You are Researcher Anon, currently in the Arctic and it is cold as fuck. You are looking for Greenland sharks, anthro ones specifically. In recent years, they have become critically endangered, the anthro Greenland shark population has dropped an estimated 95%. There‘s nothing but water and ice for miles. It’s rather straining on the eye. Like that torture method where you put someone in a blank white room for days. Except you’re not being tortured and you’re not insane, you think. You came alongside an old human man, who looks to be in his eighties, named John. He’s rather disrespectful, always bossing and pushing people around without any sense of empathy. He supposedly has been working in this business for about fifty years, and he has the scars to prove it. His whole torso is lined with scars from the years past. And not even including the stories he’s told about his adventures. He’s been around, and he deserves much more respect despite his rancid personality. And a human girl around your age named Laura. She, like you, is also a recent college graduate, and came along as part of some nature foundation she’s a part of. Comparatively, she’s nicer than John but not by much. This whole trip she’s been complaining of the cold and how she could be working with any other group at the moment. Neither look like they want to be here, but you couldn’t be more excited. The chance to have a once-in-a-lifetime encounter was an opportunity you couldn’t pass up. Your job is to tag any Greenland sharks you find. It’s not nearly as daunting as tagging great whites like John has, cause of the Greenland shark’s relatively docile demeanor, but you like to think of this as an epic journey to save the endangered sharks. You are on a boat rented by John. A fishing boat designed for this type of climate but it’s specifically created for fishing, the living quarters are unbelievably cramped. There’s only two beds and since you’re such a pushover, you got the floor. It’s cold and you always wake up extremely cramped everywhere. At least Laura had enough empathy to give you the thickest and warmest blanket. The plan is to locate a shark. How will you do that? You don’t really know. Being fresh out of college, you never done this before. According to John, the plan is for you and Laura to dive in the water and... just search. Not exactly the most interesting idea you had in mind, but you can’t think of a better one. You are gearing up for the dive and as explained earlier, it is cold as fuck. Not helping is the sub-zero waters waiting for you. You can’t tell if you’re shivering from the cold or from fear, or both. Laura let out another “ugh” as she continued complaining about how John should be diving instead of her. “You have experience, you should be the one to dive. What if something happens? Neither of us will know what to do.” Laura said. “Oh, quit yapping, Laura.” John responded halfheartedly. “Diving ain’t half as bad as you’re making it out to be. You’re just being paranoid.” Laura didn’t respond, but instead mouthed a few words you couldn’t make out. Both of you finished gearing up in silence. You loom over the partly frozen water. Was this really a good idea? You keep telling yourself that it’s for the good of the Greenland sharks but you can’t help being a bit of a coward. What if the sharks are aggressive? What if the water freezes you to death? What if Laura kills you while you’re both under? You tell yourself to stop being so paranoid and questioning everything. John explained how arctic diving is no different from diving by the coast of Mexico, but you find that hard to believe. Maybe it’s because of the cold or how desolate ocean seems. You tell yourself to stop being so pessimistic and just dive in quick and get it over with. Here goes... You dive into the deep blue waters and feel a rush of intense, freezing cold. Even under your layers of extra clothing you’re wearing under your drysuit (which you’re regretting cause it’s getting uncomfortable under all of it), you’re still feel like you’re freezing to death. You can’t imagine Laura is feeling any better. You can hear her through an earpiece you both are wearing and all you can hear are endless cussing from her. “It’s so fucking cold!” is all you could get out of her fit. After a few minutes, you start to slightly get used to the cold. You should start searching for signs of a shark. You’re tied to the boat, so you’re not in any real danger of getting left behind. So as the boat moves, as slow as it may be, you struggle to keep up. You were both given a rope, some sort of large grappler, and a sedative, all will be used to help us catch the shark. Is this safe? Is this how you’re supposed to do this? You don’t know. This was certainly not what you had in mind when you signed up for this. You thought you were going to catch it like you catch feral sharks. Maybe anthro sharks are too smart to fall for that. Now that you’re thinking about it, a lot of this trip completely subverted your expectations. It’s a little suspicious. Though, now’s not the time to be thinking about this stuff. “You have one hour to search before your tanks run out.” John said from the earpiece. “The water should be crystal clear so you shouldn’t have any