thearena | (no subject)

Who| Dorian, Sam and Nick
What| Dorian is trying to fish, and is found.
Where| The River
When| Backdated to Tuesday, before the snowfall.
Warnings/Notes| Probably a lot of flirting. Who am I kidding? Definitely more than probably.

He was alive. That much was obvious, and good. He was alive, and so were... some... of the others. Not all, but there you were. He'd gotten separated from them, after the cornucopia, but he wasn't distinctly worried - they were all resourceful people used to the outdoors. He was more worried about himself than them. He hated the outdoors, and he hated the cold, and he hated the wet.

The thing he hated most, however, was going hungry. The saltines were not exactly what he would call 'food' and the oatmeal was less than useless, so he was having to improvise. He'd found a good sized branch to use as a staff, and for this particular exercise he had attached the pocket knife he'd gotten at the cornucopia to the end with a bit of vine, lashed fast.

He's stripped down to the long underwear, the rest of his clothes safely folding on the bank of the river.

He was trying, badly, to spear fish as they swam by, swearing under his breath the whole time in frustration, hating the cold and hating the wet and hating the fish and wishing he could just electrify the lot of them.

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Sam has a spear as well - though his is pretty much just a sharpened stick - and he'd gone down the river for the same reason. He has snares and traps set up in the woods, yeah, but there's no guarantee that food will continue to be available all arena. Better to get as much as he can while it's available, especially considering how many people he counts among his allies.

He hears the splashing before he reaches the river, and immediately grows more cautious, circling around so he can try to see who it is before they see him. He doesn't really want a confrontation right about now.

But he recognizes the guy trying to fish, and it makes him relax a little. from the impression he'd got from Dorian, he's pretty sure the guy won't attack him. Enough that he continues down to the river.

"Seems like every time I run into you, you're missing some article of clothing and showing off your staff handling skills. Gotta say I'm enjoying the view again, my day just got little better."

He turns his head up quick as a flash to the voice, but relaxes immediately when he sees who's on the other end of it. The flirting, of course, might help that, and Sam is rewarded with a smirk as Dorian sighs.

"I wish I could say it was entirely intentional, but I've never been known for precognition." He put the butt end of the staff into the water, leaning his weight on it. "I would give you a better show, but I don't exhibit well on an empty stomach, and it turns out that fish are notoriously difficult to kill."

"I'll just consider the odds in my favor today," he comments with a grin, coming to a stop right at the water's edge.

Then he tilts his head a little, considering that. "If I help you kill a couple of fish, does that mean I'd get dinner and a show?" His tone is teasing, but the offer's mostly sincere. Sam hasn't done much spear fishing, since most of his time in active duty was spent in a desert, but he does know how.

"My dear, I would gladly share the meal and give you any show I could muster, if I have not already perished due to exposure by the time," Dorian replied with a similar grin, his heart lifting slightly. He hadn't realised that he was lonely until this moment, and the company was extremely welcome.

For effect, he raised a bare foot out of the water and shook it, looking miserable. "I'm afraid I make a poor outdoors man, but together we might just be able to catch a few."

"It's a deal. I'll just have to make sure the exposure doesn't get you, I'm looking forward to this."

He crouches down to start unlacing his boots, leaning his spear against his hip so it's within easy reach. Not that he needs it for Dorian, but you never know who else might be out there. "I can show you how to make some snares after, if you want. No reason you should be the only one giving a show."

He doesn't bother to pretend he's not watching - he is - but he does actually check around to make sure no one else is watching them either.

"Ah, generous and handsome," Dorian quipped, offering a lopsided smile. "I wonder what I've done to deserve it?"

Sam glances up while he's stripping down to his long underwear, flashing him a grin. "Well, for starters, you always seem to give my ego a nice boost."

Once he's finished, and with the pants of the underwear rolled up to above his knees, he wades on in, spear resting on his shoulder. "And it's always nice, finding someone just as comfortable with a little bit of light banter as I am." By which he means flirting, of course.

"Ah, well, I can hardly deny the truth as it stands before my eyes," Dorian quipped back with a smirk. "And I admit, light banter is one of my favourite activities." His eyes twinkled as he clarified: "One of them."

As Sam came to join him, he let himself indulge in the sight for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the river. "Dare I ask if you have any expertise in this particular endeavour?"

"Oh, it is definitely one of mine, too." He pauses just long enough to raise his eyebrows at that clarification, lips curling into a little bit of a smirk as he teases, "Maybe sometime I'll ask you what those other activities are."

Sam tilts his head a little, eyeing the river. "I used to, yeah. Been a while since I had any practice in it, though."

"Maybe sometime I'll show you some of them," Dorian quipped back instantly, with a cocksure grin. God, but he loved a man who could flirt.

He thought he saw a flash of something and lunged for it - but it only succeeded in making a fairly large splash. "Well, I will bow to any experience you might muster, as mine is decidedly lacking."

This week has so far been uneventful as far as the group's safety goes, which is a blessing all things considered. Still, he has seen more than enough shit in his life to know that it's better to be safe than sorry. After gathering all of today's catch from the fishtrap he and Clementine had built together, he intends to go straight back to the caves with (hopefully) no trouble. Six small to medium sized trouts wiggling in the cloth he brought. Not bad at all.

He hears voices up ahead and proceeds to turn back until he recognizes one of them to be Sam's. He creeps up slowly from his side of the river just in time to see the other man take a stab at it. What the hell?

"You're just gonna scare 'em off like that, man." He glances over to Sam and cocks his head as if to say "hey".

"Yeah? I'll look forward to it."

And then his smirk turns into a little laugh when Dorian splashes around, though it's playful, not malicious. "I can show you a thing or two about experience." ...all right, yeah, he's still flirting. He can't help it, Dorian is just the right mix of just for fun with an underlying hint of maybe.

Sam turns at Nick's arrival, then, tensing briefly and holding his spear up before he sees who it is, and relaxes. "Hey, man," he greets. "Dorian, this is Nick, a friend of mine."