• Graded • One fish, two fish, red fish...Where fish?

[Arlo Creede]

8th Ashan, 717

They'd only been aboard the ship for a few trials, and already Arlo was beginning to grow restless. There was a finite amount of time that he could spend gazing out at an open expanse of water, before longing for just a glimpse of land in the distance.

The occasional sighting of a far off plume of water spouted from a whale's blowhole had become an event that to the young man's mind, was growing a little tired without an actual up close and personal with one of the giant seagoing creatures. Though the rarity of it consistently delighted Lyova.

How did these sailors do it? Trial after trial, night after night. He longed to feel land beneath his feet again. The well traveled roads, the less used forest paths. He'd filled his time writing in his dream journal, studying his maps, shadowing the ship's navigator and hoping for a few more lessons, and mapping the stars that he'd seen for himself.

He'd like to have gone hunting. But the ship's deck wasn't exactly teeming with wildlife. He'd eyed a few birds flying over or roosting up near the crow's nest, and considered his bow. But Arlo's current skill with a short bow was such that even had he managed to hit one flying over, it would have fallen into the sea, both prey and arrow lost together.

All his gear that was usually hauled behind Peg, was stored in the corner of the cabin he shared with Vega. But during the storm a couple trials past, much of it had been spilled out on the floor. He'd done a poor job of sorting it out again. But as soon as he spied a corner of the net, he knew what he'd do. Or at least how he'd spend the next couple of breaks.

A few bits later, Arlo emerged from the small cabin with two poles angled over one shoulder, and a rucksack slung over the other. A quick trip to the galley got him a half loaf of bread and a jar full of some very unappetizing looking stuff. He stuffed those into his rucksack too and went off in search of Vega. If he couldn't hunt, then he could do some fishing. And what better place to do it than in the middle of the ocean?

[Vega]

Arlo was getting restless. There was no doubting it, Vega knew, he was getting twitchy. He looked out to the sea and saw the same thing, trial in and trial out. She'd tried to point out the differences to him, how she (Vega referred to the sea as she almost all the time) constantly shifted and changed colour, like the movement of the landscape. But nope, he wasn't buying it. Not for a moment was he buying it.

This, she knew, meant trouble. Or at least, it meant potential trouble. So, Vega had approached Nar'ta, the Biqaj sailor who had been helping her with learning more about how to sail, steer and navigate a vessel. She and he were getting on well, he was being helpful in terms of her learning and he was a nice enough sort, if somewhat caustic on occasion. That was fine with Vega she was able to more than give back as good as she got and she'd been learning about plotting a course, navigating by the stars from him, as well as using the more traditional tools, the compass and the sextant. He was a good teacher and the transference of the information to the maps he showed her was fascinating to the young mixed blood.

On this trial, however, Vega had approached Nar'ta with a question. He had listened with an expression of growing disbelief but, in the end he had nodded and laughed. So, when Arlo went in search of her, Vega was handing Nar'ta a sack, pointing to the masts of the ship and talking to him quite intently. He looked like she he thought she was mad, in fairness, before he turned his currently vivid blue eyes to Arlo and motioned to him. As she followed Nar'ta's gesture, Vega grinned and waved, checked with Nar'ta, "You're sure you're ok to do that?"
"I said yes. I will do it. You are a mad woman." Vega just grinned and jumped down from where they'd been standing to the main deck where Arlo was.

"Wotcha." She grinned. "Ok. You have two sticks and a pleased expression on your chops." Vega seemed to be in a particularly good mood. "Why the two sticks? Are we going to hit each other with them?" It might be the prospect of that which put her in a good mood, of course. "I've got a game for us, later. Bit of a challenge. Competition, if you're up for it." The reality was, she knew exactly what the fishing rod was, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease him, even if he knew he was being teased."But fishing first? You any good with that there rod?"

[Arlo Creede]

What was Vega up to, Arlo wondered as he strolled towards her and the man she was speaking with. The sack, the way they both looked at him, as if they were in cahoots about something. He'd find out, sooner or later.

But for now he'd something different on his mind and when she approached him and asked about the poles, he adopted a thoughtful expression and flexed them across his shoulder so that their tips bounced a little in the air behind him. 'They'd make poor weapons I think. But I'm willing to give one a try and whack you with it, just to make sure," he countered. "What kind of competition?"

