“Ooh a long time, one and off,” she smiled a little dreamily, continuing to brush the waist-length wig, “my sisters and I used to be in the dance troupe,” she explained, “until I aged out! As for the other, well, I used to think about it a lot but they wouldn’t want me now and anyway,” she grinned, “I’m the only one of my sisters left and someone has to stick around to make more yummy little meat-girls!”

“I guess so!” Samantha giggled. “But why wouldn’t they want you? You look pretty delicious to me!” The other girls nodded their enthusiastic agreement. The teen was slim but toned, meaty in the right places and would likely look spectacular on a spit! The mermaid glanced around conspiratorially before replying.

“They’re pretty strict about their age cap here.” she explained. “They let me still do this because I easily pass for younger and it’s handy for them to have someone experienced around to help with the younger ones but when it comes to what they serve, they’re a lot more picky!”

“But how old are you then?” Ella asked, hoping it wasn’t a rude question. “I thought fourteen was the cap here? Are you fifteen then?”

“Oh bless your heart!” the mermaid chuckled. “You’re my new best friend! I’ll actually be nineteen in February, off to university in September. Decided to take a gap year after school and I’m happy to keep my hand in here, or tail!” she giggled, lifting and flapping the shimmering red costume piece that encased her legs. “I work in a shop most days but when I get an evening or afternoon off I love to come here! They’re not allowed to pay because of child labour laws or whatnot and it wouldn’t be fair if they paid me and not the others but it’s still a pretty sweet deal!” she grinned. “I just have to sit here with my tits out for a couple of hours and I get a free meal out of it! Not the carvery normally,” she shrugged, “although sometimes, if it’s quiet, they slip me in! But a nice girl-burger or lasagne always goes down well!”

“Ooh yeah I can imagine!” Samantha grinned, wondering whether or not to point out that her aquatic friend had considerably more than just her chest on display but concluded it was probably more a figure of speech. After all, if she had been a dancer, she would have been well used to being up on stage, the focus of attention, wearing even less than she was now!

“You’re so lucky!” Caroline sighed in awe. “Getting free meals here whenever you want!”

“Oh there’s other ways to get a free meal here too!” the older girl grinned, setting down her hair-brush and slipping off the rock to swim across to them, folding her arms on the railing and gently wafting her tail under the water as they talked. “You know about the private dining rooms, right? Where groups can order a whole girl and have them cooked however they want?” The trio nodded, intrigued.

“Well every couple of weeks they do a recruitment day for those. There’s one next Saturday in fact! Any eligible girl can sign up for a place, you get a tour of the kitchen and some of the rooms, which in fairness are pretty cool to see, then you have to sit through a presentation which is pretty much a sales pitch about why you should sign up, then you get a free meal to remind you how good you could taste! They do bring around sign-up forms while you’re eating,” she chuckled, “to try to catch you in the heat of the moment, but there’s no obligation to sign up. Normally only about a quarter of the girls who attend end up committing and even then you can back out until you accept the purchase.”

“What does that mean?” asked Caroline.

“Oh right, yeah.” the mermaid smiled, remembering that these girls were unlikely to be familiar with how the system operated. “Well, when you sign up for the private menu, they take your pictures and put them on the website then if someone wants to order you, you get a notification of the request including date and time and you can either accept or reject. I think if you reject three times they take down your listing but most people don’t. Most girls accept the first request, of course, but there can be things that get in the way like maybe you’re out of town or you got sick or something. Anyway, once you accept a purchase request, you’re locked in but until then you can still ask for your profile to be taken down.”

“What happened to that thing about saying stop until the chop?” Samantha asked, remembering the poster she had seen in the DHLW office.

“Technically applies, I guess.” the mermaid shrugged. “But I think Sidney’s has the right to sue you for compensation if you back out at that stage and, honestly, I don’t think you’d really let things get that far unless you were totally sure about it!”

“True.” Samantha nodded.

“Anyway, if you’re interested, there’s fliers in the lobby.” explained the teen. “You can sign up online.”

“I’d feel disingenuous doing that,” Samantha sighed a little, “since I’m already spoken for. But it does sound fun!”

“Oh I see!” their new friend grinned. “You’ve made special dinner plans already?”

“She’s going to be our Christmas dinner!” Ella informed her with a proud grin and Samantha gave a cheeky little wave.

“Very nice!” the mermaid grinned approvingly, looking her up and down. “I’m sure you’ll be delicious! Oven or spit? You’d suit either!”

“Oven, since it’s for Christmas!” Samantha grinned. “Like a turkey!”

“Well I’m sure you’ll be enthusiastically gobbled up!” the teen laughed. “So you’re here tonight for a sort of last treat?”

“Yeah, basically!” Samantha agreed. “It’s my early Christmas present.”

“Well I hope you enjoy!” the pretty teen mermaid grinned. “Looks like they’re about to reopen the carvery so you might want to get over there and watch the show! And get in line for a plate of course!”

“Thank you!” Samantha grinned again. “What’s your name by the way?”

“Elizabeth.” the mermaid smiled. “Lizzie to my friends! Have a great evening!”

“Thanks!” beamed Samantha and all three girls waved cheerfully. “You too!”


To be continued...