Gone fishing

It was a warm day with a gentle breeze that stirred the branches of trees and slowly pushed clouds through the ever blue sky. Seresana paused for a moment to breath deeply and enjoy the smells of the forest that she was walking through. She then rolls her shoulders to resettle the weight of everything she was carrying. Seresana wasn't quite in her usual attire today. Sure she had the short sleeved white shit with it's three cloth straps that two of which were black while the last was green, her purple vest with it's red insignia on the back, the wrap of bandages reaching from her left shoulder all the way down her arm, and her classical wooden sandals. Instead of the usual black pants with additional ties though, today she was just wearing some black shorts with another cloth tie just wrapped around her right knee. Her quiver was strapped along her back, loaded up with arrows and resting next to it was her bow strung and at the ready. Her other pieces of equipment were resting inside a small pouch strapped to one of the cloth ties. In one had was a long wooden fishing pole complete with line and hook while the other held only a little basket that held bait, some snacks, and a few other supplies.

Behind Seresana, a couple fuzzy little bodies scurried along the ground after Seresana, catching up considerably in the moment that Seresana took to enjoy the breeze. Miku and Mina the two raccoon were tagging along with Seresana on her little outing for the day. They scrambled over rocks and sticks, and under bushes and branches. When they caught up to her, they both started to paw and try to climb up Seresana's legs. Seresana smiled down at them sweetly before looking off in the direction she'd been walking. "We're almost there you two, just a bit farther and then we'll be at the creek," Seresana said before beginning to walk onward.

Past a few more trees and around a few more shrubs, the sounds of water gently rushing over creek stones filled her ears and Seresana's grin redoubled. Eventually the creek came into view and Seresana let out a content sigh as she looked out at the creek and gently sat down the basket while Miku and Mina scampered out to the creek. Mina seemed content to just spread out on a sun warmed rock near the shore while Miku instantly went to the waters edge and began to drink some of the clear water. Seresana giggled a little at their antics as she opened the basket. She started digging into the mess of supplies within her basket as she hunted for the bait she'd brought with her, wouldn't do much to try fishing with a bare hook after all.

Word Count: 472

Sylvan watches Sena quietly from the trees. A raven lands on her head, and caws loudly. She sighs, looking up at it. "No. I already told you, I won't sign until I've read the full terms and agreements. I don't care if no one reads them." Her protests aside, she makes no effort to wave the Raven away, even as more start to gather around her. They had been pestering her for weeks, trying to get her to sign their 'contract'. She was... Well, in all honesty, she wa starting to cave a little. They were very persistent, all things considered. She glares at them. "Please come back another day. I must spend time with Sena now. We can discuss your contract later." The Ravens give the impression of grumbling, but fly off. Sylvan sighs in relief.
It is about this time Sylvan notices the creatures following Sena, and how she was talking to them. Apparently Sena was going fishing, judging by her gear. Shrugging, Sylvan decided to follow her from the treetops; the idea of making her presence known had not yet occurred to her. It probably would eventually, but for now she was content to watch from afar. Sylvan was admittedly curious if Sena intended to do anything besides fishing. Perhaps I had some sort of special training purpose? Sylvan wasn't really sure, but she saw no reason not to find out. It wasn't like she had anything better to do today, and she had bought a few hours relief form the Ravens.
{254 Words}

It didn't take Seresana long to get out the bait and soon her hook was dressed and ready for the water. Seresana then wandered over to the shore line with her pole and basket before finding a seat next to the lightly sleeping Mina. She petted Mina for a moment before casting out the rod to begin fishing. The fishing pole was nothing fancy, it didn't even have a true reel. It was just a long pole with a string on the end with baited hook. The current of the stream tugged the line down to a point, but eventually the string went semi-taunt and remained so far out in the stream. Content with where the string disappeared into the water, Seresana put the back end of the pole wedged into the shore sand so she didn't have to hold it, and then reclined along the shore.

Mina barely stirred through everything Seresana did, choosing instead to just remain curled up on the warm rock. Miku however was about the opposite as he refused to sit still. He pawed and played with the water, jumped about the shallows to cause splashes that made him jump more, and scampered over and around the various rocks. Even when Seresana reclined, Miku continued to bounce around and even occasionally on top of Seresana, each of which drew a chuckle from Seresana as she'd occasionally wiggle her fingers to play with him some more.

Word Count: 241
Total: 713

Sylvan, now free of her retinue, hops along the tree tops until she is on directly above Sena. She appeared to be fishing, while those strange otter-like creatures played in the water. Sylvan had the strangest urge to hug them. shaking that off, she starts to quietly climb down the tree, though this time there were (fortunately) no stags below her. That had very nearly been her end. Dive bombing dear was stupid, and no one should try it. Especially not her. Very especially not her. Fortunately she had not landed on the deer, which had become spooked and fled before she hit it. She had noticed the flurry of black feathers and claw marks on its hide, meaning she probably owed her life to the ravens. Joy. Still, she had no intentions of giving into their demands without a fight. She wasn't entirely sure why signing on would be a bad thing, but it seemed poor form to not make it at least a challenge. Considering they seemed to want a challenge as well, she felt it appropriate. Anyways, back to Sena.

