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 Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 9:55 am
 Blake nosed around the remains of the wreck, not that he expected to find much. He and his brother, Leomaris, had scoured the place pretty thoroughly a few days ago, but it was their policy to recheck searched wrecks a few days after searching before moving onto new wrecks. Sometimes the current moved the sand and exposed something hidden, or they'd find a missed room, fresh eyes and all that.
It was a one mer job though, and while Blake would rather be scouting for new wrecks, he'd lost the coin flip and was stuck here rechecking this wreck and a few others. He huffed and tossed his mane out of his eyes. There was the fact that at least they could do this sort of thing now. Not that long ago one of them would have been stuck back at their cave guarding their spoils while the other handled all tasks they were out doing today. Finding the Grail Colony really had been a blessing in disguise, even if one did have to watch how hard they flipped their flippers so not to upset all the little ones.
He peered into a barrel and shook his head. Nope, nothing. Might have contained something valuable or tasty at one time, but it was long since pilfered, eaten, or floated away. He moved forward a bit and nickered a bit as he spotted something shiny in the sand. He quickly moved forward and nuzzled at the sand, exposing a gold necklace. He blew a bubble pleased and picked it up and put it in his bag.
It was then something blue caught his eye moving at the back part of the wreck. He froze and looked around. Was it a shark? There hadn't been any a few days ago, but that didn't mean that one hadn't move into the area. He snorted a bit, and rubbed his leg against the bracelet on his other leg. Well he could use another accessory if there was a shark. He waited and then cautiously moved towards the back of the ship to see what was moving around back there.
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 8:57 am
 Lyric had returned to the sunken ship, even though she had already explored it before. Her and Jetta, a new mer friend she had made, had poked around the day before, and even though they hadn't found any treasure, Lyric was still drawn to the shipwreck. Before exploring with Jetta she had been afraid to go alone, but now that she'd been there already she was much more confident.
She wanted to remember as much as she could about the ship so that she could tell Heath about it later. She wanted to tell him about how parts of the wood stuck out at jagged angles and how, even through all the damage, the ship's mast still stuck straight up towards the sky. There were also torn pieces of fabric stuck to the ship in places. They fluttered slightly in the current, and Lyric thought that perhaps they had once been pirate flags.
As she was moving around towards the front of the ship she noticed something black swimming towards her. She let out a little yelp, which was mostly just bubbles, and darted behind the ship's stern. Cautiously, she peeked out to see what it was coming towards her. She had been so caught up in everything that she had completely lost track of her surroundings. She hadn't been expecting to see anyone else, even though she knew other creatures swam in the ocean.
She let out a little sigh of relief when she realized it was just another mer. It could have been a lot worse, she knew. However, she stayed put because she still didn't know if this was a friendly mer or not.
Nervously she called out, "H...hello?" her underwater voice sounding like a warbled song.
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 10:02 am
Blake stopped as he saw something big dart behind the stern of the ship. Definitely too big for a shark, and suspicions confirmed when a nervous voice called out. Sharks didn't go in much for greetings, friendly, nervous, or otherwise. So at least he wasn't about to face off against a shark alone, not that he couldn't handle one, just...easier when one had backup.
He looked in the direction of the voice and it took him a moment to find the face peeking out at him. The mare, if the voice was any indication of gender, was a shade of blue that with the light coming down from the surface she blended in to be nearly the same color as the water. Only give away was the teal color mane floating around her face.
"Greetings." he said politely nodding his head. He wondered if the mare was scavenging or just curious about the wreck. Well if it was the first then he may as well inform her that this wreck was very much claimed. "My name is Blake Irving and I'm afraid this wreck was claimed by myself and my brother a few days ago. There isn't much of anything left to find if you're scavenging for supplies or treasure hunting." he said.
He flipped his tail and moved a little closer to get a better look at the mare. If her jewelry was any indication, definitely a treasure hunter. He tried to think of any wrecks he could direct her towards as a courtesy...although since as far as he knew she wasn't a member of the colony she didn't deserve it...but he couldn't find it in himself to be rude to a mare on her own, he knew how hard the life could be when you had no security for your horde.
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 10:58 am
Lyric swam out from behind the stern to face the mer stallion when he spoke to her. His long flowing hair and fins mesmerized her for a moment and she simply stared. He was quite pretty to look at. He had treasures around his neck, hoof, and ear, kind of like hers! She wasn't sure what he meant by 'claimed,' but he seemed nice enough. Lyric was relieved.
"Claimed?" she asked him. She hoped she wasn't doing anything she wasn't supposed to be. "Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me. My name is Lyric. It's nice to meet you."
She looked again towards the ship and all its wonders and thought about what Blake had said. There isn't much of anything left...
"Do you mean there was treasure then?" Lyric asked excitedly. Perhaps she had found a pirate ship after all. "I was just exploring. I came here yesterday with a friend, but I couldn't help myself from coming back. I think shipwrecks have a story to tell, and I just wish I could figure out what it is."
She smiled at him and wondered what his story was as well. "Were you...looking for treasure?" she asked politely.
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:45 pm
He tossed his mane out of his eyes and nodded. "Nice to meet you as well." he said. He looked back at the wreck and then back to her. "Merely that we called the stake within our colony. Generally it means that no one else scavenges it before we get a shot at it. Then again we go out further than many of the other hunters so we don't worry too much about others pilfering our sites."
He nodded and looked back over the ship. "A bit. Nothing overly fancy, some little gold coins, a bit of jewelry." He shifted a bit so that his satchel twisted around and he pulled out the necklace and showed it to the mare before putting it back. "That was buried in the sand so we missed it the first time around." he shifted the satchel back around and adjusted his height in the water, he was starting to drift higher than he liked.
"I think this one was just a tradeship. A lot of barrels, and crates, nothing of real value. Probably went down in a storm due to a lightening strike, you can see the fire damage to the bow." he motioned towards the front of the ship.
He chuckled and nodded. "Indeed. It's what my brother and I do. Hunt wrecks."
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:16 am
Lyric tried to wrap her head around what he was saying. She was suddenly glad she hadn't found any treasure here earlier, for if she had it would have belonged to Blake. She would have gladly given it up to him of course, but she would have felt bad. Of course, she didn't know. She tilted her head thoughtfully and asked, "Is there a way to tell if the wreck has been claimed or not?"
The necklace he showed her sparkled in the sunlight trickling down in golden rays, tinted blue from the ocean. She admired it with a "Ooohh" before he put it back into his satchel.
She remembered seeing some damage to the front of the ship now that he mentioned it. So this wasn't a pirate ship after all. Oh well. "I wonder if the people on board survived..." she thought aloud.
Lyric was fascinated with everything, she found herself wanting to be a treasure hunter and claim wrecks.
"So there's a colony around here? Of...treasure hunters?" Her eyes sparkled. "How do I become a treasure hunter?" She hoped she wasn't being too blunt in asking.
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Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 8:49 pm
"Well sometimes they'll put a mark somewhere on the ship, either on the bow or the stern. My brother and I don't, but that's mostly because we've found it's sometimes pointless...and again we get out further than anyone else in the colony."
He watched her admire the necklace and flicked his tail, having sunk to low. It was also so hard to find the right balance.
He shrugged and looked over at the ship. "Hard to say...I didn't see any skeletons, so it's possible that they all got away...or it's just been long enough the bones are gone, carried off by sharks, and other scavengers."
He watched her and smirked a bit himself, he knew that look. The desire to search the sea for treasure. It had quite the appeal.
He nodded and pointed back towards the colony. "There is. Although they call themselves Corsairs." he shrugged a bit. "It's easy enough, you talk to the head of the Grail and tell them you want to hunt treasure. You have to agree to a few rules, nothing overly horrible. Mostly that you won't steal from other members of the group, not mess with the remains of the dead on the ships you search. Small things."
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:35 am
"I do hope they got away," Lyric said distractedly as she processed in her head the rules Blake had told her about. They didn't sound very hard, and it might be fun to be a part of a colony.
"Would I have to live in the colony?" she asked, fearing that the answer to this question would make or break her desire to join. She wouldn't leave Heath by himself.
"If it's alright, I would like to talk to this head of the Grail that you mentioned. I've never been a part of a colony or herd before and I do explore the sea often. I'd make a good treasure hunter." And she was sure of this. She found herself really, really wanting it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:09 am
"Hard to say, but one can always hope." Blake said tossing his mane out of his face again.
He drifted a little closer to the mare and peered at her shell necklace, it was rather impressive. He wondered who'd crafted it for her, then shook his head and listened to her question. "I don't believe so. I think you can come and go as you please. They're pretty lax about that."
He blinked and then smiled a bit. "Yes I could take you." he said with a nod and motioned in the direction. "I was about head back myself so we can go now if you're ready."
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:10 pm
Lyric noticed him admire her necklace and she smiled. She remembered the beach festival a couple summers ago, and the little stand on the beach where the necklaces were being made. She had gathered the shells herself and a nice Kawani native had crafted the necklace for her.
She breathed a sigh of relief on hearing that she wouldn't have to live in the colony. And Blake was going to take her there! She beamed at him and waved her tail around, making her spin in a circle. "Thank you!"
"Lead the way then and I'll follow you!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:20 pm
He bowed his head at the mare. "My pleasure." he said giving her a charming smile. Even if it went nowhere, it never hurt to be charming to a mare. Make them more willing to grant favors, be more lenient in a trade, maybe even get something for free? The possibilities were endless, and in a society were size of your horde was everything, it never hurt to get a discount here and there whenever possible.
"Just let me get a breath and off we'll go." he didn't wait for a response and with a few powerful thrusts of his tail darted off to the surface to fill his lungs.
He lingered for just a moment before returning to the mare and then circled around her and started off towards the colony. "This way. We should be there before the sun sets." he said. "So have you wanted to be a pirate long~?" he asked with a coy smile.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:52 am
Lyric smiled back and waited patiently while he got a breath of air. He must have been under much longer than she had, for she didn't feel the need to surface yet. Luckily, as well as having lungs that could breathe perfectly well on land, she aslo had gills behind her head fins that helped her breathe under water for quite some time; she would need fresh land air eventually though.
While he was away, Lyric realized that she was alone with a male which hadn't happened since she'd been with Heath. She didn't think he would mind though, so she shook the thought away just as Blake returned.
She followed after him excitedly, heading to the pirate colony. She blushed at Blake's question and answered, "Oh, I don't know. I've always been interested in treasure and exploring. Thoughts of pirates have always been exciting, but I never thought I would be one." She beamed and asked, "What about you? How long have you been a pirate?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:02 pm
He swam along as he listened to her. He nodded and glanced over at her. "That I suppose is as good a reason as any. Dedication will get you quite the horde of course, but if you're just in it to find a shiny trinket once in awhile that works too."
He bobbed his head to get a stray piece of hair out of his face. "All my life. My brother and I used to go it alone out there. Not an easy way to do it. Others will steal from you if you leave your treasure unattended for long periods of time, so one of us would have to keep guard of the horde while the other explored and found new treasure. When we found the grail we decided that was the way to go. They have rules about theft among other things. It's nice to be able to leave and know our things are safe."
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:52 am
"Oh, yes, that is nice," Lyric agreed. She wouldn't like to have her things taken, especially if it was a precious treasure she had discovered. "It's good they have that rule then. What about those who are not in the grail?" she wondered. She'd have to learn all the rules as she went along. And she'd have to tell Heath about her adventures. Everything was getting so exciting!
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:14 am
He altered their course just slightly and glanced around, making sure they weren't being hunted by anything unsavory. Granted with the two of them, and the mare being a four-legger, he didn't think even the most determined shark would be that interested in trying to attack them, but desperation did strange things to the minds of predators. After checking in all directions, including up and down, he focused back on making conversation.
"As long as they aren't friends of the colony they're fair game." he said simply. "Although I don't think anyone actively goes out of their way to rob those not under herd protection. Hardly need too when there are so many ships around that need exploring." he said with a smile.
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