Between a Loch and a Hard Place! Swimming with the Sharks!

[Fox]

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Wolfric sailed through the air at incredible speeds, tipping end over end. Man! That catapult really sent her and Yi flying! Wolfric wriggled around in the air, trying to get a look at where she was headed. She didn’t immediately see Yi, but then she wasn’t looking too hard for him yet. That was a problem for when future Wolfric landed. Right now, she was still a bit concerned about the landing part. Wait.

“Wuh-oh.”

What… Was that water? Wolfric felt herself break out into a slightly nervous sweat. W-Wait. Why was there a lake this huge this far inland? Whirling around, Wolfric made swimming motions in the air to try and stop her forward momentum. It… wasn’t helping. She slapped her hands onto her body, trying to feel around for something - anything - that she could possess to stop herself. There was her sword, but she didn’t really wanna dump it into the lake! How was she supposed to get it out? Wasn’t there anything-

“OH!”

Her sandals! That’d work! Wolfric curled up and grabbed her leg, making herself do crazy spinny flips. She just… had to get… her shoe…! But dizziness started setting in and just as she managed to reach it, she remembered that she didn’t have to take it off at all. What the heck was she doing? She was already touching it! Possessing the sandal, Wolfric prepared to make a hasty exit when she touched down.

Splish!

Wolfric was immediately ejected from her sandal as she fell into the water. She felt her body grow weak as she sank deeper and deeper down into the lake. Holding her breath wasn’t really an option either as that would require her to have energy. She garbled out the last of her air and sucked in a big ole gulp of water. Her lungs burned as her vision started to go hazy and then black. She thought she saw something out of corner of her eye, but she didn't have long to think about it before she passed out.

---

Wolfric Hertz | Dark Turquoise (#00ced1) | Post Count: 1

[SnowDog]

A distant splash rang out through the water, breaking the eery quiet that was plaguing the nurse shark mermaid. Florence pivoted her head towards the direction of the impact, her immediate thought being said impact was another cannonball volley. Impossible! There was no way those hunters had managed to close the distance that quickly! However her suspected cannonball didn’t explode... It should’ve by this point. Florence swam closer towards the sinking individual and found it wasn’t a cannonball at all! It was a person!

“Such cruelty....” She whispered to herself as she approached the sinking female, scooping them up in her hands, “Throwing their own people at us like that. What monsters...” Despite believing the girl was a part of the hunters group, something inside of the mermaid felt the need to at least help them out to prevent them from sinking like this. Poor thing probably can’t even swim and they’re out here using her for ammo. Well, she could at least take her back ashore and then keep them as a prisoner to press her for some information. She would normally leave her husband to handle something like interrogation but he had more pressing matters for the time being, so she had to make do.

-

Arriving to the nearby cove, Florence immediately setting about trying to gently resuscitate the drowned girl, her larger hands not used to helping out the more regular sized denizens of the surface world. Many of the mermaids who called this cove a home flocked to greet Florence but was shooed away so that she may work. They were sent to to fetch whatever loose cloth and fabric they had available. The nurse shark swaddled the unconscious Wolfric with whatever material she was offered, the warmth should help prevent her from getting sick while also preventing her from escaping once she comes to. Then they could press her for questions.

[BlissfulSerenity]

God darn it, how much was it going to cost to repair that thing? Stupid piece of junk hadn't been acting right but of course she thought it was fine, how stupid could she have been. A deep sigh rumbled from her chest being pushed out with a gust of air, she could save up and by a new one since there was no way that thing was going to get running again. Iris pushed herself up into a standing position as she put her hands into her jacket pockets, "Mmm.."

It was one thing to leave the piece of junk beside, but the memories that came in it made it somewhat hard to just leave it without a second look. She almost wanted to keep the parts and use it to make a new ride, but the parts were already so damaged there would be no way they would last. "I guess this is goodbye, you were a sweet ride while you lasted." 

