A Fisherman of Men [Closed]

[backwaterpuppy]

This whole thing had probably started somewhere near the fifth round of drinks at Seventh Heaven after meeting... well, himself. There was a discussion about investigating the lifestream in Mideel and trying to see what was in there, and somehow they came to the decision that they should go fishing for two-headed fish, or whatever madness might be swimming in a river of pure mako. It was all a joke, until someone had told the older Zack that he couldn't go to the lifestream, and then the game was just on.

The WRO was patrolling, but they couldn't prepare for everything, and early in the morning the small crew had found their way to the edge of the pool of lifestream with, no joke, fishing equipment they'd procured along the way. With a cooler of beers, some snacks for the day, and a small container of bait, they settled in on a shady patch of grass on the shore and cast their lines. Did they really think they'd catch anything? Well, no, probably not. But they'd have a fun bonding day all the same.

"Just keep in mind that this gook is what runs through all of our veins," Zack commented, sticking a toe into the lifestream experimentally before pulling it back out fairly quickly. "Well, except you, Cloud."

Comments

[backwatertrooper]

"I hadn't noticed," Cloud said wryly, peering into the swirling green and trying very hard not to feel jealous. This was probably better, all things considered, but it was a little hard to try and change tack when it came to goals and dreams he'd had a few years by now.

He was probably squatting a bit too close to the edge, but he'd been curious. All looking into the green did was bring thoughts of the mako spring on Mt. Nibel and the mako in the reactor, casting light up on---

And maybe vague memories of having been dreaming about his own life, but he supposed that made sense.

"... do you really think there's anything here to fish up?" Cloud looked up, glancing from one Zack to the next and Riku. Well, if something did, there were three people here probably more than capable of taking care of it.

... Cloud wasn't sure what he was doing here, honestly, aside from that the whole thing was kind of funny, dodging the WRO to get to this spot. And the fishing supplies; they had apparently been utterly serious about going on with this farce.

[darkbreak]

Unlike some of the others, Riku wasn't hanging too close to the Lifestream pool. With the WRO patrolling some of the area, he didn't want to get too close and have someone mistake him for another person. But really, Riku wasn't sure why he was even here in the first place. He overheard the conversation, the jokes about fishing in the pool, but he didn't think that Zack would tale it that literally or this far. Next thing he knew, Riku was getting dragged out of bed by a fishing pole.

He wonders why he's sharing an apartment with this guy. Honestly, the things he comes up with.

He shrugs and nearly rolls his eyes when Cloud looks at him, Long hair pulled up into a messy ponytail and arms crossed over his chest. The whole idea is ludicrous and he can't believe that Cloud went along with this.

Zack agreeing with Zack though, he can believe that, even if Riku's still not sure how he feels about the other, younger version of him.

"With our luck, it'll be some monster."

[shear_trigger]

Squall felt like he was falling.

At first it was the sensation of falling out of the sky but it quickly turned into the sensation of falling down a waterfall. Water and bright green lashed around him in a swirls of confusing waves until he felt like his lungs might burst like over inflated balloons. The next thing he felt was like pure caffeine had been pumped into his veins and his blood was boiling. He felt like his heart was stopping.

Then there was blackness.

Somewhere down the stream there would be a body of a young man floating face first in the water. Was he dead?

When and if he wakes, Squall would sure wish he had died instead.

[backwaterpuppy]

A few unsuccessful hours of fishing later, hardly anyone was actually looking at the surface of the lifestream anymore. It was only by luck that the older Zack's line snagged in the floating person's hair and the light current of the stream tugged him enough that the line was pulled tight, the small bell attached to Zack's rod tinkling to let him know there was a "bite", as it were.

The ex-SOLDIER glanced down at the bell in surprise, taking a moment to process what was happening before he followed the line out to the pool and the barely-visible body at the surface.

"Oh shit! I caught a corpse!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his rod and began to carefully reel in, trying not to dislodge his hook or dig it in deeper in case it was in the person's skin.