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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:03:45 GMT -6
That didn't take long, luckily. With Ophelia at her side, hunting for fish was pretty easy. Fiera noticed a school of very small fish and pointed them out to her amphadron so she would know what their next target was. Ophelia leaned in, squinting to get a better look- her eyesight wasn't the best. They were minnows, and individually wouldn't be worth much. As a school however, they could easily be sold as bait for other fishermen, feeder fish for larger creatures (of which there were many in the Labs City), or even to stock ponds. After all, fish like this loved eating the eggs and larvae of insects that laid their eggs in still ponds, resulting in the swarms of bugs that assaulted people in the warm months. With the minnows added, such insects became a rarity. Of course, that was all purely theoretical- Fiera still had to catch the darn things.
Fiera 18 Ophelia 30.3/30.3 13
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:21:54 GMT -6
Ophelia seemed to have an idea however, and stalked off at an angle, away from Fiera. The humanish twitched her ear, confused for a moment, before looking around to try and check her trajectory. There had to be something that Ophelia knew that she didn't. Sure enough with a bit more examination she saw it- a little dead end loop that Ophelia was trying to herd the school into. If Fiera came around on one side and Ophelia on the other, they could easily catch the entire school. Fiera followed her lead and approached the fish from the other side, dragging her net through the water to keep them from escaping through the middle as well. The fish caught on quickly and nervously moved forward before realizing that there were enemies on either side. The whole school swam frantically from side to side, looking for any gaps to escape through.
Fiera 19 Ophelia 30.4/30.4 14
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:24:25 GMT -6
Fiera and Ophelia were good at their jobs however, and didn't allow any to escape. Especially not with Ophelia summoning a small wave behind them, keeping the current pressing forward so it was pushing the fish in the right direction. Finally the school made a decision, quickly swimming to the left, towards Ophelia. They "escaped" by managing to swim into the left side of the loop, with the amphadron following steadily behind them. Fiera moved quickly to cut them off on the right side of the loop, shortcutting across the small 'island' of mud that separated the loop from the main body of the mudflat. Sure enough, Fiera saw the small, shimmering bodies approaching her and got her net ready, placing it in the water. Just like before, she saw Ophelia lift up her arms, sending out another wave towards Fiera, small and narrow to usher all of the fish into her net.
Fiera 20 Ophelia 31.0/31.0 15
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:36:14 GMT -6
Fiera held her arms steady as the narrow wave crashed against her net, dumping its contents in. Fiera didn't even wait to see if she caught all she needed to. Tiny fish had fast reaction times, and if he hesitated for even a moment they would undoubtedly swim out again. Instead, in one swift motion Fiera lifted the net from the water, spun it around, and slapped it against the top of her catch bucket, knocking any contents held within into the bucket in a single swipe. Ophelia gave her a nod of respect and sat down for a moment, watching as Fiera checked her catch. To the humanish's delight, she did indeed catch the school of minnows. There were far too many to count but as far as she could tell, the majority of the school was here. And in addition, she had some rather... unexpected bonus prizes as well.
Fiera 1 Ophelia 31.1/31.1 16
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:47:23 GMT -6
In addition to the minnows, there were now two bright orange hippocampi in Fiera's bucket. It was impossible for them to go unnoticed in the clean water with how brightly colored they were. They seemed surprised, twitching their heads around to take in their new surroundings. Fiera adored hippocampi- they were so small and cute, but so expressive in their little movements. She was amazed they had come with the minnows though. They must have been in the loop already while Fiera and Ophelia were herding the minnows into it, and had gotten caught up in Ophelia's wave on accident. The mud would have been more than enough to conceal them, which is why Fiera hadn't noticed them to start with. Well, the more the merrier! Fiera certainly wasn't going to complain about getting some extra fish in her bucket, especially not when they were ones she enjoyed so greatly.
Fiera 2 Ophelia 31.2/31.2 17
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:54:36 GMT -6
With that done, Fiera snapped the lid back down on the bucket. "On to the next, right Ophelia?" Fiera said with a wry smile. The amphadron didn't return it, but she did return to work, assisting Fiera in fishing. They worked in tandem a lot better after that, slowly getting used to the others' quirks and body language. Together they learned how to better coordinate their moves, communicating with simple gestures and the occasional sigh of frustration. It worked, though. Soon Fiera seemed to be scooping up another fish every couple of minutes, adding it to the bucket. Ophelia even got in on the harvesting of river weed, offering it to Fiera at first and then eventually putting it in the bucket on her own. After that, Fiera took a moment to show Ophelia the different types of weeds and which ones she should and shouldn't take- such as which ones were rotten or broken.
Fiera 3 Ophelia 31.3/31.3 18
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 9:56:57 GMT -6
Ophelia took to the lesson well, and soon she was sorting between water plants faster than Fiera ever could, assisted by her magic to carry them over to her. Fiera moved more slowly, but with more knowledge to her name. While Ophelia was busy with that, Fiera was even able to wrestle some clams up and out of the mud, adding them to their own bucket. Across the board, Fiera was racking up a whole spread of goodies from the river, especially with Ophelia's help. Soon she even offered Ophelia a bucket of her own, letting the amphadron carry her own catches in her spindly forelimbs- though she had to set it down more frequently than Fiera to rest. Within a few hours however, they both had buckets chock full of goodies, caught both in tandem and separately. "Not bad at all!" Fiera said, in a good mood for once.
Fiera 4 Ophelia 31.4/31.4 19
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jun 28, 2024 10:02:00 GMT -6
After all that however, the pair was exhausted. Ophelia didn't like to show it, but Fiera could see how her tail was now dragging along the muddy bottom instead of gently undulating, pushing her forward. Her keen eyes were now pinched with tiredness. Fiera wasn't feeling so hot either- there was only so much her body could take. "How about it, Ophelia? Want to call it quits for the day?" She asked. Ophelia gave a grunt of assent. Fiera nodded and picked up the buckets, giving her pet a break. It had been a lot of work, but they had managed to catch a lot of fish- and then some. Overall, Fiera felt like it had been a good time for bonding with Ophelia too. She wasn't expecting the amphadron to love her, but respect was something she appreciated. If there was one thing Fiera had managed to catch today, it was rapport.
Fiera 5 Ophelia 32.0/32.0 20
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Post by Silver on Jul 14, 2024 19:38:11 GMT -6
Is that a bird... no, definitely a fish. Weird.
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