[center][h1][color=3CB371]M A N A S[/color][/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/a32AP4I.jpeg[/img]

The serene stillness seemed to last forever. Time was frozen whilst they both drifted into the arms of one another. The peace in which the woman seemed to accept her fate was startling, almost as if this had been part of the plan all along. How she had come to be here plagued the thoughts of the merfolk. Was she thrown overboard? Had it been an accident? Would they come diving for her? So many curious avenues of thought that would never have an answer now. There would never be a chance to ask her. Not now that she had slipped gently into his grasp. Where she had been inquisitive, exploring the touch of his skin and the shape of his cheek, he had been utilitarian. One hand had clamped down around her forearm, the other pressing down on her shoulder. The best places to hook her to him for when he dank deeper and deeper into the depths.

They had only just started to vanish deeper and deeper, leaving the light behind them when she started to fight back. Her own hands dug into his flesh and he gave a gurgling hiss in pain. Despite the weight of her dress she moved with the freakish agility of a creature rolling free of imminent death. The most dangerous dogs were those that had been cornered, when this human was being drowned she used her claws. When she carved up his chest he wondered at the wisdom of wearing some kind of covering. It had seemed a waste of what little brush they had but now, with the oozing injuries, he wished he was wearing some kind of protective jacket. Nothing like her dress of course, it had been so overly saturated he found it quite simple to urge garment down deeper. She was a goner when they had seen each other, he was simply making sure. One could never be too careful.

The more erratic she became the harder he gripped her. Webbed fingers crimping to cling tightly onto the human. Whatever she did he simply rolled with her, focusing all his strength on holding her tightly and letting the bulk of her clothes and the slow, back peddle of his legs take them into the binding weeds and out of sight of where anybody else might see them. Even if they came diving for this woman now they would see nothing. Just the slow, lethargic waving of an aquatic forest. Like she had never even existed. Just like the folk of the sea. Not that this woman wanted that fate, still fighting every step of the way. Manas had been calm before but now his face was contorted in the effort of holding her. His lip curled back from teeth similar to a human's, only noticeably divergent by the quantity of pointed canines. It appeared Manas possessed a number more than Adeline did.

All of a sudden, he went quite still, his efforts to kill this poor woman forgotten for something that had just passed by his periphery. He couldn't be sure he had seen it, the snaky web of plant life provided a confusing and blurry setting for this murder. Yet, the anxiety of what it had been was enough for Manas to completely ignore the human and instead, drift apart from her slightly. Far enough, at least, to avoid any more raking with her harpy's talons. Everything around them was moving thanks to the current, making Manas distrust his own eyes. He thought he saw it again over there, only to find it had been a trick of refraction. Finally, uncertainly, he returned his attention to Adeline. A grim resolve settled on his face. He didn't have time for the romance of a slow, sensual execution. He lunged towards her, like a bullet from a gun, seeking to wrap his fingers around her neck and choke her. As quick as he could make it, then he could turn tail home. For safety.

Unencumbered by most clothes and other unnecessary items, he moved with the agility of an eel and the strength of someone who had been swimming since birth. His whole body worked in tandem to allow for expert execution of action. He circled her, kicked at her, swam under and over her; he was predatory and waited for the first chance he got before seeking to latch onto her throat. He sought to bully her, using overwhelming force to seek her watery grave, forcing the pair of them to become tangled in the weeds and tied together. All the better, he thought, no way for her to escape. Eyes alight with the yellow fire of his origins, it seemed to burn all the brighter with the rush of execution in his blood. His vigour was short lived, however.

He heard it before he saw it, the low moan of a solitary sea behemoth. Still caught in a knot of limbs and greenery, Manas could barely turn his head to try and see what he thought he had spotted earlier. The song echoed again before the world was turned sideways and the pair, both human and merfolk, were yanked off at a break neck pace. The whale had arrived unseen, groping these waves for food and settling on a vegetarian lunch. Evidently, it didn't care that there was a pair of still squirming animals on its seaweed. Swinging around, which had been when Manas had first seen it, the mammal came in with a run up and took a whole mouthful of the restorative weeds. The length of the foliage had been the only thing that saved Adeline and Manas. Tied up as they were, they now found themselves leashed to the mouth of the creature which lazily chewed through the plant matter. So fast and powerful was the hulking sea beast that the force of the water rushing against them was enough to press Manas down against the cheek of the whale. Every time he tried to lift himself up, he was working against the force of the ocean and was smacked back down.

The warm body of Adeline was close, still entangled with him by the weeds, and he waited helplessly for whatever fate in store. The only source of comfort was that, if the whale stayed submerged for long, he wouldn't have to worry about drowning her anymore. He had his knife, a way to free them both, but for now he was content to see where they were taken. It hadn't occurred to him that it was entirely the wrong way if he had wanted to head home.

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