Day 087: Fishing And Innuendo
Summary: Some Trikru take a break from building to fish and chat together.
Date: Day Month Year
Related: None
Afaye Fayet Kai Khesu 


Eastern Shore, Lake Audo — The Wilderness
Surrounded by breathtaking mountains and rolling foothills, the Lake Audo— or known as Lake Arkadia the Skaikru — is a sprawling, crystalline body of water that joins the Potomac watershed. It is encompassed in low grasses and young alder trees. The forests start to thicken to the west, beyond the looming broken torus of the Skaikru's Alpha Compound on the opposite shore. The eastern shore is more grassy than forested, possessing more of a meadow in the mountain valley. The road that leads into the valley divides off, one fork leading to Camp Jaha, and the other this way toward the Trikru settlement of New Coesbur.
Day 87

A weak stretch of late-afternoon sun peeks through the canopy of grey clouds overhead, casting a watery and dim glow upon the cleared site of New Coesbur. The scent of a summer rainstorm lingers on the air, heavy with lingering ozone and the fresh green of opened earth. Most of the workers about the village have seen fit to take a break during the afternoon rain, and only a few bodies are seen casually moving through the young village darting from porch to doorway to avoid puddles and slick, muddy spots.

One of these happens to be Afaye who strides away from the stables with a fishing rod and small rucksack and a bucket, and her destination appears to be one of her favored fishing spots along the edge of the lake. She is stopped near the middle of the village by a passing friend, and the two take a moment to converse with each other.

With the rain and general slickness of the building materials, work was called early for the moment, with an eye towards resuming later. Which means that Kai finds herself free of building for the time being. She ambles past the community kitchen to snag herself some fresh baked bread, eyeing Afaye's fishing rod thoughtfully. Before she makes her way in the direction of Afaye and her friend without particular purpose other than curiosity.

<FS3> Khesu rolls Finesse+finesse: Success. (2 2 4 8 6 2 3 3)

Already down by the Lake is a single man seated alone. Khesu's not been real active the past weeks due to his having had another very serious head injury. He's also been rather depressed and quiet, keeping to himself and unable to work. Of somewhat ill temper he's been spending time with his infant son or sleeping a lot. Currently he looks bored, picking through stones scattered around on the ground at the edge of the water where he sits on a log. When he find something suitable, he picks it up and fingers it for it's flatness and balance. He then tosses the stone out over the water to try and skip it over the quiet lake. It skips nicely once, then plops and sinks … like stone. A brief frown, then he's looking for another stone without haste.
His skin of mead lays propped against the log with a small cup set on top.

"No, but I will keep an eye out for you," Afaye can be heard saying to her friend, and the two part ways just as the former turns to spy Kai approaching her. Smiling, the horsemaster lifts a hand in greeting and calls out a "Heya, Kai!" She brandishes her fishing pole in her other hand and bobs her head in Khesu's general direction. "Thought I'd take a break from the animals to do something quiet and relaxing and not particularly physical." She pauses, eyeing up the girl for a moment before baring her teeth in a brief grin. "You look like you could use it, yes? Come join me. I see a man yonder who could use some sort of occupation, too."

"Your set up is better than mine, Afaye." Kai grins with a look at the fishing pole before digging in one of her pockets to produce a twisted piece of metal in a hook shape attached to a simple piece of string, smirking ruefully,"Good time to do it though, rain's stopped at least for a few minutes." she tears the bread in half to offer the other woman a portion of it before turning her eyes towards Khesu,"If nothing else, to stop him from scaring off the fish?" she calls out,"Hey, Khesu!" by way of greeting, dipping her head his way by way of indication to Afaye before she begins to amble thattaway herself.

Khesu is at least more perceptive than a brick. He turns his head when he hears voices and then Kai's hailing him. He gives the pair of them an up nod and seeing they have fishing gear, he lets the next stone he had collected fall lightly out of his calloused hand and back to the ground - without tossing it out over the water. Gone is the bandage from his head and his dark hair obscures the deep gash in the back of his skull he had most recently suffered. The swelling around his left eye has finally receded enough that his face is starting to look fairly normal once more. He remains where he is seated and doesn't get up, but does pick up his cup to take a drink from it, waiting for the other two.

"Heya, Khesu," Afaye greets, following in Kai's wake as she heads toward the lake's edge. Afaye sets down her bucket and takes up the hook tied to the end of the string attached her makeshift fishing pole. Her gaze darts to Kai, and she grins briefly. "With all the wood you've been cutting, Kai, you've had ample time to fashion yourself a little pole. Strip a young and limber branch and you'll be set." Without ado, she seats herself on the log beside Khesu and considers the torn half of the bread in her hand which she holds up for his inspection. "Think they'll bite? I think it'll dissolve before it would even matter." She squints at him while simultaneously reaching into the bucket at her feet to pull out a slowly wriggling worm. "How's your head? And your eye. It's good to see you without all the bandages."

