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Description

Lili yawned in boredom as she stared out towards the sea. For the past month, she had been stuck with the Mermaids Tail, which meant she had had to resort to using a wheelchair in order to get around Phoenix Nest. Alas that meant that she was stuck on shore until such a time that her situation changed. She would have gone to talk to Ben about doing something. Anything even, but a big commission had been posted not too long after they had gotten back from their ill fated journey, and it was all hands on deck. As far as she knew, it would be some time before they got back. Until then, all she could do was wait and hope that the leads that Ava was pursuing would lead to a solution that would rid her of the Mermaids Tail once and for all.

Trying and failing to stiful yet another yawn, her eyes began to wonder over to the headquarters of the nests salvagers guild.

Dear gods, am I that desperate to do something I’m considering paperwork of all things.

Looking out towards the horizon one more time, she gave in to the inevitable, before reaching down to the wheels and started to maneuver herself towards the building.

****

It was the first time that Lili had been inside the guild building. For the most part, she and Ben had spent their time on the docks, helping to unload the hauls of the different salvage teams, while the more experienced shared their wisdom to the greenhorns. There had been one time when they had accompanied one team on a seemingly easy run (at least until a storm had forced them to turn back and Ben had almost been lost to sea when he went overboard), but it had only been recently that Darien had assigned the pair their own boat and sent them to the Rusted Archipelago to test their worth.

Some trip that turned out to be.

Looking around, she was rather surprised to see that the place was a complete mess. Stacks of documents were scattered all over the place, and she had to make her way through quite a few obstructions.

“Lili! This is an unexpected surprise. What brings you down here?”

Lili glanced up to see the chief seemingly materials from out of nowhere, but considering the amount of items stocked up, there were plenty of places where he could remain out of sight.

“Well it's not like I have much to do at the moment. Not when I'm effectively confined to this wheelchair.”

A twinge of pity morphed onto his face before shaking it off.

“Trust me girl, I know that feeling all too well. How do you think I ended up here in the first place?”

Lili couldn’t help but giggle slightly at that. He was right. Darien was probably the only person who knew exactly how she was feeling right now.

“I’m amazed you can find anything in all of this? Was it always this messy when you take over, or is that your own personal touch?”

“HA! I’ll have you know that this “mess” as you call it is organized chaos. I know precisely where to find what I need. Usually…”

“Apparently. Still, a little organization wouldn’t kill you would it? It does make it tricky to navigate through this place.”

“Hmmm,” Darien pondered as he looked round. “Ok, you may have a point there. It's not like I have anything else to do for the time being, and certainly the company of a young maiden such as yourself is a bonus. Anything you want me to do before I get started?”

“Maybe whack this stupid fish for cuasing me all this grief would be nice.”

“Say no more. Take this you scourge of the seas.”

With over exaggerated theatrics that she expected from the eccentric leader, he wound up his arm before giving a solid punch to the Mermaids Tail.

“OWWWWW! When I said punch it I wasn’t expecting you to punch that hard!” Lili winced as she tried to rub the sore spot where he had hit her.

“Hard? Oh come girl, I think you're being a tad over dramatic. As if you could feel that punch through that thing.”

The moment Darien had uttered those words, a sense of dread overcame Lili. Tentatively, she began to poke and prod different sections of the Mermaids Tail.

“Lili?” asked Darien, noticing the increasing hestera that was building in Lili.

“I… can feel that. Oh Gods, I can feel that!”

She began poking and prodding the Mermaids Tail harder and more frequently, trying desperately to deny what she was feeling. Pain. Pain as if she had been stuck on her own flesh.

****

Ava looked at the results of the latest scan with a frown. The first time she had thought the scan had been wrong, but after the second and third returned with the same results, there was nothing more that she could do than to accept the results as truth, as impossible as it was.

“Or could it be that this scenario happens so rarely that no one knew about this,” she thought to herself before turning round to face a visibly upset Lili and Darien.

“So Doc. Do you have any blasted idea as to what is going on with her? I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

“I am not surprised. There’s no records to suggest such a thing could happen, or at least record that I would put stock in. From a medical viewpoint this is fascinating. From a more personal point… I’m not sure how to explain this delicately.”

“Just tell me straight. What’s happening to me?”

Ava sighed heavily as she considered how best to explain the situation to the two. There was no easy way to do it, and be the end of it all, Lili was going to have a breakdown. There was no avoiding it.

“The Mermaids Tail appears to have connected to your nervous system. What it scenes, you scene, but at this point I’m not sure there is a Mermaids Tail anymore.”

“Not a… what nonsense are you blathering on about Doc?” demanded Darien.

“The scans show that the Mermaids Tail has almost completely merged with you, and it's showing almost no sign of the fish’s own internal organs. That is to say that it is no longer a case of you having a Mermaid’s Tail swallowing the lower half of your body. It has become so integrated into your body that... that… IS… your lower body, and honestly I have reasons to believe that this is only the start.

Lili was almost catatonic as the words registered in her mind, and at the center of it all was that her life would never be the same ever again.

