Black Thorn Downs Fishing

Firefly looked up at the bright, clear sky. It was a beautiful day and Fly was happy to pass the time doing her favorite activity: fishing. To top it off, the pup that she had taken an interest in when she first joined Black Thorn Downs had decided to tag along with her so she could show him the best tricks to catching a fish. Fly felt like she would like most pups no matter what; they were so innocent and carefree. But Kova was different and Fly respected him for that. She was excited that she could pass some of her knowledge onto him. Secretly, she was also hoping she could show him how much fun the water could be. To her, it wasn't just a food source; it was a play ground, as well.

Fly looked at the small grey wolf walking beside her. He was so curious; this was what Fly liked best about the pup and what made her believe he would play an important role in the pack one day. This reminded Fly of the question she had been wanting to ask him. "Hey Kova, do you know what you want to do when you're older?" Fly slowed down as the tall grass gave way to wetter ground. Not too far in the distance, Fly spotted several shallow puddles and to her satisfaction the puddles were rippling with the jerky movements of the trapped fish. She looked down to see the reaction of the little prince. This is what Fly liked to call him because it is how her mother referred to her and her brother. According to her mother, Alphas were like kings and their pups were the princes and princesses of the packs. Fly realized that the terms were not used here, but she felt like Kova was everything a prince ought to be. So, as usual she did what made sense to her and called him as she liked. "Little prince?" Fly prompted to make sure she didn't lose his attention to the fish they were approaching.

Wants to spree this, you think we might be able to get to 15 posts?

Kova was excited. The she wolf who had helped him out during the moose incident had asked him to join her on a fishing trip, and the young Lagina just couldn't say no to that. He loved fishing and couldn't wait to be by the water again. Although the child had not been taught to swim yet. He had not been taught that water could be either dangerous or fun either. As it was, Kova was quite curious about water. He liked playing in puddles and getting wet, though he's been a little apprehensive about going any deeper than his belly fur. As they trotted along towards their destination Kova looked around happy to see the familiar landscape of his home. He knew the whole territory by now like the back of his paw. Sometimes though, Kova would go to the border and gaze out at the rest of the land. He often felt intense curiosity about all the other places outside of his home. A question posed by the female caught Kova's wandering thoughts and reeled them in. A thoughtful expression washed over the boys face as he tried to think of all the things he had learned about the pack. He knew about almost all of the roles which wolves could gain in a pack, but Kova hadn't been able to decide which roles he would want to do. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to be a healer. That topic completely bored the child despite the knowledge that he had of how a pack definitely needed at least one medic. "I don't really know. I like everything about all the different roles. I like to fish and I want to learn more about hunting, I like the idea of training to be strong to protect my family and friends as a guardian, and I like the thought of seeing new places as a scout." He answered solemnly as Kova glanced towards the she wolf wondering what she wanted to be. "What are you going to be?" He asked quickly before turning his gaze back to the ground to watch his step.

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@Kova For sure!! Fishing + teaching Kova how to swim? :D

Firefly was surprised by his answer. After seeing how the pup had defended his mother the first day that they met, Fly would have assumed he wanted to be a Guardian. As Fly considered this, though, she realized that his answer did make sense. His curiosity was boundless and Fly figured that he would take an interest in all aspects of pack life. But she did notice that he didn't mention anything about being a medic. She supposed that every wolf had something they didn't care for; for her, it was fighting.

The grey pup took a second to glance up at Fly and ask her "What are you going to be?" Then, he focused his gaze back on the ground to watch his foot placement. Fly answered without hesitation: "I want to be a hunter. Hunting, for me, is the most freeing thing that I can do. It's fun and challenging and sometimes, rewarding." Fly knew she was speaking the truth, but something in her heart made her re-think what she had just said and how the pup had answered. She was not much older than the Kova. She was still just a yearling, and yet she had answered with such confidence. Did she really know that she wanted to be a hunter? Yes, it is what I enjoy doing and I am good at it, Fly thought to herself. Still, she couldn't get something the boy had said out of her mind: "and I like the thought of seeing new places as a scout." Fly didn't want to patrol borders all day; that would be monotonous and boring. But the idea of seeing new places did sound appealing. Having gone through this series of thoughts in a matter of seconds, Fly had only briefly paused after her initial answer and now she added: "Seeing new places would be nice too, though. I don't want to be a scout, but maybe one day I'll have a chance to see new places." This was a better answer.

Fly's heart felt light and happy as the grey pup bounced along beside her. They had finally reached the puddles and Fly could see the fish more clearly. Now, which fish would best serve her purpose of showing off teaching her skills to Kova? She glanced around at the puddles. Some of them seemed a little large to be considered puddles, actually. She would start Kova off at one of the shallower ones, where the fish would be easier to catch. Fly spotted a few water spots that hosted several cat fish and some others held several pink Salmon. Before she began, she decided to ask Kova what he already knew: "So, prince, what have you learned about fish so far? Can you identify any of the ones you see in these puddles?"

