Sage sort of hovered in the tank, listening to the men talk. He heard one say, "good.....hell fetch a pretty price." And another, something about an auction. He heard an agreement, and they started setting up a stand and ..other stuff, but by then he was too terrified and hot and...weak....to really understand it all. But he did hear someone say 'done" and another man announce some kind of auction to the people on the beach. Wait...were they selling him?! He struggled again when they lifted him from the small tank and up onto the stand, tying him by his wrists to a pole. He was panting heavily by then, and his panic only increased when the highest bidder after around ten minutes of activity was a butcher from town.

She went back home with her dog in the passenger seat, his nose sticking out of the barely opened window. He really was a happy dog.

When she went inside the mansion she called home, she didn't bother calling out to see if someone was home. Lydia already knew that her Dad went out to the butchers to get Duke some more fresh salmon bison mix. Only the best for her baby, so only the best butcher would cut it. Sadly though, he was all the way across town, and her Dad liked to talk. The butcher was an excellent salesperson and always got her dad to buy a few more things.

Sage sort of just stared there, panicking, until he did actually end up getting handed off to the butcher. He gulped and tried to fight, but he was just too hot, too weak. The butcher pulled him by the wrists along the pavement until they reached his shop, where he tied him to one of the tables off to the side. Sage was breathing heavily, and it was only made worse when the butcher string something through the gills on the side of his neck and wound that to the table too. He could feel blood running down his arms and neck, and from where he'd scraped against the pavement. But his head was lolling, and he was pretty much on the verge of passing out when a man walked in. "Is he for sale," he heard. The butcher said yes, if he'd pay enough. "Let me call my daughter, Lydia" the first voice said. "She may want a plaything like this."

"Hey Dad? What's up?" Lydia said in confusion when her Dad called. He never called when he was doing something. "Are they out of salmon again?"

"No sweetheart, I want to know if you want mermaid man for your new fish tank?" Her Dad asked calmly. Lydia had recently gotten a large portion of her wall removed to make room for a giant fish tank. It was about 200 ft. long and maybe 175 ft. wide. It had a height of about 180 ft. tall. Not only that, but it then went over, and a whole new room was made on top of hers so that it could be extended from there. The room on top was huge, about as big as a master bedroom X2, almost as big as Lydia's room.

"What condition is it in? And can you pick up a few more fishes and things to put in for added texture?" She asked. Lydia didn't want a merman who was in horrible shape...

Sage tried to pay attention to the conversation, though he let out a furious, alibet weak, hiss at the man when he kicked at his tail. "he's strung up like a fish, and out of water...he'll be fine once he's in a tank," the man told Lydia with a shrug. "it's that or the butcher's block for him, and such a prize catch would go to you whole," he added on. "Think what people would pay to see him," he added. Sage hissed again but the men simply laughed at him. "You could always come down and see for yourself," he added. "Bring the bigger trunk. If we bring him back we'll need to fit him in a car."

"Send me a pic," she said then quietly, "I'm really sweaty right now and Duke is lying on my lap, I can't drive..." She admitted.

The dark brown doberman was lying on her lap like nothing had ever happened, he enjoyed every minute with Lydia, and Lydia had mutual feelings. She loved that dog.

As soon as her Dad sent the pic, she sent a yes back, he was in a bit of rough condition, but with a little fish in the tank and some fake plants, it would look so cool!

But, Lydia slightly felt bad for him. He was tied of their like that, and he might need a few weeks to heal. Lydia could clearly hear his hiss, and decided that she wouldn't let people come and see him, he wanted privacy and that would happen.

"Dad can you ask him his name and what kind of fish and ocean plants are his favourites, oh and tell the butcher to untie him and put him in a tank!" She wanted the tank to be perfect for the new arrival.

Sage had exhausted all his energy by the time the girl had said yes...so when the butcher slit the cords holding him to the table, he sort of just collapsed on the floor, wheezing as the bretah was knocked out of his lungs as his gills strained against the rope, which was stilla round him. He was tossed in a bucket of water along with some fish and plants, and then eventually they pulled up to a large house.

(Short, I gotta run lol)

Its ok-

When she got there, she made sure to go out and get the fish person herself.

She quickly loaded the smaller, but still quite large, fish tank onto a wheelbarrow and rand outside with the fish tank. Once she got outside she dumped the bucket into the almost full fish tank for a bit.

"You may be in here for a bit, but I got to get your tank set up, by the way, what was your name and your favourite water plants?" Lydia asked the merman. "Oh, and what types of fishes do you want in with you?"

Sage let out a surprised yelp when the girl grabbed him and stuck him in the wheelbarrow, and then dumped him into a bigger tank. It was still quite small though, and he wriggled around as best he could with cord still in his gills and tying his hands together. The small space made it very difficult...but he eventually got himself right side up, and he looked around, definitely still in a panic as he peered around, heart threatening to beat out of his chest. It was gettting harder to breathe, too, now that he was actually having to use his gills now. He tried to focus on the girl and answer her questions, but all he could do was a kind of terrified wheeze and head shake. What was going on? What was going to happen to him? Who was she? He didn't understand it...and besides, he didn't really care what was in the tank...it wasn't the ocean.

Lydia saw the cords and realized that she was going to have to kill that butcher.

"Hold still." She commanded as she grabbed a pocket knife and cut the cord off, "I'm not going to hurt you. Plus, you can't go back to the ocean in your state." She observed. Even a blind person could see that he was in no state to survive the ocean. "Please, tell me your name, I'm Lydia."