[SE] Out, Damned Spot!

Good notions weren't worth much when they didn't do anything, but Peter couldn't argue with the fact that they were making progress. A whole step, cleared off, the muds approach stymied by their efforts. Honestly, Peter didn't think he was doing that much to help, strength had never been his strong suit, and the mud was literally fighting the the entire time. ”Oh... I didn’t know there wasn’t a um... a...” Peter tapped the blade of the shovel against the step as he tried to coax the word to his tongue, his face screwed up with the effort. ”...book boss?” Not right, but hopefully close enough Jigano would know what he was talking about. The fact came as a bit of a relief though. There was a sliver of guilt in his chest, stemming from the idea that he was stealing the books somehow, even if he brought them back when he was done. It was good to be able to let go of that. ”It’s good that people,” Peter gestured towards the assorted townsfolk who were loading mud into barrels, using the opportunity to shake the mud off his shovel, ”want to help.” They had reclaimed enough of the stairs that Peter could step down, and start working on the lower ones, where the mud seemed even more stubborn, and all but rose up against his shovel. Though he was working diligently, Peter was focused on the bard, drinking in his words with clear curiosity. ”What kinds of... do you um, collect and preserve all kinds of knowledge? Or just... specific things?” It sounded simultaneously exciting and boring, adventuring and learning new things, but also cataloguing it and keeping things in order. ”And do you... do you just write it down? Or... do you un, teach things?” Little by little, his voice was growing more steady, even as exertion made it more ragged. Focusing on questions made the time go by a little easier, made it a little bit nicer. Hopefully for both of them. What kind of work did he do? It was a good question. Peter felt like he’d been spinning his wheels, not accomplishing anything. ”I... Not lots. I guess... whatever people need me to do, I do.” If he were more suave, he might say something like I’m in the business of bad business or something else dumb. It was probably a good thing he wasn’t more bold anyway, the silver haired man seemed like the type who wouldn’t find something like that amusing. Peter Perfectly able to hold my own hand, But I still can’t kiss my own neck;