[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

[encourage]

"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. "!!!"

[livestoannoy]

<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.

[encourage]

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.

[livestoannoy]

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.

[encourage]

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.

[livestoannoy]

<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. >

[encourage]

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.

[livestoannoy]

<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.>

[encourage]

"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?"

[livestoannoy]

<Hey, I did try to learn how to swim,> Marco paused. <Actually Jake kind of insisted on it after that. I just still sucked at it.>

[encourage]

She laughed, shaking her head and patting Moby on the nose. Forehead. Whatever she was on! "You never cease to amaze me, you know."

[livestoannoy]

<That's because I'm amazing,> Marco said smugly, obstinately ignoring all of Sakura's negative implications. <And I thought you were going to take your omnicomm back from me.> Just to prove that point, Marco popped his nose out of the water to show off the omnicomm sitting in his mouth.

[encourage]

"You've got it backward," she pointed out. "I asked you to come help me get my omnicomm back, not to play keep away."

Seriously, maybe she could convince Moby Dick to get her flak vest... and magically not swallow it in the process.

[livestoannoy]

<But how else am I going to make playing fetch for you worth my while?> Marco said, teasing.

[encourage]

"Moby, sic him."

She pointed down at Marco, though the whale she was on didn't notice, starting to submerge again out of boredom. At least the tiny thing on his head wasn't hurting him. That much was nice!

Sakura took that opportunity to leap off toward the side, landing more heavily on the water than she had earlier, but staying on top.

Of Marco.

[livestoannoy]

Marco practically snorted - come on, she couldn't just order about a whale. Soon after though, he was rather distracted by the fact that Sakura had just jumped on top of him.

<Hey!> he said, splashing about.

[encourage]

Sakura let her control go enough to slide down hi back and latch on to his dorsal fin, moving quickly to nab her omnicomm out of his mouth. "Ha! Got it!" Then she (gently) nudged his side with her heel. "Giddy-up, Smiley. We've got a vest to catch."

[livestoannoy]

<That was so not fair!> Marco whined, miffed about his loss of the game. (Winning had been such fun...) <And it's not like you even need your vest. Your vest is ugly.>

[encourage]

"Like you have a right to talk about fashion sense. My vest is practical, and it holds more sensible things than you ever willingly choose to in your head half the time." Sakura nudged him with her heels again, this time purposely just to be a jerk, patting the top of his melon with the back of the hand holding her omnicomm. "You've got such a nice brain, when you want to use it."

[livestoannoy]

<Yes Barbie, tell me about how practical it is. That will surely convince me that it's actually the height of fashion,> Marco said, sarcastic. <And fine, I'll go get your stupid vest.>

[encourage]

"My hero." In a fit of pique, she pressed a kiss to his melon, and then let go. Sakura wasn't sold on her own ability to keep up and properly hold on if Marco was semi-serious about retrieving her vest. She couldn't artificially boost her flagging resources anymore, and she reluctantly acknowledge that her body was saying she needed to conserve what she could just in case.

For his part, Moby continued to dive downward, turning enough to eye them both at the surface.

[livestoannoy]

<Hey, you're supposed do that when I'm not morphed, remember?< Marco said, before turning around to dive down and go after that vest.

And if he accidentally-on-purpose splashed Sakura in the process, well, that was a bonus.

[encourage]

Lips salty, mouth salty, Sakura dragged her sopping wet self up to the surface of the water, protesting indignantly at the unnecessary splash before Marco disappeared. He was gone too fast for a retort, not that hers was particularly inspired.

Talking to the tank at large, she muttered, "At least you can't drool when you're a dolphin," then smirked for her own amusement.

She pulled herself up on the walkway, taking up a seat on the rail and waiting to see what Marco would do. Moby followed along after him, or so she thought, considering he was large and white and easy to track, and Marco was much harder.

[livestoannoy]

If only Marco had actually been able to hear Sakura, he would have retorted with a witty reply. As it was, he was instead swimming along the bottom of the tank, once again echolocating until he found the vest.

The vest was a bit tricker to pick up, but eventually he managed to slip it over his nose and head back to the surface. To find that this time, he was the one face to face with a whale. <Woah, hey there Moby.>

[encourage]

Moby hung there, unmoving, considering Marco. Then he brushed by suddenly, with a powerful push of his tail, angling around and back toward some point in the distance with surprising speed.

He might have wanted Marco to come with him, or perhaps he didn't. Sakura watched from the surface, resting her chin on her crossed arms. She wondered what that was about, really. "Where's he off to -- oh. Not the boat again."