|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 11:35:51 GMT -6
Sure enough, she was able to find a nice, juicy hunk of decaying riverweed, mottled in green and brown, and Fiera wasted no time in scooping it up onto the end of her walking stick. From there, all she had to do was act casual, gently meandering up the shoreline while keeping half an eye at the water. She knew Harding would have to show up eventually, if just to breathe. Most likely though he would be trying to throw more stuff at her, so Fiera kept her walking stick locked and loaded to retaliate just in case. She wasn't even looking for shells anymore- now this was about vengeance. She had a few false starts when the river splashed unusually over a rock, but for the most part she was able to stay calm, steady, and hopefully casual while she waited for her pet to resurface. The minutes ticked by like molasses.
Fiera 2 Harding 20.2/22.2 12
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 12:24:03 GMT -6
Finally, she saw something familiar poke out of the water- a round melon of a head in dark blue and orange. Sure enough, he had another piece of riverweed in his mouth ready to go. Before he could move his neck to throw it however, Fiera moved first, quickly hefting her stick up and over like a baseball bat, launching her piece of rotting plant right at his face. To her great satisfaction she managed to hit the bullseye. The riverweed smacked right into the middle of his melon, the rotten plant splattering satisfyingly across his head. Harding immediately lurched backwards, dropping his own missile back into the water and squeaking with displeasure. "Yeah, that's right! Take that! See how you like it!" Fiera said, cheering on her own accomplishments. Hopefully that would make him stop... Or just make him mad, Fiera realized. And more likely to throw things at her. Hm.
Fiera 3 Harding 20.3/22.3 13
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 12:31:16 GMT -6
Well, she would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. She didn't have any other clever ideas on how to make him stop- anything more "gentle" probably would have just encouraged him or made him think she was trying to play. If worst came to worst, she could always cancel their little trip and go home. For the time being though she was left alone, giving her the time she needed to find- ah, there we go! Fiera crouched down into the sand, pushing some of it aside with her gloves. A large snail shell, covered in beautiful stripes, sat half in and half out of the sand. She turned it over. It was stuffed with sand, but that could be washed out. Otherwise it seemed completely whole and unmarred by any growths, disease, or water calcification. Perfect. She was sure she could get someone to buy this.
Fiera 4 Harding 20.4/22.4 14
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 12:36:58 GMT -6
She tossed it into the bucket she was using to collect her items- gently of course, so it wouldn't break upon hitting the bottom. There wasn't much in it yet due to how she hadn't had fantastic luck, but hopefully that would change. Technically she had two buckets, but one of them was sitting further up the shore. It was full of water and was awaiting any fish she managed to catch, but she hadn't put any effort into fishing as of yet so it stood empty. She didn't think she was going to end up using it on this trip, but she had been surprised before and so kept it on the side just in case of emergency. At the very least if anything caught on fire spontaneously she could put it out. For now though she put the thought out of her mind and remained focus on her shell hunt.
Fiera 5 Harding 21.0/23.0 15
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 12:46:28 GMT -6
Fiera managed to dig up a few more beauties- a pale blue shell, round and flawless, with a perfect glossy sheen to it. Unfortunately she was only able to find one half of the bivalve, the other part lost to time and the river. Still, just one was better than nothing and it was in wonderful shape so she put it in her bucket regardless. The other was a tiny pink shell, so small that she barely even noticed it, but it was very cute. Honestly, she didn't think she could sell it (as it was far too small), but why not take it along? It didn't take up barely any space. She put it in the bucket as well, now starting to get a decent number of findings. And no sign of Harding retaliating yet either- good. She didn't think he had run off somewhere without her, of course.
Fiera 6 Harding 21.2/23.1 16
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 12:49:53 GMT -6
Other pet owners might have taken their pet suddenly disappearing to who knows where as a very bad sign, but Fiera had more trust and confidence in her mottled neptica than that. He was smart for one- she didn't think he was going to go and fling himself off a cliff on accident like some of her other creatures definitely would. Plus, they knew each other quite well by now- he wasn't going to "answer the call of the wild" or anything like that. He was most likely just having a sulk at the bottom of the river. Or perhaps hunting around for a snack. After all, neptica could hold their breath for... how long was it? Twenty minutes? Thirty? He certainly wasn't anywhere near the time, so he was quite safe and she got the opportunity to find something she could make money off of. Not that it was going very quickly.
Fiera 7 Harding 21.3/23.3 17
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 13:02:19 GMT -6
She sighed and sat back down next to her bucket, her ability to bend over exhausted for the time being. Old bones and all that. She shuffled her bucket around before looking in, as if adjusting the position of the shells inside would magically make there be more. Sure enough, there were some shells in there, all ones she recognized, but not nearly as many as she had been hoping to find by this point. Ugh, the river really did suck during the dry season. She wanted to pass it off as simply bad luck, but it just wasn't as fun around here without that constant stream of goodies. Other than, you know, the actual constant stream running through here. But she couldn't really sell water. Fiera gave it a few more minutes though, trying to work up the motivation to stand up again now that she was sitting down.
Fiera 8 Harding 21.3/23.3 18
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 13:51:02 GMT -6
Instead, she just sat and rubbed her ankles a little longer. It wasn't that cold out- she could probably stay there for a while and rest. Or at least she would have, if something didn't smack into the side of her head. "Ow, what the hell?" She hissed, slapping a hand to her cheek. She rubbed it gently, and pulled away her fingers. No blood, thankfully- though whatever flew into her did feel pretty sharp. She looked down- it was a scallop of some sort. It was dull and mottled, but in very good condition, which made her even more glad it had hit her her at an angle just shallow enough to not cut flesh. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand. Not particularly valuable, but it HAD just flown out of the river on its own accord, which was pretty impressive for a shell.
Fiera 9 Harding 21.4/23.4 19
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 14:14:03 GMT -6
But of course, it hadn't done that at all, had it? Fiera glanced around knowing the true culprit. Where was... ah, there. Harding was just barely peeking out of the water. He had just thrown a shell at her face, but it was in very good condition. Not very colorful but, of course, he couldn't see colors. All he had to go on was shape and size. She thought back to their earlier incident. He had been throwing riverweed at her- but she had also been rooting around in the seaweed on the shore for a while beforehand. Had he thought he was helping? That that was what she had been looking for instead of garbage to be cast aside? Then in his mind, he had been trying to help, collecting more riverweed for her perusal. But she had rejected his efforts by quite literally throwing it back in his face again.
Fiera 10 Harding 22.0/24.0 20
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 15:51:13 GMT -6
She couldn't bring herself to feel guilty about it though- the weeds he had been throwing at her were just as useless as the ones on shore. If his intention was to try and help, her response was simply that his efforts weren't very good, and that he needed to try and find better materials for her. Not punishment, simply redirection. That was how she saw it, at least. Now she had been presented with something new and... well, she admittedly didn't like this shell very much. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't rare, but it WAS whole and in good condition. Not to mention Harding probably had access to much better shells in the water than she did on shore, where no doubt dozens of people had been doing just what she was over the years, picking it clean, as opposed to the treasure trove that must be waiting in the depths that the water never dried up from.
Fiera 11 Harding 22.1/24.1 21
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 15:57:39 GMT -6
So even if Harding never found anything but junk, he'd still have much better odds of finding something interesting down there then she did up here. Even if he threw her five shells and four sucked, that one that was good might be one more than she'd find over here. So she would go with this- who knew, maybe it would work. "Good job, Harding!" She said, waving the shell in the air. After a moment of fiddling around in her bag, she pulled out a bag of fish flavored treats and tossed one to him. He managed to catch it in mid air and Fiera smiled. Normally he preferred real fish, but she wasn't about to bring a cooler full of actual chunks of fish all the way out to the river bend. There was too much room for disaster, not to mention they could catch fish once they arrived.
Fiera 12 Harding 22.2/24.2 22
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 19:07:24 GMT -6
He seemed encouraged by it though, and immediately slid away from the shore after he finished eating, disappearing back into the water. Fiera knew he would be back- hopefully with something to show for it. With him gone though, she got to work again on making her own discoveries. She couldn't expect him to do ALL the work after all. So fiera got to work, digging through the sand again to find more shells. She didn't find much, but she did manage to find some riverweed at the edge of what little river was left that might be worth something. It didn't take her long to scoop it up with her walking stick and deposit it in the water filled bucket further upstream. A few more trips and she had harvested it all- anyone else who wanted some be damned. From there, she kept scanning for shells, pushing aside weeds as she went.
Fiera 13 Harding 22.3/24.3 23
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 19:17:31 GMT -6
As she worked, Harding was happy to help. Every few minutes he tossed more shells up onto the shore, usually close to Fiera's feet where she could investigate them. Some weren't that great. You know, the ones that were lumpy or broken or had ugly colors. Those ones, she simply turned over in her hands a few times before setting them back down gently on the shoreline. Whenever she did that, Harding didn't seem to mind and didn't seem to feel "rejected", so he kept bringing her shells. Some of them however, were quite nice- oysters with shiny mother of pearl, perfect little clams, vibrant conches, all of those went straight into her bucket for keeping. Whenever that happened, Fiera was sure to shout out some extra praise for her neptica so he'd know he was doing a good job. She needed him to stay motivated after all if she was going to turn a profit here.
Fiera 14 Harding 22.4/24.4 24
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Nov 14, 2023 19:25:30 GMT -6
After half an hour of searching however, the tiny pile in her bucket had grown to something more substantial. Fiera shook it around a bit, watching the colors shift. This was enough for her to call this whole trip worthwhile, honestly. Harding seemed to be getting tired too- he was happy to help, but didn't have infinite energy. And frankly, neither did Fiera. Her neck hurt from looking down so much, and she was sure she was going to have a crick in her back the following morning. "What do you say, Harding- want to go home?" She said, looking at the mottled neptica. He simply rolled over on his back in response, doing his best "dead fish" impression. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She said with a slight smile, and picked up her buckets. It had taken some work, but they had had a successful day- and now she got to reap the benefits.
Fiera 15 Harding 23.0/25.0 25
|
|
|
Post by Silver on Nov 19, 2023 4:25:49 GMT -6
Just as Fiera turns to leave with her haul, the ground starts to feel unsteady under her feet. Before she could think to react, a huge wave of mud barrels down the river at an alarming speed. It crashes into her and her Neptica, burying her loot, covering her clothes up to her waist at least, and leaving a huge tangled mass of plants and creatures in its wake. A pinchclaw and snapclaw are attached to each other by the claw, flipped upside down on the river bank. A few ramfish flop about in the mud, and the many feet of an odd looking little... thing twitch helplessly into the air. It's going to take a while to clean all of this up, that's for sure. To Tame the Creatures: Make at least (7-15) RP posts interacting with the creatures and trying to tame them. At the end of your taming attempt, make your last post with [done] and wait for staff approval.
|
|