Solo One Fine Day

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

One Fine Day

Postby Ulric Everard on February 9th, 2015, 8:25 pm

Winter 9, 514

It was a brutally cold and windy day that Ulric found himself in as he exited the alley way where he had finished speaking to a man that had done him an undeniable service in freeing his boat from the bay that had frozen over. He was carrying in his hands an old discarded burlap sack that he had picked up to cover his hands while he was out fishing in the wind. It was a shock as the cold hit him, even though he had already been out there, and he pulled his coat up higher on his neck. When Ulric returned to his boat he was able to see a number of others nearby trying the same thing that he had, with the same lack of success as he had. If it weren't for Halvar he'd still be stuck in the ice, but he was luckily freed up. Perhaps some of these people could look forward to Halvar's help as well.

Ulric returned to his boat and packed his fishing kit up again, but kept out the line that he would be using, and dropped it in the bottom of the boat. The boat wasn't easy to untie from the dock while his hands were freezing, but having it done Ulric used the rope to drag the boat across the thick ice to where he could get into his boat. With the skill of a man who had spent his life getting in and out of boats he stepped in with ease and grabbed the paddles from the side of the boat. It took him a few chimes of rowing to get out to a place that he knew was good for fish, especially with so few fishermen out on the water today. Some were frozen into the ice, others chose to just take the day off, an option that Ulric couldn't take.

Ulric put his hands in the burlap sack and wrapped his fishing line around his right hand and dropped the line in the water, holding it in his left hand. He dropped it down until he felt it come up on the bottom of the bay, and then took it up a few inches, as he had been taught and had done for years, jig fishing was the way that he had always fished. Using a fishing pole wasn't sensitive enough and felt too impersonal, the feel of the line twitching in his hands was crucial to fishing well. It was also much easier to fight against the fish that were trying to escape. They rarely escaped though, Ulric was good enough to keep many of the fish that he got hits on, and pulled most of them over into the boat. He typically had to go back to the docks every once in a while to get the fish back before it went bad, but with the freezing temperatures on the bottom of the boat it wouldn't be needed today. The fish would mostly stay cold enough to avoid it rotting before he could get back to the docks.

It took a few chimes before Ulric got the first hit on his line, and he could feel a nice tug on his line and tugged back, making sure to get the hook deep in the fishes mouth so that he could pull it in. It took almost two chimes to get the fish out of the water and into the boat. Holding it in his hands it seemed to weigh about 20 pounds, and was about a foot and a half long. A decent size and one that Ulric would be more than happy to keep, any day.
Last edited by Ulric Everard on February 17th, 2015, 2:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Ulric Everard
Player
 
Posts: 20
Words: 15463
Joined roleplay: January 13th, 2015, 1:21 am
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets

One Fine Day

Postby Ulric Everard on February 12th, 2015, 3:57 am

Having just pulled in a respectably sized fish Ulric set about the messy part, gutting it. Ulric took the burlap sack off of his hands and grabbed the knife from his fishing kit. With the precision of someone that had been gutting fish for years, Ulric grabbed the still writhing fish by the head, and made a cut down the stomach and across the 'throat' just below the gills. He turned the fish over, and held it over the side of the boat and wedged his knife down the hole opened by his second cut and pushed the guts out into the water. Leave the guts for some other fish to eat, or some of the birds that are always around. Gutting was always the worst part of fishing, but it was important to get them gutted and back to the docks before they started to go bad, which, for fish, was about a bell or two. Once again the, now damp, burlap sack was on Ulric's hands, giving him a small amount of warmth and the line was back in the water. The cold was taking a toll on Ulric at this point. Maybe I should just get enough for myself and Halvar tonight. No, no, if I'm out here I'm going to put in at least a small bit of effort to do my job. Maybe I'll just do the one run today, get a dozen or so fish for them and one or two for myself.

It was decided, a short amount of work out in the cold today. He just needed to get a dozen or so fish to satisfy his own feelings about being out here in this cold, as well as his own work ethic. He couldn't let himself go out in the boat without bringing at least one load of fish.

The line twitched in Ulric's hands and another fish was on his line. He tugged the line to make sure that the hook sunk properly. It was another short battle to get a slightly smaller fish from the bay. This one only about 17 pounds, another respectable catch. Ulric went through another quick process of gutting the fish, this time getting a bit of blood on his coat and shirt. "Ah, petch. Always blood. You know that's going to stink" Ulric cursed, even though he was used to it after years of working on the docks, and in the boats.

