Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: SWIM (07/21/22)
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TITLE: Girl Talk | Previous Challenge Entry
By Art Westefeld
07/28/22 -
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When Mariness arrived on the scene, she saw Lori Lang, the merwoman she had met years ago. Landing in front of the merwoman, she started the conversation. “Hello, what’s going on that you need my help?”
Lori smiled back and said, “I don’t need your help. I just wanted to turn this piece of driftwood over to you, since you are familiar with her.”
Mariness responded, “Thank you. Can you please tell me how you ra... umm, swam across her?”
Lori answered, “It’s a longish story, and unless you can breathe underwater, I don’t have time to tell it.”
Mariness smiled at her and said, “I can do that.”
Lori shrugged her shoulders and led Mariness into the water. As Lori’s head went under, she breathed a sigh of relief. To Lori’s slight surprise, Mariness talked to her while submerged. “I’m here, so please tell me how you came across her.”
Lori sprawled on the sandy seabed and began her story. "I was working, cleaning the oceanic city where I live. I was collecting debris from the surface world when I noticed a figure swimming with legs. I admit I was excited that there might be another half-breed like me, so I immediately swam over to her.”
Lori paused and glanced around to see if anyone else was spying on them, since her citizenship was tenuous enough that she didn’t want to be seen talking to a surface dweller.
Assuring herself that they were unobserved, she continued, “As I got closer, I saw and remembered that villain from our first encounter, and could hear her talking to herself. ‘Now Lion Lord won't owe my family a dowry after I bring up all this treasure.’,
As I was uncertain about salvage laws on the surface world, I swam over to get her to leave.”
Mariness looked at her fellow water-breather and said, “You must be a good fighter, confronting her while remaining uninjured.”
Lori chuckled. “My skin is tougher than the average surface dweller. She did attack me when I confronted her, but as I am stronger than I look, with thicker skin, she couldn’t hurt me. How long can you stay submerged? My story is almost done, but I don’t want you to drown."
Mariness chuckled back, “Never tested my limits, but I do need to get home to my kids soon.”
Lori felt a momentary flash of jealousy and sadness swim through her. Children were likely not in her future. Fighting it down, Lori continued, "She tried to bite me, but only broke her fangs. Then she hit me with her tail, which was a surprise, since I just thought it was part of her costume. Recovering from her tail slap, I decided to go on the offensive. She had no gills, so I used a surface choke hold on her until she passed out. Then I swam her to the surface.”
“Thanks for your help. Aren’t you worried about people wondering about you?”
“No, I told them I’m your friend, which stopped the police from asking any further questions. Now, if you will excuse me, I do need to swim back to work.”
As Lori went horizontal, Mariness started to rise and asked, “Can we hang out another time, without bringing supervillains in to the conversation?”
Lori looked over her shoulder and responded, “Sure, I’d like that. See you here next week,” and swam home.
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