Flotsam
Celeste was startled when she came across the ad: "Become Your Dream Self! Transformations of any shape or size. Mermaids, centaurs, much more! Experts in recombinant DNA techiques. Low fee."She didn't recognize the address. The ad was on the last page of a newspaper called "Flotsam" that seemed to be years old but the date on the front page was only from last week.
She brought the paper up to the cashier, decided to grab a lighter and gum for some good measure, and pulled out her wallet. The magic shop was musty and dank. The girl at the counter was wearing a slinky silver dress and had blue hair. Her eyes were violet. She cracked her gum, pointed at the ad and smiled. "Good guys, them. My sister went in, came out half-horse. Been meaning to try them meself." "You mean, th- th- they're real?" Celeste stammered. "That's not a joke?" "Hell no," the girl said. "I know one of the guys there. Real artists, them. Create beautiful things." She waved Celeste away. "You can have that for free. Go check 'em out. Couldn't hurt."
Walking home Celeste thought about what the girl had said. She still wasn't convinced that it wasn't a joke, but still...
Images of herself with a fishtail spun through her head, and she tried to push them out. She would drop in tomorrow.
The taxi dropped her off in a part of town she'd never been to before. It looked pretty, if deserted. She walked up to the tree-lined boulevard until she found the building. Glancing up, she realized that it was much taller than any of the surrounding buildings. She stepped inside. The reception area was cozy and small, decorated with Victorian furniture and dark colors. Celeste felt immediately at ease.
A door opened and a tall, slim woman with auburn hair and a white lab coat stepped out and smiled. "Hello, miss," she said. "Can I help you?"
It occurred to Celeste that she didn't really know what to ask for. "I... uh, I saw your ad, and..."
The woman's face brightened. "Wonderful! Please step inside, I'm positive we can accommodate you." She led Celeste into another room. "My name is Leilana, by the way. I will be your technician for this procedure today. I will be right back with the forms." She smiled at Celeste and stepped right out.
Celeste began to get a little nervous. She just came in to check out the place, and now it seemed like they had already lined her up for some operation? Just as she was about to get up and leave, a wave of euphoria swept over her, and she collapsed back into her chair.
Celeste awoke with a moan and a stabbing pain in her back. She seemed to be on some type of high, narrow platform. She looked down and saw water far below.
"Ungh." The pain in her back grew stronger. She tried to twist around to see what was going on but her neck was sore and another, stronger bout of pain came with that movement. The intensity almost knocked her out. When that had passed, she began to get frightened. She was high above the water with pain in her back and neck. She felt tingly all over, and her skin felt stretched too tight over her body.
Celeste searched around for any signs of life, but she appeared to be the only one. She lay on her back and yelped when she felt a sharp pain course down her spine. What was wrong with her? She reached back with her hand and realized that, to her amazement, she had grown a dorsal fin all along her spine. Her eyes widened and her heart started to race. A dorsal fin? That could only mean...
Oh. Right. The mermaid thing. Instantly Celeste began to relax. This was the transformation place, she wanted to become a mermaid, so... She smiled and turned over on her side so as not to disturb her growing fin. Might as well relax while this thing runs its course. She was about to drift off to sleep when things began to change very rapidly.
Celeste moaned as her figure twisted shape. Her legs twined together and she could not pull them apart. She was surprised to find that her breasts began to swell and grow an enormous size. She giggled and smiled. This was going to be even cooler than she'd thought!
Her torso lengthened and her butt expanded. The dorsal fin elongated to the base of her buttocks. She gasped as she felt her skin tug her legs together and merge into a tail. Her feet flattened and spread out in opposite directions to form a fluke. She felt her forearms stretch to accommodate the new fins that had grown there. She squirmed as another fin exploded from her abdomen and ran quickly down the front of her tail.
Celeste smiled. Her tail. She tried to maneuver it around her but quickly learned that it did not behave as expected. Besides, her transformation was not yet complete. She looked like a mermaid but with normal skin instead of a mermaid's scales. She huffed impatiently as she waited for the change to come.
She expected scales to start forming, but instead she could feel her skin thickening and toughening. It changed from pink into a silvery gray at the base of her tail and spread upward. Celeste moaned at the sensation of her new skin tugging at her old form. It spread past her waist and came to a slow halt on her newly large breasts. The dolphin skin tugged gently at her breasts and served as support for her new generous figure. Her hands started to change to the same gray, but the new skin stopped just at her elbows, above the fins.
Celeste writhed on the platform, exceedingly pleased with her transformation. She slid her hands over her bulbous breasts and sighed as she felt the extra sensitivity that her new skin afforded her. She slid over her waist and laughed when she reached her tail. The skin was silky smooth one way, but if you rubbed it the other way it became like sandpaper. She gasped as she realized that she was somehow getting more air, then she realized she had acquired a blowhole on the back of her neck. Perfect. She was now a mermaid.
She was having so much fun exploring her new body that she barely realized that she had fallen off the platform and was now in the water. She tried out her tail and found to her delight that it was completely workable, and seemed as natural to her as if she had always had it. She propelled herself through the water at incredible speed. She was streamlined.
Celeste passed a mirror and gasped with delight when she could actually see her new self. Her dark hair mingled well with her gray and white mottled skin. Her extremely large breasts, small waist and generous butt made her laugh with pleasure at the proportions which were much nicer than the body she had left behind. She turned circles in the water, ecstatic over her transformation. To her surprise, she sent out a series of clicks which returned instantly, providing her with a better underwater picture than her poor vision could. She could echolocate!
Celeste's echolocation spotted some sort of doorway underwater. She decided to swim through it. There was a small, long tunnel which Celeste had to writhe her way through. At the end she opened the door and saw...
Cheering! Light! A party? Celeste adjusted her eyes to the light. She saw the woman from before standing and smiling with what looked like a camera crew and various other strangers.
"Congratulations, Celeste!" A blond woman came up to her. "You did very well. We caught it all on tape." She patted the camera. "We'll release you to join the others in a minute, in Mermaid Lagoon."
Celeste was startled to realize that the cameraman was actually a centaur. He smiled at Celeste. "Actually, if you don't mind, miss, I'd like to take some more footage of you." He winked at her. Celeste grinned seductively. A mermaid and a centaur. Who would have thought? She laughed and dove in an out of the water, much to the delight of her centaur admirer. She was part dolpin now, and enjoying every minute of it. It might have been the strangest day of her life, but lord knows it was definitely her best.