three doofuses fishing

Three cats sat by the river, waiting patiently.

The tallest of the three was a large, long-furred black cat. He was the newest in the valley as well, having just met his companions an hour ago. He'd introduced himself as Vulture: a name that reflected his dark pelt and the jawbone now sitting beside him on a smooth rock. The orange cat, who he'd later learned was Fuzzy, had been intimidated by his appearance. However, she'd softened up once the other long-toothed cat, Wolf, started chatting Vulture up. Now, he was joining the two on their pursuit of tasty fish in the heat.

Beside him was Fuzzy, a rather timid cat who had the most focus out of all of them. Although her pelt was the brightest, she was actually rather good at staying hidden from the fish below. Her placid nature was perhaps the reason she could be that stealthy.

Wolf, however, wasn't entirely focused on the hunt. Her differently-colored eyes kept scanning the water.

When asked, the answer?: "Otters."

"Otters?" Vulture asked.

"Yeah. Otters. Apparently some can be mighty ferocious when you get in their space," Wolf explained, holding up one paw and unsheathing her claws.

"You sure know a lot about different animals," Fuzzy mewed. The conversation nearly distracted her from the gleam of a fish - but then she swiped and it fell onto land!

Wolf said a quick "congrats" to Fuzzy then continued. "Of course! I learned about all kinds of animals since I was a kit, including my namesake."

"You know about wolves, too, then. I must confess I never learned much about them besides the basics. My brother Howl was named after their call," Vulture said. A small smile crept onto his muzzle.

"Vulture and Howl, huh? Kind of like my family. We were all named after animals," Wolf replied.

"I-I didn't name my kits after animals, but instead weather. There's Sunny, Cloudy, and Moony - oh!" Fuzzy's reverie was yet again cut off by the flash of another fish. This time, her paw missed, but Vulture managed to snag it with his claws.

"That's one for all of us except me... Someone else watch out for the otters! I'm gonna go all out!" Wolf shouted.

Vulture volunteered. But as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side...

Fuzzy caught yet another fish. Vulture, despite having the mantle of "Otter Lookout," caught two more fish. And Wolf? She was absolutely distraught by how the fish refused to get in her jaws. She even tried jumping in! Jumping in didn't work, and she was the one who boasted about her swimming skills!

"The sun's getting low... m-maybe we should head home," Fuzzy suggested after helping Wolf clamber back onto the shore.

Wolf huffed. "Fine. How about we chatter a bit more before we head home? What's your home like, Vulture?"

"I... well, I moved around quite a bit, but..." Vulture was about to go into a story about his old home by the train tracks, but there was a prickling sensation in his pelt. Something was off. Something... no, someone had an eye on his catch.

He gently batted away Wolf's paw from his smelt pile.

Wolf groaned. "Aaaww, don't be like that... I didn't catch anything, and you have three whole fish! I'm going to starve to death!"

"That's no excuse to steal it," Vulture flatly replied.

"Come on! Fuzzy, help me out here!" Wolf begged.

"I... I... uh..." Fuzzy cowered. Whatever her thoughts on the fairness of everything were, she was too rattled from being put on the spot to voice them.

Vulture sighed and did a quick mental count of the smelt they'd all gathered. "It would be easier if there were an even number."

"Does that mean I can get two?" Wolf asked.

"One," Vulture meowed.

"Why one?!"

"I'm much larger. I need the energy after my travels, too."

"But you're clearly good at this! I might not get anything tomorrow!"

"For the love of..."

This would take a while.