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Post by Èdan on Aug 19, 2021 8:22:10 GMT -6
As far as he knows, fish are the type of creature who generally isn't too involved with what happens above the water. Which is fortunate for him, fishing skills being rusty as they are, but all the same he makes sure to take it slow and easy, as to avoid startling the thing (More so because he doesn't even know what senses this thing has. Does it see? Hear? Taste the water? All the above?) The tail tip curls around the net handle and drags it closer to him, until he's able to reach for it with a hand.
Somewhere nearby, green eyes watch intently from the shadow of a rock, ever bit as curious to see this play out. The courier raises the net and slowly, ever so slowly, lowers it into the water some ways away from the perceived location of the thing and the fish. Hope being, so long as it's distracted, it might not notice something entering the water in slow motion.
. 27 . Atrum: 11 (2/5) Wet Season: 27
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Post by Nadia on Aug 19, 2021 8:30:25 GMT -6
Oh, no. The fish is just about to be gobbled up by the ghostly squirt, when it feels vibrations in the water-- and darts backwards straight towards the net. Whoops. The sudden cloud of black ink makes its outline more visible. All you've gotta do is lift that little sucker out of the pond... and try not to get inked yourself.
[Congratulations, you have successfully tamed the creature!]
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Post by Èdan on Aug 19, 2021 9:05:06 GMT -6
Patience is a good tool, but it rarely does anything without the precision to go with it. For as long as the thing remains unaware, the net creeps closer and closer.. and when it finally notices, it's largely already too late, since a quick motion from the wrists catches it into the net before it has a chance to tell which direction is what. The black cloud that gets emitted after does confuse him, almost making him wonder if the creature had somehow dissolved into a non-physical shadow form, but he still lifts up the net in short order. The weight of it fortunately suggests the catch is still secured.
Now out of the water, the outlines are much easier to tell apart - A pale form, almost seeming liquid if it wasn't contained within a membrane, and oozing black ichor.. Well, not quite ichor, more looks like ink by the looks of it, although the similarities to the shadow are not far off.
. 28 . Atrum: 11 (3/5) Wet Season: 28
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Post by Èdan on Aug 19, 2021 9:08:59 GMT -6
And while it's not exactly a strong beast, it is none the less quite a bit bigger than the other fish he's caught so far, so wrangling the wiggling thing towards the bucket takes some effort. The net quickly upturns and the squid is released into the water of the bucket, where it seems to disappear again. Standing back, he wipes some of the sprayed ink from the face and clothes (Figured he'd find something that sprays black ink when the courier's wearing a tan shirt.. He just hopes those stains aren't nearly as stubborn as actual writer's ink), quite content with a job well done and a catch well secured.
"Not bad," he says towards a patch of grass where the green eyes had last been, "You might be more useful at this than I thought." Of course, he might also need a larger bucket at this rate, if not a second one, but one step at a time.
. 29 . Atrum: 11 (4/5) Wet Season: 29
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Post by Èdan on Aug 19, 2021 9:14:12 GMT -6
The green eyes peer back, and although it's difficult to tell whether the praise does anything to it, a small black tendril is still pointing towards the pond. Wiping an eye, where some of the water (Thankfully not ink) had sprayed, the man cranes the other brow, walking back to the pool. The black cloud is slow to disperse in the almost non-existent flow of it, but it does seem to spread. With it blocking out most of the view, however, it does bring into sharp relief something else, a piece of moment to the side and where the shadow had pointed. The man crouches again, lowering the net into the water to do a quick scoop at the blurry shape.
What comes up is a piece of that coral-like material, this time green. But there's also a small fish caught between the intricate texture of coral prongs, now that much more panicked that its out of water. "Alright, alright, easy.." he picks out the fish and places it in the bucket, where it wiggles free. Seems the pool might be hiding some bounty at this point, so he takes some of the bait pellets and scatters them around the pool, to see what else might come up to feed on them.
. 30 . (added) Atrum: 12 (0/5) Wet Season: 30
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Post by Nadia on Aug 19, 2021 9:30:54 GMT -6
It's not another fish, but...
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Post by Èdan on Aug 27, 2021 12:51:54 GMT -6
The wait ends up being longer than he'd like. Not because he isn't patient, but because the pellets quickly float to the bottom of the pool and remain settled there, ever occasionally disturbed by the slow current streaming in from between the rocks. It doesn't make them exactly.. enticing bait, given most fish likely wouldn't even have the necessary depth perception to distinguish them from any other rock. Where the man initially sits there crouched, it eventually becomes a posture supported on one knee, then finally just sitting in the grass, clogs dangling over the edge of the pool, while the upper body all but lays against a boulder.
Well, faex, that didn't work either. Turning towards the green eyes in the grass, he casually cranes a brow, asking in a tone flatter than he perhaps intended, "I don't suppose you'd wager to locate more fish for me?" The shadow's silence is to be expected, but confused eyes look between him and the pool, before slinking back into hiding. "Hm. Too soon, then."
. 31 . Atrum: 12 (1/5) Wet Season: 31
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Post by Èdan on Aug 27, 2021 12:58:57 GMT -6
Far from it he expects the fish to just swim up to be caught, but considering the high tide of the season, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Eventually, he sits up and picks up the net again, dunking it into the water to stir things up. The pool's slow flow makes it a perfect trap, but also an inconvenient staging ground, where nothing quite plays their part accordingly. He makes sure to disturb the water long enough to make the ink cloud disperse by way of current, and close enough to the bottom to rustle up some of the bait that had fallen there.
