As my consciousness started to arouse I noticed that there was something kind of warm near my belly... kind of squishy, but lower down scaly. I woke up to find Shirley the little mermaid with just a small strip of seaweed for a bra as her only clothing. I may not have known much about biology, but considering Shirley was warm we were probably warm blooded... If that meant anything about whether or not we were fish or mammals I had no clue. What I was a little more curious about though...
I started to shake Shirley around a bit and said "Hey... HEY."
Shirley started to rouse a bit and started to yawn and float a little "morning..." the little girl seemed happy.
"What were you doing sneaking into my room?"
"I've actually been getting some nightmares... I'd been sleeping with Stan, but he told me to sleep with you instead." I ended up pushing water out of my mouth making the best sigh I realistically could make. Looking at my tail... my scales seemed really shiny and at my skin... There was a lot of dead dry skin seemingly wanting to peel off. Also my body felt really heavy for some reason. Meanwhile the little bundle of energy that was Shirley seemed to be floating around blowing air rings... "Hey Shirley... where'd you get that air from?"
Shirley tried thinking a little and said "You know... I'm not entirely sure... I just kinda... get it. Stan seemed to be able to do it as well... some mermaid magic?.. Oh, I've got a great idea. How about we get a sand bath, and I've found an area where a bunch of cleaning fish are!"
Turns out the sand bath was basically rolling around in sand for exfoliation... which worked with some of my dead skin, but as I'd learn later the cleaning fish were actually called cleaner fish. It wasn't a particular species but a bunch of fish whose purpose is too eat parasites and dead skin and that type of stuff off of other fish and aquatic species. It actually felt rather nice as the little mouths pecked away. I had to take my shirt off to do it, but I'd say it was worth it... Besides Shirley and I were both girls. It was nice to see a bit more of the sea, but we had to return to the hotel where I ended up asking Stan about the air bubbles.
"Yeah, you know this." Shirley said as she was blowing some bubble rings.
"Oh yeah that... Well it's not exactly air exactly. It's more just a lot of Helium and Oxygen. There's some sort of magical feeling you can get as your body converts nearby water into the helium oxygen mixture and then gets used to do things like blow bubbles or help us rise or fall. I'd suggest imagining whatever you think of as air being created around you... or in your body... Just don't use it around fire or electricity... Pure Oxygen and Helium are pretty flammable."
I then spent awhile trying to make mini tornadoes out of my fingers... or bubbles... or something... all while Shirley was blowing bubble rings like a dolphin. "Ok, how am I having so much trouble with this while Shirley's a natural?!?" I exclaimed
Stan said "I can do it to a small extent, but I imagine she can do it so well... because she's so young and has a better natural instinct for it?" I just rolled my eyes and went to trying to make some of the gas inside my body so I wouldn't feel completely water logged... I then started to feel myself lift off the sponge cushion I was on... and a tightness in my shirt. I opened my eye an-
"Come on Shirley! We need to get Dr. Sprikov!" Stan spoke and seemed to dash around as he realized that my fun bags were turning into fun hydrogen blimps. I was so embarrassed however later I would wonder if Stan actually still had any actual instincts over going ga ga for ta ta. Still... Dr. Sprikov had an interesting time getting some research out of my predicament. I then got my meal and went back to sleeping after figuring out how to lock my door so I wouldn't get any uninvited guests.