It’s a beautiful day to go out on the water, that’s for sure. It seems as though many people have had the same idea, too. Of course, this is Hawaii. What else are people going to do?
There are quite a few booths on the beach to buy excursions and the like, as well. Surfing, paragliding. And shark dives. There’s a guy sitting in the booth taking money and having people sign wavers, and another guy standing outside the booth who looks like he’s getting life jackets together.
The only little mar on the day, in fact, is a little group of what look to be protesters standing near the shark tour booth. They’re holding signs that say stuff like, *SHARKS ARE PEOPLE, TOO* and *NATURE NEEDS NURTURED, NOT NVADED*, and they’re yelling about unethically entering habitats. Or something like that. They don’t seem to have a totally coherent message except that they think the shark tours are bad.
Felix had gotten in line to sign up, ignoring the less than together protestors in favor of a relaxing afternoon out. Not that he wasn't perfectly capable of seeing all the sharks he pleased, but instead for the social aspect of it. Besides, it was nice to be out on the water when he didn't have to do anything himself.
The young man wore a pair of comfortable jeans, a faded Black Flag t-shirt, and a pair of worn in sneakers. He didn't appear to worry overmuch about getting wet, and paid over his money readily enough.
Indeed, it is a beautiful day for a swim, or a walk on the beach. Iara is dressed today in a pair of black shorts, a red tanktop and a fluttery black beach cover with little red roses on it, and sandals on her feet keep her cool and comfy. Today however, she is here to do some homework, and the beach is a wonderful backdrop for studying.
Most days that is.
Today, it is pretty busy, and noisy too with the protesters, and she cringes a bit as she walks quickly past the protesters..However, something in the air causes her to pause, sniffing around intently. "Huh?" she peers around, narrowing her eyes at the protesters, taking a closer step towards them and tilts her head as if trying to figure something out, still sniffing the air.
Fiona has a coupon, which is why she's here. Sometimes in exchange for a little publicity at the bar, the staff gets vouchers and good deals on these things. Most of the others are far too local to want to do them, but Fi is still a newcomer. She approaches the booth, raising her brow at the protesters. She sees Felix, who she recognizes from a coffee house, and tips her head in the direction of the rebelrousers. "Someone has a weird definition of 'people.'" She offers him a small smile of recognition, before moving up to hand her coupon to whoever's taking money and pay the balance. "Do I have to sign any insurance forms? That's usually a bad sign," the woman says wryly.
Haruka has signed up for the shark tour mostly out of a desire to get away from town for a bit. To be out on the water. She'd considered a fishing trip, but she didn't really want to /do/ anything. Just laze about on a boat for a bit. So she turns up at the dock dressed for a day out, dressed for the day - casual khaki cargo pants, white sneakers, and a men's white dress shirt hanging open over a blue t-shirt.
She eyes the protestors, squinting at them for a moment. That's just... weird. "Ah, no," she says, though it's unlikely she can be heard over the noise by anyone not waiting at the sign-in booth. "Sharks are not people. They aren't even as smart as /dogs/." She shakes her head. "Give people something to be idiots about," she muses, "And they will be idiots." She reaches over for one of the waiver forms and starts reading it carefully. Wouldn't want anything stupid to slip by her. Dad always said to read everything you're going to sign very carefully, because otherwise you could end up being held responsible for a dozen crates of ammunition when you'd asked for MRE's.
She's tried MREs. They're... well, edible.
One of the protesters seems to notice Iara's interest, and he homes in on it like, dare one say, a shark on an injured seal. "Sign the petition to have shark tours outlawed on Oahu?" he half-asks, half-commands her, shoving a clipboard and a pen at her. The girl standing next to him looks very slightly embarrassed, but she doesn't try to deter him. After all, she's there, too.
Both guys at the booth just seem to be ignoring the group. Maybe they've seen them around here before. They just take the people's money, and get all the waivers in order. It seems like a standard one, for those in the know. Once everything is, the guy on the outside says, "Okay, people! One, two, three, four, five, come follow me!" One through four is Felix et al, and five is another guy standing there who looks like he's never been out of his mom's basement, let alone on the open ocean. "Get a life vest and follow me!" With that, he starts toward one of the boats beached on the edge of the sand where another guy is waiting inside it at the helm.
Felix grinned as he spotted Fiona, returning her smile with one of his own, which was bright and cheery. "Hey. Aloha. Fiona right?" He gave her a nod. "Do we? I dunno... that might mean it's fun." He grinned widely, looking to Iara and giving her a friendly nod. He raised an eyebrow slightly at her behavior, shrugging as he looked about, hands relaxed at his side. He chuckled at Haruka, giving the young woman a nod. "Yep. I mean... yeah ok they get a bad rap but... that's a bit much. And there's regulations in place...." He eyed the tour people and shrugged. "I assume... anyway... as long as they don't start spear gunning the things I'm sure it'll be fine." He nodded to the guy giving instructions and grabbed a life vest, eyeing it with a wry grin as he slipped it over his head and got on. "You got it chief."
Iara blinks slowly, peering at the protester who shoves a board at her. "Petition against sharks? How come? Are they treated cruelly..?" she peers intently at him, watching him thoughtfully as if..Trying to figure something out. "Ummm perhaps I'll just go and see for myself what is going on?" she smiles, taking the petition, peering at it thoughtfully.
"Dont worry, I am studying to be an Animal Health Technician. Taking care of animals is my job and if they are truly harming sharks, then I'll totally sign your petition.." she offers a hand, "My name is Iara. Let's talk some more after this..Okay?"
Glancing over at the two who are signing up people, she hurries towards them, grabbing a waiver and filling it out hastily, "Wait up, I'll join up too!" she glances over at Felix, recognizing him from...Somewhere, and just nods to him distractedly, trying to place his face. The others, she does not seem to recognize.
"And here I was planning on getting some shark fin for some soup," says Fiona when Felix says they probably won't be spear gunning the fishy beasts. That probably gets a dirty look or two from the protestors. "Honestly, close encounters with animals like this probably helps the conservation efforts," she adds more seriously, glancing back at the petitioners before following suit when the leader of the excursion asks them to follow. Gingerly, she puts the life vest on -- those things are always disgusting and smelly, thanks to being constantly on the water.
Haruka shrugs and heads on towards the boat, picking up a life-jacket along the way. "Sharks treated cruelly," she echoes Iara's remark. "Really." She chuckles ruefully. "Have these people ever even seen one? All they ever do is /eat/." She shrugs the foam vest on with a small sigh. "Always hated these things."
"How would you like it if someone came into your home without knocking and just stared at you, and was taking pictures and trying to poke you?!" the guy exclaims, calling after Iara when she heads away. And yes, there are a couple of shocked gasps from a couple of the protesters at Fiona's words, but one of them calls, "Hey, bar girl!" She will recognize him from...yeah, the bar. Unfortunately. "Come here!" Better go fast, Fiona.
The guy taking the money looks up at Iara, pursing his lips, but then takes the waiver and her money, and nods. "Go ahead," he says, waving her toward the boat. "Have fun."
The boat guys start helping the pasty guy up into the boat, and then reach for whoever else is going to be next into the boat. The guy settles in, cinching his life vest around him tighter.
Felix raised an eyebrow, overhearing Iara's comments. He snorted at the protester's earnest if slightly silly demands, shaking his head. He looked to Fiona and laughed, shrugging. "There's more fun ways to do that anyway." He rolled his eyes at the protesters. "Which I've never done... jeez." He took a seat near the head of the boat, making himself comfortable. He smiled at the others, giving a light wave. "Aloha. Felix. Nice to meet you ladies." He looked back at number 5, smiling brightly. "Hey man. First time out on the water?"
The young man didn't seem to mind the smell or feeling of being on water, rather looking quite at home on the small boat. He frowned at the life vest as well, nodding to Haruka. "Yeah... I get it and all but... hmmf." He nodded to Haruka. "Yeah and they're full of pee. Ech." He frowned at the protester yelling at Fiona, flipping the man the finger. "Hey dink. I heard red necks were dumping shit on the reef. Why don't you go bother them instead?" It wasn't very convincing, but then he was mostly just drawing aggro.
