Water World

[Amara<3]

A tall, very pale skinned girl with even paler hair came into the store after hearing a comotion, and side stepped the one she heard getting angry. She'd watched him go in too, but it didn't matter to her. She continued around the store, looking at the various things theyhad to sell. She looked in detail at all the gear she would never need, because it intrigued her to think that others could now come into the water and stay there for a long time.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said in a soft, but dignifying manner as she turned to fac the owner and the son of the shop. "But how much pressure can these tanks take under water?" She glanced from one to the other slowly, waiting for a response.

[skyacezero]

"Oh, those about....two to three hours worth of air," Korben's father said. "Oh, and Korben, don't forget about the bouey tether," he added. "Yeah, I won't," Korben said. "Hey I haven't seen you around. You new here?" Jake asked the girl.

[Amara<3]

Keera turned back from the tanks and decided they couldn't possibly make it down to her Queendom. "Yeah, I'm not from around here," she said, looking at him. "Checking some competition and possible problems, so to speak," she added. Then smiled. "How far below the surface do you suppose they could go before buckling?" she asked, walking away over to the other swim gear and specifically the flippers.

[skyacezero]

"I don't actually know," Jake said. "But I think it's crush depth is a lot deeper than for a human," he said and noticed Korben leaving with diving gear. "Hey, Korben? Where're you off to?" he asked. "I'm gonna go check the bouey tether, if I don't Graves is gonna kick the door in and read me the riot act," Korben said and left the dive shop.

[Amara<3]

"Problems in paradise?" Keera asked with a smile. "I'm Keera," she added, touching the rubber material of the flippers. Though she didn't know the exact depth it would take to kill the tank, she was starting to get wary about possible intrusion of humans in her water. She took a slow breath and let it out, then looked back up to Jake. "Thank you for your help," she said, walking to the door before stopping. "Not that this has anything to do with your shop, but do you know what the record is for someone going under the surface? I don't suggest going to far into the deeper, darker parts of the water, and breathing isn't the issue." Her smile never faultered as she walked out of the shop and started toward the dockside beach.

[skyacezero]

Korben got off his motorcycle and got to the dock. He just finished putting on his gear when heard an all-too-familiar voice. "So, finally go the memo, eh?" Dawson Graves' car salesman-esque voice said. "Yes, mister Graves, I did," Korben responded and turned to face Graves. "I still don't see why of all people, I have to fix the tethers all the time," Korben said. "Because, not only are you a certifed diver, you're also a good mechanic from what I hear," Graves said. "I mean look at that old Triumph," Graves gestured to Korben's motorcycle. "That thing was a heap when you found it, and look at it now," he said. Korben sighed "I get the picture..." Korben said. "And on another note," Graves put on a pair of sunglasses. "It'll be a good way to pay your dad's inspection fees. Don't let me keep you," Greaves finished and walked away.

[Amara<3]

She was already at the road before the beach, and watched the two men speak, one obviously a power, probably authority. She didn't move as the man, Graves' as she heard from a distance away, walked past her. She watched his human walk, and she felt as though she was going to vomit if she didn't stop paying attention. She didn't need it yet, not yet.

"Pushy," she said, knowing she wasn't far enough away to go unheard. It just slipped off her tongue and out her lips. She didn't move or walk away, but she knew she should if the man heard her. She wouldn't be staying here long if she couldn't hold her tongue, but it might already be too late. If so, she'd make a grand exit, probably too showy in a place like this- exactly why she picked it. It was possible to be quiet here.

[skyacezero]

Graves stopped for a moment and face Keera. "You're lucky I have half a dozen meetings to attend to," he said and continued on. He got into his limo and the limo drove away.

Korben put on his mask and aparatus, grabbed a tool case and lowered himself into the cool water. It was unusually clear today and he started kicking towards the bottom.

[Amara<3]

"Mmmmm," Keera hummed softly after Graves spoke back to her. Should've killed him, I'm sure everyone would be happier, she thought. Her attention was turned back to the dock as she heard Korben submerge, and then she remembered something. Her dolphin was down there waiting for her. She swallowed and walked to the dock, waiting for either of the two to come up, but also warching Korben go down.

"Preposterous," she whispered. "Humans going under water for long periods of time."

The dolphin was indeed down there, and was surveying the fine clear waters when it saw a human form coming down toward it. It swam around, a few feet away, and watched the human, not sure what to do. so preoccupied that it didn't even notice that Keera was waiting up above.

[skyacezero]

Korben noticed the dolphin's silhouette. Weird, I didn't know there were dolphins this close to the boatyard he thought and skimmed the bottom towards the first bouey tether. He gave a firm tug on it and the tether held. Okay, this one's still good he thought and continued to the next tether. Unbeknownst to Korben ,there was something behind the rocks near the third tether, watching his every move.

[Amara<3]

((Not sure if you want Keera to notice or not, so I'll wait until after my next post to see what you think.))

The dolphin gave a wide birth to Korben as it went around and watched him, and then noticed Keera at the surface, looking down, and began swimming up to meet her. Then there were calls through the water, to which the dolphin returned its own back up. Basically, everything was clear from what it could see with a quick glance.

[skyacezero]

Korben had finished checking the second tether and was at the third. Yeah, here's the one that's loose Korben pulled out a pair of pliers, but the slipped out of his hands. Korben picked it up, but caught his finger on a sharp edge. He recoiled from the cut and brought his finger to his face t inspect it. A faint shadow passed overhead and disappeared. Korben turned arouind breifly to see what it was. Nothing was there, Korben shrugged it off and picked the pliers up and started to tighten the anchoring bolt. Korben was suddenly struck by a blunt force from behind and was being shaken and dragged through the water. A nine-foot tiger shark had a hold of Korben's tank. Korben instictively went for his dive knife, and tried to find a good place the stick it, but he couldn't reach the shark's head due to all the gear. Korben's foot got caught in a rock formation near bouey number four and the tank got out of the shark's mouth. The shark's tail swept in korben's face and knocked his mask off. The salty water momentarily stung Korben's eyes and he clenched them shut. The shark cirled around to attack again, and it was tackled to the ocean floor by a blurred figure and the fight kicked up a large cloud of sand. Korben felt something grab his foot and jerk it free, and someting was in his free hand, he recognized it immediately as his mask and pit it on. He blew it clear of water and couldn't see much through the sand cloud, but there was a human-shaped silhouette and through a clear spot in the sand, there was a pair of relflective eyes staring back at him. Whatever it was, it was gone as quickly as it had come. Korben exhaled as he kicked to the surface and when he reached it, swam as hard and as fast as he could to the dock.

[Amara<3]

"Really now," Keera said as she watched the shark. It never dawned on her to get Korben out of the water as her dolphin came up, but it did after the shark attacked. She was about to jump in as she saw other figures moving in fast, and decided to wait and rethink her steps. She wasn't about to run into something that didn't need her attention, but she wasn't sure that the new creatures were going to save him either.

As she watched from the surface, catching characteristics of figured fighting the shark, she knew it wasn't a problem. She watched Korben come to the surface a little ways away, and start swimming to the docks, and her, evidently being on the dock. "Take my hand," she said he got close, and pulled him up onto the dock with absolutely no struggle. The dolphin had also watched the comotion but didn't join in to help because that wasn't exactly it's job. It was to go along with Keera because the rest of the kingdom still thought she was in danger of others outside of their water. Not entirely so. "Are you alright?" she asked as she looked at the tank. Amazing, she thought, not even punctured.

[skyacezero]

"Korben! What happened?!" Jake came running over to to coughing and hacking Korben. "I don't know! A shark attacked me, then someting attacked it!" he said and coughed again. Jake looked out to the water, only to see the floating corpse of the tiger shark that attacked Korben. "You said something attacked THAT?" Jake asked in disbelif.

[Amara<3]

"Mmm," Keera said, wiping her hand off, and the dolphin came to the surface, looking straight at Korben. Keera smiled at it, and looked toward Korben, then Jake. "It was an interesting fight when viewed from the top," she smiled. She'd seen every movement, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly had killed the shark. The dolphin made a small noise, and then Keera looked back at Korben. "She wants to know if you are alright, Korben," she gestured to the dolphin as it stared at him.