We're s- so very small, in the end.
Taylor shifted on her bed. She was hungry, tired, and cranky, none of which were new sensations, but the sheer intensity of them still managed to catch her off guard.
Her eyes threatened to close as she shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable position even as she forced herself to ignore the strange and foreign yet somehow not unpleasant feeling of being fully submerged underwater.
"I… know I'm supposed to say yes," the words made their way past my lips. "But no. Some-somewhere along way, it became no."
She held back a whimper, clutching at her head as a throb of pain shot through it.
Remembering was... Difficult. It was getting easier with each passing day, less painful both physically and emotionally, but even then it was by no means easy.
From the roars of a flaming dragon man to the silent yet deadly horror of the giant, four-eyed green creature, all the way to the visceral terror of feeling herself being cut in half or having her head sawed open... Needless to say, remembering her past was not a pleasant experience.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, her quiet whimpers did not go unnoticed. "Tayloshi?" A voice called out, one that had unwittingly become intimately familiar to her.
Opening her eyes, Taylor, or Tayloshi as her new name now apparently was, she tiredly watched as an almost comically small figure approached her.
She was... Laughably small, honestly. Had Taylor wanted to, she was fairly sure she could have fit the woman multiple times over in her palm and still been left with room to spare.
However, that wasn't even the weirdest part about the woman. No, that privilege undoubtedly went to the fact that the woman was an outright mermaid, her upper half that of a human woman and her lower body merged into a fish-like tail with red and gold scales.
"Are you having trouble sleeping again, dear?" The woman gently asked as she swam over next to Taylor's head, her golden hair swaying in the water as she settled beside her on the pillow, running her soft hands through Taylor's hair.
"Mhm..." Taylor hummed positively, letting her droopy eyelids close as she enjoyed the close contact. "Little bit." She amended after the woman gave her a wry look, although she stubbornly remained unwilling to say anything further, a fact she made clear by childishly turning over and burying her head into the pillow.
Had Taylor been with anyone else, she would have never done something like this. Taylor didn't consider herself a particularly prideful person, but that didn't mean she had no shame.
However, this woman wasn't merely 'anyone else', a fact further proven as she let out a small, almost musical laugh, and although despite not directly looking at her, Taylor just knew that the woman was smiling. "My, my." She dramatically sighed. "What a stubborn daughter I have... Well, I guess I'll just have to un-stubborn you, then!" She laughed evilly, before promptly pouncing on Taylor and beginning to tickle her.
Because indeed, somehow, someway, this woman was her mother, a fact only further proven as she immediately went for Taylor's weak spot: Her tail.
"Mom!" Taylor half-squeaked, half-squealed, squirming and giggling as she tried to shift away from her mother's surprise attack. "Nooo, stop, stop! Please, I give! I give up!" She begged, but despite her words, not once did she try to push her mother away.
Because for all that Taylor was only around four years of age in this body, and for all that she sometimes struggled to remember details regarding her past life, she was nonetheless painfully aware of the size difference between her and her mother, and knew very well how dangerous even just rolling over onto her could potentially be.
"Muu....? Mommy? Sissie?" A voice spoke up, interrupting their little tussle and causing both mother and daughter to freeze in place, a guilty look quickly forming on the former's face.
Taylor sighed, forcing herself to relax as she watched her mother quickly swim up and away from her bed and over to yet another bed on the other side of the room, one which was significantly smaller than Taylor's own but still far, far oversized for anyone even remotely human-sized.
"Hi, Shirahoshi. Sorry about that, did I wake you up?" Her mom asked, and as Taylor propped herself up on her elbows to watch the scene unfold, yet another very much ultra-sized mermaid slowly and groggily pushed her torso up, rubbing at her eyes as she let out a massive yawn.
She was a cute kid, Taylor thought with a smile as she watched her mother fuss over her other daughter. Her hair was a ridiculous natural pink and surprisingly long for someone so young, and she only added to the look by styling it with two almost donut-like buns on top of her head, ones that greatly resembled the more elegant buns that her mother also wore.
Also, she just so happened to be Taylor's twin sister. Again, how her mother managed to give birth to not one, but two girls who made her look like a bug next to them, Taylor hadn't yet dared to ask.
Still, letting out another tired yawn, Taylor tore her eyes away from the two other female members of this strange new family she'd found herself with and reluctantly pushed the bed covers off of her before half-crawling, half-swimming over to her clothes cabinet.
And, as she quietly hummed to herself as she tried to decide on what to wear, her mind couldn't help but wander yet again.
It had been surprisingly easy to adjust. For the longest time, her mind hadn't truly been capable of processing all of her past life's memories, and while it wasn't as clear cut as simply saying that she was a different person- she wasn't, because deep inside, she was still Taylor Hebert, still was the feared villain Skitter and the controversial hero Weaver- but there were still a few differences.
Taylor knew better than most just how fragile a person's mind truly was. After all, she'd all but been robbed of her sense of self and identity by her passenger before her first death. Thus, it wasn't as surprising as it perhaps should have been to see just what having a wholly different body, upbringing, family, and even whole species did to her.
It... It wasn't bad, overall, Taylor thought as she reluctantly picked out a fairly short top that wouldn't even reach her belly button. However, it was certainly a bit weird.
"Oh! Do you need any help getting dressed, Tayloshi?" Taylor couldn't help but startle the slightest bit as her mother's voice abruptly pulled her out of her thoughts, and she turned her head to find that her mother had somehow sneaked up on her while she was distracted.
Still, despite the hopeful look in her eyes and the beaming grin on her face, Taylor quickly shot down her offer. "I'm fine, thank you mom." She politely responded as she quickly wiggled her way into the shirt, grimacing a little at how tight it was.
Merfolk fashion was quite a bit more, uh, risqué than what she was used to. It wasn't obscene or anything, not like some of the older cultures she faintly remembered reading about in her old life, but it was still far more acceptable to show skin here than she remembered it being back then.
... Or maybe it was just her. Lisa did always say that she had the fashion sense of a dead fish. And, yes, the irony wasn't lost on her.
Still, as Taylor examined herself through the ceiling-long mirror, she couldn't help but hum somewhat appreciatively.
She looked... Cute. Unlike her mother and sister, Taylor had opted to let her naturally curly hair hang free on her back, the black locks reaching down to the upper middle of her back. However, that was just about the only similarity that remained from her old life.
Her face was as cute as a button what with the soft features and big blue eyes. Her body too, while still obviously being that of a child's, thankfully looked rather beautiful and normally proportioned. After all, after having seen what her brothers looked like... Well, she was just glad she more or less resembled a normal girl rather than... that.
N-not that there was anything wrong with that, of course, her brothers were perfectly nice, kind, and lovable, and there was nothing wrong with them, but... Well... They did look quite odd.
Regardless, what was the most striking thing about her was, of course, her mermaid lower half, which looked almost exactly like that of her sister's except that instead of having pink and red scales, hers were uniformly golden and the fins at the end of her tail were a deep purple instead of her sister's white ones.
"Sissy! Come on, stop staring at yourself, let's go! We're gonna miss breakfast!" Shirahoshi whined, earning a chuckle from their mother as she hovered nearby and a roll of the eyes from Taylor.
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Taylor grumbled, tearing her eyes away from the mirror before, with a single if still somewhat clumsy stroke of her tail, swimming over toward her sibling and mother.
Still, despite her light protests, she couldn't help but smile at the way Shirahoshi just looked so happy, as she tended to be whenever their family gathered together for a meal, which often were one of the very few times when their whole family could find the time to all be in one place.
And as they swam together, with their much, much smaller mother in front, the larger Shirahoshi second, and finally the even more gigantic Taylor who was probably more than three times her sister's size, the three of them happily chatted.
"So, did you girls finish up your homework last night?" Their mother asked as they swam through the wide, long, and very luxurious hallways of their homes, her tone deceptively innocent.
"We did!" Shirahoshi happily exclaimed, smiling proudly. "We did all of it!"
"Yes, we did," Taylor said dryly, shooting her sister a pointed look. "And by we, I mean I did, because I'm the one who had to practically force you to do it, you lazy fish."
"Sissie!" Shirahoshi squawked, her arms flailing wildly as she shot her sister a betrayed look. "You said you wouldn't tell!" She whined.
"Yeah, well, you said you'd do the homework last time, but you didn't, so fair's fair!" Taylor harrumphed, but despite her words, her lips couldn't help but twitch up.
Riling her sister up was surprisingly fun. She had some seriously over-the-top reactions, and they never failed to be funny.
"Alright, alright, calm down you two." Their mother ordered after she'd finally managed to get her laughter under control. "Come on, we're here. Let's be on our best behavior now, ok?"
The twin giant mermaids sobered up at that, nodding eagerly as they arrived before a pair of gigantic yet beautifully carved metal doors, in front of which stood a pair of armored men who also had fish-like lower halves, both of whom wielded tridents.
"Your Majesty, princesses." They greeted politely, bowing deeply in greeting as they thumped their tridents onto the floor in a rhythmic pattern.
... There was also the fact that she was now a princess, yes. But, considering all the other changes, Taylor could barely bring herself to care about that little detail.
As the doors began to automatically open, their mom enthusiastically greeted the guards. "Thank you, Oriami, Segui. Is everything going well today? Have you eaten enough? Did you sleep well?" She fired off rapidly, to which the two amused guards merely nodded as they pointedly ignored the two suddenly very silent and shy giant mermaids, the smaller of which quickly swam behind her sister and hid behind her.
"Oho! Otohime!" A booming voice echoed out from the room beyond, catching their mother's attention and earning a wide smile from all three girls present. "Come on, get in here! We're starving, jamon!"
As one, the three mermaids did as told and quickly swam into the massive room. What greeted them was a massive hall, one lined with guards, decorations, and other such decadences.
But most eye-catching of all was the absolute titan of a merman with an equally titanic orange beard, long orange hair, and wearing absolutely nothing to cover up his huge and muscular torso.
And, as he sat at the head of a massive table in the middle of the room, the merman looked at the three of them with a massive grin visible even through his beard. "Ohoho, hello dear, good of you to finally show up!" He grinned, beckoning for their mother with a single, massive finger that was probably three times the size of her whole body.
Otohime huffed petulantly, but still smiled widely as she swam over to sit on her own seat next to her husband's, her petite form completely covered by the shadow of the massive merman.
"Hi, daddy!" Shirahoshi cried out, swimming over to him and giving him a wide hug that he quickly returned. Then, without pause, she turned and greeted the other three people sitting at the table. "Hi, brothers!" She greeted the three other merman, who ironically enough were very much normal-sized when compared to the three giants in the room.
As the three of them returned their greetings to Shirahoshi, Taylor herself went over to give her own hug to her second father, if one that was rather more lukewarm than Shirahoshi's. "Morning, Dad."
Her father chuckled, returning her hug just as he'd done with her sister's. "Morning, Tayloshi." He said, and despite Tayor being far larger than anyone else she'd yet seen, her father still easily outsized her.
... Again, Taylor was not brave enough to want to know how exactly it was that she or any of her four siblings were conceived.
Her mother was a truly fearless woman, Taylor quietly thought for what must have been the thousandth time as she disentangled herself from her father's hug before swimming over to her own seat at the table.
Thus, with all of the greetings out of the way and everyone finally seated, the guards that had been waiting on the sideline for quite a while now finally stepped aside, and allowed what was practically a stream of servers to enter the room, carrying a massive amount of plates filled to the brim with all sorts of seaside delicacies.
And as Taylor began to dig into her own portion of the food, a single serving of which would have been enough to feed an entire village of people several times over and likely cost more than a hundred poorer families could make in a month... She had to admit, being a member of royalty might not have been a 'small detail' after all.