"Can't say I particularly thought about a pole, though." Kai admits with a shrug of her shoulders,"And they only let me back on the crew a few days ago after that stuff with Sonia's people." she does elect to stick her little contraption back in her pocket in order to go collect one of the offcasts to bring over with her, her half of the bread held between her teeth for the moment as she comes to sit on Khesu's other side so she can take out her knife and strip off any lingering branches, leaving Afaye to ask the questions for the moment.

Hands in her pockets, Fayet strolls down to the water. She's wearing a sleeveless shirt, showing off her hard-won carpenter's arms. She approaches the cluster of people quietly, sitting down at the end of the log. "Afternoon," she says, pulling a hand from her pocket and waving a bit.

"Worms are better, but if you roll a hard, small ball of bread very firmly, it'll stay on the hook for a while." He rumbles low in Trik. Not mind you that he's an expert fisherman. "I prefer spear or bow fishing." His dark eyes slip to Kai at mention of Sonia's people since Khesu was among those who dealt with that band. That is how he became injured again. Quietly, he picks up the skin of mead and offers it to each of them. An upnod when Fayet as well joins them.

Afaye jams the bread between her teeth to free her hands so she can hook the worm. She eyes it for a moment, speared on the thin, curved piece of metal before rising up so she can cast the line. No expert fisherman, her technique is basic and lazy, but it gets the job done - the hooked worm lands on the surface of the still lake with a gentle *ploop!*, allowing her to resume her seat. She settles with a quiet groan of someone with stiff joints. She sticks her legs out in front of her and finally pulls the bread from her mouth, chewing and talking around it shamelessly. Her gaze goes from Kai to Fayet, and Afaye offers a nod of greeting. "I'd rather eat the bread myself." Grinning, she accepts the offer of mead and swigs from the skin before passing it back.

Kai upnods at Fayet as she works on stripping branches and tests the flex of her chosen pole carefully, dropping her portion of the bread into her lap,"It is good to see you up and about again, Khe." she offers quietly. Of course, the annoying teenager only got stabbed six times out there, and looks entirely too obnoxiously healthy. Damn those Skai-genes,"I got it for eating.. I love fresh bread." she's got no shame in admitting, taking a turn of the skin with a grateful grin.

"Drinking anything goood?" Fayet asks, sneaking a little piece of the bread. The carpenter is in good spirits — the warm late summer day seems to be agreeing with her. She gaze out over the water, chewing thoughtfully.

Kai is young and Khesu … is less so. It is no surprise to him that she bounces back so fast, so full of life. Though he has been worried for her on more than one occasion. Just now he seems relaxed and taking his ease, sipping his mead. He listens to the others who have joined him though he himself is mostly quiet. "Mochof." He rumbles, then picks up the skin to hand it over to Fayet to find out for herself. It's mead. He leans a little against Afaye while doing so, companionable upon the log they all share. Dark eyes idly watch Afaye's finishing line out in the water for signs of any nibbling. It seems his left eye is doing better.

Afaye nudges Khesu with her shoulder and smiles, watching her line for a minute or two as everyone on the log lapses into a brief silence. "Kai's right. It is good to see you around again, old man. How is your eye, by the way? I feel like I've asked that already." She grins mischievously before stretching out her arm and holding up two fingers off to his left side. "How many fingers am I holding up?" But she abandons this line of teasing in order to tug on her line, presumably causing the hook beneath the water to dance and drift tantalizingly for the fish. She opens her mouth to direct a different question at Khesu, but glances sidelong at the others present and opts to address Kai instead. "I recommend notching your pole or something to help guide your line a bit."

Kai doesn't mind having some of her bread stolen, heck, she snagged it because warm bread is awesome, and well, she's had enough of being rained on earlier and something warm and yummy was a good distraction. The girl eyes Afaye's pole, listening to her advice as she works on getting hers set up, before sticking her knife back in its sheath and rising briefly to carefully flick her own pole into the water. There's a smirk, for Afaye's line of questioning of Khesu,"You reckon we'll get some more rain later?" she elects to ask of Fayet,"Not that I mind not having to try and haul wet and slippery poles for half a day at least."

Fayet raises an eyebrow. "And what do you know of wet, slippery poles, child?" she asks, trying to keep a straight face.

