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Post by Silver on Jul 17, 2023 3:01:40 GMT -6
Oh! Is that... normal? [Please remember to delete your consumables from your inventory!]
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Post by Èdan on Jul 17, 2023 15:13:54 GMT -6
If he expected there to be a quick snag, he ends up sorely mistaken. Which isn't to say he doesn't know better, but it's nice to entertain the thought every now and again. The river stream rolls on by, with its quiet bubbling and rather inviting coolness. The days have been warm enough that even he is starting to feel the heat, in a manner of speaking. Not terribly, perhaps not even nearly enough as most, but the bright days make for dry air, and over time that can get rather annoying.
The air around the river is better, to be sure, though by no means enough to even out the difference. One can only wonder how anyone else is feeling about it (Least the ones not particularly affiliated with certain fiery natures themselves). It remains a wonder the riverside isn't filled with prospective swimmers and divers, though he supposes the threat of potentially being eaten has that effect on people.
. 16 . Filumaureus: 3 (1/5) Wet Season: 16
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Post by Èdan on Jul 17, 2023 15:18:50 GMT -6
The black snapper hadn't been quite a sea-serpent-sized threat, which usually scares most folk away from the docks, admittedly. Still, he supposes most like having their fingers and toes intact (Not that in these parts this wouldn't be a quick enough fix at the temple).
From a distance, the lures and baits end up having a kind of effect the man didn't quite expect, in that they're also attracting the sprite. Not quite in as alluring a way as it might a fish, but slowly and surely she's been creeping closer to the fishing spot, just to get a better glimpse of what the man keeps throwing into the water. Somewhere on the air, faint though it might be, seems to suggest food, though she doesn't quite understand what kind. Once more, the months of ocean bounty were vastly far apart from the darkness-in-bloom months that the sprite is used to, until now.
. 17 . Filumaureus: 3 (2/5) Wet Season: 17
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Post by Èdan on Jul 17, 2023 15:22:53 GMT -6
The size helps, in that the sprite's footfalls hardly make a sound, and that the taller grass is as likely to hide her as betray her. In Aurey's own mind, the stealth feels a vast success, largely because the man hasn't made any motion to look towards her location. In the man's own mind, the attempt is certainly cute, if it hadn't been quite so clumsy - even with the ears half-covered by the hat, he could still pick up the faint scamper of feet over rocks, and the rustle of fluttering wings when she changes location. Having to look to confirm it feels rather insulting at this point.
Well, regardless, let her feel comfortable feigned secret, even if not a real one. The sprite will have to get used to his presence one way or another, and from what he's figured a little positive reinforcement can go a long way in that.
. 18 . Filumaureus: 3 (3/5) Wet Season: 18
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Post by Èdan on Jul 17, 2023 15:26:55 GMT -6
The line then pings something, as it briefly wobbles, drags, and eventually starts to sink deeper down. The man's attention immediately shifts, raising to his feet with the rod in hand and beginning to reel in whatever the catch might be. It's not long before he realized the hope of fish is a bit much, as there's certainly weight to the line, but nothing struggling at the other end. (And he rather doubts he'll be as lucky as to catch something that's already given up).
Instead, what he reels in is something bright red, slightly rounded, and very much flat as soon as it comes out of the water. Ah, one of those 'water lettuce' things.. Kelp, for lack of a better word, and while pretty underwater tends to look more like a comically solid bloodstain outside of it. In the distance, the sprite's head makes an odd tilt at the bright colours and there's a sense of grumbling in her stomach.
. 19 . Filumaureus: 3 (4/5) Wet Season: 19
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Post by Èdan on Jul 17, 2023 15:32:40 GMT -6
Is it edible? She doesn't rightfully know. Does it look edible? From a certain angle, perhaps.. Would she risk getting much closer to find out? Certainly not.. at least, not yet. The man remains a kind of mystery that she's yet to try and understand, a combination of her best interests in the form of a nest and food, and her worst fear in the form of an unspeakable terror she can't name or comprehend. Almost as if for no reason, though a sprite's instincts are much too strong to take such baseless chance.
By the riverside, the man has finished untangling the red kelp from the line and places it into the bucket. So, that other type of bait isn't as effective as hoped.. Well, it's not like he's particularly lacking in options, so he picks up some of the pellets and sets up the line with those, throwing a couple into the water near the shore for good measure. Maybe this is more to their liking.
. 20 . (added) Filumaureus: 4 (0/5) Wet Season: 20
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 19, 2023 14:44:35 GMT -6
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Post by Èdan on Jul 20, 2023 5:14:08 GMT -6
Theory turns to practise really quickly, as the pellets aren't even able to drift much of a distance downriver, before flashes of red dart past just below water level, eagerly snapping them up. With the rod already cast, the man's main option is to set it down and grab the net instead, before the prospective catch has had its full and takes off. Not exactly a safe method, leaving the rod unattended, since any one thing could come up and snatch the line, tugging it into the water and away.. but the eye's on the immediate prize, and there's little time to waste.
Hovering over the bank, the dark-piercing eyes try to catch sight of the red ones again for when they come up for another pass. The problem therein, though, is that dark-piercing doesn't always mean colour-discerning.. So a shape below could be mostly anything, until it's close enough to the surface to be discernible.
