trans_9 | [open] What an absolute whale of a tale

Entry tags:

[open] What an absolute whale of a tale

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

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.

"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."

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.>

"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...

<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.

"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."

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!

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.

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.

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."

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!>

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!

<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!)

"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.

<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.

"You can stop anytime now," she said, pressing her hand firmly against the water's surface. The big whale was getting closer, and she didn't much like it.

"Small problem. You're currently built for swimming. I've got the whole walking on land part covered, but alas," she said, sighing with more tiredness than intended melodramatics, "Forever the two shall not meet."

Sakura wasn't much interested in what shouldn't happen, on the other hand. Pushing back up to her feet, she took a running leap forward, pooling her energy as she pushed up and off the railing of the walkway, twisting into a dive while airborne.

She could manage some interesting acrobatics of her own! With the suit receded to just covering her from neck to top of the thigh, it also felt less like drag on the cold, cold waters of this tank. Sakura opened her eyes in the biting salty water, trying to find Marco.

What she got was a face full of sperm whale. "!!!"

<But stopping wouldn't be any fun,> Marco said. <Especially since I asked so nicely for you to come over here.>

And while Sakura was have a close up with Moby, Marco was...well, doing pretty much nothing. Except for laughing at her and completely ignoring her plight, that is.

Which left Sakura being nudged by a giant whale, who was starting to think she looked like one of those ship-walkers he vaguely remembers from sometime before. She swam like she knew what she was doing, which was newer to him.

She was also much easier to keep track of, and when she pushed off his nose and angled back toward the surface, Moby hung in the water and then slowly angled up after her. Didn't hurt to take a moment to breathe.

Man, he missed squid. Not that it was a thought per-say, but a hunger, for something other than what he gets in this tank.

For her part, Sakura planned to get some distance and figure out how to convince Marco to be a little more helpful and a little less perversely punned and stuck in play mode. It was frustrating when she was tired enough to feel the exertion of her dive and swimming afterward, not to mention the crawling at the back of her neck that being followed by a whale who had been massively tearing apart the boat at the far end earlier made her uncomfortable.

Worse when she heard the whale surface behind her -- and spun around to tread water backward, keeping an eye on it. Him. The larger of two dicks, as far as mass was presently concerned.

Hey, as far as Marco was concerned Moby clearly just wanted to join in the fun too. And why not? The game was fun!

And because Marco was not interested in being helpful, but was interested in playing around, he started swimming around Sakura in a circle, that big dolphin grin smirking at her the entire time.

Sakura ignored him, breaking the surface of the water and breathing deep. She felt a certain dread come over her as something brushed against her legs, starting to gather energy to push off it and make for the walkway, but the pressure didn't get pointed.

It pushed her up and into the air as Moby Dick surfaced underneath her. Starting to slide, she clung to the whale's head with chakra, eyes going wide as her heart pounded all the harder. "What are you doing?!"

Unfortunately, asking the whale wasn't going to get her an answer.

<Moby's obviously started a taxi service and decided to give you a lift!> Marco said, swimming along side Moby and turning onto his side to grin up at her. <Hey, you know a whale saved my life by doing that once? Not like one of us in morph, an actual whale. >

She peeked over the white dome of Moby's head, spotting Marco's dolphin down below. "You don't say? So was that your first date, or just the whale saying hello?"

Temper, temper. She was actually interested in hearing a bit out of Marco relating to... him. She just wasn't responding so well to it right now, which was unfortunate.

<No, that was Cassie's first date,> Marco quipped cheekily. <She's the one who spent all her time talking to the whale, not me. I just sat on top of the thing after it saved me from drowning.>

"I see, you were the awkward third wheel."

She sat extremely still, trying to figure out if her whale ride was planning anything unexpected. By now, that was basically anything. At least he couldn't eat her if he was letting her sit on his head.

"Again, why exactly did you not try learning how to swim before this ship, Marco?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject