Closed Butterflies in the Lake [Sloane]

[Taurina]

Mid-Day of the 38th of Winter 516

Taurina crouched down next to the water, her hand reaching down to break the surface with only her fingertips. The coolness of the water was something refreshing against all the heat Endrykas had been experiencing as of late. To walk in and submerge herself within the liquid was tempting. If swimming was something she knew how to do better, she likely would have given into that idea. Instead, however, she had come here with a goal in mind and a wish to become more useful to her new family. The more she thought about it though, the more she realized, she did not know what the petch she was doing…

Why the tent city had ended up here, the Eth was unsure. Because of the heat game seemed to have made itself scarce. Water was not always easy to come by either. A lake filled with fish had been a logical stop and the surrounding area had enough to sustain the herds for a little while. Taurina had noticed the extra care being taken to watch over the animals, but to make herself useful in that way was not much of an option. If it came down to a fight, she usually lost.

So fishing it was. She had tracked down a place to buy a rod and had then proceeded to come down to the lake shore to figure out what in the world she was going to do with it. The rod was very simple. A carved piece of wood that was heavier at the bottom than it was at the top. Much like the needles she used for tattooing, it was thicker where it was heavier and the top of it came to a thin point. A piece of line was attached to the top of it and a carved piece of bone hung at the end of the line in a hook shape. When the Ethaefal held the object she found it to feel very foreign and clumsy in her hands. She worried over potentially dropping it and loosing it to the lake or some fish pulling it out of her grasp. If she even got lucky enough to tempt one onto her line that was.

Taurina released a sigh before sitting down on the shore of the lake. She drew her knees up so they were bent, but her bare toes were close enough that the edge of the water lapped at them. Sync gazed down from the clear skies, bringing with her heat worse than the temperatures that had plagued fall. It seemed that it was either heat or storms nowadays and despite her distaste for the heat, Taurina preferred Syna’s rays to boil them all alive to the storms that frequently stole Leth away from her.

The fishing pole sat beside her on the shore, untouched aside from what it had taken to carry it to where it now was. Taurina felt foolish trying to use it. There were others out in a boat now that she watched. They seemed to be having fun and they also looked to know what they were doing. They had even caught some fish. Taurina watched as a silver thing was drawn from the water by one of them. The thing flopped and tossed for its life, but it was soon stolen from it. Taurina released another little sigh. Life had been lost, but its death would prolong the life of another for a little while longer. It was a give and take. The way of life. It reminded the Ethaefal of her dear fisherman. He was the one she needed right now. He could show her just how this was done.

‘Patience is key…’ he would say, he said that about everything, ‘you have to be quiet. Let your mind settle. Your muscles relax. The fish will come, the fish always come.’

Taurina smiled faintly to herself, drawing her thin body forward so that she could wrap her arms around her knees. The fisherman had never actually said that, it was just her imagination. He had never taken her fishing actually. Despite offering many times, Taurina had never taken him up on it. She regretted that decision now that she needed the skills. It was an opportunity lost and also, it was time lost as well. How foolish she had been to let so much time slip through her fingers.

“Alright, fishing,” Taurina murmured, looking down to the rod, she could not afford to loose anymore time, “where do I start?”

With hesitant fingers, the Ethaefal reached down with her scarred, Drykas fingers and ran fingertips over the wood of the object. Her fingers wrapped around the heavy end of it before she carefully picked it up. Muscles within her body shifted as she got used to the awkward weight and she tried not to panic as the tip of the object bended down a bit towards where the hook was. The rod was left in one hand while her other one reached down and assisted her in pushing her body up into a standing position. It was then that both hands found and steadied the somewhat wiggling rod.

“Time to catch a fish,” Taurina murmured to herself before mimicking what she had seen the pair on the boat do.

Without knowing enough to bait the hook, the Ethaefal swung the rod back and then carefully cast it forward. The line did not go far, but the hook made a satisfying plunking sound as it hit the water. Taurina smiled faintly. Maybe she could do this after all.

Ledger-1GM for Fishing Pole

Common | Pavi | 'Thought'

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Sloane]

For once, Sloane had a day to herself, a day that could be spent away from her pavilion, away from her work and away from the Firelash family. The season had been exhausting, full of misunderstandings and miscommunication's, not to mention all the stresses of attempting to learn an entirely new way of life.

Kadir, the Ankal of Firelash, hadn't been too pleased to hear that Sloane planned to take a day to herself, and had insisted that she at least take her fishing gear with her and do something to help support the pavilion. He had sent Sloane on her way, telling her to either learn to fish, or return to work with the rest of the pavilion.

An so that was what Sloane did, packing her bag resolutely and mounting Heroka, riding through Endrykas towards the lake. Heroka was a calm, quiet mare, formerly used by the pavilion when first teaching their children to ride. It made sense for her to become Sloane's who could count on one hand the amount of times she'd even touched a horse on one hand. Sloane's inexperience was reflected in her riding, as she sat hunched in the saddle, clinging on tightly with her legs and hands, sitting stiffly even at Heroka's slowest gait.

Sloane dismounted when the lake came into view and made the rest of the way on foot, legs stiff and cramping. Heroka was happy to graze where she was left, big soft eye's watching her clueless rider go. Sloane wondered where on earth she should start, and where would be the best place to cast her line. There were others out on the lake already, and the walahk cast her gaze around in search of any hints or tips they might provide.

A woman by the shore caught Sloane's attention, and Sloane paused a moment to watch her. The woman had already cast her line out, and looked to Sloane to know at least the basic of what to do, where as Sloane lacked even that. The walahk paused a moment, before making up her mind to go over to stand by the other woman, in the hopes that she may lend the blonde woman some knowledge or ideas. After all,she was far closer than any of the others on the lake, and looked far less daunting then the large fishermen.

"Hello!" She called out as she approached, not wanting to startle the other woman by approaching unannounced. The Drykas people seemed to be jumpy, always wary of predators sneaking up on them, and a predator was definitely not something Sloane wanted to be mistaken for. "Any luck?" She asked, switching back to common and gesturing at the calm water before them.

Common ~ Pavi ~ Thoughts

[Taurina]

It did not matter how gently the other female wished to introduce her presence or how carefully she tried to go about it. Taurina was an easy scare who jumped at near everything regardless of how scary or not it was. Just the sound of another’s voice usually was cause enough for her to startle, especially when it was coming from behind. So when the female voice entered the air behind the Eth, Taurina’s body jerked in an upwards movement just as usual. Her muscles became tense and her fumbling hands almost dropped the fishing pole onto the ground beneath her.

After several ticks to regain her composure, the Ethaefal cast a look over her shoulder and looked wearily at the blonde human who stood before her. When she noticed that an unthreatening looking woman stood before her, Taurina relaxed. She even offered a little smile of apology. Sometimes she hated that she scared so easy, but it was just a thing. Out here one always had to be on their guard. Always be prepared to jump and attack should the need arise. Course, Taurina was always scared of that need arising. She was unsure of how good she would be in a fight. Likely not very. The blade she kept on her was mainly used to create a false sense of security rather than anything else. She still had no idea how to actually wield the thing.

There was a simple blink of surprise when the woman asked her question. Perfect common flowed from the girl. Taurina had not heard such common for a long while. She had met only one last season who spoke it that she could remember, but most of the rest spoke pavi. Hearing it again did actually cause more of a smile to form on Taurina’s lips. It was strange to smile at such a simple thing, but she was trying to smile more anyway. More genuine smiles as well instead of the fake ones she forced when costumers came into the Lilacwind pavilion.

“Not yet,” Taurina answered with her near perfect common, no accent worked against her words like when she spoke pavi, “I have just put my hook in though. I hear patience is key with this.”

Taurina shrugged. She had no idea if she was doing this right. She internally cursed at herself for having rejected all offers of being taught how to do something as simple as fishing from the fisherman who had cared for her in Mura. Such lessons would have come in handy now, but it was too late. All the Eth had was what she observed those in the boat out on the lake doing. They had put hooks in the water and somehow -she considered it was because of some sort of magic- fish had come out at the end of their lines. Taurina wished for such a thing to come out of her attempts, but she was unsure of herself. Had she done everything right?

The Ethaefal turned her gaze from the blonde woman to the pole she held semi-steadily in her hands. How long was too long to wait? How much patience was she meant to have? How would she know if she had done something wrong or not? Taurina sighed softly to herself, her eyebrows creasing as she struggled to find answers to her endless questions. Her gaze turned back over to the other woman who spoke perfect common. She noticed fishing gear in the woman’s hands so she decided that this girl must know what she was doing. Another smile formed at that thought. Perhaps she could use this woman’s presence to her benefit.

“I am Taurina…” the Ethaefal paused a moment before adding, “Stormblood.”

It was strange having a second name now to attach to her first. The Ethaefal was still getting used to it. Still getting used to being apart of a pavilion, apart of a family.

“You are?” Taurina gave the other woman space to answer before she offered, “would you care to join me? From what I see this is a long process and I could use a little company. You up for it?”

Common | Pavi | ‘Thought’

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Sloane]

Sloane returned the other woman's smile, shoulders relaxing. "Sloane." She introduced herself simply, not caring to tack the Pavilion to the end of her name, and seeing no point in using her true surname, as it held no meaning in Endrykas. "Pleasure to meet you." Sloane settled next to the woman, and dropped her bag at her feet as answer to Taurinas' invitation.

She rustled through it, looking for her own fishing gear as she continued speaking. "Truthfully, I've never gone fishing in my life. My father used too, so I suppose I can recall the very basics, but otherwise... I'm a fish out of water." Sloane snorted at her own, very bad, joke, shaking her head slowly. Gear found, she set about preparing it, glancing up at Taurina curiously. "Have you been out here long?" She wondered, untangling her fishing line and sorting out the tackle. There was a hook and small metal weights at one end, and Sloane's gear was apparently made to work without a pole. She paused wondering if this type of fishing equipment was suited to fishing off the bank of a body of water, or if it was meant for fishing off of boats and the like.

Unsure, Sloane went about her business, and continued her casual chatter. "Stormblood, eh? What clan is that?" She asked, curious as to whether she was familiar with the Pavilion or not, though it was likely she wasn't. Sloane fell quiet for a moment as she attempted to figure out how to cast the line, and ended up holding it carefully at her side, the very end of the wire wrapped securely around her right hand. She began to swing the hook end carefully, gaining momentum and speed until she released it, letting the line slip out of her hands and soar through the air, plonking into the water at about ten meters out. Sloane grinned and turned to Taurina, though the expression faltered somewhat as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, did I need bait?"

Common ~ Pavi ~ Thoughts

[Taurina]

“Likewise,” was the simple reply the Ethaefal gave as Sloane wordlessly joined her beside the water’s edge.

Taurina did not focus on what Sloane was doing much, keeping her gaze fixed upon her own pole and the line that she hoped began to move soon. She wished to catch a fish, but she worried that she had done something wrong. It would not surprise her to find that she had.

“I believe we are in that same boat,” there was a little, lighthearted laugh at the end of that statement which was rare for the Eth, she was not usually so easy to laugh or smile, “I had one in my life who offered many times to teach me, I did not take him up on it. I was foolish, seems I get to pay the price of that foolishness now.”

Taurina released a sigh and stroked the fingers of her free hand through her sun streaked hair. Little braids had been woven into the multi-colored hair, but it was made up mostly of knots that had formed with the wind. The Ethaefal looked over to Sloane when the woman asked her question. She was not sure what the woman meant by that. Was simply a question of how long she had been trying to catch a fish? Or was it something deeper, like how long she had been in Endrykas?

“Not long, a bell or so. Maybe a little longer,” Taurina decided that the girl was asking about the length of her time spent out attempting to fish, not yet knowing the girl enough to dive deeper into herself than that.

The Ethaefal watched curiously as Sloane stretched out her strange fishing gear. It had no pole, only a line with a hook at the end. Different from what Taurina had been led into buying, but the Eth was not one to say that different was a bad thing. For all she knew, Sloane had the right thing and her own pole was wrong. It was more likely that both of them were right and just had different methods of completely the same task. As long as they captured fish, it did not matter much anyway.

“Diamond,” just a simple answer was given to the question about the Stormbloods, Taurina was more curious about this woman and how she spoke such near perfect common, “how about you? Staying with any of the pavilions?”

There was a lot more flare and technique to the way Sloane cast out her line. Taurina watched in awe, staring at the place where the hook had went down. There was a twinge of jealousy, but also a faint smile as she reminded herself that she was learning and Sloane had more knowledge than her at this point. Well.. Taurina thought so until the question of bait was spoken. The Ethaefal’s face when ashen before it turned a bright scarlet.

“Bait?” oh how foolish she suddenly felt, “I didn’t … um… well, it’d probably be best.”

There was no good way to cover up this mistake. With urgent hands, Taurina pulled her line in. She did not understand where to get bait or what the fish were even attracted to. It made her feel so dumb when she thought of it. How had she been so foolish to think that they would just come to her hook and climb on without any incentive?

“What do they want?” she asked Sloane, the bright red of her cheeks lingering and telling the world of her embarrassment, “how do we get some?"

Common | Pavi | ‘Thought’

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Sloane]

OOC :

I did a little research, and did you know you can fish using beef jerky!? I didn't!

"I'm staying with the Firelash pavilion, of the Ruby clan." Sloane replied, glancing uncertainly at the woman, wondering if she should elaborate about how she'd come to join them. "They took me in when I was brought here earlier this season." She said simply, pinning the woman with another curious stare. "Do you have a family?" She asked, only for a moment wondering if she was being rude, or nosey. She decided not to worry about it, sure that the woman would let her know if she was unappreciative of the walahks line of questioning. Sloane sighed, already uninterested by the calm water and still line. "I hope this doesn't take too long." She muttered, wiggling her line from side to side in an attempt to encourage any fish around it to take a nibble.

Taurina seemed shocked when Sloane spoke again, and the woman immediately began to pull her line in. Sloane froze, biting her lip uncertainly. She'd hoped she was wrong about the bait, but it seemed Taurina had agreed with her, and so Sloane began to bring in her own line as well. "Erm... I have no idea." She admitted, dragging her line and the hook along the shore bed until it came to a stop at her feet. Bending to pick it up, Sloane glanced at her bag, wondering if she had anything that could pass as bait. "I-- I have some jerky? Do you think fish would even eat that?" She wondered, having no idea what fish ate other than other fish and perhaps aquatic plants. Sloane cast her gaze around, searching for any other clues or ideas. "Or, maybe we could catch some bugs, or worms?" She pulled a face, not exactly pleased by the thought, though she was willing to do whatever it would take to return to the pavilion successful.

Common ~ Pavi ~ Thoughts

[Taurina]

OOCI didn't know that either. Cool fact!

Taurina gave acknowledgement as a reply with a wave of her hand. She did not know the Firelash pavilion, to be fair she did not know very many pavilions to begin with. Perhaps she had run across them at one point, but if she had she did not remember. There were too many people to remember every small encounter. Too many people to be introduced to every single one. Perhaps she had met them, perhaps not, perhaps she would in the future. Taurina did not know, she was unsure as to how much she really cared.

There was a slight twinge of jealousy when Sloane elaborated to say that the pavilion had taken her in upon arrival. It should not matter anymore, by some grace the Ethaefal had the Stormbloods now. Azmere had found her, took her home, and that had been the end of being alone. She was blessed, even if she still struggled, she had been given a place to belong and she was thankful. Still, Taurina had not found them in her first moments within the borders of the traveling city. Instead she had spent a season alone, struggling, and entrapped even more so than the present within the fears that haunted her everyday life.

Sloane was lucky -at least, the Eth believed her to be- for she had not gone through that. Taurina did not think of the reasoning behind Sloane being taken in. She did not think of how the clans had been absorbing more walahks to try and boost their numbers. She did not know of how they took striderless human females and used them to help the numbers of their pavilions grow. The Ethaefal was oblivious to such things. She had not been exposed. In her mind, fate had dealt Sloane a kinder starting hand.

“Do you have a family?”

Taurina did not answer the blonde at first. Her mind simply pondered the question before she sighed and ran the fingers of her free hand through her half tangled, half braided hair. Yes, she supposed that she had a family. She thought of them that way at least. Though, she did not know what a family truly was. It was just a word to her.

“My pavilion,” Taurina answered, her common soft as she spoke. She was not very emotional, just distant from the conversation, “they are the closest thing I have to family.”

Dull brown eyes shifted over to Sloane. Why had she asked such a question? What made her care to know the answer to such a thing?

Taurina’s attention was drawn back to the idea of bait, to her fishing line that was drawn halfway out of the water. The Ethaefal’s earthbound cheeks burned rosy. It was so embarrassing to her to not have thought of doing anything to draw the fish to the hook, but at least she was not alone. Sloane had not thought of it either. Lips pursed as ideas were offered, the Eth had no clue.

“Perhaps the jerky would work, it is a food, meat…” Taurina pointed out, thinking out loud some, “Though maybe they like fresh things?”

Sloane did not look to happy about the idea of having to find bait in the form of bugs or worms. Taurina did not blame her. She was not so thrilled about the idea herself.

“Whatever brings the fish fastest.. we should do that,” Taurina decided with a half hearted attempt at a smile, her eyes betrayed her, however, for she really did not wish to go digging for worms, “Or jerky.. perhaps we try the jerky first?”

Taurina let the question boil some more as she waited for Sloane’s thoughts on the matter. Her line was pulled all the way in now and the hook was carefully pinched between her index finger and thumb at the end where there was nothing sharp. The Ethaefal stared at it. What could they put on their hooks to make them enticing to the fish? What did fish like?

“Jerky first, then if that does not work, we go for the worms,” Taurina decided, grimacing at the last word. Hopefully it did not come to that.

Common | Pavi | ‘Thought’

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Sloane]

"Lets just hope the jerky works." Sloane crouched, hands hurriedly digging through her bag until she came upon her little sack of rations. Pulling open the draw strings she peeked inside, pulling out a small handful of jerky and dumping it onto the ground between them. She pulled her line over and picked out a decent sized piece of jerky, and began to carefully pierce it with the hook, pushing it over the barb and down the little iron rod, careful not to cut herself. Glancing up she smiled at Taurina, jerking her chin toward the jerky. "Help yourself. Try and get a big piece, so it doesn't fall off." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "And maybe the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish?" She shrugged, standing again once she was satisfied that the bait wasn't going to fall off in her cast.

She rolled her shoulders slowly, arranging the line in her hands again and resuming the slow swing she had started with last time, releasing it when the hook reached the highest point of the swing, her hands tight on the end of the line. It landed with a thunk and this time the jerky seemed to cause the hook to float for a moment, before emitting a few bubbled and sinking under the water. "Here we go." Sloane sighed, glancing over to Taurina to see how she'd gotten on with the jerky. "This should work, I hope. Gods know I hadn't planned to dig around in the dirt for worms today." Sloane trailed off, and after a quiet moment she sat, arranging her legs so that she could easily get up if something pulled at the line.

Common ~ Pavi ~ Thoughts

[Taurina]

“Good plan,” Taurina decided she liked that idea best and agreed to it with an easy smile.

The Ethaefal watched as Sloane dug around in her pack until a handful of jerky was presented. Normally Taurina would have felt guilty for using part of the other’s rations, but she did not this day. She was just trying to get over her foolishness and lack of forethought so instead of being guilty, she was just thankful. Sloane, it seemed, would be the savior of both of them in this instance. Well, hopefully. If the idea worked.

