[Closed] The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad.

[pactfulfilled]

Date & Time: October 30 through November 3 (19XX/Winter Local Time)
Location: Alaska
Characters: Sophie Lhant & Asbel Lhant
Summary: The father-daughter duo travel north on a fishing excursion in search of the legendary King Crab.
Warnings: High-level cheesiness and possibly some angst.


[The ground crunches underfoot as they make their way from the lodge to a nearby lake. Two reels balance over Asbel's right shoulder, and a bucket with an auger tucked inside to punch through the ice swings from a gloved hand. He's left the tackle and another bucket in Sophie's care after fussing over whether she'd be warm enough.]

[Maybe they needed this chance to get away for a while. Sophie still seems a little down to Asbel and...he could honestly use a chance to clear his head, too. Besides, there's little chance of them finding any decent fish on the moon base - or more specifically, crablettes. So here they are, with plans to go "ice fishing" and bring enough catch back to share with the others. The only problem is Asbel's barely ever done anything like this before. He definitely never went fishing with his own father.]

[Asbel turns to check on Sophie for what is most likely the sixth or seventh time since they began walking.]

Hey, Sophie? What was that crab called again? The one the lady at the front desk told us about.

Comments

[blossomgale]

[ Don't worry, Asbel. She isn't going to run off elsewhere in Alaska without telling him. She's bundled up warm enough with some extra layers of clothing and toting around the the tackle and bucket with plenty of ease. Despite the departure of many of their friends, her fascination about going fishing for the first time has her mind distracted for the time being. She's always excited about learning something new. ]

An Alaskan king crab. [ Strong emphasis on the king. She hasn't smiled in awhile, but now, she's actually smiling at the thought of catching a crab. ] There really are royal crablettes!

[pactfulfilled]

Oh, that's right! A king crab.

[Asbel can't help but grin back at her. Seeing Sophie smiling again is a huge relief, even though he knows it'll still take some time.]

We'll have to be careful where we walk. The ice could still be thin in places. Once we find a good spot, we'll make a hole in the ice so we can drop our fishing lines down.

[blossomgale]

I'll be careful.

[ And if any of them actually fall through the ice, they're bound to dive right after each other. Here's hoping nothing like that happens. She nods her head and looks around. ]

Asbel, how do you know if the ice is thin or not?

[pactfulfilled]

How? [Good question.]

Um... Well, I if the ice appears darker than the area around it, or if it's cracked in places, that might be an indicator?

[Or if it starts to give beneath one of them, but he's really hoping they can avoid that somehow. It's way too cold out here to be going for a swim!]

Maybe we could use our equipment to test it before walking too far out there.

[blossomgale]

Hmm...

[ She looks at both the stacks of equipment they're carrying. Which can they use? She's not even sure what all this stuff does! Aside from the two reels they have, she spots another pole. ]

We can poke the ice with something before we walk on it!

[pactfulfilled]

[Asbel nods at Sophie's suggestion.]

Yeah, let's do that! That way there won't be any accidents.

[It isn't far to the edge of the lake now, and when they near it, Asbel comes to a stop, setting the bucket down at his feet. The water looks pretty frozen, but then the snow has also dusted onto the ice, so figuring out exactly where the ground ends and the lake begins is tricky to say the least.]

Should we start around here, then? It's...hard to tell.

1/2

[blossomgale]

Let's see...

[ Reaching for their stack of tools, she pulls the pole out. Time to test out this poking method. She carefully steps closer to the edge of the lake and prods at the frozen water with the pole.

Prods once...

Then twice... ]

[blossomgale]

[ By the third prod, there's a large crack showing up already... ]

...

I think I poked it too hard.

[pactfulfilled]

[Ever in "protect mode", Asbel shuffles forward a few steps just in case something happens - so he'll be ready to grab her or wrestle pond ice or whatever. Otherwise, he just stands there watching as Sophie begins testing the surface.]

[--That is, until the third try sends a wicked white zigzag shooting across the ice.]

Y-yeah, well, maybe just a little...! [His nerves can't handle this.] Wow, Sophie. We won't even need to drill a hole at this rate.

[blossomgale]

[ Her strength can be a bit much. She can probably just send the whole frozen surface collapsing into the water by punching it, but she might fall in if she doesn't use the pole. ]

...Should I just keep poking it?

[pactfulfilled]

[He laughs faintly. Yeah, nerves, it's definitely nerves. Asbel moves to stand just a little closer. It's his "protect" mode kicking in.]

Yeah, but maybe in a different spot? And don't put quite so much power behind it this time. We don't really need to break all the ice up, after all, just test to see how strong it is.