Above pic is kinda how Dani feels right now ;-)

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Exhibition

"Let's get to the water! Been standing around long enough, let's see what our precious new addition looks like," Dave suddenly said in a loud voice. "She's a person you know, stop treating her like she's some zoo animal!" Dev exclaimed angrily, jumping to my defense. I heard Thomas McLaren, the McLaren patriarch concur with his son, saying in more tactical fashion that he expected everyone to treat me with respect and give me space while swimming.

We headed down to the beach where I saw that the boat was already loaded with coolers and blankets and such. Mariana was still in clothing and so was Clara so I figured they wouldn't be swimming, a moment I contemplated asking if I could ride in the boat but that would only delay the inevitable. Matt and Orly and Dev would watch out for me, and those guys weren't animals, there was no reason to assume they'd just attack me.

The older Corenth, Clayton was riding in the boat and he climbed in before it was pulled into sea. The Corenth guys were stripping down right in front of me, without a single care that I got to see them in all their naked glory. They were casting me glances while they did so, as if either gauging to see if I liked what I saw or maybe felt inclined to just strip for the swim like that myself. No way in hell.

Matt then stepped in front of me and blocked the line of sight, for which I was really grateful. "Mariana, you'll help Dani with the transformation?" Dev was holding out a wrap to me that I didn't know and I quickly tied it around my middle, stepped behind the boat for as much privacy as possible and shimmied out of my shorts and panties. Thankfully I'd thought to put on a bikini top so taking my shirt off was no issue.

Hearing splashes I saw that Orly, Thomas and the Corenth's had all gotten into the water and transformed. Dev was just diving in but Matt was still in his shorts on shore and busying himself with tossing lines out to the men in the water to pull the boat into the surf. Casting me glances from the corner of his eye every time he paced close to me.

"Okay guess I'm ready," I told Orly's wife and she waded a little into the surf with me. In ten seconds you could get in deep enough that the transformation became less awkward, I'd be able to float and swim off right away. I was keenly aware this time of the change wrenching through my body because six pairs of eyes were on me that I didn't know plus Matt watching me. As soon as I was floating in the shallows I pulled off the wrap, tossed it in the air and let the water evaporate from it as it made it's way into Mariana's waiting hands.

There was applause and then right in front of me a splash as Matt suddenly dove in, his body naked as it cut through the air and then transformed as it sliced into the water. He'd chosen his spot to transform with care so he was between me and the rest which meant there was not a single moment I was without his protection when we pushed off from the shallows and dove under.

On our way towards the Moonfell I stuck to Matt's wake in the water, swimming almost touching close. Dev and Orly flanked us while the Corenths, all except Josh the other middle aged man, circled around, dropping back, overtaking so they could get a good look at me.

I was the only one who needed to go up for air of course but Matt always anticipated that, shooting to the surface with me each time. The first time he reached for me with his arm, clearly intending to anchor me to his body while we breathed but I only needed one good lungful so I dodged by sinking back under.

That clearly annoyed him because instead of sinking back down he slashed his tail hard and breached fully in a show of strength and skill. He came back down just in time to cut off Gavin, the oldest Corenth son from moving in on me. After that Matt didn't try again to make a move on me and didn't even breach the surface when I went to breathe, though he did escort me up he'd stick just below the surface and kept watch to prevent anyone from approaching.

When we reached the Moonfell I figured the risk was over, no one would try anything with a whole crowd gathered. So I separated from Matt to pull myself up on the ledge and sit with Dev and Mariana who had already arrived with the boat and gotten in through the surface entrance along with Clara and Clayton the oldest Corenth man.

Matt followed me only to be cut off by Dave Corenth who sunk himself onto the ledge just before Matt could on my free side. I caught the annoyance and the worry on his face just before he turned away to settle close by with the eldest two Corenth sons.

By the end of the evening, when we'd spend hours already at the Moonfell sharing a fantastic picnic Matt had supplied from the Stonefish's kitchens, I was tired and thoroughly fed up with the Corenths. Each of the family members, except for Josh, had all spend some time at my side, introducing themselves and then trying to impress me in some way.

Gavin for instance told me he was the best diver there was, confidently stating that he'd done more deep sea dives than any of the McLaren men had been on. While Clay, the middle brother insisted he was faster than anyone and that he always won the sea racing competitions they put on when all the merfamilies gathered. George was kind of sweet in telling me mostly that he and Dev used to be great friends and that it would be kind of awesome to live nearby. So we could all hang out more.

I thought it was just the youngest generation, the guys around my age that would be vying for my attention but Dave had kicked it all off by speaking expansively about his lively business and how rich he was. Which made me feel really awkward, did he seriously think I'd be interested in him when there were so many guys closer to my age to pick from? He was older than my dad was for crying out loud!

He talked a mile an hour for the longest time though, not just promoting himself but his sons too. I felt more and more uncomfortable with the situation and tried to extract myself more than once. Managing a few moments here and there with Mariana and Clara and an almost relaxing moment talking with just Dev and George. That wasn't so bad.

I didn't even try to avoid Matt at this point, actually preferring his angry, moody glaring over the clingy over the top come on's the other Corenth's were putting on me each time they managed to corner me for conversation. Clearly by design though, the Corenths seemed to continuously maneuver to keep him away from me.

The entire evening was driving me insane and certainly not improving my view on the male gender.

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Sorry people, short one! But... I might be persuaded to update again tomorrow! :-)

Much love,

Robin