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[ text - s.uris ]

At home, sometimes I thought that I'd really like to get a break from my family. The town I'm from isn't so great and well a lot of bad things were happening. I got mad at my dad a lot because it felt like I couldn't depend on him or any adult to care or help with the things that were happening. We ended up not needing the adults but it sucked.

I guess, it wasn't perfect at home but now that I'm here and my family isn't I really miss them. I wouldn't think I could miss them this bad. I miss going to the Synagogue and my dad making me study Hebrew. I always thought it was really annoying and boring.

Do you miss anything that you don't have here that you didn't think you could ever miss?

Is there anything that helps?

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[He gave the boy a smile in greeting as he approached.]

Ready? [He motioned towards the second fishing spear as he finished up the one he was holding, holstering the knife to bring with them. He snagged the wicker basket he had set on the porch beside him and got up, nodding towards the river.]

The most important thing to remember when it comes to fishing is patience. [He gave Stan's hair a ruffle as he passed by and headed down towards the bank of the river.]

[ Stan tries to hide his confusion at the spears. He'd been thinking fishing poles -- you know, normal fishing. He doesn't want to look silly, though so he takes it all the same. ]

I've never really had a patience problem. When you go bird watching sometimes you have to stay quiet and still for a long while to catch certain ones to see. [ His nose scrunches at his hair being ruffled but he doesn't otherwise complain about it as he follows Ragnar to the river. ]

You don't use fishing poles and bait?

I have never heard of bird watching. [He leads the way down to the river as he speaks.] So, you hide and wait for the birds to get closer to... make it easier to catch them?

[It made sense. Birds could be tricky.]

Hm? No? We will spear them.

Here. We should leave our shoes. Unless you do not mind them getting wet. [He paused at the river bank to pull his shoes and socks off, not bothering to roll up his pants. They'd be getting wet no matter what.] Now, move slowly and stay where it is a little shallow. Keep your eyes open and if you see movement, be quick, and stab at it.

[ Stan looks surprised at the idea that someone would think of catching a bird when he's talking about just watching them. ]

No, you just watch them.

[ Stan clarifies. He watches as Ragnar pulls off his shoes and looks confused. This is definitely not what he'd been expecting when the other'd been talking about fishing, even when he saw the spears he hadn't really -- or maybe he'd refused to put two and two together. ]

Oh. [ Stan thinks about backing out but he doesn't want to make himself look bad or weak in front of Ragnar. He's one of the few adults he's really come to like since he got here. He's slow in getting off his shoes and socks. He grimaces a bit and tried not to think about the fact he's definitely going to get dirty this way. ]

Why do you use these and not fishing poles?

[He frowns a little in confusion, unable to think of any reason why anyone would want to waste time staring at birds when they weren't planning on hunting or catching them.] Why?

[As Stan asked about fishing poles, Ragnar was easing down the bank and stepping lightly into the water.] What do you mean? These are poles... and we are using them to fish with.

Come on, it is not so cold. [He grinned. It was January. Of course, it was cold.]

Because they're interesting to watch and beautiful. It's a peaceful thing to do.

[ Stan explains hesitantly. He's used to being teased about the hobby so he's not sure if that's what going to be coming next, though he rather hopes that it wouldn't be. He obviously can't untell Ragnar about it now, though. ]

These aren't fishing poles... [ Stan counters, but it's not hard to figure out that Ragnar must have been from a time before the glorious invention of fishing poles. He'll have to show him sometime. ]

You're not a good liar. [ Stan informs him and all the same he reluctantly steps out into the water, which he thinks is definitely so cold. ]

Are there even any fish when it's this cold?

Hm. That... makes sense. I have never watched birds to feel peaceful, but I know what you mean. I like to sit alone sometimes, away from everybody. It helps me think.

[As he speaks, he carefully walks in a little deeper until the water is just about up to his knees.] Stay in the shallower part and watch.

[He smirks a little when Stan calls out his lie, prodding the water in front of him a bit.] It is cold for us, but not cold for fish. They like it.

There. Do you see him? He is coming your way. [Ragnar motioned at what might have been a fish, a shadow, or just a ripple] When you see him, straight down, don't hesitate.

[ Stan supposes that sitting alone and away from people is very similar to bird watching. But he thinks that's also a sort of lonely thing to do and bird watching never made him feel lonely.

He's still not sure about this whole fishing with a sharp stick sort of thing and the water is freezing but he frowns as he looks down and watches for...what could or maybe isn't a fish he thrusts the stick down, missing entirely. He's not too upset about that. ]

Don't these make the fish all messy when you get them...?

Did it get away?

[Ragnar smiled knowingly, not looking at all concerned that Stan had completely missed.]

Messy? What do you mean? I just sharpened these, so they are clean. And we will cook the fish before eating them.

[He sloshed forward slowly, keeping a watchful eye on the water, spear at the ready.]

Yes...

[ Stan's not sure whether he's disappointed or relieved about the fact. He purses his lips at Ragnar's response. ]

But the way these would go through it wouldn't... [ He furrows his brows. ]

You see... back home we use fishing poles and there's a fishing line, like a string and you put a little hook with bait on it... and then it hooks into the fishes mouth not it's body? [ He fumbles to explain why he might think that stabbing a fish with a pointing object might be messier than that, not that he's actually done a lot of fishing. ]

You will see when you catch one. It is the reason they are shaped that way, with the three points. It will mostly get the sides of the fish.

[Ragnar stalks forward patiently, intently watching a spot in the river where the water is swirling a little, a natural eddy because of the way the bottom of the river is, or something.]

A string? [He tries to imagine the setup that Stan is talking about.] How do you get the fish on the hook?

[He motions Stan a little closer as he nears the small eddy.] Move slowly. [When Stan is close enough, he points at the swirling water, a silvery glint reflecting the sun every few moments. Shifting the spear in his hand to hold it more like a javelin, he waits for the little glimmer in the water and then jabs at it and pulls it up a second later, a decently sized fish weakly flopping back and forth on the end of it, caught between the spikes on the end of the spear. He brings it closer so Stan can see how the spear had worked.] See. One did end up inside, the other two just keep it from working its way free.

[ Stan is trying to envision how it works but he doesn't see how it'd end up just as clean as a hook would do -- not to mention this just seems a lot more difficult and less relaxing than the fishing that he knew of before but he won't complain more than he already has even if he's pretty sure his toes are starting to go numb. ]

With bait, it goes to eat the bait and it gets hooked...and you don't even have to get in the water.

[ Stan tries to follow Ragnar's instructions carefully and the line that he's pointing in and watching the way the other was able to catch a fish. He tilts his head as he studies it for a moment. ]

It makes sense.

Hm. That would not work with eels, I do not think. And they are very common where I am from. And what keeps the thread from breaking?

[Thread was, of course, readily available for weaving, but it was nothing like the string that would be needed to reel in even a medium-sized fish.

The fish he'd speared flopped for a half a minute before going still. While it struggled, Ragnar seemed to move on, looking around for another.]

Alright. Now we need one for you. Then we can clean them up and cook them.

Eels...?

[ Stan scrunches up his nose seeming a bit disgusted at the prospect. ]

Fishing line is really strong.

[ Stan makes a face again at the prospect of cleaning a fish -- he's seen someone do it before and it's gross. ]

We don't have to have to. [ All the same, he's not going anywhere. ]

Mmhm. [And then he catches Stan's expression.] What? You do not like eel?

Hm. But it is still like thread? Thin and light? I do not think anything like that exists in our world. Fishermen use nets or traps if they are trying to catch large hauls, but that is what we are doing. We just want lunch.

[Ragnar nodded to gesture in front of Stan before pointing.]

In front of you, I think that is another fish.

It sounds gross... [ He's never had eel or even known that you could eat it. ] Doesn't it shock you? [ He's only heard of electric eels okay. ]

Maybe you could learn how to fish with a line, you don't have to get in the water and freeze.

[ Okay, maybe he's complaining a little now that his toes feel numb and all. He stares down in front of him and well he thrusts down with the spear, closing his eyes tight when he does and then prying them open slowly as he brings it up. ]

[Ragnar's brow furrowed in obvious confusion.] It is not so different from fish... what would there be to dislike?

[And, because the eels native to the area of the world Ragnar lived in definitely weren't electric eels, he completely misunderstood Stan's question.] Does what shock me? The method of fishing you are speaking of?

Hmm. Perhaps I could. It sounds very... slow.

[He broke into a beaming smile and sloshed over towards Stan when he pulled his spear out of the water and there was a decently sized fish flicking around on the end of it.] See? Easy. And now we have two fish. [He sloshed past Stan, making his way towards the shore and climbing up the bank, waiting to offer Stan a hand to keep him from slipping into the water.] How do you like your fish? I have only cooked them over fire, but I would assume they could be cooked using the oven, yes?

