Windsong Fjord neighbors and strangers

His name was Koda Reinier, and by habit she wrote it down in one of her large tomes and filed it away neatly in the library of her mind, never to be forgotten. It didn't matter whether or not his name or existence would be relevant at any point in her life from now on, for Koda was immortalised in her memory. Rue just smiled in pleasure at his returned greeting, with a small amused hum at he used the full version of her name. She didn't bother to correct him. Older wolves had that habit of preferring the more formal, she found, and it wasn't worth any kind of conflict to get him to change. Ruenna it was.

A moment's silence passed between them, only really because Koda's attention became quickly divided, Rue watching him curiously as he looked to his left. She followed his gaze, and saw the pool of water there, but didn't think much of it until his suggestion. Her brows raised as she considered the sudden proposal, but then she nodded. "Sure, why not? As long as I don't have to swim." She grinned and winked, then hopped in the direction of the pool, assuming that Koda was an accomplished fisher or would know what he was doing. Fishing was always way too haphazard and unreliable for Rue to fill her belly, but then she was more of a scavenger lately. Much less effort. Skipping up to the water's edge, she peered into the pond, seeing little flashes of movement in its shallow depths. "You good at this?"

@Ruenna

He shook his head, concentration focused once more on the task ahead of him. He'd become much more easily distracted as of late, most likely because of his concern over his home, his friends that remained, and his current health--he was in no position to do little more than eat, sleep and walk. He'd been walking a lot more than usual, walking had become a way of strengthening his leg so that eventually the muscle could hold his weight without an obvious limp. No one respected an injured wolf, no one. Ignoring his own pity party, he nodded his head when Ruenna asked of the fish, they weren't particularly his favorite but in this situation they were an easy meal and he would take anything that required minimal effort. "I'm not very big on fish actually but they'll do." he admitted, limping most casually toward the rippling pool of splashing fish. Staring at them, so helpless and without defense made his stomach rumble and he settled to his haunches with his nose pointed toward the pool, pupils wide while in wait for one large enough for him to pass by.

Ruenna asked whether he was good at fishing and he couldn't quite answer the question at first, contemplation made him question whether he'd actually really tried his hand at fishing before and the memories were hard to conjure. He wasn't much of a swimmer either, despite his large bulky arms, and was much more comfortable on level ground where he would simply use his weight to push himself around--that was how most alpha males functioned. He shook his head, eyes remaining focused on the pool before him, a single ear flicked backward as he searched for the most fitting fish, it was similar to how he would do when hunting deer, and when he felt the most fitting creature fit the bill he used his strong forearms to attempt to scoop it out. His first try ended in error, "apparently I need more practice at this too." he chuckled as droplets fell from his drenched chest and limbs--it wouldn't be as easy as he thought. "just need some patience is all..." and he tuned once more on the swimming fish who were now aware of the creature attempting to hunt them, he needed to act quick. "your turn."

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

It might have been disheartening to hear that Koda was not a particularly practised fisher either, but to Rue, it just meant that they were in for a very special time. She could just imagine what they might look like to an onlooker, both flailing and failing to catch anything... she almost wanted to laugh pre-emptively at their own uselessness. Hopefully the man wasn't expecting any big meal out of this!

She watched him approach, only now noticing the slight limp in his hindleg, though of course she did not mention it nor stare. It would hardly make him worse at fishing, right, so what did it matter? It would have been rude to draw unnecessary attention to something he was possibly self-conscious about. Letting Koda take centre stage, Rue gave him space to contemplate the shallow pool and its wriggling wet occupants, watching him with rocketing anticipation.

Of course, it went wrong. Doing a very, very good job at resisting the incredible urge to laugh (not at him, per se, but just because her prediction of their inefficiency was totally going to come true) she couldn't fight back the grin on her face as she stepped towards the water at his pressing, not expecting to have anymore luck than he had. But where was the fun in giving up too early?

She moved so close to the water that her paws were submerged, the water cold as it seeped through her fur to touch her skin. She glanced from quickly-moving silver body to silver body, seeing no obvious pattern in their movement or the way they seemed to appear and disappear in the somewhat murky pool. If this worked, it was gonna be a miracle. "No time like the present, I guess," she said, and lunged at the water with her jaws, hoping to maybe grasp something in them, but all she got was a mouth full of water and a drenched face. Now stood elbow-deep, for she'd jerked forwards with her attack, she blinked out the poolwater in her eyes as the surface began to settle, the ripples from her disruption lapping over each other and out towards the edges of the pool, tiny waves for a tiny pond. From the fishes' perspective, it must've felt like some incredible storm.

"Two-nil to them," she laughed, shaking her head slightly just to get rid of the worst of it, though there wasn't any point in trying to get dry if they were just going to carry on being ridiculous here. Her lazy grin made it clear what she thought about all this. Turning her head to Koda, she laughed again, and then jested, tongue-in-cheek: "I'd like to make it clear right now that I didn't misrepresent myself, I was totally upfront about my lack of skills. Your turn again, buck-o."

(This post was last modified: May 04, 2016, 12:37 PM by Ruenna.)

@Ruenna

  So far, Koda was successful in drenching his chest and forepaws, the hairs were a mixture of dense undercoat and long over as his winter coat made its final transition in falling out. It should come as no surprise that as he aged and his coat grew older, his hairs became lighter and the black hairs that were scattered throughout became more sparse and scarce, making his the whiskers along his mouth seem thinner from the lack of color. He looked Ruenna over and couldn't help chuckling at how she now stood completely drenched, from head to toe, from having practically dived head first into the water in hopes of catching a fish--his distaste for water included his desire to wiggle around in it as less as possible. Considering the fun they were having, and the lack of fish they had caught so far, he thought it best to put his best foot forward and submerge himself as much as possible if only to get a better look at where he was going wrong in this whole fishing scheme--it had always looked so easy before. His tail wagged slow behind him as he watched the first of many victims return for another round of vulnerable wolves against fish and he eyed Ruenna, as if to say "watch this" and he lowered his head, fore paws swinging violently like hands trying to grab a rolling ball, when he resurfaced his drenched face was nearly to the floor in disappointment. This was becoming pathetic. "I think they are beginning to mock us." he joked, returning once more to dry land.

They needed a strategy, hunting without a plan nearly always ended in failure but he was uncertain if the height of water they were playing in was favorable for webbed paws and short limbs. Perhaps if one was the chaser and another the catcher, they should be able to corner at least one miserable soul. He shook his pelt violently, he hated the feeling of a cold and wet pelt, and turned to Ruenna without missing a second beat. He was determined now to get one of those slimy silver fish into his jaws, and if they were lucky, a second one that could be split evenly between the two of them. "you be the chaser and I'll scoop one out. Run one to the edge, right about here." he pointed with one stubby nailed toe, instructing the younger woman to work as a team would to outsmart the critters who obviously had the advantage. If bears could do this, surely more superior wolves could handle a bit of flailing fish.

(This post was last modified: May 06, 2016, 07:41 AM by Koda.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

the idea of them failing to catch anything at all is hilarious to me

Like a champ (if an optimistic and deluded kind of one), Koda stepped back up to the plate. Ruenna watched with mounting anticipation and undying hilarity as he flailed his limbs around in the water, causing no more harm to the locals than she had but, possibly, even more splashing. Ten out of ten for enthusiasm! When pulled back, now just as soaking wet as her, his astute observation brought peals of laughter from her chest. It certainly seemed so!

Where Rue didn't really mind the absence of success (a cheerful way of saying you suck that her positive-minded family had always favoured), Koda was another matter; watching him with a grin, she saw the cogs turning, saw the jut of his jaw which signalled determination, saw the stubbornness in how he looked at the shallow pond which was entirely too smart for the both of them. Waiting for his grand plan with an ear tipped eagerly forwards, when he spoke it, a paw pointing at the desired location, she bobbed her head in thoughtful appraisal of it.

