Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Dark]

It was hard work pulling the rope up, especially without help--she glanced at Mnem unhappily; the canine could have used her one good arm just fine to aid in the process--and doubly so because she didn't have opposable thumbs. Tying the Lowlander up to throw over the side had been much easier work in comparison; to pull him up, Minh had to struggle against the current, pulling with her teeth--rope fiber hurt wherever it touched the sensitive skin of her mouth--and then doing a hop, stomp on the rope to keep it from sliding right back into the water while she grabbed another mouthful.

She was cranky by the time she hauled the body up over the side, and doubly so when she was his vacant stare and gaping mouth. She poked him experimentally--maybe he was faking?--but checking his pulse confirmed her suspicions. Dead.

"Oh, that's just great. I bet he did this to spite me."

[Bee]

"Yes," Mnem said, amused, "I'm sure it was purely for the purpose of spoiling your future experiments."

Though really, anything was possible with Lowlanders. She was relieved the sniveling creature was dead, honestly. She hadn't wanted to take the damn thing with them, and the fact that their adventure officially had a body count affected her very little.

"Well, look at it this way. We're feeding the local fauna. Some scavengers are going to go positively nuts over this." She wasn't actually sure if they dined on Lowlander carcass. Her specialty was plants, not animals. Perhaps they had the same natural aversion to Lowlanders that people did.

Then again, when you're starving, maybe you just don't eat the diseased bits. She supposed that's what she'd do if cannibalism ever became necessary for survival.

Turning her thoughts away from that morbid avenue, she said, "Back over the side with him, I suppose. So long, Lowlander. You shan't be mourned."

[Dark]

Minh sniffed indignantly, "Speak for yourself. I mourn a perfectly serviceable test subject."

Knowing that Mnem wouldn't help, Minh went about cutting the rope--it was too wet, and hers paws too unwieldy to bother trying to untie the mess--and shoved the soggy cadaver over the side; he slipped into the water with a splishplunk, and she watched with morbid curiosity as the current dragged him down to become a little fishy buffet. Such a waste.

She settled down into the bottom of the boat with the intent of moping, and did a good job of it until her stomach started to growl. It must have been all the thinking she had done about the little fishes snacking on her aborted science project. Her stomach growled again, louder this time.

"Mnem, I'm hungry." And they didn't have much in the way of food, at the moment. Very worrisome, that.

[Bee]

Mnem frowned. Her general annoyance at everything around her had distracted her from such prosaic thoughts as hunger, but now that Minh mentioned it, she could do with something in her stomach.

She sighed. She wished they were in the damn Marsh already so they could have some nice food at some nice tourist place and perhaps throw a nice glob of mashed potatoes into Shinrai's nice hateful face.

"I suppose we could fish," she said, since they were already on a boat and sitting around waiting for food to come to them sounded ever-so-much-better, at the moment, than getting back on shore and expending the effort required to hunt something down. There were sticks enough floating around the water, and hands--even if one of them was a bit wonky at the moment--would do well for fishing. "Do we have any twine or something?"

[Dark]

Minh had several odds and ends floating around in her satchel, including a spool of sturdy looking twine that could be used for line and a coil of wire that could be fashioned into hooks. With a new sense of purpose, she occupied herself with fashioning a pair of fishing poles.

For the actual rod they would need wood that was still green--something supple that would bend but not break--and also something to bait the hooks with. Maybe worms? They'd have to pull up to shore to get what they needed, at least momentarily.

She wasn't keen on stopping when they were still so close to the yokel-locals, but if they wanted to eat anytime soon, they would need to finish making their fishing poles. And soon. Her stomach gurgled to emphasize the urgency of the matter.

"Mnem, we need to pull into shore for a moment," Minh quickly summarized what they needed, "When you see somewhere suitable, steer us in, will you? I'm going to work on these hooks."

