(Dreadnauts - April '24 Prompt) Fishing

It is quiet. Hardly sunny as the marine layer engulfs the abandoned pier that only a few remember. The sun goes down and casts a shadow on the small boats that their owners left the world many years ago. However, they have not returned to the earth, still maintaining their structure after so long. They are worn down and rusted but are still around. Maybe they found interest in someone else? As the dawn has turned into dusk, the pier starts to slowly come to life, little creatures surface and fire fires begin to emerge out of thin air.

A noise is coming into the distance, little creaks become louder and louder. It is dark. A silhouette can be seen down the overgrown beachgrass. The fireflies lit their face and the objects that they were rolling down the sandy dunes. As they get closer to the pier and the ocean, their bodies are showered in the moonlight. A well-known green hair, wolf-styled ears and a long green fishy tail are revealed. It is Owen, a town resident who has lived in this quiet small town for years. Owen takes a deep breath through his nose as he smells the ocean.

“Ah, I love the smell of the ocean at night.”

Owen looks down at the object that was causing the creaking and it is a vintage bicycle that has been loved by unnamed owners. It has a small wagon attached to it and a fishing rod that looks to have been patched up countless times. He grins at it and starts to roll the bicycle to a place that looks like a make-shifted shed to do stuff such as cleaning fish, an old cooler to put many wonders into, random cabinets that do not belong from the same set but can be home to the countless trinkets that Owen finds among the beach, a couple of small tables that seem to have their purposes, tall driftwoods that have been tied together with numerous other driftwood to make stable pillars and walls, and blue worn out tarp that covers everything. It is almost the same height as Owen but just a little bit taller so he does not bump into the ceiling when he walks in. He parks the bicycle next to it and goes into the shed, opens up the old cooler and takes out an oil lamp which he places on a table that is peeking out of the shed, he turns the dial to make the cloth wick-soaked in oil, he then takes out a matchbox and picks out a match and strikes it against the box.

Owen then takes a small LED lamp out of the old cooler and places it in the middle of the shed, turns the dial on the LED lamp and it turns on. He then starts to set up everything for fishing inside the shed and while he does that he could hear an engine running coming from the distance. He twitches his ears to listen more closely to the noise and nods, “Sounds like someone I know may be dropping by.”

Owen walks outside the shed and goes into his bicycle’s wagon takes out his fishing rod, a tackle box and a small bucket takes it to the pier and sets it down in a spot where the pier has not started to decay yet. He grabs his fishing rod, opens his tackle box and puts his hand into it, moving a lot of lures, hooks and a whole lot of assorted things. Owen decides to pick a gummy-looking lure and starts to tie it to the fishing line. He then digs a bit more into the tackle box whips out a hook and starts to also tie it to the fishing line. Owen checks his work and smiles at the fishing rod up and down. “Perfect, now let’s get you into the water.” He faces the ocean whips the fishing rod a bit into a circle to the side of him and releases his fishing line into the ocean. He reels it in a little bit at a time and he leaves it alone. Owen carefully watches the small waves, hears the tiny noises around him, feeling the slight tugs on his fishing line but knows, for now, it is not a fish who is nibbling on it yet. The whole time Owen stays patient, not being irritated for how long it is taking.

As he is waiting, however, he can hear a loud engine mummering in his proximity. Owen thinks to himself that he hopes the engine does not scare the fish deep within the ocean. He hears it stop. Owen hears nothing until he does. A couple of crunchy footsteps that he can hear coming behind him until they stopped, in which he is guessing they stopped by the foot of the pier.

“How is this fine night treating you, Ren!” He says, not looking behind him as he is still focused on the fish.

“I did not expect you to be here today.”

Owen’s ears perk up a bit and you can see him tilting his head a bit in confusion and laughing a bit, still not making eye contact with Ren. “Confused about why you think that. We always seem to meet up here randomly but I do want to remind you I did find this place before you so you should not be surprised I’m here!” He smiles to himself.

Ren makes a slightly annoyed sigh and a lighter could be heard being turned on and off. “Logically speaking, you are not here every day due to your very unique schedule, so I deduced that you would not be around at this time. I guess my marks were off.”

Owen turns around in surprise. “You smoke?!?”

Ren has his eyes covered by his ears but before that, for a brief second, you could tell he was not covering them before Owen turned around. “THAT’S what you ask me? Of course, I smoke, did you think it was a facade? Why are you surprised at that and not me knowing your life schedule?” He waves his cigarette around

Owen puts a finger to his chin and tilts his head again, looking up at the sky a bit. “Hmm…it’s because I assumed you were lighting up your mimicry cigarette. But then went ‘Well if he did, wouldn’t he be in pain and screaming? But he isn't, so is he just acting cool for me?’”.

Ren’s eyes cannot be seen but his mouth is and his facial expressions turn sour a bit and a bit irritated. “Hah?” He shakes his head. “That is one of the stupidest reasons I have ever heard.” Ren places the cigarette in his mouth, inhales a bit and lets it sit before he breathes out again. “Yes I do have a mimicry that looks like a cigarette, does not mean I cannot smoke. I also do not understand the logic of me lighting up part of me just to look cool.”

“But where is the cigarette then? The ones that you?”

“I have it on me.”

“Ah! Makes sense.”

Ren shakes his head.

Owen holds his fishing rod with both his hands again. “So what brings you here? Was it to see me?”

“No, it was not to see you. I have a business to attend to and decided to use this abandoned area to do it. But since you are here, I will be retracting my plans.”

Owen looks a bit sad. “You can’t share your plans with me? I promise I won’t bother!”

Ren starts to walk away and starts to inspect Owen’s shed. “I would never share my plans with anyone, especially strangers.”

Owen makes a shocked face. “Stranger? I thought we were"

Ren starts picking up stuff from Owen’s shed with one hand, lifting his ears so he can see the object in front of him but his eyes cannot be seen. “We are not acquaintances nor friends. You are but a stranger to me whom I have no connection with.” He moves his head towards Owen. “We are just strangers who happen to stumble upon each other, nothing more. Nothing less.”

Owen pouts a bit and watches the ocean again. He stays silent. Quietly reeling in the lure bit by bit again.

Ren takes another smoke from his cigarette. “No hard feelings. I would not share my plans with anyone. Strangers, acquaintances, friends or family. It is only for me to get to know the people involved.”

Owen sighs. “A bummer. That made my heart hurt, you know. Sorry for assuming we were friends then. I guess we are strangers even when we have talks like this.”

Ren puts out his cigarette by throwing it onto the sand and stepping on it to make sure it goes out. “We do not exchange any information or knowledge of each other even when we talk.”

“I'll tell you all about myself though!”

“Yes, and that’s how I know where you live, how old you are, how long you've been surfaced, your whole schedule. But that does not make us close, just you a fool.”

“Yeah…yeah I know I am. You don’t have to tell me about it.”

“If you knew who I was, you would know this normal of me but you know nothing of me. I would be careful Owen. Many people would take advantage of you being this friendly. I've seen it plenty of times. At least I am telling you to stay away.”

Owen does not realize he finally got a nibble on his line. It gets away and Owen just bends down and sits in a fetal position as he places his fishing rod next to him.

“If you knew who I was, you truly wouldn’t be anywhere near me.”