I don't even like fish [Sol/Liana]

The fish looked large to her, but Liana's more common understanding of fish was the one cooked and served on the table--and usually, if they came from a creature this size, it was just a piece. Still, she applauded the successful catch nonetheless, and frankly, a fish of any size would've impressed her. It was the first one of the day, and the first one she had seen caught live, after all.

"Oh, may I?"

Gratefully, Liana took the fish into her hands. The creature squirmed a bit, but Liana wasn't one to be squeamish. In fact, without much effort exerted Liana was able to keep the animal held still. It was her gift at birth, this innate strength.

"I'm not sure about cute. Oh, but I do think that this creature is magnificent. Its scales are beautiful..."

Liana moved her head around, peeking all around the body curiously to get a good look at it. The thought of her zanpakuto spirits came to mind, actually, though a tinge of dissatisfied excitement rung out in her head in defiance. Clearly, they didn't agree.

"Here you go. What do you usually do when you catch the fish? Cook it, I presume? I've never seen one cooked this big before."

Just as Liana passed the fish back, her own pole began to vibrate.

"? O-oh! I think I caught one? What do I do now?"

Her eyes were keen on the rod. Just as he said, a controlled reel. Like a dance.

The rod tugged, Liana answered in kind and moderated her strength in kind. A pull, back and forth, every pull of hers drawing the catch just a little closer in. Just a little bit of the line, reeled in at a time. With Solhammond's guidance, Liana managed to pull the fish in with half the line remaining. However, just as she did one last tug, the line rapidly strained with tension. It pulled, and in quick adjustment, Liana went so far as to strengthen the line with her reiryoku.

The reinforcement did its job, and the line refused to snap. For a moment, it would've been an opportunity to sigh in relief and continue on, but the pull refused to let up. Whatever took her bait, it was strong. So much so, she had to slam her feet on the side of the boat, using her weight to hold.

"Is this usually how strong the fish are??"

Liana couldn't recall Solhammond needing to reinforce his line with his spiritual energy. In fact, it seemed relatively easy, a small struggle to gracefully reel his fish in. It didn't seem like just the difference of expertise and experience between them that was making their catches seem so different.

The fish tugged so hard, the boat was pulled forward, threatening to capsize.

Given the lack of normality to the situation, Liana took things more seriously. It was a scenario evidently not in either of their hands. The captain formed a semi-bubble beneath the boat to support its structure, while Solhammond grabbed onto her to counterbalance the force of the pulling fish. Still, his worries were confirmed, and the wood of their vessel creaked and cracked under the pressure.

Straight through the planks, Liana's feet punctured through to stand directly on the semi-bubble platform of her energy. She had faith that Solhammond was agile enough to adapt to the situation.

A semi-bubble didn't seem to be enough. The platform closed in shape, forming a full sphere surrounding the two of them, with only the fishing line puncturing through still reinforced. Liana felt confident that, if she really needed, she could pull the entirety of the creature from the depths. With her strength, she could carry much larger. That said, it had the risk of simply losing the catch and pulling the line straight from its maws forcefully, or injuring the catch and having it let go of the line, still losing the catch. For her first ever time fishing, perhaps it was unreasonably stubborn, but Liana didn't want to give up so soon.

Instead, still trying to wrestle with the line with grace, a pull and a give in cadence. The bubble sank straight into the water to balance the struggle. The two of them, submerged, could finally get a glimpse of the haul.

Liana couldn't help but let out a brief chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose this does mean the fish caught us."

She could sense the nerves of Solhammond growing tense, a tremor in his voice as he spoke and the tightening of his hold over her waist. In response, reiatsu flared gently to encompass him, the effects of the Hand of the Redeemer possessing an aura of soothing calmness. Hopefully, that would help him out here. Though, Liana admittedly felt curious towards why he seemed particularly agitated. Even when they sparred, Solhammond didn't seem so perturbed.

"The plan? I suppose... It's to succeed in the catch?"

As she spoke, the enormous koi proceeded to pull them deeper and deeper into the waters. The visibility of their surroundings faded out into a pitch black darkness. It couldn't be felt due to the strength of the sphere, and Liana keeping her balance as she held onto her fishing rod, but the speed of their descent was blindingly quick.

At a point, through the vibrations of her rod, Liana felt that their descent ceased. In fact, the fish stopped pulling altogether. Liana took that opportunity to slowly reel the catch in, but it remained a struggle. Even worse, she couldn't make out much around her--given the total darkness--so her only means of ascertaining the fish's position was how much of the line she reeled in.

"Palliser-san, what do I do if the fish is no longer pulling, but it refuses to budge? Can I just tug hard, and it will follow? The line still feels quite tense."

From fishing rod fishing, to spear fishing. What an exciting venture, this fishing trip turned out to be. Just as Solhammond instructed, Liana finally exerted the enormity of her strength, yanking the rod back and maintaining the strength of the string. Now that they had a good look, a good idea of the leviathan of a creature they were dealing with, she felt more confident that really yanking it out wouldn't be a problem.

On one hand, she was right. The creature beckoned forth, the slight illumination of the reiryoku bubble surrounding the two revealing just the slightest peak at the monster.



"Wow...."

For the moment, Liana couldn't help but pause in awe. It was huge, its own eyeball larger than Solhammond's full height. Or at least, what she assumed was its eyeball. Curiously, it had a reflectiveness to it, such that the light from her bubble made the eyes and its forehead shine. There was a deepness to the creature, that harboured a well of spiritual energy Liana could not fully discern in the small moment of mutual pause.

The fish only stared back for a few moments, then rushing off again, in speeds such that it practically shunpo'd in the water.

The sudden inertia of the movement had Liana lose her balance, and likely Solhammond behind her, pushing the two of them into the wall of the bubble. Of course, Liana's grip remained on the rod, and they followed after.

Finally, after all this tension, after all the effort Liana put in to maintain it, the line snapped. It was shocking to her personally, because by extension it meant that the reinforcement of her spiritual energy was broken as well.

At least this time, where the lost its inertia and stopped, the pair was not surrounded by pure darkness.

"It's a bit uncomfortable, if you could get off me, Palliser-san?"

Presuming he obliged, Liana could finally get back up to really see what they were looking at. She checked back to make sure he was okay, ready to once more use the Hands of the Redeemer to soothe him.Like an entire expanse of an underwater cavern, the jagged rocks and walls shined brightly with what seemed to be bioluminescent creatures, perhaps algae or bacteria of some sort. The speckled glows illuminated the surroundings, like a sky of stars around them--just, underwater.

Liana paused for some time, not simply to take in the the sights--though she did find herself fascinated in its majesty--but to tactically understand the area. A burst of her reiatsu flew out, bouncing along the walls of the cavern like a sonar. Her energy passed on into a number of openings, caves, tunnels, but no agreeable results to be had.

A number of small shikigami were summoned, transparent phantom-like fish with a soft lavender hue to them racing about the waters. It would take some time for them to scour the area.

She turned back once more to Solhammond, sure to not wear a hopeless expression. After all, they weren't hopeless. Merely.. .delayed.

"While it is a beautiful sight, I'm afraid I can't discern the surroundings properly."