Arlo sounded suddenly suspicious but also intrigued. Anything to pass the time was better than staring out over the seas that stretched out to the horizon in every direction and never seemed to end. Still, he grinned and shrugged. "Right. Fishing. And I've got no idea if I'm any good at it. But it's just baiting a hook and throwing a line in the water isn't it?" Maybe, maybe not. He'd set stream traps any number of times and caught his fish that way. Then, it was just a matter of setting them, walking away and checking back on them later.

"I've got an extra pole though, plenty of line and the cook supplied me with plenty of bait. Bet I catch one before you do. And a bigger one too," Arlo declared and handed Vega one of the poles. "Pick a spot, any spot, and I'll show you how it's done." And then once their fishing spot was chosen, he unwound the line from his pole, set the reel and baited the hook with something slimy and smelly from the jar he'd brought from the galley.

"Cook tells me that sometimes bread works. Little bits balled up tight," he explained. And that stuff in the jar, he explained, was bits of gut, organs and all kinds of innards cleaned out from other fish and chickens. What he'd baited his own hook looked a little like a worm, but wasn't. And it struck him, as he lowered his line into the water, that anything that took to that particular bait, wasn't very discerning. "You learning much about sailing?" he asked, while settling in for the wait, hoping for something to tug on his line before long.

[Vega]

Vega laughed when he said he was willing to hit her with a stick, just to check. "It's good of you, that. I'll be sure to return the kindness. What am I up to?" Vega shrugged, ever so slightly. "Nar'ta's helping me out. A competition where I win, you lose, of course." She gave him a gentle shove. "You're a misery, Arlo. It's like cosmic retribution for all the times I was a misery aboard a ship. My family used to have a game, which I never played cos I was a misery." She motioned behind her. "I've given him targets to hang places. Some will sway in the wind, others will only be reachable by climbing places, stuff like that. I made them this morning." While he was still asleep, that was.

"Each target has three concentric circles. You get five, ten or fifteen points for shooting the target before you climb or jump or swing to get it. Then, an extra five for getting it. I thought it'd be fun, help us both get better at the bow, at climbing and help me with the acrobatic stuff and might actually cheer you up." She grinned at him. Why that made Nar'ta call her a mad woman, she did not explain but left it there. "But we can do that tomorrow. Best not get too over excited in one trial, eh?"

So, there was a bet on? "Alright. You're on. But that's two bets. What's the prize for first catch, and what for biggest catch? You decide, since you're going to lose an' all."

She picked a spot, as much because it was somewhere where they could both sit and dangle their legs safely over the side as for any other reason. Picking up the bait which the cook had supplied him, Vega wrinkled her nose then grinned. "Two things. Good job I'm not still hurling, though that makes me feel like I wanna. Also, it reminds me of the Inn in Desnind. Man, that was bad food. Alright, little wormie, on you go." It wasn't a worm, she knew, but it was long and stringy and worm like.

Arlo then dropped his line into the water and Vega watched with a slight frown. She'd never fished, but she'd seen a lot of it and she'd always watched them throw the line further out. So, with a slight shrug, that was what she did; giving herself plenty of line, Vega swung the rod back and then forward, to try and get as much distance out from the vessel as she could. She didn't get much further than him, but it was a little way. With a glance at Arlo, she considered a simple face. "Far as I remember, now we sit here and wait. Sometimes for a long time. Is that what you think happens too?" She really didn't see why this was any more interesting than just sitting, to be honest, but there you go, boys were weird.

"Are you sure that bread works? Do fish eat bread?" Vega wondered momentarily if this was as stupid a question as 'do turkeys lay eggs', but decided to brazen it out with a wide and cheery grin.

[Arlo Creede]

A game and a competition at once. Arlo was fond of competing, if for competition's sake alone. He'd win of course, and she'd lose, in spite of her saying different. And he said so. "It's a fine idea in theory," he considered with a critical eye while studying one of the high masts. It was presumably there that one of the targets would hang and dangle from.

On board or on land a challenge, and he liked a challenge. "Except, neither of us is an expert with a bow," he reminded Vega. "On land, you can retrieve an arrow that misses it's mark. At sea? What's to stop our misses from plunging into the waves?"[/i] They might attach fishing line to the ends of the arrows, maybe. It was light, as good as weightless and they could retrieve them that way. "Either way," he declared with a wide grin. "I'll win, and you'll eat crow."

