The Oceans Enigmatic Love

Dark Waters

Sure enough, He ran into Jack just as he was about to go home for the night.

He had just finished wiping off the yellow tang tank near the entrance of the kids section when he heard a throat be cleared off to his left.

Turning, he watched as his supervisor, a no-nonsense broad man named Jack Crawford, leaned tiredly against the glass he had just wiped down. Wil could feel his eye twitch at that, but he smiled at the man regardless of the disrespectful action.

"Hey Jack, I take it you heard the good news?"

"God, Chilton's a fucking asshole." Jack groaned in response, rubbing his face in barely concealed agitation. "Does he have any idea how long it takes to change the chemical setting of a tank that big? I've checked the PH levels nearly twenty times by now and it's still way too acidic. Not to mention figuring out the best way to mimic the mineral substrates and temperature of the Baltic fucking Sea of all places! Lets just hope the fucking thing doesn't die from the shock of travel before it gets here. Freshwater Mer are always so finicky with how the water feels, Imagine how pissed one from the ocean will be if the water wasn't up to it's standards." Jack visibly shuddered, hand subconsciously moving to touch one of his few scars from when he had gone too close to an agitated Tobias. The ring of white scar tissue could barely be seen peeking out from under his short sleeved uniform.

Not nearly as many scars as I have. But hey, it's not a competition.

Will was already beginning to tune Jacks rampling's out by the time he finished wiping down the last section of the glass. Unlike Will, who was used to getting his hands dirty and coming into the most physical contact with the creatures, Jack was more on the scientific side of maintaining the tanks. Usually going on for hours about what was needed to balance the fragile ecosystem of nearly every tank they had. He was a pro, but Will pitied who had to work with him, Crawford was known for being almost extremely bossy and picky with how things were done.

Will stood from where he was crouched, watching as the yellow light reflected off the tangs scattered in blotches across the other mans white pants in a mesmeric pattern.

"Hey... Is it true that they like eating humans?" Will murmured as he packed up his remaining supplies. Jack, who had been talking about the types of protein and oxygen levels they had to pump into the new tank, stopped to consider the question.

"Who knows? They're pretty mysterious all things considered. Did you know they can't be photographed? It's literally impossible."

"Really?" It seemed pretty likely, Will tried looking up pictures on his phone during his break, but the only things available were hand drawn illustrations and eye witness descriptions. Even then, it seemed every report was either mere speculation, or wildly different from one another.

"Yeah, It had something to do with the, uh, sound? Frequency? I forget what exactly, it had to do with whatever they gave off that messes with any attempts to electronically record them. Reminds me, Bev said she saw one a distance away from off the coast of Provincetown, but it nearly exploded her phone when she tried to record it." The older man shook his head, amused, before he clapped Will's shoulder heavily and turned to leave. "Don't worry too much about it yet. I'll let you know what I learn from it's wranglers when they come to drop it off. Go and get some rest. It's going to be a long night for you tomorrow."

"When's it supposed to get here?" Will called out, still feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing.

"Around three in the morning I think? Chilton hasn't exactly given me specifics. I'll call you if we need you to come in earlier than usual."

Will groaned dramatically, earning a chuckle and friendly punch on the arm before he turned to go to the employee lockers.

"Let's hope nothing too terrible happens while I'm gone."