Difference between revisions of "Logs:Sharks Are People, Too"
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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? | 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? | ||
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− | + | 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. | |
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− | + | 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." | |
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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?" | 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." | 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." | ||
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− | + | 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 nto 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." | |
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− | + | 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." | |
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− | + | 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." | |
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− | + | 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. | |
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− | + | 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. | |
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− | + | 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 competant with as she heads back to the cage. | |
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− | + | 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.... | |
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− | + | 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. | |
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− | + | 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. | |
Revision as of 06:51, 7 November 2017
Sharks Are People, Too | |
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Dramatis Personae | June 26, 2008 --2,238-- 0 days accident free. |
Location
Kailua Beach/Open ocean |
Plot(s) |
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.."
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 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 exhilirating!" 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 didnt say or do anything untowards 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, dont 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."
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."
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."
She seems a bit passionate about this topic, and quite sympathetic towards the creatures. At least..Normal sharks. That dont have legs. When Yahir speaks up, Iara just smiles and nods. "Yes. Thank you, finally someone who understands.." She bites her lip and blushes again when she accidently mentions how that guy smelled. But no one seems to question her further so she lets it slip. 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 profuesly, looking away.
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 profuesly, looking away.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!"
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."
Maybe it's worth noting and maybe not, but the protesters are now nowhere to be found. |