Blood and Tears

[Shiara Bloodtide]

Shiara swam along a line of wire floating at the water's surface, her dorsal fin breaking the water line when she wasn't careful. From the long line hung shorter wires with hooks and bait, several sharks had already been caught by the line, and now swam helplessly in circles trying to free them selves. The line belong to a fining boat that combed the area. A cruel and vile act of the land dwellers in which they would pull live sharks on to the deck of their ship and slice off the animals fins then throw it's bleeding body back in to the water to die. The very thought made Shiara nauseous.

Of course, as any mer she knew she had to remain hidden from the land dwellers. It seemed they hunted everything they could, and it was likely her people would be no different if they were discovered. Fortunately she had a second set of eyes watching for the ship's return. Her pet Shaka, a twenty foot long, three ton white shark. Shaka was a mature female and one of the few sharks to live long enough to reach such a size. Years of experience had taught her to avoid these lines, no matter how tempting the bate might seem, and when her instincts did start to get the better of her Shiara was there to steer the massive shark away from the hooks.

Swimming up to the next line Shiara cut at the bait, letting it sink to the ocean the floor so no one would be tempted to bite the hook. Moving along to the next line she found a blue shark stuck on this one. Though her clan specialized in taming the white sharks Shiara was still able to clam the panicked blue. Her gray and white hands moved to gently touch the tip of the shark's nose, triggering the electrical sensors as she rubbed it's nose, placing the animal in a very passive, almost catatonic state. With out fear of being bitten she reached in to the shark's mouth and yanked out the hook. This unfortunately meant tearing flesh as the barbs on the hook didn't come out as easily as they went in. Fortunately sharks were tough enduring creatures, and the blue shark would survive despite the injury.

[Alruna]

Pearls were some of her favorite crowning accessories, and today she decided to personally fetch them for her next formal gathering. She and a few of her fellow clan mates gracefully and in no hurry, took their time to the shallower waters. Having such an edge in hunting, the trio and their clan were plenty well fed and healthy; this led to her peons mumbling to each other and mocking the struggling sharks. Sure, perhaps Alruna felt pangs of sympathy, but then again, there was no trust on either side for the other. The trio swam blissfully by, watching the creatures on death row.



Alruna’s eyes were caught in two different directions. She stopped and moved her school low to the ocean floor. There were clams to her right, but if she dared moved, there was a mershark to her left. Fortunately they looked busy attempting to help their lower kin; obviously in vain as they would soon commit the same mistake. Alruna ordered her followers to remain still and low. She would be damned if they began to bleed in the presence of all these agitated sharks; even if the mershark was the only one that concerned the vile queen.

[Shiara Bloodtide]

-+It had been many generations sense mer were known to cannibalize on mer of other clans, though there were often rumors flying that some of the mersharks still did so in secret. Fortunately, great whites preferred the fatty blubber of marine mammals OR oily tuna to maintain a high metabolism. Regardless of Shiara's standing on eating other mer she was far to busy to acknowledge the Lionfish clan members below, though both her and Shaka felt the electricity given off by their nervous systems.

As Shiara began to move toward the next hook in the line when a sound caught her attention. Turning she glanced back toward the direction they'd come from, to see a very large ship. It was the fining boat, pulling in the line. Fortunately they'd found nothing on the hooks so far, but there were many more hooks up ahead Shiara had not reached yet. Turning the shark princess swam faster, wanting to keep far enough ahead of the boat that she might stand a chance at freeing just one ore two more sharks. Reaching the next hook, an oceanic white tip was struggling against the line, trying to free it's self. Again she rubbed the sharks nose, to calm it before reaching in to it's mouth. The hook was embedded deep in to this one, and she struggled to pull on it, the ship moving closer and closer.

Shaka began to grow irritable as the ship closed in, her back arching lowering her pectoral fins and beating her tail harder against the water as she swam. Having to constantly move to pass water over her gills Shaka circled Shiara, guarding the mershark and growing more anxious with each passing second. Shiara was far more interested in freeing the shark on the hook then the approching boat and was lingering far too long.

Finally, feeling the ship was too close to wait any longer Shaka turned to ram in to Shiara, pushing the tip of her nose in to the mermaid's belly as she began to dive, pushing the young woman down toward the bottom and away from the struggling shark as the boat began to pull it from the water. "No!" Shiara cried still wanting to save the shark, even as she saw the small shark leaving the water.

Seeming to realize there was nothing more she could do Shiara pushed her self off of Shaka's nose, moving to the great white's side while grabbing her dorsal fin. The large shark was able to swim a bit faster then her self so Shiara road her this way to get to the bottom a bit faster. "Think they saw me?" She asked her companion, the shark giving no answer.