Over the course of the next half-bell Ulric pulled in and gutted six more fish. It was a slow day for fish, and the action was getting very repetitive. Not to mention how cold it was outside, cold enough to keep the fish from going bad, or at least severly slow the progress. It was a miserable day on the water, with the cold and the wind Ulric's skin was starting to itch around his face and neck. This was never a good sign and he knew it. Despite the low number of fish that he had he would soon have to head back in. Maybe another half-bell will do. Ulric thought and sighed, while pulling the neck of his jacket as high as possible and dropping the line back in, his stupid determination taking over.
Last edited by Ulric Everard on February 17th, 2015, 2:31 am, edited 4 times in total.
User avatar
Ulric Everard
Player
 
Posts: 20
Words: 15463
Joined roleplay: January 13th, 2015, 1:21 am
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets

One Fine Day

Postby Ulric Everard on February 15th, 2015, 7:45 am

With eight fish already caught and gutted and in his boat Ulric was looking to catch just four or five more before calling it a day. It was a tough day already, the weather was working against him and the fish didn't seem to want to be caught. In addition to that, the bottom of Ulric's sleeves were, as was frequent, soaked in partially frozen fish blood. It was the by-product of the gutting that Ulric did and an unfortunately necessary part of the process. The gutting was probably the second worst part of fishing, the worst being the times, especially in the summer, when he had to sit with a boat full of stinking fish.

As he waited for more fish to bite at his line Ulric started thinking about his plan for supper that night. Probably the same as every night, no spices, no vegetables, just the fish grilled on the rock over my hearth. It's good that that actually works, otherwise I'd starve because I couldn't petchin' cook what I brought home. It would be an unfortunate type of irony if the man that could always expect to bring food home starved because he couldn't cook it. Ulric afforded a short laugh at the morbidity of the situation, and attempted, once again, to hide his itching face and upper neck in the upper part of his coat. I should get something to better cover my neck. Damn it's cold. The itching ain't a good sign either.

Ulric, once again, felt the distinctive twitching of the fishing line in his hands, and, as he had been trained for most of his life, set the hook with a quick tug before settling in for the haul that would come from having to fight this thing up into the boat. Another chime long fight brought the fish over the side of the boat, bringing the new total to nine fish so far on the day. Only four more to go now. Then I'll call it a day. Once again Ulric sliced the stomach of the fish and again at the base of the gills so that he could push the guts out into the water. A lucky thing to never have to deal with. I should get out here in the summer and see if I can't catch a few birds as they come in for the guts. Might make for some good variety in my diet. Of course I'd have to learn how to cook a bird.

It took another half-bell on top of this to get the remaining fish. On a really good day Ulric might have managed to get thirteen fish in a third the time that today had taken him, but most of that was because of the few bells he spent in the morning freeing the boat from the ice. Having gotten the fish Ulric turned around to head back into the docks, he was going to leave twelve of them to the guild, and clean and fillet the left over one. Ulric kept the 20 pounder, the first of the day and set out to a filleting block on the docks. It was warmer here on the docks, with some of the wind being blocked by the buildings. It would be a nice fillet job, clean and quick.
Last edited by Ulric Everard on February 17th, 2015, 2:28 am, edited 10 times in total.
User avatar
Ulric Everard
Player
 
Posts: 20
Words: 15463
Joined roleplay: January 13th, 2015, 1:21 am
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets

One Fine Day

Postby Ulric Everard on February 17th, 2015, 1:26 am

Ulric was stood in front of a small table, more a block of wood than anything, that was used to fillet fish that the people in the bay caught. As he carried in his fish Ulric got a number of odd looks from some of the people that were trying to free their boats. It was clearly infuriating to see someone bringing in fish while you were still stuck in the ice, but Ulric didn't really care about that and just continued onward while ignoring him.