Aye, she did but Khesu hadn't answered. He lifts a hand up to his face and feels carefully around his left eye, still tender around the area of his skull where the bone had been punched through. "It is better. I can see with it." He gently but firmly nudges Afaye in the ribs at calling him an 'old man' and eyes her. "I am not old, yet." For answer to how many fingers she holds up, he rubs his nose with his middle finger and curls one side of his mouth into a daring grin to taunt her right back. There's a look and a smirk at Fayet's quip to Kai but -he- keeps his mouth shut. Wise man, maybe.

Afaye laughs quietly at Khesu's response and sticks her tongue out him, muttering something like "poophead" beneath her breath. Fayet's quip causes her to snort, but she tries to cover it up with a polite fake cough. Eyeballing Kai, Afaye's lips quirk upward in a wide grin. "I dunno, she might be old enough to know how to wrangle poles, but I'm not sure it's our business, yeh? But if you tell her about your experience with poles, Kai, you best be sure she reciprocates. It's only fair." Firm nod. Afaye shifts a bit on the log and clicks the toes of her boots together in a somewhat childlike manner as she waves her own pole back and forth a bit.

Kai eyes Fayet with a pause as her brain goes through it,"Green eden and I'm supposed to be the teenager?" she utters with a look towards the sky that's totally ruined by her own smirk before her attention rolls towards Afaye, which of course means that she winds up spotting Khesu, which at least seems to forestall whatever she might have been about to say on the subject with a cough,"So fish, do you think we're likely to catch any today?" is what she opts for instead.

Afaye's sticking her tongue out and the rest of it works. Khesu starts to chuckle, a good, deep almost laugh and it lasts like thunder that rolls in the distance. But she did manage to improve his dampened humor, at least for the moment. He sighs and pours himself more of the mead and eyes Kai with a lifted brow. He rumbles low, "She is not a child, she is a Warrior Second who has done much to prove herself, thus far. She has brought no shame upon Wren." As to her love life, Khesu doesn't mention Elias. He takes a drink from his cup, instead.

Fayet laughs, eyes twinkling. "Oh, I know all of this. I can still tease the girl. Or is that forbidden now?" she asks, batting her eyes at Khesu. She leans forward, resting her forearms on her thighs, dreadlocks swaying around her face.

For answer to Fayet's question, Khesu dips his fingers into his mead cup and flicks them at her playfully.

"Thank you, Khesu.. and if it is forbidden, Fayet.. he would be in just as much trouble.. given the amount of shit he gave me over a tee shirt in Tondc." she rolls her eyes, using her teeth to tear off a chunk of the bread and munching on it as if this will somehow spare her from uttering anything else, her own line listless in the water given her attention on other things.

"Oh! I think I got something," Afaye announces, jumping up from her seat and walking closer to the water's edge. She begins pulling back on her pole and letting it out again, and when the line goes taut she pulls again before starting to reel in the line with her hands. The slick string slips through her fingers a few times, causing her extra work to pull in a single damn fish, but when she finally does fling it out of the water— "Ah hah, dinner!" A large, four-eyed silver fish wriggles madly in the air, still dangling from the hook, and she works it loose quickly before tossing it into the bucket by the log. "Well now I'm spent. I have no patience for fishing. Care to take my pole, Fayet?"

Yes, yes, Khesu did enjoy giving Kai some shit over her very un-Trikru T-shirt. It was so … Skaikru. So he grins like the bastard he is and sips his drink. Aye, he's being quiet tonight - but then he often is, preferring to listen and speak little. His interest perks up when Afaye jumps up and attends to her line. He gets up to see if she wants any assistance but she seems to be handling it all right. She must be deft not to let it break her line or pole. His baritone rumbles low, "At least it's not a river snake. That will be good eating."

Fayet wrinkles her nose. "And that is a waste of perfectly good…" she licks up a droplet that fell on the back of her hand. "Mead. Perfectly good mead." She waggles her eyebrow at Afaye. "Darlin', I've been waiting for you to ask me that for years," she says, scooting over to take control of the fishing pole.

Spent. Oh boy. Kai can't help the teenage smirking, really, she can't, pressing her lips together to try and conceal it with only minimal success, not helped any by Khesu, or Fayet, even if Khesu's was a largely innocent lead in for Fayet's comment, the ex Skaigirl winds up with her head in her own lap, shoulders shaking with amusement as she tries to keep the laughter silent.

All of the subtle and not-so-subtle jokes keep Afaye fizzing with laughter, and the fish slips in her fingers and nearly flops onto the ground as she casts it into her bucket. Laughing breathlessly, she wipes her face with her bare forearm and hands her pole over to Fayet. It's possible she's blushing, but nobody will ever be able to tell. Instead, she makes a face at Khesu and flops onto the ground near him to lean back against the log. "River snakes are poor eating, to say the least. Don't let your line get too slack, Fayet. What kind of shirt were you wearing, Kai?"

