Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Dark]

There really wasn't any way that Minh could have missed the massive fish barreling towards them, but it was nice all the same that Mnem was making sure she was aware of their impending death. The canine was a callous bitch, mostly, but deep down there was a soft gooey center of self-involvement and self-preservation. In combination those two traits, and Mnem's stubborn nature, had gotten them out of more than their fair share of scraps. Unfortunately, Minh had the ominous feeling that it all wasn't going to count for much. Not now.

She adjusted her grip on the spear, trying to slow down her erratic breaths and just calm down. She had one chance, and one chance only, to kill the damn fish--she was going to make it count. And that meant waiting. Which had never been Minh's strong point.

Sweat broke out on her brow. Almost...

[Bee]

With the Marlin rapidly approaching, Mnem was suddenly painfully aware of the inadequacy of her spear. Even manned by her good hand, she was not likely to be able to do a good deal of damage. She wished very much that she was drunk right now, so she would not be worrying about things like this.

Just imagine that the fish gushes vodka when you stab it, she thought, and this thought cheered her immediately. And the deeper you stab, the higher the proof.

She could ram the damn weapon straight through the fish's heart, for that. Finally, the Marlin was getting close enough to stab. They would need to wound it terribly before it completely wrecked their boat and killed them all. Mnem might have the reflexes to fly them to safety, should the stabbing fail. They should have brought Monty onto the boat with them. S/he could have leapt on its back and eaten its brains out.

[Dark]

Considering she could see the whites of the marlin's eyes, she supposed it was finally close enough to hurl a spear at--but the fucking thing was huge. Enormous flat eyes starring out without emotion from it's great, silver-plated body as it hurled through the water towards them. What was most frightening about it, though, was the mouth--and the great big pointy--sharp; very sharp--beak that it had aimed right at them. With the force of its body behind it, it would easily be able to punctured the haul. And then they would sink. And the fish would eat out their eyeballs.

Minh shifted her weight, trying to maintain her balance as her muscles coiled in preparation of what she was about to do. She went through the motion swiftly, surely, eye on her target as the spear left her hand.

The boat pitched at the exact same moment that she let go; he felt herself toppled backwards, over the sidewall. At the water closed over her head, she could only hope that she'd gotten the damn thing.

[Bee]

The boat barely managed to stay afloat with the sudden rush of waves, and she was faintly aware of Minh falling overboard. The Marlin was writhing and flailing, clearly in pain, a spear deep in its flesh, gushing blood. Mnem raised her own and jammed it into his eye; it made a strange squelchy noise and stuck. Finally, after more wretched flailing, the Marlin went still, bobbing silently next to their boat. Mnem sighed heavily, and turned to lean over the other edge. She jerked the spear out of the Marlin's eye and dipped it into the water.

"Minh!" she said. "We killed it. Come on now, back in the boat. We need to figure out some way to get this fucker to the shore." Which was going to be a lovely task in and of itself. The Marlin was huge. Their boat was not going to be able to pull that.

[Kiki]

Bee and Dark receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Dark]

Minh wasn't particularly worried about how they would be getting the marlin back to shore; she was more focused on trying to heft herself back into the boat. But the little dingy wasn't cooperating, and neither were her tired, water-logged limbs. Finally, though, she managed to toss her weight over the side, flopping into the bottom of the boat with a wet splish. She didn't bother to move for a long while.

Unlike most felines, she didn't mind water--but getting unexpectedly dumped wasn't particularly pleasant for anyone, and she fond herself feeling rather morose. Their journey had been one misadventure after another, with a whole lot of life-and-death scenarios thrown in for variety, and she was getting tired of it. For once it would be really great if something would work out for them.

She propped herself up on one elbow, and surveyed their kill, "We can probably push it and use the momentum to get us both to shore. You think?"

[Bee]

As their absolute only viable option, this sounded like an okay idea, all things considered. Their alternative was essentially death-by-mob, so Mnem was willing to do whatever it took--even if that meant pushing a huge bloody fish across a vast expense of lake. She sighed.

"Right then," she said, and stared down at the object they would be shortly relocating. "Let's get this show on the road."

Or the water. Whichever. They began to push the marlin; it was immensely slow, tedious work, and momentum was taking its time building. She half-suspected that they would die of starvation or dehydration before they made it back to shore, but eventually they got themselves moving, slowly, steadily, cutting through the gentle waves with lumbering precision.

Something up ahead bobbled out of the water, dipping up and down. A small flash of grey-blue. Mnem ignored it. She hated fish.

[Dark]

It was heading on towards evening and Minh's impromptu swim was really starting to catch up with her as the breeze grew sharper and more insistent as it moved across the lake. She shuddered, damp and unhappy.

She didn't notice their guests until they took their first nibble, "Sharks? Are you fucking kidding me?" She tugged at her fur in frustration, and gave a shrill shriek when another bloody hunk was torn from the side of their hard-earned catch, "Back, foul creatures! This fish is mine!"

She considered the likelihood of survival if she dived in after the damn things--she was already wet, and it would probably feel better out of the wind besides--but looking at the sharp, crooked teeth ravaging her beloved fish she wasn't sure it was the wisest course of action.

As it stood, she grabbed Mnem's spear and started beating anything she could reach.

[Bee]

Mnem highly doubted that Minh was going to make a dent in their resident shark population: there were an awful damn lot of sharks, and they were quite bent on tearing the marlin to shreds. Nevertheless, they needed to try: if all evidence of their kill was eaten, they may as well have not gone through the trouble of killing the marlin at all, and that was just too depressing to contemplate.

She wished for a moment that Monty were in the boat with them; the little bander's abscence had exaggerated Mnem's mental conception of hir to epic heroic heights; at the moment, she had no doubt that Monty would have leapt from the boat and tore the throat out of every single shark in the water, and then dragged their boat and the fish to shore with hir incredible swimming prowess, which was doubtless unparalleled by any creature in this world.

She grabbed small rocks and twigs from the bottom of the boat and flung them at the sharks; there was little else she could do. They ate viciously, tirelessly, at the marlin.

[Dark]

The boat bumped quietly, unpresumptiously against the shore. Minh didn't notice that or even Monty's shrill greeting over the agony festering inside her soul. The marlin had been twice the length of their boat, gleaming silver and white sides; now is was brittle bones and stripped skin. The only thing that remained intact was the head, and only that because the sharks hadn't apparently had much of a taste for brains and solid bone.

She stummbeled onto shore, slumping morosely as she eyed the sharks still churning at the edge of the shallows.

"I want to find someone with the ability to manipulate static electricity, learn it, and come back and fry those bitches. Is that petty of me?"

She didn't really care if it was; it seemed like a pretty good idea to her, and maybe shark meat was tasty.

"I'm hungry."