1x1?

[pudding]

Suddenly, the shining light moved. Eyes wide now, he quickly slammed his hand down on it again, only for it to keep moving around the bottom of the tank. What was it?! Was it a fish? Why was it able to slip through his fingers so easily each time? Growing more and more frustrated, he followed the light around the tank before finally stopping, groaning loudly. He was too tired for this and while the light had done well enough to take his mind off of escaping, he had grown tired from both ramming the wall and casing the light around. Deciding whatever it was it was too small to do any actual damage, Shoal retreated back to the corner of the tank in the deepest part. Wedging himself between the two glass walls, he laid his head down on his arms, curled up as much as he could manage without hurting his tail further. After a few seconds, he moved his other arm to hold his shoulder. Of course, he couldn't actually fall asleep in this kind of situation. He just needed to lay and rest for a few moments.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max sat by his corner and breathes on the glass fogging it as she drew a picture of a dolphin, then a pod of dolphins on the glass in the fog.

 

She watched him, and lay by the glass, showing she wasn't a threat by stretching out. She wiggled her fingers at him then tapped her shoulder mimics being hurt, then tapped her chest and made a wrapping motion and gave him a thumbs up. She was trying to convey she can help him. She'll stay here all afternoon if she had too. She'll come back multiple times to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

[pudding]

Though he didn't move, Shoal's eyes remained locked on the woman, watching her strange movements. Was she trying to communicate with him? If so, she was clearly failing as he had no clue what she was trying to do. Frowning, he made a face then blew several bubbles in her direction before rolling back the other way. He had tried breaking the glass himself, it wasn't going to budge. He didn't have to worry about turning his back on her if the glass was a sound wall. So that's what he did, deciding to ignore her. She was distracting him from his rest.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max gave up and got up leaving for a moment. She came back an hour later, set a mirror outside the tank and pushed in some toys. One was a kids floating working plastic boat that bobbed along the top, another was a large squeaking toy the seals loved in a shape of a dolphin. Two large artificial swimming Angel fish that took off once she set them in the water. The toys all had a waterproof coating on them that made them bitter of a creature tried to bite it.

 

She got out of the water once again and watched him. This might give him something to do.

[pudding]

Movement outside of the tank alerted the merman something was amiss. His mouth opened in a wide yawn before he worked his way out of the corner he had ended up falling asleep in despite his best efforts. Blinking rapidly several times, he lifted his arms to give them a stretch, only to quickly withdraw his left hand. Cradling his left shoulder, he frowned slightly then nearly jumped out of his scales as a fish swam close by him. Staring at the fish, he looked around, noticing the presence of several things inside of the tank. Holding his shoulder, he poked the top of his head above the surface of the water, eying the strange floating things.

The dolphin-shaped thing bobbed closer in his direction and, out of instinct, he quickly chomped down on it. Hissing, his spat the toy out of his mouth as it squeaked loudly. Sticking out his tongue, he whined and shook his head, trying to get the bitter taste off of his tongue. Why did it taste so foul?! Scraping his tongue over his teeth, he frowned then picked up the dolphin and hurled it out of the tank as far as he could throw it.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max watched in the shallow water as the dolphin made a whistling arch and landed with a sad squelch on the floor. So, he doesn't like the dolphin. Perhaps the fish, boat or mirror would interest him? And she was starting to think he dislocated his shoulder. She needs to fix that quickly lest he might become lethargic.

 

All her studies of fish, and not once did this merman meet any similarities between the aquatic mammals. This confused her and intrigued her.

[pudding]

Ignoring the fish entirely, Shoal moved on to the other floating object in his tank. Drifting closer to the boat, he sniffed it cautiously several times then reached out and prodded it. When the boat bobbed away, he pursued it and prodded it again, forcing it in another direction. Humming softly, he began pushing the boat around in a circle with his nose, nudging it around the tank slowly. Since he was cradling his shoulder, the movement was entirely powered by his tail but he was very reluctant to use it too much, hence it was just barely moving. It still hurt and it seemed like the more he tried to use it, the worse it felt. Still, he wouldn't be able to last if he could barely move it. He had to figure out either how to ignore the pain or fix whatever was wrong with his tail.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max wrote "likes floaty boat" on his sheet and watched him play. She had to fix his shoulder and numb his pain. She left again, returning with several hunks of snapper fish meat, a few had a low dose of a pain numbing drug spread on a few pieces of the meat.