So what would they wager? He thought about that for a long few trills while she identified the best place to drop their lines from. "The first catch is bragging rights. But the biggest catch," he considered after she'd found their spot and they'd settled themselves on the rail. "You catch the biggest fish and I'll cook it up for you special. I catch the largest...since you're a lousy cook and I could pave a path with your porridge, you have to wear that silly hat of yours with the elephant ear flaps, out and about for the voyage."

With his hook already in the water, he watched her cast her own line further out, and he frowned. "I think casting is mostly for reaching deeper water, but it's all deep here. Or maybe if you plan to reel it back in as if your bait is alive and swimming." Whichever the case, with the weights on the ends of their lines, he figured hers would find its way back regardless, but probably settle much deeper than his. "The cook said something about setting the hook if you get a nibble." He wasn't sure what it meant, since he was about as experienced with pole fishing as she was.

"He told me they seem to like bread." The cook, he meant. "At least the smaller ones like perch. He said to take a pinch of the softer part, roll it into a tight ball so the water doesn't dissolve it." He might try it later, but it seemed to him that fish on the hunt might like the smellier stuff. And what was in that jar gave off plenty of odor, all on it's own.

But sit and wait? Probably, he thought. "My stepfather likes to fish. He was always sneaking off with his pole and was gone for breaks on end. My mother always said that fishing was an excuse for him to go off and sit in his rowboat all trial, shirk his chores and get drunk." It might have been true. Half the time he'd come home with nothing at all to show for it.

Then looking back towards the water, Arlo marveled at the expanse of, well, not much of anything that he could see except some dark shadow a mile or so away beneath the water. Before they'd dropped their lines, he'd added floats to their lines that would bob on the water's surface, and as he was watching, Vega's float trembled a little apart from the tide, even bobbed down once before bouncing back up. "You've got some interest there, looks like,"

[Vega]

His concern for the hoarding of arrows caused her to shrug, unconcerned. "I mean, we can buy more arrows Arlo. Or learn to make them. I agree, though, fishing line to 'em, since it's you, my frugal friend." He'd win and she'd eat crow? Maybe. Vega simply arched an eyebrow when he said about both bragging rights and the deal for catching the largest. "That sounds like win-win to me, you know. If I win, you cook the fish. If I lose, I do what I was probably going to do for most of the rest of the journey anyhow?" She hadn't worn the hat whilst she was throwing up for what she assumed were obvious reasons with the thing having ties under her chin. It was still cold, though, and she was starting to feel better. Plus, she really didn't care how she looked. "It's a deal, unless I start chucking up again. I can't have something round my throat then." She gave him a grin, though and shrugged, "Though if that happens I'll be looking stupid enough for you to consider it a continued moral victory."

She settled down next to him quite content to give this whole fishing malarkey a go. His thought on the casting out of the line caused her to think awhile and she nodded. "Well, that wasn't what I was thinking, to be honest, but it makes sense. I was thinkin' that the fish aren't likely to swim right next to the ship. What with us moving and being all deep in the water. So I thought that there'd be more out further." Did it make sense? She really didn't know but it seemed to in her mind.

"My father, too," liked to fish, that was. With a grin to him, Vega listened to his story and grinned. "But it kind of is a chore to us. Though rod and reel, it's not usual. My father's vessel has nets it casts. Others do it other ways. This kind of fishing is more a hobby, a way to relax I guess." She'd never done it, been too busy not getting herself involved in anything and actually, more than that, the motion had made her feel more seasick than usual. "I worked that one out, it's why we're sitting here." The angle they were sitting meant that they were more pointing forward and she'd sat on the side of him that meant, when she looked at him she was looking towards the direction they were travelling. "It's worse if I'm moving backwards." He father had plenty to say about that, too, she recalled with a smile.

Then, looking at the float bobbing up and down, Vega sat up and watched it. "Interest is good. But I can't feel anything pulling on it, I shouldn't do anything till I... oh!" With a delighted smile she kept him informed. "It's.. there's something tugging on it, Arlo. Should I pull it in?" She figured she should and, in fact, she already was as she asked him. This she did, reeling in the line and looking at it eagerly to see what it was that she had managed to catch. Bragging right, after all, were the most important thing. Or so she would believe if she won them. If he did, she would be clear that they weren't worth the paper they were written on.

"Well that's not much bigger than the worm!" Whilst that was an overstatement, it was fair to say that Vega was unimpressed with her first catch. Whilst it gave her bragging rights, it was too small to do anything useful with so she picked the fish up, quickly removed the hook and threw the fish back in the water. "You're biting, Arlo." Was her only comment as she re baited her hook in preparation to cast her line out again, glancing at where the float attached to his line was bobbing much like hers had not long since.

[Arlo Creede]

Learn to make their own arrows? The idea had merit. It was a good one. Arlo had never done it before, though when he was a kid, like most boys his age he'd rigged up string on a curved stick, loaded up another relatively straight one and fired it off as if it was the genuine article. But making their own regardless, it was appealing.

"I guess it depends on how fast the ship is moving," Arlo considered in the face of her skepticism about fish and proximity to the hull. Swinging his heels so they lightly tapped the outside of the hull where they sat, he frowned. "I mean, when it's at rest, what's underneath the waterline should collect all sorts of stuff. Barnacles and the like. Things the fish might like to pick at."

But he figured it hardly mattered now while they were fishing. The ship was moving, therefore their lines were getting dragged behind and moving too. "I've used a net across a narrow stream," he told her when she mentioned her father's methods. A submerged trap, and my stepfather used to set up a trotline in the pond on our property. Now that's lazy fishing,"[/b] he added with a wide grin.

"Pull it in," he agreed when she said that she'd gotten a bite. Hopefully the hook was set, just as the cook had advised him to do, and the thing wouldn't get away from her. Of course he grinned wider and laughed at her when she hauled in her catch. "That's bait," he said, eyeing the thing. "That's what that is." Still, she'd caught the first fish, and earned her bragging rights.

And then the tug on his own line. He watched, waiting for the float to bob below the surface. It did, but when he began to reel in his line it went slack and he frowned briefly until he felt the nibble again. "Set the hook, that must be what he meant," Arlo muttered, as much to himself as to Vega. So this time he was more patient and when he felt the second tug, a more insistent one, he tugged back just a little until the tension was plenty enough to believe the fish was finally caught.

It fought him a little, but he reeled it in, finally holding up a very decent sized fish. He wouldn't call it large, but definitely a keeper. It was a silvery red color, and he recognized it from a meal he'd once had in a tavern. A very good meal, come to think of it. "Snapper," he said. "We get any more of these I can make you a very fine meal. That's assuming you catch a bigger one that his," he added.

Either way, he grabbed the trap box he'd brought with him, one that was attached to a long line. Removing the hook, he dropped the fish into the trap and lowered it into the water, where it would remain submerged till they were ready to retrieve it again. "Something's toying with your line," he declared after baiting his hook and dropping his line back in the water.

[Vega]

Vega grinned down at him and she couldn't help herself. "You know, it's a scientific fact. When you swing your legs, you look about twelve. I could pinch your cheeks, I really could." She was, it must be said, shameless. "Or ruffle your hair. It's adorable, that's what you are. Cute. Sweet." She stopped there, fully expecting a punch. As for his stepfather's method, Vega shrugged slightly. "I don't know. This seems like the lazy method. It forces us to sit down and do nothing for a few breaks. His way of doing it meant he could go and get on with the trial, while the fishing took care of itself. Which one of us, out of those, is lazy?"

She had to agree, however, as she reeled in the first catch. It was so small as to be useable as bait but, she threw it back in. "On the ship I grew up on," she said, as she cast her net out and watched him waiting to get a proper bite before pulling his in, "One of the crew used to swear that he was the luckiest fisherman amongst all the Biqaj. If he caught a tiddler like this, he'd kiss it before he threw it back in. 'Course, he got over confident, started throwing back better sized fish cos he was, in fairness, lucky with his catch. Always kissed them, too." She watched how Arlo reeled his fish in and nodded, apparently in approval. "Till one of them bit him. Took a chunk out of his top lip, there was blood everywhere. Idiot."

He reeled in a decently sized snapper and Vega glanced at him and nodded, "Oh, I love snapper. It's my favourite fish to eat, actually. I hope there's a school of them." She grinned as he pointed to her line bobbing there. "And I hope this one's a giant." She waited, letting it go until she felt the proper tug, moving the line a little to help the bait be slightly more, wiggly, she supposed. Then she started to reel it in and indeed, it was another snapper, much the size of his. It would be a close run thing to say which was larger in that his was a tiny bit longer, nose to tail, but her was fatter. She grinned, dropped it in the trap box the same way he had and cast her line out, again. "It's nice, this. I can understand why people enjoy it." Considering how uncomfortable, sick and out of place she'd spent more of her childhood than she'd care to admit, it was good to feel comfortable and relaxed on a ship. "So far, I'd say you're winning. I might end up wearing that hat after all. There go my chances of wooing one of the Biqaj to my bedchamber. Or, well, theirs, since mine has you in it."