"Okay," she said slowly, moving around to stand at the opposite side of the pond from him, not believing for a moment that it would work. It didn't stop her from humouring him. Hell, she was a self-proclaimed amateur fisher; maybe the plan was genius. "But I dunno about running them anywhere, I'm pretty sure they don't do 'running'... Or being herded. I ain't never seen a fish go where I want it to." Throughout her chatter, though, she was eyeing the water and the glimmering fish beneath the rippling surface, edging closer as she tried to convince herself that she could actually get one to go in the right direction. They always just seemed to slip around like wisps of smoke floating in the air, or the erratic dance of a bee as it wound an irregular path from flower to flower.

"Here goes nothing." She had no idea what she was doing. Deciding to let fate by her guide, Rue jumped forwards, pushing her forelegs out in front to try and convince the fish to go away from her and towards Koda, but then there was water in her eyes and she couldn't see where any of them had gone.

Sorry for the  wait @Ruenna , you can fade if you want...

He could sense the hesitation in Ruenna's voice, knowing that his stubbornness had gotten the best of him the desperation to catch something made him seem a bit delusional. He was determined to catch at least one, he hated to waste his time without a reward in tow and he hoped that the tawny woman could understand his reasoning, no matter how crazy he seemed at the moment. He watched her as she responded, her words sent his ears backward in agitation--not at her, but rather the situation, but no words left his mouth, instead he stared intently into the water. Keen eyes watched as the fish swam away, avoiding Ruenna who has just began to set herself up for catching what ever unsuspecting fish traveled in her direction, his tail twitched behind him in wait to wrap what ever paw, claw, tooth or thick limb around the fish to suffocate it.

He was prepared the moment she launched herself into the water and propelled forward, watching the rolling water and hearing the loud splash of water around them as fish jumped from the water in an attempt to flee from her grasp, it was in that moment that Koda made his attack. A fish launched itself close to where he was perched and salivating lips opened wide to grab it, feeling the scales against his teeth he bit down hard until he had enough of a grip to bring it closer to him and on land.

The fish flopped horridly, the thick tail swayed in an effort to rid its catcher but to no avail---Koda's thick paws forced the head to remain still while he tugged and shook at the tail, ripping it from the body. It was only once the fish was limp that the adrenaline in his body reached normal limits and he allowed it to roll softly at his feet, deep panting came from his jaws--accomplishment covered his face. They had caught a fish. "It's yours." he spoke finally, ears pulled themselves backward as he licked away at the scales and blood that littered his mouth. His first real attempt of hunting fish had been a success!

(This post was last modified: Jun 05, 2016, 05:35 AM by Koda.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

Thanks for the thread <3 archived!

Somehow, it worked! For a few moments after her lunge, Rue hadn't been able to see much, her face full of water and eyes tight shut to protect from it. After the initial splash, she'd shaken her head to get rid of the worst of it and the water had settled, and by the time she opened them again to see what Koda was doing - fully expecting to see him fumbling around as helplessly as she - he was making waves of his own.

The girl watched in begrudging admiration as he grasped a fish between his jaws, red leaking out to mix with the crystal clear. "I'll be damned," she muttered, as he ripped the tail off and the fish finally grew still. It was obvious that had been some significant effort on his part - so when the man declared the new owner of the meat, Rue laughed and shook her head.

"That is definitely yours, my fine fisherwolf friend," she said, but hopped out of the pool and trotted around to where he stood with the fish anyway. "But I accept the gracious offer to share." Reaching down, she chomped the scaly body roughly in half, and sat back down with her portion, beaming, tail beating softly against the ground as she enjoyed their spoils in pleasant company.

"To Roberto!"