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Post by Nadia on Jul 25, 2021 6:50:01 GMT -6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 17:58:25 GMT -6
Fiera might not have noticed the splashing were it not for Harding. She was completely focused on the mud flat, but a sudden chirping from Harding made her look over. He wasn't normally so noisy- not much bothered him. But sure enough, just off shore, there was a flurry of movement. "Well... good thing I'm wearing boots." Fiera muttered, grabbing her net out from her pack. At best, she would get a few more additions to her bucket of fish out of this. At worst, she'd just get a little wet. She stepped carefully, trying not to scare any of the creatures trapped in that point of activity. When she was close enough, she gently lowered her net to the water before surging it forward through the kelp. She was TRYING to stab through it enough that the creatures that were caught in it (something purple? Something with tentacles?) would get scooped up.
Fiera 6 Harding 7.1/9.1 31
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Post by Nadia on Jul 26, 2021 13:35:58 GMT -6
Eeeek! The squirts don't understand what's going on, but they do feel something moving them about, as tangled up in the kelp as they are. Something blue breaks the surface, and-- squiiiirt! A jet of water, right in your direction, in the panic of the moment. They mean nothing by it, of course! But they do seem quite frightened...
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 27, 2021 7:21:32 GMT -6
Fiera kept trying to get her net in there, but after a while it was clear that she wasn't freeing them so much as she was just scaring them. Now she could see though that they were just squirts, bright and purple but otherwise pretty common. She was happy to take them in though, if they would just stop squirming so much. She yelped with surprise as they started trying to squirt ink at her as well. "Oh, for fucks sake." She hissed through her teeth, flattening her ears against her head. "I'm trying to help you stupid things." She took a deep breath and grabbed the bucket. She tilted it slightly into the water, and instead of simply trying to scoop the squirts up, she moved her net and tried to herd them into the bucket, pushing at the kelp instead of pushing at them to try and free them.
Fiera 7 Harding 7.2/9.2 32
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Post by Nadia on Jul 27, 2021 10:04:25 GMT -6
What is this trickery?! The kelp is attached to what looks like a bunch of tiny crabs - and as they scuttle forwards, intimidated, into the bucket, so the squirts are dragged. They're still writhing and making a fuss, but at least you've gotten them contained! The water sure is cloudy with ink, though...
[Congratulations, you have successfully tamed the creatures!]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 28, 2021 12:37:19 GMT -6
When Fiera dragged the squirts into the bucket, she noted with a little bit of alarm that she had dragged everything ELSE in the stream into her bucket as well. “Oh, well… ok.” She said, a little baffled. Once she was sure everything was in, she dragged it back to the muddy excuse for a beach and actually looked over what she had managed to catch. First and foremost, big and obvious and purple was the squirts. She had caught squirts before, but none that looked quite like this. Some were ghostly or squirted acid instead of ink, but these guys seemed… well, perfectly normal. Now that they had managed to shake some of that kelp off of themselves, they seemed a lot calmer. They drifted around in the bucket gently, waving their tentacles to explore their new (if very temporary) home. There was nary a drop of ink to be seen.
Fiera 8 Harding 7.3/9.3 33
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 8:49:01 GMT -6
She watched them for a moment as they gently drifted around the interior of the bucket. Now that they were calmer, they seemed to... deflate a bit, and not take up nearly as much space as Fiera thought they would. She still had plenty of room in here. Now that she looked closer though, she realized the kelp... wasn't quite kelp. In fact, it was not one, not two, but THREE more of those kelp bugs that she had caught tangled around ANOTHER fish earlier. How many of these things were in the river right now? And frankly, she was starting to rethink their "clever camouflage". If it got them caught in other creatures this often, it couldn't be that beneficial to them. She could guess that it was intentional and they used the kelp to snare prey, but frankly if that was the case they had bit off more than they could chew.
Fiera 9 Harding 7.4/9.4 34
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 8:54:51 GMT -6
The squirts were easily three times their size after all, and she couldn't see any mouthparts on them that would indicate they only ate (or SHOULD be eating) things much, much smaller than them. Sure enough though, that incident seemed to set them straight, as they had pulled their kelp in closer to them and huddled together for what Fiera assumed was protection. She couldn't be too upset with them though- after all, they HAD delivered her just about every catch of the day so far. Speaking of catches however, Fiera noticed a glimmer of color further in the bucket. Sure enough, there was a fish there that Fiera didn't recognize. She raised an eyebrow- had she managed to catch a creature that wasn't tangled up with everything else on accident? She couldn't think of any other explanation for it, seeing as she now had an extra fish in her bucket.
Fiera 10 Harding 8.0/10.0 35
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Post by Nadia on Jul 31, 2021 5:54:32 GMT -6
Something's on the line! It tugs and tugs and tugs. It feels like it's going to pull the pole right into the water with it. The water ripples ferociously with movement, stirring up mud and making it impossible to see the catch.
