The Fox and the Geese [Himiko, Erchanhardt]

Well now, was it not pleasant here in the wilderness of Italy? Erchanhardt had to confess that, even having know the area relatively well, he still had not been prepared for how charming it was. The greenery of the forests, and the majesty of the Alps, both seemed to Erchanhardt a wonderful reminder that there was yet beauty in this workd, even in spite of the danger within it. The peace here brought a smile to his face.

And, admittedly, the company did as well.

Erchanhardt had not expected her to be quite such an enjoyable companion, though that was not to say he had anticipated anything negative. Her cheer was very much appreciated, a rather exceptional shift from the sort of people he had affiliated himself with in recent weeks. After such time with bureaucrats and politicians, a woman of simple forward nature was quite welcome, and only made the whole of this trip all the more enjoyable. Ah--he'd hooked a fish while he was caught up in thought. Pulling back on the rod just enough to set the hook, he slowly began pulling the line in by hand. He wasn't much for fancy tricks, after all, especially not when fishing in such a tranquil place as this. This lake, the forest, the mountains, they deserved to be undisturbed by any such modern trappings.

Mm... A modest trout, but certainly not small enough to merit simply throwing back into the ocean. Another two or three like it would make for a pleasant lunch, he thought.

A couple of days to let loose, what a dream! She loved being outside and living out in the woods. Himiko just adored it, she had company too and it wasn't like he was just some company you know. He was totally dreamy; tall, handsome, a gentleman and he loved being outdoors too. What a catch right? She didn't even know how she ended up in this situation but she liked it. It was a nice date. So after grabbing more firewood since they were getting a bit low she dashed into the clearing and got her legs moving a little bit.

Yep, real good. It was why she came running out and gave a big old stretch. Not even thinking about the fact she groaned through the whole thing, really you had to keep the limbs nice and loose because who liked stiff arms or legs or a back? Not this girl. That's who.

"Oooo, you got a few good catches there. Yanno I'm real good at catching fish, except I kinda do it without the rod. You know, just dive in there and give them the things a little go with the old hands."

Another girly giggle and she sat down next to him to watch what he was up to. She had never really learnt to fish with a rod like that before.

Ah, and speak of the devil... Well, perhaps that was a bit more rude than he intended it to be.

"Really now? By hand? That seems it might require a great deal of dexterity. I would not be averse to seeing it, if you were willing to dive into the water."

Watching her sit next to him with a small smile, Erchanhardt set the fish into the small pail of water he'd acquired to keep them around for now. After all, simply stringing them along to suffer in the air would be rather needlessly cruel of him, wouldn't it? It did occur to him that he might have been asking a bit much of her, to simply suggest she dive into the water and catch a fish, but he could not deny the fact that he was, in a word, curious.

Himiko's ears perked up at the suggestion, what kind of thing was he hinting at? She was wearing underwear so that was fine.. right? She didn't want to get naked, or did he want her to get naked? No way. He was way too much a decent guy to mean that, did she want to get naked? This was confusing. No no. Thoughts straight here. He said it so lightheartedly he was absolutely not with any weird intentions in it, she'd also got a pretty good grasp on the guy in the time they'd been together out here too.

"Alrighty, yep. Just you wait here."

She got up and stripped down until she was in her underwear and got into the water. Cold or not she had a pretty good resistance to that kind of stuff. Himiko definitely got a bit quieter though while she waited for her opportunity to strike. One minute, two minute... There!

A big splash and she he launched herself down and at her target. The triumphant victory of the decent sized fish in her hands when she came up and held it up to Erchanhardt. She still had it, damn straight she still had it. It was a little awkward trying to keep it above her head while she got back to the shore though. Maybe..

"Hey! Catch."

Towards him the fish went. He'd catch it, hopefully.

While Erchanhardt's sense of propriety demanded that he look away as the lady stripped down, he nevertheless watched her as she actually moved into the water. He had not actually quite considered that this would occur, but he supposed that it would have been unreasonable to ask her to wet all of her clothes in the lake.

As she lept forward and captured the fish, Erchanhardt actually found himself quite impressed. He supposed that, at least in theory, he likely would have had the raw physical capability to achieve something similar, but he very much doubted that he could replicate her feat with as much ease as she seemed to have. Regardless, as she threw the fish toward him, Erchanhardt caught it with a single hand, tossing it into the pail before returning his attention to her.

"Very remarkable indeed, Miss Shikimura. I feel as though I ought to ask you for a bit of advice in fishing. My technique is rather lacking by comparison."