Taking a deep breath Iris finally turned around, walking away from the mini island to leap into the water, "This really sucks, I wonder how much a more modified one is gonna cost?" Iris thought about it but she didn't really know the vehicle market very well, "Screw it, I can always just figure it out as I make the money to buy one. What I really need to do is sell my current crap and start searching for newer things to sell." Luckily for her she was familiar with the nearby area, not to far there was a cove of mermaids if she remembered right, maybe she could sell to the mermaids or knows someone who wants to buy. 

Taking her shot Iris began to make her way through the water to the nearby cove hoping she could make some quick cash, finding the underwater entrance she would follow it up until she saw a opening into an open area, when she finally found it she began to rise up as her head rose up from the water, "Anyone home~?" Iris would ask, surprisingly she was meant with the sight of mermaids running like scattered ants as one of them was pressing down on what looked like a human girl with something that looked like dogs ears? Was she witnessing a murder? She didn't need this on her plate right now.. "Should I..wait in the water..or something?" Iris asked outload not wanting to be rude but also not be involved.

[Fox]

With a sudden spurt, Wolfric coughed up the water that had gotten into her lungs onto the cold stone floor. She felt… awful. She took a moment to mentally and physically recover from the experience. Ugh. Wait. Why was the ground stone? She blinked and glanced around in confusion. Did someone fish her out…!

“OH!”

Wolfric sat up in both surprise and excitement, her eyes sparkling with wonder. There was someone in front of her. Someone… with a tail! She’d heard the stories, but it was much cooler seeing the real thing. Another glance around the cave-cove type thing revealed more of them scattered around and staring at her.

“Mermaids! You’re a mermaid! That’s so cool!”

Grinning widely at her probable rescuer, Wolfric glanced down at the wrappings that she was swaddled in. They were pretty warm, but she was fine now. She wiggled to try and get out of them, but they were… kinda tight. Was that normal to do for someone who had just drowned? Well, kind of drowned. Ah well, they probably knew what they were doing. She looked back up to her rescuer.

“Oh, and hi! I’m Wolfric. Nice to meetcha! Thanks for saving me. You did that, right? Phew… being flung from a catapult was pretty fun though… OH! Have you seen a red haired guy? Robes and stuff? His name’s Yi! I kind of… lost him on the way here.”

In the shuffle, Wolfric hadn’t heard the fishwoman’s call, but one of the mermaids scurrying around had. A big bass mermaid with long curly blonde hair popped out of the water next to Yasei with her nose scrunched up in disgust. She let out a tepid sigh and shook her head.

“No, don’t bother. Hmph. It’s just like Flo to bring one of those awful humans here. I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing. You’re that traveling merchant girl, right? You came at a tough time. Some awful humans have been trying to hunt us down. That human’s probably one of them.”

Running her hand through her hair, the mermaid looked up at Yasei expectantly. “Did you bring the latest fashions from Ryugu?”

---

Wolfric Hertz | Dark Turquoise (#00ced1) | Post Count: 2

[SnowDog]

The girl awoke practically bursting with energy, much to Florence's surprise. "Was she not aware she had just been drowning not even a moment ago?" The mermaid wondered to herself. Not even a minute having returned to the land above the waves and now she was the one asking questions!

"Now wait here just a second!" The flustered nurse shark interjected, pressing her index finger into Wolfric's swaddle of a restraint harness, "We-We've got some questions of our own! And this 'Yi' person you speak of, what is he to you, some sort of- some other member of your hunting crew? Huh, is-is that it?" Florence's cheeks immediately began to turn red as her face grew warm from embarrassment. She was not the type for these kinds of things and was beginning to feel herself struggling to play the role. Throwing punches and patching wounds was easy, but interacting with the enemy was completely foreign to her. If only Raige were here by now... "Tell us! Why are you here? What kind of sick operation is your Captain running here?!"

There was a bit of chatter that came from another side of the cove, Florence turning to see the latest arrival hoping to see her husband finally returning. Instead it was Yasei, which while not who she was initially hoping for was still a welcomed sight in the cove.

"Sorry, Yasei, we've had a bit of a- situation, develop here..." Florence trailed trying to wave off the feeling of embarrassment from trying to act as the bad-cop in this interrogation process. "You didn't happen to see my husband on the way in, did you?"

[BlissfulSerenity]

Just as she arrived the animal like human rose up and started talking, I guess she wasn't dead huh? Phew, at least she didn't need to worry about getting caught up in a murder case. Next to her the water moved and from it another mermaid that had been in the water up until now popped up, her nose scrunched up as if she was looking or smelling a piece of rancid garbage as they talked about how humans had been hunting them lately and how messed up it was for Flo to bring one of them right into their home at a time like this.  

"Hmm.." The more she looked at the animal-like human the more she began to think that her initial theory was wrong, she had never seen one before but from passing traders and customers she heard of an animal race..what was their name.. Pink..no Ink...OH! Mink!! Before she could get out a word the mermaid asked if she had brought any new fashions from Ryugu, "Unfortunately not, I was heading there but my ride broke down so now I'm trying to sell my current goods before I can go anywhere else. On another note, you said you were being hunted by humans but that one doesn't look entirely human.." 

From the water, she could hear Flo question the tied up human-animal like figure intensely asking all types of questions about them, about this point Iris got out of the water just as Flo noticed her greeting her but looking a bit embarrassed before she asked if she had seen her husband. "I can't say I have, it is kind of hard to not notice him too. But err, I know a bit about the situation drowning victim aside don't you think you should give them a moment to explain themselves? Look at the ears Flo, can you really say they are human without confirming if those things are real."

Feeling rude for not talking to the person directly Iris would walk over to them and bend down, "Hey there, it seems you're being suspected of hunting these ladies here, care to shine a light on the situation before they decide to throw you back into the water? I really don't want to be a victim of murder.." 

[Fox]

Wolfric tilted her head to the side curiously, her tufts of hair flopping over to one side like puppy ears. The mermaid had interrupted her, looking pretty flustered. What? She glanced down, expected to see something where the mermaid was pointing her finger. Was something on her face? Wolfric glanced back up to the mermaid’s face who answered her quizzical expression with a deluge of questions of her own.

“Huh? Eh? Hunters? What?”

She could not be more confused. Well, actually. She probably could, but she was not at all following what the mermaid was going on about. Did she miss something when she was passed out? She would scratch her head if she could reach it, but these wraps were actually pretty tight. The thing that stupefied Wolfric the most was the mention of ‘her captain.’ What? Wolfric just blinked, trying to process while the mermaid turned slightly to address a… fish person! Named Yasei, apparently. There was a pretty grumpy looking mermaid beside her too.

Unfortunately, what they had to say didn’t exactly enlighten Wolfric as to what was going on. Just that they were about to murder… her? Or Wolfric? Wait, which one were they going to murder?! Wolfric tried to flex out of the wraps, but she was still too weakened from nearly drowning to actually bust out. She could haunt her sword to get out, but…

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’m not real sure what you’re talking about, lady, but I don’t take orders from anybody! I’m gonna be King of the Pirates!”

Wolfric puffed up a little at that, smiling confidently before devolving back into utter confusion.

“But hey. What hunters? Yi’s my crewmate, but we aren’t hunting anyone. Actually, we’re probably being hunted by those Marine guys… We kinda got flung off of their roof catapult, and I lost him in flight. Hope he’s okay…”

She spared a moment of worry for Yi, but she was pretty confident that he was probably fine. After all, he was part of her crew! He could handle it. Probably. Wolfric looked back to Yasei and the nurse mermaid.

“And uh… I’m human. I think. Far as I know. What ears?”

"Does... Does she not know...?" Flo whispered to Yasei, squinting at the newcomer. She honestly couldn't tell if this girl was just clueless or stupid or both. It was probably both. As curious as she was to more, she figured that she ought to look for Raige. Flo seemed to be having a tough time of it. With a wave to Flo, Beatrice ducked under the water and swarm down one of the underwater passages to look for the big fella.

---

Wolfric Hertz | Dark Turquoise (#00ced1) | Post Count: 3

[SnowDog]

Florence stared down at the small human perplexed by her response to all her questions. King of the Pirates? Hunted by Marines? Catapults?! Does this mean she wasn't with... the Hunters?... Florence's face felted warm again as the realization was beginning to set in, her tanned skin turning a vibrant red again.