“Seems logical,” Taurina agreed as she crouched down to look through what had been offered up as possible bait, “thank you.”

The Ethaefal looked through the pieces until she found one that was thicker than it was wide. It seemed like a good, sturdy piece that would not likely fall off the hook of the fishing pole. Taurina stood up once more, hook carefully held in one hand and the jerky piece in the other hand. Thumb and index finger of her left hand held the hook with the sharp tip facing upwards and the same fingers of her opposite hand pinched the jerky. She found the most tender spot of the dried meat and slowly worked it onto the hook. The goal was to keep the jerky all in one piece while successfully getting it on the hook. If it split than it would simply fall off and that would do her no good.

It took some work, the sharp hook working to cut through tough meat. Taurina debated pulling out her knife and more easily carving a hole through the meat. That might have created too big of a hole, however, and she did not want the meat to just easily fall off of the hook. Again, that would not do her any good. Instead she just took the time to work the jerky onto the hook using only the tip of the hook as her sharp object. She did think that this might make the hook too dull for it to properly capture her a fish, but she was in too deep by the point the thought crossed her mind. The jerky was already halfway on.

Finally! The jerky slide back the barb and settled in the curve of the hook. Took long enough. Taurina stretched out her now sore fingers and shook all the pressure she had applied for the task from them. A faint smile spread across her lips before she cast out her line once more. The pole was swung back and then pushed forward so that the line made a sloppy arch. A satisfying plunk sounded in the water as hook and jerky broke the surface. Unlike Sloane’s, Taurina’s hook did not float because her jerky piece was thicker and therefore, heavier.

The Ethaefal sat down next to her newest companion, crossing her legs and holding her pole out in front of her with two hands. Her gaze stared out at the water, expecting something to happen right away. Surely the fish would all swarm to new food sources, right?

Wrong. The line was not moving. Taurina blew from her nose and frowned slightly. Impatience, it seemed, was already beginning to grab hold of her.

“No, digging for worms sounds like a rather unpleasant way to spend one’s day,” Taurina agreed to the comment previously spoken by Sloane, only now getting around to replying since she had been so focused on getting that jerky on her hook.

Taurina sighed. She really hoped that they would not have to dig for worms today. The jerky would work, it had to, they just needed to give it some time.

“So, what brought you to Endrykas?,” Taurina decided that a distraction from the lack of activity was in order and returned to the previous line of discussion.

The Eth’s hands moved so only one held balanced the pole and the other was freed. Sometimes sign got across better than words, even the common ones. Choice? Fate? The signs silently questioned as curious eyes watched the blonde woman and waited for her reply.

Common | Pavi | ‘Thought’

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Sloane]

Taurina asked after what had brought her to Endrykas, and Sloane stiffened, not particularly wanting to get into the long, unfortunate story that had turned her life on its head. "I ran into some trouble while travelling, and some Drykas brought me here to recover from it." She said simply, and while it was barely half of the truth, Sloane thought it was good enough, giving part of the reason but not going into detail. "Have you always liked in Endrykas." She asked in turn, eager to get the conversation away from herself once again.

Sloane sighed, slumping in complete boredom as she gazed out over the water, twisting the fishing line between her hands as she waited, already bored beyond all measure. For a moment Sloane wondered if she could nap while sitting upright, and it was then, suddenly, that she felt a sudden tug on her line.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, jumping in surprise and tightening her grip on her line. "I think I felt something! A pull!" She turned to gaze at Taurina, eye's wide and a mix of excitement and confusion. "What should I do!? Do I wait, or pull it in?" She wondered, scrambling to her feet and then bouncing on her toes and feeling the little tug, tug, tugs on her line. Finally, Sloane made up her mind, and began to slowly and carefully pull the line, placing one hand in front of the other, waiting until she felt the little tug on her line before she gaze her next heave.

Common ~ Pavi ~ Thoughts