[open] What an absolute whale of a tale

[encourage]

Sakura leaned against the railing at the top of one of the tanks in the new aquarium area, still mystified by the sheer size of what she was seeing. As far as she was concerned, this tank alone was larger than some lakes she'd grown up around, and filled all with saltwater? Not to mention the boat she watched floating by, apparently unmanned and running on goodness knew what.

It was almost peaceful, staring downward into the rippling surface of the water, lights keeping the tank inhabitants in shifting, silvery view. Unlike some other thanks, the creatures in this one weren't largely bright in their coloration, if some of the sea-life on the sides showed promising flashes of oranges, reds, and some blues. Not a tropical tank, if the concept itself was new, but one meant to harbor a larger animal out of a different Earth sea.

The white whale came up now and again to breathe, expelling carbon dioxide and water in a spray that came close to hitting the lighting fixtures dangling far above her head. There was a thrill in seeing that, in watching this somewhat intelligent creature surface, breathe, then dive again, coming closer to the boat that seemed to be floating on the false horizon.

Only the whale seemed to be shifting pattern, diving down as low as it could in the tank and then abruptly angling upward. It was hard to determine what she was seeing, with the refraction of the water, and the lack of clarity provided by the choppy waters of the surface, but Sakura was fairly certain the whale was taking aim at something. Peering out across the surface of the tank, she heard the great white whale break surface and come slamming down on the boat just as a much smaller, daintier "plish" of water reached her ears.

She looked down, catching sight of her omnicomm as it started to sink beneath the choppy surface of the water, and said something not meant for polite company.

Then with a white whale rampaging at a boat on the far end, Sakura pulled herself up to the top of the railing and dived down into the cold water, intent on rescuing her omnicomm before it dropped down out of reach.

[ ooc: Set in the Aquarium area, Sakura's going diving for her own property in the Moby Dick tank. Point and laugh? Watch whale shenanigans? Threadjacking welcomed with open arms. ]

Comments

[livestoannoy]

[[continuing on after this thread]]

Marco didn't know how long it had taken for Sakura to finally decide to come and get him, but by the time she'd dragged him over here he was definitely grinning in amusement at the whole thing.

He was also pausing by a sign on the tank. "...Moby Dick? Moby Dick? Seriously? Stacy picked up Moby Dick?!"

[encourage]

"You know this whale?" That was the peach on top of a very delicious dessert Sakura wasn't getting at all while on this ship.

[livestoannoy]

"It's like from some boring brick of a book. One of those 'classics'," Marco said, making mock quotation marks in the air and rolling his eyes, just so show what he thought of that. "All I know is that there's a whale called Moby Dick and some dude who insists on being called Ishmael."

[encourage]

Sakura frowned. It fit with everything about realities crossing over universes as stories, but she didn't get why a whale, let alone one Marco recognized out of a book. "Does this whale have a history of going all..." she trailed off, trying to find a good description. "Going all Rachel on sail boats?"

[livestoannoy]

"How the hell should I know? I never read the book. Ask Cassie, she's probably read anything with whales in it," Marco said, waving a hand around dismissively.

[encourage]

"You're so... useful. So incredibly, all around useful sometimes, you know?" Her attention was focused on the tank, and she moved toward the staircase winding upward to the top. It was... something of a walk.

[livestoannoy]

"How who was it who desperately needed my help again?" Marco said, striking a dramatic 'thinking' pose. "Let me think...oh yeah! It was you!"

[encourage]

"Tobias has to have a dolphin morph, doesn't he? You know, it's really not too late for me to go and try to reason with your friend. Especially since he can probably make decent time to the top of these things."

As if to make a point about speed, she kicked in her own speed mechanism, pushing off and for most intents and purposes appearing close to the top. "Need a lift?" she called down, lips curling up into something of a tired smile. "Or should I start picnicking on my own up here? It's a nice day for it, if I ignore the fact I'm inside a giant alien spaceship next to a psychotic whale!"

[livestoannoy]

Marco looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Tobias could morph, but Sakura couldn't - shouldn't - know that. The Animorphs had made a decision - Tobias's ability to morph was to be kept secret.

"Tobias is trapped in morph. He can't morph into anything," he said bluntly. A complete lie, of course, but looking out for Tobias and the other Animorphs would always come first.

"Yes, because I'm clearly incapable of walking up a staircase," Marco said sarcastically as he started making his way up.

[encourage]

Sakura opted not to respond, closing her eyes and keeping her thoughts, and words, to herself. She waited, leaning against the railing of the walkway at the top, listening to the sounds of water disturbances off at the far end of the tank.

It would always be a question of belief. It was unfortunate how little she could have when it came to him, and his friends. Unfortunate, and understandable.

As she heard him reach the top, she schooled herself into smiling. It took more effort than it should, a testimony again to how tired she had become. "Not incapable. Just slow."

[livestoannoy]

Once he got to the top, Marco stripped off some of his outer layers of clothing - sure, someone might have gotten them damp already, but he didn't need to drench them completely.

