| Fishing is Half Skill, Half Luck | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: In which Rayne fishes, and Silencia and Serenity chat with her while she does!    |
Whistling can be heard! It's an unidentifiable but jaunty tune, quite cheerful, actually. The source? Rayne! She approaches the docks, tackle box held in one hand, fishing rod held against her shoulder in the other. It's a day for fishin'! As she gets closer, she sees Serenity's environment suit parked nearby. She frowns and sighs lightly, cutting her whistled tune short as she realizes that fishing just got a lot more complicated. She has tried to fish while Serenity was nearby before. She has tried to fish Serenity before. It's not something she'd like to duplicate. Still, she's not here to swim, so she moves out onto the dock, looking over the side as she does so to try to spot the fluorescent dancer. A cheery hum dances around Silencia as she wanders onto the beach. The clean air and the peaceful sound of the waves only served to better her mood. Silencia pauses as she notices Rayne on the dock. A light grin dances on her lips. She was still in a mischievous mood, she had a little fun with Dorian and Kotal. She shakes her head and giggles softly. Nah, she shouldn't. Not today. So she just walks up to Rayne, announcing her presence by waving and greeting the colorful female. "Hello!" As she approaches, she notices Serenity's suit nearby. "Oh, is Serenity around too?" Serenity doesn't seem to be paying those on the dock much mind, instead poking at a sea anemone while studiously ignoring the smell of a chicken bone (in the crab-fisherman's pot) that still has perfectly good decomposing meat on it. Eventually, though Ren does notice the footsteps on the dock are those of someone new approaching and not just someone finding a new fishing spot. Ren makes a quick zip out perpendicular to the dock to have a look. Then, on spotting the familiar faces, lifts a 'wing' from the water to wave. Rayne looks up from the water towards Silencia as she's greeted. "Hey, Silencia. I think she's around somewhere, but I've not spotted just where she is quite yet. I just got out here, myself." She looks back down the the water just in time to see Serenity waving. "Aha! There she is." She grins and waves back to the invertebrate. "I'm not sure if she can actually hear us... Usually her environment suit does something to make sound travel better back and forth between air and her water... I think." Silencia stops next to Rayne, waving at Ren as well. "I am one of the last people to understand technology like that..." Silencia chuckles softly as she takes out a little daisy from behind her ear. She had a good idea. She presents the little flower to Rayne and smiles, her expression holding just a tad bit of mischief. "Could you hold onto this little flower for me? I need to show it to Kotal Kahn the way it is, but I'm afraid if I touch it for too long that it'll grow..." That was a little lie, she couldn't help but continue her little mischievous streak. She then turns to Serenity, waving her over in a gesture to let the cutie know to come closer. Serenity slips over closer as Silencia gestures inward. Ren travels in a horizontal posture just under the surface, stripes of mottled fluorescent color between the aquamarine of gills and fins. Upon reaching the dock, Ren pauses in a vertical posture near the surface and extrudes a 'finger' from one pair of fins to gesture to the mouth and the side of the head (despite the fact that Ren doesn't have an ear there). Rayne raises an eyebrow at the offered daisy. Following a shrug, she sets down her fishing equipment and takes it. "Does it really get that bad for you, that they grow just being in your possession?" Seeing Ren's motions, she leans over and cups her hands around her mouth to say, "Can you hear us, Ren? I can't remember how well you can hear without your environment suit." As she does this, the daisy is held between two fingers, facing outward. Silencia nods softly. "Yep, plants even seem to react to my state of mind... They wither when I'm frightened and bloom when I'm happy..." Silencia glances between Serenity and Rayne, curious about the former's hearing as well. Silencia crouches down instead of leaning, wondering if she could hear Ren speak like this. Serenity look up at the two curiously for a moment, then apparently gets the idea as Rayne and Silencia look down. Ren motions a 'wing' toward the environment suit before taking off toward shore to get it. Slipping inside, Ren takes it out of 'park' with a gesture of the trailing edges before piloting it in a U-turn towards shore and then back down the dock. Rayne nods as Ren motions towards her suit, then looks down at the daisy she was handed. Seeing how cheerful Silencia seems right now, she's comparing just how blooming it looks. "It would be more useful if they grew when you were