Description

Lili yawned in boredom as she stared out towards the sea. For the past month, she had been stuck with the Mermaids Tail, which meant she had had to resort to using a wheelchair in order to get around Phoenix Nest. Alas that meant that she was stuck on shore until such a time that her situation changed. She would have gone to talk to Ben about doing something. Anything even, but a big commission had been posted not too long after they had gotten back from their ill fated journey, and it was all hands on deck. As far as she knew, it would be some time before they got back. Until then, all she could do was wait and hope that the leads that Ava was pursuing would lead to a solution that would rid her of the Mermaids Tail once and for all.

Trying and failing to stiful yet another yawn, her eyes began to wonder over to the headquarters of the nests salvagers guild.

Dear gods, am I that desperate to do something I’m considering paperwork of all things.

Looking out towards the horizon one more time, she gave in to the inevitable, before reaching down to the wheels and started to maneuver herself towards the building.

****

It was the first time that Lili had been inside the guild building. For the most part, she and Ben had spent their time on the docks, helping to unload the hauls of the different salvage teams, while the more experienced shared their wisdom to the greenhorns. There had been one time when they had accompanied one team on a seemingly easy run (at least until a storm had forced them to turn back and Ben had almost been lost to sea when he went overboard), but it had only been recently that Darien had assigned the pair their own boat and sent them to the Rusted Archipelago to test their worth.

Some trip that turned out to be.

Looking around, she was rather surprised to see that the place was a complete mess. Stacks of documents were scattered all over the place, and she had to make her way through quite a few obstructions.

“Lili! This is an unexpected surprise. What brings you down here?”

Lili glanced up to see the chief seemingly materials from out of nowhere, but considering the amount of items stocked up, there were plenty of places where he could remain out of sight.

“Well it's not like I have much to do at the moment. Not when I'm effectively confined to this wheelchair.”

A twinge of pity morphed onto his face before shaking it off.

“Trust me girl, I know that feeling all too well. How do you think I ended up here in the first place?”

Lili couldn’t help but giggle slightly at that. He was right. Darien was probably the only person who knew exactly how she was feeling right now.

“I’m amazed you can find anything in all of this? Was it always this messy when you take over, or is that your own personal touch?”

“HA! I’ll have you know that this “mess” as you call it is organized chaos. I know precisely where to find what I need. Usually…”

“Apparently. Still, a little organization wouldn’t kill you would it? It does make it tricky to navigate through this place.”

“Hmmm,” Darien pondered as he looked round. “Ok, you may have a point there. It's not like I have anything else to do for the time being, and certainly the company of a young maiden such as yourself is a bonus. Anything you want me to do before I get started?”

“Maybe whack this stupid fish for cuasing me all this grief would be nice.”

“Say no more. Take this you scourge of the seas.”

With over exaggerated theatrics that she expected from the eccentric leader, he wound up his arm before giving a solid punch to the Mermaids Tail.

“OWWWWW! When I said punch it I wasn’t expecting you to punch that hard!” Lili winced as she tried to rub the sore spot where he had hit her.

“Hard? Oh come girl, I think you're being a tad over dramatic. As if you could feel that punch through that thing.”

The moment Darien had uttered those words, a sense of dread overcame Lili. Tentatively, she began to poke and prod different sections of the Mermaids Tail.

“Lili?” asked Darien, noticing the increasing hestera that was building in Lili.

“I… can feel that. Oh Gods, I can feel that!”

She began poking and prodding the Mermaids Tail harder and more frequently, trying desperately to deny what she was feeling. Pain. Pain as if she had been stuck on her own flesh.

****

Ava looked at the results of the latest scan with a frown. The first time she had thought the scan had been wrong, but after the second and third returned with the same results, there was nothing more that she could do than to accept the results as truth, as impossible as it was.

“Or could it be that this scenario happens so rarely that no one knew about this,” she thought to herself before turning round to face a visibly upset Lili and Darien.

“So Doc. Do you have any blasted idea as to what is going on with her? I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

“I am not surprised. There’s no records to suggest such a thing could happen, or at least record that I would put stock in. From a medical viewpoint this is fascinating. From a more personal point… I’m not sure how to explain this delicately.”

“Just tell me straight. What’s happening to me?”

Ava sighed heavily as she considered how best to explain the situation to the two. There was no easy way to do it, and be the end of it all, Lili was going to have a breakdown. There was no avoiding it.

“The Mermaids Tail appears to have connected to your nervous system. What it scenes, you scene, but at this point I’m not sure there is a Mermaids Tail anymore.”

“Not a… what nonsense are you blathering on about Doc?” demanded Darien.

“The scans show that the Mermaids Tail has almost completely merged with you, and it's showing almost no sign of the fish’s own internal organs. That is to say that it is no longer a case of you having a Mermaid’s Tail swallowing the lower half of your body. It has become so integrated into your body that... that… IS… your lower body, and honestly I have reasons to believe that this is only the start.

Lili was almost catatonic as the words registered in her mind, and at the center of it all was that her life would never be the same ever again.