problems.” “Uh-huh” was all Laura responded with before you both start searching... And searching... And searching... ... You haven’t kept track of the time but it feels like hours have passed since you dove underwater. Laura has since lost interest and is currently being dragged by the boat. Neither of you have spoke and neither of you have seen any signs of any sharks, or any life, actually. “Forty-five minutes.” John reminded us. “You both are doing great.” Neither you nor Laura respond. All you’re thinking about is that one time in middle school when you and your friend triggered the fire alarm cause you thought it would be funny. It wasn’t, and all that happened was you getting suspended and chewed out by your parents... Your thoughts are cut off as you see the outline of something in the distance. “Something’s in the distance!” “What!?” Laura responded as she rushed to catch up with you. “Holy shit. There’s actually something here.” As it becomes clearer, you see the figure better. It’s a Greenland shark! Female, from the looks of it. She’s smaller than you imagined, being about as large as you are, maybe even a little smaller. Aren’t those sharks supposed to be huge? You don’t know, maybe the anthro sharks are smaller than their feral counterparts. It’s doesn’t matter. It’s here! She’s just floating aimlessly. You thought she was dead until she moved her hand slightly. She’s gray with a small figure and... black hair? All anthros you’ve seen have hair like humans but you’ve never seen a shark anthro before and you just never thought they had hair. The trademark parasites float attached to her dull eyes, showing she’s blind. Which isn’t much of a surprise, even if it’s a little gross. Outside of the odd physical traits, there are a few stray strands of seaweed that got caught on her body. She suddenly looks around the open ocean before looking straight at you. She starts to swim towards you. Her face doesn’t change, so you get the feeling she isn’t going to be very aggressive. You aren’t quite sure what to do now. “Fuck, dude. It’s really there.” Laura said, mystified. “What do we do now?” “Wrangle it with the grappler and rope, then use the sedative to calm it! Do it quick before I gets away!” John said quickly. You try to stop staring at its nude body as you quickly use the grappler which, to your surprise, actually caught her. She started struggling against it. “Inject the sedative!” You shout over the earpiece. “Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll use it.” Laura swam up to the shark and tried to inject it. “Fuck! It’s squirming too much!” She ended up stabbing it deep into the shoulder of the shark. That had to have hurt, but at least it’s done, and after a few minutes, the struggles were reduced to an occasional twitch. “Get over by the boat. I’ll give you the materials and instruct.” John said as we dragged her towards the surface. The actual tagging wasn’t as hard as you imagined. Laura held the shark as you applied a device on her. Took about eight minutes. After it was all said and done, John instructed us to let go of her and stay in the water to make sure she gets away alright. “Fuck that. I’m going back up.” Well there goes Laura. You decide to stay. You look down on the seemingly sleeping shark. It was a once in a lifetime chance, and it was done... She’s so unusual. You’ve seen anthros before but it’s so bizarre how close they are to humans. Especially a blind shark, who’s biology doesn’t exactly support the type of environment she lives in. But what will happen to her? Will she find a mate? Has she mated? Are there even males of her species around anymore? Based on her thin figure, you can’t imagine she’s birthed any children. Doesn’t help that she’s blind. Poor girl. “Anon, your tank should be running out by now. It’s time to come back up.” You heard John, but it was all background noise. All your attention was focused on the shark in your arms. You run your hand along her side. You feel an odd calmness while petting her. She moves slightly in her grasp and smiles, as if she’s enjoying it. Her eyes fluttered open. Her calm demeanor turned to a fear when she realized she was in your grasp. She shot off a few feet. She kept staring at you in a mix of intense fear and curiosity. You both stared silently at each other for what felt like hours. The silence was broken by John. “Anon! Your tank is about to run out! Get the fuck back here!” It took you a moment to process what he said. A rush of fear-induced adrenaline runs through your body as you scrambled to get up to the surface. Taking one last glance to the shark before climbing the latter John just lowered. She kept that same look on her face as you leave the cold arctic water and stepped onto the boat. You take a few moments to change and you walk into the only room on this boat, the bedroom. Laura and John are playing cards while the radio plays seventies dad rock. “Did you actually stay with it the whole time?” Laura questioned. “Yes, and it looks like she’s doing fine, in case you want to know.” You responded in an unintentionally rude manner. “Did it do anything?” “No, but at least I know she’s alive and well after the sedatives.” Laura didn’t respond, instead simply nodding and turning her attention towards John. “So what do we do now, captain?” “We will be out on the sea for another few days before we go back to land. You two will be repeating those procedures once every day.” “Ugh.” Was all she could say while rolling her eyes. You and the others spent the last few hours of daylight playing cards and drinking. Afterwards, you all turned in for the night. You try to sleep. Throughout the whole rest of the day, the thought of that shark never left you mind (although the alcohol helped slightly). Your mind is racing with questions. All centered around that shark. You feel bad. How long do they live? Five hundred years? She must be lonely. - You are currently looking over the open ocean. Another few days of looking for sharks. You’re hoping to find more, but a nagging thought at the back of your head tells you there’s none left. But no, there has to be more. At least a few more. But no matter, you’ll prove there’s more within these next few days. You’re just about to dive again, along with Laura. Speaking of Laura, she is not happy at all to be diving again. “Anon seems to be the only one of us who enjoyed doing it, why do I need to tag along?” “Are you stupid, Laura? Anon can’t take one down and tag it all by himself. He needs help. Even if you don’t like it, suck it up. It’s for the good of the Greenland sharks.” John retorted. Laura sighed loudly, but didn’t respond. You both hop back into the water and search... And search... And search... ... ...Nothing. “Tanks are almost out. Start thinking about heading up.” John broke the nearly fifty minute long silence between you and Laura as you search for sharks. Or in Laura’s case, float aimlessly. “Thank the fucking lord, this shit is so boring. Fuck this, I’m heading up now.” Laura stated as she swam up to the lowered ladder. You stayed back, in hopes of spotting at least one more. Just one more.. ...! You see something! It is trailing very far behind the boat. It’s hard to make out, but it looks humanoid. “Something’s behind the boat!” You say. “Ahh fuck.” Laura replied. The humanoid thing hung around for a few moments, before fading away. “It’s leaving.” You said with a hint of disappointment. The figure has since completely disappeared. “Well, let’s chase after it!” “It’s too far and I’m almost out of air. I need to go back up.” You say as you swim back to the ladder and climb up. “It’s alright son, can’t catch them all.” John, in a rare sign of empathy, comforted you. The next few days didn’t go well either. No signs of any at all. It’s not like you were expecting to find much from an endangered species, but at least one more would have sufficed. You eventually returned to the shore of a small fishing town to resupply. It was small. Very small, probably only had about three hundred people in it, and hardly anyone left their homes outside of work cause of how cold it was. The time back was rather unremarkable. Most of the time was spent in the little shops peppered throughout the town. Getting food and equipment for the next trip. The most interesting thing that happened was Laura’s almost comical fail at trying to flirt with a guy at one of the stores. Currently you, John, and Laura were at a small bar, which surprised you. Having a bar in a town this small, but you guess everyone needs their alcohol. It had a warm atmosphere that makes you feel fuzzy inside, in a good way. The other two were getting wasted while you decide to go with just water this time. After all, you needed to be sober enough to keep an eye on the other two. And you were never much of an alcohol man anyways. The two were making quite the ruckus with the other patrons. They were downing drink after drink, giving absolutely no regard to how much these drinks cost. At this rate, they (and by extent, you) won’t have enough money to get home. It was seven o’clock in the afternoon. You and the gang aren’t supposed to leave on another tagging voyage until early next morning, so you have some time to kill. You decide to relax on the dock. It’s better than doing nothing in a noisy bar where you’re regulated to being the equivalent of the designated driver. Getting up from the stool, you tap Laura on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m gonna be hanging by the shore nearby.” You say to her. Laura, who didn’t seem to care, simply nodded and downed another drink. You walk out towards the water and sit down on the rocks. The gravelly shoreline is nothing like the sandy beaches back home but the atmosphere’s all the same, barring the intense cold. It’s actually really cold. This was kind of a bad idea in hindsight. You should go back to the bar, it’s noise but at least it’s warmer. Just as you were getting up to go back inside, you see something in the water. It was a shark, poking its head out of the water. But it’s not just any shark. It was that same shark from before! The only Greenland shark you’ve seen so far. At least, you think. It has that same hair as the one from before. It was too dark to see if it was tagged. You’re surprised it managed to find you. They’re blind after all, but they apparently have exceptional scent and hearing, so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. Still, you’re questioning