Muddy waters

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

"True, but it feels bad for me to eat what surely others need," Josef said, he knew they could share, but it meant less food to go around and he would rather his new neighbors kept it for when Lasti's were scarce than give it to him. He was able-bodied, so there were always opportunities for him to get more of whatever needed. "Sure, when word spreads. It's why I'm repairing the local lights and making sure they're protected from those smashin' 'em" Nodding a little as he thought about the metal mesh he was making to cover the lightbulbs. They wouldn't stop someone determined, but the odd stone or slingshot would be deterred.

As for his other devices, vaporizers, and more dangerous items, they all had their purposes. Most were for humane purposes of capturing creatures for study or the like. Spreading chemicals through woodland to cure fungal infections for example. Josef didn't know what thoughts ran through Ira's mind, but he didn't seem like the type to create problems for the people around him. "Yeah, it's also fun to do. Inventing things, making things that are needed. Necessity is the mother of all invention" He replied as he leaned on the shovel, it slowly sank into the mud as he did so, tilting his head as she looked over the weird metal gauntlet and the cables leading to the firefly jar, covered in a faraday cage.

"I used to have two of them..." He said raising his right hand, to show that the palm had been impaled, the back sporting a matching scar and countless cuts. "Prototyping was dangerous, electricity and heat melts flesh. I was young and a lot more stubborn before. So I've got the scars to show for it. But yeah, it's mostly safe now and can weld metal" Josef said with a chuckle, the fact that he was close enough for her to examine him. She could see the teeth or claw marks, scars, and cuts that seemed to permeate his shoulders, and arms around the tanktop he wore. "Still won't give it to anyone else to try until it has some shielding"

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

Her gaze drift over the gauntlet, following the wires to the caged fireflies, then shifts to his right hand when he shows it. She winces a bit at the mentioning of flesh melting and her eyes flicker from one scar to the other while she listens, observing what she can without going any closer. "Mostly." She repeats with a soft huff and an amused smile tugs at her lips. "Think I'd get too bothered having to carry something like that around on my arm. You ever go out without it?" She really can't imagine having such a contraption strapped on all the time.

"The most creative thing I've put together might be some hand-made decorations and a few drinks. Usually find stuff for other people to make use of, though." Not that she's had the time or energy to do any proper raiding through junk piles and abandoned buildings in a while, but if her current life plans work out as she hopes, perhaps she can get back to it more eventually.

A splashing noise draws her attention away from Josef and to a nearby eel that comes wriggling through the muddy waters and tries to bury into the wall of the canal. "Think they are taking advantage of me distracting you and trying to escape." She teases with a smirk and glances at Josef with an amused look.

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

He thought about it, looking down at the glove and then giving out a thoughtful sound. In the forest, he never needed to take it off as there were always beasts about. It was another item in his arsenal and it had saved his life countless times. Yet, this was the city, he didn't need it nearly as much and so, would it be natural to not wear it everywhere? "I'm used to it, the weight and such comfort me... But, I've not been without it in years, so it's a bit different, I suppose" Josef stated as he placed his hand against the latches and buckles that rounded the gauntlet. His eyes went back to her as he smiled.

"That sounds creative enough in my humble opinion. Hm, if'in you don't mind me askin', what do you mean by that?" His voice was clear and as friendly as always as he listened to the nearby chirping of insects and the telltale sounds of mud eels splashing about. Glancing back, he sighed and began to slosh back over, using the shovel to push them back through the canal. As soon as he touched a couple, they recoiled and swam faster through the path of least resistance. "Yeah, that happens. I'm not much of a jailor and hunting these things without hurting them is bothersome" Glancing at the endpoint, he realized that the bucket was more than full.

"Ira, could you throw me an empty bucket, need to switch'em out" Josef said as he looked over, reaching out his empty right hand as if to catch it as soon as she did. Of course, she didn't need to do anything, but he hoped she'd help a muddy man out. As it would take a fair amount of time for him to waddle back. "Still, offer stands if you want to join in. Mud is mighty cool" he said with a chuckle as he waited for her to do something.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

"Finding things for others? All kinds of scrap and stuff are left behind in old buildings, or gathered up here and there when the flood water goes away. Sometimes you find things people pay for, or trinkets good enough for some shop to be interested in." She looks back to the eels trying to escape and watches as he heads for them, but remains where she is standing for the moment to just observe.

However, her amused look fades when he mentions it being a bother to capture the eels without hurting them and she gives him a more disapproving look, though looks aside to the buckets before he can turn around and see. "Sure." Heading over there, she picks up an empty bucket and throws it his way after having walked closer again.

"Answer's still that I don't need a mudbath. Besides, you seem to be doing just fine." The smirk makes a brief appearance on her face again. It's not that she is scared of getting dirty. Digging around in the dirt, diving in the canals. Things like that she had done a lot of times over the years. "Honestly, I'm just not sure how much of that algae might be out here still." The last thing she needs is to get sick with something again already. "Though, if you're willing to split the pay I could help carry some buckets to the bathhouse, since I know where it is." She adds with a shrug, not really expecting him to be willing to accept the offer, as he seems to be in great need of all the lasti he can get himself.

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

Scavenger, that was what Ira was describing, it was what he was doing to the abandoned places as soon as she had mentioned it during their first meeting. It was a good way to find components and such, but he was never looking around for anything valuable in the sense of trinkets. Nodding in response as she spoke up, catching the bucket she threw before replacing the filled one. The top bulged with writhing things as he poured some into the new bucket and began to carry the ones that stayed within the netting back to dry land.

"I am doing just fine, and that is alright. You always have to keep yourself safe and if you don't feel it, then don't do the things that worry you" Josef was tempted to sling mud at her before she mentioned that, now, it would just be mean, given her fears. Shrugging, he didn't think he'd get sick as long as he didn't inhale or ingest any of the mud. Even if it was in the water, it was possible to spot it well before that. So he cleared the distance to where she was with his other buckets, climbing out with a little difficulty. He placed the bucket down next to the rest before sitting to watch the mud churn with whichever eels he disturbed on his travel.

"Naw, I'll be fine, I've carried a lot worse, lot further... Ever have maggots crawl out of the gut of a beasty, as you carry them a dozen kilometers through woodland? You know, it's very hard to ignore them sliding down your back, sticky with blood, constantly wrigglin'," Shaking his head, probably sharing a little too much with that descriptor. "Appreciate the company though. Were you findin' things out here or just on a stroll?"

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

She gives another shrug, then hesitates before rolling up one of her sleeves to show some red patches of fading rashes on her forearm. "Just don't want to end up with any more sores like these, you know. Exposure to those algae." It had never gotten as bad as it had for some people, since she had done what she could to stay away from water during the worst periods. Though even if the mud here isn't covered in red grime, she doesn't want to take too many risks still.

His lovely description of maggots and blood has her wrinkle her nose a little, but she doesn't look too disturbed by the mental image it gives her. Visualizing it isn't too bad. She's run into plenty of nasty dead and rotten things here and there in the Drench plenty of times and it is often the smell that gets you. Even if the sight isn't very pretty either.

"Company I can always give." She nods with a softer smile, then gestures over to the metal hovels in the distance that she came from as to answer his question. "Bit of both. Was out on a stroll, then decided to have a look through those over there. Not really anything of interest left, though. Mouldy furniture, soggy carpets, old knickknacks... Those sort of things."

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 looked over and nodded before speaking up, "It'll get better over time and maybe one of those fancy doctors will develop something for the heavily infected" he shrugged, knowing that it wasn't likely given how small the area sample was and the effort it would take to create such a vaccine. Not knowing why she hesitated on showing off her arm, she had seen his scars and it bothered him none. His mind wandered a little as he began to brush off some of the mud that caked his glove and the jar of fireflies at his waist.

