A Mermaid's Tail

K, time to show off my favorite part of Saturday's Ren Fest: taking pics of my friend Christie.

You ready, Christie?

Yeah, I think she's ready.

Annnnd... DRAMATIC UNVEILING!

Ok, so I've posted pics of Christie as a mermaid in my DragonCon posts before, but there's only so much you can do shooting from above in a hotel swimming pool. She also wasn't in character for those shots, since it was a private pool with almost no one around.

Here, however, Christie - performing as "Kyrin" - has a whole crowd to perform for:

I have to say, the Festival has done a great job setting the scene. This little display shows you which of the three mermaids is currently in the tank:

And the large fenced-in area that corrals the crowd is themed with flowers, hanging seaweed, netting, and shells:

The mermaid tank is just large enough for one adult mermaid - humanely rescued and rehabilitated from the wild, of course. ;)

The mermaids are a free attraction provided by the Festival, but for a "small donation" (most give a dollar), Kyrin will fetch you a sparkly glass stone from the bottom of her tank.

"The Giving of the Stone"

As an added bonus, you may get a little mermaid splash in the process. :) The tips are divided equally among the 5 workers at the Grotto.

Here Kyrin takes a breather - literally - while showing off her tail:

To avoid the inevitable barrage of questions, the crowd is informed that mermaids only communicate in little trills and squeaks, kind of like a dolphin, which is pretty stinking adorable.

Kyrin doesn't need words to connect with the kids, though:

In fact, this is where the real magic happens. Every child that approaches the tank is met face-to-face, and hand-to-hand. Kyrin draws hearts on the glass, plays patty-cake, trills and purrs, and poses for picture after picture with adults and kids alike.

Some are shy, like this little cutie:

Eventually she's coaxed into place by her parents, but you can see she's still a little hesitant:

After the picture the two share a moment, though, and she's all smiles:

SO. CUTE.

When one little boy started pulling faces at her through the glass, Kyrin matched him, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes. The boy was completely charmed, and walked away beaming.

I like the way her hair catches the light in this shot.

As small as the tank is, if the mermaids maneuver themselves just so, they can place their tails flat against the glass. Each time Christie did this, she was rushed by a new wave of little girls, all eagerly patting the glass & oohing:

Heck, I almost did, too. That copper & teal tail is gorgeous. 

(Since I know I'll get asked: it's Mertailor tail.)

Each of the mermaids provides her own costume and accessories, so they're all a bit different. I only caught the tail end [heh] of her set, but here's mermaid Star:

She has a reddish orange tail and some fabulous shell hairpieces:

Each mermaid is out for 45 minutes to an hour at a time, and they do two sets each per day. By the end of their first set their eyes are firey red; keeping your eyes open under water that long really takes its toll! This is a labor of love, though; they are paid, but I know at least in Christie's case that pretty much just covers travel expenses. (She drives over 8 hours each weekend for the show.) She's there because she loves it, and it shows.

I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to Mermaid's Grotto! If nothing else, I know *I* had fun playing with all these pictures.

Oh, and if you want to see her in person, Christie/Kyrin will be at the Bay Area Ren Fest every weekend except the 22nd & 23rd (because MegaCon!) through April 6th. She also has a Facebook page with her sister Robyn for all their cosplay pics, if you want to keep up with her that way. Tell her I sent you!