"So you mean to tell us, you're not one of those-" Florence swallowed her words for a second as she struggled to express her thoughts congruently, "One of those Mermaid... Hunting... Crews...?"

There was a brief pause that lingered in air of the cove before the partial guilt and embarassment took over the interrogating nurse shark mermaid. Not even giving Wolfric a chance to properly reply, Florence broke down and broke the silence.

"OH MY GOSH!" she exclaimed, throwing her face into her hands to hide from the embarrassment. "I'msosorry! I'msosorry! I'msosorry! I'msosorry!" Florence began to flail in place unable to compose herself, much to the dismay and astonishment of the other mermaids present in the hidden cove.

"They're both idiots!" A couple of the other mermaids exclaimed in unison watching Florence break under her own embarrassment.

[BlissfulSerenity]

As Yasei asked a few questions to the tied up person in front of them she was greatly denied as the girl stated that she didn't take orders from anyone and that she was the King of the Pirates, "Ohhh, that's cool." Yasei would respond despite not really understanding the meaning of that title. 

Despite saying that this Wolfric girl still pretty much explained herself as she clarified she wasn't hunting the mermaids or anything of the sort and was probably being hunted by a marine group, "Damn, that's almost just as troubling.." Yasei would say with a twinge of worry in her voice, if marines were on this girl and her friends tails it was only a matter of time until they might find the cove looking for her. 

"Oh.." Among her worries about the cove being found Wolfric clearly seemed confused before clarifying that she was in fact a human and that she had no idea what Yasei was talking about with her ear comments, "Eh..? aren't those ears..?" Yasei would reach her hands out grabbing what she thought was Wolfric ears, now that she was touching them she realized that it was none other than her hair taking on some weird animal like appearance, "What the hell? No way this hair is human..." Yasei declared with a confused look, the hair had to be defying some law of physics! 

Caught off guard Flo would begin to start to break down as she began apologizing, Yasei tried not to feel it but it was pretty embarrassing. Now that she thought about it didn't that other mermaid that disappeared mentioned Yasei didn't know something or was she tallking about Wolfirc? Did she mean Yasei not knowing about the girl being human? Ugh now she felt a bit stupid too and for some reason are the mermaids were laughing and she felt like a portion of it was directed at her even if it wasn't. 

In either case Yasei would raise her hand, her muscles in her palm tensing as she swung her hand down vertically across the rope that was holding the girl down to set her loose, "Great, you're not hunting us but you're being hunted as we speak and you want to find your friend yah?" Yasei spoke trying to play off her own earlier embarrassment "Great, in that case your  conscious and seem like your in high spirits. Let's get you and your friend back together before those hunting you come find this little safe heaven. "

"The Future Pirate King..wait wouldn't it be queen? You know what nevermind. You wouldn't want to bring trouble to the one who saved you right? You're free to go." 

[Fox]

Wolfric was still feeling a bit lost with what exactly was going on. She had a vague picture, but then the nice mermaid nurse lady turned a bright shade of red as she slowly repeated what Wolfric had already told her. She just shook her head to confirm it. Mermaid hunting crews? That was a thing? Mermaids didn’t seem like they would be very tasty. Well, maybe the fish part, but even Wolfric drew the line at eating people! She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the nurse lady flailing around and apologizing wildly.

Now Wolfric was even more lost. She tried to reach out a hand to pat the nurse lady, but she was still pretty bundled up. Plus, she had a fish lady who had just walked right up to her and started grabbing at her hair. Who just touched people’s hair like that?! Baffled, Wolfric squinted and thought to herself. What did she look like if not human? She wasn’t sure that people got more human than her. Huh… maybe she should ask her Dad a few things when she saw him again.

When she looked up again, fish lady was going at her with a crazy karate chop. Wolfric let out a yelp and flinched away, waiting for the inevitable ouch on top of her head. Instead of that, she felt the bindings around her loosen. She opened one eye and glanced down. Oh. She’d cut it with a karate chop. Wolfric bounced to her feet with starry eyes.

