Stock The Pond - Final Run - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
4/8/2016
Log
Aaron waits patiently for people to start arriving, sitting in a worn-out looking lawn chair overlooking the river. Any moment now, people will be along to find out all about the fish waiting in the river. How many people, what kind of people? Who knows? As long as they're willing to help out, it's all good.
Fenris jogs along the riverbank, wearing saffron monk robes. No, there is no telling where he got it. The tubby tanuki has his sword and his spear slung across his back. Joining them, however, is a long, bamboo fishing pole! "Did someone say fishing?" he asks, waving a flyer.
Clopclop. Clopclop. Clopclop. Astara is trotting over to where the poster said to go, the demonic centauress smiling as she sees Aaron, as well as another! "Heya, Aaron! Good to see you again." She looks to the tanuki, bowing politely as she introduces herself. "Hello, I am Astara."
Erythraeum wanders up without her usual set of full body armor, though she still has her riot shield and shotgun on-hand. She takes a look at the gathered morphs and smiles. "So... This seems to be the right place, right? And we're... Fishing? I'm not the most... Familiar with how this works..." She admits as she walks up the surface of the water and looks down into it.
With far less audible fanfare aside from some clinking equipment a vixen pads toward the group from along the shoreline, evidently having gotten here early but wandered off to the side. She's wearing a blue vest with twin red crosses on either upper breast and a backpack with the Zephyr logo on it... but over her shoulder she's carrying a small bundle of rods, evidently with the advertised purpose of this outing in mind. "So this is where people are gathering - better to do anything in a group in these woods." Her eyes flit between the others present, nodding amiably to Aaron in recognition. "Rhennick, med-tech... and apparently fisher for the evening. So how are we going to do this?"
Aaron looks out among the small crowd, quirking her head to one side...hmm. Wonder if more people would've shown up if she'd advertised how freeform this is...ah well. "Ladies and gentlebeasts, I've gathered you here today for these." She holds up a fairly large picture of a fairly unusual-looking fish, with vermillion scales and a long, thin body shape. "These are the last fish Cat Town needs in order to breed a steady food supply. Your task today, should you choose to accept it, is to catch these fish - ALIVE - and return them to these two tanks." Gesturing to either side of her, she indicates two large fish tanks, already full with clean water. "I don't care what tools you use. I don't care how you do it. I don't even care if you catch some different fish as food. I just care that you get me at least two of these fish, alive. Everyone clear on our mission?"
Fenris leans in to look at the picture of the fish. "Sure!" he says with a smile, "There any kind of bait they like?" He asks, then looks at his fishing pole. He frowns. "Maybe a hook isn't the best for this kind of thing," he admits, "I'll save it until we catch the red fish!" The Tanuki starts to carefully gird up his robe with his rope belt.
Astara nods, giving Aaron a thumbs-up. "Got it! No killing. Though... I can't say I exactly know how to fish." She smiles sheepishly, a little blush of embarassment spreading across her face from the fact she showed up on a fishing mission without the prerequisite skills.
Erythraeum looks between the others present for a moment, trying to figure out what the plan is, then steps away from the water as Rhennick appears, as she's curious about the sticks on the vixen's back. She opens ber mouth like she intends to speak, but is cut off by Aaron before she can get a word out. The wolf taur turns to look at the bunny and tilts her head as the objective is explained. "Hmmm. Doesn't /sound/ too difficult, I think?" She says, then turns to Astara and chuckles. "Nor do I... This is... Pretty new to me." She walks up to the river again and starts trying to spot the fish in question swimming down it. "Let's see, how common are these things, you think?"
Rhennick peers at the picture of the fish, then raises a fuzzy eyebrow in curiosity. "I'll second the question about their bait, and add asking if we know where they tend to be - deep, shallow, cold, warm. Plus I'm curious what is so special about THOSE two fish, and what they are..." The vixen pulls off her backpack and sets it down, along with some of the rods she was carrying - selecting one with a sort of clip and wire on the end of it, apparently designed with catch-and-release in mind.
