|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 4, 2020 11:05:46 GMT -6
It was, as far as she could tell, a seashell. Or river shell as it were, half buried in the mud next to the pond. She supposed it must have gotten lodged there when the water receded due to the pond’s evaporation (after all, it was a little small to be affected by the tides that caused the vast recessions and intrusions of the large lake by the docks). Fiera leaned down and dug around in the mud with a finger, trying to pull up the shell. It came free with a little digging, popping out of the mud relatively effortlessly. The humanish picked it up and shook it off a bit, trying to get a better look at it when it wasn’t covered in sopping wet dirt and debris. She leaned over to the water of the pond and swished it around a little bit, getting the majority of the dirt off before holding it up to her eye.
Fiera 13 Ophelia 12.3/12.3 58
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 4, 2020 11:06:00 GMT -6
Hm. It was a pretty average shell altogether, if she was being honest. It was a deep coal color, black without any sort of iridescence. The ridges over it implied that it had spent a long time growing before dying off and being deposited on the shoreline. Or perhaps a bird had picked it up and pecked it open, leaving it in the state that Fiera found it now. It was about half the length of her palm, an average size for a shell of this type. Fiera had found them a couple times before, but had always managed to sell or trade them for a decent amount of money or goods. It would be for the best if she kept it, that was for sure. With that in mind, she unzipped her backpack and stuck the shell in a plastic baggie that she always brought along with her on her fishing trips.
Fiera 14 Ophelia 12.4/12.4 59
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 4, 2020 11:09:07 GMT -6
She kept the bag specifically for items like this, and it was always nice to find something that she could transport home in her backpack as opposed to having to put it in the catch bucket. Fish were nice, but dragging that bucket around got awfully heavy after a certain point, and it was nice to take a bit of a load off. Granted, one shell wasn’t exactly much of a displacement, but she’d take it. She zipped up the bag with satisfaction and glanced at her pole to see the tip of it bending down toward the water! She hopped up with glee, scuttling over to the pole to grab it, eager to catch another fish. Well, hopefully it would be another fish- she hadn’t gotten much more than seaweed for a while now. Her goal though was to try and catch whatever that massive fish had been that had bitten off her line.
Fiera 15 Ophelia 13.0/13.0 60
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Aug 4, 2020 18:17:31 GMT -6
Some dragonflies flitter near the water's edge, between some reeds. Nothing appears to be biting just yet...
[Nothing happens.]
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2020 10:56:17 GMT -6
Fiera immediately had to rebalance herself as whatever was on the other end of her fishing pole nearly dragged her off her feet and into the pond. This was definitely no piece of seaweed this time- something rooted to the bottom of the pond wouldn’t be able to pull back! It was all Fiera could do to stay upright like this, and even Ophelia scooted back to the opposite side of the pond to stay away from the action happening around the middle. Fiera could barely reel in the line due to the tension in it, and had to constantly let some thread out just to keep the line from snapping. She couldn’t let her line break twice- this fish had already eaten so much of her bait! It wasn’t just a matter of catching the fish right now. It was a fight for the fate of Fiera’s very pride.
Fiera 16 Ophelia 13.1/13.1 61
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2020 10:56:48 GMT -6
Granted she had a lot of it, but none that she felt she could spare right now. Other people might think she could afford to lose a bit, but not her. She hissed slightly as the pole jerked in her hand again, threatening to fly into the pond. That would be a disaster as well. She knew she could do this, but she would have to wait it out. If she could just keep the line from snapping long enough for the fish to wear itself out and let her reel it in without a fight, then she would have another catch for her bucket. She just needed to not run out of thread was the thing. She wasn’t sure how far out the line could be pulled, but she didn’t want to meet the end of the spool as a dead end now, that was for sure.
Fiera 17 Ophelia 13.2/13.2 62
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2020 10:57:08 GMT -6
As a result, any time the fish jerked forward, Fiera made sure to get as much spare thread out of the temporary relief as she could, reeling in the line as quickly as possible in those brief moments of relief. When the fish pulled back again, Fiera let out the fishing line again in a miserly fashion, only giving it a couple measly inches back from what she took from it to start with. In that way, the back and forth, Fiera managed to slowly get the fish closer and closer to shore. She couldn’t see it yet though, and it certainly didn’t feel like it was getting tired, but every so often the otherwise still water at the surface would swell and ebb, causing the waves to lap faster at the shoreline. It was clear that there was something thrashing around in there, and Fiera was going to bring it up.
Fiera 18 Ophelia 13.3/13.3 63
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2020 10:57:22 GMT -6
Fiera was amazed that the fish was still fighting this much by this point- how much energy did it HAVE in that scaly body? There was a chance she was going to drag it out of the water still thrashing at this point, and she hoped that it wouldn’t knock over her catch bucket depending on how big it was and how energetic it was by the time she brought it out of the pond. Ophelia pressed herself even further along the shore as the water continued to froth more and more as the fish threatened to breach the surface. Soon Fiera began seeing flashes of fins and a tail at the surface as the fish realized that it might be losing this fight. Fiera could only grin at this, determined to spite the creature that had managed to escape her grasp for so long. Well, it could avoid her no longer!