What a good catch, now didn't she want to be that fish- What? No way, that's so forward lol. She can't expect him to catch her one handed like that, she's too big. Himiko thought to herself while swimming back over to shore and gave a good stretch once she was on land. She could get used to this. Little bit of this, little bit of that. Just spending all the days in the woods.

"Well, I've been doing it for a pretty long time ya know. Got it taught to me when I was a little girl, takes a lot of time to perfect since it's really awkward sometimes and if you get a bad take-off the fish is good as gone yanno? I think you're doing totally fine though, Erchanhardt. Rod's just a bit much to carry around for me."

She was already leaning over him with a hand on his shoulder reassuringly at his technique before it dawned on her that she was standing here in her cutesy looking underwear all wet with her hand on this hunk's shoulder... Hehe.

How could she not go a little rosy over that thought? It was hard to remember she had company sometimes, when she was alone it didn't matter if she was naked or not. Who cared, the animals? Tenken? Nuh uh. She had an image to keep up here though, maybe he liked confidence? She'd just roll with it. Let him look if he liked what he saw. Was her tail wagging a little bit more than she might've liked out of nerves? Maybe.

Even if he obviously did not know it, Erchanhardt was on a similar page to Himiko as she came back to shore. Not with regard to catching her, of course, but rather to how appealing a thought it was to simply spend his days in these lands. They were pleasant, peaceful.

"Ah, but if I had such an understanding, then I, too, would have no need to carry a rod. And for one who travels as often as I, that does seem quite appealing. Perhaps I will practice this when I have the free time, or at the least when we require another lunch."

As Himiko touched his shoulder, it took a rather impressive degree of his willpower not to instinctively shy away from her. He did not particularly mind it, it was a friendly gesture, but the suddenness had thrown him briefly. Glancing over at her, he considered asking her to remove it. However, she did seem rather content in the situation. It would have felt rude to ruin that for her.

"Well, we ought to prepare this. We will likely need to be quite well-fed for later hunts, after all, won't we? We have still yet to go after any big game, and I am rather interested to see how you fare with that."

"A-Another lunch?"

Her ears perked up and her tail flicked back and forth much faster than she wanted it to. Now she was getting shy and nervous, Erchanhardt found his ease when her hand pulled away and she shyly twiddled her thumbs. Did that mean he liked her that he asked her for another date? He didn't seem that into it though, maybe she was doing something wrong? No way, she'd done plenty of dates before and everything. It was so confusing. Was he too classy for her?

"Oh? Oh, yeah. You can watch me and Tenken get down to business."

She lacked a bit of the same chirpiness she carried prior, it wasn't that she looked upset but she wasn't as excited as she carried usually. It was hard when she thought she'd done something wrong.

"Certainly. Unless you would rather not such a thing, but I have been quite enjoying the outing."

It did certainly register to Erchanhardt that her mood had been brought down, but he couldn't pretend that he understood why. He was not one who quite understood the intricacies of the younger generations, and he had never exactly been one who knew much in regard to the workings of the female mind.

"To watch would certainly be good, though of course I would wish to work alongside you, as well. Better to learn through experience, yes? And, besides, I think I would be remiss if I did not take a bit of opportunity to show my own methods as well. If not as a method of repayment, then simply for my own pride."

He offered her a small smile, as if to punctuate that he had been offering a bit of lighthearted humor. Erchanhardt may not have been one who understood the hearts of women, but he was certainly a gentleman who did not wish to bring a lady's mood down.

"No no no. I mean, yes. Let's do it again."

She didn't get it, Himiko shook some of the excess water off her with a vigorous attempt at getting herself a bit drier. It wasn't like she wanted to run around hunting when she was undressed like this at the same time was he really not feeling it? How'd he want to hang out- Oh no. It was like Alastor all over again. Was she getting friendzoned again?

AAAAAAAAH! But he was so nice about it too, how could she be mad or upset when he was so courteous about everything, she bet he treated all the girls like that. She wondered what he'd treat a special girl like though, did he have one? Himiko had to think on that one. It wasn't unlike her to forget details like that and she couldn't remember if he told her but she couldn't just ask him outright, that'd be soooooo weird.

"I'll just go get dressed, k?"

Off she went to ponder and grab a towel to dry herself off properly and get herself dressed again for the next activity. There was some serious planning going on here, trying to calculate everything down to the dot. She hated maths, why'd it not make sense?