frightened... Give you cover and a hiding place and whatnot." Rayne waves to Serenity again as she makes her way back towards the two on the dock. "You didn't have to stop on our behalf. I suppose I should actually get a swimsuit to go out swimming with you someday... like, in the spring." Silencia nods thoughtfully at Rayne's words. "That would've been more convenient, yes..." The girl straightens again as Serenity makes her way to them in her suit. Silencia smiles and waves. "I'd love to join then as well, I haven't swam in awhile!" "Hello," Ren rasps cheerily, sliding the mass of water over to the two with gentle ripples of the fins. "Do invite me along when you are inclined to go swimming. While I can certainly use some peaceful time alone with nature," Ren motions out to the sides and downward, "I can only bear so much before going to find some copany." Ren glances to the fishing gear and then to the flower. "Are the two of you planning to do some fishing?" Ren adds curiously. Rayne nods. "That was in fact my plan. And now it's a bit safer to do so, thank you." She gets a sheepish smile, again thinking of the time she nearly snagged Ren with a hook. Then she frowns for some reason before shaking her head, the smile returning to her face. "And I'll definitely remember to get you two when the weather warms up enough for that." Silencia smiles at Ren and peeks at Rayne's fishing gear. "I wasn't exactly planning on fishing, I was wandering around as usual when I stumbled upon Rayne and you..." She stretches lazily and breathes in with a smile. "The air here is really nice, the beach is definitely one of the nicer places I've explored around here..." "Well, perhaps we can watch and learn from your example, Rayne- if you're not using fishing as an excuse for time alone, that is," Ren suggests, motioning to the tackle box. Ren nods at Silencia's observation, "Indeed the pleasant environment continues out some distance. After this stretch of relatively bare sand, there is a fine forest." Ren gestures through the forcefield with a pair of fins, indicating a spot out at sea. Rayne says, "No, no, if I wanted to be alone, I'd just hide in my apartment. I want fresh fish for dinner." She flashes a grin at the two. "Oh, one thing... Could you hear us talking to you earlier? I can never remember how well you can hear us air breathers when you're not in your environment suit." She crouches down by her equipment, momentarily putting the stem of the daisy between her lips as she prepares her rod, finding the lure she wants to use to start with. Silencia hums thoughtfully and smiles at Rayne "Could I get that flower back for a moment? I have an idea" As soon as she gets that daisy back, she quickly makes a tiny braid at the right side of Rayne's head, trapping the flower between the colorful tendrils. "There you go! Now it'll be easier to carry around!" She peeks at Serenity and smiles. "I would like to see that forest... sounds like just my cup of tea!" "For sheer practicality, I would use a trap rather than a pole, coming back to check on it later," Ren suggests to Rayne, then admits, "Mind you, I'm neither hunter nor connoisseur of fresh foods." Ren shifts closer to peer inquisitively at Silencia's work; her remark gets a nod and a smile. "As for the acoustics," Ren answers Rayne, "I'm afraid many sounds from the air don't penetrate much below the surface, but I lose the clarity, if I put my head in the air." Ren motions out to the sides. "I have been on the lookout for underwater breathing gear that doesn't make the user look like some mute monster." Rayne gives Silencia a quick smile before replying to Ren, "I thought it was something like that. Maybe someone can come up with a microphone-speaker setup that floats nearby. Kind of get sound from the surface and convert it that way to an underwater speaker, and vise versa?" She shrugs as she stands up before warning, "Okay, stand back a bit guys. A barbed hook is about to fly through the air." When the area is clear, she swings the rod back and forth a few times before flicking it to send the lure flying well away from the dock. Silencia peeks between the two as they talk of thechnology that's way beyond her understanding at the moment. She should spend some time learning about those sometime. She takes a couple of steps back at Rayne's warning, making sure she's at a safe distance. She peeks at Serenity and smiles. "I should warn you in advance, Serenity, when we go swimming, I fully intend on giving you a hug!" She hadn't forgotten how nice and squishy Serenity's fin had been and she had been wanting to hug her, just to see what it feels like. "Speaking apparatus without the breathing component?" Ren remarks thoughtfully on Rayne's suggestion. "I didn't think of that. That does sound as though it would be easier to find or make. Perhaps even by waterproofing a two-way radio from the S-mart..." Ren responds to the warning by 'kneeling down', with more tail end horizontal and close to the dock and only a bit of upper body still vertical. The posture is not terribly compatible with imagining Ren with a torso and waist, however- a human back should definitely not bend a right angle under the shoulderblades. Ren smirks at the comment from Silencia. "Indeed you're welcome to offer a hug in greeting whenever you like." Ren glances to Rayne and adds, "Be aware, though, that not everyone is fond of close contact." Rayne says, "Hah ha... Yeah, you know what, why don't you just visit Ren at her apartment once you find a swimsuit? You can swim in, hug her, and swim back out to the foyer. Assuming you're a decent swimmer, of course. I'm sure the water in her apartment is significantly warmer than the water out here in winter, yeah?" She gives a few quick tugs before slowly starting to real the lure back in. It doesn't seem that she's caught anything yet. Silencia chuckles softly at Ren's comment about not everybody liking close contact. "I'll keep that in mind..." She had always been very open and physical about showing that she likes someone, but she understood that was not the case for everybody. Rayne's suggestion makes Silencia smile. "That is a great idea! Then I don't have to wait as much!" Serenity returns to a more ordinary height and posture after Rayne casts, 'standing' behind and to the side of her to watch the technique. "Indeed it is warmer in my apartment," Ren agrees, glancing over to Silencia while generally watching the reel. "It's quite well-aerated, and so doesn't become stuffy even with the heat turned up. I'm afraid that it isn't well-suited to inviting guests over for tea, but you are welcome to visit if you like." Rayne says, "Yeah... do keep it in mind... and whatever you do, don't surprise-hug me if I don't know you're there. I have been known to headbutt people for that on reflex." She actually does sound serious at that. She stops reeling for a few seconds before tugging the rod quickly to the left, then the right a few times, then starts reeling again. "...This talk of swimming is now getting me to want to add a hot tub to my apartment now, with how cold it is out there. That's something I could just have added by the apartment systems, right, Ren?" Silencia smiles brightly at Serenity's hospitable words. "You are very kind." Silencia then turns her attention to Rayne and nods softly, glad she hadn't followed through with her earlier instincts to surprise Rayne. "Good to know! I wouldn't want that happening..." Silencia can't help but chuckle at the thought though, having a headwound or something just because of a surprise hug. "A hot tub?" Ren remarks curiously, glancing from the reel to follow the fishing line to its presumed endpoint. "I don't see why not. I would certainly hesitate to ask Leena and Debbie to put an apartment building inside my apartment room, or other such absurdity, but what harm could another appliance do?" Ren adds, "I suppose it might clash a bit with the tiny spacecraft theme." Rayne laughs. "Well, yeah, but I can always add another room. I might extend it to where the cockpit is on the actual ship and put the hottub there, give it a nice panoramic view. I'll have to look into what star systems they have that look spectacular." Her expression suddenly switches from jovial to serious as she jerks the rod to the side before furiously reeling in for a few seconds. She then lets it slack for a bit, watching as the reel actually unwinds for a bit before she stops the reel in place again, jerking the rod back once more. Looks like she's got one! Silencia watches the water as Ren and Rayne chatter about hot tubs. Her eyes widen as she sees that Rayne actually caught something. She glances excitedly between Rayne and the water. "You can do it Rayne!" That might have been a bit awkward, but Silencia felt like a little encouragement was due. Serenity ripples backwards from Rayne as she jerks the rod. Silencia's remark gets a look and her expression a grin. "I suppose the advantage of using a line over a trap is that the size of your catch is a complete surprise." Rayne says, "Surprise in size, not to mention it's a heck of a lot more exciting. Some people do this for catch and release, just for the thrill of the hunt, so to speak. I'm hungry." She keeps to an intense look of concentration as she alters reeling in, jerking back or to the side, or letting the fish gain the upper hand for a few seconds. It's an ongoing battle, and neither side looks like they're about to give up! It is a lot more exciting indeed. Silencia keeps watching the struggle between Rayne and the probably sizable fish. She grins at Serenity. "It's even exciting to watch her reel it in! I wonder how big the fish is though..." Serenity nods to Silencia, moving closer to her to give Rayne more space to move. "I've seen fishing with a pole many times before," Ren mentions thoughtfully, "in video and here, in person. I can't say that I paid much attention to the mechanics of pulling a fish in, though. Most of those I see look to be pondering the mysteries of life more than finding dinner." The battle is nearing its culmination! The line becomes nearly vertical, and Rayne pulls up.... A surprisingly large pufferfish, quickly inflating itself in the air. The look on Rayne's face shows her to be clearly dismayed by this spiky catch. "Urg.... This is going to be a pain to get off the hook... and it's not even edible. That's the problem with surprise catches... you sometimes get what you really, really don't want." Silencia can't help but chuckle, though still sympathizing with Rayne. It was rather funny that, after such a battle, she would end up with empty hands. "It is a matter of luck, after all!" She sighs softly and peeks over her shoulder at the path she came from. "I should probably leave now though... I need to meditate while I still can." She smiles softly at the two females. "Rayne, I pray you'll have better luck catching fish! And Serenity, I will swim with you and take that opportunity to give you a hug!" Serenity looks on with interest and forward-inclined rhinophores as Rayne reels in the catch. "It does look rather difficult to grab," Ren admits. "You are sure that it's not edible, though? I have seen a number foods that are much more edible-looking without their skin." Ren glances back to Silencia with her leave-taking and offers a nod. "I wish you well with the meditation," Ren says, raising a 'wing' to wave. Rayne nods and waves with her free hand to Silencia, but she can't summon a smile to accompany it. "Good luck with your meditating as well... But I'm not so sure how much your prayers will help. Kotal isn't a god of fishing." She watches briefly as Silencia leave, then looks back to Serenity. "I did some research on what fish can be found for this-" She points at the porcupine fish dangling from her line. "-reason. I cook and eat this thing and I won't be able to resurrect myself for another month, and I'll have fire damage in my apartment." Serenity frowns at Rayne's explanation. "I see... It doesn't look that dangerous, but I suppose that is why you did the research." Ren glances to the tackle box. "I do hope that you have gloves?" Rayne nods, crouching down to get to her tackle box, and she pulls out a pair of leather gloves. "Always needed. Though I'm tempted to just let this lure go and cut the line." After she dons the gloves, she gets to work trying to get the fish off her hook. Somehow, she manages to get a good enough grip on it to force the hook out. The spines actually turned out to help her with a little bit more leverage, her fingers fitting between the spines well enough. The hook removed, she tosses the fish back into the ocean. "Meh." "I wish that I could be of some help to you," Ren says while attentively watching the procedure from a safe distance, "but I am no hunter." Ren slides in with a brief ripple of the fins as the fish is released. "Perhaps at some point you might offer to buy those freshly-caught animals?" Ren motions a fin outward to indicate the crabber still sitting out by the end of the dock with a bucket. Rayne says, "I could, I could... but if I'm coming out to the dock, I kinda wanna do it myself, you know? And he probably was intending on having a nice crab dinner for himself... I know I would give a stranger a weird look if they offered to buy my catch." "Hh... I will have to keep that in mind if shopping for something from the ocean," Ren remarks thoughtfully. "But yes, I understand wanting to catch it for yourself." Ren then inquires curiously, "What are you using for bait here?" Rayne holds up her line, showing the lure. "Not bait. A lure. It mimics the appearance and motion of another fish. I find lure fishing so much more fun than just stabbing a worm on a hook and waiting for it. I prefer to be more active, and generally prefer that kind of fish, too. With a worm, it's like just setting a trap... not so exciting." Serenity peers at the lure for a moment. "That does sound as though it involves more skill and not quite so much chance," Ren agrees, motioning to Rayne. "Wouldn't it be still more exciting to kill the fish face-to-face? Or are not quite that hungry for a challenge?" Rayne pulls back a bit as Ren makes the suggestion. "Uhhh, no. I'm not that good a swimmer to catch up to them, and I've absolutely zero underwater fighting training. I think the pufferfish would have kicked my ass." She shakes her head. "I'll stick to lure fishing, thank you." Serenity grins and suggests, motioning out to sea, "Are you sure that you shouldn't consider underwater hunting as job training?" Ren extends a pair of fins out to the side horizontally. "You are better equipped than I to be cleverly wielding a knife." Rayne says, "Hrm. Well, that