The Lil' Ness

The blood trail vanished not long after the Carcari squeezed down the Chef, and took notes on the poor souls who were bleeding in the water, and of those who were pulling themselves out. And she remembered that one particular bleeding person, smaller than many in the water- a boy she assumed - was with the woman who was peering at her just moments ago. The Mershark's red eyes tracked the blonde woman up through the veil of the water. She was intent on reaching the small shiny black thing that hung from the netting on the capsized ship. Then her eyes turned and focused on the others who pulled themselves out of the black water, and how they were keeping the other survivors held off.

And two separate ideas came to her mind.

She quickly plucked the boy from the surface, forcing him to let go of the driftwood he was using as a floatation device. He would not last long submerged beneath the water, with his tiny longs, so the Carcari quickly placed the boy inside her mouth, and pressed him down underneath her tongue, and swam gracefully to the other side of the ship, her head peered out of the water slightly, just enough to give the boy air, and waited for the woman to turn around and face back towards the other survivors, looking for her.

Once Iris had grasped the SMG, and turned to point the weapon at the water where the Chef's blood was, along with innumerable survivors, she could find no sight or sign of whatever was attacking the people from below. And that was the moment the Carcari chose, as she brought her head and shoulders out of the water, and then iris could hear the boy's cries "Help me!"

trapped, inside the prison of teeth, reaching between the sharp serrated denticles like they were the iron bars of a cell, the child she rescued from the bowels of the ship was in the jaws of the beast! And the mershark was smiling...

Irisdina swiveled the large gun around, with full intent to shoot at whatever that thing was. She didn't get a good look of it then, but she did now. The crimson orbs stared back at Iris again, large and focused on her. She was huge, beautiful even for a blue skinned fish-woman. Irisdina never encountered one of these things before, so she was in awe and in fear. The latter was even more so as she zoned in on the mouth, hearing the crying plea. Her triangular teeth were peeled back into a grotesque grin, and the little boy's arm was reaching out for Iris, screaming for help!

Iris's jaw dropped, her blue eyes glancing up to meet up with the creature, unsure if it knew the common tongue or not, she couldn't stop herself from pleading back: "Please-don't do it! He's just a child!" she cried, her heart crawling into her throat as she reached out for the boy's hand. "He-he's not worth devouring! Please, let him go!" she pleaded, more desperately, the gun in her hand feeling more heavy.

"MERSHARK- MERSHARK!!" Screamed one of the sailors, having lost an arm to one, doing his best to push back other survivors with an oar.

"SHOOT HER!!" cried one of the deck hands to Irisdina, "She's gonna kill us all!" "They'll never find us! She'll swallow us whole!" "Kill the beast!! KILL IT!!"

A chorus of shouts and screams of panic accompanied the cries of anguish left by the refugees who were treading water or drowning, while the ship Iris was laying on was still steadily sinking. One of the sailors took out a fillet knife and decided to be a hero and 'stab' the shark's... derrière.

The Carcari blinked at the blond woman who screamed and pleaded with her to let her current tiny snack go free. the boy's young blood teased her tastebuds so greatly she almost ignored Iris' plea, but another idea came into her mind, and her smile widened.

"Tell you what, little woman. I'll let the boy go free, once I'm done with my feast here. May take hours, may take days, but in the meantime...", the Carcari opened her mouth just a little wider so Iris and the others could see what she was doing, as she lolled the boy around in her mouth before pinning him underneath her tongue.

"As long as he stays right there, he won't get swallowed up, or chewed up." she added, before her jaw returned to normal.

"But you won't be so lucky. I'll save you for last. At least your face will be the last one he sees die. Aint I nice?"

As soon as she said that, the Carcari felt a sharp, yet minor sting at the base of her tail. And her head whipped around. Her dark blue hair whipped around, spattering iris in a spray of ting droplets of water. The red eyes became furious for a second as her hand quickly snatched the foolhardy sailor with the skinning knife.

"Your a brave, but stupid little bastard arn't ya? I've got enough scars from males already. But if you wanna get really randy human, I've got just the spot for you..."

Wiith those words, the mershark seemingly mercilessly dunked the man under the water and out of sight. She was leaning awkwardly in the water for several moments, before that blush returned, and a strange smile was on her face for a few moments, and she seemingly felt something. Her posture returned to normal, and she concentrated her features as they returned to her usual cocky self. "Takes care of one little shit..." she said calllously.

Irisdina watched with creeping horror as the creature rolled the boy under her tongue. She paled barely able to hold on to the gun or the netting as the creature made her intentions clear. Iris involuntarily glanced from her toothy, confident smirk down to her toned abdomen and naval.



"You're... going to eat me?" She says softly, her heart beating slowly, her world slowing down as she stared at that lean body, and saw only slight spasm's coming from her tummy area.

She hardly reacted as salt water ripped at her face, only reacting once she had let go, sliding down the deck sliding into the water, her body colliding with the beast's lower abdomen below the naval, her large breasts squishing against the squishy, yet rough sandpaper like flesh the Carcari had. Awoken, she wades in the water, her arms and chin slightly braised by the flesh, she watched as she grabbed the sailor and stuck him under the water, the Carcari could have read her expression of confusion easily, having no idea where she took the sailor; only knowing that where ever he went, the Carcari loved it.

The man screamed as he was suddenly taken under the water, it was all but a quick blur till he was being forced into something small, tight, and rough. He screamed, bubbles bellowing against the tunnel's walls as his shoulders dislocated, and a clawed hand rammed up his own butt to force him deeper into this impossibly tight tunnel of warm flesh that crushed around him before--

SNAP

He thrashed, his pelvic bone snapping his legs twitching and his body slurped into the bung hole. His legs were squeezed together, his body squished inside her bowels as blood rushed from where she put him.

The other sailors screamed, throwing things at the woman or tried to hide amid the wreckage, while others were still screaming that the monster had a boy in her mouth.

The Carcari's smirk turned into a pout slightly "Oh darn, he won't last too long..." she whined a little at the still twitching dying man she had stuffed into her rear cavity.

Then she felt an unexpected bump and a slight miniscule ticking just below her navel. she looked down and saw the blonde woman had taken a tumble and fallen into the water right infront of her.

Her wicked smile returned and she lifted iris clear out of the water. "You are the captain of the soldiers yes? I think your contemporary on the ship didn't train his own men anywhere near as well. That one won't even last five minutes where he is. Speaking of..." with those words, the Carcari broke of a significant chunk of the deck plating, and placed Iris on it, like a floating platform. "I promised I'd eat you last, and a Mershark has their honor. We don't lie."

With those words, her predatory gaze turned over to the treacherous sailors and the civilians they had been keeping off the usable debris. "You humans however, many of you are dishonorable... Concerned more with self preservation than helping eachother out. The little boy in my mouth had no chance of surviving when louts like them refuse to help... How you two leggers have survived as long as you have boggles my mind." taunted the Carcari, before she sank back beneath the glassy black surface, and circled around the wreck back towards the survivors, leaving Iris floating on this side of the wreck alone.

The dark grey fin cut through the water, aiming right at the clusters of sailors... what the Mershark had planned, nobody could say.

Irisdina let out a surprised cry as she was yanked from the water, the toothy wicked smile of the Mershark made her even more uneasy, giving the Carcari a look of Iris's busty, struggling form as she kicked and screamed held by her tank like that, her own naval being shown off as well. As she squinted her blue eyes in clear horror, expecting to be swallowed or be placed where ever she took that man, she witnessed the creature's strength as she ripped away a decent size portion of the deck and set her upon it, 'patting' the top of her head like a plaything, animal or child herself, promising her own demise would come, but not yet...

As she sank beneath the waves, with only her large fin protruding from it, Irisdina sat there, speechless as the giant fish swam about. Highly intelligent, and to know that she was a Captain meant she had very good hearing considering she was lacking the attire of a Captain currently, having lost her jacket earlier. Blood from her wound continued to seep through her white tank, but the stinging sensation was hardly felt now. Her brilliant blue eyes trembled as she scanned the dark depths of the water, the flames of war lighting up the darkness just enough to see the Carcari's swift, stealthy movement before vanishing.

"OH SHIT!!" One of the sailors cried, scrambling for the top of a floating wooden shipping crate. "She's headed right for us!"

One of the burlier men grabbed a woman, holding her above his head in a two hand grip as the fin approached. "T-take her!!" He exclaimed, tossing the screaming woman towards the approaching Mershark.

Some of the sailors, tried to help others on their driftwood or scavenged life boats, but it was only because the beast had pointed out their cruelty first, and was too little, too late.

The mershark's eyes took a dangerous glint as she targeted the man who tossed a helpless woman off his raft in a belated attempt to save himself. as the Carcari began her lunge, her jaws opened wide, and accepted the woman's discarded body before she even hit the water, and the teeth snapped shut around her, crushing her bones and organs into a jelly between sharp teeth, killing her instantaneously.

But at the height of her lunge, the Carcari's sharp claw lashed out, and impaled the offending man right through his gust on the very tip of the middle finger.

The Mershark's eyes stared at the man with disdain as she chewed the remains of his "gift", blood leaking down her chin in faint dribbles, but to the man she skewered on her clawed finger, it looked like gallons. Not that his own bleeding hole wasn't furiously adding to the crimson mass in the water, and his screaming and moaning in fear and pain didn't even make the Carcari flinch as she swallowed the mass of flesh, leaving the most horrific impression on the mind of the child still trapped inside her mouth.

"You are a very bad man to your own people... And as much as I would appreciate your gift, I like meatballs like you a little more as snacks"

And without any more fanfare, she stuffed the jerk of a man inside her mouth head first, and swallowed quickly, her uncaring attitude and indifference was quite different from her previous kills. Her eyes turned to the other sailors, and the coldness intensified. "So, only under the threat of your own lives ending do you consider helping those who depended on you? Disgraceful... At least the soldiers tried to help the civilians, but you boys and girls who know the dangers of the oceans would rather abandon them to die alone... You are all scum. Even the bravest of you is just a turd..."

Iris watched, her shoulder covering her mouth as she watched the screaming woman die with an audible crunch. The child inside could be heard shrieking as the woman was chewed in hearty chunks; Iris watched with horror from the blood dribbling down her chin. She had seen men blown apart by 13 and even 30mm cannon shells. But... that was quick, painless. This... was deliberate, slow. Gruesome. Oh Gods, I'm going to die like that?! She thought, her heart rapidly beating in her chest, but her concern switched back to the child, who had it worse. Covered with that woman's blood and tissue as she was swallowed in gulps. Iris didn't care for the burly man's death, but it was hard to watch, and imagine what the kid was being put through.

The burly man had little chance of survival, his bulky frame bulging out the shark's neck as he went down.

One of the female deckhands turned to the shark, falling to her knees and raising her hands together with twitching eyes. "Yes, I'm lowest of low, b-bu-but I'm only following what these guys are doing! They're the bastards! All they do is jeer and do ill, unspeakable things. I'm defenseless, so I was forced to follow their lead, y-you can understand that sentiment right? Spare me?" She gulped.

Two of the other men grabbed makeshift weapons and another woman began throwing random things from one of the crates at the creature!

"We Mersharks do not submit to peer pressure. When we do something it is wilful and decisive. Our men can't boss us into anything, for obvious reasons. Heh" answered the Carcari, her smile still pinkish from the blood of the woman.

"And yet, you want me to spare you? Why? you have nowhere to go, shore is way too far for two leggers to swim. And, if I leave... do you see that over there? About half a nautical mile to your port? That is a pack of Galuci. Smaller Mersharks. And the only reason they don't get no closer is because I'm here, a Carcari that has staked her claim. The only Mersharks that would invade my personal space would be another Carcari, or maybe a particularly foolhardy Cuivernae. So if I leave, you'd be claimed as leftovers by them. Your all dead without me, and most are dead with me, so what's it matter? The giant Mershark explained the situation with cold clarity, yet that chilling smirk never left.

"I got here first, and I'm gonna eat my fill. Then maybe.... Maybe I'll consider towing the survivors ashore. After all, I made a promise to spare the boy after all."

That said, the Carcari took a slice with her pelvic fin, and cut a smaller raft of sailors apart, sending them into the water. "You boys wouldn't think of hitting a lady would you?" she said in a strange mockup of a damsel's voice, before picking up two of them out of the water roughly, and smiled at them in her hand. "Go ahead boys... I've shrugged off navel artillery with my armored skin. What do you think broken and soggy wooden clubs are gonna do?"

While the Mershark had its fun terrorizing the sailors and the poor child within her maw, Irisdina turned her attention towards some of the floating, struggling refugees. She was on a big enough platform, so she temporarily snapped out of it long enough to help a few of the swimmers closest to her onto the deck planking.

She was surprised how quickly the crew had turned on these dissidents, and knew it would have been a different story had she more men from her unit with her. Now, they were either floating to the roofing of the ships interior or inside that shark-woman's belly. She really wondered how much she could possibly have before she was sated.

That realization dawned on them finally. They were all at HER mercy. Who would live? Who would die? It wouldn't matter to her at the end of the day. The sailors in her grasp shuttered, dropping their clubs and knives. "Please! Don't eat us!" they both screamed, almost comically in unison as they squirmed in the Carcari's grasp. The one armed sailor who had dealt with these sharks before slowly made his way for the raft, doing his best to stay out of the Mershark's sight, hoping the trinket was yet in his pocket for it would be his ticket out of this mess.

The other passengers who Iris helped onto her raft were grateful, but were shivering from the cool waters and from the looming pale death which gazed at them all with large red eyes.

The Carcari grinned at the two men in her hand visciously.

"Oh but I'm still very hungry. The four I ate are only the start. I'm a big girl, and I need full meals these days"

She lifted the men higher over her head, and opened her mouth wide, Her tongue lolling out which opened up the dark cavern of her gullet. The boy, riding the webbing on the underside of the tongue closed his eyes and tried desperately not to slip down either side. Slowly the Mershark's fingers loosened.

They held into her digits for as long as they could, but eventually the first man screamed as his grip failed him and he fell right into the dark, toothy maw. Without even so much as closing her mouth, the Carcari swallowed the man whole in a single motion. The lump in her neck disappeared so fast it was surreal. The second man got caught up on her front teeth and thus she began to maul him between her teeth, slowly. Another torrent of blood bubbled from between her lips as she chewed and swallowed another mouthful of viscera.

Her eyes darted two and fro around the survivors. This time, they were relatively quiet in shock, before dropping their weapons and begging for their lives.

"Some of you may be spared from my belly, others will not be... For the survivors though... as I said, their may be other bellies awaiting to be your tombs. After all, what could you give me in trade for towing the lot of you to shore? The blonde soldier captain already bargained her life for that of the boy in my mouth."

Iris watched with grim horror as the shark devoured the men without mercy. She had given her life for the boy's, and it seemed the shark was intent on keeping the offer. Wait... the cards... I cant gamble to save my own life... but it never said I couldn't use it to save their lives! She thought, and frowned. If she would even entertain a card game made for mortals... I bet it would only piss her off... she thought, but then again... she may as well give it a shot.

"Excuse me!" She called out, gulping back fear as the beast continued its meal. "How about... we make the taking of your prey more interesting." she said, much to the surprise of the others around her. "You split us evenly into teams. I'll play for the refugees against the sailors. Shall I lose, one of my refugees is yours. If I win, you take the sailors. We stop when there is only one group left. Then, you take the rest and bring them to shore." She proposed. "And before you ask, no... I am not including my life with the refugees or the boy. I am yours regardless of the outcome." she finished, bravely.

The sailors and refugees all turned with shock, unable to believe what the woman was getting at. "You want to resign our fate to chance?! You're worse than the Mershark!" cried one of the sailors, while a refugee exclaimed: "Why would you suggest such a thing?!"