Fiera 19 Ophelia 13.4/13.4 64
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2020 10:57:41 GMT -6
The humanish gave one more heave on the pole, one last push through, and finally managed to drag the fish out of the water. Normally a fish would sit at the end of the line politely so Fiera could take pictures or look at it or just kind of keep it clean. Not this one. Fiera hadn’t really managed to drag it cleanly out of the water nor did she quite reel in enough fishing line to haul it out, so instead it just sort of dragged along the beach, thrashing angrily at the sensation of the rough sand and rocks along its side. “Oh, uh, oops. Sorry.” The humanish said, holding the hook with one hand and trying to support its body with the other as she attempted to maneuver the furious beast into her catch bucket. It was of course still completely enraged with her however, and seemed determined to make that as difficult as possible.
Fiera 20 Ophelia 14.0/14.0 65
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Aug 6, 2020 15:29:13 GMT -6
There's a shell washing up near to you!
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2020 0:46:20 GMT -6
Fiera wrestled with the writhing fish, fighting to keep it from flopping onto the ground and hurting itself even more now that the water wasn’t able to support its weight. It would be quite easy for it to break a rib like this, and Fiera knew that she’d only get a good price for it if it was in good health… and most wouldn’t consider a snapped rib ‘good health’. Oh, and she supposed she didn’t want it to get hurt. That too. Though she had to admit she was still a little salty against this creature for snapping her fishing line and taking so long to reel in, so she wasn’t too concerned for its health. It deserved it at least a little bit after all. Still, that wouldn’t matter much if she couldn’t even get it in the darn bucket. She’d just have to hustle a little harder.
Fiera 1 Ophelia 14.1/14.1 66
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2020 0:46:54 GMT -6
Ophelia must have been having the time of her life watching Fiera struggle like this. She was so used to being the less dextrous one who couldn’t handle things that it must have been hilarious to watch Fiera, the land dwelling creature with thumbs, struggle to lift a fish much smaller than her (though still plenty heavy.) Finally, Fiera managed to tip it over the side of her catch bucket, introducing it quite suddenly to the fish she had caught earlier. It thrashed around for a while longer, but all Fiera had to do was slap the lid over the top of the bucket and wait a few minutes for it to calm down and return to normal. Sure enough she could hear the splashing of the fish inside the bucket get quieter and quieter. The dark must have been soothing for it in a way, keeping it from panicking.
Fiera 2 Ophelia 14.2/14.2 67
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2020 0:47:17 GMT -6
After all, Fiera knew that for less intelligent creatures darkness was a sign that it was night time and thus time to go to sleep. Fiera wasn’t sure if the same held true for fish, but it seemed to be working on some level at least. After a while it seemed to have calmed down completely and Fiera finally took the lid off to take a proper look at her catch. After all, it had been moving too quickly and violently for her to get a good look at it right after catching it- she had been too busy making sure it didn’t escape to keep an eye out for such things. Now she had a great vantage point on it though- and on its nervous ‘tankmate’, the yellow finned fish that she had caught earlier which was now quite upset about the fact that it had less space to itself than before.
FIera 3 Ophelia 14.3/14.3 68
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2020 0:47:35 GMT -6
Well, it would just have to deal with it. This was the large fish’s bucket now as far as it was concerned. Fiera looked it over carefully. It was certainly huge, about the length of her forearm and hand. In return though, it wasn’t particularly colorful. Instead its body was a dull slate blue, still having a hint of color but nothing really impressive- its size was its main calling card from the looks of it. It had jagged fins on its back lining a powerful tail, short streamlined fins along its body and… well, a huge head. Fiera admittedly snickered a bit at that, considering how disproportionate it was. What a farce that someone like her had been defeated by a creature so… ultimately silly looking. At least it couldn’t humiliate her any longer, however. The water inside the catch bucket weighed it down quite heavily. Even at its strongest, this fish didn’t have a prayer of knocking it over.
Fiera 4 Ophelia 14.4/14.4 69
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 7, 2020 0:47:58 GMT -6
Besides, it was quite far from the shoreline to start with. Even if it did manage to knock over the bucket, it would have to do a lot of flopping to get back into the pond, and Ophelia was there waiting with snapping jaws. Yes, this creature was well and truly caught. Fiera put the lid half over the top of the bucket with satisfaction, giving the creatures inside a bit of shade to hide under if they so chose. It was pretty bright right now after all, despite the heavy rainstorm that had swept through earlier, creating that flash flood. They would probably need the shade to keep cool with the sun blazing overhead, as usually they had tree shaded patches to swim into. Fiera glanced up at the sky- there wasn’t a single cloud in it now. How bizarre. The flood that originally separated her from Ophelia briefly was an absolute torrent.
Fiera 5 Ophelia 15.0/15.0 70
|
|