The sun began to set, and the pink and orange rays pierced the clouds dimming the woodland area to a dull, warmer Autumn tone. Still inspecting the area he had wandered into, Theoden had been following the water in hopes of catching fish as he was taking in the colourful scenery. His paws eliminated dried-up leaves that had fallen to their timely end of Autumn.

He had stopped and stared into the clear, rushing water. Water sprayed up his paws as he stood on the water's edge, he crept into the water not trying to disturb its pattern or the fish that called it home and walked until the water met just below his chest. His eyes pierced the water as he waited patiently for his dinner to meet his gaze, his breaths became shallow, trickles of air rippling the water from his nose. A trout flurries by, slapping the water as it races close to the surface of the water - Theoden lunged, his jaws opening wide, teeth-baring and piercing the water. Missed, he growled. Dragging his head out of the water, he rolled his tongue around his lips, clearing the dripping water.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, his fixation resumed. Determined not to miss again, his body locked into position and lowered his head closer to the water. There! His eyes widened as just below was another trout picking algae off an embedded rock, Theoden didn't hesitate. He dropped his weight, diving below into the water as he wrapped his fangs over the fish's scaly body and bit down so it couldn't escape. He lept up onto the waters-edge, water running from his thickened coat as if it was trying to escape back into the water. He had grown impatient, not even attempting to shake the water from his body he trotted over to a fallen tree and laid down.

He dropped the flailing fish to his forepaws, its body slowing in its attempt to escape as blood trickled from the neat holes in its scaley body. "A man has got to eat, sorry, not sorry buddy", with no hesitation he ripped into the fish and began nibbling at the meat with his incisors. It didn't take Theoden long to finish the fish, his body relieved of any hunger that bothered it before. He pulled himself up and finally, shook any remnants of water from his body.

---

Sienna

Skill:

She was tired. Small paws dragged her across the soft terrain, but the woman felt nothing but the very same rock she'd found herself upon these last few nights. She felt raw, stripped of her skin and exposed to the burning air. It was unbearable, and though she was still reeling from it, the girl would not find comfort in slumber—not with the nightmares trailing her like feral critters nipping at her heels.

The murkiness of the night had taken advantage of her curiosity and conformed it to her worst nightmares, picking apart her insecurities and fears just to shove them down her throat. And she'd allowed it, wasted away without even lifting a paw to fight because she did not know how. She was unused to this, unused to whatever this was, and she'd fooled herself into thinking she could get away with it. Foolish. Foolish. Foolish.

Ahead of her, the rush of water acted as a guide, rolling over itself in an effort to get wherever it seemed to be headed. Too dreary to find herself distracted, she kept on, eyes half-lidded while mud clung to the fur of her golden feet. She supposed she missed company, missed the laughs with Arzhel, or even the tears Kael had ushered from her; she missed it all when silence was now all she had.

Sienna parted a bush with her head, twigs intertwining with her fur as she rustled between it. The loud splash of water was the only thing that stopped the girl in her tracks, periwinkle eyes widening as she took in the figure downstream. Was he playing in it? 

She'd only guessed as much but the girl was curious still, nonetheless, her desperation for company propelling her forward with little care for safety.

They'd moved by the time she approached fully, but the girl was bright-eyed nevertheless, taking him in softly. "Where did it go? Your friend?" Surely the floppy thing had not disappeared completely.

He jolted, the sound of another out of nowhere caused his mood to shift instantly. Remains of the water still dripping from his matted fur, his ears pulling themselves forward taking in every word she had spoken but before soon, they were flat against his head as he turned to her with a stern frown. "No I decided to waste my time catching the thing before I just let it hop back home," he mused sarcastically, batting the skeleton remains of the fish towards her with his paw.

An eyebrow raised, tilting his head slightly as he studied her figure and her muddied paws, "You look like sh--", he then caught her face and held back his words. He had stopped himself and what he could only imagine was sympathy crept over him, she looked sad, tired even. He cleared his throat and removed the sternness from his face, "If you're hungry, I can catch you something. It shouldn't take too long and then I'll be out of here." He was dazed with this new sympathetic emotion, something about her caused him not to be too stern and he wasn't too sure why.

He wasn't acting his usual self, normally he would have bounded out there with a sarcastic comment but the poor girl looked like she wouldn't be able to withstand his quick-witted rudeness. "You don't look like someone who would usually be alone, are you with someone?" He monitored the area, his eyes dancing as the sun was almost done setting and soon darkness would consume whatever light was left. If she truly wasn't alone then there was no need for him to assist, let alone continue this irritable behaviour of kindness that he was displaying but if she was, then perhaps being in someone else's company wasn't too bad, for one night.

Skill:

Sienna had the audacity to look disheartened by his words, her brows furrowing as she turned her gaze back to the water. She supposed she should've been glad that he did not harm whatever it was, but he seemed like he needed the company..or food..or whatever it turned out to be. His sarcasm swept right over her head before the skeletal body was thrown her way and a girlish shriek left her in time with her scurry backwards. "What is wrong  with you? You don't throw things at people! Certainly not dead things!" Sienna bristled where she stood, glaring down at the remains of whatever he'd mutilated.

Poor animal. She thought as she pawed some dirt over top of it.

And then he began speaking, beginning with what she could only assume was another last-ditch effort to make her angry, but he withheld. For that, she was marginally impressed, taking him in with the same furrowed brows and scrunched nose she regarded the remains with. Instead, he offered her food. Her expression lightened. "Can you teach me to catch?" Her tail swept across the backs of her ankles, eagerness alight within her kind gaze.

His question made her face fall briefly, the girl staggering over a reply. She wasn't always alone. She didn't want to be now. So the girl beamed at him instead, spreading her lips with a bright grin.  "I am alone. All my friends left me." They were busy, she couldn't fault them for it, but Sienna would not lie to the stranger. He did not deserve it.

"Will you, then? Teach me?"

He shook his head, breaking his fixation on her baffled by her words, "It's just a fish, y'know... We eat them. It's not like it's going to come back from the dead with a vengeance and take your life in the nighttime." He rolled his eyes in disbelief at how she had any emotion or feeling for the skeletal remains of what was once his dinner.

He sat down beside her, "Well, they must be assholes for leaving such a ter--, small thing but being alone is better, in my opinion". Why am I being nice? What is this thing? What is it about her that's doing this? He peered down to his paws, feeling some awkwardness given how he was feeling, he cleared his throat and shot up onto his feet, stumbling a little in his nervousness but straightened himself out as he walked towards the water once more.

"I don't understand how you don't know how to fish," He looked her up and down, she looked young but not much younger than what he was but again, there was a noticeable height difference between them. "So, you want to get into the water, quietly. Then you want to slow your breathing right down and try inhaling with the water movements but stay as still as if you were dead." He crept into the water, doing what he instructed her to do. He turned over his shoulder and nodded for her to get in. "If you struggle to keep above the water, just let me know and we'll find somewhere more shallow." He smirked as he whispered, not wanting to interrupt any nearby fish.

Skill:

Sienna looked to him with horror lacing her periwinkle hues, mouth parted as she took in his words with a truth she doubted he'd expected. And though they were the only ones around, Sienna ducked her head towards him and whispered, "Does that really happen?" the idea of it elicited a shudder from her. She supposed she had died and that made her what he described, no? A little fish could do it too. Would they eat her—would they eat him? The girl sighed and steered herself away from the remains warily, glancing back with every step as if to assure herself it would not come chasing her in the night.

Once she sat, it was with delight that she looked to her new friend as he accompanied her. His words confused her, spirited and odd as they were. "What are assholes?" Her eyes were bright as they fixated on him, but it was with a gentle laugh that she regarded his next words. "I am not truly alone! Not as much as you, I think. I have my tweeti—my songbirds. Oh! And my flowers." They all kept her company enough.

Sienna's lips twitched knowingly, but her expression was one of humorous disgust. "Well, fish killer, it's simple, really! I was never taught." But even if she hated the idea of being a fish killer herself, and the idea of the fish coming back to get her, she wished to learn how to do it for others. To care for those who have done so for her. She'd grown to hate being helpless.

So with caution, the girl followed his instructions, her gentle stare watching him aptly. Then her nose scrunched, "But I am not dead." no, no. But she might be, given she went through with his antics. And then! This little fish killer, he had the audacity to insult her stubby legs. She was tall, she could be tall. Sienna huffed indignantly and crept a little ways from him, her head lifted in an effort to insinuate she was more than capable of towering above the water streaming below. Even if the flow of it teased her sides. She would prevail, nonetheless.

Her head turned to him, eyes narrowed. "What next?" She'd whisper.

