"Sorry for dragging you to my home for the appointment as opposed to heading to your office" the Caucasian light-brown haired Heather Suto apologised as she let physiologist Dr Andrews into her home. "I am merely taking over from your old therapist after...well I assume you may know. so overall it depends on what I can do with little Eiko" the African with pitch-black yet graying haired Dr Andrew assured as he let Heather escort him upstairs.
"Now if I read Dr Rowland's reports right, Eiko outside of school has completely shut herself out since this car crash am I right?" Dr Andrews then asked. "Summer before last. same crash killed my husband and mother-in-law" Heather agreed "she's still blaming herself for it". "Sole survivors of such things do tend when at young ages to do so... little Eiko's extent however is troubling though" Dr Andrews confessed as Heather opened the door to Eiko's room.
"Eiko... Dr Andrews is here" Heather calmly called to the Asian looking 12 year old girl with chin length light brown hair seated on her bed in a fetus-like position. "Hi Eiko... I'm Dr Andrews, taking over for Dr Rowland... mind I take a seat?" Dr Andrews kindly requested while slowly getting seated upon the nearby desk chair. "because she died thanks to me" Eiko suddenly blurted out. "...actually with your age I can't really say" Dr Andrews stated in concern. "true though... like dad and grandma" Eiko continued. "mind... telling me in your...owns words...in time-" Dr Andrews then started. "my fault we were in the car, at that time, at that place... had I not accepted that stupid first bite from that stupid cake" Eiko cried. "umm... a word outside a moment Ms Suto?" Dr Andrews then asked.
"must be about what she meant?" Heather guessed once both were back in the hall. "I don't recall anything in Dr Rowland's note about allergies" Dr Andrews confessed. "not allergies, poison that Eiko managed to get through post crash due to her age" Heather started "my late mother-in-law was Haru Suto, retired founder of Suto training consultants and programs". "that crash? news outlets said she was rushing to get her grandchild to hospital after the fell pray to a different murder attempt" Dr Andrews responded. "Eiko was that grandchild, name kept out from the press for safety reasons... in practice overall I believe Eiko's depression is rooted in just changing how Haru died" Heather stated sadly. "I'm guessing her and her dad being their wasn't planned?" Dr Andrews guessed. "Person the package was said to be from...was the mother of Eiko's godfather, Yosake's best friend growing up who lives back in Japan, it was assumed to be a family gift" Heather insisted.
"Well... in practice in cases like this I say getting their minds off the event and have them exposed to something of joy to their hearts for awhile is a good start" Dr Andrews then started suggesting before recalling certain aspects of Eiko's room "is Eiko into mermaids? I mean I saw quite a bit of mermaid based material around her room?". "fully opposed to the old Japanese beliefs, she's obsessed with them...or was before the crash. point I believed she'd get into mermaiding performances later in life. "maybe a bit sooner actually" Dr Andrews countered while getting this card out and giving it to Heather "folks assigned to this card are highly successful at helping mental problems similar to little Eiko's through merfolk, give them a call and visit with that card". "...O...K..." Heather accepted in confusion.
A few days later while she had a day off while Eiko was in school Heather headed down to the address on the card after calling ahead, finding the entrance to what she guessed was the world's biggest water resort and park, thankfully though it was a quite day so reaching the slightly younger girl at reception wasn't an issue. "Can I help you?" the receptionist asked Heather at the desk. "Heather Suto. I'm here on a recommendation by a Dr Andrews over my daughter" Heather answered. the receptionist cherped up slightly "your somewhat early. Mrs Shine said you'd be here about 4". "Most likely from the impression I 'd have heavy traffic or this was a busy day" Heather suggested. "I'll call Mrs Shine down. sooner the better I'm guessing you need to speak with her" the receptionist announced while handling a non-disclose from to Heather "before that it's now required you sign this first".
Once the form was signed and returned with the receptionist making the required call it only took quarter of an hour or so for this red haired business woman to appear "Heather Suto?" she asked. "Right here" Heather answered. "oh... my apologises but hearing the name Suto I was thinking you'd be...Japanese" Mrs Shine admitted. "it's my married name, husband was Japanese" Heather assured. "well to the point in hand I best show you about the convertment area and such" Mrs Shine stated. "umm...fair enough" Heather accepted while confused by the statement.
At first Mrs Shine escorted Heather through this area that was closed off for standard guests but setup so those using these lagoons here could watch said guests...
...but to Heather's surprise the users were not normal staff, but merfolk in an arrange of ethic human half backgrounds, ages and tail colours. "depending on when Eiko starts all to most unless instead done a few years down the line in which case only a few will be her fellow pod members" Mrs Shine announced. "What?" Heather questioned. "keep following and i'll explain, and as a reminder you signed the non-disclosure forms" Mrs Shine answered.
The next room was more medical based then aquatic but slightly unnerving as those within were strapped to their beds wearing odd headsets and two tubes attached to them, one for feeding the other for cleansing. but looking closer Heather realized some of these people were those being turned into merfolk while others were reverting. "those mermaids, merboys and mermen... they were people... you turned" Heather called out. "and are turning back unless they choose" Mrs Shine returned kindly before escorting Heather to her office.
After Heather was seated Mrs Shine gave Heather the resort's full story and mission. "honestly this treatment is very unorthodox" Heather confessed. "another reason for all the hush-hush besides war mungerers, dirty politicians, protesters and the mixtures" Mrs Shine returned. "what about those headsets though?" Heather then asked. "temporary mental reprogramming... allow those undergoing the process and treatment do so without issue... in retrospect think of it like your body's a car and for awhile your letting someone else drive" Mrs Shine answered. "and this is for the whole stay?" Heather pondered. "most of it... programming is designed to fade and allow the special guests the chance to control their transformed bodies fot the last third of the stay... min of 2 weeks though so you can say 1 month guests its instead the halfway point" Mrs Shine continued "only then do we offer the choice". "what choice?" Heather questioned. "if they want to remain a merperson indefinitely. honestly only about 1 in 10000000 do choose so but those that do we also employ, heck by now 5 of the 15 members of the board are merfolk" Mrs Shine assured.
"Well... all in all this seems like a very good option to help Eiko and the reassurance is good so we'll try it" Heather accepted. "Well be aware depending on your legal citizenship for Eiko's age also effects if you or her have the final say in remaining indefinitely as those under require parents of legal guardian consent" Mrs Shine then stated "also, if you want you can join as well for the stay with your choice of mental programming". "I see... well then" Heather started to give her choice: