After entering the hole in the ship just big enough for Sherlock to fit he started to explore, not noticing as he entered, that a great white shark had just spotted him. Sherlock drifted slowly though the ship cataloging all he could in his head. There were barrels piled on top of each other along the wall he entered through. They held a black substance that Sherlock could not identify. He knew that it had something to do with the world above, on land, as did the ship.
It is forbidden to interact with humans and just as bad to collect their things. Sherlock wasn't sure why the merpeople had always had rules against it, but it was the duty of every merperson to follow the ancient laws no matter how ridiculous they might be for the sake of the merpeople. Atlantica had always had a philosophy that whatever worked in the past will work now and will work in the future. Sherlock always thought this philosophy was stupid and he knew Mycroft was not partial to it either but out of respect for the ancestors Mycroft upholds the law.
Sherlock pulled out a jar from a small black bag he was carrying. He filled it with the black substance and then returned it to his bag. He would experiment with it later. He carried on exploring, there wasn't much to see, it was mostly broken wood and ripped up cloth. He entered through a hole to a higher level in the ship which had mostly the same things as the lower level but with one difference. There was a shiny metal object in the middle of the room. Curious, Sherlock swam over to it to get a better look. It was a stick with four prongs sticking out of one end. He didn't know what it was, but he placed it in his bag hoping that Mrs. Hudson might.
Suddenly there was a deep whooshing noise and then a moment of silence. Sherlock stiffened in the silence, and then a shark burst in through a window with its jaws wide open ready to feast. Thinking quickly, as he normally did, Sherlock swam down the hole he came from with the shark following and then through the hole he originally entered the ship through. The shark got caught in the room unable to go through the small hole. By the time it could get out of the ship Sherlock would be long gone.
:) :) :)
Mrs. Hudson could always be found on a small island occupied only by an unidentifiable wooden pole that she built her nest on. Sherlock once saw a wooden pole like this on the top of a ship but couldn't be sure what it was for because he never could get a good look. As usual Mrs. Hudson was fiddling about with her nest when Sherlock appeared from the water.
"Oh Sherlock," She said warmly, "I was wondering if you were stopping by today, I do get quite lonely and there's no one around for miles." Sherlock smiled.
"Well, Mrs. Hudson, you deserve a visit now and then," Sherlock spoke warmly back.
"Oh stop that," The seagull tutted, "I know you're just trying to get me to help you identify those human objects you collect, that's the reason you always visit me."
"On the contrary Mrs. Hudson, sometimes it's nice have a reason to go above sea level," Sherlock smiled and Mrs. Hudson gave in to his demands of telling him what his new findings were. Sherlock truthfully did like being above sea level. Every once in a while he would catch sight of ships off in the distance that carried the creatures that intrigued him. It was actually going above sea level when he was a child that he met Mrs. Hudson and learned of humans from her. It was because Mrs. Hudson teaching him of a different world that made life not so boring.
Holding up the jar of black substance Mrs. Hudson took a good look at it. "Well, I have seen this before dear," she said. "I believe I once heard Mrs. Turner from the north saying that her son had come across a human calling it black powder."
"Black powder?" Sherlock wondered. "What is powder?"
"I haven't the faintest," she sighed. Next Sherlock showed her his shiny metal object. The old bird gave a squawk of excitement. Pleased with this response Sherlock handed the object to his associate. "Now this, this is a dinglehopper."
"A dinglehopper?" Sherlock repeated in his deep baritone voice, "interesting."
"I once met this robin, nice fellow, always making jokes, he once told a entire flock of birds-"
"Mrs. Hudson!" Sherlock quickly put an end to her rambling, she often did that and the merman found it quite annoying, he preferred to get down to the point.
"Any who, he had come by one of these once and told me that Humans use it to straighten their hair." Sherlock snatched it away and tested it by putting it throw his dark wet curls. It went through with ease. They didn't have these sort of things in Atlantica, hair was never give much thought because it never got in the way. Perhaps human hair got in the way of everyday activities and needed attention; why else would they create such things for hair.
After Mrs. Hudson's informative explanations of his objects, Sherlock quickly left before he heard another one of her ramblings about the birds she comes across. Although Mrs. Hudson was the only bird Sherlock knew he could defiantly say he wasn't a fan of the feather creatures. From what Mrs. Hudson said about them, they seemed nothing more than a bunch of bumbling gossipers.
Sorry it took so long to post this, I don't get much time to do what I want to do. I'll try to update every week.
Also! I except criticism, so if there is anything you think I need to fix or maybe give a little thought to, let me know :)