She did not question the truth regarding the fish coming back to life and seeking out vengeance for any former life. "Please tell me you're joking with that question?" His eyes widened as he stared at her with disbelief, confused about what reality she lived in and in his disbelief, he took a deep breath as the water rippled so not even the fish were startled by the effect her words had provided.

"Assholes can be many things. It's how someone behaves towards you that will determine whether you believe they're an asshole or not." A smirk grew on his muzzle, their conversation brought a sense of fulfilment that his choice of loneliness had separated him from, he would be too stubborn to admit it but her company was growing on him but her comment about him being truly alone snapped him back from his thoughts. "I choose to be alone because I have never known anything but loneliness, loneliness to me is what your birds and flowers are to you." He barked through gritted teeth.

Just get in the water! he demandingly thought, this was the most demanding conversation he had participated in for a while and as much as he secretly enjoyed her company his patience was not trained for it. He relaxed himself, making sure to turn his tones and vibrations into nothing but small whispers to steady the water that he had begun to interrupt.

He watched her as she attempted to stretch her frame out to avoid his comments about her being small, it suited her but it brought him a warmth to see her avoid something so blatant. He hovered his muzzle over the water and peered down into it, watching the fish below. "Now you want to steady your breathing, breathe with the movements of the water and watch the fish below. They'll hover as they feed off any algae they get a taste for, when you feel confident. That's your moment to go. It's okay if you don't get it the first time, we'll practice."

Sienna's brows furrowed in confusion at his question. "If you didn't want me to question it, why did you say it?" Surely he should've known people don't just mention things like undead frogs, right? Maybe he was the weird one. That was it, he was just weird. Sienna dared to side-eye him, her nose scrunching in the midst of her silent observation before his next words pulled her interest hurriedly.

"So, my friends can be assholes? You can?" Sienna would wonder aloud to him curiously, wonder soft in her hues. Assholes, she supposed she quite liked the word. It was...different. But then his bark brought her back to reality, her brows knitting above her head as she regarded him in confusion. "Don't bark at me! You do not know me, not truly, and I didn't mean it as an insult." No, he didn't know her. Sienna took to her birds and her flowers because they were new, and because she'd been without them before this life.

If he truly knew her, beyond the sunshine and the sweet smiles, he would know they were more alike than either one cared to admit. But he didn't, and they were strangers. Sienna needed to remember that.

His change of tone was enough to put a damper on the mood the girl had accumulated over the whole interaction, her ears pressed tightly against the smooth surface of her head as she listened to him silently. And listen she did, following his instruction with an obedience and a patience she wasn't aware she had. At and around her feet, the fish swam with a quickness surprising to Sienna. How was she to catch them when they were so fast?

Sienna's eyes watched their fervency, moving with their quick action until a headache spurred just beyond her eyes. "They move too quick." She'd whisper. "Do I just...grab it? In the water? With my face?" She might as well be water-boarding herself with her height, and he wished for her to blubber around in search of a fish? Would she even be able to see?

The girl let out an indignant huff, frustration beginning to line the usual soft planes of her face.

He broke his concentration from the fish below, pulling his muzzle off the water's surface causing droplets to descend from his chin. He turned his gaze to her, the conversation of fish and skeletal remains ran right past him, no longer wanting to entice the topic but when she scrunched his nose he couldn't help but smile slightly and a light chuckle echoed from his chest.

"Yes, yes they ca-." He paused his whisper, "I definitely can be, that is fur sure." For some reason he felt awkward admitting it to her, he didn't want to admit that to her, it was something about her sweet and innocent character that brought his stubborn behaviour to light. "Listen, whatever your name is if you're not quiet you're going to make it very difficult to learn or catch anything." He took a deep breath, guilt had crept up on him for barking at her and the awkward feeling that had emerged was only progressing.

"They'll hover when they pick at algae, that'll be your chance. Try and aim your bite to where they'll be once you enter the water but don't feel bad if you don't get it the first time. You're small so you won't be as heavy so you have some gain to be swifter in the water." Water shot up into his nose as he snorted at her comment about grabbing the fish with her face, rearing up in discomfort as he pawed at his nose, coughing. "I'm not making this any easier for you and you, I."

He brushed himself close to her, keeping his weight against hers so she remained still without struggle, he then stretched one of his hind legs across hers in case she struggled to emerge and rested his muzzle low next to hers. "So now, you want to take a deep breath and bite into the water, remember to aim where you think it will be and keep your eyes open. Just tug at me if you need help and I'll reach in and pull you up."