Otter Creek Fishing is an art

Blue Willow woke from a late morning nap and stretching she yawned wide enough for all to see her pink throat. Lifting her tail above her back and arching her neck she was soon loping across the flatlands in search of the river. She felt like working on her fishing skills. She was terrible at fishing truth be told and she wanted to remedy that. Her father bless his soul had tried to teach her, but she had little patience for it then, how she wished she had paid attention now.

As she neared the sloping river she looked all around being sure that there was no one else around to see her fail and with a small sigh she walked into the water and stood looking down as the sunlight glinted off of the scales of those fish beneath the surface. Trying hard to remember what her father said she began to speak to herself. Okay their shadows are in front of them, but it is really them father always said go for in front of them. She lifted a paw and got poised and ready to grab a fish if she could.

ooc: this takes place after Crete's disappearance and before Osprey gets sick.

It had come as a bit of unsettling surprise to find out that Crete hadn't returned home for a few days. He usually was round and about with his own business, but never had he been away for so long. Since everyone was involved in taking care of the newborns, no one seemed to notice that he was missing. Except for Osprey, who hadn't joined the joys of babysitting the little ones, because Pied's death was still fresh on her mind.

She left the Plateu to go and look for him. Tracking old scent trails and searching for a slightes waft of his familiar scent, but to no avail. He was nowhere to be found. Yet. Osprey wasn't giving up on him now. It was late morning, when she arrived near a river and spotted a familiar figure there. Blue willow was standing at the banks, with one paw lifted and gaze focused at the water.

Intrigued, Osprey drew closer, until she stood paralell to the black wolf. She looked first down in the water to see, if there was anything interesting there and then lifted her gaze to eye the healer curiously: "What are you doing?"

Okay :D

Blue willow had been searching for Crete for her leader and his siblings silently when she had time. She did not hold much to finding him though. Wherever he went he was long gone. She had caught his scent going towards Horizon Ridge, that was her next stop to talk to one of them. She did not watn to tell anyone her plans, because chances are it would lead no where and she did not wish to give false hope. Though in truth anyone with a nose could smell his trail to the forest.

Blue Willow turned and offered a smile to her friend. "Hello Yerpso! How are you? I'm trying to catch some fish for the caches before I go...exploring. She had stopped for a moment afraid to say anything to her friend for fear of upsetting her. She already looked a little down and bedraggled, and she was sure the poor girl had been looking for her brother tirelessly.

"You know, how to catch fish?" Osprey asked, while she followed the dark and quick form of the fish swim by. They were impossible to get hold on to in her limited experience. And her mom, who had insisted her to learn every other way of hunting and providing for herself, had never taught her, how to do it. Probably had never had any need for that either.

"Show me," she asked and sat down to watch. She needed something to take her mind off from all of the bad things that had happened lately. Maybe learning something new was just the thing she needed to do.

Blue Willow shook her head and said "I know the basics of it, I am still learning myself truthfully. Blue Willow herself had limited experience with fishing, though she knew the basic ways of it.

Blue Willow smiled and said "We can learn together. My father told me that when you are fishing you need to go for the shadow in front of them, not the actual fish, because they are quicker than we see and the light from the river makes a mess of the image of the fish. Blue Willow tilted her head and slanted her eyes and with a soft growl she pawed at a shadow and a floppy fish flew up and onto the bank .She smiled "OH I DID IT,

Osprey was startled, when Blue willow yelled and something wet, shiny and definitely moving was chucked out of the water and fell on the ground not too far away from the spot the girl was sitting. She got to her feet and went over to sniff at it curiously. It turned out to be not that easy to accomplish, because the critter was thrashing around. More than once, when she had leaned too clos to it, her tip of the nose got slapped.

"And what do you do with it now?" Osprey lifted her head to look at the healer curiously.

Blue Willow watched in amusement as her friend tried to get close to the flopping thing. She wanted to laugh, but held it back afraid to upset he friend. Instead she spoke "You bite it so it dies completely though it will die soon from being out of the water anyway. She then watched again as her friend was stalking closer only to be hit in the nose that time she couldn't keep it in and a small bubble of mirth burst from her mouth. "I'm sorry Friend I just can't help but laugh the same thing happened to me not that long ago actually. Would you like to try?

Osprey heard Willow laughing, but didn't mind, because the situation seemed a bit amusing to her too. She rounded the cold and thrashing creature to see, if it looked the same from a different perspective. It did - odd looking, obviously, and she wouldn't want to touch it herself. Besides it had seemed to be so cold, how come that it was alive? As far as her experience reached all living creatures were warm. Only, when they died, did they become cold. Was this a mistake of nature - cold, but still moving?

Busy observing the unusual creature, she missed part of what Willow had said to her, therefore she didn't quite understand, what the other wolf had meant by trying. "Try what?" she asked with her gaze still focused on the fish.

Willow watched as Yerpso studied the fish from all sides and angles a look of absolute amusement on her face. Apparently her friend had never even really seen a fish up close and it was quite odd to Willow. However she supposed if she really though about it, it maybe odd that she knew what the fish looked like, but her parents had often caught fish, they were in abundance near all types of water.

Blue Willow chuckled again "I asked if you would like to try and fish? She motioned to the water below her and the shadows that darted to and fro.

"Fish?" Osprey repeated and followed Willow's glance back to the river, where the occasional appearance of quick dark shadows indicated the presence of these odd beings. The living dead were called either vampires or zombies. Since the fish didn't seem to be blood-thirsty, she decided to call it a "swimming zombie". And if the action of catching fish was called "fishing", then it could be called "zombying" as well, couldn't it? These off topic musings in Osprey's head tended to happen quite often and only the awareness that she was not alone here, brought her back to present.

"Ok. Show me, how to catch a zombie," she said smiling and her tail wagging excitedly.

Blue Willow's mouth quirked up at the corner in a grin at the mention of zombies. Osprey was extremely imaginative, she would make a good caretaker for pups if she so wanted. blue Willow nodded okay first thing first things first you want to watch the shadows in front of them rather than the actual fish. The shadows are the actual fish not the fish. Blue Willow snorted that was extremely confusing but she didn't know how else to word it other than that way. Then you just reach you'r paw in and scoop. She motioned with her paw and then acted like she was throwing a fish onto the ground ANd you always want to kill it as soon as it hits ground otherwise it will flop around and may flop back in. Any questions?

"Tricky zombies, I'll say," while listening to Blue willow's instructions, Osprey went over to the river-bank, crouched down and peered down at the fish in the stream. It was hard to forget, what she had been taught - to focus always on the prey. The silvery gleam was so alluring, she didn't want to avert her gaze. But practical matters were priority and she didn't want to keep the healer waiting.

"Ok, but you didn't kill that one," she pointed out to the fish, who was still pretty much alive, but quite tired from the initial neurotic thrashing on the ground.

Blue Willow chuckled at her friend. "Yes tricky zombies indeed. She watched as her friend looked down into the water. It was true it was hard to focus on their shadows when you could see their slippery silver bodies, but that was the only way to catch them. If you were to go after the silver of their scales you would miss them everytime.

"No I didn't I'll rectify that immediately. With a quick bound she was onto the dry ground and had the fish in her jaws with one smooth bite it quit thrashing and lay there dead as could be. It would have died on it's own anyway, just slower.

Osprey watched Blue willow finish the fish with ease and for a moment she felt a little sorry for the zombie. However, she was a predator and hunter and that kind of feelings were shoved away quickly. If she wanted to live, someone had to die. That was the rule of nature and those, who felt pity for that, were fools.

Therefore she resumed observing the fish, crouching in a manner of a cat that was ready to pounce. She caught sight of a particularly big shadow of the fish and the next second she pounced, going head-first in the water and resurfaced some time later - wet to the core, snorting and coughing up water she had swallowed in the process.

The girl crawled at the bank and shook her coat, then cast a glance at Blue Willow and said: "I hit my nose."

Blue Willow couldn't help it she was laughing so hard she thought she'd burst. "Oh Osprey you're only supposed to use your paw not your whole body. She chuckled again and couldn't stop it. Her eyes were shining with mirth but it was a good kind. She by no means meant any offense.

She was able to calm down enough to ask if there was anything she needed to do. "Do you need me to put herbs or something on it. Sometimes something cold on it will help if you dip it in water. She chuckled again softly.

Osprey cracked a grin, when Blue willow began to laugh. She wasn't the kind of person, who would be offended by someone making fun of her, thanks to growing up among a bunch of rowdy boys. "Now you tell me," she pointed out to her mentor, albeit in a friendly manner.

"No, I will be fine," her nose was burning a little, but otherwise had lost none of it's beauty or other attractive qualities. "Better show me again, how you do it," she asked, settling down on her haunches and being prepared to observe and do it right the next time.

Blue Willow laughed even harder I'm sorry Osprey I should have told you. she laughed again loving the joy she found on this day with her friend. The only female she talked to in the pack. She found it funny that the only two wolves she had developed friendships with were siblings. It made her laugh.

Blue Willow stepped into the shallows and watched the shadows flit and dart around and then with a swift deft move of her paw in a scooping motion she scooped out a fish and threw it to the bank. Quickly reaching the side of the creek, she dispatched it. Dealing a quick death bite to the otherwise silver scaled thing.

ooc: my last post here. Thank you for the thread.

Osprey watched, how switfly Blue willow moved and how easily she snatched the fish out of the river and killed it with a single bite. This was a form of hunting March Owl hadn't taught her, probably, because of abundance of different kind of prey in the territories that Flightless Falcons had inhabited. Therefore right there and then the girl made a promise to herself that she would learn this skill too. Who knew - it might turn out to be handy not only to her, but to her nieces and nephews too.

"Wow - you are really good," she said in awe and smiled. "Once I learn this, we must have a competition to see, who is better," she grinned a hint of challenge glinting in her eyes. "Let's have that next time, I will head back to have some rest," she got to her feet and bid her goodbyes to Willow, waiting a little, in case the kind she-wolf had something to say.

Blue Willow was actually surprised herself that she had done so well this time. Granted she had been practicing on and off for quite some time now, in her own way bringing herself closer to her father again. She hadn't paid attention when he had first taught her 100 percent now that he was not near she missed him and this was her way of easing some of the pain.

Blue Willow smiled she always loved a challenge. yes we will have too. Blue Willow nodded her head, have a good nap Osprey! With that Blue sat down on her haunches to enjoy a little more of the day.

Thank you too!