[Flashback, Wasteland] Warm Company (Solo)

[Oluse]

Warm Company, pt 2

Every muscle in his entire body ached! He had no idea how excruciatingly hard climbing was! The day before had been torture, and the morning light brought along it's golden rays a bitter echo of that agony mixed with the formidable cold of the peak's chilled air. It hurt to breath, it hurt to move, and it heart to eat. All he could do was sip at the hot water melted over the fire.

Thankfully Maevon was giving him another day to rest, she said three days were saved by climbing the peak instead of going all the way around. As usual he wasn't sure if she was lying or not, but he couldn't help but think the longer route might have been better!

After a breakfast of venison jerky Yurvik rose, gathering some of that thin trapping wire, and a small box out of his bag. He started heading east into the sunrise. Maevon promptly stood up, and hurried over to him. Outside of Oluse's range of hearing, the harsh spring air having forced him to keep his hood up, they traded several words.

Maevon finally kissed Yurvik, and returned to her spot by the fire.

Yurvik on the other hand gave forth a clear and loud command to Oluse,"Come on, boy. We are going fishing." Oluse would have hung in defeat, had it not hurt so much to perform even that!

[Oluse]

Reluctantly he rose, walking at a hobble behind the man, who seemed to tower over him, with his giant shadow stretching back over Oluse from the still rising sun.

Oluse's body gave a pained sigh of relief as they finally reached their goal. What he saw struck a bout of confusion into him. A lake in the snow. He gave a questioning look to Yurvik, expecting him to be as informative as his wife. He wasn't.

Settling down by the melted lake, wider than his family's home, and deep enough for a man to sink twice over in it, Yurvik looked over his shoulder at the confused Oluse. "You going to come over here, or just stand there like an ice sculpture?" His voice was hushed, another behavior that confused Oluse.

He wasn't sure why Yurvik was whispering, but he decided it was best if he did the same. "Why isn't this pond frozen?" He asked, approaching the side slowly.

"Hot spring from deep under the peak, offers just enough heat to keep it thawed." The sentence put a grin on the man's face, and he handed over some of the twine.

Oluse still wasn't convinced he understood completely, but a new concern surfaced in his mind, leaving the other at the bottom of his priorities. Sure he hailed from Denval, but he had never fished! Not enough to know how to use a string to do it! He might be able to get himself around a net, but a string?

[Oluse]

The look on Oluse's face said it all. Yurvik opened his box, full of oddly shaped bangles with small hoops on the end. Oluse, entranced, moved closer for a better look. Yurvik put up his hand to keep Oluse from reaching out, then pointed silently to the sharp hooks at the ends of the bangles. Oluse began to understand.

He watched silently as Yurvik fastened one of the bangles to the base of his thread, and handed it back to him, along with a short piece of tuber he pulled from a pouch on his side. Which of course Oluse had no clue what to do with.

Yurvik showed him how to slip the tuber strand onto the hook, again wordless, and Oluse noted how much it looked like a worm of some sort even to him. He smiled in recognition. He loved seeing puzzles pull together, and for a moment he even forgot about the pain in his muscles.

Though a short twinge of that pain between his overworked shoulder blades sparked another epiphany in him. He now knew why they took the "short route" instead of the normal road. Yurvik wanted to go fishing! He couldn't believe he went through so much pain, just for fishing!

[Oluse]

"Now." Yurvik interrupted Oluse's thought pattern with his first words in some time. "You will toss the bait in, and when a fish bites you must use both hands." He demonstrated with his gloved hands on the string, spaced about two feet apart, some slack in the middle. "The fish will try to fight it, and the thread will draw. You have to compensate with your hands," he demonstrated fluctuating between give and pull with one of his hands."or the line will break. You only get one line, so make it count." With that he faced the water, and tossed his line with a deep hallow "bloop" into the water, and commenced his waiting.

Oluse a little nervous followed in suit.

His mind plagued him with thoughts. How could a fish even get up here? What is a hot spring? I don't even like fish. I have to pee. Around and around his mind chased itself through fantasies and critical thoughts. He was giving himself a headache! The impatient fidgeting started at his toes, and was quickly extinguished by a sharp glare from Yurvik. Oluse wondered how he could possibly expect him to just sit there silently, when no fish were even biting!

Then he took a good look at Yurvik, out of the corner of his eyes of course. He looked calm, content. Oluse wanted to feel that, he did. He just had to figure out where to start.

Line still in hand he closed his eyes, letting the muffled sound of the wind blow outside small sanctuary of his hood, he focused on it, and soon his mind busily worked it's way back to the annoying buzzing frequency of before. He told himself to stop, to stop thinking so much. With a frustrated expression, eyes still closed, he focused on calming down again.

[Oluse]

Again the wind caught him, but this time he tastes the delicate warmth of the morning sun on his lips as well. In response he tilted his head back slightly, to let the sun shine straight onto his face. He could see the sun through his eyelids, just barley. The pulsing reds and oranges, the dark veins running through his thin eyelids. His face relaxed completely, and for a moment he felt it, that contentment.

Just then his line drew taught! His eyes snapped open at the sensation, and he immediately recoiled in pain. The thought of "fish!" instantly replaced itself with "bright!" The thread began slipping off at an alarming rate into the water, as he scrambled clumsily in his thick gloves to reclaim it, displacing several large scoop of snow in the process. After what seemed like forever, his heart pounding out of his chest, he managed to grab hold of the thread, which he was astonished hadn't completely been devoured by the hungry lake by then! With some more struggle his second hand found the line, and he began attempting the trick Yurvic mentioned. The twine jerked and pulled rambunctiously in his hands, with surprising and sporadic force. He couldn't help but feel this fish must be the size of a whale! He didn't want to do this anymore! He wanted to go back to sitting calmly in the sun, he wasn't ready for this!

And, snap, the line fractured cleanly, and fell loose. Shame issued, filling Oluse in a heart crushing cacophony of splashes as the still hooked fish surfaced a moment before retreating back down to the bottom of the pond. Slowly Oluse looked over at Yurvik.

Yurvik sat with a begrudged expression upon his face, unmoving, his brow heavy. His clothes were miraculously covered in snow, as if a large scoop of it had been flung at him. Oluse perhaps would have found it hilarious had he not feared what Yurvik might do with the remaining hooks.

Yurvik, still staring Oluse in the eyes reached menacingly over to the box to his side, pulling out one of the dangerous hook, his second hand reaching for something else behind him. Oluse's body tensed, getting ready to bolt for his life if necessary. Though, what came from the other side of Yurvik was not a dangerous weapon, but another extension of twine, which he handed to Oluse along with the bangle, leaving him to tie them together on his own as he turned back to his own line and recast it.

[Cheshire]

Character: Oluse Experience: Sculpting +1, Interrogation +2, Trapping +1, Observation +2, Skinning +1, Cooking +1, Dancing +1 Lore: How to cut Venison, Vantha Dances [Partial] Additional Note: I cannot give you climbing for two reasons (in case you were wondering why it was not awarded). One, you did not climb in thread, you talked about it so I cannot award it. Two, there are not mountains in Taldera so there would have been nowhere to climb. Same goes for the hot springs and the fishing. I assume you are close to Avanthal since it is so cold in Spring so the lake would be frozen. I know this was one of your earlier threads so I tried not to be too hard since I am sure you have learned more about the lore since writing this. All in all, this was a good read. PM me with concerns.