Sylvan was about halfway down the tree by this point, having occasionally stopped to observe the otter-like creatures at play. Yes, she would definitely have to pet one, assuming that was allowed. Sena had apparently not caught anything. Sighing, Sylvan decides that she would indulge herself in a little patience. She descends the rest of the way without bothering with stealth. She calls out "Sena? Caught anything yet?" as she walks over.
{254 words}

As Sylvan descended from the tree and Seresana reclined while fishing completely oblivious to Sylvan's approach, Miku and Mina took notice. Miku stopped his splashing around the shallows for a moment and looked over to the new approaching figure, Mina cracked open and eye to look at Sylvan as well but she didn't bother moving. Miku scampered out of the shallows and over to Sylvan as she approached Seresana.

"Huh," Seresana said slightly surprised as she looked around for who said her name, her eyes finally finding Sylvan just as she finished asking her followup question. "Nope not yet, But I just got here and got the line cast out," Seresana said with a grin back to her friend as Miku reached the considerably taller girl and started to scamper around Sylvan's feet. "Hehe, seems Miku likes you," Seresana added with a gesture to the little raccoon that was currently circling Sylvan's feet.

Word Count: 154
Total: 867

Sylvan kneels down and smoothly picks up the strange otter creature in her arms, before straightening again. She would gently pet 'Miku' as she walked over to Sena.
Sylvan smiles as she stands next to Sena, easing onto the ground. "Mm. Let me know when you do."
She looks down at the otter as Sena mentions its name, idly wondering if it was a summon. "Miku, you said?"
She tries it out, swirling it around in her mind. It ... fit, she supposed. She was hardly an authority on these matters, after all.
"Are they summons? Or just.... following you around?" Once again, Sylvan lamented the fact that she was too tall to lean on Sena's shoulder. While comical, it would only end in disappointment. Fortunately, she was petting an otter. That made things better.
{131 Words}

Seresana nodded to silently say that she would indeed let Sylvan know when she caught something. She nodded again when Sylvan went to confirm the raccoon's name, though she chuckled a little when she misunderstood what they were. "No silly, they're just normal raccoons. I saved them after Yu-," Seresana paused for a moment as she almost said that name and her expression darkened considerably in such a brief span of time. But almost as quickly as it came on, Seresana forced that defeated look away as she looked back at Sylvan, "-after the festival. I was out in the woods after that big storm and I found them near a downed tree. Their mom didn't make it and I couldn't just leave them to their doom, so I did what I could to save them and now Miku and Mina just stay with me," Seresana explained while offhandedly scratching behind Mina's ears. "Though you might want to consider holding her instead. Miku's never been one to sit still for long," Seresana added with a point to the raccoon that was currently trying almost desperately to squirm his way out of Sylvan's grasp, a harsh contrast to the other one who was contently laying on the warm rock.

"Also Sylvan, how'd you find out I was a summoner? I hadn't the chance to tell anyone yet," Seresana asked back, not fully realizing she'd done just that.

Word Count: 237
Total: 1104

Sylvan sighs, letting the racoon squirm out of her arms if it so wished. "Mm." she doesn't say anything either in regards to the festival. There was a brief pang of loss she couldn't quite identify, but it passed quickly. A bit too quickly; further proof she was only compartmentalizing, not recovering. Weak.
"That was good of you," Sylvan says, idly wishing she had picked up the other racoon. Ah well. This one had gotten scritches, so all was well. "And It was not confirmed until just now, but I could think of no other reason for two woodlanders to be following you."
{102 Words}

Seresana hung her head in defeat when she realized that she'd outed herself, but with a sigh she was looking back at Sylvan with a smile. "Well now that the cat's out of the bag, I guess there's not a lot of point in trying to hide it. I'm a summoner now and actually that kind of reminds me, it's time to hold up my end of the bargain," Seresana said while standing up. As she took a couple steps away from Sylvan and Mina who seemed all to happy to be held comfortably in Sylvan's arms and be petted by her, Miku took his new found freedom to once again occupy the shallows and play about in the water.

It was only a couple steps that Seresana took away from them before biting her thumb, making a quick series of handsigns and planting her palm to the ground. Instantly, a bunch of scroll work spread out in an array before a puff of smoke obscured it all. When it cleared, Seresana was breathing a bit heavily, the scroll work was gone, and a small furry animal was sitting on the grass a few inches away from her. The creature had bluish-purple fur, a small pointed head, looked about like a short ferret, and wore a little yellow bandanna like a cape. "He- hello?" The little animal squeaked out somewhat nervously as it's tiny eyes darted about between everyone who was present.

"Hey there, what's your name?"

"M- my name's Suzumi, who- who're you?"

"I'm Seresana," she said with a point to herself before pointing over to Sylvan. "That's Sylvan and Mina is in her arms, and that's Miku over there," she finished with a point to the other raccoon that was still splashing about. "I'm summoned you to fulfill my contract obligation."

"Oh, i- is that all?" Suzumi said sounding a little disheartened by that admission.

"Hey, no need to be upset. We're here to have a bit of fun, and I thought you or any of the other Raiju might like to join in," Seresana said quickly to reassure the little raiju. That seemed to bring a hesitant but still present smile back onto the little creature's face. While Seresana was having this little conversation with Suzumi, her fishing pole began to twitch and bob, and by the time she seemed to done with the introduction, it looked about ready to be pulled right out of the ground and into the stream.

Word Count: 410
Total: 1,514