[Bee]

Mnem wasn't quite sure how Minh hoped to accomplish manipulating the wire with paws, but then Minh usually found a way to do things, so Mnem concentrated on getting their little boat to the shore so they could pick up some poles and probably dig up some bait. The quicker they found shit, the quicker they could get back on the river.

She brought them slowly onto the silty-sandy river bank and began hunting for suitable material. It wasn't terribly difficult to locate bendy-enough sticks, and she had no qualms about digging around in the sand for worms (no different from gardening, really, and worms were one's friend) and shoving them rather unceremoniously into a little pouch.

"All right," she said. "Gear collected. Let's get back on the water before we get accosted by goddess-knows-what." And by "goddess-knows-what" she of course meant "idiots."

[Dark]

Minh was more than happy to be back on the water--being on land was beginning to inspire deep paranoia, because bad things always seemed to be happening, but if she thought about it too hard she started to remember that being on water hadn’t worked too well for them in the past, either, and the resulting paranoia would send her spiraling into a fit of nerves. So she avoided thinking entirely, and focused on making fishing poles, instead.

It was rather bothersome working with paws and teeth--she’d really have to do something about that at some point--but eventually she had several sharp, hook-esque things that should do the job of snagging innocent little fishes quite nicely. She tied a hook to each of the lines, and secured the lines securely to the poles. And just in case they had any mishaps, she made extras of everything.

“I think that should about do it,” she handed a pole to Mnem, and gave her own an experimental flick.

[Bee]

Mnem cast her line into the water and thought about what she could possibly have done with her time instead of going on this harebrained adventure. She imagined alcohol. Sitting in a bar, yes, that was good. With an attractive woman.

(Or man. She wasn't picky at the moment.)

She would be talking about something impressive, and her delightful pastels (and bipedal form) would be sure to have someone entranced. Perhaps she could elegantly smoke a cigarette. There might be piano music in the background, someone smoky-voiced crooning out something...

Now it was just getting dumb. No piano or singer. Just her, a drink, a ciggie, and scores of attractive people willing to drop their panties. It was a good daydream.

Or she could have been running business. It was almost painful to think of all the money she wasn't making right now, selling salves and poisons and whatever placebo she could convince people would cure all their ills...Instead she was attempting to indulge her pride by getting to some goddess-forsaken dump faster than some idiot horse she didn't even give a shit about.

Where had she gone wrong in life?

She glanced over at Minh. Oh, right, that was where.

[Dark]

There was a trick to how one was supposed to cast their pole, and it took Minh a moment to figure out the exact equation that resulted in optimum distance and direction; it was in the wrist, mostly. Soon, her line was sailing gracefully through the air to exactly where she wanted it. She purred in delight. Now to catch dinner.

Minh didn’t have much of an attention span—anyone who talked to her longer than five-seconds figured that out rather quickly—but she was rather surprised to find that fishing was rather relaxing, and quelled her inner spazz. She didn’t even mind that nothing seemed to be biting, besides that she really sort of wanted dinner, because damn was she hungry. Besides, that, though—very zen. Very—

“I have a bite!” She watched the pole jerk merrily in her hands and thought happily of the tasty fish that would soon fill her belly. But—how to land it?

[Bee]

"Hurrah," she said, vaguely. She was glad Minh was accomplishing something and getting them some dinner. She wasn't sure how Minh was going to reel the thing in without some dexterous hands, but Corvies were smart critters, she could figure it out.

She almost wished she could help, and get food to them faster. Mnem glared at her wrist. She had a feeling it would heal crooked, and she would just have to break the damn thing all over again and reset it. She wasn't looking forward to that. Mnem liked inflicting pain, not receiving it. She would kill to have some of her normal array of salves and equipment on hand.

But no. In this goddamn mountain range. With nothing.

"You go, darling." There we go; words of encouragement. Mnem was contributing to the acquisition of their meal. Such a morale-booster, she was. She should've been on the pep squad.