“You cut that with a karate chop?! That’s so cool! Aw, but I had my eyes closed! Do it again! Doitagain!”

In her excitement, she almost missed what Yasei had said. Almost. It just took a while to register. She frowned as she processed, thinking about it for a second before kneeling down to the nice nurse lady and patting her on the head to make her stop apologizing for a second. And also stop flailing.

“Hey… uh… nurse lady? Do you want some help with those guys hunting you?” Wolfric asked simply, “I owe ya one, so it’s the least I could do!”

She smiled widely and chuckled. Yi would be alright until they could find each other. She had faith in him already! Till then, she wanted to help out these guys. She didn’t love the idea of anyone picking on her friends. Wolfric stuck out her hand to the nice shark nurse mermaid lady.

“We can even start over. Hi! I’m Wolfric! Wolfric Hertz. And I’m gonna be King of the Pirates! Nice to meetcha!”

Wolfric looked over to Yasei and waved. “Oh! And you too!”

---

Wolfric Hertz | Dark Turquoise (#00ced1) | Post Count: 4

[SnowDog]

Florence peeked out from behind her fingers to view the now freed Wolfric. She paused in her flailing for a moment as the human girl tried to introduce herself as a means to "start fresh."

"Wo-Wolfric?" Florence said trying to get a hold of her flustered composure. When the pirate girl extended her hand, the nurse shark mermaid instinctively followed suit and slowly offered out her own while still trying to hide behind her other hand, "Florence... My name is Florence." She gently shook Wolfric's offered hand the best she could given the size difference between both individuals.

"You would do that? You'd help us against the hunters who are after us?" She inquired. Florence could only sit there and wonder what the true intentions this Wolfric girl had. Taken at face value she seemed outwardly sweet and sincere with her offer, but a part of her could only think that maybe this is some kind of front on her part. She did mention she was going to become the "King of the Pirates", and pirates often had that penchant for lying and mischief for the sake of some form of profit. Despite the internal debates running in her head and Yasei's quick judge of character, Florence herself could feel that she could trust Wolfric just by looking at her. After all, despite having been tied up and quickly freed, she had yet to turn hostile or show any sign of doing so.

[BlissfulSerenity]

Yasei left eye widened in surprise as she looked at this Wolfric girl. the human impressed with her karate chop calling it cool as she asked her to see it again, "Hmph, as if human." Yasei standing up and turning around to walk towards Florence, she had never been called cool before but it felt quite nice.

Yet as she was walking away something she considered absolutely crazy happened, instead of Wolfric pissing off the girl instead offered to help the cove with their little hunting problem, Yasei snapped around facing Wolfric again. "What?"

She couldn't believe what she was just hearing. Suddenly she changed the pace of the conversation as she suddenly decided to start all over again, the sudden change of pace throwing her off as Florence and Wolfric had a rather nice introduction to each other, then Wolfric turned to her also addressing her What the hell just happened? Like a storm this Wolfric girl was pulling them in and trapping them into her pace. 

Still a bit shocked by the offer she would hear Florence ask the human if she was serious about her request to help them out, to be honest Yasei didn't even know the cove was in such danger yet she made semi-frequent stops to sell goods or get information, the people were nice and she liked that. If she only knew what was going on.. 

"Hey H- Wolfric you said you're a pirate right? Pirates often have combat experience right? If you're really serious and you're aiming to be the Pirate King so your strong right? I still don't really know you but if your offering to help I'll tag along with you for the sake of the cove and to have your back if you're a good pirate.."

Yasei trailed off, the girl really was nice and she called her cool so she couldn't be that bad? Maybe she should try being a little less hostile, "Maybe you're learn my name and I'll show you some cool karate chops.." Yasei said as she crossed her arms, trying to a be a bit more relaxed but still on her guard. 