Aaron notes to Erythraeum, "My answer so far is 'not very common at all'. I fully expect all of you to catch some fish before you get lucky." That said, she looks out to the rest of the crowd. "I have no idea what kind of bait they like; I'm absolutely useless at fishing, so I haven't landed a single one. That's why I arranged this little get-together: Cat Town has been getting by on what it could scrape together for too long, and Zephyr is doing approximately /dick/ about it, so I'm taking up the challenge. And so are you, as it turns out!" She moves to sit back down in her lawn chair. "I hope you have better luck than me. I'll be here minding the tanks and standing guard against feral attacks."
Fenris has discarded his outer robe and has tied the rest around his waist before happily splashing out into the water, leaving his robe and weapons and a small pack on the shore. The Tanuki wades out until he is up to his big round belly. He then watches the water attentively, his arms outstretched to either side. He can't actually mean to catch these fish with his bare hands?
Astara watches with a raised eyebrow as the tanuki rather unceremoniously gets to work... without a fishing pole, or net, or anything. She looks over to the other taur, walking besides her. "Well, I guess we're together then in our unexperiencedness, huh? I'm Astara, by the way. Hopefully between the two of us, we can make one competent fisher!"
Erythraeum frowns a bit at Aaron's answer, though her own watching of the water seems, so far, to agree with the rabbit's conclusion, as she's not seen one, though that honestly means less than nothing, in the long run. Before too long, one of the others wades out into the water and Erythraeum stands still and blinks for a moment, not sure what to say to that. "Wai- Uh. Shouldn't we... You know, /not/ scare the fish?" She asks, then turns when she's addressed by Astara. "Ah, hello! My name is Erythraeum, though... That's a mouthful, so you can just call me Eryth, or Ery... Or whatever, really." She shakes herself a little bit and shrugs. "Doesn't much matter to me.
Rhennick listens to Aaron until the lapine vinishes, and the vixen can't help but suppress a wry chuckle. "Little information seems to be par for the course... oh well. I'd love to say my being here is an official Zephyr response to show they DO care, but I'm just here on my own. Go figure." She shrugs, then watches as Fenris unceremoniously hops into the water - prompting a little shaking of her head. She turns to Astara and Ery, walking toward the pair of them with her pole held to the side. "You've got the right idea at least, Ery. Fish are fast and generally terrified of absolutely anything that might mean 'predator'. So... yeah. That..." A nod in Fenris' direction. "Is... probably not gonna help too much. But it might work I guess." She walks over to the pair, offering a smile of sorts. "I'm not exactly an expert, but as fishing goes my tastes are kinda... old-world, let's say. Back when it was you and bait and tools, instead of tits and talons. I'll share what I remember if you like though?"
Aaron is true to her word - she sits down in her chair and watches the fishers wade out into the water (or not, as the case may be). To the untrained eye, she might look like she's relaxing and taking it easy...but close scrutiny will reveal that she's slowly scanning the landscape, watching for signs of motion. Conservation of energy. Fenris will find that the fish swimming in the river will swerve to avoid him, but otherwise care very little about his presence. The fish don't come fast or often, and they're rather difficult to distinguish at times, but this isn't exactly hard mode if you're not picky. Of course, if you are...
Fenris stands very still, waiting patiently for a flash of red. When he sees a likely swimming splotch, his hand darts out to slap the wriggly swimmer from the water to the shore. Not to say he is successful, but he is going to try it.
Astara watches Fenris for a little, but turns her attention Rhennick soon enough. "I wouldn't mind some help. Have absolutely no clue on how to catch the things, let alone catch them /alive/."
Erythraeum turns to face Rhennick and tilts her head a little bit. "Well, whatever you remember is more than I know, most likely... I just came over to see if I could make myself useful. I have't got a clue what we're doing." She turns and watches Fenris in the water for another moment, then perks up as he seems to have seen - And attacked - Something that interests him. "Did you get it?" She asks after the splashing has died down a bit.
