Birds are Troublesome - Fishing

Nora looked up at the overcast morning sky and smiled. She thought today would be the perfect day to go fishing. The tokotas were excited to be out on such a nice day, and were currently running about excitedly. Well, all except Majyu, he was never one to play around like a puppy. But Yan, Toale, Xiaoli and Attie however were quite the energetic bunch and were apparently playing something like a game of tag. Toale’s little otter friend wanted to play too, but quickly realized that it might be crushed if it tried to join in now. He promptly ran up to Nora to ask for her protection, and Nora was only too happy to oblige the cute little fella.

At the lake, the first one in the water was Toale. He loved swimming and absolutely could not get enough of it. Of course he would fish as well, but only after he’s gotten his fill of leisure swimming. The otter, who Nora was still holding wiggled out of her arms to go and join Toale. Xiaoli was the second one in, she was a born swimmer as well. Attie just followed her big brother Toale around like a little puppy. No doubt she would catch some fish to present to him and the others. Yan would have rather been out hunting, but it looked like she figured she’d make the most of her time while she was here, and try to catch a lot of fish. Majyu of course, was his grumpy self as always, but he eventually joined in too. Nora had also brought a fishing pole with her so she could fish as well.

By the time she got everything set up she saw that Toale and Xiaoli had already caught a few fish. The little otter had found some clams, and was currently cracking them open to get to the yummy meat inside. Yan had managed to catch a couple fish as well, but it seemed she had had enough of fishing and got out of the water to watch the others. Majyu surprisingly seemed to be having a good time. He had caught and eaten one fish already, and caught some more intact ones as well. He seemed to have found an activity he could get into. Attie didn’t have any fish near her, but that’s because she had already put all of the fish she caught into the others’ piles. She seemed to be working the hardest, and caught quite a few fish for her friends. She even brought some to Nora, who received them with a smile.

Toale, at this point was constantly getting out of the water and jumping back in with a splash. Yan, who was watching close by was drenched, and did not look very happy about it. To get her revenge, she jumped in right on top of Toale, but the splash from that hit Majyu who had just come up from catching a fish. The surprise made him release his grip on the slippery fish, and it got away. Obviously ticked off, but not wanting to start a fight, he got out and sat next to Nora, who pet him a bit out of pity. The little otter ducked back under water as the others started splashing around and playing. Xiaoli had also joined in at this point, and the water almost looked like it was boiling. Nora couldn’t help but giggle at the silly tokotas who at this point for sure had scared the fish to the other side of the lake.

Nora noticed that there were a lot of waterbirds around. A lot more than there were before. They were probably attracted by all the fish laying around that the tokotas had caught. While the tokotas were playing, some of the birds hopped in closer to the fish. Once one bird had successfully run off with one, the others started coming in droves. Yan was the first to notice, and she quickly jumped out of the water to protect her haul. But it seemed these birds wouldn’t give up so easily. Even more were flying in at this point, and it was starting to look like some sort of sci fi attack of the birds movie. They were even swarming around Nora who was fish free at the time. This triggered the protective response in the other tokotas, and they quickly rushed over to protect their handler. Majyu took care of the loud barking and intimidating, but after a while, the birds started to come back. Toale started barking as well, and his little otter friend ran to the protection of Nora’s arms. Attie and Xiaoli took the role of protecting the rest of the fish, and gathered them all into a large pile that would be easier to keep track of. Yan had had enough of this and started grabbing the birds as they flew by, and throwing them around. The whole spectacle was rather frightening, but the tokotas took good control over the situation. With Majyu and Yan grabbing birds, and Toale still barking, they were able to eventually drive the birds off from Attie and Xiaoli protecting the haul, but not without a few minor injuries. Even Nora had a few cuts.

Once the birds were mostly gone, Nora took the opportunity to grab the fish and put them into the basket she had brought for the hauls. The little otter tried to help while staying close to Nora. While she put the basket of fish on her back, all five tokotas formed a circle around her to keep the birds away. After a few minutes, there were no more birds, and Nora was finally able to calm down. Carrying the heavy basket full of fish had proved to be a very tiring task. She had learned a lot of important lessons from this trip. One, don’t stay long enough for the birds to catch notice of you. Two, if one is now null and void, having enough tokotas to drive away the birds is most helpful. And three, bring some sort of tack for one of the tokotas so you can attach the fish haul to them to carry. It was also a good idea to bring first aid supplies for emergencies, even though Nora wasn’t far from home.

As she approached their home, she noticed her father sitting out front. Nora knew then she would get the lecturing of a lifetime, but she also knew he could help her treat the injuries received on the very thrilling fishing trip. Majyu and Yan were both actually her father’s tokotas, so when they saw him they ran over to where he was. Toale, Xiaoli, and Attie stayed back with Nora. When her father looked at Majyu and Yan, and saw they were injured, he immediately looked over at Nora to confirm his suspicions of her being hurt as well.

“For goodness sakes, Nori! What on earth happened to you?!”

“Well, I’ve learned that tokotas aren’t the only creatures around that like fish.”

The little otter that was in her arms was fast asleep as her father tended to her wounds. The fish that they caught would bring in a decent amount of TokoTokens, but she would have to get them to the market while they were still fresh. She’d save some for their dinner, but only a few.

She smiled as she looked over at the five exhausted tokotas. Attie, Xiaoli and Toale were snuggled up next to each other. Yan was asleep next to her handler, and Majyu made sure to keep a good amount of distance from everyone. Nora was quite tired as well, but before she could sleep, she had to go take the fish into town. Overall, it was a very eventful day.