The Mermaid's Dance (Ran/Open)

[Hana Yamato]

Wanted: Female swimmers for mermaid-themed bar. Applicants must be physically fit, able to swim for several hours. Must meet legal age requirements to work in a bar.

It was not the most descriptive of ads, but it was effective. Hana gazed up at the sign in excitement. She wasn't legally old enough, but that was easily solved with a forged birth certificate. And with that, she would have a JOB! One that probably paid decent enough money - better than what the fights paid, at least. She grinned.

Her partner hadn't been so enthusiastic about this. Fang had decided that he wasn't going to hold with her doing something so common and had sulked all morning. She had ignored him, just happy that she could blend the two things she loved most: money and swimming. This HAD to be a sign that good things were gong to happen! Right? Right!

Hana strode in, glancing around her as she hoped that her outfit was nice enough to make a good impression. She could see the tanks where the girls would swim around and entertain the customers. They looked spacious and comfortable enough. Most seemed to be single-girl areas, but there was one large central one where several of them could be. She nodded in approval. That would make the shift just a little less boring.

Over at the bar she could see the bartender prepping the area, and a lady that looked like she was in charge. Hana straightened her white blouse and felt her black skirt fluttering about her calves as she strode forward, determination in her eyes. Her long hair drifted behind her, a waist-length veil of pink. It took her a bit of courage to speak up. "Excuse me, I've come to apply for the job of swimmer. I'm Hana Yamato. I've been swimming since I was an infant, and know I could do a good job!" It came out in a rush, far from the confident way she had practiced it.

All the same, she held her head up high and gave a bright smile, knowing that she'd adore this job.

[Ran Hoshino]

"Urgh, Why does boss always dump this stuff on me Marie?" Ran spoke as she sat at the bar, Marie, a young girl about twenty with brown hair and green eyes laughed, "He knows that you're the best judge of character I guess." Ran smiled, "Why thank you dear."

Ran took a sip of her strawberry wine, she had been given the job of interviewing girls for the bar, some servers, mermaids, ect. She did enjoy meeting new people, but she didn't enjoy all the paperwork she had to fill out in the process. She'd already met with a few girls, none of whom were all that impressive. She was curious if any more would be coming in today.

Her answer was soon given to her when a perky young girl with candy like pink hair rushed in, "Hello Miss Yamato, It's nice to meet you. I'm Ran Hoshino. If you would please follow me we can begin your interview."

Ran walked over a bit to a seat that was empty near the bar with all her paperwork from her previous interviews.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana was excited when the woman allowed her for an interview right away. Fantastic! Even though then the lady stood up she was a tad intimidate by her height. It made her bite her lip in anticipation. She had no clue what she would be asked, nor how she would respond. But all that kept flashing through her mind with all of that was that this was something that would earn her steady money! And that was something that she could get behind every time.

She strode over to the seat next to the woman and sat down. Was having her hair down okay? Maybe she should have put it up more professionally. Or perhaps her outfit wasn't professional enough instead. Hana had decided to go with the longer black skirt - perhaps it was too conservative? Maybe it didn't match her blouse! Fang had said she looked particularly hideous today... but that was what he always said so what did he know?

Hana kept her grin on, waiting for whatever the woman would ask her.

[Ran Hoshino]

Ran smiled, pulling out a piece of paper, it had your typical on it, name/number/address/age, she also handed Hana a pen. "So Hana, You have been a swimmer since you were little? I was much the same way, I was born near the ocean and always went out there after school."

She pulled out a piece of paper and decided to begin with the interview, "This bar attracts a certain type of customer, naturally being a mermaid is a bit more high class than a dancer and no one will touch you, but are you okay with leering men and the sort?"

She was curious how young the girl was, she didn't seem older than twenty, either way she did seem pretty enough and if the interview went well she was considering letting her swim a bit and seeing if she would like it.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana started filling out the form as she listened to the questions. Her age went down as just -barely- over legal (she made sure her birth date was put down as two days before, which put her on the cusp of it. But still made her entirely legal to work there). "Yeah, my family owned a fishing fleet. We all knew how to swim - our moms put us in the water when we were babies. It was like that for the last six generations!" She shared the information enthusiastically, proud of her heritage. "We'd go out on the boats and swimming in the ocean all the time - even did some free diving. I can hold my breath up to nine minutes!" It was a regular feat among free divers, since they went without oxygen tanks and the like to do their work.

She tilted her head when asked about the leering men. Hana hadn't realized that mermaids were so fascinating to men. She chirped her answer happily. "Nope! I've swum in a lot of different situations and have no issues with people watching!" She leaned forward slightly and gave a second answer in a lower tone of voice. "I've even skinny dipped with my brothers and cousins. When you swim like that, you can swim in any situation!"

She had meant it to demonstrate that she had no issues with people watching her swim in a skimpy outfit. And she did know that she'd be wearing a skimpy outfit - Hana HAD seen the movies and seen pictures with mermaids in them, what with the bikini tops and fish tails - so even a bikini (top AND bottom) was more revealing than the costume she'd be performing in! Right? Hana felt that she'd be more comfortable in the mermaid outfit than the bikini.

She glanced at the tanks. Honestly, this didn't seem all that different than swimming at the Y. Either way, people would be surrounding her doing their thing and she'd be enjoying herself in the water. "My real concern is the pay. I mean, dancers get tips for their performances, but I don't think that people are going to be tossing pennies in these tanks." Her misunderstanding was thorough. She thought that the term 'dancers' was talking about real performers, like she saw dancing in the streets. She had occasionally opened her normally tight fist to spare some change, since it was likely that some of them were in the same situation she was.

[Ran Hoshino]

Ran giggled at her response, "That's good, I'm quite impressed, the only ladies here that can hold their breath that long is Yuki and myself." She started writing down various bullet points of the things that Hana was telling her.

"Ah yes pay, you will make a flat rate of about six hundred yen an hour, you also receive tips, usually customers will tip their server and the mermaids separately, if they don't specify a mermaid then it usually goes into a pot and is divided between the girls working at the time. You also receive five percent of sales during that time, which can be upwards to a thousand yen a night on Saturdays, and you get about thousand yen an hour if you preform in the high class booth and that usually comes with great tips."

She continued, "It's a really well paying job, but it's hard work, you have to take good care of your skin and hair when you spend so long in the water, and swimming for extended periods can get tough in the suit. Your day will typically consist of either being in the center tank with a couple of girls where you do a lot of swim choreography, or a side tank where you spend a lot of time under water with a oxygen tank. You are also encouraged to chat up guest when you come up for air, they will occasionally request you dine with them, which is voluntary, but you'll get great tips."

She finished writing down, "So do you think you'll be capable of all that? If so, I think I'll go ahead and lead you to the back and get you measured for a suit." She usually didn't hire on the spot like this, however for some reason she felt that this girl had potential.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana was blown away by the pay. Six hundred yen an hour?! "I can do it! I'll work really hard and be the best swimmer you've got in those tanks!" Whomever this Yuki was, she'd be better than her as well. Hana was very confident in herself. She also noted that with that money, she might be able to rent out a small place (cheap, very cheap to save the most money). Besides, this sort of thing would require her to look her best. It might be worth investing in some waterproof makeup and actual shampoo.

She stood up, ready to be led to the back, thrilled to have been hired. She followed Ran to the back for her measurements. "Thank you so much for this opportunity," she gushed. "It's feels like forever since I've been able to swim on a regular basis. I moved from Southern Japan up to the city only recently, and being in the middle of the city is torture! I don't know how you stand it!" Then she glanced around and giggled. "But then again, it looks like you brought the ocean with you."

All in all, Hana thought this was a great opportunity. Maybe she'd even invite someone to see her swim. Maybe Ber. She'd get to show off her awesome job AND be able to actually treat him to dinner! "So when do I start? Because I could even do tonight if you need me to! I wouldn't be able to do the choreography because of the notice, but I could easily do one of the small tanks." And the sooner she started, the sooner she could show her stuff. Hana was immensely curious about the high class booth. "Is the high class booth reserved for the best swimmers? Or do all the girls get a chance at it? Or is the mermaid requested beforehand?" It seemed like good information to know, so that she'd know how to angle to get it.

[Ran Hoshino]

She smiled, "I like your attitude, yeah. I know the feeling, However I'm not the owner, I'm just head of the Mermaid girls and all around slave girl for the boss." She laughed, "The high class booths are for the more wealthy customers, I usually assign the girls positions so it would be my call, however we do have customers that usually request their favorite girls."

She nodded, scanning over the girl's application as the two entered the back room lobby, about three other women were there. One server and two mermaids, both of whom were were bikini's and laying on towels.

"This here is Hana Yamato, she's the newest maid." The girls waved. The two laying down both had light blue hair, "That's the twins. And the server is Fuki."

They continued until they reached the dressing room. Ran pulled out some measuring tape and began checking her out, "About a size 4 suit will do you. I think we have a couple of those, I'll bring them out and let you pick."

She left and in about five minutes returned with a rack of outfits. "The tails have a small seam so that you can put them on and walk around in them, but on the floor you'll have to get use to swimming in it. Your going to be in a small tank near section C so you won't need to worry about that. We close at midnight so if you can work till closing that would be fantastic, of course you'll break to shower and lotion of course."

There were five tails on the rack, one was pink with star shapes embedded in the scales, one was simply light green, one had white, orange, and black in it and looked like the tail of a clown fish, the last two were different shades of blue, sky blue and baby blue.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana greeted the twins happily. This was so exciting! The twins were adorable, and Fuki cute too. She supposed that the girls working in a bar like this had to be fairly pretty, and was incredibly relieved she'd made the cut, looks-wise. Her mood brightened even more when the rack of outfits were pulled out. Hard decision, hard decision... Not the orange, for sure, but did she want to go with the pink? She'd look like she was made out of cotton candy. Then again, some people found that attractive. "I guess I'll take the pink. Seems to match my hair." She tugged it ruefully.

Thankfully, she was sure that she'd be able to trade off on other nights to change up the monotony. She eyed one of the blue ones. That would be neat to do next, to match her eyes. She reached out to take it, excited about the prospect of swimming again. She reached out to touch the costume, feeling the fine, shimmering cloth beneath her fingers. This was just. So. Exciting!

[Ran Hoshino]

Ran smiled, "Fine choice darling, Typically we have more to pick from, but someone hasn't done laundry in a while. If you stick around long enough you'll be allowed to order your own custom tails, which you can take home with you."

"Before I send you to a solo tank we are both going to swim in the center tank, that way you can get a feel for everything, how does that sound Hana? Make sure to place all your clothes on a rack that doesn't already have someone's name on it. You can keep your panties on underneath the suit if you want, they shouldn't get wet."

"In fact, I'm going to go get my suit, I'll be back. If you have any trouble getting the suit on or zipped up I'll help you." With that Ran walked out the door. For some reason she was quite excited to see what Hana was capable of, maybe something about her reminded her of herself when she was younger. She hummed to herself as she entered her office and opened her closet, pulling out a purple tail with heart shapes in the scales.

She decided to get dressed in her office, stripping down she tossed her bra to the side of her desk as she stuck her legs into the tights inside the tail. Walking in it was pretty easy as the tail dragged on the ground a bit.

"You doing okay in there Hana?" Ran spoke with a cheerful voice as she entered the room.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana grinned and thanked Ran before changing. The twins chatted, very friendly with Hana, about how much they enjoyed their job and their coworkers. It was all very nice. She put her things on an empty rack and attempted to get on the tail. It was more awkward than she had expected - even though it had the seam and everything, it still was unusually restricting on her movement. One of the twins came over to help her out, giggling about how she'd had the same issue when she came here.

It only took a few seconds to get on with the help, and Hana thanked her profusely. Then she looked for the top. The top.... there didn't seem to be any tops anywhere in sight, and the girls in the room weren't talking about it or acting like anything was out of the norm. She blushed lightly, realizing why Ran had asked whether she minded men leering. This had TOPLESS mermaid! She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, considered whether she still wanted the job, and decided that yes, yes she did. For the amount of money she was being paid, topless was worth it. Besides, Ran had assured her that there wouldn't be any issues with customers.

Hopefully, no one Hana knew would walk in. That was a whole different type of issue.

She looked over at Ran when she walked in. Ran looked really pretty in her suit. The hearts glimmered and flashed in a sea of purple. Hana wondered if she looked that nice or whether the pink made her look really stupid. Moreso than usual, of course, because of her hair. "I'm fine. And ready to try this out!" Her steps towards the tank were cautious in the tail.

Ran had an easier time walking, she noticed, because of the experience she had walking in it. "How long have you been working here? Did you become a mermaid because you grew up near the ocean?"

[Ran Hoshino]

She smiled, "I have always had a fascination with the mermaid, I joined this club when Boss was first opening about five years ago. It's a good living, much better than the strip clubs I've worked at before." She nodded as they made their way to the entrance of the main center tank.

"Alright, the center tank is in the middle of the bar, most of the tables surround it, on the rims are a place for you to sit and wave to customers while you catch your breath and get ready for more diving, the entrance were coming in is covered but we'll be coming out below the tank, so it works kind of like diving. The room is going to fill with water and then we'll swim out. There are some oxygen tanks hidden around the tank so that if you don't have to come out for air every few minutes. If you notice one getting empty immanently press the button beside it which will call someone to fix it. It should refill by itself."

She stopped for a second and looked at the clock on the wall, "We will be in the center tank for about two hours then we'll move you to a single tank. If you need to talk to me make this sign"

She did a hand gesture, putting two fingers up. "Pay attention to the girls and myself, most of the hand signs are obvious but if you have a question we'll come up and I'll answer them. Most important thing is to make sure to remain natural but don't over do it, your not a stripper, your an other worldly beauty that people can watch in your natural environment. So it requires a bit of acting as well."