The various women folk are eyed. Khesu smiles a little through his beard ere he rumbles low to Afaye, "You should work on your stamina. I'm sure you can find someone to help you with that where the handling of poles are concerned." He puts out a hand not for the poll but to offer to carry her fish on up to be cleaned, if she wants the company. To Fayet he grins, "What? You don't like to have good things dribbled all over you? Hardly a waste." Yes, this conversation has gotten naughty. It's surely Kai's fault! Ah well, Afaye doesn't seem to be heading up to cook the fish just yet so he digs out his tobacco pouch and his pipe and remains standing for the moment.

"Not everyone likes a dribbler," Fayet retorts, deadpan. She bats her eyes and goes back to focusing on the fishing rod.

"I.. ah.. was given a shirt… by a guy. Like this one." which is navy sleeved and may have been white once but has long since been fouled by rifle grease and who knows what else and has a few stitched together bits from the number of times it has been shredded thanks to being under her armor usually,"So that one decided to start giving me shit about possibly going back to being Skai. Even though it came from a scout." she totally just covers her eyes as Khesu picks up the slack and nope, there's no hope of her not laughing out loud, covering her eyes with one of her hands and shaking her head,"Green eden I'm going to pull something." she manages to utter, totally not considering in context that it's only going to make things worse.

"Especially when it gets in your hair," Afaye mutters to Fayet, biting down hard on her lower lip to keep the burbling hysterical laughter at bay. Her shoulders shake with the effort, and she closes her eyes in an attempt to get herself under control, but really, Kai doesn't know when to stop. She inhales sharply through her nose, and this attempt to stay quiet promptly backfires and she lets out an explosive bray of laughter from between her pressed lips. One hand claps over her mouth, and a few giggles escape from between her fingers. "Are yougoing to helpme practice—Khesu?" she inquires, pushing the words out between bouts of holding her breath to keep herself from dissolving entirely.

Khesu looks perfectly innocent and manages not to burst out laughing. But he does grin when Afaya looses it. Quietly, he pulls out a pinch of sweet knickknick tobacco and puts it into his pipe. The tobacco is closed up and put away and he removes a small clam shell from the same belt pouch. Opening it up, the small thing is hinged and carries a single coal tucked into sawdust. The coal is carefully nudged with a thin stick from the same pouch and he carefully, delicately blows on it to light his taper. THat is used in turn to light his pipe. Khesu is a patient man and has much practice. All else is then put away and the fragrance of his pipe smoke begins to scent the lake side air.

Only once he's done that does Khesu look back to Afaye, "Perhaps I will, if you ask me nicely." Scoundrel.

"I think all bets are off now that she knows you're a dribbler," Fayet quips. She gets excited and starts reeling something in. It's a big one! It's… part of an old bathtub faucet? She grumbles, disentangling the rusted metal from her line.

Still snorting with mirth, Afaye tilts her head back to rest it on the log briefly while she half-laughs and half-hiccups her way down from the natural high. She opens her eyes and turns to look at Khesu, a smile still playing about her mouth. "You are—" but she doesn't get to finish that comment as Fayet begins to reel in her line in excitement. Instead, the horsemaster sits up and makes as if to rise and help, but the disappointment of a piece of junk has her sitting back once more. "We catch one more, and I'll cook one for you if you gut them, Khes." She glances sidelong toward him, meeting his gaze, and once again she offers that odd little smile. "I think you killed Kai."

The Trikru veteran warrior turns his head to check on Kai. She does appear to be in stitches, and she might even wet herself, but he only grins with amusement in his dark eyes. Yes, yes he's a horrible man and loves it. The pipe is removed from his mouth and he slowly exhales the spicy smoke. He so rarely gets to enjoy his pipe. "Aye, don't mind to clean them. It does not take long." And, he's fair with a knife. He lifts his good brow at her for not finishing her thought but leaves it at that. A light huff of breath for Fayet, "I hope you can swim, should I toss you into the lake."

Fayet bats her eyes. "You'd have to catch me first," she says to Khesu, grinning. She glances over at Kai. "It's good for her. A little embarrassment puts hair on your chest."

Kai is certainly crippled in the least, laughing enough that she's crying. It's no wonder she hasn't caught a damned thing so far,"I don't need any hair on my chest.. and I'm not embarrassed. You lot are just.." awful? Adults? She elects to just shake her head as she endeavors to catch her breath, wiping at her eyes.

"I'll stick out a foot and trip her for you," Afaye stage-whispers to Khesu, from behind her hand. She emphasizes this with an overly-obvious wink before gesturing for Fayet to hand the rod back to her. "Here, I'll do it again. If I don't catch something soon, he's liable to die of starvation." Sighing, she heaves herself up off the ground yet again (her poor knees) and holds out a hand to Fayet. "A nice swim never hurt anybody anyway." So la-dee-dah. "We're amazing, Kai. The word you were searching for is 'amazing.'"

Fayet isn't getting chased so she's probably safe - for the moment. Unless Khesu decides to sneak attack when she lets her guard down. He might do that, but for now he merely stands there and smokes his pipe. It won't last long so he may as well enjoy it while he has it. His tobacco is almost gone and he may not be able to get anymore for a while. This time he decides not to comment and merely enjoys the company of the others, watching and listening to them.

Fayet hands over the rod, then lays down on the ground, stretching out and folding her head under her hands.

"At least, not anyone important. The first time we went out to the river a big ass snake tried to eat someone." Kai remarks, electing to prod Khesu,"I don't think he'll starve to death.. I wouldn't worry until he starts chewing on someone, instead of just smoking.. whatever that is."

Afaye takes a quiet moment to secure another worm to her hook, fishing it out from beneath the now-dead fish in her bucket. Apparently she doesn't care if her food and bait mingle, but to be fair there are only a few worms present anyway. She makes a great effort to focus entirely on the hook, although her gaze flicks up to Khesu a few times and then over to Kai; she offers the latter a wry grin before turning to cast in her line a second time. This one drifts out a little farther before landing, and she waits a bit for it to sink before drawing the line from side to side once. "Tobacco? Relaxing, but not quite as strong as the stuff Arlin—" She stops short and falls silent for a moment, glancing down to her boots, before finishing with, "and Rinnan use."

Khesu still leaves Fayet be. He enjoys the last of his pipe but all too soon it's down to ash. He taps it out and instead of refilling it, he wraps it back into it's cloth and tucks it carefully into the pouch on the back of his belt before fastening the toggle. A slow, deep breath, followed by an amused huff at what Kai says. He skims his tongue over his teeth ere he rumbles low, "Weed is nice, but I have none." Khesu certainly doesn't act the pot head but maybe like his pipe, he appreciates it now and then when he's not feeling so well. If he can get it.

He notices the fish in Afaye's bucket isn't being kept chilled in lake water. So, Khesu draws his knife and steps over to pull it out by sticking his thumb in it's mouth and otherwise grabbing it by the lower jaw. He lays it out over the end of the log and squat down on his hams, he begins to cut it open and clean it out. The guts can go into Afaye's bucket and provide more bait for them to use.

"Oh I've heard of that." Kai remarks regarding tobacco, eye flickering a little at Arlin's name before her attention shifts to Khesu,"Yeh. There's the downside of breaking up with Elias. Not that he had much to offer at this point anyways. But. I learnt why the rest of them were willing to break the laws on that." she smiles faintly as she withdraws her pole from the water and elects to utilize some of the guts to bait her own hook before spooling it back out again, sliding onto the ground before the log so she can use it as a backrest.

Nothing seems to be biting right away, but Afaye doesn't seem particularly bothered; fishing requires patience, after all, which is her one claim to fame. She whistles quietly to herself and then glances back toward Khesu when she hears the clang of her bucket being moved. "Oh, thanks, I completely forgot about that." Yeah, right. She conveniently forgot in order to not have to muck about with fish guts. The cool, post-storm breeze drifts over the water, causing the surface to ripple, and for a moment she tugs on her line thinking she might have detected movement beneath the surface. No dice, though; it's slack and drifts about lazily. Kai's voice brings her attention back to the group and she blinks. "Break what laws?"

Khesu has the fish gutted and filletted in almost no time. He takes the big slabs of meat over to wash them in the lake and then takes a moment to wash his hands as well. Quietly he goes about finding some sticks and once he's cut the fillets a second time so they are thin, he hangs them over the sticks along the shore so they may begin to dry a little in the sun and be less likely to spoil until Afaye is ready to cook them. Khesu stands and cleans his knife especially well then sheathes it while the finishing continues. He glances at Fayet resting and oh boy, he's sooooo good, not giving into the temptation to dribble cold lake water on her. See how good he's being?! Maybe he's just not really that mean, or more likely doesn't want the explosion of fussiness.

"That's what they Boxed Eli for, originally. 'Theft of resources'. Taking some of the marijuana for recreational use. He brought some seeds down here with him." Kai smiles faintly, leaning forward enough to at least rinse her hand off in the water before settling back,"Down here.. no idea. Probably still illegal? I never bothered to ask honestly. Skai law doesn't apply to me anymore, after all."

