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Shake It, Sharky! - by Amethystine (Normal sexual content disclaimers apply)

-A Mini-Story, based on this picture:

Art by IceHeartedLion, on FA. To visit his posting of this picture and give him kudos on it, go here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4554173/

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While 'psychedelic' and 'funky fresh' are not terms the average person would normally conjure up, in any circumstance, they were rather apt for describing the dark den of dance that was 'The Tank'. And before it has another influx of military enthusiast guests show up, let me clear that up: It's a fish tank, not a mobile armored vehicle with treads and a cannon.

Any confusion aside, the name of the establishment was very apropos, as it certainly did contain an aquarium large and grandiose enough to be affixed with a presumptuous "The" and a capital letter 'T', signifying its prominence. It also contained other, smaller tanks and pools and tubs all over the splash-safe interior. Pools lighted with different coloured neon, that pulsed with the beat of the music, each pool like a dance floor. The music throbbed and came from all angles, the bass boosted to carry through the immense amount of liquid in the main tank and other bodies of water.

Of the pools, there were shallow ones, built for non-swimmers to hop around in. Hooved creatures and other ill-equipped or unwilling-for-wetness club-goers were in those ones, happily trotting about in the kiddy-pool-like level of liquid. There were medium depth ones, where the water was at about shoulder-height to most anthros, where most more humanoid or semi-suited individuals were swinging and swishing together. Dogs and cats and their cousins and kin shook their tails in there, but were put to shame by those in the last 'pool'.

The last pool, up on a higher level that took up one quarter of the room, was deep enough to require that added height. It was filled to the brim with the real meat of the club's clientele: Amphibians, bipedal aquatic anthros and reptiles that went well with the water were making the deep pool's walls swell and its surface surge. Frogs, otters, snakes, salamanders, turtles and a host of legged anthro species that might have normally been confined to water completely, like dolphins or orcas or any number of humanoid fish and other underwater life. They looped and swooped through that pool, playing as seals do, in the water.. several seals even being present to show the other species how it was done! They moved to the music, fluid, flowing dancing, flapping their flippers to the beat.

'The Tank' itself, the fixture for which the place was named, was in the middle of it all, based at the bottom of the multi-level expanse, but also extended upwards so that the top, where the surface lay, was on the same level as the top of the 'Deep' pool. The massive aquarium loomed over the lower levels and drew attention from everywhere else in the building. It was built using four of the roof's support pillars, after the building had been gutted to make room for the mostly hollow space that was the club. Spaced evenly around the midst of the structure, the pillars created a 40 by 40 by 40 cube of water.

The Tank was not for any being that couldn't easily live in the ocean, and was packed with 'full tailed' fish, anthros that had a mer-style body-type.. humanoid, yet animalistic upper bodies and almost totally natural lower halves. Eels, sharks, dolphins and moderately sized orcas, mantas, mermaids, octopi and squid, even the occasional crustacean! They made the graceful group in the 'Deep' pool look like drowning victims in comparison!

Those who were suited to that tank, though, had to be brought in by their friends, or, more often, were brought in and treated like guests for the evening, rather than paying customers. The draw of The Tank was to see the living liquid rave of sorts that took place in the giant reservoir, and the management would do what it took to secure the proper species of party animal!

While there was a small swim-up bar built into the top of the back side of The Tank, always staffed by a squid or octopus, there was also a bar on the normal floor, that served the majority of the club's customers. From said standard bar, potent potables were ported about the large space by bikini- and speedo-clad servers, who tended to be of the type of creature who would hang out in the deep pool. Strong swimmers, the lot of them, they were all fully qualified life guards! They wore goggles to complete the image of scantily clad swim-team members, the eye protection not being unwelcome while working all night in the pulsing lights of the club.

Lights and lasers lanced through the air, refracting in the reservoirs of water that dotted the internal geography of the establishment. The constantly shifting surfaces themselves were each a unique light show in and of themselves, at times.

And in one corner, spinning her own latest track, L.E.D., was DJ Sharktopus, otherwise known as Netsuko. The unique musician was a mixture of marine maidens, described as 'part shark, part octopus, and a whole lotta lady!'.. possessing a bipedal shark's body with four octopus tentacles sprouting from her back. Her long shark tail was also altered into something of a shark-finned tenta-tail, lined with suckers, just like the tendrils.. not to mention a number of other areas of her body.

The tentacled twister of tunes was on lone from her own club, 'The Ink Spot', and, as usual, was putting her long, limber limbs to good use, the suction-cup-lined legs did most of the music-making while her humanoid hands and arms danced.. and kept her copious curves from contacting the constantly rotating records. The hybrid's heavy chest was barely contained and restrained by the tiny black bikini, its thin straps sunken within her ample flesh, so as to be nearly indiscernible in the dimly lighted club.

While she was perfectly comfortable on land, Netsu was known to take dips in the main tank or the smaller mixing pools after her sets were over. She had been frequently been spotted in her octo-mer form, where she had a mostly human upper half, with a full set of octopus limbs below. She had been rumoured to take up an entire hot-tub in that form, reserving one such space for herself as part of the payment for her show. It was also said that the other part of that agreement was for the club's management to provide at least four fellows to fill out the heated water of the tight little tub. "A collection of cute, but 'clumsy in the water', guys" was what they said she liked. She enjoyed teasing the land-lubber lads, they said.

It was also said that the management encouraged such behaviour!

So, it's little wonder that no one batted an eye when that shark and that girl began to...

But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

~~~

AcePrion, the blue shark, swam up to the bar, coming up from a long stint in the depths of the tank, dancing to the music to his heart's content. He had just let the beat take him away while more Tankers showed up. 'Tankers' were those of the customers that stayed in the tank almost all night, and the slender fish fellow surmised that enough had waltzed their way into the water by then for him to try to strike up a conversation. Well, they would have been brought in and slipped into the tank via the small shallow area that was an offshoot of the top of the tank. From afar, it looked like the tank had a clear spout that linked up to the upper level of the club, where legged staffers would frequently lug a legless lady or lad over to lay them down in the lapping liquid of the shallow entry-way into the tank.

No matter their mode of transportation, he did indeed see several sweet sea-sirens he deemed prime for passes.

A pair of dolphin girls were his first stop. He had hoped they were twins looking for a man who could handle both at once.. but it turned out that they were there together.. as a couple! The shark received a disdainful splash as they dove away to dance, dirtily. The sharp-toothed one thought to himself about trying harder to tell porpoises apart, but the idea was lost as he leered at the two bottle-beaks brewing up a beautiful little scene below. As much as he could have watched them all night long, Ace felt he could do better than being a spectator of someone else's fun.

The shark attempted to proposition a seal girl.. if only he could catch her! She lead him on a merry chase through the crowd in The Tank, amid the pulsing lights and pounding music that shot through the water, their bodies twisting as they streaked about in the water, illuminated in silhouette one moment, then shone upon directly the next. After a fair try and her encouragement about what the predator might get to do to her if he caught her, Ace realized that she could turn too quickly, and decided she had the advantage. Resolving to corner the pinniped at a later time, Ace moved on once more.

After some more quick shut-downs from a manta ray, another shark and a manatee (the last one was a misunderstanding, but to be shot down by a _manatee?!_), the blue shark was feeling a bit less than appreciated. He slunk back up to the bar and ordered a drink, which the squid nodded to, grabbing the shark's order while still mixing another, more complex beverage for someone else, with his many limbs.

Picking up his simple shot glass, he held onto it, idly watching the quick movements of the squid's tentacles as they made the fanciest drink he'd ever seen.

"Isn't that just like a shark, holding onto one meal but eying another, bigger one?" came a soft voice, with a slight titter of laughter.

Only when the bartender extended one boneless arm out to give up his masterpiece to the one that ordered it did Ace notice her.

A seahorse.

Or.. 'The Seahorse', he almost wanted to proclaim, with a thought to the club he was in.

She was.. perfect, so slender and smooth, yet with the ridged flesh of her species, her delicate fins splayed out beautifully into a halo of what looked like hair, even above the water, at the bar. Her dainty hands held the glass she had been handed as though it was rather weighty, one set of slim fingers curled around the bottom of the clear conveyor of lilac and lavender-coloured liquor.

Ace said the first thing he could think of, considering how awestruck and absorbed in her appearance he was, it's surprising how apropos to the situation it turned out to be. "I want to have your babies."

"That can be arranged, you know.." she said slyly, before beginning to take a rather long drink from her cocktail as Ace continued to stare at her, now half smiling at her playful banter.

When she eventually finished the super-sized sip, she glanced at him. "I know what you're thinking.." she said, politely covering her tiny mouth at the end of her elongated snout, "but it's rude to stare.. even if I do drink like a fish!"

Ace cracked up.. a bit too much. He tried to get his somewhat nervous, somewhat relieved laughter under control, thinking about how expertly she had given him an out for his gawking. She had probably been taking a long sip to allow him to look away during it, even!

To steady himself and give back to her as good as she gave, he hastily replied, "No no, dear, you couldn't possibly.. _I_ drink like a fish!" He slammed back the shot, but was so preoccupied with the fine female before him, that he forgot to manage the swallow as he should have, a diluted brown-coloured mess almost gushed out of his gills. He swore a little and quickly rubbed down his neck with wet hands from the water they floated in.

Among fits of giggles, the girl gasped, "You're right, that's exactly how a fish would drink!"

The shark stuttered and tried to explain that he was going to take a few more shots and.. then he stopped, realizing he could have also claimed to have sent the liquor back out of his gills on purpose. Groaning, he leaned down against the bar to bemoan his bad luck. "I've lost all my game, I can't do anything right tonight."

The Seahorse shifted her sinuous body slowly and deliberately, as they always did. Ace had always felt it was because they were so small and fragile.. but, at least in will and spirit, this one he had met was as strong as any whale. She re-coiled her tail around the bar-stool to rotate herself to face the fin-festooned fellow more formally. She came to rest in another perfect pose, appearing to Ace as though she was straight out of a classic film, the way she had seated herself and casually held her drink. He was beginning to see the method to their methodical manners. Were all of her kind so poised, all the time?

"So, if you lost your game, maybe you should start over at level 1," she said, simply.

Ace stared at her.. then blinked.

"Or maybe the tutorial?" she quipped, smirking to herself before holding out her free hand, her right hand. "I'm C.C. Like the Sea.. Sea," she explained, smiling.

"Oh! Um, Ace," said the shark, finally catching the metaphor of starting over that he had previously fumbled. "It's my pleasure, C.C."

Grinning, C.C. nodded, thanking him and announcing, "Good job! Go to the next level. Do you want to dance?"

Caught by surprise, Ace looked his new companion's form up and down, again unsure about how hearty the horse of the sea could really be. "Well, yes.. I would like to, but I don't think you.. and I.."

"You don't think we can, safely, right?" She leaned in close to him.. her hand, oh so slight, alighting upon his shoulder, almost imperceptible through his thick skin. Her tail, unwound at the very end of the tapered length, brushed over his claspers. While he appreciated the idea of her touching upon his most intimate of regions, the tenderness of the contact didn't instill him with confidence.

Her long snout slid up alongside his own thick, pointed head, and she whispered to him, "I've had a few Aces up my sleeve before, honey!"

And with that, her tail whipped around his own and tugged, enough to dislodge him from the bar above, her hand on his shoulder suddenly digging into his heavy hide.

The shark gasped, learning not to judge books by their covers. He just hoped the particular book he was flipping through at that moment, which he had thought was all about frills and lace would turn out to be about relationships, and not a true crime work, or a recounting of a notably nasty natural disaster.

"Let's dance!" they said, nearly in unison. C.C., as an order and Ace as a quick concession of her point.

And dance they did.

~

Oh, and if what they ended up doing against the glass, right in front of the shallow pool, was any indication, the aforementioned metaphorical book of their time together was more like a Harlequin romance!