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WHO: Killian Jones
WHERE: The inn/town square
WHEN: September 25th
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Fish guts?
STATUS: Open

He's been spending a lot of time by himself lately, or at least with only Emma for company. Whatever they both might get up during the day, at least they spend the nights in the same place. He makes sure there's always plenty of food for both of them, and as much as he'd like to keep the excess for trading for other items, he knows that's not what the group has decided. He doesn't want any trouble, even as he knows that even if he did trade directly with others in opposition to what the group decided, there's nothing they could do about it.

He has salvaged what he could after the earthquake, and he and Emma have a home set up again. He spends less time fishing now that he has access to a harpoon, and he brings in more fish. Both of which are advantages in his view.

The first thing he does in the morning, after breakfast, is go over to the inn and pick up the harpoon, then he heads into the forest to do some fishing, which he spends a few hours doing. After emerging from the trees with his haul of fish, he goes back to the inn to take the harpoon back. Then he finds a location nearby the inn, out of the way of foot traffic but still in a location where he can keep an eye on anything that's happening, and begins to prep the fish the best he can with the tools available to him.

Which is where he is right now, seated on the ground, gutted fish on one side, entrails on the other, the fish that haven't been prepped yet near at hand.

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Peggy has been exploring quite thoroughly with as much time as she can give to it. Things like maintaining food supplies, helping with the gardening, and ensuring her home stays upright have taken priority. She still is meaning to go to the canyon and to the ruins and the spring in more depth, but she wants a map to make notations on. It's why she's after Killian and why she's happy to find him, even if she has to avert her eyes at the moment.

"Good God, that's quite a bit more of the fish's insides than I had planned to see," she says, covering her eyes as she tries to forget where their dinners often come from.

That was a big part of the reason that he hadn't staked out a spot inside the inn itself, or one of the other common buildings. There might be fewer people who come across it, and once he's done, he has a shorter distance to transport the excess.

"You shouldn't have to worry about stumbling across the insides of any other animals, at least around me." Hunting isn't really his thing, after all.

He sets the fish down and wipes his hand on a scrap of curtain that he uses as a rag. She at least doesn't have to watch him clean the fish. "I have that map finished, actually."

Peggy glances up after she's braced herself for what to expect. It's not that she minds it (she's seen far messier in her time, after all), but it had been a bit unexpected and in her face all at once. She's grateful for the task, really, because it means she won't come across something unfortunate when she's eating. "Good," she says, her voice filled with warmth. "That had been my hope, though I wanted to give you enough time to really put something useful together."

She settles a little closer, upwind from the smell of the fish. "It looks like you learned how to do that before here," she observes.

"I could do better with paper and ink and an actual compass, but it should serve well enough." It has a scale, at least, and marks what is in which direction. The basics of what makes a map useful.

"Aye. Fish was usually the only fresh food we had on board the ship." Any crew member could be asked to do some fishing at any point, but when he and Liam had been lowly crewmen, and indentured ones at that, they'd ended up doing it more often than not.

The concept of a map with a scale is something that thrills Peggy, who's absolutely ready to start doing more in depth exploring in order to put together a reference point that will allow her to share the information with the community. Unfortunately, on the heels of such a favour, she can already see that she's about to ask for another. "I don't suppose that you could teach someone how to fish and prepare them?"

While she's got plenty of survival skills, she finds her hunting skills are somewhat lacking. If ever their reliable providers of food are gone, she'd like to be able to provide, as well.

"I can teach that." He can try, at least; he's taught plenty of skills over the years, and with someone who's willing to learn, it goes well. He assumes that since she's asking, she's willing to learn and to put in the effort to do so. And is aware that she'll have to get her hands dirty. Literally.

"I haven't got hooks or line, but I did make some nets out of vines, and there's a harpoon. It's probably best to start with the nets. Then if something happens to the harpoon, there's still another option."

She swivels a little so that she's facing him, regarding the fish a little better now that she's prepared for the gore. Better this than seeing it on a battlefield again, because that's hardly something she wants to go back to. "I think maybe if you could show me how to clean it, alone, that might be useful. I could always find myself lucky with a net, as you say," she points out.

"Aye, we could start with that." Then it wouldn't be just him doing it, and he wouldn't have to keep trying to do it with only one hand. He's adapted, but some things are just easier when you're not missing limbs. "Should we start now, or some other time?"

