Favorite Dish of the River

Her comment made him chuckle. A low, under the nose chuckle that could've been missed if she wasn't paying attention. He had no comment otherwise in regards to her words, figuring it didn't need one.

As she waited for fish to pass by, the boy began to remove the scales from his own catch. It was inarguably better than leaving them on, and anyone who did that was crazy and not worth his time. Then he began to take off the tail, but before he could finish, Malalia dived head-first into the water and slipped on the rocks, drenching herself in water as she fell, just like he had did not long ago.

Although now that it wasn't happening to him, he found it rather funny. An unmissable laugh uttered its way forth. He rose from his seat and got closer to the water, urged by the want to see just how soaked she'd gotten. The laughter eventually lowered to a slight chuckle when he noticed she'd caught a bass fish of her own. Still not walleye, but “Hey, you did it.”

He stared at her for a moment, looking for words with meaning, but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be awkward. Why did he care now? Who knows? His silence would make it awkward if he didn't say something. Say something. “Well um, I'm going to go.” shit, he really said that. Well... can't take it back now.

He turned around and stood in front of his catch. “I always de-scale the fish. Sometimes remove the head and tail. Makes it much easier to eat, and tastier.” a short pause. “You can try it yourself. Guaranteed it'll be better. Anyone who doesn't de-scale a fish is an absolute madman.” there was no change in his tone, making deciphering it to find out if he was being serious or telling a joke hard to know. He didn't know the answer himself.