Iara pauses briefly at the guy's words, glancing back at him with a gentle frown. "I probably would not want to be disturbed, but if those same people were at a safe distance and leaving me be..Furthermore, if they were being educated on what sharks are truly like, so that they were no longer scared and hateful towards them, then I think in the long run that could help people better understand their plight..Dont you?"
She smiles gently at him, a bit apologetically. "I'm really sorry, but I really need to keep an open mind. Try not to judge people until I've understood both sides of the argument. Take care, okay?"
Iara catches up with the people in the boat, nodding and smiling to the guy who takes her waiver and nods her on. "Thank you, sorry to keep you." she takes the life jacket, wrinkling her nose at the strong smells and with a sigh, she carefully slips it on before sliding into the boat next to the others. Glancing over at Fiona she frowns softly at her shark jokes. "I'm sorry to sound impolite, but I dont think that's really helping. I think they truly care about the safety of sharks. Maybe they're just a little ignorant of what truly goes on? But I intend to see for myself."
Finally, she looks back to Felix, Haruka and Fiona again, "Nice to meet you, I'm Iara.." The somewhat shy girl glances back towards the protester she had spoken to earlier, a slightly concerned frown on her face. "I think..There is more to that man than meets the eye.." she murmurs softly, shaking her head.
Fi turns at 'bar girl,' eyes narrowing a little when she sees the familiar face. She doesn't head that way, of course -- the invitation isn't very inviting, but lets the tour guide help her into the boat. "It's fine," she tells Felix with a shake of her head. "Just a customer I had the other day. He's harmless." She looks over at Iara and shrugs. "To each their own. I don't think looking at them's hurting them much, or I wouldn't be here. I think they're sort of fascinating, alien, you know? It'd be cool to see them close up, not behind glass." She adds, as an after thought, "Fiona. Or bar girl, I guess."
Haruka side-steps away from the protestors, not wanting to deal with their particular brand of crap today. Putting the other tour-goers in the way is just common sense, really, since the idiots have already engaged them. "Hi," she offers as they get out of range of the morons.
She doesn't bother fastening the life jacket, leaving it to hang open. It's not as if she doesn't know how to swim! "H'lo, Felix, Iara." She nods to Fiona and pasty-guy, too, not recognizing them right off.
"Good to be out on the water again."
Pasty guy shakes his head, though he certainly doesn't look that comfortable. "No, man," he says, shaking his head. "You can't be from here and not have gotten out on the water. Just not my usual thing." He hesitates, before he lifts a hand, and says, "Yahir," gesturing to himself.
The protester does look disappointed when Fiona doesn't come over, but his gaze shifts toward Felix at the words, and his eyebrows raise. "You got all sorts of negativity, man," he says, and he does not leave. "I got some oils I could give you for that. They'll even you right out."
Luckily, he isn't getting on the boat with them, and soon enough, he can't be heard anymore as the engine turns on and the boat speeds away from the beach. The guy who is not driving makes sure that everyone is wearing their vests, and then proceeds to check the hinges of the shark cage.
Felix smiled at Iara. "Nice to meet you. I think I've seen you before but I don't think we actually met." Looking to Haruka, he raised an eyebrow "Good to see you again Haruka. Out on the water again? You've spent a lot of time at sea?" That had him a bit intrigued, though he looked to Fiona then and nodded, shrugging. "No worries. I just don't like it when people try to push their ideologies on other people. Raises the hair on the back of my neck." He chuckled at the bartender's comment. "I've gotten closer to sharks than I might have liked in the past. It's a lot of fun if you don't mind the expense and the risk." He looked at the shark cage, raising an eyebrow and thumbing towards it. "Like that."
Iara nods to Fiona, smiling emphatically. "Yes, I understand. I've met sharks up close before..But they were a little..Different. I think they were really hungry, they were really aggressive." she shivers at the memory.
"Hopefully this will be a better experience. I also believe that their methods are a bit extreme, and I prefer to get the message across in a more gentle way. At any rate, I am curious to see these sharks myself, and to get extra credit for my class. I would also like to reassure that guy and his friends that no harm is being done to these sharks. If I be proven wrong, then I may be having a completely different discussion with our friendly tours guides here."