With a rueful smile, because quite frankly she was about as likely to attempt that as she was to push him overboard, Vega's expression suddenly changed. "We're both up. Look lively." Indeed, both lines were going and she focused on reeling hers in, trying not to look between the two of them to see which one was bigger.

[Arlo Creede]

"You pinch my cheeks or ruffle my hair and I'll pick you up, toss you overboard," Arlo told Vega, though they both knew he'd never do anything like it. As for which method of fishing was the laziest, she made a good point. But there was another that occurred to Arlo, as he was tossing his line out again. "If it was Cassion, it might be much like traveling," he figured. "It's the journey, not the destination." Implying then that it was the act of pole fishing which was most satisfying, rather than what was caught.

That was assuming that the fisherman wasn't starving to death of course. Then again, sitting still, staring off in the distance, he was finding it did have a certain appeal, for as long as he could stand being idle. Cleared the mind of the bother, allowed one to think about the things that mattered.

"I can't see myself kissing a fish," he added when she told the story of a sailor she'd known. Confident or not, it was the last thing he'd have thought of doing. "You know my stepfather spent arcs trying to catch the biggest catfish he'd ever seen, in the pond on our property. He tried nets, trot lines, traps, even his hands along with a pole. Never could get the thing no matter how hard he tried. I bet that rivalry is still going on, even now."

It was hard to tell which snapper was larger, so Arlo was happy to call it a draw. At least for now. Soon enough however they both had another bite. His put up a fight, and presumably hers would to. But it took some doing, letting a little slack out in his line, reeling back again and so on before finally pulling his catch out of the water. It was a big one. But then so was hers.

Eyeballing them without actually measuring, Arlo imagined that his might be a little bit larger. But he kept that to himself while Vega was focused on getting the hook out of her fish. Quickly dropping his catch into the trap box, he grinned and shrugged. "Looks like I owe you a good meal," he declared. If it had been anything but cooking, he'd have insisted on claiming the upper hand. But she was a terrible cook if her porridge was any indication. He didn't trust the ship's cook with a good fish like snapper, and so ultimately, Arlo would rather do it himself.

[Edalene]

Congratulations!

Arlo Creede

Knowledge:

• Fishing: It's Just Throwing A Line With Some Bait ... Right?
• Fishing: Bread Can Sometimes Work As Bait
• Fishing: Casting Is For Reaching Deeper Water
• Fishing: Setting The Hook
• Fishing: Recognising Snapper
• Hunting: Assessing Your Ability Against The Prey's Distance
• Hunting: Can Attach Fishing Line To Arrows For Easy Retrieval In Practice
• Vega: Likes Competitions

Loot: One large snapper.
Injuries: No.
Fame: No.
Devotion: No.
Magic: No.

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Comments: I love how hesitant he was to let Vega cook! My housemate is like that with me...

Vega

Knowledge:

• Arlo Creede: A Misery on a Ship
• Arlo Creede: Frugal
• Fishing: Better To Cast Your Line Further Out
• Fishing: Fish Aren't Likely To Be Near Big Ships
• Fishing: Reeling In A Catch
• Fishing: Releasing Small Catches
• Seafaring: Learning From Experienced Sailors
• Seafaring: Motion Sickness Is Worse If Looking Opposite Direction You're Travelling

Loot: One large(r) snapper.
Injuries: No.
Fame: No.
Devotion: No.
Magic: No.

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Comments: It was nice to see Vega so comfortable on a ship, bringing back the good memories!

Comments

This was a nice, relaxing thread. I like their easy chemistry. Just a side note, given that you are a) in deep sea waters and b) have no fishing experience, I was a little unbelieving that they would have caught that many fish in such a small amount of time. This would have meant there was a school close to the surface, and there was no surface activity indicating that. It's not a negative, but just something to think about. (I used to go fishing every weekend with my dad, so I'm a stickler about this.) Besides that, great thread! PM me with any concerns.