i notice that no one said i was a tease this time. it pleases me to know that you learned your lesson. I think you'll like this chapter a lot more. it was certainly easier for me to write, compared to the last one anyway.

thanks to dang_its_ronpa for pointing out a typo last chapter. its fixed now, and i really appreciated it

I creep along the sea floor, trying to disturb the nearby trees as little as possible. I look up through the leaves, eyeing my target silently as it slips effortlessly between them. I frown in concentration, I can't mess this up. I've been waiting so long to try this, and I don't want to fail.

My prey pauses for a moment, it's wide, glossy eyes peering through the gloom. I freeze, waiting for it to move on, before ducking down lower to the ground. That was close, too close. I need to be more careful, else I'll probably go hungry tonight. I gently push myself forward, and begin stalking the creature once again.

The creature finally swims into a small clearing in the trees, and pauses along with the rest of its kind. My body tenses, preparing to pounce. It's now or never. I have the perfect shot lined up, and I have no idea when it'll move on again. My hips wiggle a bit from the anticipation, before I launch myself up, and towards my target.

The group suddenly breaks apart and starts swimming away, but it's too late. I open my mouth at the very last second, and clamp down when I feel scales brush against my stretched lips. My razor sharp teeth pierce through its flesh easily, filling my mouth with the taste of blood. I immediately bring my hands up, waving them through the water to steady myself as I come to a stop.

Once I've stabilized myself, I reach up to the squirming fish and twist its head. The spine snaps and the flesh easily parts from the rest of its body, scales glittering as they separate and briefly float around my head. I drop the unwanted piece, and finally remove the dead creature from my mouth. I lick the blood and scales from my teeth, and look down at my prize. I- I did it! I successfully caught a fish on the first try! Well, without the awkward flailing at least.

No wonder none of my other tries were working well. My hands are too slow because of how they drag in the water, which means I could never reliably catch anything as quick as a fish. By taking them out of the equation, I have the speed to catch them before they can swim away. The only thing I had to really work on was my timing and aim, which I had been doing over the past few days.

It's been roughly a month since I moved into this undersea forest. I can never quite get over how beautiful and peaceful it is here. There's so much to see and do here, I haven't gotten bored once. Just a few days ago I saw this really large fish. It was mostly grey, but had a white underbelly where it had a wide mouth full of sharp teeth(1). This fish was almost as long as me, but a little bit wider, from the snout to the tip of its tail.

It was from that creature that I figured out my new method of hunting. I had watched as it snapped up three fish, one after another, in its jaws. I was so amazed, I nearly got chomped on myself. One whack to its snout had it swimming away, never to disturb me again. After that, I set about trying to mimic it, practicing on the trees around me.

I grin and squeal from delight, wriggling around in the water while clutching the fish carcass close to my chest. Yay! Yay! Now I can hunt fish properly! I'll quickly eat this one and see if I can catch another one after, if I still feel hungry.

I've almost grown sick of eating those bugs day after day, and mollusks never really filled my belly enough. I have gotten my hands on quite a few pearls, but that doesn't really justify eating them all the time. Especially since I haven't found a way to make them into anything yet. They're nothing more than household decorations right now. Pretty, but ultimately worthless the way they are.

I also saw that the bugs eat more than just mollusks, they're carrion feeders. So they eat the dead fish that settle on the bottom of the ocean, keeping the ground free of rotting corpses along with certain fish that do the same thing. I like their taste, and they're easy to catch, but I'm worried I'll kill them all with how many I can eat in a day.

That may just be paranoia, but I really do need to start eating more fish. Mum always told me that I needed to have a varied diet to stay healthy, and that logic probably applies here too. Well, I can't eat plants or anything like that, so I'll just eat a bunch of different things that have meat on them to stay healthy.

Once I finally calm down, I lower myself down to the grassy bottom. It's weird seeing this grass-like stuff growing out of the sand. It looks similar to the leaves of the sea trees, but is the length of my forearm and grows out of the sand instead of rocks. Well, whatever. It's time to eat now. I settle myself on the soft grass, and tear into my prize. The bones crunch between my teeth, making soft little snapping noises as I grind them into powder.

I quickly work my way through the fish, dropping the fins and part of the spine down onto the grass when I finish. I let out a satisfied huff and run my tongue over my teeth again, making sure nothing got stuck in them. Hmmm, I think one of the bones got wedged into my gum, near the back of my mouth. I reach in, taking care not to nick my webbing with my teeth, and wiggle it loose. I pull the tiny rib bone out, and put it with the rest of the waste from my meal.

I lean back on my hands and stare at the rippling surface, spacing out as I start to digest. It's just past noon, so I have plenty of time to hunt again. I could also re-mark my territory, since I haven't touched up my scent markers in awhile.

My territory isn't big, probably only a kilometre wide in diameter. It's just big enough for me to maintain my scent marks on a regular basis, but I like to go exploring outside it every so often. Of course, I always make sure that I'm not running into another mer's territory. I did resolve to defend my new home, but I don't want to foolishly go around picking fights either. As long as I keep to myself, I should be ok.

Well, that's enough resting. I should get going, and find another group of fish to hunt from. I push myself off of the grass and randomly head to the right, the opposite direction of my cave. I soon pass over one of my fading boundary markers, which is a large boulder that has many flowers blooming near the base. I swoop down and re-mark it as I pass, not bothering to much else as I look for food. Last time I checked, there weren't any mers living in this direction. So hunting further out shouldn't cause any issues.

I soon spot another group of fish. These ones are a pale green colour, and about the length of my arm. Catching one of these should fill me up completely, and probably give me plenty of leftovers for breakfast. So I set about stalking them, staying low to the ground as they head into a thicket of trees. Quickly picking a target out of the group, I start lining up my shot. I adjust my tail at the last moment and shoot up, clamping down on the unfortunate creatures' slimy hide.

It's just as I'm stabilizing myself, that I see it. There, amidst the swaying tree branches, is a merman. My hackles rise and I freeze, there wasn't supposed to be any mers here! I didn't smell any, otherwise I would've avoided this place! Wait, calm down. He doesn't notice me yet, so I can slip away before he does.

Just as I start to move, the mer suddenly focuses his attention on me. I freeze again, and we observe each other for a moment. Most of him is obscured by the trees, I can only see his head and torso properly, but he looks about as big as that aggressive mer from before. His hair is an interesting colour, being half white and half red. It's like a splash of blood against the snow.

His eyes, which have a curious glint to them, are also strange. They're heterochromatic. One a grayish brown, which is on the white side, and the other is an aqua colour. The skin around the aqua eye, from his forehead to his cheekbone, is covered with vivid red scales. The spines of his ear fins are white with splotches of red, kind of like a dairy cow. Is his tail the same?

The fish that's still in my mouth squirms, and the moment is over. The strange mer swims out into the open, and- ooh, he definitely has a cow pattern. Wait, it's not the time for this! I've got to get away! My eyes widen and I let the injured fish go, rearing back and quickly turning around. I bolt in the direction of my cave, hoping to outrun him.

I make it past my boundary marker and plan to keep going towards my cave, but I hear the mer swimming through the trees behind me. What am I doing? I vowed to defend my home this time, didn't I? He's not planning to back off, so I have to make my stand here!

I grit my teeth, and swing around to face the quickly advancing mer. He's almost caught up with me, I just have to wait for another second before he's close enough. In the next moment I bring my hand up and swipe at the mer's face, hoping to get him with my claws. The mer ducks to the side, avoiding my claws completely. Shit! I threw myself off balance, now I'm wide open for attack!

I brace myself for impact, but nothing happens. I finally steady myself, and look over at the mer who hasn't moved since he dodged. Not sure what's going on, I shift back into a defensive stance. Strangely, the mer doesn't seem to be hostile. If anything, he looks a little confused.

We observe each other for another moment, before the other mer turns his gaze to my scent marker. He looks at it for a moment, before looking back at me. He seems to come to a decision, and turns around to head back the way he came. It's not until he's out of sight that I relax, heaving out a tension filled sigh.

That was close! I don't know what would've happened if we had a serious fight. I'm clearly too inexperienced in combat, and my swimming is still at a low level compared to a full blooded mer. But… it was so cool how he dodged out of the way like that, even though he was swimming relatively fast. Right, I just have to keep getting better, so that I can catch up to the naturals!

Buzzing with newfound determination, I turn and head back in the direction of my cave. I'll go hunting some other time, I think I need a nap after all that excitement. In a few short minutes, I'm inside my cave and fluffing my bed. Hmm, I think I'll have to change out the leaves soon. That stuff only lasts about a week before it starts to rot. I pout and curl up on my bed. I miss that sail, it was so perfect!

I'm sitting in a patch of grass an hour or so later, when I hear a soft chirp from behind. I look up from a colourful snail that I had been curiously poking, and warily turn around to see who had invaded my territory. It's that mer from before! Why is he here!?

I squeak in alarm and immediately take a defensive stance, facing the two-toned mer fully. I tense up as the mer moves his arm, only to be thrown off guard from what he's holding. Is… is that a fish? It's not even dead, just squirming in his grip. I look up at the mers face, confused eyes meeting expectant ones.

"Are- are you giving that to me?"

The mer just blinks at me, still holding the fish out expectantly. This is… bizarre. What's going on here, what should I do? During my mental struggle, the mer starts to look confused himself. He tilts his head and gestures with the hand holding the fish, chirping questioningly. My brows furrow, but I still don't take the fish.

"Why are you giving that to me?"

I still don't get a reply, instead the mer looks down at the now exhausted fish. In one swift motion, he jerks the fish's head to the side with an audible crack. He then holds it out again, this time letting go of it and letting it sink to the ground. The mer then slowly backs off to the edge of the clearing, clearly still waiting for me to take it. Just… what?

Can he not understand me? Is that why he's not answering? Come to think of it, I didn't understand those mers from before either. Why is that? Are we speaking a different language from each other? That would explain why I can't understand him, or the others for that matter. How can I communicate then?

Well, before all that, I need to decide what I'm going to do with this situation. I'm not exactly sure why he's in my territory offering me food, but I think it would be rude to refuse the offer. I am still hungry after all, and this will save me from going out to hunt again today.

Hesitantly, I lower myself to the ground and reach for the fish. This seems to please the other mer, and the creature swims off when I finally pick his gift up and begin to eat it. Well, whatever that was, the free food is appreciated.

Wait, that doesn't change the fact that he was in my territory! I… I'm not sure how I feel about that anymore. I mean, if he was going to kick me out, he would've done that instead of giving me food. I didn't see any other mers either, is he alone like me? Hmmm, that other mer had two others with him, maybe it's normal to form a pack? But who would the dominant one be? Packs usually have a leader who's usually the strongest/ the most experienced, and that certainly isn't me in this situation.

I swallow the rest of my meal and sigh, letting the waste drop to the ground. I have almost no solid information. As long as I can't communicate with this other mer, I won't be getting any more either. I guess my new objective is trying to learn the language. That and keeping that other mer happy, I don't really want to end up in another fight like last time.

(1) it's a shark. fun fact: sharks only attack people as a test to see if the hunt is worth the effort. they can kind of taste how many calories you have. they also bite because when we splash around on the surface, it makes them think we're distressed prey, thus an easy kill. punching them in the snout really will fend one off, or so i'm to believe.

I never actually took offense to the tease comment, i actually found it amusing and decided to poke back.