. 21 . Filumaureus: 4 (1/5) Wet Season: 21
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Post by Èdan on Jul 20, 2023 5:18:27 GMT -6
The sudden shift in energy isn't lost on the sprite neither, who at first recoils behind a patch of taller grass, fearful that her hiding spot had been made (It was, but that was besides the point). The motions are similar for when the man caught that red potentially-food thing, though perhaps even more hurried in this case. Aurey spends some time contemplating this, the pieces in her mind not quite neatly fitting together as some other sprites (Of the flower kind) might. But there's still a small spark of something deep within that mind, and it makes a sudden association - this water can contain important things, potentially even food.
Now, whether the sprite has a mind to act on that newly minted information is another matter. For one she's not entirely sure what even all this water is, and why it's behaving so strangely.. At most she remembers fountains and little garden streams.. This is a lot more, and a lot stranger.
. 22 . Filumaureus: 4 (2/5) Wet Season: 22
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Post by Èdan on Jul 20, 2023 5:22:39 GMT -6
Her gaze alternates between the bank closest to her, and the man further up river on his own part of the bank. It seems he's waiting for something, or perhaps just doesn't know what to do yet. The truth of the matter lies in the former assumption. The pellets aren't all entirely gone yet, and he's made sure to loom over the water without casting a shadow across it. Fish might not be the most intelligent of animals, but even they have instincts regarding predators, none more so those that (Rather literally) occupy the top of the food chain.
Sure enough, not half a minute later, two red streaks become visible, darting towards some of the pellets caught on the surface. The net is readied, the man waits poised for the proper moment.. The net cuts into the surface of the river, swirls around once, twice, before he yanks it back out.
. 23 . Filumaureus: 4 (3/5) Wet Season: 23
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Post by Èdan on Jul 20, 2023 5:26:38 GMT -6
The struggling and wiggling of the pole is ample enough evidence that the strike had been a success, as the fish within fight for their life. There's no real need to, since he'll transpose them into the bucket in short order, though the fish wouldn't really have any notion of that. Bringing them over to said bucket, the man crouches to untangle each from the netting and let them slip in the water, before suddenly pausing.
There's three fish in the net. The two red streaks he has clocked earlier, but also a black one he hadn't seen nor noticed. Based on the set of teeth on that one, evidently neither had the red ones, suggesting there were more hunters at this particular scene than initially realized. Somewhere behind him, the sprite cranes her short form to try and see what the fuss was about. She could see something moving, but can't tell what it is exactly.
. 24 . Filumaureus: 4 (4/5) Wet Season: 24
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Post by Èdan on Jul 20, 2023 5:32:06 GMT -6
She thinks to spot some red, not unlike the other thing the man had caught before, but these red ones are moving a lot more. Despite herself, there's a sense of hunger, of wondering what these things might taste like.
A notion evidently shared by the black toothy one, which snaps at both fish and fingers alike. "Hey!" the man grunts, sharply pulling his hand back before the teeth latch in. Even small teeth can be hazardous, if they're sharp like razors (And he has no patience for hand injuries today). It does propose a momentary problem, however, since putting all three fish into the same bucket would mean he'll end up maybe having just one fish left by the end of the day. With a grunt, he stands, grabbing a second one to fill with water, and divides the two and one up between them.
There, should keep peace for a while. With the riverbank quite a bit more active now, he reels in the line, replaces the hook with a new one, and casts it back out.
. 25 . Filumaureus: 5 (0/5) Wet Season: 25
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Post by Nadia on Jul 23, 2023 3:41:11 GMT -6
There's time to wait, and wait, and wait... and the hook does not garner attention from any fish. What a bummer.
[Nothing happens.]
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Post by Èdan on Jul 29, 2023 1:47:55 GMT -6
The dramatic tussle of fish concluded, the peace and quiet is quick to return. Some might argue that too quick, others might point out that it ends up lasting some minutes too long. They wouldn't be necessarily wrong, since it looks like whatever commotion he had cause has chased anything else to a distance.. Either that, or the hooks are simply not nearly as appetizing as the bait. Not that he can blame the fish - if the option is between food and some metal-looking thing, the decision is self-explanatory.
The man simply leans back, hands resting idly on knees as he occasionally pulls the line closer and casts it out again, in the quiet that is the river running. Indeed, some might consider it too quiet, even some beasts might find it a sign of danger, such as the sprite. For him, it's just quiet enough, with a subtle background sound, and pleasant weather.
. 26 . Filumaureus: 5 (1/5) Wet Season: 26
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Post by Èdan on Jul 29, 2023 2:01:24 GMT -6
The buzz of the city is all well and good in keeping one's self entertained, but even the best honed minds know to appreciate a moment of quiet every now and again. A manner of reset, of tuning out the incessant squabbling of everyday populace (For reasons hardly worth even having a squabble about. Whichever philosopher surmised that the larger a people group, the lesser the average degree of intelligence never likely took into consideration metropolises, but would have felt such sweet tang of justification if they had).
Out here, by the river, all problems came down to just the simple matter of not falling in nor get overly drenched when something is pulled from the water. And, more distantly, to keep a wary eye on the sprite when she isn't paying attention, as well, though out of all the river-side accompanied companions this one seemed the least fussiest thus far.
. 27 . Filumaureus: 5 (2/5) Wet Season: 27
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