"Now, if you please," Peggy requests, trying to be polite. "The more self-sufficient I can be, the less I have to worry about relying too desperately on others to do simple tasks like feed myself." And beyond removing the burden from others, she likes the notion of being able to contribute better to society. "Unless you're too busy?"

After all, it's not that she wants to occupy all his time to learn things, but she could offer something in turn. Self-defense, or something else?

"I'm doing this anyway. It's no trouble to demonstrate it now." He picks up the knife again. "I think perhaps it would be best if I demonstrated it once and then talked you through it." So that she has some idea of what he's talking about. It will work slightly different for her than it does for him, who has to make up for the loss of a hand, but they'll work it out.

Peggy nods as she studies Killian, careful not to encroach too closely even if the part of her that likes to take control of the situation is already raring to get the knife from him. "Yes, go ahead," she agrees with a nod, reminding herself that there's plenty of time to learn and no need to rush.

He holds the fish down with his hook and slits it open with the knife. "If you do this right, you should just be able to reach in and pull the entrails out with one motion." He demonstrates again. "Would you like to try now?"

Peggy lost her ability to be squeamish very easily a long time ago, long before the war. She nods as she watches and inches closer in order to do as he's instructed, pulling out the entrails with the hardest yank she can afford, staring at her fingers covered in the unfortunate goo. "Well, it's not a pretty job, is it?"

"It is not, unfortunately, but it must be done. It seems that you're getting the hang of it already. You can also descale them if you'd like, but it's not necessary." There are ways to cook and eat the fish without having to remove the scales. "Generally when doing this job, I'd have water nearby for cleaning."

"I'm rather handy with a knife," Peggy says, trying not to boast too much as she works in order to both learn and follow the example. "What needs to be cleaned?" she asks. "The inside? The out? Both?" She knows that she needs to slow down, but she's also hungry for new information.

"You'll want to make sure that all of the bones and everything are removed from the inside." Eating those wouldn't be a pleasant situation for most people. "And remove the scales from the outside."

Peggy's not entirely sure what technique she ought to be using, though she suspects that it's only going to be experience that guides her hand. It seems easiest to start with the scales and she turns the knife onto an angle. "Like this?" she asks, thinking she could effectively scrape off the scales.

The bones might be a touch harder for her to understand how to remove, so she'll start with the easy part. At least, what seems easiest to her, when it comes to an animal and a sharp blade.

"Aye. You'll want to cut as much as you scrape, but not cut too much or you'll ruin it." There's not much guidance he can give here aside from demonstrating it again, and at this point she'll learn it faster if she does it herself.

"There's plenty of fish, so don't worry about it too much."

Well, if that's the case, then she'll feel absolutely free to go to town, turning the knife in the manner that he'd done, applying firm pressure to it in order to see the scales come off. Once she thinks she's got that done, she turns to the bones. "Is there any particular method that works best with the bones?"

"Ideally, something that doesn't slice my own hand open," she jokes.

He nods in approval. "If you grab the right spot on the spine, it should all come out in one piece. You don't even need to do any cutting for this step. You just need to be careful of the bones, because they can be sharp."

"And what is the right spot?" she asks, running her thumb down the line of the spine as if she can try and find it without any help. She often does charge headfirst into things without taking the whole situation into account, but it doesn't usually end well. "Sharp enough to be a weapon?" she asks, of the fishbones.

"They could be made to be that sharp, but they're not strong enough to be of much use as a weapon." For repeated use, anyway. She might be able to get one use out of them, which might at least be enough to startle someone and get away.

He sticks his hand back inside the fish and directs her fingers to a location on the spine. "Do you feel that? Grasp that and pull, and it should all come out as one piece."

The whole concept is a squeamish, terrible one, but Peggy finds that she enjoys it because it gives her the thought that she's being somewhat useful and she's also feeling a little powerful. It's silly because it's obviously still just a fish, and yet, here she is with a little thrill.

She works her fingers to where he's speaking about, giving a touch of a tug and not having much luck. Then, another, and it seems to have some give. "I think I'm getting there," she says eagerly.

“You're a quick learner. I wish every student I'd had were as good as you.” Not that any of them were dunces, because someone who doesn't get the hang of life at sea isn't going to have a very long one. It's just that over the years he's had a few recruits who had to be watched more than others.

He nods at the pile of untouched fish. “Are you ready to try it from start to finish, all on your own?”

"I know my way around the sharp end of a blade," Peggy says, though she feels rather disgusting now with the entrails of a fish trickling over her fingers, though if this is the way it has to be to gut a fish and have a food source, she's happy for it.

She gives Killian an amused look. "You're already leaving me out to dry? Is there a way to undo the damage if I wreck things?"

At least she has a chance of defending herself in an attack, if necessary. They haven't seen any other people around here, but there must be animals in the woods, and there's no guarantee that any of them will be friendly.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here to keep an eye on it. Besides, there are a few people with animals now who might like having something to feed them, if it won't work out for us."

Peggy gives a nod of her head as she reaches for a fish and gives Killian a wry look, as if challenging him that this is his last chance to take it out of her hands before it's permanently ruined. "Well, then, here we go," she says, beginning to work on the scales. With the attention on her, she takes her time, but even then, she feels like she misses some of the scales and has to go back, taking even longer than before.

The immediate rush of learning has fallen away, somewhat. "I've got plants," she speaks as she works, "but it'll be months yet before they're useful."

"Not everything is useful right away. We'll need food months from now too." And that's fine. Some days he doesn't catch as many fish as other days. There are jobs he can't do, either, so he does what he can, and understands as long as someone else does what they can. She's doing what she can, and wanting to learn what else she can as well. Both of which are promising.

Raleigh has spent a lot of time fishing as well so he recognizes Killian even if they haven't spoke. At the moment, he has a basket with the catch from his traps and brings it up to the inn to clean; it's messy work but it's necessary to keep them all fed.

"Good to see someone else who fishes," Raleigh says, grinning at the guy. "I don't think we've spoken. I'm Raleigh Becket."

A basket. That could be useful. Certainly moreso than his attempts at stringing them on a vine when he hasn't got hooks to help with that.

"I've had more practice at this than at hunting." Hunting is also harder to do with only one hand, so he'll do what he can. "Captain Killian Jones."

"Good to meet you," Raleigh says, grinning a little. "Need all the help we can get around here regardless. Experience is something I'm never going to turn down."

Raleigh tips his head a bit, curious. "So, where do you come from originally?"

"Experience certainly comes in handy." As does having people willing to teach those who don't have a certain kind of experience. They're all in this together, after all, and he doesn't expect it would be easy for someone to survive without help from anyone else.

That's a complicated question, and not one that he wants to go into right now. Not in detail, anyway. "This little town in Maine called Storybrooke. At least, that's where I was before I woke up here."

"East coast's good. Haven't spent much time out there," Raleigh admits. Most of his life has been around the Rim, after all, and his work doesn't require him to be on the eastern seaboard.

"Spent most of my time traveling in the far east, west coast, that kind of thing. It's a hell of a lot different than America, that's for sure."

"I haven't seen most of the country." Just Maine and a few days in New York. "I've seen several others places though. I spent a good amount of time traveling." Calling it that sounds better, though he's not quite sure why he cares so much about that now.

"Travel's nice for a while but eventually you get sick of it and want to settle down." Raleigh looks around for a moment and smiles, just a half of one.

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I was thinking of putting down roots, though, so I could have done better there."

"I hadn't wanted to settle down, not for years, but before I arrived here, I decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all." He'd given up his ship for Emma, after all, and he'd done it without hesitation, knowing he'd be stranded in Storybrooke. "This isn't exactly the place I would have chosen for that either."

"I don't think anyone would choose this place," Raleigh says, laughing softly. "It's not exactly a vacation for anyone, is it?"

It's gray most of the time, it's hard living and half the time it feels like the environment is actively trying to kill them. It's not Raleigh's idea of a vacation or even a pleasant place to live. He thinks there's some they can do to make it better, sure, but not much to make it actually comfortable.

"Not from what I've seen." He hasn't had extended conversations with everyone, but no one so far seems to think that this is easy living. He's noticed a lot of desires to go home.

At least he's used to hard work. That wasn't a shock for him.

"I guess it could be worse but I probably shouldn't say that out loud. Whoever has us trapped here probably hears that and decides to screw us over even more," Raleigh says. "And I'm not really in the interest in making it worse for us. The earthquakes have been bad enough."

There's been damage and while he's been able to repair what his house has gone through he doesn't know that it can endure much more in the way of natural disasters.

“If they want to make things worse for us, they'll do it whether or not you say anything.” He's had a lot of experience at feeling powerless, for most of his life. It rankles, but there's nothing he can do about it at the moment. If he ever gets the chance though, he'll be the first in line. “Earthquakes were a new one for me though.”

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