Patience is a Virtue (Xalet)

[I'sona]

57th of Autumn, 512AV For a city with more boats than she could count I’sona couldn’t seem to actually afford to use one. So like most days her fishing was confined to the shores of Riverfall. Traveling outwards towards what she already knew was a dangerous area would not be in her best interest, no matter how tempting. Carrying her kit down to the shoreline I’sona watched the young Akalak play or train on the shore, the elder peoples watching carefully. It was always so…so full! A grin stretched across the Charodas mouth and she walked, whistling in a terrible manner. Fun things! Today would be full of them, she was sure of it. In fact, she would help make it fun. Her sudden happiness creeping into her head and exploding full force she nearly skipped towards the water, spilling her equipment clumsily. Crouching down she quickly accounted for everything, her hooks, line, net and bait. It was all she needed to have an interesting time. With patient fingers the Charoda began to tie her line to a hook, whispering the words to herself in Char. "Make a loop...go under and pull tight...make a loop...go under and pull tight!" It was hardly the best knot, in fact it probably wasn't even the correct knot but it held the hook and I'sona was pleased with her work. Glancing at her still slightly scattered items she spotted her bait and grabbed at the little bag. Inside where only a few works left but they would do the trick. Plucking one out she stared at the hook ad the worm with a sad expression, she never could do this part, it was why she liked net fishing better. But she needed to. But she didn't want to. Poor worm. A few rapid breaths later and she still hadn't managed to stick the worm, instead she plopped down completely in the sand and firmly held the wriggling worm. Using some of the line above the worm she tried to make a knot around the worm but the little creature would stay still! But her patience won out and in the end she had a badly tied, very loose knot around the worm. "See, it's not so bad." Without waiting or actually picking up her equipment I'sona skipped out into the water until it reach her knees. Holding her line she wrapped some around her hand and let the other hang loose. For a chime there was no movement and then she flung her arm back wildly and then threw it forward. Great. Now all she had to do was wait.

[Xalet]

Xuphim could remember approximately two things in regards to fishing. The first was 'be patient', and the second was 'you're scaring all the fish away'. Apparently fish had an acute sense of hearing. Carrying his fishing kit and pole, Xuphim wielded the latest in fishing literature from a Knight that supposedly had a bit of practice. Unfortunately the Knight was never good at writing, as much training as he had at it, and this the literally was entirely made of poorly drawn figures. The figures had no real definition or detail to them, in fact they were mostly just sticks with additional sticks that Xuphim had to assume were the arms and the legs. Baiting the hook seemed self explanatory, and the Akalak was far from ever being a marked of Rak'keli. Preparing the line to the pole also appeared to be at least partly straight forward. In fact in very little time Xuphim was ready to cast and begin this wondrous mandatory journey of self discovery. The biggest problem was the part that you couldn't exactly make an adequate drawing for, and that was having proper technique and instinct like a true fisherman did. Tossing the line out into the water, Xuphim decided to stay closer to the shore line. Affording a boat was one thing, but working up the nerve to step on one for recreational purposes was another. Even in just his tunic and breeches the big man preferred to stay. Kept the boots lasting longer as well. His feet fixed upon a grassy patch overlooking a bit of a drop-off into the water he ensured his line had good slack. Several moments went by, and nothing. Perturbed he began to jiggle the rod and jerk at the line with his hands a bit. Still nothing. With a deep grunt her narrowed his eyes and tried looking past the surface of the water, attempting to determine if he could spot any shadowy movement. For certain there was at least something in the watery grasses moving about, Xuphim just had to get it's attention. Pulling back on the slack he lifted his bait from the bottom and sent it sliding forward approximately a foot and a half below the water surface. Though it wasn't exactly intentional, it appeared to have gotten the attention of something as he soon felt a nibble. Totally lost to him was the concept of 'waiting for the hook to set', so he eagerly set forth in leaning further forward in order to see what was taking the bait, while continuing to toy with the line. The nibble soon turned into a bite, which turned into a harsh pull, which turned into Xuphim darn near panicking as he tried to yank it in, which turned into his foot slipping on the wet grass, which turned into the broad shouldered purple Akalak sliding right into some three and a half feet of water. "Gods damn it!" he shouted out just after his head broke up from the water, quickly attempting to stand on his feet. His pole was gone, lying somewhere on the waters floor, the bait long since pilfered and whatever had committed the thievery also well on it's way after three hundred pounds of man came crashing down into the water. "Fishing!? Why did it have to be fishing!? What did you do with my pole you little bastard..." his grumbling voice rose up as he twisted about in the water. To anyone with any fishing sense, the concept of the sport was clearly lost on this one.

[I'sona]

I’sona knew she was not the only fisher out. There were plenty out but none so loud as the Akalak man a few feet away from her. His shout had her dropping her own line in the water, expecting something horrible to happen but only seeing a frustrated fellow fisher. She watched him curiously, her fingers skimming through the water to try and find her line before it was swept away. Her fingers brushed the strand and she gripped it tightly, feeling the tug of the water and the lightness of the line. Obviously her bait was gone. She was prepared to ignore the other fisher and move away, obviously he didn’t know how to fish but she was not used to this kind either. What was she going to do with the fish when she caught it? Her eyes wandered over to the splashing, she smiled softly and began sloshing over to the large Akalak. “Is you needing some helps?” she didn’t even have to really bend down, even bending down the purple man was huge. “Did you lose the fish?” The Charoda happily squatted down into the water, flashing a rows of points at the man and patting around the bottom with her free hand, her other still pulling gently on her fishing line. Maybe she would catch a fish anyway. Conversationally she tried to chat with the man, oblivious to his frustration now that she had a task in mind. “You is never have been fishing before? I is liking to fish all the time. I fish with a net. Is much easier.” She was going to continue to ask him if he knew how to swim but her hand brushed a what she thought was a fish. Crowing with glee, I’sona pulled up a wad of seaweed, the spray and seaweed slapping her square in the face. Tossing it to the side she laughed. “Maybe it is not!”

[Xalet]

Xuphim was just about to get back to finding the pole that had been so easily removed from his grasp when he was set face to face with one of the sea people. Charoda weren't exactly something he had a great deal of interaction with. Sure Syliras had visitors from all over, but that never meant the Akalak stopped to make conversation with all of them. He tried to work out what rumors he had heard of them. His jumbled thoughts ended up putting various tidbits together, settling with underwater farmers and wind surfers. That sounded correct. "Did I lo--yeah I lost the damn fish. I'm supposed to be catching dinner here, but all I got to show me what's what is a bunch of sorry ass drawings scribbled up by one of my squadmates." the Akalak wrestled to keep his anger in check. It was easy to scare folks away with the amount of passion he put into his 'training' exercises. Could fishing even be considered a Knight's training? "Fishin'? Naw, not like this. Takes to damn long. I'd rather just buy the fish someone else has caught. Seems like a better use of my time. Knight's gotta do what a Knight's gotta do, and someone's decided I'm supposed to be fishing. Don't know if it's a joke or what." Looking over at the unsettling feature's of someone so vastly different from his people, be they Akalak or Human, a sudden spark of insight suddenly lit it's way within his cluttered mind. Charoda were people of the sea, fishing must have been in their blood somewhere. Akalaks were meant to kick ass, as clearly indicated to Xuphim by their superior builds. Thus, given the fins and gills of the Charoda, they had to be competent at nearly anything involving the underside of a body of water. That meant it was possible to get this Charoda to ease the burden of this task! "Fishing all the time? Man, that's petching great. This'll be a breeze then, you just got to show me how to do it. I'll even make you a deal. You help me catch some fish, and I'll teach you how to whip some ass if you want. It's a dangerous world out here, and I hear everyone in Riverfall has got to pull their own weight if things get hairy. Knowing how to keep your head on your shoulders is a good thing. How about that?" Xuphim shoved his hand outward, prepared to anoint their meeting with the appropriate handshake. That was until he noticed the female snatching up a handful of seaweed, "You do know what you're doing here, right?"