She nods to them all as they introduce themselves, her gaze lingering the longest on Felix. "Oh. I remember now..That..Umm..Vog rave.." She blushes profusely, looking away. "I must apologize..My behavior was..I was..A bit drunk. That woman...Shoved some weird drug down my throat. I dont normally..Act that way.."
"Focus on the horizon if you feel seasick," Fiona advises Yahir, maybe taking his relative unease and pastiness for mal de mer. "Helps a little." She glances at the others as they speak, lifting a brow when Iara gets a bit red as she speaks to Felix. She smirks and looks out at the horizon herself, before pulling sunglasses down over her eyes. "This is probably a once in a lifetime thing for me. I like to try things, but once I've been there, done that, I don't really feel the need to repeat the experience, I guess," she says, glancing over at the cage and watching the tour guide do his safety checks.
Haruka nods. "Whatever you do, don't go below. That just leads to greenface and loss of lunch." She offers Felix a nod. "Me and boats are old friends, yes. You could almost say I was born at sea." She wasn't... not quite. But she has spent a lot of time afloat.
She finds a place to sit and leans back, stretching out. "Sharks aren't being hurt... shyeah. Right. Sure, whatever. We're going to be sure not to hurt the mindless prediluvian eating machines. Fine by me." She shakes her head and chuckles again. "Those people are such idiots."
Yahir quiets -- mostly, anyway -- but he does nod at Fiona's words, and gives her a thumbs-up. He leans back, settling his hands on his knees, but he cuts a glance at Haruka when she speaks. He tips his head to the side, but again opts to say nothing, instead looking at the instructor, because he's sat down and lifted a hand as though he's going to speak. "Okay," he says. "We're going to have a good dive today, folks. It's great weather for it. You're probably going to see some Galapagos sharks and sandbar sharks, and you might even see a hammerhead if we're lucky. There's no chumming; they're naturally curious and they'll come right up to the cage." Then he launches into safety precautions, and once he's done, asks, "Okay. Who's gonna go first?"
Felix flushed a little at Iara's mention of the party and he scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Uh yeah... trust me... I wouldn't have noticed..." He gave an off tune whistle, chuckling a little bit. "Which guy was weird? That yelling guy?" He looked to Yahir and smiled. "Yeah, fair point. Nice to meet you man." He shrugged at her concerns. "Nah. You can tell that guy anything you like. He won't listen. He's got his soapbox and that's that. The only way to win is to not engage." He nodded to Fiona, looking out over the water. "I dunno... if it's fun, no reason not to do it as many times as possible. I mean... depends on how much of a pain in the ass it is." His tone suggested that "fun" outweighed "pain in the ass" as a factor. He grinned at Haruka. "I was born at sea. So I know what you mean." He laughed.
Felix grinned at the offers, looking around. "I've done this sort of thing before so I don't mind going first, last or whatever. Ladies' choice as far as I'm concerned." He shrugged.
Iara smiles softly at Yahir. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. You'll get used to the swaying of the boat eventually. And as long as you wear your life jacket you will be safe. Soon enough we will be diving down in one of those cages anyway. I'm sure it will be a beautiful sight." She tries not to think of talking walking sharks as she says that of course!
Iara glances towards Haruka curiously, "Oh, are you a sailor or fisher? I suppose the sea has a certain charm about it. It really took me a long time to get over my fear of the water, but now I actually enjoy it a bit. I have a friend who is even teaching me how to surf. It's really quite exhilarating!"
She looks towards Felix, arching a brow, "Born in the sea? You mean on a boat? Wow, I guess you must have got your sea legs pretty early.." his own admission causes her to smile faintly, relaxing somewhat, "I guess most of us were pretty...Relaxed at that party, huh. But still, I feel I was being irresponsible. I hope I didn't say or do anything untoward to you or..Anyone else." as for that guy on shore, Iara nods, but shrugs as he's long gone. For now. "Maybe it's nothing. Just..He kinda..Smelled..Familiar. Um. It's a long story, and it probably wouldn't make much sense so, don't worry about it."
