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Description
Woman: Marjoleinart Stock
Goldfish: Greeneyezz

Maria walked through the amazing garden. The wonderful feel of Japan was everywhere from the amazing hand-made wooden buildings (no iron nails here) to the sand gardens (with their stone islands and carefully laid out waves of sand) to peaceful pools (with ever so many large carp swimming about). She'd been wandering about for hours, looking at everything; absorbing the ambience. She'd started in the cool of the morning but now it was nearing mid afternoon and was getting hot. She looked longingly at one of the pools and crossed a small wooden bridge and sat with her feet tucked under her.

"Beware the fish," came an ancient voice.
"Uh? What?" was Maria's carefully worded response.
"Fish magic. No touch. Okay?"

Maria looked for the source of the voice. It was an elderly man, very short and very oriental. He was wearing a kimono and clearly was one of the staff though his kimono was not in the same pattern as the others. It seemed an ancient cut somehow. Maria wasn't sure how she knew that, she just did. She looked down at the water.

"I was just going to dangle my feet in the water a moment," she replied.

There was no response. The old man had disappeared as if by magic. She looked about and didn't see him anywhere. She was a bit puzzled. He didn't look as if he could walk at much more than a very sedate pace. How could he have gotten so far away so quickly? Well, never mind. Magic fish? That was the stuff of fairy tales not real life. She'd not hurt the fish if she just stuck her feet in the water.

The water was wonderfully cool and she swished her legs mid calf in the water, dumping her heat, cooling in their pleasant chill. She looked down and saw a huge carp had come up to the bridge and was floating within arm's length. Without thinking, she reached down. The carp moved forward and nudged her hand then quickly swam away.

'Well, I'd best get going,' she thought.

As she tried to get up, she made a most unwelcome discovery. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, her legs were now fused and covered by the same orange scales as the fish that had touched her hand. She lifted the end and discovered a wide orange fluke instead of feet. Panicking, she lifted her skirts to discover that the orange scales covered her up to mid-hip and then became smaller and more separated until her waist where they stopped entirely.

The old man had reappeared.

"So. Ningyo you be. Silly you not listen to old Suijin-sama. Fish magic. Now you know."

Before her eyes, he simply faded out. They found her later that day when someone reported her swimming in the large pool. They were going to arrest her because she was defiling the sacredness of the space until they caught her and heard her story. It only took a quick X-ray when they couldn't remove her "costume" to validate that she was well and truly a mermaid now.

Such things didn't happen in the real world, did they?

Description
Woman: Marjoleinart Stock
Goldfish: Greeneyezz

Maria walked through the amazing garden. The wonderful feel of Japan was everywhere from the amazing hand-made wooden buildings (no iron nails here) to the sand gardens (with their stone islands and carefully laid out waves of sand) to peaceful pools (with ever so many large carp swimming about). She'd been wandering about for hours, looking at everything; absorbing the ambience. She'd started in the cool of the morning but now it was nearing mid afternoon and was getting hot. She looked longingly at one of the pools and crossed a small wooden bridge and sat with her feet tucked under her.

"Beware the fish," came an ancient voice.
"Uh? What?" was Maria's carefully worded response.
"Fish magic. No touch. Okay?"

Maria looked for the source of the voice. It was an elderly man, very short and very oriental. He was wearing a kimono and clearly was one of the staff though his kimono was not in the same pattern as the others. It seemed an ancient cut somehow. Maria wasn't sure how she knew that, she just did. She looked down at the water.

"I was just going to dangle my feet in the water a moment," she replied.

There was no response. The old man had disappeared as if by magic. She looked about and didn't see him anywhere. She was a bit puzzled. He didn't look as if he could walk at much more than a very sedate pace. How could he have gotten so far away so quickly? Well, never mind. Magic fish? That was the stuff of fairy tales not real life. She'd not hurt the fish if she just stuck her feet in the water.

The water was wonderfully cool and she swished her legs mid calf in the water, dumping her heat, cooling in their pleasant chill. She looked down and saw a huge carp had come up to the bridge and was floating within arm's length. Without thinking, she reached down. The carp moved forward and nudged her hand then quickly swam away.

'Well, I'd best get going,' she thought.

As she tried to get up, she made a most unwelcome discovery. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, her legs were now fused and covered by the same orange scales as the fish that had touched her hand. She lifted the end and discovered a wide orange fluke instead of feet. Panicking, she lifted her skirts to discover that the orange scales covered her up to mid-hip and then became smaller and more separated until her waist where they stopped entirely.

The old man had reappeared.

"So. Ningyo you be. Silly you not listen to old Suijin-sama. Fish magic. Now you know."

Before her eyes, he simply faded out. They found her later that day when someone reported her swimming in the large pool. They were going to arrest her because she was defiling the sacredness of the space until they caught her and heard her story. It only took a quick X-ray when they couldn't remove her "costume" to validate that she was well and truly a mermaid now.

Such things didn't happen in the real world, did they?