"What a bizarre thing to make illegal…" Afaye watches Khesu work for a moment, but a sudden flurry of activity with her line draws her attention. Her gaze snaps back to the water, and she lets out the line in reflex before pulling back. The rod bends under the weight, and she whoops cheerfully - that sort of universal cry that announces a catch - and begins to haul it in. And then loses the line as it slips from her fingers. "Argh, you little shit," she mutters, bracing the butt of the rod against the ground. It bends even more as she fumbles to catch the slippery string with her hand. "Ifwe get thisyou'll eat—like a king, Khes."

Kai gets a funny look at her story from Khesu. "We have no such restrictions. It grows wild, but we also cultivate it. Mostly for medicinal use, but it is not forbidden." Are you kidding? Trikru mostly do what they like as long as it is in moderation and does not impair their ability to contribute to the good of their clan. "Our laws are practical. Such as not to steal, nor to murder." He suddenly sees Afaye in some distress and does not hesitate to step closer to give her a hand. His hands are calloused and strong, but he knows enough to play the line and tire the fish out, keeping it's head up so it does not dive too deeply. One must not fight it too hard lest the line break. Carefully plaited horsehair is very strong though and quite difficult to break if it's kept oiled.

"Or not to be born," Fayet pipes up, opening one eye. "If I understood this correctly?"

"Taking it without permission, not it's general use. It was controlled because it was limited." Kai remarks, eyeing Afaye, and then her own still dead line, even given it a hopeful little twitch like 'oh hey look fishies, there's food here too'. She grunts for their words,"It was reserved for medicinal use. There was nothing that.. grew wild.. up there.. there was no wild in which to grow things. And I know they are practical, it's part of why I love my kru. The laws the Ark had up there, they were practical in their own way.. but down here, they are pointless." there's a nod for Fayet,"Yes. Though that one I suspect is no longer a law, either. Come Spring they'll probably be overrun with babies over there."

Afaye smiles gratefully at Khesu as he helps take in the line, allowing her a moment to shake out her hands and rub her fingers before lending a hand. Between the two of them, there is no doubt they will manage it—and so they do, catching not one but two..or kind of two..conjoined fish wriggling rather madly. That would definitely explain the weight and strength; having two tails is a bit like cheating! "Thanks," she murmurs breathlessly as she stoops to snatch up the fish, deftly prying one open mouth from the hook and tossing the damnably slippery bastards into the bucket before they can leap free and flop their way back into the water. "Definitely a team sport." She claps a slightly slimy hand on Khesu's shoulder, grinning knowingly, and then squats down to rinse her fingers in the lake.

Kai gets a nod from Khesu, "Ah," he rumbles. He's questioned her enough to get some kind of vague image in his mind about how things where up there in their Skai place, but it's still very alien to him and difficult to grasp. So a nod suffices to keep it simple. Most of his attention is on Afaye's long fishing line and trying not to break it with the weight and strength of the fish.

And then it's done and Afaye is patting him on the shoulder with a sticky, slimey hand. Tyvm. He eyes her but hunkers down to wash his hands off and scoops up some water to wash off his shoulder too. Playfully, he flicks water at her face to get her back!

Kai applauds from her spot, even if she's eyeing her own pole like it is betraying her somehow by staying obstinately fish free so far. She tries shifting it this way and that way hopefully.. hereee fishy fishy,"I think there's something wrong with my pole." she finally declares with a squint it's way,"I shoulda stuck to just the string and hook."

Startled by Khesu's uncharacteristic playfulness, Afaye lets out the most girlish little shriek as the water hits her full in the face - unprepared as she was for battle. She sputters a bit, squeezing her eyes shut to let the water dribble down over her eyelids, and then flutters her lashes. Leaning forward precariously in her crouch, she scoops water into her two palms and flings it back in Khesu's direction with all the vehemence of someone lobbing a grenade. "If you keep this up, I will eat all the fish and make you sit there and watch." Hmph!

Perhaps conveniently for Khesu, Afaye is easily distracted; she follows Kai's slack line with her gaze and squints in thought. "Pull it out, check your bait, and recast over this way. You can use some of the guts if you want. They may not have a taste for what you're using today." She tilts her head in the direction of her all-purpose bucket while cleaning beneath her fingernails.

Oh boy! Afaye does the predictable and flings water all over him and into his face! Khesu laughs and laughs, a deep roar of good humor! Water streams and drips out of his thick dark brows and his beard but he doesn't care! He waits until her attention is upon Kai, then flings a double handful right back at her! Take that! Like two silly children, enjoying the lake! But at least it's summer.

He gets back up to his feet and backs off from the water, still laughing, but more quietly. Khesu wipes water from his face and eyes. Ah, the laughing has made the back of his head ache, as well as his brow, where his head has taken so much injury. Maybe a bit too much horsing around just yet. Oh, he makes himself sit down on the log to get his breath.

Nonetheless, he needed the good humor after a bad week and more. Once he finally quiets enough, he rumbles, "You are fishing on the side you cast your shadow. Every time you move the fish may be startled. Aye, move your line to this side or go along the shore over there to the rocks."

Kai does pull it out, and sure enough, the little bastards have stolen her bait without her noticing it. Which merits a huff in and of itself, for all that she's eyeing the potential water war from her spot as if trying to judge whether or not it's safe to go over there and recast, or if she should stay put and safely out of water range. She waits until he sits down before she elects to rise to her feet, grumbling quietly mostly to herself,"You'd think that the damned things had evolved to avoid getting eaten or something.. damn them." because really, by comparison she really still is the junior floundering along trying to pick up skills that most Trikru knew before they became Seconds.

Afaye grins at Kai's muttering but Khesu supplies the better advice. She holds up her empty hands in concession, and then wipes her palms on her pants before moving over to her bucket to fish out the two-tailed monstrosity. Double the fish, and double the cleaning. She makes a moue of distaste before sidling over to the spot vacated by Kai in order to get her cleaning on, all the while muttering unintelligible commentary beneath her breath - like harping on the cons of fish outweighing the nutritional benefits. "You start working a house yet, Khesu?" she inquires conversationally with an eye on her work and on Kai's adventures in the outdoors.

Silliness aside, there's a glance for Fayet but Khesu leaves her to rest. He draws his knife and comes over to assist Afaye - if she'll split it up the middle as best she might, she can hand half of it to him to work on. "No. I have been unfit to work since we delt with the rest of Sonia's band." He lifts a hand to indicate the new wound in the back of his head, this time delivered by a Trikru axe. But he did some butchery in turn for it. His hand doesn't touch his thick dark hair as his hand is filthy and it's still healing. "I'll bunk in the warrior barracks. But … now I have a son, I will need a place because for him. Others help to care for him. Sage, Benning, and the clan. I do not have to alone." Which is good, because what does he know of infants? Khesu must learn, but he is first a Warrior for the clan.

Apparently, talk of carpentry causes Fayet to stir. "I'll build your house," she says without opening her eyes. "Consider it a gift for your son, if you won't accept it for yourself."

Kai spears some of the guts onto her hook and launches the pole back into the water, watching it even as she listens to the others talk,"I'm happy to work on whatever they're willing to assign me to. Granted, mostly it's in the vein of 'carry this here, don't drop it on your foot'." she smiles vaguely to herself,"I know Benning wants her shop rebuilt, and I promised her I would help with that. Pontus collected her old hearth from old Coesbur. I don't know Sage's plans. Just so long as I don't have to babysit. The small squirmy one's are the scariest."

"Aissssh, we can build your house, Khesu," Afaye says quietly, struggling momentarily to split the fish before nudging one half toward him to take. "I can get Luther to help, and if we need be we'll fell some more trees if there's not enough of a supply already. Pick a location, yeh? Fayet will not have to do this alone." She keeps her gaze focused on her own fish as she begins to scale it, occasionally making a face and shaking her hand if a scale flies awry and lands on her. "And Kai, of course. We can make her do all of the hard stuff." She glances up long enough to flash Kai a grin before returning to her fish and moving on to the glorious task of gutting. "Anything else you need, just let me know. How's the head, by the way? Should we ride to Tondc and have Silver kom Skaikru take a look at it?"

Khesu smiles warmly at Kai at her not wishing to babysit, "Not even Khell?" He looks amused though - he has seen how the infant can spit up and soil a diaper. Not to mention hair pulling and the rare occasion he wails. That boy's got some lungs on him. His dark eyes cut over to Fayet speaking up and Khesu looks surprised, "I do not know enough to build it myself. But I can prepare the timber, and rive the planks." He can also haul and set stone or dig, if he's told what to do. Once his head is mended a little more. His hands are busy with helping Afaye with the fish, his knife steady and sharp. His deep baritone rumbles, "There are many needs within the clan. My house can wait until the clan's priorities are seen to. We have time yet ere the snows will come." After a long moment he says, having already put some thought into it, "There is a place where it slopes up there, above the lake. A dug out would do, to save on timber and stone. One wall of earth, and some of the other two, would make it well insulated against the cold come winter."

