#stevencraft

"What are we doing again?"

"Fishing."

Noa cocked his head, still not entirely comprehending.

"And you use that stick thing to catch the fish?"

A pair of pale white and blue eyes flicked their gentle gaze over to the blue-and-white tinted Enderman, one eyebrow raised from under thin brown locks of hair. "Would you rather use your hands?"

Noa shook his head, shivering at the thought. He had seen other Endermen burn in the stuff like it was acid, and he wasn't eager to try it. He may not be particularly strong, but he wasn't about to risk injuring himself. "No thank you."

"It is an odd-looking tool, but this is the most efficient way to catch fish - like this, see?"

The Enderman leaned over to see what he was doing. Kyfer pointed to the small and simple reel mechanism, the string looped around the spool countless times before lacing up the length of the wooden pole and out into the water like a spider's web. The small red and white float drifted lazily on the surface of the water, the hook speared with a bit of bait to attract the fish intended for dinner. Or Noa's dinner, anyway. For all the time he had spent with the man, the Enderman wasn't even sure if Kyfer ate. Consistently, at least.

There was a tug on the line, and the hooded man's posture changed, his mismatched eyes narrowing slightly at the pull. He answered with a pull of his own, reeling in the line. Not surprisingly, the animal on the other end put up a fight, tugging in the opposite direction in a desperate attempt to escape the hook and line as well as the frying pan it was destined for. Noa watched in fascination as he slowly and methodically hauled the fish to shore, bending down to pick it up out of the water and remove the hook from its mouth before tossing it offhand into the bucket nearby.

Noa clapped quietly, impressed by the performance. He picked up the bucket and looked inside at the fish in fascination. When the animal flopped as it gasped for water, the tail swishing and barely missing the Enderman's face by inches, Noa yelped and dropped the bucket, the iron pail clattering to the ground before resettling back upright, the tinted Enderman eyeing the bucket warily. Kyfer allowed himself a small smile at the amusing stunt, which vanished just as quickly as Noa regained his composure.

Kyfer held out the fishing pole. "Do you want to try?"

Noa looked at him with mixed emotions, excitement at trying something new, as well as crippling fear of trying that something new in front of a family member and failing horribly. "U-um... okay...?"

Without a word, the man handed the timid Enderman the pole. Noa fumbled with it for a minute while he figured out how to get a grip on the pole with his padded and clawed hands, Kyfer watching silently and with a blank expression. The Enderman was a little reluctant, yes, but this kid needed as many survival skills as possible. Noa eventually got the hand positions right despite the difficulty of having not-entirely-humanoid shaped palms, and smiled in tentative triumph at Kyfer like an excited child that had finished his latest craft project.

"I did it!"

"Good," Kyfer nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching into a hint of a smile. "Now cast it."

Noa stared at him blankly. Ever the patient one, the hooded man with mismatched eyes explained.

"Pull your arms back behind your head so the pole is directly behind you." Noa did as he was instructed, to the man's approval. "Now snap your arms back forward so the pole is in front of you, but do it as fast as you can. The pole and lure itself should do the rest."

Noa nodded, nervous. Here, certainly, was the part where he would mess up, he had little doubt. If there was one thing he lacked, it was arm strength.

Kyfer read the doubt in the young Enderman's face easily. "Don't think about it too much. Just trust yourself. You can do it, you know."

The Ender's ice-blue eyes flicked up to meet the patient, encouraging gaze of his mentor/family member, hopeful. The extra push was all he needed. Turning his attention back to the pole, the Enderman bit his lip and thrust his arms forward as hard as he could, the pole whisking over his head like the steel clamp of a mousetrap. With a whizzzz sound, the lure and float flew out over the surface a fairly decent distance, landing in the water with a plop. Noa pried one of his tightly-shut eyes, and then both blinked in shock.

"Good job. You did it. I told you that you could."

Noa turned his head to see the man giving him a tiny smile, and the young Enderman felt elated at his success. He had done something right! Kyfer reached over and ruffled the small Enderman's fluff on the top of his head.

"When you catch a fish, we'll go to that nearby ice biome like I promised."

"I'll-... I'll do my best."

The man with mismatched eyes grinned. The kid was growing up.

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