The Girl and the Shark

Interlude/Author's Note (+Story Lore)

// Author's Note //

Hi everyone.

I figured it might be a nice idea to give this an update of sorts since it's (once again coming up to more or less a year since I started rewriting this story.)
I wanna apologise to anyone who's hung around or wanted an update, it's been a very busy, very crazy year, a lot has happened.
I got engaged, moved out on my own for the first time in my life, dealing with rent and bills and all that jazz, not to mention a lot of difficult family issues, two deaths and of course the latest to join the party, Covid-19.

I ran into a problem of trying to figure out one of the main antagonists in the story, the Saltwater Killer who is targeting young kids. I need to properly flesh them out.
I've also been focused on projects I have with my fiancé which is why my focus had been taken from this story.
HOWEVER.
We've recently done a lot of work on some of our biggest projects which gave an opening to include The Girl and The Shark, meaning this story and it's characters have much stronger lore and a properly expanded world behind them, making it a lot easier to write, imagine and develop.
As I work to continue and write the next chapter (I know this might be getting old thank you so much to all of you who've stayed around and still like this story) I wanted to take advantage of this little break here and provide some lore on Ember and Blade's world, maybe it will make the whole experience more enjoyable, and make the characters more rounded rather than flat.
If you're not really interested in the background lore of the world of The Girl and The Shark, Blade's kind and other shark Mers, then feel free to simply skip over this chapter and wait for the next one to piece it together yourself.
(I'm not including spoilers for future chapters here, just background lore and information on all the characters and settings within the story.)

// LORE //

StrangeVerse //

The Girl and The Shark is set in an alternate universe much like our own, with history and present day being more or less the same to ours, with one big difference however.
Most folklore, myths, legends and otherwise fantastical creatures and phenomena, are true.

Whereas in our universe, these supernatural beings, myths, and magic are nothing more than folktales and stories, within this alternate world, nicknamed StrangeVerse, they are very much a thing of reality and exist along side humans since the dawn of our conception.

From vampires and werewolves, to skinwalkers, dragons and demons, there are creatures living right alongside human kind that we have grown accustomed to percieve as fiction.
Despite the colourful myriad of entities and folktales I could delve into here, I'm going to focus on one specific group of supernatural beings this story revolves aroud; Merfolk.
But first, the town this all takes place in.

Maeko Beach //

Maeko Beach is a small Florida town along the East Coast between Vero Beach and Palm Bay. With a population of around 21,000, it really is a small community where a lot of people know each other. Aside from retired residents, there are a lot of students living in the town thanks to Maeko being the location of the well known and well regarded Bluewell Institute, a college most focused on Arts and Literature.

Maeko Beach was first founded in 1910 by Perry T. Maeko, a wealthy man who wanted to make a name for himself and leave something behind. Many superstitious folk who enjoy local folklore believe Perry was a Mer himself, and founded the town originally as a safe haven for his kind, however whether or not this fact is actually true remains to speculation and myth depending on what you choose to believe the truth to be.

For the last year or so, the usually peaceful and calm town of Maeko Beach has been ravaged by fear thanks to the Saltwater Killer, an individual believed to be responsible for the abductions and deaths of four young boys, who still remains at large and the case for their capture still ongoing.