 

It was worth a shot now. She stepped in the water carefully, holding out a piece of fish. She shook it slightly. "Hey.... I have your favorite... don't worry, I want to have a look at your arm that's all.. this will help you move your tail better..." She spoke softly as she inched her way deeper to the merman, stretching her arm out as far as it would go.

[pudding]

Amused by the boat, Shoal spent the next few minutes while the human was gone nudging it around the tank. It was tiny, colorful, and floated on the top. And while the first toy had irritated him by tasting bad when he bit it, this one didn't look squishy so he didn't want to bite it. Honestly, he had thought the first thing was meant to be food. This one clearly was not.

 

When the human returned however, Shoal stopped and the boat floated off on its own. As she stepped into the water, his head began to sink until the water was just beneath his eyes, letting him watch her without exposing most of his body. She was holding something in her hand, clearly trying to get his attention with it. It looked like pieces of fish but her actions weren't very comforting. As she inched closer, he suddenly hissed, opening his mouth to expose his sharp teeth in a clear snarl. He didn't want the human coming anywhere near him. It was her fault he was trapped in this stupid box of water in the first place and he was ready to blame it for being trapped in the net as well. Besides, he didn't like anything large enough to pose a threat coming near him. It didn't matter what it was, it could be dangerous.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

The hiss. The hiss made her drop the chunk of fish. She jumped back and her feet slipped in the resistance of the water, and on the rough sand like concrete. She fell and smacked her shoulders and her head as she slipped into the deeper part.

 

A automatic reaction for her is to take a breath before going under, but when she was under now, she was too dazed to know what was up or down. Under normal circumstances, she can hold her breath for a long time, even holding the record for it at the aquarium. But this wasn't normal circumstances.

 

Being startled, her heard was bearing fast, and faster as she panicked. She didn't get a large enough breath to sustain her. And she was currently in a tank with a possible hostile creature. She spun, trying to find the correct way to go, she she hit the bottom. She scrambled up the incline as fast as she can until her head breached the water.

 

There she moved up and lay down in the higher shallows gasping for air.

[pudding]

Shoal's hissing grew louder as the human didn't take his warning and instead dove into the water, slipping underneath him at a surprising speed. Twisting around, he growled as she hit the bottom of the tank and slipped under the water himself, moving to the far edge and tracing the wall. Her floundering was pretty unusual. In fish, it was that kind of behavior that made him interested, the kind he would look for when looking for prey. But she was large and on principal alone, he didn't eat humans. So while her floundering did trigger something in the back of his mind, he was more concerned with getting her out of his space. It was a small enough tank as it was, he didn't want or need it getting further crowded.

As the human moved back up to shallower ground, Shoal followed and beached next to her, sending water flying in different directions. His upper body was supported on one arm while the other was held against his chest. Lowering his body close to the ground, he hissed, trying to get her to completely remove herself from his space. He had tolerated her entering before but this had gone too far.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max could barely move with her shaking oxygen starved muscles but she tried to shove herself back. Max didn't get scared easily. Max swam with sharks and whales. But somehow this half creature scared her more right now then anything else in the water.

 

 

She scrambled back the best as she can out of the tank and lay on her side gasping for air. This won't happen again.

