That evening was… well, how do I put it?
That evening was… rough.
After the three of them had their first official meeting, they then set out to find their so-called sustenance. And by they I mean Ran set out to find the food. As it turned out, not only did Bob not know how to swim, he said that it "looked like a gaping maw that would eat me limb by limb."
So, yeah; Bob was afraid of the water. As for Fluffy, we already know all about that. Therefore, Ran ventured out on his very lonesome. Luckily, after waking up, he tested out the stone fish skill Granny had given him and it worked! As long as he stayed still, he would seemingly merge into the environment and become invisible.
Because he was hiding, no one would be able to lock onto him, and he would not get the red streams. But, if he closed his eyes and concentrated on his smellovision (a word I haven't used in a long time), he would be able to discern others who were also hiding.
Some were ordinary fish who had made the boneyard a place to lay their eggs, while others had souls and were merely seeking out prey. Of course, Ran was merely looking for food, so there was no need looking for trouble.
Once he caught some game and returned, he distributed the meat.
"Phew. So, anyone know how to cook?" He looked at the other two expectantly, Bob and Fluffy, but all he got was silence. A second later, Fluffy ate her food in a rush via a single gulp—Ran had fortunately caught multiple for her specifically.
He could only sigh. It seems they would only eat roasted fish over a fire today. And indeed, that evening, whilst the trio were humming tunes and "enjoying" burnt and overly salty fish, a fragrant aroma wafted over from across the ship.
Ann had just come out of the kitchen with a steaming plate of salmon and fried vegetables (such as green carrots, yellow cauliflower and even red brussel sprouts).
The skin of the salmon was light and crispy, like potato chips, and the flesh was pink and juicy.
Everything had been skewered by a thin wooden stick, about a foot (third of a meter) long, and was to be eaten as such: entirely.
Yes. That included the stick itself. Actually, the skewers were from a more unique kind of wood that made it more edible than most trees already were. It was quite brittle and carried a nice earthy taste that contrasted well with the rest of the meal.
On the tip of each skewer was an eyeball from the salmon. Ann had injected an orange liquid into it and then fried that too. Once eaten, the eye would explode with flavor and an orange goo that was sweet and spicy.
This was what she had for dinner today. On the other hand, well… I already explained it. The trio was simply envious, and jealous at the same time. They couldn't cook and they had shied away from the person who used to serve everything to them on a silver platter. They all had a single tear stream down their cheeks as they saw her directly eat the entire dish.
And as Ann watched their hilarious reactions, she felt something for the first time. Schadenfreude.
Here she was, trying to live her life normally – as it had always been – when suddenly everyone wants to turn it upside down. Well fuck them, she thought—she hadn't actually given it much thought though.
Thus, seeing them squirm around, she only enjoyed her food even more; she deliberately slowed down and savored every bite, while licking her lips and her fingers. In the end, not a single crumb was left behind.
She burped once, got up, looked at them in the eyes, smiled and left. If this is what it feels like to live your own life, then maybe it ain't so bad, she contemplated as she walked back into her room to rest.
Now of course, this didn't mean that she changed and her current lifestyle and habits would come crumbling down. If anything, it made her crave her normal life more and more.
And so it was. That night, and for most of the nights that will come in the near future, Ann would sneak into Rans room. Now, this usually happens anyway, but this time was a little different. With Ran rejecting her cooking skills, it almost felt as if a part of her died. Now, she was back to reclaim what she had lost.
Basically, she would be more hardcore in her methods and she would try to revalidate her existence (and cooking skills more specifically) over and over again. She even tried to convince him to eat her food again—it then turned into almost down right forcing him to eat it. Later on in the future, she would stop with e games because Ran had broken down into tears.
After all, once he ate her food again, all their progress might be lost and it would go negative as Ann would be resolute to not experience something like that again. Worse yet, if he ate it, it would replicate all her past notions and reinforce them, causing them to become steel walls that can no longer be brought down no matter what kind of force you used.
This would have obviously led to her soul being damaged again and she would most likely die at some point in the near future.
That's not even mentioning the fact that it was just for food. Once she entered his room at night, she would stay there until morning; she slept there.
That itself was another issue.