Thx Scoot for another great Flash Fiction Friday prompt. Mermaids again!

Under the C-Suite

When Brad was in B-school at UCLA he dreamed of running a studio. But to him that meant Star Wars. Robert Redford. Not cartoons. Now here he was years later helming a sinking ship of an animation shop. As angry waves, and shareholders, lapped at the deck, the company was one stiff breeze from capsizing. Brad’s creative team had one last hail Mary. With help from legal.

“Boss, we think we can push trademark law right up to the limit with a couple tweaks to the competition’s time-loved characters. Allow me to introduce, Zariel.”

The flaks produced a mockup of a hideous sea creature consisting of the head of a halibut with long, languorous female human legs.

“We think this is fair use. Plus, Google says this is actually the scientifically more likely configuration of such a hybrid.”

Brad was not buying it. The churning stillness of his gut erupted into a loud gurgle as he gulped down a handful of Tums.

“Not believable,” he croaked.

“Well, let us show you our next concept. Handsome dude with female Beast. Latest data from Tinder suggests this is …”

“Please, no.” Brad interrupted, contemplating the lifeboats, thinking why hadn’t he gone into consulting or big pharma like his smarter MBA classmates?