[pudding]

Satisfied that the human had left, Shoal quickly stopped hissing. Feeling a great deal of strain on the one wrist holding him upright, he slowly lowered himself onto his elbow. Trying to hold himself upright on the hard ground hurt quite a bit, especially when he was only using one hand to support himself. Slowly and carefully, he began to push against the ground with his elbow, trying to force himself into the deeper water so he could idly float instead of resting in the shallow area with most of his body exposed. Now that the human was out of his tank, he was perfectly fine leaving her be. He wasn't trying to seriously harm her, just get the point across that it was a small space and he wasn't willing to share. Hopefully now, there would be less visitors in the water. Huffing, he finally managed to sink himself in enough to turn around and dive under the water, moving back towards the other end of the tank. Finding himself near the bottom, sighed then suddenly stiffened as he caught sight of another merman staring back at him. When had they put another one of his kind in the tank? Swiftly swimming over, he nearly slammed into the glass wall on accident, only to find the other merman was on the other side of the glass.

Huh? How did he get there?

Scratching at the glass with his nails, he cooed at the other merman. Not being exposed to such a reflective surface before, it was only natural for him to think his own reflection was another one of his kind.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

After Max caught her breath, she threw in some fish chunks. The mirror would cause a issue. So she went down with her knees shaking and moved it so he can't see it. The fish would numb him and make him sleepy. That should be it for tonight. Tomorrow he has a check up in the mid morning and she'll fix his shoulder while he was under anesthetic. The fish in the tank swam and bumped into the glass then righted themselves. If he thought the plastic as food, he'll get a taste of the bitter stuff again.

[pudding]

Shoal frowned as the human walked by the outside of the tank and promptly took the merman away with her. Ah, oh well. He was on the other side of the glass anyway so it wasn't like they were nearby. Hmm...unusual. Drifting back through the water, he pulled a few pieces of fish out of the water and began chewing them. They tasted a little bit unusual but it was still better than other things he had eaten in the wild. He liked Snapper so the aftertaste didn't bother him that much.

Not long after the human left and the sky turned dark, Shoal found himself drifting down to the bottom of the tank, unable to bring himself to move very much. His tail jerked in a half-hearted attempt to move him to a more comfortable position but he ended up just falling asleep where he lay, sprawled out on the bottom of the tank instead of curled up in the corner. His head rested on his crossed arms while his tail extended out, following the slope upwards. It didn't take long at all until he was completely asleep, the small toy fish swimming around his slumbering form.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max was back for his morning meal, giving him a whole snapper fish. He'd have his breakfast and have a little peace, until his midmorning appointment. After her scare yesterday, she wasn't going back in the tank.

 

She insisted sat outside and took notes, sketching him out and listing dimensions of fins and such. Speaking of fins, his seemed to be healing. His bruises too on his upper half, she needs to fix his shoulder today though.

 

((Will he be able to talk to her?))

[pudding]

((He will but he'll have to be taught English first.))

 

When Shoal awoke from the disturbance in the water, he was clearly still groggy. Dragging himself up, he squinted up at the top of the water where an entire snapper was floating along. Sighing, he floated up towards the surface, rubbing his aching shoulder. Sleeping on it had really aggravated the pain and it was hurting much more than the previous day. Shaking his head, he grabbed the fish and sniffed it before taking a few bites. However, he barely got halfway through before letting the fish go. The partially eaten snapper floated away as Shoal drifted aimlessly around the tank. Maybe going back to sleep was a good idea. It was brighter than he was used to in the tank and now that the sun was up it would be especially annoying but he was still very tired. He didn't feel well rested at all.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

((Me max, you Shoal. Water version of Tarzan!))

 

 

It didn't take much to drag him out of the tank for a checkup. Max popped his shoulder into place and inspected his wounds and fins. She put a numbing anesthetic on the rope burns so he can move his tail more.

 

Once again, they put him in the tank, but something was done with it. Live kelp and sand was on the bottom of the tank. She had taken shinny coins and scatters them around the sand with sand dollars. The little boat still floated up top but now was accompanied by a RC sail boat that looks like a mini pirate ship. Hopefully he found it more comfortable then a empty tank.

[pudding]

((Instead of gorillas, there'd be whales.))

