"Hey, Yuliang, you're mixed too, right?" Eric asked on their way to the staff accommodation.
Yuliang nodded, "Yeah. My mama was Estish."
Fiore was composed of various ethnicities, but there were four major races native to Fiore's four autonomous regions.
In the north, the Nordish were commonly identified by their fair coloring, strong features, and height. Native Nordish were genetically predisposed to grow very tall.
In the west were the Kulonians. Kulonians are one of the two dark-skinned ethnicities of Fiore. They have unique dark, curly textured hair usually worn in various hairstyles unique to their culture. People of this ethnicity are typically born with red, gold, or red-gold heterochromatic eyes.
Native Estish were the most homogeneous ethnicity of Fiore. The vast majority of them genetically inherit straight black hair, slanted amber eyes, and porcelain skin.
In Sundan, where the twins were born, natives of the region are genetically predisposed to have dark skin and different shades of red hair. Their eye colors tend to vary between grey or brown.
The twins were born with a mix of native Sundanese and native Estish heritage. Their straight black hair and almond-shaped amber eyes were inherited from their Estish mother, while their dark brown skin, snub nose, and thick eyebrows and lashes had been inherited from their Sundanese father.
"That's great," Eric gushed, " I'm mixed too! My mom's Nordish and my father's Estish. Not a very rare combination around these parts, though," he said with a pout.
It was only once it was pointed out that Yuliang took notice of it. Yuliang had thought Eric was pure Estish when he had first seen him.
Eric was shorter than Yuliang by a head, with short straight black hair and slanted amber eyes slightly narrower and more upturned than Yuliang's own. While not obvious at first glance, a closer look revealed Eric's more Nordish features, like his prominent slightly upturned nose and rosy complexion instead of the more delicate pointed nose and porcelain complexion typical of pure Estish people.
"You're kind of short for someone with Nordish blood," Yuliang observed, earning himself a glare from the other man.
"Rude! Not all Nordish people are tall, you know. That's just a stereotype. Like my mom's only like 5'. On the other hand, you're the first Estish-Sundanese person I've met. What's that been like?"
Yuliang thought about it for a second before answering, "Depends on where I am and who I'm with. Sometimes strangers stare and ask questions, but it stops being a big deal after a while."
Eric nodded in understanding, "Yeah, that used to be the case for me as well when I was younger, but since there are more of us in the city now, no one pays much attention to it anymore. Have you been to Estin yet?"
"Have you?" Yuliang countered.
Eric conceded with a laugh, "No, but I plan to after the internship. My mother's cousin's a Healer there, so I was thinking of getting more experience there before attempting the Certification exam. What about you?"
Yuliang shrugged, "I don't know. My current priority is getting Certified, but maybe after that, I'll think about it."