"Well excuse me for not having ninja superpowers, Barbie," he said, rolling his eyes before he jumped into the tank.

[encourage]

"You're excused," she said, walking down the walkway toward where she'd been when she'd initially lost her omnicomm. She paused, looking back at Marco's discarded clothing, then went back and...

... started folding them into a neat pile she left stacked slightly off where water had easy access to them on the walkway. It bothered her, and it was hard to say why.

Then she pretend that never happened and started back toward her original target. "Should be somewhere closer to this end. No idea where my vest went."

[livestoannoy]

Marco wasn't really paying attention to what Sakura was doing, since he was busy morphing into a dolphin.

And by the time he was finished, the dolphin's mind had also bubbled up, making Marco somewhat less interested in finding omnicoms now.

<You should jump in too!> he said cheerfully, bobbing up and down in front of Sakura and making dolphin noises at her. <I bet we could so outrace Moby Dick.>

[encourage]

"After you find my omnicomm and my vest. See how you feel after that, and if you still want to, sure."

Sakura was frankly more concerned about paying attention to Moby McWhaleface.

But the most bizarre thing was she could see the same ship from earlier back at the far end. What the...

[livestoannoy]

<But that's no fun,> Marco said. Dolphins couldn't pout, but Marco sure seemed to be trying right now.

The whale didn't bother Marco. He was a dolphin, and it was a Great One! They were friends.

[encourage]

"That's no fun." Sakura leaned against the rail, then slowly leaned over it. "How about we make it fun?"

Quick. How to make finding the omnicomm fun. "Like some kind of game? You try to find the omnicomm before... I can make it to that boat and back here."

[livestoannoy]

A game? Marco liked the idea of a game.

<Hah, prepare to lose, Barbie!> Marco said gleefully, immediately diving into the water. (Hey, she didn't say anything about playing fair.)

He started echolocating, clicking away as he tried to pinpoint the omnicomm. Since the water was clear, it didn't take him too long to get an image back of an omnicomm-shaped object. Hah!

[encourage]

She blinked after him, the heaved herself over the railing to a heavy landing on the surface of the water. Not particularly concerned with winning (she knew, in spite of the part of her that wanted to break into a run, that it was a waste of energy right now that she couldn't afford) only out of necessity, she started strolling toward the boat, keeping and eye out for Moby Dick.

The big whale himself appeared to be surfacing for air, confused by both the smaller creature in his tank, and also the strange thing walking on water. He submerged, choosing to explore the fast, small creature in the water itself first.

[livestoannoy]

Meanwhile, Marco had reached the omnicomm and was now trying to pick it up with his mouth. This took a few goes, since dolphin's hadn't really adapted to be able to pick things up off the sea floor with their mouths. (Or to pick things up at all, really).

But now, the prize was his! Oh he was so going to win this game. Gleefully, Marco started racing back towards the walkway.

[encourage]

Dick swam close to Marco, his small eye wondering at the smaller creature zipping around his tank. Sakura paused up on the surface, watching what she could of the distorted shapes in tank. Worried, forgetting her objective of the ship (not that she'd really wanted to go), she turned back and started jogging toward where she'd been when Marco took off on his gaming adventure.

"Nice whale, please don't live up to the second half of your name."

[livestoannoy]

The Great One! Marco swam alongside Moby cheerfully, blowing air out of his bubble as in saying hello.

<But Barbie, you know you love Dick,> Marco said gleefully. <And I win!>

[encourage]

How had he even -- Sakura stamped her foot on the water, sending it through the surface when she didn't brace herself right. Not that it mattered much, outside of a stumble as she then kept jogging. "Care to say that again where I can reach you, Fin-boy?"

Moby blinked at Marco, blowing some of his own air out. It was moving and friendly. He found it curious!

[livestoannoy]

<Threatening violence when I went to all that trouble to fetch your omnicomm for you? Very inconsiderate, Sakura,> Marco teased, continuing to swim along with Moby Dick. (Hey, they were buddies now!)

[encourage]

"For all you know, I could be threatening a really big hug." she muttered, if that was pretty much the opposite of her current threat. "Thank you, Marco, do you think you could manage to find my vest before your new friend tries to eat it? But bring the omnicomm up here first."

Sakura knelt on the surface of the water. Moby changed direction, coming up underneath her, not sure of what this surface-thing could be. Wrong shape for the loud above-water swimming ones. Then what? He considered coming up next to her, to get a proper look.

"Sea animals aren't supposed to be that big and not be demonic," she said, watching the while behemoth with trepidation.

[livestoannoy]

<Oh yeah, like I'll believe that, oh Great Destroyer of Walls,> Marco said. <And sure they are. He's the same size as any other sperm whale. Sperm whale! Hah! And you haven't even seen big till you've seen Cassie's Humpback whale.>

Yes, Marco was totally mature. (Hey, it wasn't his fault that all these whales had names that sounded dirty).

<If you want your omnicomm, you'll have to come get it!> he said, spinning around in circles and clicking.