RP:Mates for Minnows

Synopsis: Tiber was supposed to go fishing with Bjorn, but Aira shows instead. Tiber has not caught a bite, but Aira explains it's because to catch bigger fish, he needs smaller ones. The two barely have a heart-to-heart, and honestly just agitate each other. Aira also says that Tiber is the worst mate choice for Lanara since he cannot catch a fish.

Part of the New Moon, New Motion Arc

Odd Watering Hole

Living in Sage was different from the bustling streets of the coastal city. Mornings were a lot quieter and the days became slower. Slow at ease. Since moving to Sage, the man was discovering different areas of the forest, and one of those had been a local watering hole. Tiberius snuck out early that moment while his fiance was asleep. Today was a day to go fishing with Bjorn, a member of the Amber Lunation. Everything was set to go, a tackle box, two fishing poles strapped to the back of Tiber’s back, and a picnic basket… A manly one because men do not go on picnics. Right? Okay, well, maybe Tiber was liking the idea of bro time. Coming into the clear of the pack house, Tiber knocks on the door. A cue that Bjorn and Tiber would agree on to not wake the others in the house. With a knock several times, there had been no answer. Well, until a silver-haired girl popped her head out of the window drowsily. “Tiber, what the -hell- are you doing?” The angsty young adult loudly whispers below. Tiber looks up the two story house and the man frowns. “Is Bjorn awake? We were supposed to go fishing this mor--” Quickly Violet replies in her grumpy, sleepy mood, “Bjorn was out late at the tavern, now go away!” The teen shuts the window tight and Tiber is left baffled. Despite Bjorn’s womanizing, party-life ways, Tiberius was not going to let Bjorn ruin the morning, so the Catalian heads to the watering hole, himself. Coming into the clearing, the blonde finds a rock next to the water before tying bait onto the hook. Then, the man throws the fishing pole behind him before casting forward. What a serene morning for such a brooding man.

Aira normally craved the blustery wind and the cold, dampness that accompanied Frostmaw. Despite being the exact opposite of the climate she was raised in, she cherished it. Anything was better than Rynvale--even the blizzards atop the mountain. But something drew her down to Sage more often now. Every time she made her way back home, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind had her turning around and coming right back. It was similar to when she interacted with spirits, only this time, there were no corporeal beings. Just tiny whispers of information that refused to leave her alone. Gone were her leathers and furs and in their place she wore a form fitting pair of dark trousers, an off white cotton blouse, and a brown under-bust corset. Her long blonde hair was tamed in a high ponytail atop her head and knee high boots adorned her feet. Of course she still kept her bow in hand with a quiver of arrows on her back--you can take the vixen out of her hunting ground but you can't take the huntress out of the vixen. A meeting had been set up with a distant relative of the Barren's family--a key to this mysterious monster that had been plaguing Aira's thoughts--but she received correspondence earlier that morning informing her it needed to be postponed as they had fallen ill thanks to some food poisoning. Wanting to stay near in case of the bout of sickness only lasted a day, Aira opted to roam around Sage, refamiliarizing herself with the forrest. She was content in her solitude when a sudden noise up ahead pulled her up short. She quickly hid behind the nearest tree, silently pulling an arrow from her quiver and knocking it into place. Pulling her bowstring taught, the huntress began to close the distance between herself and the noise, easily adapting to the brush underfoot and remaining eerily quiet in her tread. She came upon the clearing, her arrow poking out behind the tree trunk, before her metallic eyes did. If she was expecting game she was sorely disappointed because the noise came from Tiber--casting a line into the water. Aira rolled her eyes and lowered her bow, grumbling to herself. She considered sending the arrow at him anyway--not -at- him exactly, just near him. But she tried not to make a habit of killing people unless they deserved it. Or they annoyed her. Or she was bored. Stashing her arrow back into her quiver and pulling her bow over her body Aira stepped out from behind the tree. "You won't catch anything worthwhile with that pathetic bait."

