A Quiet Forest
A placid forest surrounds the area, the calmness thereof disturbed only
by the gentle chirping of birds that nest within the treetops. A foot-
beaten dirt path winds through the area, and nearby, a small glade issues a
break-section amidst the trees, bordered by a babbling creek. Sunlight
overhead peeks through openings in the canopy.

Crossroads tried to push away the memories she had of her last visit
to Wutai and keep her mind on the positive things that were happening
right now. She was going fishing with Tyrranis, and most likely this
would lead to him once again cooking fried fish for dinner. It had
been a long time since she had any of Tyr's cooking. He hadn't done
any since the day he was injured. So this was something special to
look forward to. With a light smile Crossroads followed behind him a
couple of steps taking in the scenery of the forest.

Tyrranis walked a familiar path through the forest, and examined the
scenery. This was what he was used to. Wilderness, where the questions
didn't fall to money to get food, they fell to your ability to hunt
and gather. He glanced back to Crossroads, making sure she was
following the path well enough. Something was wrong with her, he just
couldn’t tell what it was. It made no difference. The past was not
something that should be dwelled upon.

"Thank you for bringing me along. I've never really gone fishing
before so hopefully I won't get in the way." Crossroads said when she
saw Tyrranis glance back at her. Really, it didn't matter to her if
she was fishing or not. Sure, it couldn't hurt to learn a new skill
but part of the reason she came along was just because she wanted to
be around someone.

Tyrranis nodded to Crossroads. "It is not a problem. The worst thing
you could do is scare away the fish." As he said this, Tyrranis and
Crossroads came into view of a small lake, hidden in the woods. "Here
we are." He uncorked his bat and began pulling small objects out of it
while walking towards his usual spot.

Crossroads nodded to Tyrranis in return and watched him closely and he
started pulling objects from his bat. "What are you going to use those
for?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as she followed him.

Tyrranis began revealing the objects; A couple of spools of string,
and two hooks. "I am turning my bat into a fishing rod." With this, he
tied the string around the slim part of the bat, and began attaching
the hook. "Do me a favor, find a worm?"

"A worm?" Crossroads looked around, and then wandered away from him,
upturning some rocks and small pieces of wood stumps by the shore. She
knew worms liked soil and moist environments so she thought looking in
these places would yield the best results. After a few unsuccessful
tries and the disturbing of a few other types of creepy crawlies,
Crossroads knelt down and started digging. It wasn't long till she
pulled a wriggling worm out from the mud.

Tyrranis seemed to have finished preparations on his bat, and looked
back to Crossroads. "Ah, good job." He stepped over to collect the
worm, and gives Crossroads a smile, regardless of her possibly dirt
covered nature. After all, that was part of nature!

Crossroads handed the worm over to Tyrranis, noticing the mud covering
her fingers. She looked around, but finding nothing to clean them off
on she resorted wiping them off on the side of her pants. She was
already plenty dirty from cleaning the cafe earlier, so getting a
little bit more dirt on her clothes didn't seem to matter so much.
"Should I see about finding a couple more?" She asked.

Tyrranis shrugged. "Perhaps. Large enough worms can be split in half,
so one or two more." This worm, he just plain speared onto the hook
and casted it into the lake. Then, he sat down and stared at it.
Vacantly.

It had been a long time since she had seen Tyrranis staring vacantly
at something like this. So long in fact that Crossroads could barely
even remember it now. It was back in the days when the fountain bench
used to always be the place she would find him; covered in morning dew
or birds. And she would often try to get to know him better or see
things from his perspective by sitting next to him and staring up at
the sky too. Crossroads smiled at the memories as she turned away and
set back to work on her task, taking her time.

When Crossroads returned she was carrying a worm and a half with her,
as the other half managed to get away from her. Tyrranis seemed to be
in the same position he was when she left him in; still staring out
into the waters of the lake. She sat down next to him and stared out
in that direction too, taking in the view as well as the soothing
sound of lapping water. Eventually though she turned to look back to
Tyr then somewhat hesitantly, Crossroads shifted so she lay
comfortably on the ground and rested her head on his lap.

Tyrranis didn’t take note of the time that Crossroads had spent away,
instead his clue that she had returned was when his lap is suddenly
occupied by a head. He looked down slowly, and raised an eyebrow at
her. "Comfortable?"

"Mmhmm" Crossroads nodded slowly, her cheek rubbing against his leg as
she did. "I can move if you want. But I'll have you know if you do I
will do it feeling a little reluctant." she gave a small, quiet laugh,
then added, "Oh! And I brought back a couple more worms too."

Tyrranis chuckled on his own. "It will be difficult for you to learn
how to fish from down there." He jerked his bat, and then began
bringing in the string with his hand. On the end is a large fish. He
smiled at her and dangled the fish. "see?'

Crossroads sat up the second he jerked the bat, surprised by the
sudden movement. She saw the fish occasionally breaking the surface of
the water as it struggled against the line pulling him in. When he
finally manages to bring it to shore and holds it up, Crossroads
grinned up at Tyrranis, "Yeah, okay. I see your point. Nice catch
Tyr!"

Tyrranis removed the fish from the hook, and offered Crossroads the
bat. "Would you like to try? It is not all that difficult, really."

