Your name is Ocean. You are in 10th grade of high school and your ambition it to become a marine biologist. To study dolphin behavior and preservation, more precisely. In fact, it is your obsession. you read all you can about dolphin and their environments. However, it is the Pacific Ocean that catches you attention to do research in the future. You love to read books about it and decided to sign up for French classes so that you can go live in Polynesia and New Caledonia. With English, then Hawaii and and the Samoa are in your pocket. Your passion keeps you motivated, on top pf science classes and your room decorated. Your history teacher has even agreed for you to write a pa[er on the history of perception of sharks and dolphins. He loved your paper and congratulated you profusely on it.
So when a new pet shop opened, you planned your free time so as to check it out. You already possess a big aquarium in your room, full of tropical fish which you adore and spoil extensively. Decorating the aquarium had been a pure pleasure and you ponder at what that big pet store might have inside. Another friend or way to decorate the aquarium? Right now that aquarium is the sole window to your future dream job so of course you pamper it lovingly.
You enter the pet shop as a man leaves with a big bag of dog food. It's a bit late but you can come back tomorrow, at worst. The man at the desk smiles at you and asks you what he can help you with. You explain that you want something for your aquarium of tropical fish. Possibly a new addition? The man explains that he sells solely pet-care objects but no actual pets. However, he can show you the aisles for aquariums and you can browse at your own leisure. He is helpful and you accept. You look at the various resin and stone sunken ships or scuba divers and plastic seaweeds. You wish for something distinctly tropical-themed, reminding you of southern seas and exoticism.
"Having trouble choosing?" asks the owner kindly.
"I'm a bit difficult," you say sheepishly."I... I have a fixation on tropical fish and sea life. I want to study dolphins, whales, porpoises or even sharks when I graduate. So I love my aquarium and I treat it like my own personal little zoo and care center. But as my fish are tropical, I... I insist for its decoration to be perfect and match a Pacific or tropical setting. I know it sounds ridiculous but it's important to me and I love it and..."
You end your little speech with a little laugh and cast down your eyes, aware of how ridiculous you must look. After all, all the other kids at school look at you the same. What must this man think of you now?
"Not at all," he says kindly. "You are not difficult, you just have a precise idea of what you'd like. We all have our tastes. And you have a passion for wildlife and far away seas. I find it endearing and quite worthy to be admired. If more people were like you, more animals would be happy."
This was not the answer you expected, but boy does it warm your heart.
"Oh... Thank you..." you say in a little voice.
"Actually, I have new arrivals for my aquariums. Just came in several days ago and I have not yet put them on the shelves. You can look at them and buy them if they strike your fancy. I think there are a few tropical-themed pieces in the lot."
That sounds nice. You agree and the owner, Mr. John, guides you to a door at the back. You do feel a tiny bit wary but as he opens the door, you see an aquarium holding a brilliantly red and white octopus of great size and another displaying a lionfish. You go to check out the latter but then a squirt of water hits you right on the backside of your shorts. You turn around, outraged but you realize it was the octopus, raising itself halfway out of its aquarium and staring at you, tentacles out. The adorable little pervert!
"My sincerest apologies, miss," said Mr. John, rushing towards you. "Victor here can be a bit naughty at times. He has done that to me countless times already... I keep animals that are not destined as pets but for respectable wildlife preservations."
"That's all right," you say sincerely. "It happens. I better get used to it for my future job, anyway. Getting splashed and wet"
It'll be dark enough when you go home so it's not like it shall be really noticeable. And at worst, you'll survive a few curious stares. It's not like you're exactly normal either, what with your passion...
"You can get closer if you'd like," smiles Mr. John.
It IS a great opportunity to see an octopus real close and you get nearer, approaching your hand enough to watch if Victor would be interested in touching it. Unfortunately, it's from behind you that the approach is done. You feel getting grabbed and a piece of cloth forced upon your mouth firmly. You cough, try to get it out , to scratch the hands that are restraining you but too soon your body loses its battle against the chloroform-induced sleep. You can only hope that whatever fate you are to be given, it will be short. You want to cry at the idea that you shall never see the waves of the Pacific, though.
John brought thre young girl downstairs, installed her in the big aquarium with heated water and and laid her on the sand in it. Changing people into sea-dwelling creatures was tough but manageable. And the enthusiasm of this pretty little lady for ,marine life was impossible to ignore. He pondered a bit at the possibilities but settled on his initial idea, changing her into a dolphin. Female dolphins were always useful. She'd help replenish the population and they always attracted crowds. Male dolphins were so obsessed by sex that putting her with one male at a time would solve problems. She'd go to an aquarium with intentions of teaching and preserving marine life. The sort that treated their tenants right. No stupid unhealthy tricks that made animals miserable for her, thank you very much. He chuckled to himself. She probably never thought she'd be the subject of study. He'd make sure hat after years of good and loyal services she'd be released in the wild. In the Pacific, like she'd always wanted. He did feel a little guilty about her parents and ripping her away from her existence but he was certain it was for the best and hat she would adjust remarkably well. He seldom was wrong on these matters. He'd make sure to transform a nice young man to become her mate. Oh, she had quite a few years before that. She's still quite young. Too young to start having calves right away, certainly. Well, the first injection was done so as she felt more comfortable in the water permanently, things would get only easier.
You feel dizzy. Your mind is fuzzy. Things get confused. You remember brightly colored fish. But they aren't there anymore. So you were taken out of their company. But why? You do remember bright blue seas and warm climates and a tropical paradise. It feels so reassuring. So familiar. So why are you here? You slumber in a delicious space of water, if not very large. It's so warm and soothing... So much better than the memories of a place where others like you were mean to you. Probably your original pod? Then it was a good idea to leave. There's a human who come regularly to feed you delicious shrimps, tuna and salmon. All raw and so yummy! And he's got a nice voice. A very reassuring one at that. He tells you he shall introduce to gentle males, to become your fiances. That sounds odd but he also says that in the meantime you can have fun until you see the Pacific Ocean for good. Now that sounds good! Awesomely exciting, even! Sometime, a very strange thought occurs to you though: the notion that you should be the one watching your own species and not be the watched. Odd indeed... Why would you walk upright on two hind legs when swimming and observing the ocean floor are the best things ever? And jumping out of the waves and munching on scrumptious fish, naturally. You do hope that when you'll see other dolphins again, things will go better than before. But at worst, you shall just explore the wide ocean blue of the Pacific and all its wonderful paradisal islands... Maybe with a pod? Friends? Mate? Pups? Those thoughts soothe you in your slumber and make you focus on more real things than the strangest notions of walking on to legs with the oddest appendages at the tip.