They're kind of gross looking...

[ Then again, so are fish. And besides the fact there's a lot of fish he's not even supposed to eat but it's been hard to keep track of eating kosher without his parents around. Maybe it doesn't matter so much here anyway. ]

A lot of people do it to relax and for fun. [ Stan explains with a slight shrug and then he follows Ragnar and manages to get out of the water and it's not any warmer once he gets out of the water with his skin wet and everything. ]

I don't really know... [ He's pretty sure his mom would fry them but that is probably nothing that Ragnar's tried before or that Stan would know how to do either. ]

It should be okay cooking in a fire, though.

[Ragnar can't help but break into a wide smile and chuckle at that, giving Stan's hair a friendly ruffle as he gave him a hand getting out of the water.]

Many things that taste good do not look like much.

[He shook his head when Stan further explained fishing.] Relaxing, fun, for sport. Someone else spoke of hunting in such a way.

Although people may enjoy doing it, I would not say that they did so for 'fun'.

[He walked back towards the house, going over to a stump and pulling his knife out.] I do not mind cleaning them if you will prepare the fire. [He didn't think for a second that Stan might not know how to start a fire.]

I don't think I've had much that doesn't look good taste good.

[ Stan says with a small scrunch of his nose as he tries to remember anything that would counter his own point but he can't particularly think of anything. ]

People do not need to hunt or fish to survive. We have grocery stores and butchers and the like for that.

[ Stan is more than happy the Ragnar is going to clean them since he doesn't know much about that aside from that it's really gross. ]

How...? [ He doesn't have any matches on himself after all. ]

Some of your people must... how does the meat get to the butcher or to the grocery store?

[Ragnar has a fish sliced open and is scooping out the insides, making quick work of their catches when he pauses at the question.][

What? What do you mean? There is wood there and the fire pit there. Some of those dried leaves can be used if the wood is not catching quickly enough. Oh! I have a very special tool. It was given to me by a friend here. Be careful with it, yes? [Hand fairly slimey with fish guck, he pulls a lighter out of a pouch, holding it like it was something sacred. He had no idea how easy they were to find nor how cheap they were.]

It's grown on farms or ranches. [ Stan explains and he shrugs. He doesn't give too much thought to how the meat gets there. He just knows that it's there and that when his mom cooked it that it was really good.

Stan makes a sort of grossed out face when Ragnar slices open the fish, pressing his lips together in an attempt to hide the reaction to it.

He looks at the lighter that's now covered in gross fish guts or what not and he seems reluctant to take it. He doesn't even really know how to use it, though he's at least seen one around. Mostly he knew how matches worked but he'd still never made a fire before.

Eventually he takes the lighter though he's quick to find something to wipe it off with. He still looks a little lost at how to properly make a fire. He's pretty sure his father would be disapproving. All the same he figures maybe it's not so different than lighting a candle and after studying the lighter a bit he goes to put wood in the fire pit that the other had pointed out and then takes to trying to get the lighter to light. Ragnar's friend couldn't have just given him matches could he? ]

And what about fish? They cannot be grown on farms or ranches.

[He smiled softly. Little did he know that they actually did have fish farms and massive boats that could harvest more fish in a week than Kattegat probably went through in a year

Ragnar continued to smile, gaze moving from the lighter to Stan, waiting a moment. From Stan's expression, he was expecting a question, but it never came, so he went back to the fish.

By the time Stan had a nice little pile of wood, Ragnar was done with the fish and had been done for a minute or two. So, by the time that he was, once again, inspecting the lighter, Ragnar was leaning back, watching silently.]

Have you used one before? We do not have such a tool where I am from. I can show you, if you would like.

They can but there are also fishermen who go out on fishing boats and bring back a lot of fish.

[ Stan says. He wishes he knew more specifics to tell Ragnar but he's not paid that much attention and fishing hadn't really been one of his favorite things to do and he actually didn't like eating fish that much at home but he wouldn't complain. ]

No, I've seen some before but I've only had matches. [ Stan explains and even then, that wasn't that often. He offers the lighter back to Ragnar so he can show him how to use it. ]

My dad wouldn't have wanted me to know how, probably.

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[ text - s.uris ]

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