OOC: if i get any of the fauna wrong, just let me know and Ill fix it. I looked up the list that is given on this site but was a bit confused XD

(This post was last modified: Oct 04, 2014, 12:39 AM by Firefly.)

Smiling at the she wolfs answer, Kova was glad that he was finally meeting a wolf who wanted to be a hunter. The only other hunter the pack had was Minka, but the lead female was also busy doing many other things since she was an alpha. A part from the pack hunt, Kova hadn't been taught much by anyone on how to hunt game that could be found living on the land. Kova hoped that Firefly might find the time to help him out with hunting other things too. "All the puddles!" He yipped in a rather goofy way after noticing that Firefly was looking around at all the shining areas of water dotting the landscape. He had noticed the puddles and pools way back when the first storms came rumbling through and occasionally the lad would show up at the den drenched and covered in mud after his forays into the wet fields. He loved to play in the water and get himself cloaked in mud, much to his mothers dismay. He paused beside Firefly as she stopped to look at the closer bits of water. When she began padding towards a smaller shallower puddle filled with wriggling fish, Kova followed. He stopped at the edge of the puddle looking down at the fish with wide eyes. He hadn't see either of these kinds before! oh wait, the ones with the whiskers; I did see one of those before with Atlas. It was with a bunch of other thicker fish compared to these ones... He thought quietly while studying the fish which wriggled around each other trying to get away from the wolves nearing their puddle. He looked over each of their characteristics trying to order them into different groups. When Firefly asked Kova about the kinds of fish the silver hued lad had to shake his head no. He didn't know any of the names the fish were called. He just knew that they were all fish. "Can you tell me what their names are? Like that one, I saw that one with Atlas when he took me fishing. " Kova pointed to the catfish as it slowly swam through the other fish across from the pair of wolves.

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Fly could tell how excited Kova was and only added to her own excitement. But she was the teacher and she reminded herself that she had to seem mature...to an extent. She wasn't surprised that Kova didn't know the names of the fish. Honestly, she didn't even know if they were called by the same names here that her mother had taught her. She assumed they were though and that's how she would teach them to Kova unless one of their other pack mates said otherwise. "Can you tell me what their names are? Like that one, I saw that one with Atlas when he took me fishing. " Kova asked excitedly as he pointed to the catfish. Fly smiled and happily replied: "Of course little prince. I'll teach you to name all the fish in these puddles. And once you learn these, I'll take you to the Secluded Springs and see if we can find different ones and Ill teach you those." Fly was so happy that the grey pup was interested in all of this. She hoped she wasn't getting ahead of herself. It's just that her mother had taught her all she knew about hunting and fishing and passing it on made Fly feel like she was doing good by her mom. For a split second, Fly's mood darkened as the thought of her mother and brother crossed her mind. She quickly moved on from the depressing thought, and focused on the lesson at hand.

Raising a light brown paw, she pointed at the catfish and told Kova what it was called. Then she explained, "Now, we can try to catch that one first if you like, but they can be a little dangerous so let me tell you how to do it and then show you and then you can try." Fly approached the shallow puddle and let her paws enter the cool water. Then, she turned to look at Kova and said "When catching a cat fish, you must be careful; they have tiny spikes on their fins that can cut your mouth if you bite on them. You must make sure to bite down around their stomach and avoid the fins behind their head and on their back." After explaining what she would do, Fly padded gently into the puddle. The water only barely covered her paws and the flopping fish could not really get away. Shallow puddles were the best place to start learning how to fish. The only thing one had to worry about were the tricky spikes on the catfish's fins. In a swift, determined motion Fly dipped her small brown/russet head into the water, making sure to sink her teeth into the fish's stomach before lifting it out of the water. The fish continued to flip-flop in her mouth but she kept a firm grip and padded back onto dry land. She dropped the fish next to Kova and in a swift motion she wrapped her powerful jaws around it's head and placed one paw on the fish's belly. Then, she tore until the fishes head came off. The head was always the best part and sometimes the only part she ate, if she wasn't that hungry. Today, she left the fish there, planning to come back to it later. Her priority was making sure that Kova could catch one for himself. If he could catch the catfish successfully, she would take him to the deeper puddles and show him how to catch salmon: they were bigger and tastier, but harder to catch. In a week or so, the male salmon would being carrying eggs in their body and those were tasty.
Fly took a step back from the puddle and motioned for Kova to try: "You're turn, prince. Remember, they won't be able to get away easily. Unlike other prey, they cannot run from you. So take your time and make sure your bite is accurate and precise." This would actually be good practice for hunting bigger and faster prey. Fly briefly wondered if the pup had been out hunting with his pack yet. She didn't want to distract him, so she decided to wait until after he took his turn to ask him. With permission from Minka and Tokino, Fly would love to take the grey male out on a hunting patrol of sorts. First thing is first though, she was determined to make him an expert fisher. First, shallow puddles, then deeper ones, and lastly they could take a trip to the Secluded Springs or find a stream that hadn't dried up yet.

Kova looked at the same catfish that Firefly was now pointing to. He listened greedily as she spouted information about the fish's name, its dangers, and how to successfully catch it. However when she spoke of going to a place called Secluded Springs Kova's eyes lit up. Nobody had ever taken him outside of the pack's territory before! "You mean it? Aw cool!" Kova was so excited that he began to jump up and lick Firefly's face. As he did so the child slid his back end into the puddle, practically landing on a fish as it tried to escape. He settled down as his drenched tail began getting the she wolf wet as he wagged it happily. Then tip toed out of the water back next to Firefly. "Yeah I want to catch them now!" Kova answered her quickly before gazing back into the water. He glanced over to the she wolf as she positioned herself above the puddle and took note of how close she was to the water. He saw her stance and tried copying it before leaning forward over the water just like she was. He was excited that she was actually standing in the water instead of just sitting on the bank like he and Atlas had been. When she dipped her head down and quickly snagged a catfish Kova's mouth formed an 'O' as he watched in awe of how easy she made it look. Then she quickly ended its life with a powerful bite to the catfish's head. He watched the fish who now lie still then looked up at Firefly as she gestured and told him to try. Padding into the water and avoiding certain fish that wiggled into his path, Kova then came to a stop in the middle of the puddle. He leaned himself forward so that his snout was barely touching the water, then let his lower jaw slowly open drooping into the muddy tasting water. Kova's stance was adapted from both Firefly's approach and Atlas own teachings. Then he waited for a catfish to come close. So far there was some other kind of fish with long brightly colored bodies and long toothy jaws swimming around him. Kova was tempted to try and catch one of them, but decided to go after the catfish like Firefly had instructed him to. It took another five minutes before a catfish slowly wound its way between Kova's legs, making him shiver in the process, and began swimming close to his waiting jaws. Aiming for the fish's belly like Fly had said, Kova dipped downwards and scooped up the catfish. His jaws pinched tightly on the fish's slimy scaleless skin, but Kova could feel the fish slipping through his jaws. Quickly the pup stumbled forward to the bank gripping the wildly flopping fish before it could fall out of his jaws. When he reached dry land Kova allowed the fish to drop then tried pouncing on it with his claws. He avoided the fins where the sharp places would be and tried maneuvering his mouth over the fish's head. Unfortunately Kova didn't yet have the strength to simply pop the catfish's head off of its body. Instead His teeth sunk into its skull stunning it firstly, and then after applying a bit more pressure, killing the fish. Catching his breath and looking down at the lifeless fish, Kova's eyes danced happily to Firefly's face. "I did it!" He grinned widely as fish slime covered his facial features and spiked certain areas of his fur.

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Kova's enthusiasm and excitement reminded Firefly of her own, when she had first learned to fish. She's smiled warmly as the pup padded into the water and attempted to mimic her demonstration. His technique was slightly different than hers; she assumed he was combining things that his other pack mates had shown him with what he saw Fly do. While Fly tended to stand very still in the water with her mouth pointed down but above the water, Kova let his jaw dip into the water. She was curious to see how this would work for him. The pup was able to catch a catfish and bring it back to solid ground; though Firefly noticed that he had a little trouble holding onto his prey. All in all, Fly thought it was a great performance for a young wolf and she was very impressed. Of course, she had a sinking suspicion that her promise to take the grey prince outside of the territory had motivated him a lot. She really hoped that his parents would allow this trip. Actually, it would be great if one of them came along, Fly thought to herself.

Her thoughts returned to Kova's prey as he sunk his teeth into the fish's head and the fish slowly stopped moving. The young prince looked up at her, delighted with his success, and smiled. His fur was slick with fish slime and Fly had to stifle a giggle. "Good job! You did great!" Fly congratulated the grey pup. She gave the top of his head a quick lick, a small sign of her pride for her new student. Fly glanced back at the puddles and started toward the deeper end of one of the larger ones. She looked back at Kova and said, "Okay so let's try catching one here. It will be more difficult in deeper water since the fish can move more freely." Fly eyed the water with focused brown eyes and tried to pinpoint her next target. She had seen Kova eyeing the rainbow colored fish which she knew to be called chum. Perhaps, she should let him decide what he wanted to catch.

