A lot of us have a “kit” stuff we cart/tote everywhere, stuff we need. Mothers carry stuff to feed,amuse and cope with the Sprogs. Crafts people carry weird stuff(well I do). So what does a Joat carry? Or pick another character/profession and add kit.
Rael could tell a newbie JOAT. It was the way their limbs trembled
under the weight of the gear in their coats. And the gentle ‘ping’ of
stitching giving way under the stress. He decided to take mercy on this
kid.
“I have a clear bench and an Hour’s pro bono credit. I can help you.”
“I think…” grunt, “I might need it…”
He took the young saurian over to the aforementioned bench. “Let’s see what you have in there.”
It
was typical noob stuff. A hammer that was only a hammer. A separate
folio of screwdrivers and spanners. A multitool that could stun a
pickpocket, and would prove useful only as a cosh, in the long run. Ze
actually had baggies of sorted nuts, bolts and screws for any occasion.
No wonder they were struggling under the weight.
“Did any JOATs teach you, before you began?” he asked.
“Uuuuuuuh,” said the kid. “I thought I could… um… wing it?”
“First
lesson: SUO’s. Small. Useful. Objects.” Habit made him line up the
kid’s collection on one side of the bench before emptying his own
pockets. His collections of nuts, bolts and screws were sorted by width
only. His hammer concealed an array of ever-decreasing screwdrivers,
stored matryoska style.
The small roll of screwdrivers he did have were for tiny work.
There
was a stiff, flat card. A squashed roll of ductape. A set of hex keys.
An array of paperclips, and the really efficient kind of multitool that
had been made by people who wanted to work with them.
“These are the essentials. Everything else gets added on a most-needed basis.”
“But… how can anyone work with that stuff?” winced the kid.
“It’s not about make well,” said Rael. “It’s about make do.”
They spent the rest of the hour discussing the Zen of JOAT.
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