Arya rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat, hunched ever so slightly at her desk behind the scenes of the seal and sea lion exhibit of the aquarium. She didn't mind paperwork overall, it was a necessary evil in order to do what she loved for a living, but this particular kind of paperwork was always stressful. As one of the head mammalogists, it was her responsibility to document and produce the proper paperwork to submit to the association of zoos and aquariums in order for the Sacrosanct Aquarium to keep its accreditation. She had forgone sleep the last few nights in order to make sure everything was properly in order, and it showed in dark marks highlighted underneath her eyes. The young girl was back to overworking herself, having spent her Christmas and New years at the aquarium with her pinniped family instead of with her biological one. The brunette was too exhausted to even venture out to a bar and ring in the New Year with coworkers, instead she went home and crashed, sleeping through the festivities.

Luckily for Arya, her superior had seen her struggling to write and sent her home early to get some much needed rest, assuring her he would finish what remained of the paperwork so she need not stress. It took a little convincing but finally she left, wandering out to her car and wondering what she was going to do with herself besides nap of course. The Were had the day off tomorrow as well, giving her a lot of free time which was something she was never quite good at filling. She mulled over the possibilities as she drove back to her dingy little apartment, scurrying in quick and practically collapsing in her bed as her exhaustion finally won out.

After an hour or so nap she finally awoke, feeling slightly better than before. She stretched her arms with a yawn as she waddled to her kitchen, her brown hair a mess of frizz from the pillow she had laid on. Arya grabbed some food, munching as she squinted out the window. The sun was getting lower in the sky, leaving her little daylight if she decided to venture to the beach like she wanted to. The ocean was calling her, and all the girl wanted to do was swim beneath the waves, but swimming at night was dangerous as that was when the sharks hunted and her eyesight was not adapted to darkness; plus she was absolutely terrified of the dark after a traumatizing experience when she was little. She thought about it for a minute or two before swallowing her hesitation, and her remaining food, and moving to grab a towel and some other essentials and exiting her apartment once more.

Amber eyes glanced out over the waves as she took a deep inhale of the salty breeze. The beach was relatively free of people, with most of the families with younger kids having already left. She locked up her car and began trekking farther down the sandy shore, towards a rocky area where she always found the privacy to stash her clothes and shift into her pinniped form. Most people didn't hike this far down the beach, they tended to stay closer to the pier, and the slippery rocks could be pretty dangerous to those who didn't know how to traverse them. The weight of the day and the stress of work seemed to all but melt away the second she stepped foot on the beach. She made haste through the rocks when she got to them to the spot she had found long ago, a spot high enough that the waves could not reach but pushed back enough that she would be hidden from all directions unless someone happened to be venturing along the rocks as well. She quickly slipped out of her clothes and put them in a baggie to keep them dry before she laid down and left the shift consume her form. Her muscles convulsed and turned as her body completely reshaped itself, and in a matter of minutes, where once a petite girl lay, a plump seal now lay in her place.

Her fat body took a bit of maneuvering through the rocks as she galumphed down into the cold water. Arya was much more graceful in the water than when she was on land. She shot through the water, her back flippers propelling her as she spun with delight. Arya was never happier, nor more in her element than she was when she was swimming free in the ocean. Fish darted around her in fear as she made her way down the beach towards a kelp forest, gliding in and out of the tapestry of undersea trees, surfacing to breath every so often. Amber eyes caught the outline of another seal gliding by as she spun and chased in curiosity. As she broke through the kelp, she collided with a dark form of another mammal, though this was not one the kind she had been seeking. She blinked for a minute at the large black shape, before she was able to decipher it as a human diver and that her right flipper was entangled in the net he was carrying.

Before she could free herself and back up to get away from the diver, she heard the angry muttering of human words behind a oxygen mask followed a sharp pain in her side making her body jerk from the pain. A bark of pain released precious oxygen as she reeled with the reality that the man had shot her in the side with his speargun now impeded in her side, her blood beginning to paint the water red. Her mind was racing with fear and panic as she tried to get away, but was now both hooked by the harpoon and stuck in his net. Perhaps he was mad at her for running into him, or felt that this seal threatened to steal his catch as he was an underwater fisherman, but in his anger he had shot her. She tried to use her affinity to calm him, but she was too panicked herself and overwhelmed by the pain shooting through her body each time she moved. The man yanked back on the rope of the harpoon hurting her more and causing more blood to seep into the water, seemingly unwilling to cut the rope and lose the metal imbedded in her when she would swim away. Her fear rose as he pulled out a knife, watching him with big amber eyes as he began to cut away at the net holding her flipper. She tried her best to stay still and let him cut her free, but he still carelessly sliced her flipper with the knife, causing her to jerk once more. When her flipper was free, she watched as he reached for the metal, realizing he was simply going to rip the harpoon out of her she panicked and bolted, yanking the harpoon gun from his hands and dragging it behind her as adrenaline took her far from the diver, a streak of red following behind her.

She wasn't sure the distance she had covered until her adrenaline ran low and fatigue started to set in, forcing her to the surface for both oxygen and a break. She could feel the weight of the gun pulling down on the harpoon sunken deep in her flesh. Thankfully she had a thick layer of blubber to protect her from it hitting any vital organ, but it was still in pretty deep and with every movement was tearing the flesh and causing more pain and bleeding. Her breathing was labored as she looked around, the sky turning orange as the sun begins to set. She was long passed the pier, far from her clothes and her car. Even if she managed to make it back to her clothes there was no way she could shift forms, and if she went to the beach and got rescued, she couldn't afford to be stuck in a rehabilitation center for injured wildlife. Arya was unsure of her options, and time was ticking with her body always being slow at healing and struggling to stop the bleeding with a harpoon moving its barbs and creating more damage. She was already in danger with blood seeping into the water making her a big target for any sharks in the area, and as nightfall drew nearer the danger became greater. Amber eyes scanned down the beach, for something, anything, when she saw a large familiar shape in the distance. The Ark. If she could make it there, she might be able to find some help.

She took a deep breath and started swimming as fast as she could, but with her adrenaline gone the pain was searing. Luckily the metal of the harpoon in her side wasn't silver, but it still hurt with how her body had to move in order to swim and how deeply it was impeded in her. It was slow going, and the fatigue of blood loss had really started to set in, but eventually she came up next to the side of the massive ship. As she surfaced, amber eyes found a boat loading area where she would be able to get out of the water relatively easily She tediously threw her body on shore, getting out of the water as it was far too dark for her liking. She slowly hobbled as close to the ship's entrance as possible, pain shooting through her with each flop of her large frame and the speargun dragging behind her. When she was as close as she could possibly muster, she stopped, resting her head on the ground. 'Well here goes nothing,' she thought, before releasing a loud,guttural roar like sound. It wasn't....pleasant sounding, which is why she refrained from making the noise as it didn't seem like it could come from such a cute face. She hoped someone would hear it and come investigate, Tetradore, Matteo, even one of his pack. Amber eyes closed after a bit and her sounds died down. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep right now.