08-04-2010, 12:07 AM
The people running the special auction today at the market considered themselves lucky that they could keep merpeople in the cases they came in, since they could breathe underwater. Merpeople could be docile and innocent, but the worst injuries and most gruesome accidental deaths here had been from merpeople fighting back. The last one they'd sold had been a particularly buff merman who had lured one of the employees to his tank. When he'd leaned over, the merman had pulled him in, screeching like some sort of primal animal, and had started ripping him to shreds.
Merpeople were rare, so it wasn't often they got one to sell. It was a relief, and a regret--people paid top dollar for them, due to their rarity.
This particular one had been a bother ever since he'd been captured. He'd bitten everyone who'd gotten close to him and screamed like a wild banshee all through the night, smacking his tail against the side of the sealed tank they'd thrown him in repeatedly and trying to crack the reinforced glass.
He wasn't screaming now, since he'd worn himself out over the night, but he'd hissed and spat at the employees when they'd hauled his small tank up onto the stage to put him with the other merchandise. It took four people to move his tank, so the extra help to move him was included in his price.
He couldn't quite hear what all the people outside of his tank were saying, since it was sealed and made of reinforced glass, but he did notice one of the buyers pointing at him. He bared his razor-sharp teeth at her and hissed, smacking his tail defensively against the glass and making a dull, but very loud, thumping sound.
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