#postea-amissum

Humans were silly creatures. Any sun baked lad that could hold onto a piece of driftwood thought he owned the sea. They milled around in their little boats and thought the world was theirs.

But the ocean belonged to no one and she was as bitter as she was lovely to any human that forgot. She sent her storms to toss their ships and fed the ignorant to the life she nurtured beneath her waves.

Jasmine wondered if the waters had birthed her kind out of sheer spite for the humans as she sat on her favorite sunning rock. There was a ship steadily cutting through the waves, so close she could see the way the winds ruffled their clothes- so close they could hear her.

The shanty was an old one she'd heard from countless ships, with sweet high notes that sent her voice bouncing over the rolling white caps. Heads turned, fingers pointed, and sure enough the sails turned her way. It was a small ship, a 'ketch' the humans called it; a vessel with barely any cover or protection, and sitting stupidly low to the water. Even better was she could see all crew members across the whole of the deck, seven at the most.

Reaching behind her into the water where most of her tail was submerged, Jazz's fingers pet reassuringly at the soft little hands holding onto her lower pelvic fins. Sammy, her baby nephew, was hidden safe and out of sight under the surface. His tiny clawed fingers gripped at her hand anxiously and she could feel his little tail curling around hers, seeking comfort.

"Almost.." She told him quietly and pulled her hand back before the humans could get too close to see.

He was hungry, they all were, and fish had gotten a bit unsatisfying. But they would fix that, very very soon.

The men huddled around the side of the boat to look at her, -loudly- whispering among themselves. Some whispers were about her, some were superstitions, others were about the jewels around her throat that she and her brother had taken from people who had come before these.

A younger lad hung over the side of the boat eyes lit up with excitement. "You are real."

"I'm as real as you are." She leaned forward, mimicking his body language and in turn trying to make him want to get closer.

"I bet those diamonds are real too.." Another one said as he muscled his way forward to lean over the banister as well. Typical human.

"These?" Her webbed hand came up to touch the golden rope of shining stones around her neck, drawing attention to them.

"I have more." Raising her hand she showed them the colorful collection hanging from her wrist. Four more men tipped forward.

Silly creatures..

In her peripheral vision she saw a disturbance in the water on the other side of the ship, something very fast was cutting through the water like an arrow. The younger sailor slung one of his legs over the side so he was straddling the banister, his hand reaching for her outstretched one.

Silly, stupid creatures.

The human's hand touched hers carefully-

Dan breached.

The mershark's powerful take off shot him right over the deck, clearing it completely, even going over the human’s heads. He snagged two men with his hands and sank his teeth into the neck of a third in mid air as he went over the edge, dragging the men down into the water with him as he dove. The humans seemed caught between trying to grasp what had happened in that split second and wanting to just go into a blind panic. 

Jazz made the decision for them. She dug her claws into the boy, who had been too struck dumb by her brother's attack to have the sense to get away from her, and yanked him headfirst off the boat. His skull split open on her sunning rock and there was a shout of alarm from the crew before she pulled her kill into the deep water. They would push the bodies into the kelp forest surrounding their nesting grounds to tangle so they wouldn't have to chase them down in a current before going back for the rest of the crew.

Sammy wriggled his way up to hold at her ribs, fat little hand swishing in the blood cloud and trying to bring some to his mouth, making aggravated squeaking noises when he figured out liquids didn't quite work that way. As if called by the sounds Dan emerged from the kelp, swirls of red from his kill still seeping from the corners of his mouth. The massive shark shushed his pup as he came up to them, taking a hunk of what had been a neck out of his jaws and offering it to the frustrated babe.

"Better?" Dan teased gently as Sammy gnawed on the meat, patting at his daddy's fingers happily.

His sharp smile dropped as he glanced at the human Jazz was towing. The look of distaste he threw at the man stayed firmly in place as he took the body from her and smacked it -a little harder than was absolutely necessary- down into the grip of the kelp.

Jazz sighed through her nose, sending bubbles floating towards the surface. "Oh stop with the face, he barely touched me."

"That's still too much contact. I hate it when they get that close.. Makes me nervous as hell."

Gently, she pushed at his tail with hers, making him tip to the side a little. "I know, but we have to eat and that's my best tactic for hunting."

Dan returned the reassuring push, but shot a serious look at the dark shape of the boat. "Are you going back up?"

"Yeah. There's only three left right?"

"That's all I counted."

The two eyed the vessel as it slowly began to turn, the crew apparently getting over their animistic terror enough to reason turning the boat around and getting out of there.

"Hang on." Dan growled irritably and took off for the surface, his massive shadow arcing over the boat when he lunged out.

Jazz felt her stomach twist and her gills flare in panic when Dan didn't immediately reenter the water, meaning he'd actually landed on the boat. It wouldn't be the first time, all the little white scars littering his underbelly was testament to that, and it wasn't like three humans could over power him. That didn't stop her from worrying. Didn't stop her long primary fins from uncoiling from where she kept them firmly folded against her sides, readying to go up there after him. Things could happen, even to an apex predator like her brother.

But, as always, Dan didn't need the worry. The ship lurched and a human fell overboard. Well, from the unnatural bend in his back 'fell' may not fit, more like 'fishtailed by a shark hard enough to snap your spine and send you flying'. Dan dove back in a moment later, the ships helm gripped in one clawed hand. He grabbed the broken human and made his way back down to them.

He let his kill drop down into the kelp and triumphantly held up the helm. "Fixed the ship."

As if on cue there was a loud scraping and a crash as the ketch ran up on the submerged jut of rocks that made the ceiling of their cave. After a beat of silence they couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up at the irony of it.

