Gone Fisning (Cecil/Gabe/Rank 3)

"...of course." If only it could be that easy. "I guess that much should've been obvious, huh..."

"..."
Cecil remained silent as he thought about it. That'd have been cold comfort just a few days ago, but...things were different, now. He actually had friends now. Just a couple, but that was more than he'd had in a long while.
...can't just leave them to pick up the slack for me, though. I've gotta be there for them. They more than deserve it for putting up with me.
Cecil watched on as Gabe suddenly found himself with something on the end of his line. "Talk about timing...I'm not gonna have to stop you falling in because of this thing, am I?"

"Well......it's hard to...tell...." Gabe would say as he stumbled a bit as he started to reel in the fish. IT kind of seemed like a big pull with the amount of grandstanding that Gabe was doing, even pressing himself by a nearby log.

"it's Coming!!! Here it......Comes!!!"

With one final pull, the fish would flap out in the distance as Gabe started to reel it in. Initially, Gabe was excited, but the look on his face started to be a bit deadpan when he noticed the kind of fish it was.

"A red snapper....ahh well, it's good for now...."

Holding the fish over to Cecil as it silently wiggled, Gabe would point at it.

"Another philosophy, what you attempt to catch will sometimes never be what you expect, but you still have to make due with it. "

Cecil watched tensely as Gabe appeared to struggle with his catch, seriously starting to wonder if he would actually have to intervene after a bit. Needless to say, it was not going to be ideal if he actually fell in the water - an understatement to be sure, but no less wrong for that.
He continued to watch on as the fish was brought to the surface with a grand heave, breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out that no, he wasn't about to have to stop him falling in. He couldn't help but note the seeming disappointment in Gabriel's words as he reeled the fish and presented it, though. "Can't say I know too much about fish...so...what's the deal with a red snapper?"

"What's the deal? Oh, nothing really? From what I remember, the bones are a bit of a pain to take out, I would have wanted something that wasn't too much of a hassle to eat. I mean, taking into consideration that I should catch a bit more for the sake of us frying it over the fire with a stick, Ever did that before?"

With gabe putting the fish in a container, he went on over to the worms to reset his bait.

"With what you catch, you should also take into consideration how a certain act will affect others. That's also apart of the fishing analogy, i seem to be on a roll today. But seriously, even when you do an action and make a certain decision, the way it affects others are definitely something to take into account. If you were hungry but didn't think the bones were worth getting to the meat, would you eat anyway? I thought about that as soon as i saw my catch.."
'

"Oh, right...again, not that I'd know. It's not like I've had to de-bone a fish or anything." He shrugs. "Can't say I've fried a fish like that either...it's not like I've had the opportunity to, even."

Cecil's fingers drum on his rod as he listens to Gabe. "I'm not sure that's a fair comparison in this case, though..." Tap tap. "It's not so much the act here, but well...the result. The product of it." He sighs as he looks over the water. "And you can't really control that, he-AGH!" Cecil's line jerked as he found himself lurching forward, gripping on tight and jamming his feet into the ground in an attempt to not give further. "Help?! Please?!"

"Well, that's the thing about having an opportunity to do something, as long as there is a person that's willing to teach you how to do it, the ability of growing is basically endless. We are going to get around to all that later on, so don't you worry. "

Gabe was happy to teach Cecil how to do that if he wanted to learn more about it. In addition to teaching Cecil, Gabe could have possibly gained a new fishing partner of some kind.  

"Oh! You got one!"

Speaking of fishing, the river gods seemed to bless Cecil and a fish was on the line as they spoke. This was rather good for Gabe was he went behind Cecil and gave the lad some back support as he grabbed on to the lower part of the fishing rod to support his pull.

"Alright buddy, let's bring it on home!"

As much as he had just asked for it, Cecil couldn't help but be a little surprised by the extra hands on his rod. He hadn't actually expected to get the assistance.
A little taken aback, Cecil just shook his head and tightened his grip. "Got it."

With Gabe's assistance, he started reeling in his catch, fighting it as it tried to get away. He didn't have any idea how hard this was supposed to be normally, but hell if it didn't feel hard to him right now.
He heaved...and with that, he managed to draw a fish with pale blue scales to the fore. "Come on..." Little by little, he drew it in with Gabe's help.

"Wow, I'm not too sure what kind of fish it is, but it's putting up quite a fight!" Gabe would say this in a somewhat excited tone, the fish that they could be reeling in could be unique or even something that doesn't show up too often in this part of the river. "Keep focus, maintain your stability by keeping the feet grounded." Gabe was offering a bit off instruction as he continued his support.

Cecil nods, and drives his feet more firmly into the ground as he reels it in. Even if it had come to the surface, it was still managing to put up a strong resistance, the fish tugging hard as it tries to slip away from the line. Still, little by little, he was pulling it in.
"I think...just a little more...!" He concentrated hard as he continued to pull, reeling it in centimetre by centimetre until...
"Yes."
The fish was torn from the river, the boy nearly stumbling back as the resistance suddenly vanished.

And now, hanging on the end of the line right before the pair, was a bulky, pale blue fish.

As soon as the fish was pulled out of the water, Gabe would have given the fish a questionable look. "Never seem to have seen a fish like this before, I kind of wonder what it is.... wait... I think this is a blue sucker. " Taking off his gloves, Gabe would reach into his pocket to take out his phone. After taking a picture of the fish, Gabe would search for the image. The image itself would come up with a few results, with the blue sucker fish being one of them.

"Wow, you managed to catch a pretty rare fish. I bet it would taste pretty good. But congrats., sure I helped a bit, but it was your line and your catch that managed to reel it in the first place. "

Putting his phone away, Gabe would then fix up the pile of rocks and wood that he gathered beforehand. "How do you feel about it? That sense of accomplishment after catching something, nothing like it right?"

"A blue sucker?" Another fish reeled out, another name for it for which he had no frame of reference. There were the fish he did know, and had eaten before, even, but apparently the waterways of Endymion just didn't have anything normal for which he knew what to expect.
He'd probably not recognise them on sight anyway, but at least he'd know the sort of meat and flavour that they happened to provide.
At the reveal that the fish was actually a rare catch, Cecil just stares blankly at it, not quite able to process the fact that the first thing his line actually brought in was such a rarity.
A small smile comes back to his lips, but the roaring satisfaction that came with tearing the stubborn creature that had given him so much trouble from the water had died down by then. In the moment, it felt so wonderful, but without that to focus on it was hard to ignore the fact he'd nearly gotten dunked in the water by this thing.
Nor that "It's satisfying, but, ah...getting this thing's also got me feeling pretty hungry."

"Hungry?! Say no more! This is the perfect time to start eating!" Gabe would then move over to the makeshift fire pit with stones that he formulated and took out a knife. After that, he started to proceed to scale a few of the fish. "Hey, I have some chips in my bag with a thermos for some iced lemonade, I'm not too sure if you like lemonade. However, with the red plastic cup inside, you can have some and help yourself. " As Gabe continued to prep the fish a little bit before roasting it on the fire, he hoped to accommodate Cecil.


"This is something to hold you off until the real meal, it's not meant to ruin the appetite or anything."

Gabe continued to prep the fish for a while.

---

After finishing and putting the fish towards the fire, Gabe would give a sigh of relief as he sat back.

"Give it a minute, it's worth the wait. Believe me.."

Gabe's enthusiastic response to the statement almost took Cecil aback with the sheer gusto with which the man set about it all, happily launching into his preparations with no more prompt than him stating his hunger.
He nodded dumbly as he continued talking, stepping toward the bag. "R-right...I, uh...don't think you have to worry about that? Really?" He opened up the bag and extracted the thermos and the chips, sealing the bag back up as he took them and the cup. Setting himself down with the items he'd retrieved, he pours out a measure of the lemonade, takes a sip...and then facepalms. "...why didn't I just bring the bag over?"
Shaking his head, he looks over to Gabe. "So, ah...how long does this take, anyway...?"

"Not too long, it should be done in a few minutes and so. Especially with now the fire is set up and how we spitroast the thing. I could have brought an electric stove or anything that was miniature, but I figured that I wanted to give you more of an authentic experience this time around. Taking that away from you would defeat the purpose of the trip.  Oh, by the way, there might be common conceptions of the purpose of the trip, but did you understand the hidden meaning behind it? "

Gabe wondered Cecil's opinion as he continued cooking.

"Uhhhh..." Any statements Cecil was about to make before were consumed by the awkward noise Cecil made after hearing Gabe's last sentence. Working in overtime, Cecil drilled over every single aspect of the trip so far, drilling into each action and every single word he could recall for something he overlooked, something he missed, something that could possibly be what Gabe what talking about now because he thought it was just a thing to do together and what do you mean there was a hidden meaning