Filleting fish wasn't a hard thing to do, but it did take training to be able to do it quickly. Ulric flopped the fish down on the block of wood and once again took out his knife. He wiped the blade on a clean part of his sleeve before getting to work on the fish. The first cut he made was behind the front fin, and upwards towards the top of the head, with a nice clean slice. It was important to keep in mind to always cut, and to never saw while filleting fish. The next cut was made on the back, by the dorsal fin. There was always a slightly thinner patch of skin by the dorsal fin. He made a short cut and then put his thumb in the hole caused by the cut. He used his thumb to open up and feel where the bone was. When he was able to see where the bone was he put his knife right on that bone, so as to get all of the meat that was on the fish. Ulric started making lots of short cuts from the initial one back to the tail, all of them very shallow and mainly made to break through the skin along where he would later make the real cuts. Ulric turned the knife around and made the cut along the back meet the one up on the top of the head. Another long procession of cuts was made going through the flesh of the fish, until Ulric met with the spine that was running down the centre of the fish and had to carefully go over the slight lump while still getting as much meat as possible. Having done that it was a few more quick cuts down along the side to take the fillet off the fish, nice and boneless, ready to cook. Ulric placed the fillet on the table, out of his way, to be skinned later.

That was one side done, now it was on to the other. It was considerably easier on this side, as the removal of the other fillet let the fish sit flat on the work surface. Ulric again began the process with a slice from behind the fin and up towards the back of the head. Second cut along the dorsal fin at the spot where the skin was the thinnest, and repeated the process from before. Some, very experienced, people were able to fillet a fish in a few ticks, where it might take Ulric ten chimes to do the same thing. Maybe it would be a possibility in a few years for Ulric, but the few times that he tried recently just ended up with a bunch of missed or wasted meat.
User avatar
Ulric Everard
Player
 
Posts: 20
Words: 15463
Joined roleplay: January 13th, 2015, 1:21 am
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets

One Fine Day

Postby Ulric Everard on February 17th, 2015, 2:21 am

Now all that was left was for Ulric to skin the fish, which was an easy enough job. He had two fillets, each about a foot long and six or seven inches wide. Many people left the skin on their fish but for Ulric the skin just added another layer to block the lower temperatures let through by his thin cooking stone.

Ulric set the first chunk of fish down with the skin on the wood and started from the thin bit near the tail end and cut the first bit of the flesh off of the skin. This was the difficult part, the first separating cut. After that it was fairly simple to cut the rest off without wasting any of the meat. It was simple enough to skin the fish, and in no way as difficult to do as the filleting. It was simple to just slice the meat off the skin.

Having skinned the two fillets Ulric set off to head home. He would either find Halvar, the man he felt he owed payment of some kind or a meal at least. Failing that he would head home to cook up the fish and eat it himself. Regardless of weather he would be eating alone or with someone else the two fillets that he had would be too much. It was enough for two people to have a decent meal out of, or for one person to have two full meals. Not that it would keep long while unfrozen, so Ulric would have to eat all of the fish that he had today.

Ulric took his two fillets in one hand and the carcass of the fish in the other. He went out to where his boat boat was and hauled it up over the ice, and dropped the fish carcass into the water, before tying it up to a dock while it was sitting on the ice and went out to look around at the people trying to get their boats freed from the ice. It might not have been possible to speak but it was easy to locate another person that was in the same place that Ulric had been earlier. The man was trying to chip his boat out of the ice, and had made slight progress, but had probably been at it for a long while. Ulric, knowing that he couldn't use all the fish that he had had went over to the struggling man and tapped him on the shoulder. When the man stood up he handed him the spare hunk of meat, knowing that many of the fishermen out here relied on their fishing for food each day, especially in the winter when it was difficult to get anything else due to the food shortages that were rampant in the winter. The man looked very grateful for the food, but Ulric walked of with little more than a wave to the man.

Ulric returned to the tied up boat, flipped it over to let the blood and water at the bottom run out, flipped it the right way again, dropped the fish in the boat, and untied it. Using the rope Ulric took off towards home, keeping an eye out for the man he was looking for, and dragged to boat behind him. Not letting this thing get frozen in again, I'll put it up by my house somewhere. I really don't care how I look, I need this thing to be usable everyday.
User avatar
Ulric Everard
Player
 
Posts: 20
Words: 15463
Joined roleplay: January 13th, 2015, 1:21 am
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets

One Fine Day

Postby Perplexity on March 19th, 2015, 5:58 pm

.
Please update your ledger to reflect Winter 514 Living Expenses. When that is done you may submit this thread for grading once more.
.
Perplexity's Office Status

User avatar
Perplexity
DS of Zeltiva, Mod Privileges in Wildlands
 
Posts: 794
Words: 440795
Joined roleplay: July 11th, 2013, 11:59 pm
Location: Zeltiva
Race: Staff account
Office
Medals: 1
Featured Contributor (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests