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Okassis was never one to back down from competition; doubly so when he didn't have enough to keep him busy otherwise, especially when he'd taken the pains of initiating it, and particularly if his nerves were rattling like crazy with pre-Hatching jitters. And the fact that Sovann was in it all the way with him? His determination was through the roof on this one. There was nothing that could make him back down from his plans.

Which was probably good, because it would take a hell of a lot of work in order to see this through the way it needed to go. After a hasty breakfast with Sovann, he'd run back to his alcove in order to grab up a few supplies, and arranged to meet his friend again outside near the herdbeast corral, which Okassis had reasoned to be as good a place as any to begin their quest for ingredients.

A pair of small sacks in hand, Okassis hurried to the designated meeting spot, searching around for his friend. He couldn't have beat Sovann here, could he have?

"Roasted and hung out for Thread," he agreed with a grin, tossing the other boy a sack. "But hey, it's better than twiddling our thumbs until Hatching, right?" It was no contest for Okassis; if he had to sit, the tension would make his head explode within seconds.

Already starting to move forward, he called back, "C'mon, we've got a lot of bugs to catch!", before hauling himself over the fence of the corral. He hadn't worked out quite yet what the best way to collect their unfortunate prisoners was going to be, but Sovann had a good head - and besides, as a fisherman, he must know something about rustling up insects for bait, right?

"Oh, don't give me that crackdust. It's just some harmless fun, right?" Okassis answered with a careless wave of his hand. "Everyone gets a round of free klah on us! They'll have something to talk about for a good week, or at least until the eggs split. We're gonna be fardling heroes for this, Sovann. nobody'll thank us, sure," he shrugged, "but at least we're giving them somethin' better to think about then their nerves. You see? Public service!"

"I'm thinking the trundlebugs'll be better, in any case. There's gotta be a water sources for the herdbeasts around here, and there's probably some good sand around that, right?"

"Hah! You think the Candidatemaster's really gonna hear about this?" Okassis chuckled, then paused thoughtfully. "Well, I guess there's a chance, anyway... but I bet I can smooth-talk us out of trouble. I mean, who's to say we aren't perfectly sincere, anyway?"

There was a distinctive silence following Sovann's mention of flitts - rather odd, actually, given how Okassis had always admired the tiny dragons - but it didn't seem to much matter. "Water, right!" Surveying the area, Okassis pointed off toward a mound of earth not so far away. "C'mon, let's go over there. We'll be able to get a good look of the place on top of that little knobb."

The blonde's mouth quirked, his eyebrows sloped; for a moment there, Sovann might have seen something like guilt on his face, or shame. But it was gone in a flash, and Okassis laughed roughly. "Always, of course! Did I tell you about the little brown scamp I spotted when we were selling in Nabol Hold last Turn? Funny little thing was flitting around the crowds with a note folded up around its neck, just begging for attention. I spent ages watching it, trying to figure it out, but it never came anywhere near me. Then I saw a passerby stop to pay it attention, and it crooned all cute-like while they bent over and took off the note- then in a flash it was gone, and the man started shrieking like a wherry! Turns out the thing had snatched his mark pouch and fled. The note read - 'Thanks for your help, now I can get some brighter glows!' Can you believe it?"

Climbing up onto the mound (and skirting around a particularly hairy herdbeast that was already on the slope), Okassis began searching around for water. He wasn't disappointed - pointing toward the distance, he asked, "You see that pond over there? Would that be good?"

"Makes good sense to me," Okassis agreed, following his friend toward the water. Even if he wasn't certain that Sovann had believed his story, it had done its job - the subject had passed, and he'd skirted an uncomfortable topic of conversation. Knowing Sovann, it would come up again eventually... but maybe at a more opportune time, he'd be ready to talk. Either that, or Sovann would be hearing a lot more stories about imaginary flitts Okassis pretended to have seen.

Arriving at the shore of the pond, Okassis studied the ground. "So now, do we just start digging here?" he asked, looking to his friend for guidance.

Observing the seahold boy at work, Okassis absorbed the gist of the technique, then immediately set about searching for a stick. He found a shortish one in the cropped grass near the pond's shore; a herdbeast eyed him balefully as he took it up, but seemed disinterested. Digging a small hole in the ground, he poked his stick in, and waited.

After a few seconds, he saw a bug making for the stick. The moment it was on, he flicked the stick up - and succeeded in sending the poor bug flying a foot away. "Whoops!" Okassis exclaimed, lunging forward to recapture the bug before it could gather its dazzled wits and disappear under the ground. Just barely, he snagged it by a leg and stuffed it into the bag. "Well, that's two down! Probably only a couple hundred more to go," he sniggered, replacing his stick in the ground. Hey, nobody said it would be easy - but at least there was good company?

"Well, I said that we needed to do some catching up, and this is the best chance for it, isn't it?" Okassis answered off-handedly, scooping, and losing, a particularly lively trundlebug. While he was still trying to recover the loss, he heard the faint crunch of the bug under Sovann's hand, and laughed as he saw his friend's pitifully hopeful gesture. "Still crunchy either way, I think!" Okassis approved the carcass cheerfully, snagging up a living specimen of his own and stashing it away.