but we still sing these songs well

ooc. so I changed Solo's hunting skill but whatever you can still claim the points lmao feel free to close out the thread in your post!

By the time he'd reached the edge of the rapids, he could see the crimson bodies of the salmon throwing themselves upstream. Each graceful body seemed to slide as easily through the water as it did through the air, and seeing them so plentiful felt like a promising start to this venture. At the side of the rushing rapids, he dropped his bundled net and let the satchel of weights slide from his shoulder. It shouldn't take too long to secure the weights in place, and then he would be free to catch his fill of fish. He gingerly tipped over the satchel, and let the stones tumble out. At the bottom of the bag lay the ties he needed to secure them to the net, cords made of woven plant fibres that would stand up to waterlogging better than sinew after repeated use. None of them appeared to have broken, so he set to work threading them through the holes bored into the weights, and then tying those weights to one edge of the net. He knotted each cord once, twice, and then a third time to be safe. He didn't trust his own skills quite well enough to have them tied in place with a single knot. This meant he'd probably have to cut them off after, or spend an hour trying to free the weights. Whatever, better than trying to get new weights if he lost these ones in the rapids.

He hadn't realized how fervently he'd been hoping Balt would join him, until he heard the sound of paws over the rush of water. He'd been so focused on getting the net ready, sprawled out at the waters edge with the cords caught in a death grip between his toes and teeth, that he hadn't heard his brother closing in until he was practically stepping on his tail. He tried to curb his enthusiasm as he dropped the net at his paws and craned his neck in search of Balt. Sure enough, his brother was padding over. Solo mirrored the soft smile on those gold masked features, and tried not to be so obviously delighted to be working with Balthier like old times. He grunted wordlessly in greeting, and finished up his last knot. It never required much prompting for the pair to fall into the easy rhythm of work. Especially when talking often required bringing up the tragedy that had fallen into their laps.

As Balthier grabbed one side of the net, Solo grabbed the other, lifting it above the ground as he took a few steps towards the edge of the water. Around the shape of the net in his mouth, he said " 'm going to stand on that rock, we can just drop it and let them throw themselves in." and did just that, broad paws carefully picking their way across the slick stones until he could feel the net growing taut between Balt and himself. Any more and there wouldn't be a pouch for the salmon to land in. Taking a moment to arrange his paws beneath himself, the yearling settled his weight across two larger boulders. It would let him have a solid platform for balance, and then he could take the brunt of any of the fish carelessly careening into his flanks. He'd already dodged one or two in his perilous crossing, and wasn't eager to get knocked into the water by any others. Mercury gaze flicked over to his brother, seeking to make eye contact and ensure they were both on the same page before getting to work. "On three. One, two, three!" he called out to Balthier, and at the mark he loosed his grip on the edge of the net to let it start tumbling free. The weights did their job, and the net hung as an impenetrable barrier for the salmon to throw themselves against, and ultimately trap themselves in. Its weight had formed a small basket shape near the bottom, and this was already beginning to fill with squirming red bodies.

(Word count: 683 Total word count: 1691 / 1500)

"Speech" thoughts "others"