His curly brown hair fell in thick strands over the black lensed round goggles pinned to his hairline. They were necessary as tinkerer, for welding and cutting, to stop any fragments blinding him, and to avoid arc-eye in general. But beyond that, he’d now taken to wearing them permanently.

They'd saved his vision one too many times to note. And like when he was welding, he had to be careful now. The invention of weapons was forbidden. It was a mystery as to why, as if someone had the chance to hurt someone and they wanted to then they could just to it with their fists, or any implement. Why weapons made any difference, he didn't know. It was one of those rules formed years ago, that would stick for evermore in the writings of their history.

If

he wasn't careful, he could get himself exiled. He'd have to pitch his idea with a certain finesse.

He failed.

“Any time today, Mister Mikklerklek.” Rasped High Councilperson Hemmelsmock.

“Right,” Replied Tailor, fumbling for the bag at his feet. “My invention is this. Simplicity and ease are its functions; and it will cut down the time required to perform this sequence of actions by condensing them to one single movement.” He said proudly, grinning at Hemmelsmock.

“And what action is this, exactly?” She asked, piqued.

“Meat cutting.”

She laughed haughtily. “Oh, please don’t tell me you’ve assembled us here, Mister Mikklerklek, to present us with your invention of the ‘knife’?”

He swallowed. Knives were classed as weapons.