[Fox]

“Yeah! I said I would, didn’t I? You helped me out, so I wanna help you out!” Wolfric scratched her head quizzically. That wasn’t a hard concept to wrap one’s head around, was it? She felt like it wasn’t. She gave Florence a hearty handshake and tried to help her sit up a little straighter. Maybe that would help reassure her or something. “Besides, we’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Wolfric stood up and stretched her legs, leaning off to one side or the other. Her strength was returning after being half-drowned, so that was good. She perked up as the other fish lady started talking to her, nodding to confirm that, yes, she was a pirate. She nodded again when she asked if she was serious about becoming King of the Pirates and that she was strong. Wolfric even did a little flex, showing off her crazy muscle definition. Her body was totally covered in scars too, so that probably helped to convince that she’d been in her fair share of scrapes.

“Sure!” Wolfric smiled a happy, wide grin, “Sounds fun!”

She tilted her head to the side when the fish lady went on about sharing her name and karate chops. Her eyes lit up again at the thought of seeing more cool karate chops, but she was little confused by the prior statement. She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head to the side.

“Huh? Can’t you just tell me your name? I don’t wanna keep calling you fish lady. Oh! Maybe you mean like we should do codenames?! Like Crimson Eagle!! Or… um… Kitty Kat!!”

Wolfric wooshed to the side, covering her face with her arm like she was wearing a cape. She wasn’t wearing a cape, but in her mind, it still looked cool.

“You can call me… Red Spear! Wait, wait! No! Uh… Call me… Ocelot? No… hrm… this is tough…”

The gears of Wolfric’s brain were turning hard. She wanted something good! Something cool! Hm. She couldn’t decide… Hm. Her eyes shot open wide.

“WAIT! I have a wanted poster! Do you guys have those here? I wanna see what they called me!”

---

Wolfric Hertz | Dark Turquoise (#00ced1) | Post Count: 5

[SnowDog]

Florence was taken back by how quickly Wolfric was willing to help them out. Pulling her out of the water felt like a sort of common courtesy, drowning is one of the worst ways you could leave this world and she was willing to help them take down the Mermaid Hunters. And now she was claiming they were... friends? So soon?

"I- I suppose so." The nurse shark mermaid responded just before Wolfric turned her attention towards Yasei. She began to go off on something about codenames which, while further adding to Florence's confusion, also caused her to chuckle at the pirate girl's antics. What an odd bean this human girl she picked up was.

Florence's ears perked when Wolfric then began to inquire about her wanted poster. Did she even have a wanted poster? Was she that infamous enough to already have a bounty on her head.

"Uhhh we might have something, let me go check real quick." Florence disappeared into the water for a brief moment, swimming over to a different outcrop within the cove. She wasn't gone for very long before returning to Wolfric's location with a small stack of wanted posters in hand. She began to flip through the pages until she found one that seemed to match Wolfric's visage.

"This one certainly looks like you here," she said pulling the page from the stack, "says here you-" Florence paused as her eyes fixated on the three million beri bounty she had on the poster. "How have you managed to get a bounty that high already?!"

[BlissfulSerenity]

This human was by far the strangest being she has meant, not only was she not afraid to be around so many Fishman or even care about how much money she could profit off selling them. Now she was offering them help and calling them her friends" Yasei didn't know what to think anymore as she tried to figured Wolfric aim out, she seemed all nice and sweet but she wouldn't so easily just start acting friendly.

Anyway, at least she seemed strong, having looked at Wolfric muscle definition her doubts about her strength were a little more clear. Trying to be friendly she told Wolfric she shows her more moves if she agreed to fight but her name would remain hidden from her. Wolfric's head tilted in confusion as she began to ask her why she couldn't just say her name, in that same breath she decided that maybe they could go by codewords.

As Wolfric was throwing out random codename's finding it tough then asking if anyone had her wanted poster with Florence going to fetch it Yasai spoke up to Wolfric, "Yasei, my codename is Yasei."

When Florence came back Yasei took a peak at the bounty, seeing how much cash she could make of of Wolfric Yasei had a small smirk, "Hey Florence, can we just turn them in instead? They are worth a lot~" She sighed, she suppose she really couldn't do that but damn did she want too, "Joking..kinda" She would say looking at Wolfric.