began digging more channels into his little canal network, he began to think over her words.

"That's the rub, lots of work, not many Lasti's. Sure, helping future neighbors and acquaintances is all fine and dandy, if I keep doing it though, I won't earn Lasti's. Just favors that won't keep me fed or dry" Speaking out clearly as he wiped growing beads of sweat off his brow with the cleanest part of his shoulder. His eyes settled on Ira as he leaned on the makeshift shovel as it stuck there vertically. "May look into the workshops, hmm... as for what I've invented, a few bits and bobs. Mostly traps, trigger mechanisms, vaporizers, and other doohickies. Usually, it's something that someone needs and I just build it. My glove included, I needed a multi-tool that outputted enough heat to weld metals"

Josef should really clarify that he no longer made things that went boom or anything similar for safety reasons. Then again, his dream was still to create a power source or storage device for electricity which could outshine current battery-sources. Miniaturized to the point where one could be power-heavy machinery with something the size of your palm. That may never happen, but he was quite happy trying to find a path forward with his ideas.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

"Might not pay the rent, but can keep you fed. Neighbours often help in return. Be it invite you for dinner some time, or something." She gives a small shrug. Perhaps helping the neighbours without feeling stressed about getting paid comes easier for her, having a decent steady income from two jobs and shared the rent and food costs with two others. "And you know, word spreads. The guy next door you're helping might have contacts and can put in a good word for you somewhere." Even if in some cases people could look away and mind their own business, the Drenchers still look after each other. They were all in the same shitty situation together after all.

She nods again as he lists the things he's made, frowning a bit at the traps and trigger mechanics, though figures the traps might have been for hunting. The other sounds like something someone with revolution and riot on their mind might be interested in, but she keeps those thoughts for herself. If Josef ever wanted to get himself involved in any of that, he'll have to find out on his own. She's trying to stay out of it and doesn't want to be the one giving suggestions.

"Sounds like a useful skill to be able to make what people happen to need." She says quietly. As for his glove, her attention shifts to it and she gives it a curious look over now when she can see it better in the light. "You can weld with that thing? It doesn't risk burning your arm off or anything?" She slowly stands back up and continues to look over any detail of the glove she can see from the distance she's on.

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack