Submission (#2420) Approved

As a Silveil native, Strynhalde hadn't exactly been on Xochi's top 10 destinations to visit in Eyre, but if there was one thing the kittom knew to do best, it was to turn an unfortunate situation into a business opportunity.

Initially, the dark furred kittom had been traveling through the area, trying to peddle her wares to unsuspecting nin when the miasma season hit. As her pomu was used as free (extra) storage, Xochitl had been stranded in the snowy winter wonderland until the miasma cleared and it was safe to go out again. It was true that she could have taken one of the many warded caravans to somewhere warmer, such as Palu'au, but moving all of her stuff around on her own was such a tiresome pain... and there were so many adult elnin who were gullible enough to buy into her sob stories to let her board with them out of the goodness of their hearts. Sure, it snowed all the time, and there wasn't much of interest to look at unless she wanted to go check out the caverns, but Xochi was an opportunist, and if she could figure out some sort of selling point to Strynhalde that she could turn a profit out of once she returned back home, then she would certainly milk it for all that it was worth.

(The free food, plus room and board, were also always a huge plus.)

Today, Xochi had decided to try something different. Normally, she'd set up shop for a bit, have her pomu put her wares on display up on the makeshift stall she had had one of the adults put together for her, but it looked like it would be a slow business day, and to be quite honest, sometimes Xochi just got far too lazy to be bothered with selling anything, as much as she liked money. Some days, Xochi would just sleep in, sprawled out by the fire, rather than waste energy by doing anything productive. It was a precarious balancing act, with her love of money versus her love of sleep. However, an idea had come to mind today, that she wanted to act upon- today, she would try her luck at... ice fishing? It was something Xochi had heard some of the adults talk about, that had piqued her curiosity, because she did admittedly consider fish to be her favorite food, that had also sparked a very masterful plan, to hopefully make a little bit of a profit.

If there was anything that would sell very well, it was something that was rare and hard to find, right? If she could fish up some kind of exotic fish, and market it to the elnin of the other regions, it would surely turn a very handsome profit, now wouldn't it? Already the wheels in the kittom's head were turning, as she pondered the best way to go about with her plans. Sure, there was the issue of preservation, not to mention the question of how to maintain a steady supply, but... eh, she could worry about those things later, if at all! With some gear that she had borrowed from a fisherman who was currently recovering from injury (and thus in no shape to go fishing themselves), Xochi had set out for an ice fishing tent she had heard about from them, where other fishers would camp out to fish. She did, technically, know that ice fishing could be done out in the open, too, but freezing her fur off wasn't on the agenda today. Or tomorrow. Or ever, really. Thankfully, the tent was heated, and thus there would be no freezing happening today.

Once she had gotten into the tent and had everything properly set up (with her pomu's help, of course), Xochi cast her line into the hole in the ice that had been conveniently already been cut for her, making sure to jiggle the rod every now and then like she had been taught, to try to interest any prospective fish into biting. She'd taken great care to pick out only the best baits to use, as much as she hated getting her paws dirty, so the hope was there that good quality bait would attract rare quality fish, at least according to her flawed logic, anyway. It was a bit boring, waiting for a bite, and distantly, Xochi pondered if maybe she should have brought along one of the other kittoms she had met during her stay in the region, but she also didn't want to have to run into the issue of splitting any potential profit to be made from selling her hypothetical rare catches, and thus, she was here on her own, accompanied only by her pomu, with enough snacks to last for awhile. Still, it was pretty boring, and Xochi found herself growing impatient at the lack of instant results. Just how long would this take, anyway? She'd been expecting things to be taking much less time than it currently was taking.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting (and jiggling. and waiting. and snack breaks), there was a tug at the line. Quickly, Xochi began to reel in her line, filled with a newfound excitement. Finally, the moment she had been waiting for...! Eager to get her paws on her newly acquired catch, Xochi pulled the line up all the way and got a good look at the fish she had caught... or at least she was assuming it was a fish, anyway. Actually, upon further inspection, maybe it wasn't really very fishy- it looked more like... a snail, almost, but without a shell, and was nearly transparent in color, with a blueish tint to it. The kittom frowned, disappointment quickly setting in- what was this, exactly? A snail or a slug? She supposed it counted as a fish, but could she really sell such a thing? Well, most snails had a shell, and this one certainly... seemed to lack one, so perhaps that was rare enough, but...

This was hardly anything that could be considered 'edible', to say the least, or at least according to Xochi's standards! She pondered if this had all been a huge waste of time that could have been better spent napping, or selling some of the junk she had accumulated... but one nin's trash was another nin's treasure, or so the saying sort of went. The kittom wrinkled her nose at the thought of spending more time out here, but perhaps this was just the beginning, of a long and profitable haul, though that may have just been wishful thinking.

"We are in this for the long haul," she hissed, putting the slug in the bucket she had brought along with her for now, before casting her line back into the ice hole. Perhaps she'd try her luck tomorrow with checking out those ice caverns she'd previously dismissed, in the hopes that there could be possibly rare crystals to be had for selling, but for now, she'd spend just a little longer, fish just a little while more, for something hopefully rarer and more... more...

Money-making? Delicious? Bigger? The word she was looking for was just at the tip of her tongue...