The Mer Prince

Chapter 13

Charlie's POV

"Why are we here?" I asked the blue mer quietly as we 'sat' at a table.

"For breakfast." He replied calmly. I glanced around and found many dirty looks my way, one man beckoning me with his finger. "Look towards me, pick up the menu, and find you something to eat." I heard the blue mer say quietly, though to anyone else he might have been stating what he was going to get with his flat tone of voice.

I didn't oppose him at all as three other orange tailed mermaids swam in, all obviously girls with large plumage and drifting clothing. My mind went to gypsies as I saw them in their pirate-like clothes and coin skirts, passing behind the blue mer and laughing, when the darkest skinned one caught my eye and smiled at me.

Knowing I made a mistake, I immediately looked down.

"Hey girls! Look! A fine, bold, hunk of a man- oh and then there's this blue-fin." The woman said, swimming over. I sunk in my seat as she wrapped an arm around me. "Awe he's shy too!"

"Please remove your arm from around him." Mr. Blue-tail guy asked, not even looking up, my protector that I still didn't know the name of. I am definitely going to ask him what it is when we leave I decide.

"Oh come now, we won't steal him!" Another girl says teasingly.

"Hun, you want some new clothes?" Another asks, pulling on my blanket thing.

"You have extra clothes?" Clothes sound like a good thing. I can't go swimming in this cloth forever.

"Yeah guppy! Your man having you swim around in just that thing? Pa-thet-ic!" The one dressed in blue with her arm around my neck said, flicking her hand and flipping her hair and tail on the word pathetic with emphasis.

"Oh no he's not my-" I started quietly, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Awe! He's a single! And unmated I bet!" The second one, dressed in pink and what on the surface I might call Asian, said. Wait is unmated another way of saying virgin?

"We must get him into some clothes! Huzzah ladies!" The one in yellow says, the lightest skinned of the group with red hair that matched her tail. The woman moved fast and one stopped the mer guy from getting past her as I was suddenly being dragged to a back room.

"Hey hey wait!" I called, wanting to say something.

"Calm down guppy we'll dress you and give you right back to the hunk."

"If he's not keeping you against your will. Are you being kept against your will with him hun?" The yellow one asks.

"What?! No!" I say, though technically I really haven't left his side since I went through my boat. I spaced out as the girls started holding lacy bra things to my chest which I kindly turned down, asking for just a shirt or something, but when I saw the chest of their clothes, I guessed they had no clue what a shirt was....

They talked and I learned their names, talking to one another and to me, and they learned my name, though I didn't tell them I was a supposed prince. I would never want to be a prince if it meant having to become a king- a king like my father. They talked more about gossip and themselves anyways, so I didn't have to talk all that much as they held up clothes.

In the end, however, I was in a tank-top that could have been made for Cinderella, the fluffy fabric on my arms fluffed out like her blue ones and orange like the pumpkin she rode in. It wasn't all that bad, it showed from like my bottom rib and down, but considering the other things they tried shoving on me, it was okay. And I got a strong, drifty skirt around my middle I didn't understand. Didn't I not need this? Did I need it to cover genitilia? Did I have any genitilia? Did I ever have to go relieve myself? And if I did, would I just.... release warm water wherever I went? Or where there odd bathrooms?! These were serious questions I asked myself as I turned in the mirror and itched a blue choker around my neck, the only thing blue like the mer outside and rather visible. Either all this was fashion, or for regular protective clothing, I didn't know.

"Your not a city fish, are you?" The darkest skinned one in the blue, Lynna, asked, swimming around me and fixing my collar.

"No." I say plainly, not sure what else to say.

"Well then, I'm glad you have a guy like that blue-tail around. This city is cruel and vicious, and it'll gobble someone like you up if it can." She says like a concerned mother, patting my face lightly. "If anything goes wrong, or if you need work, you come here alright?" She says seriously, and I nod.

"Let's go see what that guy thinks of your outfit Charley!" The yellow girl says happily, leading the way as I follow her quickly.

I wonder what he'll think?