SOLO DESTRUCTION-LOIRE THERE IS VERY LITTLE LEFT OF ME AND IT'S NEVER COMING BACK The sun was covered by a thick layer of cloud, but there was no smell of rain in the air. An overcast sky made the day perfect for fishing. In the wake of Allegro's abandonment, it felt better to be keeping busy. There was less time to think about the anger and anguish roiling in his gut and forcing its way into his lungs. He rolled the sleep out of his shoulders, flexed his toes. Time to get to work. It began with hauling the net out of the storage in the very back of the shared den, carefully collecting it in his jaws so it didn't scrape on the ground and get caught on sharp rocks. Any holes in the net would likely lead to losing the catch while hauling it in. Speaking of which... Dropping it onto the damp grass outside the den, the alabaster male spread the large net out and began to examine it for any rips, tears, or holes. When he did find one, it became his next course of action to grab spare twine from storage to repair the hole. Luckily there was only one, so it wouldn't take too long to fix. He wrapped a short length of twine around two undamaged corners, and pulled them together with his teeth, carefully tying the twine into a knot. It wasn't elegant, but it would certainly get the job done. Utility outweighed aesthetic in Solo's mind. Next order of business was to check that the anchor points for the weights to be tied along the bottom were still secure. There were no stones attached at the moment, but they would be easy to collect. Sure enough, the ties were still there, and didn't look to be going anywhere. He ventured back into the den to grab the leather bag that held the stone weights, each one with a hole bored through to allow a cord to pass through and be secured. As he passed Balthier's room, he paused. They had all taken the news hard, but his brother had been the one forced to deliver it. That couldn't have been easy, and perhaps it would be nice to take some time to be together, even if neither one said a word the whole time. "Balt?" he called softly, wondering if he was even in there. "I'm going fishing at the Rapids, if you want to join. The salmon spawn is coming up, so there's a lot of them right now, I figure we can stock up for winter." as soon as he realized he was rambling to a brother who might not even be behind the curtain, he shut his mouth. A soft sigh preceded his retreat to the storage area, where he grabbed the leather satchel and headed back out without stopping again. Collecting the net in a manageable formation would take him a minute, but once it was all gathered up for carrying he would set off. If his brother wanted to join he was more than welcome, but it wasn't something he was about to force upon the other boy. (Word count: 524/1500) "Speech" thoughts "others"

Since their father had left, Balthier had spent his nights partnered in Azzurra's den instead of his own. Allegro had spent a lot of time caring for her and making her comfortable in her sick days, so maybe it wasn't that odd for his siblings to see him comforting Azzurra in the night time. He hadn't spoken about their kisses though, she may not have felt like it was wrong or forbidden, but he did. He wasn't really taught otherwise, but it just unsettled him inside. Some sort of common sense maybe? Aranea wasn't Allegro's sister, Poem wasn't Sparhawk's, so what they were doing couldn't be right. Even if it was the most comforting thing to him, and felt right to them. He was embarrassed to confess, so he tried to occupy his time in the day by helping and providing for his family.

He heard Solo in the main area, knowing he wasn't outside Azzurra's den but probably his own. By the time he carefully removed himself from their sister and came out into the main area, Solo was gone. But he still took the invitation if only a little behind.

He ventured along to the rapids, following the river and his brother's fresh scent who wasn't too far ahead of him. He offered a gentle smile in greeting when they finally looked at each other even if from the distance. He joined him, looking at the net that he had just fixed up himself and feeling a pride knowing his brother could catch on so easily even without him. They were strong in their roots to care for themselves and their family, and it shined through him and his brother as time went on.

His gaze averted to the rushing water of the rapids beside them, Allegro had always taught them to be careful of the rapids and stay away from the edge of the banks so they wouldn't accidentally slip and fall in because it could have been fatal. But he wasn't here anymore, and deemed them all old enough to take care of themselves. So his silent worrying was obliterated in his mind while he had to turn into a strong man so quickly, just like his brother.

He looked back to the net and his brother, helping him finish up what he needed to prepare and collecting the corners on one side so they could start the process of throwing and positioning it for the throw. Allegro hadn't taught him how to fish in general, so using a net had definitely made him avoid the embarrassment of attempting a regular fishing task. At least he could share the moment with his brother and they could laugh together if anything went wrong. Holding one side of the net, he waited for the sign that his brother was ready before trying to move in sync with him for a successful throw.

Hunting Seasonal Prompt
Total Word Count: 1008 words
Word Count Goal: 1500 words

"Balthier"

SOLO DESTRUCTION-LOIRE THERE IS VERY LITTLE LEFT OF ME AND IT'S NEVER COMING BACK 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"

Balthier let his brother take the lead here, it was his idea after all and he had set up the whole net nearly on his own. He had put in his mind that he was solely responsible for his family, nearly the father figure. But he was more than willing for the help of his brother or his sisters. And letting Solo take the lead here was almost like a weight of his shoulders if only for the moment.

He followed his instruction as they picked up the net and started to prepare for the task. He couldn't deny how on edge he was about his brother being swept away in the rapids, his face of worry did little to hide that. But he didn't say anything, he put as much faith in his brother as he felt he was capable of himself. They both seemed to have the family mentality, like they could provide for themselves and their siblings and they would do everything they could to meet that goal. Even in the risk of their own safety. Allegro raised them that way, and rightly so. How he could abandon them like he did was beyond what Balthier could imagine.

When the fish were filling up in the net, Balthier felt ecstatic and proud of his brother if nothing else. And he waited for the cue to pull the net out, carefully making sure his brother was safe. Once they pulled the hefty load of fish out of the rapids, Balthier helped move it off to the side and pull the net open flat. "I think we should save some for Abaven's stores as well as our own, but we should probably throw some of them back. This is a lot of fish." He chuckled lightly, but he didn't want to be greedy and waste any extra fish or disrupt the numbers too badly. "It's a nice catch, man." He said before starting to sort out the larger fish they would be storing.

"Balthier"