Tiber sat lazily on the rock. Eventually, one arm was extended backwards with a palm flat on the dirt ground while the other hand held the pole. Tiber did not need to hold it, but he was not about to lose the only fishing pole he owned. Besides the point, Tiber was just trying to enjoy his early morning, but that did not mean he was not aware of his surroundings. There was a faint scent nearby, and one that was tucked behind a nearby tree. The blonde man did not move, however, instead he remained calm and still. He would react if he needed to. The man was territorial which meant he was not going to be messed with if one was going to attack. The palm that was on the ground began to grip full of dirt. What Tiber? Are you going to throw dirt at the enemy? Amber eyes stare towards the blue waters as he watches to see if his line was bobbing and then, a familiar voice. An -obnoxious- voice. He knew who it was. Lazily, he rolls his neck to look over his shoulder at the huntress and his palm full of dry dirt releases. "Oh, good morning, sunshine," sarcasm rolls off his tongue. "Should I be using you then? A little bit of minced feline. I’m sure those fish will go swishing with joy. Roles would be reversed, I’m sure.” Cliche, rude Tiberius. What was new? “It’s early. Didn’t think too many travellers would be awake. Don’t tell me you live in these parts and we are new neighbors or something…” he grumbles. He had met Aira in Sage the last time they ran into each other.

Aira treats Tiber to a bright smile when he referred to her as sunshine--although the only thing about her that could be seen as sunny was her blonde hair. "Ooh look who has a bit of a backbone. That's cute!" she responds just as sarcastically. Without an invitation she meanders over to where Tiber sits and plops down on the ground next to the lycan, pulling his pack of fishing supplies near her so she can inspect them and see if they are up to her standards. His question about where she lives causes a slight change in the huntress, a rare show of something more emotional crossing her visage. She deliberately keeps her eyes on the bucket as she clears her throat and schools her face into a mask of indifference. "Well, no technically I live in Frostmaw but I am looking to move down the mountain. I'm just not sure where exactly. Scoping things out." Aira's copper eyes, still not meeting Tiber's, shift to the still surface of the water and she peers down into it the depths. "See those little minnows. You'd catch bigger and better fish if you used them as bait instead of...whatever you're using," she says matter-of-factly, that familiar arrogance returning to her tone.

Tiber offers her a smirk for a ‘cute’ retort and then he rolls his head back to his pole. As she plops down, amber eyes shift to take the feline in a little closer, for the last time they met, it was a brief encounter of hunting down a rabbit. Eyes then switch down to the supplies she is observing before he frowns. “Nosy type, huh?” The man was taking little mental notes of her character--only assumptions. The clearing of her throat makes him sit up a little bit, taking that hand off the ground. He hunches instead. “Frostmaw blows,” he pauses. “My--” ‘Girlfriend’, Tiber. No calling her ‘fiance’ yet. “Girlfriend travels a lot to visit her sister. I don’t get why people like the cold. Her sister must be crazy to live up there.” Beat. “I’m fond of being warm, myself. I lived in Cenril for a long time.” There was a serious moment for a split before he blinked out of it until he traced his gaze to the minnows below. “Hm,” his tongue pierces inside his cheek and frowns at her arrogance, but he shakes his head. “I’m not really a fisherman. It was really just supposed to be ‘bro time’. Then again, I should get used to this.” The only bait he had really brought was dug up worms. “I know they like certain bugs. Crickets, hoppers…” He then squints. “You know, there is the swamps if you want to feel like you’re at home,” he grinned teasingly at the woman, but it was meant for light-poke fun on his part. “You don’t like Frostmaw?”

Aira doesn't seem too impressed with what she finds in Tiber's supplies; there's nothing problematic with the, they are just not up to her standards. "Hmm, sometimes," comes her short reply to the nosey comment. The huntress tents her knee after abandoning her snooping and begins to unlace her boot before tugging it off along with her sock and rolling up her pants. She then repeats the process with her opposite leg. "I'm from Rynvale," she explains. "And it wasn't a good upbringing. So when I escaped I wanted to go as far away as I could. Frostmaw was it." Aira shrugs. She agreed it was a rough terrain and the weakest wouldn't survive up there--so him. When Tiber mentions living in Cenril for a long time, Aira scoffs, sinking her feet into the cool water up to her ankles. "You've lived in Cenril for a long time and you're this pathetic at fishing??" Aira shakes her head in disgust. She shoots him a squinty eyes glare when he mentions the swamps in Gualon and her feeling at home there. "Ha ha," she says sarcastically before shrugging at Tiber's question of Frostmaw. "I like it just fine, just looking for a change." Aira turns her head to look at the lycan more seriously. "And what the hell is bro time?"

Tiber listens to Aira’s brief explanation of why she went to Frostmaw. He does not really say anything to that since he is not the touchy-feely-get-to-know-someone type. He slightly was trying from being with the witch and how emotional she was, but it was a learning curve. He snorts at her insult as it does not phase him in the slightest. “Not a fisherman. I was more of the city boy side of Cenril. Business. The snobby classy people. Clean suits.” That would make sense. Snobs that paid. A boyish grin then settles at her sarcastic laughter before he looks back at the watering hole. “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re a shell of a being. It’s when two guys get together and hang. Fish, drink, be a wingman whatever. Think of ‘girl time’ and translate it for a dude.”

Aira doesn't attempt to hide her distaste when Tiber explains that he wasn't a fisherman because he grew up in the city, with the rich snobby people. She was raised by rich, snobby people, and not nice ones at that. The only reason she had an idea about fishing prior to leaving Rynvale was because when her parents were entertaining or elsewhere, she would sneak down to the docks and steal her brother's boat. None of this is shared with the lycan, though. She just sits beside him with a sour expression on her face. The huntress seems to accept the explanation of what "bro time" is but when Tiber compares it to "girl time" she simply stares at him with a blank expression, copper eyes wide and unblinking. "Girl time?" Aira repeats, a question in her tone. Despite living in the "real world" for the last several years, she still lived a shelter life, except her new one was of her choosing.

Tiber only gives Aira a blank stare in return at the sour face she makes. Clearly he does not get her expression, nor does her face phase him. The man then stands to stretch after he explains his “bro hour” meaning. He leans over to roll his own pant-legs up to sink into the water where the minnows remain below. Some swim automatically away while other minnows begin to swim up and nibble at the man’s toes. Tiber wiggles them and waits patiently as he stares down while Aira questions him about “girl time”. Of course stereotypical Tiber peeks up at first before quirking a brow. Then, his gaze is back down. “What? You don’t paint your nails? Lanara does it all the time. Only I don’t know, maybe you paint your nails with like… chicks? Aka someone like Lana?” Clearly he is digging a stereotypical hole here. The man then lunges down with a hand while water splashes around them with the force as he tries to snatch a mini fish. No luck. “Dangit…” He blows out his lips. He then glances up. “I’m sure you’re dying to teach me instead of -actually- talking to me,” the man is blunt. It might have been true. Aira and Tiber were not really picturesque besties. “Are you going to help or what?" What a rude man. "Or are you just entertained that I don’t actually know how to catch a tiny fish?”

Aira wrinkles her nose at Tiber when he goes on to explain about ‘girl time’ and what it entails. The closest that the huntress has gotten to purposefully painting her nails in years was when the blood of the animal she’d slain dries there. “No, I don’t do that type of thing,” she says. “Not with Lana or with anyone else for that matter.” She was standing in a pond with Tiber teaching him how to catch fish with his hands–did he really expect her to be the stereotypical girly girl? She watches Tiber struggle with mild amusement and indeed a smirk plays on her lips as he attempts to catch a fish and fails miserably. “How are you to make a good mate for Lanara if you can’t even catch fish?” she tsks, waggling her finger at him. “First you couldn’t catch the rabbit and now this.” She really would rather him struggle until he finally got the hang of it, but Lanara is her frenemy and if -someone- doesn’t show him the proper way, the witch would be doomed. Breathing out a heavy sigh, Aira steps beside Tiber and begins to slowly mime her movements. “Alright Bard Boy, let’s catch you a minnow.” And, true to her word, the huntress stays beside the lycan until he manages to catch some fish. “Good job. Maybe next time you’ll graduate to catching goldfish.” With a taunting wink, the huntress climbs out of the water, snags her boots, and gives Tiber a mock salute, before disappearing back into the trees.

Tiber was not surprised by the girly girl comment because deep down he knew Aira was not one. It was just another way to get under the skin. When she makes the retort about not being a ‘good mate’ by not being able to catch a fish, he scoffed. “I didn’t know fish chose the fate of romance.” When she mentions the rabbit, he rolls his eyes. “Give me a -break-. Hunting doesn’t determine anything. If anything, Lanara hates it. Clearly you have a thing or two to learn about social emotional skills.” Not that he had any. Eventually, he stares at the minnows again as they swim around. The second time he reaches in, he manages to grasp onto two at the same time. A quickness he did not have before. The stealth. Once Aira ‘congratulates’ him, he makes a dorky, ‘hah’ face at him before sneering at her with a face of disgust before waving her away to get her out of his sight, anyway.