What were they thinking? Their existence seemed so thin and linear, like just about any other being ? they were confined, confined to the stream with the only release being...death. They could spread out their genes, assure a part of themselves mayhaps continue ? even create some sort of legacy, or hope their offspring would... Did they think ? was that thinking? Instinct, it was mainly instinct ? the root of all, and even the root of the greatest destruction. It was what combined the fish with the wolf beyond their state of being creatures in the same world, in the same water as the wolves drank that was on the same ground that the wolves stepped. Laurier was not a fisher. He had already failed twice due to simple individual error. No, he was not much of a fisher whatsoever, but he had to learnt how to survive ? abruptly so, as prince fallen from luxury ? throughout his years. He had been bombarded with malnourishment, and multiple times he nearly reached death due to his own follies ? however, the body and mind adapts. No, he was no expert, but he could make it look like he knew beyond a few facets of information about what he was doing ? or attempting. It was all about performance, and today, he was playing on a stage with himself, which was a familiar occurrence ? another old friend along the path of life he would likely see more onward, intertwined with his dying waltz. He saw them, the wolf with aplenty names, watched them as they swarm and squirmed, briefly he wondered their direction. On this particular endeavour, he sat next to the river ? one of many in the delta ? his eyes keen and mind calculating. Laurier knew not to distract himself with the dancing imagery of delicious fish, and he knew that he could not merely go in thrashing and startle them. No, he had to wait for the spot, the right moment ? the apex of opportunity ? to catch such a fish. It was not as dramatic as he was entertaining himself with inside his own skull, but he was not to make it seem like the necessary chore it was. Laurier had observed grizzles and other, more skilled fishers practise such this talent. He had to get it out of the water and he'd almost be assured a meal if he could catch it, and if no one else came to steal his meal, of course. Slowly, he rose up. Laurier's head was low to the ground, close to the stream as he waited for another fish to appear. In his peripherals he saw it, a miniscule gleam of silver scales ? and so he attacked, his snout reaching in and flickering upwards in order to get the fish out of the stream. Successfully, it was out of the water. Decisively were his actions as he chased after it, however, it was not a very lengthy chase. Typically, one would expect to quickly put such a creature out of its misery ? Laurier, however, did not specifically feel like devouring the creature just yet. He let it go for a few moments. The creature flopped and moved, desperate for the stream. Whenever it would try to reach a stream, he swat it back with a cold precision. It could've very well lost him his meal, and he was well aware of such. He could hear the melodic vocals now, perhaps own, in his head: 'Playing with your food? How typical of you, Laurier.' Finally, the performance came to a close as he, daringly in the open, dug his teeth into the fish. - - - OUT OF CHARACTER - - - "Say what you want, I know how you think," Tags: Hunting, AW

Liste

and i ran, i ran so far away

The air here was so clean and slightly damp, the sun was shining but it wasn't too hot. This was a comfortable place for Liste. As she wandered along the water's edge she kept her eyes moving, searching for places she would hide if need be as well as looking out for anything she might need to hide from. For all of the time she had spent traveling alone without any problems or disturbances, she was still so paranoid. She paused briefly, noticing she was coming upon the river's delta. The water would be calm, a perfect place for fish to swim and other animals to drink. There will definitely be food there, she thought to herself as her stomach rumbled. How long had it been since her last meal? Two days? Three?



Liste picked up her pace ever-so-slightly and continued in the direction of the delta. She had become accustomed to going a couple of days at a time without food, so it didn't bother her much. She just knew that her energy would increase if she ate and that she would be able to continue travelling much longer. She didn't even know where she was going or what she might be searching for, but she knew she needed to keep moving. If he ever caught up to her, she doubted he would let her live. Thinking about him was still unavoidable , no matter how many times she tried to drive the memory out of her mind. She had learned to live with it, and most importantly, to keep the images from clouding her vision.



As Liste came closer to the delta, she noticed a large shape near the water and immediately moved to the brush alongside the river where she could be under cover. She crept slowly forward, keeping her eyes on the... what was that exactly? From this distance she couldn't be sure, the colors appeared to be those of a mass of dirt but this thing had shape and was moving. It was a wolf. Liste came to a stop about twenty feet from the creature and watched as he gracefully picked a fish out of the water. Graceful. That wasn't a word she imagined associating with his ill figure and earthy tones. Judging a book by its cover clearly wasn't the way to go here.



A bird suddenly sprung from the brush beside her and flew away. It would certainly draw attention to her hiding place and there wasn't time to find a better spot, she was already too close. A part of Liste urged her forward, to speak with him and to make sure he was okay. Another, more forceful, part of her held her in place. He could be violent. After all he was eating, and didn't some wolves get defensive while eating? Liste remained crouched in the brush, unable to decide what to do.

Tagged: Laurier | Word Count: 508