That is, until there was a sudden snap. One end of the line swims away and the other dangles miserably from the end of the pole. Well, that was unfortunate. Now the pole has to be restrung, ugh.
[The next 5 posts yield no results. You may use (delete) an 'Extra Line' to prevent this.]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 3, 2021 13:06:30 GMT -6
Fiera tilted the bucket, trying to get a better look at the creature. She could see that it had a mostly white body, shimmering and opalescent. Its head was bright red however, fiery like the sun, and its tailfin had a ring of black spots around it. It was quite pretty! Fiera almost couldn't bring herself to consider selling it afterward. If she ever had a fish tank of her own, this is exactly the kind of creature she would love to have inhabit it. Not that she owned anything like that right now, though. Such structures were much more work than they were worth, especially when it was Fiera who would have to maintain them. She didn't like water on the best of days, and sticking her arms elbow deep in rancid fish water sounded like a form of slow torture to her. She had enough things to clean.
Fiera 11 Harding 8.1/10.1 36
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 3, 2021 13:38:43 GMT -6
Besides, most (she thought, casting a glance at Harding who was sitting in the shallows, politely waiting for her to finish counting. He gently beat his tail against the soft sand floor.) aquatic creatures didn't make fantastic companions anyway. It wasn't necessarily that they were mean or emotionless, just that they were more alien and harder to interact with than the creatures that Fiera normally trained for tournaments and contests. Some of them were plenty intelligent and trainable (and not even cold and slimy), but Fiera's staunch refusal to go swimming limited her options in terms of interaction. She considered herself lucky that many of the aquatic creatures she liked to train, such as amphadron and tat-lung, eventually grew up into forms that were at least amphibious if not outright land dwelling... but she could still pass them off as aquatic creatures for the sake of entering contests and whatnot.
Fiera 12 Harding 8.2/10.2 37
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 3, 2021 13:55:24 GMT -6
It might not be the most ETHICAL move, passing off amphibious creatures as aquatic, but she hadn't been kicked out of a contest for it yet. And if something's was underhanded and not illegal, then it was perfectly on the table for her. Just like how she caught all these fish, she thought with a slight smile. Once she had all of them counted up, the humanish put the lid back on her catch bucket and straightened up, ready to move on. Harding seemed relieved by this and immediately turned to pull himself back into deeper water, ready to move on. She hefted the bucket up off of the ground and looked ahead of them to see what was coming next. The day was growing hotter and brighter by the minute, and she couldn't blame Harding for wanting to get out of the sun. From the looks of it though, their troubles would soon be over.
Fiera 13 Harding 8.3/10.3 38
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 3, 2021 14:20:52 GMT -6
Up ahead of the pair of them was a continuation of the mud flats, but instead of barren fields beyond that in the direction of land, trees started arcing up. While they didn't extend out into the mud (perhaps it was a bit TOO wet for them, or perhaps floods occurred too often for any seedlings to take hold. Fiera didn't mind either way.) they did extend far out OVER it, giving a nice leafy canopy to that section of the river. It was awfully convenient, but Fiera would definitely take it. It she wasn't sure how strong her sunblock was, so it would give them a nice opportunity to get out of those burning rays for a bit. Fiera hustled toward the shaded area as quickly as she could. Her bucket slowed her down a bit though- the fish inside it weren't heavy on their own, but with the water it weighed her down some.
Fiera 14 Harding 8.4/10.4 39
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 3, 2021 14:26:30 GMT -6
Harding seemed to grow a little impatient with Fiera as she lurched along, making sure the bucket didn't tip over. He 'paced' back and forth along the shoreline, watching her carefully as she waddled along. "Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, bud." She said, rolling her eyes as she moved the bucket forward again. The weight of the water was the worst part of it, but every so often a fish moved as well, pushing it to one side or the other. By the time she finally got under the trees and into their shade, she had to admit she was a little worn out. Harding jumped out of the water, chattering loudly as Fiera set the bucket down. "Oh, hold your seahorses." She grumbled, plopping down on it. "I'm just taking a LITTLE break." She said, flicking her ears irritably. It was her trip to the river, and she could fart around as much as she liked.
Fiera 15 Harding 9.0/11.0 40
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Aug 6, 2021 13:19:13 GMT -6
It was getting pretty hot though- maybe that was why she was getting so tired. She had been here since earlier in the day and by this point anything that was left of the morning chill was quickly burning off. They were under shade now though. It was a lot more humid in here, but at least the sun wasn't beating directly on her... though the wind was dampened as a result too. "Can't win for losing, eh Harding?" Fiera muttered under her breath, squinting up at the sky through the branches. She couldn't see much, but the patches of bright blue that were revealed certainly weren't showing any evidence of clouds. The neptica splashed a couple time as if to hurry the humanish along. She rolled her eyes as much as she could manage. "Alright, yes, yes, I'm moving." She huffed, trudging forward more on the mud along the shore.
Fiera 16 Harding 9.1/11.1 41
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