The waters grow murky for some time, but once things settle the overall picture is a little clearer, with some of the bait still floating around in the vortices' aftermath. Even the shadow's curiosity seems to draw it out again, though in a much different location. Who would have thought the art of fishing could draw parallels to cooking?
. 32 . Atrum: 12 (2/5) Wet Season: 32
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Post by Èdan on Aug 27, 2021 13:03:41 GMT -6
The pool's not quite a cauldron, but between the ink, the bait and the silt kicked up from the bottom, it's not exactly too different to a rather disgusting form of broth. No sooner does he finish thinking this when a bit of movement catches his attention among the debris. Quickly, he crouches down and lowers the net into the water again, slowly circling it around in the dying current, feeling for something neither ink nor bait.
There's impact against the net's frame, like something solid, and he adjusts the position, trying to feel out where it would be floating by next. The shadow, too, cranes its head longer to peer into the water, now noticing something is afoot. The eyes stay fixed in the general area, until they catch a faint shadow among the silt and the net makes a swing for it. There's connection, there's weight and when he pulls the net out of the water there's certainly something caught within it.
. 33 . Atrum: 12 (3/5) Wet Season: 33
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Post by Èdan on Aug 27, 2021 13:08:09 GMT -6
It's too early to celebrate just yet, even as the shadow seems to creep closer for a look. Bringing the net up to himself, the man inspects the find. There's a word he's heard from foreign traders for when something is a relief since it didn't turn out to be as bad as someone thought, but as far as he knows there isn't a saying for that feeling where excitement turns to disappointed, and back to excitement. The catch is heavy, so it's definitely not more plants (And that is good), but it's all grey and solid, which makes it look like all he caught is a rock (And that's bad).
But there's a smoothness and texture to the rock that betrays it's nature.. When he picks it out of the net and runs a thumb over it to clear away the silt, the texture becomes more evident - A shell. Well.. Not a fish, but it'll do. If its inside is still living, it might make for someone's fancy dinner. If not, someone else's fancy necklace.
. 34 . Atrum: 12 (4/5) Wet Season: 34
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Post by Èdan on Aug 27, 2021 13:13:52 GMT -6
He turns the shell around in his hands, brow craning. Colour's a bit dull, but.. could be worse. At least it isn't already cracked, as so many discarded shells tend to be. To be on the safe side, he still heads over to the bucket and dunks it in. If the insides are a live, might as well see if that might be worth a little more at the market.
With that settled, he puts away the net for a moment, to inspect the lines hanging from the tree branch. Not surprisingly, all three are empty, but where two of them are just a disappointed, the third one is a frustration, as he pulls out yet another empty line - Empty of both catch and hook. Damned knots.. With an annoyed grunt he turns and goes back to the box, digging around for any intact hook he finds first. The shadow follows him to and fro, still at a distance, but with more intent behind it now - There's curiosity that might outdo the fear.
Attaching the hook to the line, he makes sure to make the knot extra tight, before tossing the line back into the water.
. 35 . Atrum: 13 (0/5) Wet Season: 35
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Post by Nadia on Aug 27, 2021 14:39:00 GMT -6
Did you reel in... a shark?
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Post by Èdan on Aug 28, 2021 6:39:11 GMT -6
The lines in order, he gives the pool one last look over before picking up the fishing rod again. Most of it is still a little too murky to make out anything trying to hide, so while things settle he can try to reel in something from the stream itself. "Keep an eye on this, will you?" he tells the shadow, by way of giving it something to do, while simultaneously not expecting it to do anything. Maybe the thing is smart enough to figure out the general gist of it by now (After all, he's been speaking words at it for the better part of.. days by now? Something like that.) but he's not exactly setting high expectations. Either way, it seems to have a prior interest in the pool, so two sets of eyes could benefit him.
The bait he chooses doesn't seem like a conventional option, but it's the first one that he's able to spot in the box.
. 36 . Atrum: 13 (1/5) Wet Season: 36
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Post by Èdan on Aug 28, 2021 6:43:43 GMT -6
Some black rubber-looking pellet things that seem more meant for plugging rather small kegs than fish food. But then, he'd never before seen these types of fish before either, so maybe their diet is something completely different. He tosses two of the pellets into the pool, just in case it's enough to spark interest in anything hiding there. The motion spooks the shadow, for he's already up on the boulder when he does it, but it's only a couple of seconds after that the green eyes reappear again.
"Best keep an eye out," he tells it, with a smirk. There's a lot of things that can spook you in life, so the shadow should consider itself lucky it was only some fish pellets this time around. Of course, being incorporeal, the list isn't nearly as long as one for a physical person (But then so is the list of things to enjoy. Rather hard to find pleasant experiences in life if you only ever phase through things. Shame, really).
. 37 . Atrum: 13 (2/5) Wet Season: 37
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Post by Èdan on Aug 28, 2021 6:48:09 GMT -6
The skies above see a streak of clouds slowly roll in from the south, threatening to undo the pleasant warmth of the summer day. The man estimates they might still have some hours of sunshine, before things get more gloomy, so it is best to get on with it. Settling in on the boulder, he draws the fishing rod back and yanks it forwards to cast the line into the middle of the river. Certainly, gloomy weather and rain might make for better fishing, but it's just an incredible inconvenience that it didn't seem worth it. Besides, the catch of the day has been plentiful, so there is no need to get greedy.
All in all, he didn't wish to return home drenched. (Again.) The shadow most likely didn't even realize how fortunate it is in this regard. It could easily phase through the water and come out unscathed (Which did produce an interesting thought and opportunity, now that he thought about it..)
. 38 . Atrum: 13 (3/5) Wet Season: 38
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