"Right, you 'fixed' it."

"Well, it's not going anywhere is it?" Dan shot back childishly before looking back to the wreckage, smugly watching as bits of the hull and some cargo drifted to the sea bottom. "Besides, now we don't have to break it open ourselves after we take care of the crew."

"Speaking of the crew.." Jazz gently disengaged Sammy and sent the little pup clumsily tad-poling for his daddy. "I want the last two."

As she lined up with the broad side of the ship and shot upwards, she could see Dan's dark shadow circling beneath, ready to help if need be. Direct hunting for her kind was risky, if all went well their kills were spectacular, if they failed it spelled disaster. But she was never flying completely solo, Dan would always act as her safety net, and that's why she took the risk.

She breached and her primaries fanned out to their full length, reaching from her ribs to the top of her hips, each half as long as her body. The look of horror on the two humans was priceless. Even better was the panicked cry when one tried to run and with just a tilt of her fins her breach turned to a glide, turning in midair to grab him and drag him overboard. The other one took the full force of her tail and, though she wasn't nearly as strong as Dan, it was enough to send the sailor tap dancing backwards until he tipped over the railing.

Breaking through the surface of the water she switched her grip to the mans neck and squeezed, digging her claws in until the water clouded red as she hauled him further down. There's a high strangled sound behind her, an air breather trying to scream underwater, and she doesn't have to turn around to know Dan had gone after the other one.

She let the now limp body float down and went back to where her brother was toying with the last human, letting him make a pathetic go for the surface before dragging him back down.

"Dan, don't play with the food." She teases, again nudging his tail with hers.

He gives her a sharp grin and grabs the thrashing arms, easily restraining the sailor and tilting him towards her. "I was just keeping him busy until you got back."

She laughs at the false innocence before sinking her nails into the meat of human's shoulders, taking his windpipe between her teeth, and ripping it open. Taking him from her brother's hold Jazz turns for their home. "Come on, let's go eat."

"Oh? You're actually going to get straight to eating without a fight this time?" Dan jabbed, teasingly swimming around her.

Normally she would kick up a fuss for them to have a variety of plankton, algae, seaweed, and other plants to go with their meals. Something Dan always scrunched his nose at. As a flying fish Jazz craved variety, as a shark Dan just craved meat. But they hadn't had a decent meal in well over two weeks, she'd give in this once. Compromising diets could wait until their stomachs weren't gnawing at their back bones.

Jazz reached down and playfully tugged a strand of his hair as he swam under her. "Hush or I will."

He laughs at the obviously empty threat, but lazily drifts to her side as they swim down into their alcove under the rocks.

The one human isn't nearly enough, Dan could put away two easily on his own, so they have to make a few more trips out into the kelp to retrieve the others. By the time they're done there are three left in the kelp and, after a lazy nap, Jazz and Dan wrap them in kelp so the fish can't get to them while Sammy idly nibbles on a hand Dan had given him as a new pacifier. They'd keep the bones they'd picked clean for decorating the cave, fashion some into jewelry, toys for Sammy, or be made into weapons by Dan as a hobby.

With dinner done and the 'leftovers' tied up came the fun part of wrecking a ship: looting it.

The hole in the hull took some work, widening it enough so they could both easily get in and out, and softening the splintered edges. But they were old pros at this and it didn't take long until they were heaving themselves up and into to cargo hold. Ships as small as these usually didn't have overly nice things, but there were little goodies here and there.

Large woven tapestries with pretty designs and some equally decorative rugs were rolled up in corners. The tapestries would be hung to section off 'rooms' in the cave, the rugs would more or less be used for the same thing- except the deep purple one which they decided to use to make a play hammock for Sammy. There were some mirrors too, their mother used to have one and both Dan and Jazz had always been fascinated with the things. Lately they'd been collecting them and making a collage of them on the ceiling like they'd seen in a painting on another ship. There were a few shiny stones and gold things too they could trade to other groups if and when they needed to.

They each even found a few little treasures for themselves.

Dan found a sword for his collection. It was a thin one with curled hand guards that the leaders of the really big ships tended to wear on their hips. There were delicate, curly designs on the blade where it met the hilt. There was also a dagger he took a shine to as it was nothing he'd ever seen before. The hilt and scabbard were made of a pale green stone carved to resemble what appeared to be a scaly, smiling snake with clawed legs, two shiny red stones embedded where it's eyes would be.

Where one of the hand mirrors had been Jazz found a case where a 'tea set' the humans called them was carefully cushioned on a bed of silk. She would use the silk for clothes, maybe the case to hold other treasures, but that set was all hers. 'Tea' didn't work underwater, but she loved to display the little cups and plates and pots on the shell shelves around her room. This one was different from the ones she had, the pot was smaller and fatter, the cups larger and without handles. The paintings carefully inked on the sides were also unusual. The ink was a rich blue against the white background, depictions of weepy looking trees, misty mountains, and the same scaly-snake-with-legs like the one on Dan's new dagger.

It was Dan that found the barrels first as he snooped for more things to add to one of their collections.

"Jazz, come here!" He waved his sister over, child like excitement in his eyes.

She sat the painting of a land seal down- at least they figured they were seals, any time they'd ever seen one of the animals they barked like one- and dragged herself over to him, Sammy clinging to her back.

The joy was immediate when she peeked into the barrel. "Hurry grab Sammy!"

Dan plucked his son off her back, holding him with one arm and dipped a finger into the fine, white, sand looking stuff inside before offering it to the pup. "Here, Sammy, try this."