Practicing for the Salmon Run

                The day was at its peak as Von rolled around on her back in the soft spring grass, waiting for the rest of the fishing party to arrive. It was not terribly hot outside, but the cream still daydreamed about the cool of the mountain stream they would be visiting. A soft mew made her turn her head.

                A lynx stood next to her, whiskers pressed forward in greeting. Von wuffed a greeting to Tori’s lover, the skinwalker woman Katt. The lynx rubbed its head against her muzzle and the cream licked her in return. Though neither creature could speak to the other, their body language was much easier to understand when both were animals. The lynx leapt carefully onto the pale fur of Von’s stomach and laid down to take a nap before…

                “Von~!”

                The familiar sing-songy voice made Von roll over, much to Katt’s dismay.

                “Hi Kanna!” Von barked, bumping foreheads with the piebald when she laid down beside her. “Did you happen to see any of the others on your way here?”

                Kanna shook her head. “No, but I thought I caught Navajo’s scent on my way here.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s probably waiting for more of the others to get here so he can make some dramatic entrance.”

                Von grinned and nodded in agreement. Both tokotas looked up as a merle and a piebald halfmane trotted towards them. They rose to their paws to greet them.

                “Hey, glad you could make it!” Von said with a smile.

                “The pleasure is ours,” Patches said tail waving.

                “Are we ready to head out?” Kilaun inquired, looking around for more tokotas.

                “We’re still waiting on Navajo and… Who else said they’d come?” Kanna said, turning to Von.

                “I think it was Anguta?” Von offered. “But he said he’d meet us by the river. So I guess that just means we’re waiting on-“

                “Waiting on who?” Navajo’s voice suddenly came from behind them.

                The cluster of tokotas whirled around in surprise. Navajo stood poised, obviously trying to assert himself.

                “I’ve been ready to go,” he said smugly. “You guys have just been too busy making idle chat to notice.”

                Kanna rolled her eyes as Von let out a small sigh.

                “Shall we go, then?” Von asked. The other tokotas nodded, and the group set out for the river with Katt on their heels.

                It wasn’t long before the ragtag group reached the edge of the river they would be fishing in. The particular location they sought out was the largest portion of rapids, where small boulders had been washed down from upstream to rest here, and provide an ideal spot to stand in wait of leaping fish. This time of year, of course, there were no leaping salmon. However, it was worth practicing on smaller fish.

                A soft cough alerted them to Anguta’s presence. He had been lying in wait beneath a nearby bush. He scowled at Katt as he passed, causing her fur to floof and her back to arch in warning. However, he ignored her to focus on the tokotas before him.

                “As I’m sure you’re all aware,” he began, “this is where you will be fishing today. Your goals include, but are not limited to, determining where you’ll work best when trying to fish, actually catching fish, and successfully creating a pile of fish you’ve caught.” The brown halfmane eyed them. “You won’t get everything right at first, but hopefully something will stick so you can be more successful during the salmon run. Also, I expect a portion of the fish you catch as payment for my trouble. That is all.”

                The group gave each other uncertain glances, causing Anguta to roll his eyes.

                “Well, get to it!” he snapped, going to sit beside the river’s edge.

                Von shrugged at Kanna when she gave her a ‘wtf’ face, and waded into the water towards a rocky platform to stand on. With a small nod of encouragement from Kanna, the rest of the tokotas fell into place.

    Patches jumped from rock to rock until she reached the end of the line. Suddenly realizing the rock she ended up on was too small, she eyed the other small rock not too far away. Maybe she could straddle the rocks while fishing….?

    Kanna stretched and laid down on her rock. It was warm from the spring sun… hmmmm… a nap would be nice right about now. Turning around to make comment about the thought to Von, she noticed the cream had already snagged a fish in her jaws. The two locked eyes and grinned. Ehhh, the nap could wait. The piebald wanted to see who could catch the most fish between the two, now.

    Kilaun peered off the edge of his rock to gaze into the water. The churning water was somewhat murky, but he could still spot what he thought were the shadows of fish moving beneath the surface. Suddenly, a shadow leapt up the waterfall before him, transforming into a silvery fish.

    “Hurry up and grab it!” barked Navajo from above.

    Startled, Kiluan let the fish get away, and it fell back down the waterfall. The wolverine above him snarled.

    “Idiot!” he chided. Kilaun flinched at his tone. “You gotta grab them when they jump! Like this!” The brown was wading in the shallow waters near the edge of the waterfall. He watched the waters below with calculating eyes. When fish scales gleamed in the air, he snatched it out of the air. “See!?” he called down to the halfmane piebald. “Like that!”

    Kilaun nodded nervously, but resumed his fish search, snapping at leaping fish as they passed him.

    At the river’s edge, Anguta was giving Katt the evil eye. She did her best to ignore it, but it was rather difficult to miss given how small she was in comparison to the tokota. She mewed and flinched when he leaned down to sniff her loudly. When his lips pulled back to expose the tip of a fang, she hissed menacingly, ears laid back, and claws at the ready. The tokota merely sneered at her before sitting back down. Unnerved, she edged away from him. A yelp of delight distracted Anguta, and he rose to help Kilaun with his fish. The tokota was wriggling in excitement and talking about how many more he would now be able to catch. Katt sighed. It seemed like this trip would not end as quickly as she hoped.

Word count: 1077

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HOLY COW this took WAAAAY longer than expected to finish. O.e
Anywho, I hope the wait was worth it! This round of fishing features my girl Von, Jaimep 's Kanna, carnivaleart 's Navajo, clupis 's Kilaun, hirvlased 's Patches, and Anguta 05, as well as my second handler, Katt, in her lynx form!

Finished version of Practicing for the Salmon Run --- YTH [CLOSED]!

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Link to import sheet: Von 1472
Link to fishing journal: Von 1472 Tracking Journal
Items used: Sturdy Rod
Companions: N/A

Link to import sheet: Navajo 859
Link to fishing journal: Navajo 859
Items used: N/A
Companions: Wolverine (does not benefit fishing)

Link to import sheet: Patches 1457
Link to fishing journal: Patches 1457
Items used: N/A
Companions: N/A

Link to import sheet: Kanna 1182
Link to fishing journal: Kanna Fishing/Hunting/Exploring Journal 
Items used: N/A
Companions: N/A

Link to import sheet: Kilaun 2091
Link to fishing journal: Hunting/Fishing/Exploration Journal
Items used: N/A
Companions: N/A

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Von: Colored/shaded fullbody w/ complex BG + fishing + starter + handler + non-commissioned art + 1077 words = 17HP
Navajo: Colored/shaded fullbody w/ complex BG + fishing + starter + handler + 1077 words = 16HP
Patches: Colored/shaded fullbody w/ complex BG + fishing + starter + handler + 1077 words = 16HP
Kanna: Colored/shaded fullbody w/ complex BG + fishing + starter + handler + 1077 words = 16HP
Kilaun: Colored/shaded fullbody w/ complex BG + fishing + starter + handler +1077 words = 16HP