"So Kova, which fish do you want to learn about next?" Fly asked, deciding to let him choose. After spending a little more time with Kova, she was starting to realize that he liked to engage in the lesson, not just listen to her talk. So, she would leave that decision up to him.

With a smirk and a slight belly rumble Kova dipped his head in acknowledgement of the red womans words. He held out his chest proudly and raised his head like he had seen his father do while trying to impress newer wolves. Then Kova lifted his paws and followed the fisher towards the next puddle. This bit of water was much wider around than the first puddle, and by the murkiness of the innermost parts of the puddle, Kova could tell that it was a great deal deeper than the first one. He wandered around the edge of it a little more cautious of the deeper areas of the pool, then stepped into the water. His first steps were only ankle deep as the little bank swiftly deepened its angle. His next few steps brought him to an area where the water was at least belly deep. Kova felt a fish swim under his paw and quickly retracted his front leg turning around to go to the shallower water again. After a moments hesitation He set his eyes back onto the fish making waves on the surface. "What were those thicker weirdly colored ones? And the reddish ones too? " He asked unsure of which fish to go after next. Kova liked to figure out what was what before he decided to do anything with them. It was a weird quirk he had ever since learning about different birds and plants around his home. He had to learn the name before deciding the next course of action. Some would say"observant" was his middle name.

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Word of the day
Speech


Fly watched the boy trot into the water. First he stopped where the water reached his ankles. Then, he took a few more paces until the water was at his belly and stopped again. Fly laughed when a fish swam next to the boy and he hurried back to shallow water, splashing her a little bit. Happily, Firefly trotted into the water. She confidently continued until the water was at her belly and then stopped. She reached out with one paw and could tell that there was a significant drop ahead of her. If she took one more step she would have to swim instead of walk. Though she had swam in far deeper water, Fly decided to stop right there at the edge. Fly needed to let Kova know to stop where she was so that he knew his limits. Fly wasn't too worried, though, because she knew she could save him if he did stumble into deeper water. There wasn't a strong current to fight against and the deep center of the pool was not very wide. Still, she didn't want his first attempt at swimming to be an accident that ended up scaring him.

Kova's voice interrupted her thoughts as he asked about the fish. Fly was happy that the boy had asked her about the fish before making his decision: it showed that he was not rash or impulsive. Fly could really appreciate this about him since she struggled to reign in her impulsiveness. Then, she turned to look at Kova, "You can come all the way out to here, prince. Past this and you would have to swim." She paused to consider the fish the boy had asked about. With her small light brown paw she pointed at the thick brightly colored fish and said, "That one is called chum and the reddish ones..." Fly stopped to locate one of the red fish so she could point it out, "...that one is called a coho salmon." Fly thought about each fish and decided what information she could dredge up about them: "The chum are thicker than most fish so they provide more meat. But you do need to watch out for the teeth. Some of them have bigger teeth than others. Of course, their teeth won't usually do much damage to us, but sometimes it can hurt a bit." Fly winced as she remembered learning to fish with her mother and how a rather large chum had snuck up behind her and snipped at her ankle. It barely bled, but it sure hurt. Fly continued, "The coho salmon are a little smaller than chum, but they taste better in my opinion. Plus, they are easier to catch. They travel in big packs usually and aren't as smart as some of the other fish are. Though fish aren't that smart to begin with." Fly chuckled at the idea of a smart fish. She hoped that she was explaining all of this right, that she was making sense to her young companion. "So what is your choice, Kova?" Fly smiled as she realized she had started calling him by his name more often. He would always be a prince to her, but she was happy tutoyer now. It made her feel like she had made her first friend here.

Kova shifted to look at Firefly as she stepped into the water and waded through the shallows. She went all the way over to the deeper area which made Kova's eyes widen. He was nervous of going too deep, and when the rusty woman stopped to tell him just how far he could go Kova dipped his head in thanks. He gave her a charming gleeful smile while his silver banner wagged. Then he advanced a few steps feeling the cold water drench his coat. Then he followed her pointed nose to view the fish as Firefly gave their names and descriptions. He liked the fish called a "chum" because it was easy to remember. Though he liked the word "Coho" because it sounded kinda cool. The Coho salmon kept Kova's curious gaze for a moment as he watched its brightly flashing sides twist and turn through the water. One of them came close, and out of instinct he jumped face forward and dove for the fish. His teeth snapped around the tail, but when he tried to bring it back up above water the fish got loose and slapped him in the face. Shaking out the slime from his face and standing rigidly in the belly deep water, Kova's face scrunched up as he pouted at the water. Yet, the young boy didn't complain. Instead he stared at the place where he had lost his Coho salmon for a moment before looking up to Firefly. "Do you catch these fish the same way you do for a catfish?" He asked before dropping his gaze back to the water as a large fin pierced the crest of a ripple to their left.

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