A few others though, seemed to silently agree with it, given how they disliked the treatment they were given by the sailing crew.

The Carcari finished swallowing the last meal she had and leaned over Irisdina, a serious scrutinizing look on her face.

"You are an unusually brave one arn't you?" she said, before tapping her right index finger against her chin in thought.

"So, you wish to play a game of cards with one of the sailors, and the pots are the sailors vs the civilians?" She looked over all her potential future meals. There were a fairly even amount between the two groups.

"They all look so scrumptious... But fair enough." The Carcari began tearing the remains of the wooden hull off the sinking ship to create platforms. Using rope and chain like they were string, she tied the platforms together, and began shovelling sailors to one set, and the civilians onto the opposite set. Then, the center platform, the most stable of the improvised rafts, was where the stage was set. The Carcari lifted iris and set her on the central platform as the leftover metal hull of the shit finally sank beneath the waves.

"Well then, we have one challenger. Do we have a challenger from the sailors? Or do I simply pick someone from the crowd?" the mershark said as she eyed the ship's crew.

Irisdina sighed heavily. She didn't know that the woman would be receptive of her bargain, but now that the shark was setting the stage, and placed her at its center, she was getting nervous. I really hope these cards do what I presume them to do. she thought to herself, and did her best to physically prepare to take on the Sailors. Given how they were reacting, they were the necessary evil in sacrificing in order to get these refugees safe.

She closed her eyes, inhaled, then exhaled. Her determination rising, she looks at the competition and prepares for the showdown.

One of the sailors grunted. "Fine, you're all a bunch of weaklings!" He jumps from the platform he had been forced onto and lands on the center one, nearly launching the blond woman as he lands, partially rising the platform. He sits on his knees, intimidating and buff, he furrows his thick brows and stares at the blond. "Well, what are we playing Lady? Are we gonna do this or what?" he grumbled, avoiding as best as he could eye contact with the Mershark whose appearance caused him to scream with the pitch of a young girl.

The Carcari smirked and pulled back from the islands of floating debris for a moment. The small boy trapped in her mouth let out a cry for help in fright at the sudden movement, before she started circling the many platforms. She started humming a deathly melodic song. "Duh.. dum..... duh.. dum....."

Irisdina was nervous, and looked to the Carcari with narrow eyes. "S-shut up! I can't concentrate!" she exclaimed, her heart shrinking as she watched it circle them with glee. She turned to the sailor then and looked at him sternly. She didn't know many card games admittedly, save... one. "A Galideno favorite, 21 - namely 'Black Jack'."

(OOC:...I'm kinda montage it since I can't play cards to save my life IRL LOL)

Hand after hand, Irisdina continued to win with Corveyus' cards. She seemed to always have a point or two higher than every sailor she faced. The Selachi grinned with every victory, but for the Carcari any outcome would have been a victory for her. She watched as she ate the traitorous crew one by one, and grimaced with each bloody crunch or gulp. Soon, there were no sailors left to face...

The Carcari smiled, and nodded her chin and cheeks only slightly stained from the red bloody gore she had consumed. But a Carcari was never a liar, and she was as good as her word. She towed the survivors to shore.

"Well then, Irisdina was it? You fought bravely and with honor in your little duel of cards" she said as she scratched just behind her long finned ear. but quickly grinned her sharp toothed grin. "Now, I believe I also made another promise..."she said, before opening her mouth wide, and reaching in with a clawed hand. The boy shrieked a little before realizing he was being taken out of the jaws of certain death, and deposited within the arms of Iris on the shore. The boy was shivvring, covered in water, blood and a little chewed up gore remaining, but was otherwise unscathed. He promptly fell over and mumbled something about wanting his momma.

The Carcari rached into her moth again, and pried out a pair of loose teeth from her upper jaw, smiled and handed then to Iris and the boy. "Today, you have earned Urshi's respect. Keep those teeth with you, and the Selachi will never hurt you, for that is the law of our people."