"Mmm… you're warmer than I thought."
Queenie was astounded; the fuck he meant by that? Does he like my body heat, she contemplated. Or… does he want to cuddle? She knew he was from the lower layer and thus would not be accustomed to the invariable coldness that plagued the middle layer all throughout the year. Of course, this would be an odd request and was also an odd way of requesting it, but she wouldn't say no.
Yet, this was probably the furthest from the truth.
The truth is… Ran is but a simple man. In fact, he is the simplest of men. In reality, he said this weird and borderline sexual sentence because, well for one he didn't realize the implications of it, but also because he was assuming.
What was he assuming? Well, his thoughts were a little something like this:
He comes from a very hot place, he has dark skin, and his body is very warm.
Because Queenie comes from a very cold place, and she has light skin, her body must be very cold!
In other words, Ran was racist! Okay… not really; they were both from the same race, mostly, so this train of thought wasn't racist. Instead, it was colorist! Wait… is that even word, hold on let me go google it real quick.
…
Anyways, after a second of friendly intimacy, Ran gently put his hands over her shoulders and coerced her body to stop hugging him; the atmosphere was a bit awkward as this interaction sprang forth and everyone else's interactions were nowhere near on the same level.
Seeing everyone look at her, Queenie's face became flush and her cold persona returned. She flicked her hair, scoffed, and turned around. She didn't even bother explaining herself as she would only dig herself into a deeper hole.
Thus, she merely acted as if nothing happened and walked away after putting away her ship.
Ran was the first to follow, followed by the rest as both groups entered into Angleford.
The town was actually a bit small, with only enough housing for a few thousand to live in. Of which, most were for those who originally settled there. There were, however, a few large inns where those who sailed the oceans and stopped here can rest before moving on. And that was what the two groups were going to do.
After they exited the harbor, they were greeted by several sights. For one, the town was actually on an incline, so most of the buildings were actually within eyesight to varying degrees.
The buildings here, unlike in the lower layer where they were usually made of wood and cobblestone, were instead completely made of limestone.
But it was strange; it was as if they were molded or carved from a single piece of limestone. But the truth was that this was all accomplished with soul juice—every single building was ladened with preserving runes to keep their states of matter stable, preventing them from dispersing. With the runes protection and rank of the juice used to make them, the buildings would easily be able to last even if a hurricane were to pass right through them.
And not only the buildings, even the roads and fences used to help rear animals were all made and prepared with the same stuff. The whole scene, while possibly lacking in diversity of color and creativity regarding the design of the housing, had its merits.
Its simplicity and extreme neatness was also a kind of charm and some people might even prefer it.
And yet, this scene actually wasn't all that uncommon here in the middle layer, it was fairly common actually. Instead, what made this place unique, in whichever sense of the word, was not itself, but the people who call this place their home.
Suddenly, while walking down the dark and snow-covered street, a yellowish-green light slowly got brighter and brighter. It was small, about the size of a tennis ball, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer, which was what made it seem to get brighter.
It was harder to see through all the snow, which everyone had to change clothing for, except bob of course, yet once it got closer a silhouette was hardly able to be made out.
It was tall, taller than everyone present—the spherical light seemed to be hovering just over its head. Once it got closer and everyone could see its appearance, they all, except Queenie, gawked in utter astonishment.
Now, just a few feet in front of them, was a ten foot (three meter) tall fish that stood on its two very sturdy-looking legs.
Its scaly skin was completely gray in color, much like the buildings around it. Most of its body was covered in heavy-duty clothing, fit for the cold here, but even then there was no indication of it having fins. But the most… interesting part of its appearance was its head.
Luckily, before saying anything else, their head was indeed proportional to the rest of their body; sorry I just had to put that as their ancestral appearance would definitely give them a bad reputation.
But continuing on—the mouth several times bigger than that of a human, even with scale in mind. Its lips were thick and they were long enough to go from ear-to-ear; yet, they were forming a frown. It was natural, though. And if it were to open its mouth, a row of translucent, spike-like teeth would greet themselves.
Its eyes were still quite fish-like, though they don't appear to be dead like their soulless counterparts. Its ears were actually just small fins, which of course don't actually act as ears but are merely placed in such a place. And behind these fins were a single gill for each ear; they were long, long enough to go from the ear to the thyroid.
While it didn't have hair, it did have hair-like growths on its head. Specifically, they were long spines that had a thin layer of skin enshrouding them and it being gray, it sort of looked like hair.
Its body was mostly covered, but the parts that weren't, like its face, had a slight gloss to them. This was just a slight membrane, which was mostly water, that is merely there to keep the skin moisturised. Because of this, which was something many species of fish had to deal with on land and even in the water, their clothing would have to consider that. They would either have to be hydrophobic, or they can inscribe them with spells of runes to deal with it in the same way. But all this wasn't important; I know right, had to say it last instead of the beginning.
The main thing which usually sets them apart is its nose. Its mouth was big, but its nose generally wasn't. And actually, I was lying. It wasn't the nose, but it was the extension of it. The noses bridge extended upwards all the way to the top of its forehead, which created a ridge on it.
It began to protrude outwards, extending to about a meter (three feet) long. It was quite bendable and was easily able to be moved with the muscles connected to it. Yet the most important part was a bulb-like addition to the end of the protrusion, well sack might be more apt.
But it was strange—the bulb was lit up like a lantern! Except, it wasn't strange at all. This was bioluminescence, with some bacteria. It was perfectly natural.
In other words, this fish person was an Anglerfish! Who would have thought; well, I guess I could've just said that it was an anglerfish and saved myself like five hundred words... hah, you know what, I still don't regret it.
…
"Eh? Newcomers? Why are you out here so late at night?"
Its voice was questioning, but it's smooth tone was not threatening, merely curious—it was almost worrying actually. And it was clearly a female.
Yet, while Queenie was used to them, the rest felt extremely pressured. Especially our Ran Ran!
Lest I remind you all that our boy was merely five and a half feet tall? The smallest of them all? Or that this fish‐person right here was twice his height?
Unfortunately for him, the only people who were smaller than him that he knew of, were his father and human children in general. So, seeing a literal tower of fishy muscles had almost initiated a fight or flight response within him. Not to mention his body started to crave fish again, which was completely out of nowhere.
The anglerfish's lure swayed left and right and she eyed them all. After a second, she looked at her surroundings, which was just snow of course, with worry.
"Pardon me but… have you all seen my little peppy?" She rubbed her gloved hands together.
"Peppy?" Everyone looked at each other; obviously, no one knew what the fuck this fish was talking about. Well Queenie knew, but she didn't bother.
"What's a peppy," Ran asked as he scratched his hood. The anglerfish craned her head towards this little person which reminded her of their males—its posture shifted a little and her eyes were more gentle than before.
While Ran was fully clothed in white and black mist covered his face, she could easily feel his gaze on her. It was… quite unnerving actually; though she was actually a whole rank ahead of him, for a second it felt as if it would be swallowed whole. Yet, it came and went within a single instant, as if it was covered or snuffed by something. Thus, it didn't mind it and just thought it was its imagination.
"What's peppy? Oh right, sorry—no, peppy is just my pet toad."
"Toad?"
"Yeah, peppys my toad. I was just locking up my farmhouse for the day when an earthquake happened!" Her voice cracked up a bit and it was clear she was startled. After all, these kinds of natural disasters were very rare—almost nonexistent. The world would have made sure of that.
"The ground opened up and for some reason… peppy dove in head first! By the will, why would she do such a thing?" A stream of tears flowed from her eyes. As it turns out, she was no older than Ran and the rest and thus, she was still in her teen angst phase.
After a second, feeling the atmosphere turn a little awkward, and the snow beginning to pick up with the sharp wind, she composed herself.
"Phew, it's fine; you don't have to worry about it. Anyways, since I've met you all out here, and with it being so dark out, why don't I take you to a place to rest?"
She extended a figurative hand as a courtesy, and everyone accepted it. Thereafter, with her glowing lure, she led the group to a pace to stay for the night.
On the way, everyone had their own thoughts, whether it be about the journey, their destination, or their return home. But Ran was more concerned about peppy. Wait… I just noticed, I never capitalized peppy! shit I did it again!
He was more concerned about Peppy. Phew, got it. Yes, this was the subject of his thoughts.
He looked at Fluffy; after spending all the time together, he didn't know what he would do if he lost her somehow, so he empathized with this fish person.
Fluffy, on the other hand, got a tingling sense. She looked around and found Ran looking at her. For some reason, she felt she could read his thoughts and thus, she was appalled! Does he think of me as a pet!? Finally, she could find a reason to put her plan in motion and she began to bite his fingers. She could smell the fish on him more and more; she needed a taste!
Now, the only thing Ran could do was to appease Fluffy by connecting their thoughts and explain that it was companionship not ownership. Of course, these were all nebulous and their thoughts weren't actually connected to this degree, so his plea was not delivered and his fingers were now chewed up.
In the end, this continued until they got to an inn by the name of "Fourth Inn".