His portion of the second fish is cut into thin fillets and then drape over the log, ready to hang or to carry back. "Sev has been tending to me, since Galle went to Tondc. I am well enough."

"It builds character.. or bruises.. maybe both." Kai utters with a glance towards Afaye before grimacing a little at Khesu,"Khell by himself.. sure.. but the other day Peake decided it would be great if I'd just watch the older ones for a while.. a dozen of them. And of course they all wanted to do their own thing and this one was tired and that one hungry and this one wanted to go swimming but that one wanted to look for frogs and just.. I admire those that make it look easy.. but they are still scary. And grandma Peake has already made it clear that I'm going to have to pitch in with the babysitting when the new one is born, too." she grimaces, muttering a little more quietly,"I think I'd rather go fight Reapers.

"Ahh, Sev. I had almost forgotten he's staying here for a while." The thought of a healer in the vicinity causes Afaye to relax visibly, shoulders settling and expression softening. "Good, then." She lapses into silence while Kai speaks, and her smile widens at the talk of children doing child-like things. Something in the girl's stories seem to coincide with her own experiences with little ones, because she laughs quietly. "If you get laden with a group again, Kai, consider talking them into a trip to the stables. Horses seem to be a mostly unifying theme for them."

There now! All the fish so far caught are cleaned. Khesu goes to wash his hands off one more time, a bit down the way from Kai to try to keep from disturbing her fishing. When he comes back it doesn't look like a half bad catch at all! He smooths his beard, "Add a few tubers, spices, salt and butter … " Aye, thinking of it makes his stomach rumble.

"Oh no, I volunteered for building. I had to go get Sev to let them know that no really, I'm healthy enough to lift and carry again without tearing something.. because, yes. I was ready to tie them all together in a clump so that they couldn't escape. But I shall try the stables when it happens again." because she has no illusions that she's going to escape Peake's plans. She has the patience for fishing, at least, or well, at least the laziness to just remain settled and try to let them come to her hook,"One probably not as bad as a whole pack of them though. But that doesn't mean I know anything about what they eat or any of that. I didn't have siblings.. and between me and Leo, I was the younger."

Afaye laughs at Khesu, even as she accidentally wipes a bit of fish gut on her cheek as she rubs her face with her forearm. Her part of the catch is cleaned as well, and she sets it up next to the others catching some sun before going to wash her hands and her knife. "I am a horrible cook, Khesu. Perhaps you should take over that part, and you can have two of them for all of your time." Her stomach, after all, isn't rumbling nearly as loudly as his. She uses the tip of her knife to pry miscellaneous fish debris out from beneath her fingernails. "For most children, they eat whatever you eat, Kai. They're not wild animals, even if they may act like it sometimes."

Khesu huff a breath, "He likes breast milk. He's only three … almost four months old." No teeth yet. Yum, boobs. When he's satisfied that his knife is clean again, he sheathes it and bends over to fix his boot that slouched. Then he gets to his feet, "I'll take the fish up. Starling will have things we may use to cook with it. I am not a bad cook." But, he's more used to cooking for himself out and about than for others. He collects the fillets and skewers them all on one single sharp stick tip to carry them hanging together. "Come up and join us when you are ready." Khesu heads on up but, he's left the mead for them to enjoy and bring up when they are done here.

Oh.. OH! FINALLY! Kai shifts as she notices the string go taut, shifting to grab the line and giving it a tug before letting it slip through her fingers to test just how strong a bite it is, when it starts going taut again she starts winding it carefully up,"You sure about that?" she asks of Afaye, then quipping for Khesu,"Well then he's shit out of luck with me. I can hold him and try not to let him throw up on me, that's about it." she shakes her head, trying to very, very carefully drag her line back without getting her fingers caught in the process.

Afaye nods to Khesu, watching him as he collects the fish and begins the short trek back to the village proper. She may or may not be taking a quiet moment to leisurely ogle his backside, but if nobody is looking then there's no harm in it. Right? Eventually she looks back to Kai and lifts her eyebrows in query. "You going to stay here with the sleepy one and try to catch a thing or two? I can leave my bucket for you - plenty of bait in there now—ooh, lookee there." She claps her hands together cheerfully. "Catch a couple more and come join us. I'm going to go stretch out on my back and hope all the aches of old age fade away if I just stop moving." This is, of course, spoken mostly in jest…mostly. She wraps up her line, jabs the hook into a spare bit of wadded cloth, and turns to follow in Khesu's wake. She pauses on her way out to nudge Fayet in the side gently with the toe of one boot. "You too."

"I'll make sure she doesn't drown and bring a couple more back." Kai assures, too busy with her fish to notice ogling going on, leaving Afaye to slip off while she's fussing with her line.

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