Jack hadn't been a fisherman more than a handful of years, preferring the work the land rather than sail on the unpredictable sea. He had gone out this way and settled into that life after an extensive military career and the quiet life was not to his taste. He'd sold the family farm after his parents had passed away, moved out East, bought a boat and learned how to navigate the seas.
Sleep wasn't an easy concept to grasp these days, so he was usually out before light, before even the other fishermen had left the warmth of their houses. He walked along the rough shoals, letting the cold hostile wind churn up his short hair even as he pulled his collar higher on his jacket. The walk was good for him, eased an unwelcomed energy that pervaded him many hours of every day.
And finding dead or wounded animals wasn't out of his scope. It's why he always carried supplies with him in a pack as he walked. Bucket, tarp, shovel, flares and rifle and shot. There was no point letting a creature suffer after all, but if he could save them, he would. He'd taken enough life to want to put a hand forward to save what he could.
So when he saw a fleshy lump in the distance, he thought it was a porpoise or some other type of creature. It wasn't until he drew closer that the shape was all wrong, the length of body, the fact there was hair that drew him to a stop. That wasn't any kind of sea creature he had seen before, and he'd made certain to do his research before coming out to these parts.
At the local watering hole, there was of course old fisherman's tales. People of these parts were very superstitious, so the fact there was an old wive's tale of an ancient creature that was half man, half fish wasn't unusual. He'd taken it with a grain of salt, but there had been times when he arrived that he thought he had seen something in the shadow of his boat as he struggled to learn what he had to about the sea in calm and rough waters.
Jack approached cautiously until he was staring down at the very tale he hadn't believed lay right in front of him. There was blood, a lot of it, and those wounds needed tending. The tail aspect that was in water was already being picked at by sea creatures like crabs and fish who were opportunistic. He slowly crouched and reached out to touch cold skin and he was immediately able to pick up a slow but steady pulse.
"I'll be damned," he muttered as he looked over the impressive man... fish, thing? Merman, wasn't it? Either way, this creature was alive and badly injured. "Guess I can't call conservation about you, can I?"
For some reason, he also wasn't of the opinion he could call on the other fishermen and their families either. Like this was something special. Normally, he wouldn't care, but there was a jarring sense of familiarity when he looked at that face. No, this was for him to deal with.
He tarped what he could of the tail, securing it up closer to the body and using a thermal blanket around the body to both prevent blood from getting everywhere and to keep the merman warm. Add some extra water in both and then he was putting his 'catch of the day' across his shoulders and trudging back to the town and his shore front house. It was still early enough where people were just starting their day when he forced his way back into his house as quietly as possible.
Through his small house, and he was depositing his catch into the bathtub. He plugged it, kept the thermal blanket on and then took his buckets and went down to the ocean to haul up water to fill the tub with. Back and forth until the task was done and then he was rolling up his sleeves, grabbing his extensive first-aid kit and settled in to start stitching up all the long gashes that he could find.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-10-25 06:00 pm (UTC)Sleep wasn't an easy concept to grasp these days, so he was usually out before light, before even the other fishermen had left the warmth of their houses. He walked along the rough shoals, letting the cold hostile wind churn up his short hair even as he pulled his collar higher on his jacket. The walk was good for him, eased an unwelcomed energy that pervaded him many hours of every day.
And finding dead or wounded animals wasn't out of his scope. It's why he always carried supplies with him in a pack as he walked. Bucket, tarp, shovel, flares and rifle and shot. There was no point letting a creature suffer after all, but if he could save them, he would. He'd taken enough life to want to put a hand forward to save what he could.
So when he saw a fleshy lump in the distance, he thought it was a porpoise or some other type of creature. It wasn't until he drew closer that the shape was all wrong, the length of body, the fact there was hair that drew him to a stop. That wasn't any kind of sea creature he had seen before, and he'd made certain to do his research before coming out to these parts.
At the local watering hole, there was of course old fisherman's tales. People of these parts were very superstitious, so the fact there was an old wive's tale of an ancient creature that was half man, half fish wasn't unusual. He'd taken it with a grain of salt, but there had been times when he arrived that he thought he had seen something in the shadow of his boat as he struggled to learn what he had to about the sea in calm and rough waters.
Jack approached cautiously until he was staring down at the very tale he hadn't believed lay right in front of him. There was blood, a lot of it, and those wounds needed tending. The tail aspect that was in water was already being picked at by sea creatures like crabs and fish who were opportunistic. He slowly crouched and reached out to touch cold skin and he was immediately able to pick up a slow but steady pulse.
"I'll be damned," he muttered as he looked over the impressive man... fish, thing? Merman, wasn't it? Either way, this creature was alive and badly injured. "Guess I can't call conservation about you, can I?"
For some reason, he also wasn't of the opinion he could call on the other fishermen and their families either. Like this was something special. Normally, he wouldn't care, but there was a jarring sense of familiarity when he looked at that face. No, this was for him to deal with.
He tarped what he could of the tail, securing it up closer to the body and using a thermal blanket around the body to both prevent blood from getting everywhere and to keep the merman warm. Add some extra water in both and then he was putting his 'catch of the day' across his shoulders and trudging back to the town and his shore front house. It was still early enough where people were just starting their day when he forced his way back into his house as quietly as possible.
Through his small house, and he was depositing his catch into the bathtub. He plugged it, kept the thermal blanket on and then took his buckets and went down to the ocean to haul up water to fill the tub with. Back and forth until the task was done and then he was rolling up his sleeves, grabbing his extensive first-aid kit and settled in to start stitching up all the long gashes that he could find.