“COME ON MUM, JOIN IN!” Haru called out one weekend afternoon from the family pool currently wearing a light-blue with white shoulder pads short-sleeved tankini and her silver scaled tail she was currently using. “Maybe later Haru. This chapter is long” Jessica answered while laying on one of the poolside deck chairs wearing her matching tail with a simple Green One-piece while reading a book. “Fine” Haru muttered before submerging and swimming about with expert butterfly swimming movements.
Personally as she paused to watch a bit Jessica felt uneased with how easily Haru’s swimming strength was amplified when wearing the tail, not that Haru was a bad swimmer prior but beforehand was mostly basic in butterfly strength plus oddly that strength level returned during swimming without the tail. Still Haru liked the swimming and it made Jessica happy, not an easy thing since her husband Makoto passed away. That said this worry was only a minor thing and even then Haru getting her to agree with going for the family discount as Jessica herself found the tail attractive to wear, both in the water and out lounging like she was now.
Haru meanwhile simply happily swam about under the water, all the worries and stress from school melting away as she went back and forth between the pool ends, right now to her she was a mermaid simply swimming free with no worries tying her down. Only suddenly for some reason without any warning something made Haru suddenly stop and fall unconscious, the sudden stopping Jessica noticed leading her to putting her book down all call out “HARU! WHAT-” only suddenly Jessica herself fell unconscious yet for some reason her arms like on autopilot worked to pull her towards the pool and simply fall into the water. Once both mother and daughter were in the water the pool suddenly started bubbling up heavily around the two, completely covering the pair from sight…
…and then as the bubbles suddenly started fading away as quickly as they first formed but both Haru and Jessica were gone leaving their swimsuits simply floating in the water, much to the confusion of anyone who might come looking.
Meanwhile miles out at sea from nearby the Mermaid Tail Shop and deep under water similar bubbles but in a vastly large count made a opposite kind of appearance and disappearance only once gone not only Haru and Jessica but a large collective of customers to the shop, all using various kinds of tails, were all left floating about unconscious but somehow alive. Then once it was clear no more were to be joining this group from the bubbles from a rippling-like movement another group of visitors appeared but conscious and started swimming about the collective, their tails moving perfectly fish-like unlike the unconscious ones.
“Got quite the collective this time, limited number of adult males for breeding purposes as usual but 17 male youths for next-” this Lionfish tailed African mermaid with flowing red hair started remarking from looking over the captives. “16 Assyria, Japanese Hafu here’s a girl” this merman with a shark-tail who’s upper body matched a healthy young Japanese male countered after checking Haru and Jessica “And by Hafu this woman here is the mother”. “*sigh* grandmother really wishes land still assured girls couldn’t go any shorter than below the shoulders in hair length” Assyria muttered “Very least I can hope we can convince her growing up to allow it to grow out”. “And if they were like me?” this Blond mermaid with a Seahorse tail suddenly asked Assyria “As it were cursed to be wrong the born gender?”. “We’ll see Talori” Assyria accepted before returning her attention to the Shark Merman “Kaerio start moving them back into Aquamount”. “Of Course Assyria” the Shark merman answered before calling for the rest of the present merfolk to start moving the transported people through the concealing barrier the merfolk had come through…
…into the unusually bright yet mostly underwater craves caves, ship and boat ruins and giant shells making up almost all of the hidden merfolk city of Aquamount, the merfolk bringing the captive humans from the tails into this shrine among the very limited proper buildings where a statue of either Neptune of Poseidon stood inside surrounded by these pod-like objects. “How many in all this time Kaerio?” this elderly merman with a tail matching the Ichiban girls asked once both the collecting party and captives were inside the shrine. “68, 44 of which standard tails lady Avonmora” Kaerio answered while the captives were placed within the pods by the rest of the party bar an absent Assyria. “fair enough, just have to-” Avonmora started before noticing Haru and Jessica as they were placed in their pods. “Something wrong Lady Avonmora?” Kaerio asked. “That daughter among those two… something about her” Avonmora answered without diverting her attention: