Totoka River how to cook fish in a traditional chinese way

@Huā & @Ying! takes place directly after this thread. small pp of ying, hope that's alright. ♥

with ying's suggestion of fish, the trio made a mad dash for the nearby river. she slowed to a halt next to ying, who was waiting for them. 一如既往的不耐烦, the perlite triplet jabbed through gasping breaths. they were all famished, but she would've preferred they didn't rush, finding it a waste of energy. of the three, mei was the most patient to the extent of frequently trying to instill it in others' minds, even her sisters.

she approached totoka's edge and downed several gulps of frigid water. lifting her head, she then studied the faint imprints left behind on the shore from tides past. judging the distance, she observed, 潮处于最低点。我们也可以寻找底层饲养者,

Huā followed in between Ying and Mei, glad that their target had changed. Huā was not fantastic with large game, which she found took more skill and strategy. But fish were her thing. They were certainly her favorite and preferred food, considering the amount of time she spent by water. She was good at it, too. 

She took a sip from the river too. Her sister made an observation of the movements of the tides in relation to their fishing, and Huā quietly envied her knowledge and eye for detail. She nodded at the girl's comment without a word.

the skill of fishing had never come easy to ying. the fish were too slippery, too quick; unlike on land, she held little grace in the water. there were three of them, though, so she was confident that one of them would catch something.

mei mentioned bottom-feeders, a much easier meal. she moved further down the coast so as to not disturb their potential pool of prey. then, after a moment's contemplation, ying leapt into the water and began the search for a snack.

silence settled between the sisters, for words were oft not necessary. ying moved downstream, so she stepped delicately into the water with little more than a few ripples — unlike her aforementioned sister, who leapt into the water with a noisy splash. she shivered as cold prickles crept up her legs and into her spine. it was unpleasant, but she'd take it over fighting off bull seals any day.

being one whose primary focus was that of sea and soul, mei was not a skilled huntress, but her expertise on water and the creatures within it did give her an edge. since crustaceans were made available to them, that was her focus for this hunt; unlike fish, which were slippery and nimble. she upturned stones by the shoreline until movement caught her eye. She batted at it cattily until the creature was knocked onto its back at shore. her jaws made quick work of its shell with a satisfying crunch. she downed it before turning back to the water to repeat the process.

Not a leader, Huā let her sisters begin first before she followed their lead. She stepped gently into the freezing water, a charcoal paw submerging itself and then another. Careful not to cause too much of a commotion in the blue. The cold water was not her favorite- much different than the warmth of the South where they had grown up- but she could tolerate it. And besides, she was hungry. 

Her seaglass eyes scanned the water slowly- more intently than she seemed to eye anything else- searching for a fish. Just a little further she heard a- CRACK! She glanced towards Mei, who had caught a little something. She grinned at her sister as if to congratulate her, before returning to her own search.

the caped twins splashed about while ying waded alone. it was boring being apart, but she feared being unwelcome among the others. sometimes, when her excitement got the best of her, she messed things up. mei was obviously having some luck; would ying get in the way?

the huntress arose from the water and huffed. fishing was no fun when done alone. hey! she called, do you want to play a game? she waited for a response before deciding how to proceed.

the trio continued their search for prey in quietude... until ying called out from downstream. her head snapped in the platinum's sister's direction, fearing something was wrong, but she merely asked if they wanted to play a game. mei blinked, perplexed. 什么样的游戏? she asked in turn with a wary side glance. she would humor her if it involved hunting, but otherwise, her answer would be no. filling their bellies was of utmost importance to her at the moment, and she wasn't one to stray from her duties.

Ying's voice called out across cool air, breaking the silence between them. Huā's ears perked, listening to her sister's suggestion. She spoke up, 是的,我们玩. She smirked at the suggestion, seemingly more eager to play than Mei. She was not as focused- maybe due to her attention span, which jumped from here to there- and to her, food could wait. She was hungry but not desperate. But if the game involved their hunt- even better. They could have fun and fill their stomachs.

ying rolled her eyes at mei's comment, responding, a game that even you will enjoy. she bounded over to the pair as hua spoke, then took a moment to think. they were all hungry, so it had to include food...

it's not like that narrows it down, ying.

the huntress gasped as she found herself with an idea. the three of us will look for shellfish. the first one to find five wins the game! it was simple; she appreciated not having to come up with complex rules.

we can put all of our things together and the winner can pick their favorites. okay? ying gave mei an assuring shoulder bump while she awaited the twins' approval.

huā piped up to voice her desire to play, eliciting a small huff from mei. her sisters lacked focus, which she often had to steer them back towards. ying insisted that the game would entice even her, which urged the priestess to say, 哦？那我们听吧。 ying paused to think for a moment, signifying that she didn't even have an idea yet for this game. but she spoke again and explained the crude rules.

mei hummed in a moment of consideration before settling on an answer. 很好，我去玩。让我们不要混战。预备，准备，开始！ mei dashed back into the frigid water, but the drumming of her heart kept her body hot. small paws worked to dig quickly, kicking up sand that clouded the water. through the debris, she was unaware of her prey’s presence until it made itself known with a sharp pinch on one of her toes. she yipped and yanked her paw away, hobbling back to land with a little crab latched on. planting her foot down, she crushed it between her jaws and pried the creature off with a glare before returning to the water.

soo according to tweet's dice roll, ying should win :D

Huā was already eager to play any game, but the added promise of food- and a choice of the best ones- made her more competitive. There was no need for a word from her so she was quiet, but on Mei's cue she began.

Her heartbeat went a mile a minute as her paws dug hurriedly in the sand beneath the water. Though her seaglass eyes would scan, the clouding made it difficult to see the bottom. She would have to use her sense of touch- pawpads searching for anything small and hard. 

She let out a little gasp as something was felt, but as she pulled it up to gaze at it- it was a stone. She huffed in annoyance and did her best to pluck it from her grasp between her teeth, before tossing it further downstream.

ying ran down after her sisters, childish giggles escaping through bared teeth. once in the water, she snapped angrily at the sand, collecting and tossing whatever she was able to grab. without stopping to dispatch the little beasts, the huntress grabbed each one and threw it back behind her. 

eventually, once she was confident she'd caught more shells than rocks, ying trotted back to shore to examine her collection. one, two, she whispered, five...six! some of the shells tried to sneak away but were quickly lifted and cracked. i win! she called, beckoning to the twins.

close this out soon?

she'd managed to snag two more shellfish when ying exclaimed her victory, prompting her head to shoot up from the water. mei didn't care that she lost, she was just glad it was over. gathering her catches, she trotted over to her platinum sister & dropped her quarry at their feet. eyeing the alleged winner's stash, she confirmed ying indeed caught five shellfish — six, in fact.

好吧，请您选择, she insisted, sitting back on her haunches to nurse her throbbing paw.

sure, this'll prob be last post from me.

Huā managed to find some, three or so, but she could see herself falling behind as Ying shouted out her increasing total. Her sister reached five, and the game was over. Huā gathered up her findings and set them next to the rest, sitting back on her haunches to let Ying choose from the pile while her tongue lolled from her mouth. She didn't mind losing- she still had fun, and besides, all of them would get abit of the spoils.

ying was surprised by her win, but proud all the same. she did a quick shuffle as she nosed excitedly through the pile, picking out two of the largest shells. this is all i want, she said with a smile, it was just fun to play the game. the huntress cracked open her prize and watched while her sisters picked out their own.