When the guides ask who wants to go first, she stays quiet. Although Iara has come out of her shell quite a bit since when she first came to Hawaii, she's still a bit shy, a little nervous about exploring the unknown. "I am happy to go after you, Felix. I'm in no hurry, really."
It's hard to tell if Fiona's really listening; her dark glasses hide her eyes well, and her facial expression is pretty impassive. Hard to read. She does turn her head slightly in Iara's direction when the woman says someone smelled familiar, but it's hard to see her reaction behind the Jackie O lenses. "Go ahead," she says to Felix with a wave of her hand. "Not in a hurry. And I'm not sure I'd chalk this up as fun, which is why it's probably a once sort of experience."
To Haruka, she asides, "I think it's possible to be cruel to sharks. Killing or hurting them for fun would be cruel, even if they are dumb. Maybe especially because they're dumb. I just don't think that's what's happening here."
Haruka doesn't seem to much care who goes first, so she waits to see if one of the others will step up. "I do," she tells Felix, "I'd go nuts if I couldn't get out on the water every so often. That's why I'm here today, I could care less about seeing sharks." She shrugs.
"I missed that party," she offers to Iara. "Sounds like a good idea on my part, hm?" She shrugs as Fiona puts in her opinion. "Enh. Sharks barely have enough brain to tell the difference between rocks and fish, much less to feel pain."
Now Yahir finally does speak up. "Actually," he says, directing this at Haruka, "sharks are pretty smart compared to a lot of things in the ocean. Their brains aren't that small and they're really curious. They've been shown to be socially sophisticated enough to work together to bring down larger prey." He does say it in an annoying way, though, whether or not he's right. One of //those// guys, clearly. You know the ones. He stands up then, and says, "I'll go."
The guide looks at Yahir and Felix, and nods. "All right. You two go first." The motor cuts, and he gets out the gear that they'll need. "Go ahead and suit up, and have fun."
Felix grinned at Iara. "On... on the sea. My dad's salvage vessel. Technically Virginia, since that's where we were registered out of." He laughed as the others all turned down the first go, looking to Yahir with a smile. "Sounds good, let's get ready man!" He chuckled, giving the other fellow a light bop on the shoulder before nodding at Fiona's comment. "Fair enough. Well... I guess we'll find out. And yeah... I... don't get that sense you know?" He started stripping out of his clothes, or at least his shirt, his chest and arms well defined and muscled. "Right-o. Be back in a second." And he was, grabbing his shirt and heading downstairs with Yahir, returning a short while later in a wet suit, though he pulled at it slightly. "Never quite get used to these things. I always feel like I'm wearing a big condom."
Felix laughed as he returned, looking to Haruka. "I barely remember it... I'm not sure how much Iara does either. So it probably wasn't that memorable!" He grinned, checking his suit and the gear as though he knew what he was doing.
Iara eyes Haruka a bit warily, "Of course it is possible for people to be cruel to sharks. They may appear vicious, but they certainly can feel just like anyone else. I have heard frightenning stories of people hacking off shark fins and leaving them to bleed to death..That is supposedly how sharkfin soup is made in some countries. As for intelligence, they are certainly not stupid.."
She seems a bit passionate about this topic, and quite sympathetic towards the creatures. When Yahir speaks up, Iara just smiles and nods. "Yes. Thank you, finally someone who understands..". When Felix and Yahir get up to dive first, she smiles and nods, "Have fun you two!" Felix's comment does cause her to blush profusely, looking away.
Fi's quiet, not engaging further in the great shark debate, and instead pulls out her cell phone to flip through messages, stretching out her legs to rest on one of the seats that the men have abandoned. May as well work on her tan, right? "Just remind them that you're friends, not food," she quips lightly. When in doubt, quote a Pixar movie. "Good luck," she adds to pasty guy, since he's been looking nervous -- still he has the guts to go first, so that's something.
Haruka seems pleased enough to let someone else go into the tank first. She just leans comfortably against the rail, watching. "Salvage ship, eh? Sounds like you did a lot of diving, then. Bet that was fun." She flashes a grin as she gets sight of him with his shirt off.
"People are cruel," she answers Iara, "Because they're cruel. Not because it's sharks."
She offers Fiona a brief nod, but has little to add to what's been said.
