Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Dark]

Minh beamed. Mnem had faith in her; she would land the tasty, tasty fish jerking merrily on the other end of the line, and then they would feast upon its delectable flesh. The process would be much easier if she had hands, of course, but she was a genius. She had already reinvented rafts, and fishing poles, and she could damn well land a simple fish; she'd already done the hard part!

Minh nodded to herself, and considered the problem. She only had to get the fish close enough to scoop it out of the water, something she could do easily with her claws, but she didn't know if she was quick enough to grab it while it was zipping around so spastically. She would need to restrict its movement, and the easiest way to do so was to shorten the line.

Wedging the pole firmly against her body, she tentatively freed one paw. Snagging a section of line, she pulled it in--hard to do when the fish was jigging about on the other end--and tucked it under a back paw; she repeated the process until she could see the fish, and then again, so it was within her reach.

Taking a breath to center herself, she lunged for her prey.

[Bee]

It was on the tip of her tongue to shout something at Minh as she jerked forward, but at that point the boat was already tipping and Mnem threw herself to the other end to keep it balanced. It wobbled and titled dangerously but maintained the proper position. Mnem's own sad pole went into the water. Then Minh did. At least she appeared to have the fish in her paws. Here's to hoping she could keep it.

"Maybe we should try some kind of net," she mumbled to herself, setting herself upright in the boat, though as failure seemed to be the order of the day, it was doubtful that that venture would bear any more fruit than this one. If Minh didn't have that fish, heads were going to roll. Well, really, it was just "head", singular, but she really wished there were other heads around to sever.

[Dark]

Minh came up sputtering--falling off the raft had not been part of the plan, at all--but was pleased to note that she still had her paws on the slippery, slimy, twitching fish. It was big, and tasty looking, but she was going to drown unless she could free up her paws and swim.

Minh was extremely torn about what to do. It wasn't like she wanted to die, but she was hungry, and if she let lunch go she'd eventually just starve to death (if Mnem didn't kill her first, which actually might be a mercy). It was a perplexing conundrum, but she really needed to make her mind up--soon.

She transferred the fish to her mouth, biting down to keep it there--tasty--and splashed towards the raft; she couldn't really breath, with a mouthful of fish and river water, but she still had lunch. Now if only lunch would stop wriggling and slapping her in the face...

[Bee]

Mnem was positively delighted that Minh still had the fish--though really, that was not quite accurate, because Mnem wasn't a pure-delight kind of person. She had a few emotions that got near it, but she supposed that what most people might be calling delight right now was really just tired relief, vague surprise that Minh wasn't somehow dead, and an emerging sense of smug complacency because of course Minh still had the fish, because Mnem had in these last couple seconds convinced herself that she had believed in Minh all along. Minh wouldn't fail her at this crucial junction. The universe bent itself to Mnem's will.

She helped pull her friend back into the boat with her non-irate hand. Minh! she thought. Safe and sound. More importantly: the fish! Safe and sound.

"Nice work, darling," she said.

[Dark]

Minh beamed happily, feeling rather accomplished now that she hadn't drowned and was safety back on the boat, and with lunch still wriggling between her jaws. Praise was always nice; not being maimed for potential fail was even better. She shook some of the access water off, feeling rather sodden and weighed down, and dropped the fish.

The fish hit the bottom of the boat where it wriggled ineffectively a moment, spending up the last of its energy in useless protest, before it could do nothing more than gasp in the poisonous air with little fish gills and stare at them with accusing, googly eyes. She felt the stirrings of pity--just a few moments before, she herself had been facing a similar, unfortunate fate--and promptly bashed it in the head with an oar. It stopped gasping for air, but its eyes still starred accusingly, even if death.

"Let's eat, shall we?" Minh twitched excitedly, especially hungry after her unexpected swim.

[Bee]

They cleaned up every part of the fish they even vaguely suspected of being edible with remarkable swiftness--and when they were done, Mnem reclined in the boat, and wondered what the devil they were going to do now. Those two Josiggy nitwits were still on the prowl and their Lowlander was dead and they still weren't any closer than they had been weeks ago to reaching the Marsh.

The Josiggy nitwits...She pondered the clouds in the sky, thoughtfully. The nitwits who would clearly have to know where their own region was. And how to get there from here. If they just happened to hear a rumor that their Lowlander had somehow escaped the Range and hidden in their very homeland, and that Mnem and Minh were just the ladies who had heard where, why, they would get an all-expenses paid trip to the bloody Marsh already. The nitwits would want that Lowlander dead, and yesterday. Which, ironically enough, was exactly what he would be; they just wouldn't know it.

Three cheers, Mnem thought, for racism!

"I think," she announced, "that I have an idea."

[Dark]

Minh had been feeling rather lax after their feast--nommy fish, swimming around in her belly, oh so happy, tasty, nom--and leaning towards a nap, but she recognized that particular sparkle in the canine's eye and forced herself into a semi-upright position. When Mnem got that look in her eye, something deviously clever and devious was afoot, and Minh was eager to play her part in the mischief and mayhem.

They always had such fun together, Mnem and she.

"Do tell, oh enlightened one," she gestured grandly, and leaned forward to absorb what was sure to be a brilliant, devious plan. Hopefully, a plan to get them real fishing poles! Or maybe just off the river, though Minh was rather starting to like it. What were they supposed to be doing again? It had been important.

Oh, she could go for another fish. Her stomach burbled in agreement.

[Bee]

"It's quite elementary, my dear Minh." Mnem quickly let her in on the big sweep and finer details of her plan--and seeing that Minh still appeared somewhat hungry, she added, "And of course I suspect we'll be able to mooch meals off them as well. I don't think they'll be in a position to deny us much of anything." The nitwits seemed to operate in the upper echelons of anti-Lowlander prejudice--word that Mnem and Minh knew where the Lowlander was hiding would likely net them all the niceties they could ask for.

This might come as a surprise to some (like the mentally challenged or perhaps mere criminally oblivious), but Mnem liked having her every whim catered to. The sooner she could get life back on that course, the better. (All they would have to do after that was contrive some way to make it look like they had been in the Marsh much longer than Sir Idiot Shinrai and his moronic friend...But that was a scheme for a slightly later time.)