is a good point... But then again, underwater is about the LAST place I want to fight in. I'm a being of fire, I'd lose every advantage I have over a normal human if I'm underwater." She shakes her head. "No, I'd delegate someone else to take my place in that situation if at all possible." She stands up again. "Heads up," she warns as she swings her fishing rod back and forth a few times before flinging the lure back out to sea. Serenity takes the warning as the time to put head down, shrinking vertically as Rayne casts. "Actually, I wondered about those advantages are you were describing them, particularly the need for a fire-supporting environment. Have you considered carrying fuel and oxygen on your person for such a situation? Or would that only be a hazard to those around you?" Rayne gives Ren a sidelong glance. "You're not that familiar with fire, are you? While that would work with being in a vacuum if I had a ridiculously large amount of oxygen, in water, any environmental suit I'd have would be destroyed by that initial fire and then all the oxygen would just go right up to the surface while my corpse remains waterlogged." She shakes her head. "My body has to really /burn/. It's a fast process, but it does use up more oxygen than you might think. Thankfully my father knows about this well enough to have informed me about it, and I've not really had to learn first hand. He's... spent a lot of time in space, and has actually been killed on a starship before." She continues sporadically moving her fishing rod from side to side, trying to get another fish's attention out there. "No, I can't claim to be particularly familiar with fire," Ren admits. The speculation about an oxygen supply gets a nod, and the mention of her father a frown. "In your position, I think that I might be inclined to avoid vacuum and bodies of water altogether. I suppose you pick up intuitions about relative risks from those shorter-lived people around you, no?" Rayne says, "Yeah. That's kind of been my point. That's why I avoid combat in water. And space. My father will risk space battle, but he's always been a bit of a risk taker compared to me." Another twitch, some reeling in, another twitch. No bites yet. "Now, I am not saying that you should avoid water," Ren observes. "That would make it rather hard for me to socialize with you." Ren grins and continues, "But I could imagine taking risky choices less often if more such choices appeared in my lifetime. Disease and accident are still more common risks than combat, are they not?" Rayne says, "Exactly! I mean, I have no problem with leasurely swimming or anything... But getting into combat underwater is where I draw the line. I know the normal risks and and I'm okay with them... Making the risks abnormally high? No thanks. If I weren't a phoenix, I can't say for certain that I'd be out there putting my life on the line. Of course, I'd have died three hundred years ago due to natural causes, but that's beside the point." She continues twitching and reeling and letting the line slack, but she's still having no luck. Serenity listens thoughtfully, mostly watching Rayne but occasionally glancing to her fishing pole. "Personally, I consider close personal contact with the demon army of god-like enemy to be an 'abnormal' sort of risk," Ren observes with a grin. "Fortunately, there are many people here who consider such activities much more calmly than I." Rayne says, "Like I said, I'm not sure I'd get into the thick of that if I knew I only had one life. Knowing one can die once can really add to one's bravery." With a quick tug, she finally seems to get a fish on! She smirks lightly, going into her usual routine to tire out the fish. Serenity considers Rayne's words for a few moments before remarking with a smile, "Did you know that I have absolutely no fear of drowning?" As the line tightens, Ren glances up to try spotting the fish. Rayne says, "But do you have fear of... What word would it be for dying because you're not in water?" She continues reeling in the fish, pausing, pulling back on the fishing rod. A good fish takes time and effort to reel in! So do not so good fish... "Suffocating?" Ren supplies. "Yes, I do, but that fear is rather blunted by constant exposure to dry land," Ren extends a pair of fins to wave the edge in the air, "and sleeping in an apartment with a distinct lack of water outside it." Rayne says, "Well, that's a lot like being in a starship for me. I'm fine with it, too." She frowns as the line suddenly goes slack. Frustrated that she lost the fish, she starts reeling the line in.... but the line just grows still more slack. Her eyes widen as she starts reeling in much more quickly, trying to eat up the slack in what she now believes to be a quickly approaching fish. It's not until the fish is nearly at the surface that the line goes tight again as it almost passes right by the