He wasn't going to mention the smell of the things he had to deal with, because that would be a step far. It wasn't like he was describing the thing to make someone ill, just mentioning it in order to convey how grimy it was to do the job. Looking over at the distant structures, as she mentioned what she was doing earlier. "If I had a cart, I'd take the things apart for scrap. Metal is always needed, even if nothing else remains" he murmured before contemplating on whether or not he should cut his slight break short and move back to the mud. Thinking better of it, he began to rummage near the buckets for a canteen which he unscrewed and drank out of.

"I'd have expected more eelers to be about, but if they have the same worries as you, I understand why it's sparse," He said as he sighed after taking a drain of the canteen, feeling a bit more alive now that he had liquid in his system. He'd have offered the thing to Ira, but he doubted she'd risk sharing an unknown container of liquid. It was just water, boiled and filtered a couple of times as seemed custom for the cleaner establishments of the Drench.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

"It's the hope that they'll figure something out that'll work, and the concern that the Plates might just keep it for themselves." At least that is some of her concern, having little to no trust in the Platers and those making decisions over the rest of the city.

Pulling her sleeve down again, she considers his thought about taking the buildings apart. "Most of the metal's rusted, but perhaps some could be used. Not even sure if there's anyone around here that'd take offence to someone taking the shacks down. No one seemed to be using them as shelter at the moment, at least." Personally she often just sticks to what she can fit in her pockets or her backpack, keeping her hands free to able to climb a building if needed.

She has a look around at the empty mud fields, indeed not seeing anyone else this far out. "Could be many reasons. Might have done it last season, or there's people on the fields on the other side of town. Or yeah... They don't want to get more sick or sick again." She snorts and shakes her head slowly.

"Felt a bit ironic when the notice first came up. The sickness comes from the water and then they're asking us to go searching the mud and water for plants and eels, while seeing none of the Platers down here helping. Leaving it to us as usual." The Drenchers still did it, though. Everyone needs the money.

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

"Platers would do that? just keep a cure to themselves?" Josef was still an outsider and didn't really know about the attitudes that the Platers actually had, this could all just be social propaganda or just plain hatred and distrust that Drenchers had. So, he had to parse out what he knew with what he was told by others. Then the conversation went to the houses, metal was metal no matter the rust, with an electric crucible and furnace, he could melt it all down and create ingots to work with. "As long as no one cares about it, rusty or not, I could make something from'em"

Shelter, on the other hand, would technically be removing those. Though, he doubted the half-collapsed things would still be utilized, even by travelers escaping storms. This was also the type of area that would flood heavily when rainfall came. He could well make a sled of some kind, but he doubted it'd be quiet going down the streets of the Drench. Josef still needed a workshop to melt everything down, so this was just planning for the future. Resources were resources, no matter what people said about the source. "Whatever the reason, it's quiet out here, a little too quiet. Local wildlife, other than the eels seem to be sparse"

Listening again, he nodded before getting up and placing his canteen back between the buckets. Slowly sliding into the mud and making his way to the channels he dug with the shovel. "Platers seem to be beyond manual labor, as far as I understand. The bounty isn't even worth much, but they probably know that there are those desperate enough to need'em" He said as he began to start digging again, disturbing the eels hiding in the mud as he connected more areas to the netted bucket. Slow work, but it was the request, unhurt and humane.

JOSEF

you can throw me to the wolves

Ira

"Wouldn't surprise me if they did, at least. Or have us pay to get it." Her hopes of the Platers being charitable are low, but she'll be pleasantly surprised and happy to be proven wrong in this case if it turns out her mistrust is misplaced in this case.

She starts walking slowly along the canal again with her eyes on the ground. "Think most wildlife coming close to the city gets chased off again. Probably more further out, or in the Tangles or around the Drowning Trails. More bushes and trees, fewer people." Fortunately, she's never run into anything while being out there aside from birds and smaller critters. She stops her pacing to watch as he moves to start digging again, then turns her gaze up towards the Plates looming over the Drench.

"It's enough to make a difference for some down here. If only for a day or two. It's still a paying job of sort and with a lot of things standing more or less still nowadays, people will just take what they can get." Desperate times, desperate people and the locals probably having to compete with the stuck visitors trying to make a living now too.

tomorrow I will come back leader of the whole pack