Rhennick's attention jerks back to Fenris at the loud splash - her ears turning there before she did. She can't help but think of feral bears swiping fish out of the water in the old world... but those bears were not always IN the water when they did it. Still, it could work. Looking back to Astara and Ery the vixen nods, setting her rod down and unzipping her backpack on the ground to pull out a container that sloshes around as it is moved. "So fish are simple. They want to be comfortable - they want to feel safe - and they want to eat. Give them the first two, and they'll go for the third." She unhooks the top of the container and turns it to let the pair see if they wanted - a few small shrimp and other fish are in there. "Frankly I had no idea why fishing was a fuss or what the objective was, so I kinda got started before today, to brush up. But yeah... I have no idea what these mystery fish will want to eat, but it'll either be basic bait..." She taps a can inside the container. "... or maybe they'll like one of these."
The tanuki's efforts do pay off, in that he catches a nice, big, healthy fish! That...does not glimmer vermillion, as the picture had indicated. Good fish, easily something to be proud of on a different day, but not what the crowd is looking for. Worthy of note is that it's the only fish grabbed so far, with no one having produced nets or any other fishing gear of any kind aside from the singular fishing pole. If no one else is equipped, here's hoping Fen is willing to give lessons!
Fenris grins over at his catch. "That's a good one!" he says, "I'll name it Dinner!" Then the burly tanuki goes very still again and watches the water for a telltale flash of red.
Astara blinks as Fenris actually manages to net- er, catch something! "Oh! Wow. Glad it seems someone knows how to catch fish." She remarks, listening to Rhen all the while. "Hmmm. That does make sense, though, for what the fish want. I'm more curious about our implements to catch them, since it seems we have few. Besides your pole and our hands, at least."
Erythraeum looks at Rhennick for a moment, then at the collection of fishing poles. "Maybe I would be better off doing what he's doing..." she says, in reference to Fenris' quick success in catching at least /something/. "I have no idea how to use stuff like that. Never seen it before in my life." She says, sounding a bit embarrased, and more than a little confused.
Rhennick nods to Ery, taking the larger taurform's meaning as she compares her size with that of the splashing Fenris. "It might work, but more fur in the water might or might not be a good thing. If you do wade in, watch the water current - anything downstream of you is better able to feel your splashes or taste your scent in the water. You could spread some bait in the water to maybe attract them too. But if you want to try it the other way..." She only has three rods, but she offers her two extras to Astara and Ery. They are clearly different sizes, but both of them are servicable rods. "It's... really a sport of patience, honestly. Staying silent, spreading out, putting bait on the line and then using the pole so that it's far away from you. That way you're offering the fish food without them feeling endangered." The vixen deftly demonstrates, opening a can of mashed bait and putting it on one of the spare rods' hook/clip, then offering it to either of the two if they'd like to take it.
"Hmm... A contest? I wonder what the prize could be. Maybe the fish?" Voiced a human-looking woman with her nose to the flyer as she walked down the path. The only noticeable mutation on her being the constant sparkler of a cat tail swinging back and forth with every step. "Well they did say they wanted the fish alive. Perhaps it'll be something else then. Maybe it'll be a cool looking fishing pole. One that has hot rod flames and actual flames spouting from the top of it." Fioera continued this line of thought for awhile. Having not yet noticing that she had already reached her destination.
Aaron announces, "Since you asked, the prize will be a theoretically endless supply of fish. The entire purpose is to get a breeding pair so that Cat Town can be fed, after all, soooooo...once the population has stabilized, you'll have some whenever you want!" She quickly holds up pictures of the fish that the others are looking for, gesturing to them, then to the fish tanks at either side of her. "Catch them however you see fit - as long as that's ALIVE - and bring them back here for transport. Cat Town needs food badly, and we're here to help!"
Unfortunately for Fenris, the fish he was trying to grab simply wriggled out of his hands, slippery little bugger that it is!