The two of them entered the tank room, it was pretty small and made of metal, it looked pretty much like a diver's room. There was two metal benches on each side and a door on the top. "The door will open once the room is filled with water, naturally if anything ever goes wrong there is a plug to drain water and a safety switch, as well as cameras in here which someone is monitoring anytime a girl needs to come up. We use a different way to get out of the tank, I'll show you that later. We'll zip our suits up in here and come out in the tank. Quite a pain to go through to keep an illusion, but it's what makes the bar as popular as it is."

[KAIKI HINAMORI]

Oh, happy day. Happy, happy day.

"You seem awfully happy today, K-sama!"

Obviously with Nami by his side, today Kaiki decided to treat himself in a certain restaurant he had taken a liking to not only for a relative working there in something important, but also thanks to its very unique theme. After his first time, he came here a couple of times and his name was even learned by several mermaids besides his cousin, turning him to a resident. He of course, did not really feel that way, but the goofy smile on his face was more than enough to tell what was this adolescent thinking about as he skipped his way towards the bar with quite the dumb face and an overly happy hum played to himself. Kaiki was helpless when it came to women, but this was an entirely different example. Usually, Nami would be glad and relieved to see her partner in such high spirits, but this was... Somehow disgusting.

"Well, isn't it obvious? We're going to Coral Hill today! ♪"

The place was nicknamed Coral Hill, though the boy was aware of its actual name. The reason he named it like that was very simply because of its similarity to a fictional bar in a fictional Anime, and the amazingly odd resemblance of his relative to one of the characters in the series. He tended to use references like these, for no good or apparent reason. He happily jumped in, opening the doors at once to reveal his unusual attire this time: brown, wooden Geta shoes increasing his height by half an inch, a low ponytail keeping his hair styled, obviously his Inumimi and Shippou and a full-body coral kimono with black and white square patterns all over, the one-piece held by a purple obi belt around the waist.

With a clear greeting to anybody inside, the young boy made his way to his favorite seat, one by Tank D near the windows; you could almost see where the mermaids were going after they attend you if you look carefully into this particular tank, plus it showed Kaiki a little change in scenery: the urban city on one side and the mermaid-filled ocean on the other. When he entered, immediately a few whispers here and there about his attire and existence came from all directions, all taken aback by his odd preference in clothing and show given today. It was in the norm though, for Kaiki to show up with unusual features and the other regulars were aware of such, therefore not one of those comments being offensive in any way.

"Okay! Finally here again!"

He claimed enthusiastically, much to his Digimon partner's unexplained dissatisfaction. She hopped up to the chair, sitting upon a large book so her height could actually reach said table. Now all that was left was to wait.

[Hana Yamato]

Hana drank in everything she was told like water, sitting on one of the benches beside the tank. "I gotcha! I think I can handle this." She had a delighted grin on her face. This was going to be so exciting! The door opened, ready to go. She glanced at Ran for approval, before sliding into the water.

It was wonderful being able to swim again! The tank was surprisinly roomy and comfortable. For a tank, that is. She felt safe in the water. Her first few kicks were awkward, but between remembering how some fish swam and knowing how the suit was supposed to work, she was moving rather freely in the water, twisting and tumbling as freely as any bird. Her breath had been enough to last her a good while and she meant to use it to the full extent. It was exciting, and interesting.

Well, mostly. Except for the fact that there were already a few people in the bar already. her strokes slowed a bit, and she turned a little pink to match her hair and scales. She pulled back in a way that her hair floated in front of her chest, hiding her ever so slightly. This was the real test of her mettle, wasn't it? She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then swam forward, giving the men in one booth a smile and friendly wave. One of them blushed a bit, while the other openly looked at her. Thankfully it wasn't a leer, which made the experience a bit easier to take.

Even so, this would take some getting used to. She twisted around to go to another side of the tank. Peering through the glass, she caught sight of someone that seemed rather familiar. Unmistakeably familiar, in fact. Her cheeks went a deep red. At the same time, she couldn't hide. Not with her hair and scales. She just crossed her fingers and kept doing gentle acrobatics in the water, playfully flitting this way and that. It was a desperate attempt to make herself feel better for this but it wasn't succeeding.

[Ran Hoshino]

Ran smiled as she watched the girl, she was clearly nervous about the performance, yet was swimming gracefully. She knew what was bothering her, however it was just something that was a part of Ran's profession. She swam around before spinning up and coming out of the water like a dolphin. She waved to the people around her as they looked at her before she continued on, laying down near a large shell which hid a oxygen tank, she was use to sitting in the water like this for a few hours at a time.

She kept a close eye on Hana, curious to see how she was doing. There were about three other women swimming as well. San; a blonde haired woman wearing red tail, Mary; a raven haired woman like Ran wearing a multicolored rainbow like tail which shimmered when light hit it, and Sana; A bright purple haired beauty with a black tail.

ooc: sorry for the delay