Yahir is dressed pretty quickly, too, and ready to go. He smiles a little bit at Iara when he comes back up, before he turns to the instructor, who does all the checks and such before he opens up the cage. "Have fun," he says, and he shuts it again once Felix and Yahir are in, and then begins to lower it into the water.
Felix nodded to Iara, giving her a lazy salute. "You got it. Fun on a bun." He smiled to Fiona, though it could also be said he showed a lot of teeth. "Oh me and sharks get along just fine. No worries." Haruka got a nod and a warm grin. "Oh yeah. Went diving all the time. I still keep my hand in... sort of anyway. Get plenty of swimming in the ocean at least." He thought for a moment on her comment. "Yeah.. people to just tend to be dicks about things. Whatever they're being a dick about just tends to be an excuse."
With that he climbed into the cage after Yahir, giving the man a smile and a thumbs up to the crew and collected guests as they were lowered down, his gear fitted properly. As they went down he tapped the other man on the shoulder and pointed out underwater where a few shapes could be seen.
Iara arches a brow at Haruka's comment, but decides to say no more on the topic. She's already said more than she should have. "Well, I look forward to seeing all sorts of interesting sharks down there. I always thought Hammerheads were pretty fascinating." she smiles as she peers over the edge of the boat, into the deep blue sea, as the pair go in...But something on the cage catches her attention and her eyes narrow, peering intently at it. "Wait!" she glances around at the guides. "That cage..Did you check it thoroughly? I think...I dunno, but it looks like something was out of place.."
Lazily, maybe sleepily, Fiona watches the cage get lowered, but suddenly and sharply, she sits up and lean a little closer -- right about the same time Iara speaks up. She does likewise. "I think maybe it's a crack in a bar or something," Fi calls, pointing to the spot on the cage she'd noticed, but it's already probably out of sight. She turns to look at the tour guides, too. "Can you pull them back up and check it?" This isn't really a request, from the tone of it. She leans over the rail to peer into the water, looking for the sharks that are advertised. "I saw you check the door, but I think it was the bars itself," she says again, glancing over her shoulder.
Haruka watches the cage get lowered, hmming to herself, humming a tune under her breath. She frowns when she hears Iara's question, but she doesn't know much about such cages in the first place, so she doesn't know what to look for. "Best check on that, then," she calls out. "There's definitely /something/ in the neighborhood." She waves casually at the water, roughly where she'd scene something.
Before they hear enough to stop, the cage is totally submerged. Yahir was already in the water, so he doesn't hear, but the instructor guy's eyes widen, and there's a very clear 'oh shit' expression on his face. "The bars?" he repeats, a little dumbly, but it really does just look like surprise. "Gio," he says, and then he says something in Hawaiian, and starts to pull the cage up.
Suddenly, there's a *BUMP*, and the cage jerks to the side a little bit. Another fin cuts through the water near the side of the boat, and it looks larger than the other shapes, for those that saw them. Not supernaturally large -- just like a big shark.
As the cage went down, Felix relaxed into the water, apparently taking the environmental change in stride. When the sharks drew close, he tapped Yahir on the shoulder, holding up two fingers and pointing to where the other great white was, the first having bumped the cage. It was then he spotted the damaged bar, brow knitting behind his mask as he inspected the cut. He took a moment to control his breathing as they felt the clunk of the winch fail.
Iara's eyes widen in fear and concern for the two divers in the faulty cage. "Felix! Yahir! You two okay?" she moves to the edge of the boat, peering intently in the water, trying to make out their shapes. "Hurry, get them out of here!" she raises her voices to the two crewmen, clearly worried. "I counted two sharks, one next to the cage, one next to the boat."
"Get them up," Fi says sharply again before pulling out her keys from her pocket and moving several feet away from the cage, but not too far away. There's a small Swiss army knife on her keychain -- good for keeping in one's hands while walking home late at night -- which she opens, selecting the blade and slashing it across her palm. There's a blossom of crimson on her white palm, though it's nothing too deep. She lets her hand bleed into the water to try to lure the sharks away from the cage. And then backs up. She'd like to keep her hand, thanks. She pulls her tshirt off (relax, there's a bikini underneath) to wrap around her palm -- not so much to try to stop the bleeding, but to gather more of the blood so she can toss that in the water in a few minutes, if the first round doesn't work.
Haruka hrms to herself as she gets up and heads over to the rail. Rather quickly, yes. "They really ought to have something to deal with sharks that get too close, just in case." She looks around. "Don't you even have a bang-stick?" She looks about, searching for the firearm-like device, then spots something up near the bow and runs over to it.
"Grab a pole or something to jab with," she calls to Iara, "Try to keep them away from the cage."
The item at the bow proves to be a speargun, which she seems to be able to at least look competent with as she heads back to the cage.
After that bump, there's some splashing around in the cage, and after that Yahir's head pops out of the water. "HOLY SHIT!" he yells, his hands beating at the top of the cage. The two guys are not //totally// panicking yet, but they are attempting pretty hard to pull the cage out of the water. It's slow going with the winch seemingly out of commission. They get the top open more quickly, though, and haul Yahir out and into the boat, and the first one reaches down for Felix, too, while the other goes to start up the boat again.
The blood seems to have done the trick, at least. Or some trick. If the trick to be done was to have both the sharks get to the other side, well, it's definitely done that. One fin cuts out of the water again, and then there's a splash as jaws snap at the little pool of blood that's been made by Fiona.
Felix bobbed in the water, watching the sharks circle. He eyed the cage, and more importantly the winch. The greater concern apparently wasn't the sharks, but the cable. If it snapped they'd be far more fucked than just sharks. With a grunt he looked to Yahir, patting the man on the shoulder again as he yanked off his mask. There was a burst of bubbles rising to the surface of the water followed by a slight thrashing in the cage, as the space suddenly grew somewhat smaller. Felix had changed completely, the wet suit disappearing as he shifted to a form more suited for life underwater. The oxygen tank he held in one of six "feet", holding it out for Yahir. Or at least letting it go in the water, as he twisted his new bulk to inspect the weakened cage.
Iara glances at Haruka and nods, "Right, you take care of the cage and help those two, I'll deal with the other shark..Somehow.." she glances around for an appropriate tool and finds one hidden under one of the flip-seats. "I guess..This can at least distract the other one for a bit..I hope.."
Then suddenly there's a flash of blood and Iara's nose twitches as Fiona deliberately cuts herself, letting the blood trail in the water. "Wait, what are you doing?" Iara's eyes widen in alarm, frowning softly. While it does lure them away from the cage, now they have two hungry sharks trailing them. With a sigh, she runs to the other end of the boat and jabs the fishing rod as far out from the boat as she can, trying to gently push the sharks back as much as possible.
Hopefully the crew men will focus on getting the boat out of here.
"Diversion," Fiona says when Iara asks what she's doing -- it's working, right? She glances over her shoulder to see how the others are faring getting the men out of the cage, then moves to another spot, a few feet farther from where she splashed her blood, and now on the opposite side of the boat from the cage. There, she throws her blood-soaked rag of a t-shirt to lure the sharks that way.
Haruka shakes her head. "Baka," she calls Fiona. "All that's going to do is rile them up." She lifts the speargun to her shoulder and starts to take aim. "And maybe attract more sharks." She won't take the shot unless it looks like they're going to break into the cage....
Yahir has fallen into the bottom of the boat after being pulled out of the cage, and he looks like he's not going to get in the water ever again, or at least not for some time. His face is stark white, but he at least looks unharmed. The instructor who was going to pull Felix out, though, lets out a cry and jerks back when suddenly the other man in the cage is no longer a man, but river dragon. "What the //fuck!//" The driver yells something back in Hawaiian, but the instructor shakes his head quickly, and says, "Where the hell is he!?" Apparently they're leaving no man behind,
The sharks seem to be going for the shirt, at least, for now. One of them does bite off the end of the fishing rod before it starts to swim along the little blood trail, and away from the boat, at least a few feet.
The creature that had been Felix looked around, suddenly startled. Rather panicked, it scrabbled at the door of the cage, and as soon as it was open leapt out and barreled down below decks. It returned a few moments later with something clutched in his mouth before leaping for the water! He kept swimming, disappearing quickly beneath the waves
Iara sighs and shakes her head as Fiona attempts to distract the sharks with more blood. "Keep that up and they will never leave us alone..." she's trying hard to keep her calm, which is getting tricky as the stakes are made ever higher. Moving quickly to the other side of the boat, she attempts to shove the bloody t-shirt away from the boat as far as possible with the fishing pole, while peering into the water for Felix. "Felix! Where did you go!?"
She calls, before catching sight of the dragon in the cage. "Woah, what!?" okaaaay...That was different. But she's not quite as surprised as she probably should be. "Let's go! c'mon, we gotta paddle back to shore before we become fishfood! Dont worry about Felix, he'll be okay!"
"You have been watching too many Jaws or sharknado movies. These are like fifteen foot sharks, max, not a fifty footer. They use chum on a lot of these operations *deliberately* to get them to come to the surface," Fiona says coolly, and gestures to the poor man who's clinging to the deck. "And it worked, right?"
Except for the missing Felix... except that's when a dragon suddenly appears, disappears, reappears, and jumps back into the water. "Jesus Christ," she says, rubbing her face a little, before nodding to the men in charge of the operation. "Just go. He signed the waiver." She glances back out on the water to catch sight of the dragon if she can, shaking her head and then sitting back down in one of the seats and pulling a bottle of water out of her bag to hand to Yahir. "Drink."
There's a dragon in the boat. Welp. That's a thing.
A thing that Haruka is going to pay as little attention to as possible, unless it tries to sink the boat or eat someone. And so far it doesn't seem to be doing either of those.
Maybe, she thinks, the dragon will eat the sharks.
Shark tastes pretty good.
And she's in the mood for steak.
She tightens her finger on the speargun's trigger... but no. Not unless there seems to be actual danger.
Besides, she can get better cuts from the fish market on the way home.
Yahir is so shaken that he barely even notices the dragon in the boat. He just takes the bottle numbly, and drinks from it. His hand is shaking, so the water spills a lot down his front. But at least once the water dragon is out of the cage, the instructor manages to haul it back into the boat, and he doesn't try to find Felix again. "Go!" he says, and the driver goes. The motor turns on quickly, and soon they're speeding away, making much better time than the sharks, if they're even chasing them. It doesn't seem like they are. The instructor looks kind of numb, too, and he doesn't say anything until they're already almost back. "Just go to the booth to get your money back." It's about as little as he can possibly do but it's something.
By now Felix had swum clear of the boat that was still trailing sharks until it manages to clear them. He stayed low, shaking his head at the loss of some decent clothes as he made his way further down the shore, looking for a good place to emerge.
Iara breathes a sigh of relief, peering intently at the sharks in the water, and not letting them leave her sight until the boat speeds away to safety. Drawing a deep breath, she sits back in her seat, dropping the fishing rod tiredly at her side. She seems to be taking things pretty much in stride. "Everyone alright?" Iara does scan the water for signs of Felix, but he seems to have fled completely from sight.
"Well, at least you can tell Greenpeace that these guys aren't hurting the sharks," says Fi lightly, as she moves to disembark the vehicle. "Be safe," she tells the other passengers. She passes by the booth, not particularly worried about getting her money back, and instead heads for the closest hotel up the beach to get something cold and frosty and alcoholic to drink, because she needs it.
Haruka finally steps away from the rail, once the boat gets moving again, and racks the speargun back in its place. "Well, that was a tense moment or two, wasn't it?" She nods to Iara. "I'm fine, yes. Just a little... high-strung." She shrugs again and resumes her seat until the boat reaches the dock again, then walks quickly back to shore. "Nice to see you, though." Then it's time to hunt down that little gelato shop one of the girls at school mentioned.
Yahir manages to get out of the boat, though he's a little shaky and his face is still white. He's mumbling something under his breath as he walks away, past the instructor and the driver who have resorted to yelling at each other in Hawaiian. He looks around for...something. It's not apparent what. Not finding it, though, he turns and continues up the beach, away from the water.
Maybe it's worth noting and maybe not, but the protesters are now nowhere to be found.
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