The little ferry comes to a crawl as it approaches the town's public pier in preparation to dock, the majority of the passengers already ready to disembark. The off-season crowd of humans and non-humans that frequent this route are residents of Alcan, returning from towns and cities further down the coast. None of them paying attention, or more likely ignoring the man in the flamboyant shirt filming every second of the mundane docking procedure with child-like glee in his eyes.
Despite being born in a major coastal city, Harry has never stepped foot in a boat his entire life until this morning, the off-peak price was just too good a deal for the frugal man to resist, and November is the perfect time to vacation to avoid the usual hubbub of tourists.
While the rest of the passengers make their way into town proper, Harry ambles around the pier, face glued to his phone thumbing through the various accommodations in Alcan.
"200 dollars a night?!" Harry exclaims to himself. "Isn't this supposed to be the off-season?"
"Hey!" a squeaky voice whoops.
Harry looks up from his phone and looks to his flanks, obviously he must be violating some pier policy by idling here, but to his surprise, he finds no one.
"Try down, silly," the voice pipes up again.
Looking down, he finally finds the source—the chilling face of a Great white stares back at him, only in a much smaller, and rather...compact form. The little thing can't be bigger than 4 feet, and her face bares an inquisitive grin.
"Uhh, are you lost?" Harry asked.
"Hey, I'm not some lost brat, I'm in my thirties for Pete's sake!" the feisty sharkette spits back. "Haven't you seen a Salmon shark before?"
Harry shrugs. "Well no, actually, this is my first time traveling up the coast."
"Well, you'll know an awful lot by the time you leave." The little shark winks. "I overheard you complaining about the hotel prices; it's because of the Aluminum industry always bringing in spontaneous business visits, the hotels love to exploit that kind of thing."
"Hmm, I guess that makes sense." Harry looks a bit disheartened. "I was just about to download Airbnb and—"
The sharkette jumps. "Airbnb?!" she spits on the dock in disgust. "They're all hosted by psychos, do you really want to wake up without a liver? No no no, what you really want to do is stay somewhere honest, like a good old-fashion Bed and breakfast; it's much cheaper than those hotels, too."
Harry puts his phone away. "Well, do you have any recommendations?"
She chuckles. "Yes, mine."
"Eermm...is this what you consider advertising?" Harry envisioned the shark jumping up and down at the legs of every passenger to visit this town.
"Well, I also have an ad in the paper...but it was easy in your case." She points to Harry's colorful shirt.
"I'm Mina, by the way, soo are you interested? It's only 100 dollars a night."
Harry agrees to the very fair price, and the two leave the dock.
While the scenery on the way to Alcan from the pier offers breathtaking views of the coastal mountain range, Harry quickly learns the lesson to always check the average rainfall percentage of any place he visits in the future. By the time the two arrive, Harry is completely soaked to the bone, but he's still glad to have taken the walk with Mina. In the evening light, and his own tiredness, he fails to notice the distinct lack of signage this "BnB" has. Mina opens the door for him. "Come on in, stu—uh, bud," Mina catches herself, not that Harry is wakeful enough to notice.
Inside the cozy home, Harry grabs a seat and rests from the long rain-filled walk.
"Well, what do you think, Harry?" Mina asks.
Dragging his tired eyeballs around the room, Harry sees nothing more than a very comfortable living room, though at this point he'd rather see a bedroom.
"Mmm, it's very nice," Harry murmurs sleepily.
Mina's head pops up from the kitchen and smiles, "I'm glad you like it, Harry, can I get you something to drink?"
Harry nods, though more out of politeness than any intent to actually drink a substantial amount.
Mina returns with the a glass filled nearly to the top with rum of some sort; Harry's too sleepy to question why Mina doesn't have a glass of her own. "Here you go, drink up."
Harry musters a smile and takes a swig, not wanting to be rude. The taste is surprisingly sweet and Harry takes another sip before setting the glass down.
Mina grins. "That's my special mix! I'm glad you like it."
Mina sits across from Harry, as if waiting for him to finish drinking, which Harry does after a few minutes. "So uhm...where exactly am I staying?"
"Oh, there's a bedroom upstairs, its pretty big, and there's a bathroom attached."
Harry yawns, "Mmm, that sounds lovely..." before sleep finds him a bit sooner than expected.
Awakening in a haze, Harry feels a weight sitting on his lap, seeming to be guiding his fingertips with her own. The surface it leads across feels like very rough sandpaper, until his fingers finally settle on a very soft, fleshy-feeling surface with a tiny bump in the middle.
Harry squints his eyes in the darkness and sees Mina, looking almost expectant.
"What are you doing?" Harry sleepily remarks.
Mina brings Harry's hand up to her snout, licking the tips of his fingers. "I told you I’d teach you all about Salmon sharks, didn’t I? Just lie back and let me show you."