Ankyra Sound Didn't know how but I always had a feeling

@Cadeau

As the days grew longer and the air warmer, Aningan was finding it hard to exist; he was not built to sustain the heat but to thrive within the cold. He found himself panting more often than not, trying to do whatever he could to stay cool—which resulted in him spending much of his time on the shore, close to the water. Today in particular, however, he took it a step further. Rather than simply wading through the water and welcoming the waves, he sought to actually test his skills (skills he didn’t yet have, that is).

Aningan walked slowly into the ocean and stopped when it reached up around his elbows, staring down at it the entire time. He could see a silver body dart by here and there, some bigger than others but all appearing more or less the same otherwise. He recognised them as being fish and decided that he would very much like to try one. So, down went his head—

—and then up it came again, only he was without a fish. Instead of a snack, all he received were nostrils full of salt water, which tried to creep down his throat and into his lungs. Of course, that sent him right into a fit of hacking and coughing, trying to clear out his airway of the water and relieve himself of the salty sting.

Cadeau was always different in more ways than one, especially in this moment as she stood above an alcove that loomed over the ocean. In her jaws was a stick and tied to the tip a generous amount of vine. [She promised to pay back the squirrels somehow for their help, bless their dexterity!] And at the end of the vine were berries she plucked, they smelled simply awful but the more fermented the better for this! A makeshift 'bob' made from a pinecone was tied there too.

Cadeau, from her time among humans, could recall many oddities they did to make results easier. Her muscles weren't the most reliable but she knew her brain was. Just how many inventions could she replicate to make life simpler for her newfound home? Cadeau called this new invention, a fishing stick. She cast the 'line' out into the water, jerking her head with the stick still held clenched between her teeth.

Cadeau realized something, she didn't hear a splash of the line meeting the water. Instead, she peered over the side to see her fishing stick had landed on someone's head! Cadeau gasped, dropping the stick before apologising loudly below. Pinecones hurt a lot after all.

"I'm sorry there, fella! Um... could you move over a bit, maybe?"

From choking on salt water to getting hit on the head with a pinecone, it was apparent that Aningan just wasn’t going to have a very good day. His lungs and throat were still recovering from the unpleasant sting of the sea when a sharp yelp forced its way out of his mouth; it wasn’t so much that the pinecone had been incredibly painful, just a terrible surprise. He couldn’t figure out exactly how a pinecone had made it all the way out to the shore to attack him—not until he heard a voice and then followed the line that was attached to it.

The bear’s ears were splayed out to the side as he stared up at the carrier of his assailant, uncertain. “What are you doing?” he called up. “What is that?”  And why did you hit me with it? he wanted to ask, but held back from doing so. It had to be an accident, or at least that’s what he chose to believe.

The halfling pinned her dark colored ears against her head, Cadeau knowing this wasn't a good first impression by far. But such was life sometimes and hopefully he would be forgiving of this little mistake. "I'm fishing," Cadeau told him from above her perch, reaching for her stick again to display the strange invention with a vine made line. "See?" She waved it about, the pine cone flailing through the air. She nearly hit her own head, Cadeau ducking with a short yip. "It still needs some... adjustments I guess," she mumbled.

I’m fishing.

Fishing? With a stick? The bear’s brow furrowed with unabashed confusion and visible concern for her mental state. Having never even seen a human, let alone interacted with one, the concept of a fishing rod was beyond his realm of comprehension. When he fished, he did so with his teeth and dove into the water, as he had been doing previously. But with a stick? Now that was definitely different.

“How are you fishing with that?” he asked, jutting his nose towards her invention. That she had nearly smacked herself with it, too, went without being commented on—he wasn’t the type to laugh at something like that, after all. “All you have to do to fish is grab them,” he added as an afterthought. “You don’t need a stick.” Or whatever it was that she was trying to use.

Aningan listened patiently as the female explained herself but, ultimately, decided that it would be safer to give her space, rather than hang around and risk another whack to the head. With little more to say, the boy dismissed himself and took his leave.