Hanako paced along the banks of the river, her eyes drawn to the murky waters of the Grande. She tended to stray away from river fishing, it wasn't quite as dynamic as she would have liked and honestly, the thought of swimming in water that green made a shudder run down her spine. So she adopted a different approach and simply strayed back and forth, watching and waiting for any flash of movement beneath the surface. Sure, she could have just had her fill of the food gathered in the Armada's stores, but her palette was fine and the thought of eating something dried and salted was far more off-putting than it had any right to be. Spoiled much? Besides, it wasn't as if she wouldn't bring the surplus home, she'd been doing more fishing than she had in a certain Pirate King's company. It was good to fall back into old routines, to keep her skills and reflexes sharp. "speech"

It was very first venture outside of the East. Fable had breathlessly began her mini-expedition just this morning, the winter sun sparkling bright overhead. It was one of those perfect winter days where the wind was brisk and nippy but if you stood in just the right angle of sunlight, your back was still deliciously warm. She'd had plenty of time this past year to think about which days of winter she liked best. Part of her had never believed they'd see warmth again, but sure enough, the fall had finally been tepid - just for them to slip back again into winter's grasp. Maybe she'd venture truly south. She'd heard there was another land mass further away with more temperate weather. Tropical, warm waters... fish aplenty. Mmmm. Slurping back the drool that was beginning to pool in her mouth, she trotted along the edge of the Rio Grande and waited for a good spot to set up and fish to reveal itself.

"Oh!" she called ahead as she spied a piebald female watching the gloomy waters with a hunter's intent. "Are you fishing as well?" Fable grinned, her tail swishing behind her. A new adventure! A new friend! And fish.

Hanako turned, jolting a little as the stranger called out to her. She usually wasn't the sort to get all flinchy but...well you know, times were changing. Quick to school her expression into a friendly smile, Hanako gestured her over with an easy sweep of her tail. It really had been too long since she'd mingled, she was starting to worry her social skills outside the Armada would get rusty. The worries that people had talked about her still lingered in the back of her mind, self-consciousness threatened to rise in her throat like bile, but she was quick to shoo it away. Smiling made everything better. Keep calm and carry on. "Oh yeah!" Hanako was quick to nod. "I don't really know much about river fishing, but figured I'd try my paw at it. I-oop"  She froze on the spot, careful as she inched a little closer to the waters edge. Right there, she'd spotted a greenish shape beneath the water. It was BIG, much bigger than she'd planned on catching. "Psst. I think I found one."

Fable's ears flickered as she observed Hanako. She'd startled the stranger - and she did feel awfully bad about it - but the splotchy female seemed to recover quickly. Another attempt at a winning smile crossed her face. Maybe she could make more friends. The youngster was quickly learning that strangers rarely turned down a free meal, and then those strangers quickly converted themselves to friends. Just as she was about to bound closer to introduce herself completely, Hanako gestured towards the murky depths. Psst... Fable grinned again, slinking closer on soft, quick steps far back enough from the shore that her shadow didn't stretch across the river. Stupid fish would never see them coming!

She stared down the river, calculating how it'd be easiest to net this sucker. Aha! Just up river a small tributary eddied to the side and ended in a small, shallow pool. If they could funnel the fish further down and into the shallows, it'd be easy picking. Almost cruel how clever it was - the fish wouldn't have a chance. "You see that?" she murmured, gesturing with her nose towards the pool. Hardly any current found its way into the water - barely a ripple passed into it from the main river. "If we can fool it into there, it would be completely cut off." And judging by the shape of that shadow, more than enough meat to split for two. Introducing herself now completely forgotten, Fable waited to see if Hana would agree with her plan.

Hanako followed the yearlings line of sight to the tributary that branched off to the side and was quick to put the pieces together in her mind. Ahhh, a clever plot indeed. One that was bound to work! It wasn't often that she fished with company, but Hanako wasn't so greedy as to demand the whole kill for herself. Sharing was caring and all that. Inching a little closer to the water's edge, she allowed her shadow to loom over the surface. Pale and distorted by the refraction, she looked like a frightening giant indeed. "Right, I'll be the spooker and you can be the catcher." She suggested, already thrumming with excitement. Only when her fishing partner seemed ready did she pounce into action. Slapping at the water's surface she spooked the fish into swift movement. For a moment it looked as though it would dart in the wrong direction, deeper into open water, but Hanako was quick to cut it off as she trashed about, forcing it back off down the little canal.

Ooh, this was exciting! Have a teammate made it all the better. This was the kind of plan that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to execute on her own. Sure, she could try, but it was likely that the big fish would streak quickly away into the deep, fast current at the center of the river, never to be seen again! Drool began to fill her mouth as she imagined all of the new recipes she'd be able to try. River fish had a slightly different taste and texture compared to the ocean quarry she typically nabbed. Plenty of opportunity to experiment.

Nodding as Hana assigned them roles, she scampered up shore to monitor the shallow pool. The fish darted along the river bed in an attempt to flee from Hanako's clutches. Fable watched carefully, her eyes narrowed. She almost admired how the fish moved, slicing confidently through the water. Just before the fish crossed the lip of the pool, Fable leaned over and it gave it one great thwap. The fish flipped into the air and landed into the shallow water with a great splash. "Aha!" she shouted, dropping into an excited play bow.

And victory was theirs! Huzzah! Eager to claim the prize, Hanako scooped up the fish by the end of its tail and plopped it into dry land. Far enough from shore it wouldn't have the strength to flop back into the water. Except even more movement in the water caught her eye, making her mouth pop open in awe as the sheer scope of the newcomer fish dawned on her. It was massive, the biggest river fish she'd ever laid eyes upon. Not saying a word, Hanako stepped to the side a little and gently elbowed Fable to get her attention. Maybe the fish hadn't been fleeing from them at all, maybe this monster fish ruled the river and wanted to gobble up their catfish all on its own. As scary as it looked...one fish was better than two right? "Think we should give it a go?" She asked, hesitant to step closer to the riverside, lest it snap off her toes.

Breathless with victory, Fable watched as Hanako flipped the fish over on to dry land. After watching it flop limply for a moment she leaned down and snapped its neck decisively. Better a clean death than gasping for air - or worse, flopping back into the quickly flowing river. "By the way, I'm Fable!" She said, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Being out of the pack lands was so much more exciting than she'd thought. The young wolf stared back at their beached quarry, her tail tip waving as she observed the color of scales, size, and shape. She started to attention as Hanako nudged her; it was easy to fall back into a comfortable camaraderie. There was never an unfriendly face in Abaven - in fact, she'd been lucky to have only met friends wherever she roamed. Of course, feeding everyone she met made it easy to get on their good side. "Oh cripes," she said, eyeing the huge shape that lurked among the river mud. The fish was monstrously huge. "I'm game if you are," Fable agreed, arcing her brows in a friendly challenge. The fun part about fishing was that they didn't usually bite back - although this one looked likely to. "Do you have a plan? I don't think it would fit in this pool."

crafting 1/3

"Hanako." She made sure to introduce herself out of politeness, even if it was only an afterthought considering all that was going on. And oh boy was there a lot going on. Hanako glanced about, wondering how they ought to go about bringing the river monster to dry land. Getting in the water with it was an obvious no-go and the fisher suspected she'd run the risk of losing her nose if she tried to make an outright grab for it. So what then? The safest bet was to quickly put together some sort of trap or snare, anything to level the playing field. This wasn't usually how she went about fishing, but desperate times called for desperate measures. "What if we....." She tipped her head skywards, towards the tree canopies and noticed dangling vines and branches, things they could probably work into a makeshift net/ trap of some sort. It would be rudimentary at best but better than nothing for sure. As though on cue, Ruri  flew onto the scene as she let out a squawk as she began to pick at the vines, nibbling them with her beak till they fell to the ground below. Good magpie. "Make a sort of net to corral it, do you think these will work?" She glanced up, where it was still raining bits of foliage, cleverly picked out with Ruri's clever eyes. Picking one up, Hanako stood on one end of the vine and tugged it on the other, it seemed strong enough. Maybe this would work.

Crafting 1/3

"Oh! Her eyes brightened with delight as the magpie soared on to the scene. Bird companions were a familiar sight. Her sister had told her that she might one day receive a raven, just like the other Destructions in Abaven. Fable was looking forward to the day she'd have a bird of her own. "I think that might work... we'd need some strong ones, maybe even sticks, to stretch the net between..." It would be awkward and messy, but they might be able to make it work. Even if it didn't look very pretty. Vines and flexible sticks fell to the ground as Hanako's bird worked its way through the usable material. Fable chose two long, flexible branches. Another month and they'd be brittle with winter. She gave them a good few tugs, pressing the free end down with her paw. It didn't snap and held strong. Nodding to herself, she began to pick through longer vines and line them up between the two branches to form the beginnings of a net. "Do you know how to fix it together? To die knots?" Embarrassingly, Fable had no clue. But it was always a good thing to learn a new skill!

crafting 2/3

Hanako had very little experience when it came to crafting, she'd seen the wolves of Ashen fiddle with their fishing nets before but hadn't been close enough to really figure out what she was supposed to do. This really was gonna be a trial and error effort, one that would hopefully pay off. Picking up a vine "Umm...not really. What if I..." She stuck out her tongue, jutting out the corner of her mouth as she focused. The fire of her paws got to work, twisting and tying, wasting the length and doing a shoddy job of a knot but when she tugged it the vine did not break. It wouldn't be pretty but she imagined it would do the job. "And if we twist it together with yours..." She held out her vine, tangled and disorderly but workable. "There, I think this should work. Just need more to make it bigger. Keep it up Ruri!" She'd give the magpie a proper thanks later, for now there was work to be done.