Crossroads took hold of the bat and looked at the half worm in her
other hand. She started doing the same as she had seen Tyrranis do;
hooking the worm to the hook and casting it. Though neither action
happened with the same comfortable ease as he had done it. She looked
back at him with a questioning look, not sure if she had done
everything okay.

Tyrranis nodded along with Crossroads during the steps she takes, and
watches her cast it out into the water. "Good. Now, you watch it. wait
until you see the little bobby thing go under water, and jerk the bat,
hard. That will hook the fish. Then pull it in and we can eat it
later." He patted her on the back. "Simple."

"Right." Crossroads said, putting on a determined look as she turned
her attention away from Tyr and back to the water, watching the bobber
as it floated along the water’s surface. "How long does it usually
take?" She asked, noting how long it took to catch the first one.

Tyrranis shrugged. "It takes anywhere from several minutes to never."
He too was watching the bobber, though if it was to help Crossroads or
just to stare at something was ambiguous. "I have gone several trips
without catching a fish before. It can be frustrating."

Crossroads really didn’t like the sound of never, nor did she like the
idea of returning home with only one fish. Regardless, she waited
patiently, letting her mind wander a bit. Eventually it started
returning to things that she'd sooner want to forget. Her lips soon
pressed into a frown and she finds herself wondering if she should
tell Tyr what happened in Wutai while they waited for something to
bite. But the topic still seemed too hard for her to spit out.

Tyrranis stared at the bobber as Crossroads frowns, and nudged her.
"Do not lose focus of the fishing. That is the thing that is important
right now."

Tyr's words pulled Crossroads away from her thoughts and she goes back
to simply watching the bobber, and not a moment to soon as she noticed
it disappear under the water an instant later. "Ah!" Caught off guard
by this sudden event she looked confused for a second, trying to
quickly remember the next step.

Tyrranis calmly watched Crossroads confusion, and then quietly
mentioned "Jerk the bat." He didn’t reach over and do it, just gave
her enough of a reminder that he hoped she might be able to do it
herself.

Crossroads quickly did this, feeling the line tighten. She stood up
and started pulling the fish in. "I did it! I caught one!" She said
excitedly, watching it fight and jump from the water as it came closer
to the shore.

Tyrranis couldn’t help but smile as Crossroads gets so excited. "Be
careful not to pull too hard, or the line might snap." He stood as
well, watching her to make sure she didn't fall over and get either
terribly muddy or quite wet.

Crossroads finally managed to pull the fish out of the water and she
stared at it with a wide smile on her face. She seemed at a loss for
words. Had she really managed to catch a fish herself?

Tyrranis smiled, and gave Crossroads a hearty pat on the back. "Good
job. That one did not take very long at all. Much better than my first
time fishing." He unhooked the fish for Crossroads and sent it to join
the other fish on the ground. "Well, would you like to try again? Or
is that enough for now?"

"There is still another worm. Why don't we divide it in half and take
turns?" Crossroads passed the bat back to him, the excitement still
apparent in her voice. Indeed she wanted to give it another try, but
Tyr had been the one who wanted to fish in the first place and she
thought it would be unfair to keep him from doing it.

Tyrranis shrugged, and split the worm as she suggested. Spearing half,
he sat back down and settled in before throwing his hook out. "You are
welcome to rest as you had before. You were not in the way of what I
was doing."

Crossroads took a seat beside him on the grass, raising an eyebrow at
him. "Are you sure?" Despite what he had said, she thought she would
be in the way, especially if he caught another fish.

Tyrranis frowned, and patted his lap at Crossroads. "I said it is
fine, do you not trust my judgment?" He put on a mock pout. "Well, I
guess if you do not, I can just find another way to sit. One that you
cannot rest your head on."

Crossroads blinked then returned to the same position she had been in
earlier, laying her head on Tyrranis's leg and staring out into the
water. "Of course I trust your judgment." She said quietly.

Tyrranis smiled as Crossroads laid down, and rubbed her shoulder.
"There, there, I know that you do." He stared out at the bobber, still
stroking her shoulder with the smile on his face.

Crossroads closed her eyes, though she was hesitant to relax until she
felt Tyrranis' hand rubbing her shoulder. She let out a contented
sigh, but said nothing. The long day of cleaning had finally caught up
with her and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, Tyrranis gently shook Crossroads’ arm, having
already pulled in the line of his bat. "Crossroads. I do not believe
that we are going to catch any more fish today. Are you going to be
able to walk back or should I carry you?"

Crossroads stirred upon Tyrranis shaking, and one eye drifted open and
she rolled over, looking up at him sleepily. The dream she had been
having still tugged at her, and she could easily slip back into it.
"Mhh?" She mumbled, not fully registering his words yet.

Tyrranis eyed the sleepy Crossroads, and shook his head before patting
hers. He did up the fish with the string, and stringed them to his
bat. "I am going to pick you up now." He set the bat on her, making
sure the fish weren’t resting on her as well. Afterwards, he picked
her up, cradling her, and began the walk back to the house.

Crossroads slowly blinked as Tyrranis picked her up but made no effort
to protest or move. Later she would probably apologize for not waking
up and walking back on her own with him. Though for now her body felt
too heavy to move and her eyes were beginning to sink back closed. It
isn't long before she falls back to sleep Tyrranis' arms.