dock, and her tug changes the fish's velocity - Right out of the water. The huge, 7 foot fish almost literally flies out of the water, landing squarely on the wooden dock nose first. And what a nose! The blue marlin flops about on the dock, causing a fairly large ruckus and drawing the attention of most everyone on the dock this evening. Serenity regards Rayne with a puzzled expression as she responds to the slack in the line. Ren doesn't ask about this right away, but rather looks between her and the water to see whether the explanation will reveal itself. It does. Ren crackles a word and 'blinks'at the apparent attack from a large predatory animal before attempting to jet quickly to the side. Afterwards, Ren seems confused whether to shrink inward defensively or spread 'wings' for escape. Rayne, of course, has some very poignant and poetic words to describe the current situation. Wait, no. "HOLY CRAP!" is what she says, instead. Bewildered at her catch, she pauses in a bit of a panic at creature now flailing about on the dock. Finally, she comes up with her plan of what to do. Cautiously approaching, she draws one of her swords. When she thinks she has the opening, she swings, striking out at.... the fishing line. The line now broken, she backs off again, sheathing the blade. She pauses once more, looking about the dock before circling around the fish as it stops flopping around for a moment. One last pause as she watches the massive fish gasping, and she rushes at it, forearms first as she ducks low, shoving it back off the dock into the water. She then pauses one last time, breathing deeply for a moment before commenting, "You know, maybe I should just get a burger." Serenity eventually settles on relaxing enough to slide backwards down the dock, giving Rayne ample room to maneuver around the beast. Ren stares in shock and confusion as she attempts to resolve the problem and then continues to do so for a while after succeeds. "Hhh..." Ren hisses, tentatively rippling in to look at Rayne, the wet spot on the deck, the sea, and then Rayne again. "I have not seen this happen before. Nor in video..." Ren observes. "Are you all right?" Rayne says, "Well... Welcome to Twisted, I guess." She takes another few seconds to let her adrenaline die down. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm done fishing for today, though." Apparently some of the other fishermen on the dock are bewildered that Rayne threw such a fish back. Rayne, on the other hand, doesn't want to lug a fish that weighs more than she does back home to cook. "Quite understandable," Ren comments, rubbing at the beginnings of the gill-feathers. "I suppose that you now know that your fishing equipment is more durable than you expected..." Ren offers optimistically. Ren then gestures in the direction of the departed marlin. "That was an ordinary animal, no? And do you suppose they are common in this area?" Rayne says, "Yeah, I think it was ordinary. It didn't offer me a wish to release it or anything... But yeah. I bought a heavy duty rod knowing that, well, this is Twisted, and you never know what you're going to pull up. One time I caught a naga." She shakes her head. She looks around as the other fishermen now wander off again, still muttering about the marlin that Rayne let go away. "From their reaction... I'd say uncommon but not unheard of." She overhears another fisherman talking about a bigger one that he once caught. "A naga?" Ren remarks, glancing over the side and then back up to Rayne. "That sounds like the beginning of an unpleasant misunderstanding. I take it that this was before the treaty?" Rayne says, "Yeah. You can imagine it... I apologize, it threatens to kill Twilight and me... He really was quite unpleasant." She frowns. "I admit I'd be a bit pissed off if someone snagged me with a hook, but I'd take an apology to at least not attack the person." She then shakes her head. "But like you said, that was before the treaty. It's actually the only one I ever saw." Serenity nods and likewise frowns. "Hhh... Well, on a less-threatening note," Ren begins in a more optimistic tone. "Would you still like to ask me about the entirely fictional living dead from my native culture?" Rayne says, "Oh! Very much so! But, uh, let's be on the beach for this. I don't particularly feel like being on the dock right now." She laughs sheepishly as she picks up her equipment. "Of course," Ren says cheerily. Ren starts moving toward the end of the dock as she gets the tackle box, slipping around Rayne in a circle while still facing her. "Shall we return to the apartment, or are you ready for the burger that you mentioned?" Rayne says, "Hrrrm, I'm thinking perhaps I'd like to stop by for that burger... I've not had supper yet today, after all." She smiles and starts walking. "But first, I want to drop this stuff off back home." | |
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