 

When Shoal came to, he was more than surprised. His resting place on the bottom of the tank had shifted while the contents of the tank itself were now changed. Sand lined the bottom instead of hard rock and pieces of kelp grew out of the sand. Little shiny round disks lined the top of the sand, along with a few dead sand dollars. Eyes widening, he reached out and grasped one of the tiny disks, running his fingers over it before setting it down on the far corner of the tank. After some consideration, he quickly lifted it up again, dug a small hole, then buried it and covered it up. Swimming away from the corner with small flicks of his tail, he drifted over to a piece of kelp and admired it for a moment before snapping off a piece from the top and chewing it in his mouth. Not bad, not bad. He would have liked some more but if he wanted it to grow, he'd have to be careful eating it. Leaving the rest of the plant be, he moved on to searching for other coins, collecting as many as he could see and then burring them in the corner along with the first.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max sat out of sight eagerly taking notes. He likes kelp. Might get some more. She spread the word about any spare change, most was caught in the netting under the coaster in the theme park. They'll shine them up, use the bigger coins for funds, and the pennies will go in the tank. When he was sleeping, she'd spread a few more.

 

A recent opening in the shark tank, someone donated two chests, maybe one can go in the corner of his tank. He seemed to like the surprise very well. Max took the controller of the little boat and started to move it around. It pushed the plastic boat around and did figure eights around it.

Edited June 10, 2015 by AroaraAngelwolf

[pudding]

Shoal patted the sand over his collection of coins before turning his attention upwards. Staring up at the boat as it puttered around, he frowned then swam up towards it. Even though his tail felt better, he didn't move it very much, only using his hands to swim him around. Surfacing near the moving boat, he frowned then pushed it away from the plastic boat. He didn't know why the other thing was moving so much but he didn't like it very much. Besides, the plastic boat he had already established as his. He didn't want anyone or anything else to mess with it.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Seeing this reaction, Max moved the RC boat to her and took it out of his tank. He seemed comfortable, so why mess with a good thing?

 

She threw in the rest of his snapper in so he can finish it when he was hungry. The woman sat back and took observations on him. Coming to the question, 'can he speak?' again.

 

He needs to adjust first to her being around and his temporary home first before she tried to approach him again. His next appointment is in three days, to see if he's still healing and healthy, and to change his wrappings again.

 

 

[pudding]

Sinking back into the water, Shoal frowned before grabbing ahold of the plastic boat left in the tank with both hands. Quite suddenly he threw himself out of the water, letting his weight hit the plastic boat and force it underneath the waves. Bubbles flowed out of the ship as the air left it, allowing it to sink like a rock down with Shoal. Satisfied by this, he held the plastic boat in both hands and swam back to the corner where the pennies were stored. Unearthing them with a few quick motions of his hand, he wedged the sunken ship down amongst the pennies and began shoveling sand onto it, trying to cover it up as well. Because of it's size, this was clearly difficult to accomplish and most of the sand ended up just falling off of the ship.

[AroaraAngelwolf]

Max stinkers when he attempted to hide the sunken ship. He clearly claimed it as his now. She stays and watches him, soon falling asleep by the water's edge, her hand in the water.

 

Shinny things... He needs other objects to keep him interested. Oh! An idea hit her. She has a box of girly things, sparkling hair combs, a plastic crown her mother got her for her graduation. A old broken pocket watch she found in a lake too. He'd like hers more then she will. He already found all the coins she had put in the sand.

[pudding]

Feeling a disturbance in the water, Shoal looked up to see a hand resting near the surface of the water. Blinking, he slowly surfaced nearby, staring at the human resting on the edge of the tank. She appeared to be asleep. Honestly, he had chased her out of the water once already, did he have to do it again? He didn't want to over something so silly, it took so much effort as it was. Sighing, he decided to ignore her, instead moving to the shallows. Now that there was sand on the ground of the tank, he was much more pleased to lift himself out of the water and lay down on the sand, tucking his hands under his head and letting his eyes close. He'd just lay there and enjoy the sun for a bit until she woke up and left. She'd probably realize her mistake soon enough.