Casting the Reel

It was pretty brave of Evangeline to ask the rock residers for ideas, and not just because this was their first ever meeting.

The matter at hand, helping Evangeline find and exact revenge on the cult leader responsible for the death of her kin, was grave enough for Polly to decide that her damaged ship and empty stomach had to take a backseat. It wouldn’t be cool beans at all if the lone survivor's lust for vengeance wasn't sated and ended up consuming her. There was also the fact that Polly figured if she played her cards right, this would be the perfect opportunaty for her and the birds to score a meal.

"Alright gamers, let's get this bread. What's the plan?” asked Polly, though based on the results from the last time she partnered with her feathered friends, she should've known better than to let them do the drafting.

"If there's bait we have that can lure them in…," began Wiki. "Though I don't know how we'd reel 'em in once they've bitten."

"Say no more," replied Polly, remembering their tragic attempts at fishing.

Polly was a heavy advocate for energy conservation, especially her own, yet once more she found herself making the trip from the rock to The Birbalinda and back again. But this time, rather than transporting the kiwis, she was bringing down something far more useful: the fishing rod. Just because they had failed before and hadn't improved since then didn't mean they would fail again. The odds of them failing again were simply high, not certain. And if Polly had learned anything from her time out at sea, it was that the odds were occasionally in her favor.

From her spot in the water, Evangeline bobbed with what Polly assumed to be approval.

"Have any ideas on how to hook this cult leader 'o yours?" Polly asked.

Evangeline was about to begin blowing bubbles anew, when Fethar caved.

"Just put me under," cried an impassioned Fethar. "I simply cannot wait another hour for Evangeline to write what she will."

"What happened to patience is a virtue, huh," asked Polly with a brow arched all the way up and past her hairline.

"Oh forgive me for my impatience, but is this not a most pressing matter?" replied Fethar with indignation.

It wasn't super pressing to Polly, but if the still damp Fethar wanted to be dunked in the sea for the sake of communication, she wasn't going to be the one to say no. Thus Polly promptly picked up the plume and set them adrift in the calm cerulean expanse before them.

Evangeline had a good few brain cells on her, so it seemed, for without further ado she swam over to where the sepia shaded feather floated. They drifted side by side for a while, and when the discussion finished, the royal gramma began bumping Fethar back toward the rock with her noggin. It was a good thing they hadn't drifted that far.

"Evangeline has offered herself as bait," said Fethar. "She says that as she is the one surviving member of her clan, it is only natural that the leader must be eager to finish her off."

“Using a fish to catch another fish,” mused Polly. “They do say it takes one to know one. But then how’d this work? I dunno about you, but getting stuck on a hook and getting cast out to sea isn’t my idea of a good time.”

Perhaps it was the wind or perhaps it was Fethar’s doing, but Fethar spun on the water’s surface as if they were a billionaire CEO in a swivel chair about to make a dramatic announcement. A bit of the effect was lost as Fethar appeared very much 2D compared to an obviously 3D chair, but Polly could appreciate the sentiment.

“You must have forgotten that Evangeline is no ordinary fish,” said Fethar just as dramatically as the situation called for.

Polly had no idea what the royal gramma of Twelfth or Fethar considered ordinary, but she had never thought of Evangeline as ordinary. Not even once.

“She told me, and she does insist that this information is to be kept a secret at all costs, that when she uses the power in her eyes...her vision turns red.”

Feather must have noticed the total lack of comprehending that Polly and the kiwis were doing, as Fethar had chosen to broadcast this message to the entire party and not just Polly, for it did not hesitate a moment before elaborating.

“Yes, what I said just now is the truth, though I know it is not something easy to believe. Why even I found the notion baffling when she first told me of it. Permit me to explain. Under normal circumstances red light is filtered from water as depth increases, and once a fish has swam deep enough, what they could once clearly perceive as red becomes some other hue. However, once Evangeline saw her clan shocked to death, the raw rage in her heart brought change about her, and that change now allows her to, if she so pleases, see everything in a scarlet stain no matter the time or place.”

“Wait,” said Polly, unsure if what she was about to say was dumb. She gave another fraction of a second of thinking to her thought before letting it fly free from the cage of her marble smooth brain. “Wouldn’t that be unhelpful?”

“Well, yes,” replied Fethar who apparently was also able to acknowledge the fact that having the ability to only see red wasn’t much of a boon. “But do recall I only ever said Evangline was no ordinary fish.”

Evangeline fixed her glowing orbs of ruby red on Polly, and though they were hardly more than decorative, Polly had to admit they looked pretty sick. She wondered for a moment how she would look with glowing red eyes. Probably not that cool if she was going to be honest with herself. Spice could only do so much to flavor the flavorless.

“I guess a fish has gotta do what a fish has gotta do,” shrugged Polly. “Under no circumstances will any of the lads here be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, costs or liabilities whatsoever resulting from your decision to use yourself as bait by means of sticking yourself on a hook and getting cast who knows how far by some sketchy shipwrecked suckers.”

“For my clan, I’d sign any disclaimer,” spelled the bubbles Evangeline had organized as Polly spoke.

It took a few minutes for the group to figure out how to stick the fish on the hook with minimal damages, but with Fethar guiding them through the process they were able to do a somewhat decent job. Polly had been elected by a majority vote of 3:1, Polly being the one, as the soul to cast the reel. The pressure she felt was leagues heavier than the pressure exerted at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (15,000 pounds per square inch).

With a heave and a ho, Polly took a step back, bent her arm at the elbow so that the rod was behind her, flexed a muscle for the sake of flexing a muscle, unflexed that muscle because though it looked cool it was unneeded, and cast. In mere seconds Evangeline was but a twinkle in the sky, a shooting star flying far, far away, grounded only by the fishing rod in Polly’s hands. It was only after Evangeline was long gone did Polly think to think that if Evangeline was planning to be bait, she could have stayed near the rock and waited for the cult leader to come to her.

Perhaps coming up with plans did involve thinking after all.

“So what are we going to do now,” asked Wiki. The kiwis had been chattering away as Polly had shot Evangeline into the great unknown, and it was only now that they thought to include the group’s one human in the conversation.

“Looks like it’s reel vibe hours,” replied Polly who was too hungry to want to do anything productive.

“Can’t remember the last time I’ve gone swimming,” Wiki remarked. “I guess now is as good of a time as ever.”

With a small leap followed by an equally small plop, Wiki was in the water.

The rock appeared to have a decently wide base below sea, for Wiki did not have to tread water in order to keep afloat. Nay, she was able to hop around to a degree, and her beak was well above water. She looked to be having an absolutely smashing time, and was soon joined by the other kiwis. Fethar, who was still on the water’s surface, was slowly being moved farther and farther away thanks to the ripples caused by the splashin’ about.

It took Polly perhaps a good minute longer than it should’ve to realize that if she didn’t act soon, the chance of Feather being lost at sea for good was higher than the odds of an explosive set off near dry plants during fire season causing a fire. So, still holding on to the fishing reel, she gingerly stepped down and into the blue. As she waded over to where Fethar was bobbing, she wondered how she would know if Evangeline had found the cult leader.

“Oh to have the power of foresight instead of god-tier powers of hindsight,” she thought to herself mournfully.

Polly was up to her neck in seawater by the time she finally got to Fethar.

“So you decided to come for me after all.”

“I force myself into icy water and stumble across rocky terrain, all for you to have the audacity,” sniffed Polly. “If I hadn’t spent a whole five minutes of my life on this, you can bet your bland brown self I’d be turning back without you in a jiffy. But we’re bros, so I’ll give you a pass this time.”

As she returned to the rock, Polly made the executive decision that she’d be staying in the water rather than climbing back onto dry land. She hated feeling soggy even more than she hated waking up early on a rainy day.

“Do one of you guys want to hold onto the pole?” Polly asked the kiwis as soon as she got back. “My arms have been in tofu mode lately, and if I have to hold onto this reel any longer they’re going to be in boiled cabbage mode.”

“Yea, and?” replied SAT who was all but submerged up to their beak.

“Haven’t you been talking about getting swole lately?” questioned Wiki, who had returned to the rock and was laying as starfish-like as a bird shaped like a basketball could. “There’s no time like the present ya know.”

Polly could find little fault in their words, but she didn’t feel like listening to them. As the reigning queen of lazy bums, Polly placed the fishing pole on the rock, wished to whatever higher power out there that she hoped was watching over her that the pole wouldn’t roll away. Then she joined the birds in their frolicking about in the water.

“The time for worrying ‘bout trivial things like food or repairing The Birbalinda sure ain’t now,” mused Polly, as she tilted her head back to look at the sky, which had cleared up nicely and was now a wonderful shade of robin’s egg blue. “No siree, if it doesn’t have to be done by tomorrow, it sure as I’m a pirate ain’t getting done today.”