how in the world it managed to find you. You clumsily make your way down to the edge of the water. As you get a better look at the shark, your suspicions are confirmed as you see the deeper features of her. The eye parasite, the unique facial features, and the body structure are dead giveaways. “Hey there.” You say. You doubt she knows what you’re saying but you feel better knowing you have at least someone to speak to. “Hello.” She responded, with a foreign accent you couldn’t quite put a finger on. ...What. “Wait wait wait. You can speak?” She let out a light laugh. “Well, being as old as I am, you tend to pick up on all types of languages. I learned English from a sailor I met when I was younger. And I’ve been picking up on more and more of it as I find more English ships.” “Old? You don’t look any older than me.” You humored her. She smiled at the remark. “Us gurry sharks age differently than most. I lost track of how old I am after I turned two hundred.” She said with another laugh and dived under the water for a few seconds before rising back up. “Being this old, you also pick up on other things. Like little insights on urban life and new words.” Huh. She is an anthro after all. You just assumed that since she was wild, she was as dumb as the other wild anthro species. “Ah, I see. Why didn’t you try to say or communicate anything when we tagged you?” “I’ve always been weary of humans, so when I saw you and that other person grab me I was terrified. I thought you were going to kill me. But when I woke up in your arms I got a different feeling from you than the other one.” She went underwater for a few seconds, before rising back up and continuing. “It seemed like you cared beyond catching me as a trophy or for scientific study. Even after you left, I never shook off the feeling that you cared. I don’t often get to talk to anyone, much less someone who doesn’t look at me like a trophy. So I trailed behind your ship until you docked.” She went down for another breath of water before continuing. “And I waited for the perfect moment to try and talk to you.” Wow. That was a lot to take in. It, quite frankly, left you a bit speechless. “Well, uhh...” you trail off, managing to find extreme difficulty in what you’re trying to say. “Wait. If you’re blind how were you able to track the ship so well, and how were you able to find me?” “That’s easy to explain: ships, especially yours, have a very unique smell.” Oh right, you seemingly forgot the fact that these sharks have an impecable sense of smell. She continued. “As to how I was able to find you here, it was merely a large coincidence. I was just swimming around here and when I rose from the water I caught your smell.” You’re once again left with a lot to take in. Partially at how well she was able to keep up with you, and partially how fluent she is in English. She already explained how she learned it, but wouldn’t she more easily pick up on Greenlandic or Danish? Well, if she was going to learn another language, you figure is was going to be English. After all, it was one of the most spoken languages in the world. She probably already knows Greenlandic and Danish anyways. The silence between you two grows more awkward the more you talk to yourself in your head. You need to find something to talk about. Start simple. Ask her something basic to get to know her better. “So uhh, you have a name?” She thought for a few moments. “I remember when I was a young shark an old human woman gave me a name but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was.” She said in a disheartened tone. “That’s quite the predicament.” You say. “Indeed. I never had the need to give it to anyone, no after a while, it slowly slipped from my memory.” Suddenly, an idea popped into your head. “How about I give you a temporary name? Something I can call you while you try to remember your real name.” “That’s not at all a bad idea. Do you have anything in mind?” She said. “Hmmm.” You thought hard for a moment. “How about... Ayla?” “That sounds like a nice name.” Ayla smiled. A few more moments of silence ensues. Which you try to remedy with another question. What to ask, though? There’s so much that’s going through your mind. You settle to pick one of the tens of hundreds that’s been floating through your mind at random. “So what do you do to pass the time in the ocean? I can’t imagine it’s too entertaining out there.” She takes another breath of water and makes a thinking gesture. “I spend most of my time just searching for food. There really is not a whole lot out here. It’s hard enough finding food that isn’t poisonous or contaminated and I need as much as possible to stay healthy. I guess the shortage of good food is why I grew up much smaller than my parents. But back to hobbies, the only other thing that’s here are ships.” That makes sense, you weren’t expecting her to say she had all that much of an entertaining life. You were about to respond when you hear John shouting for you in the distance, “Oi, Anon, get the fuck back here. We’re leaving for the ship!” You wanted to continue to talk to Ayla for longer, but she ended the conversation, “Well, it was nice to speak with you.” You nod in acknowledgement. You just wanted to stay longer and speak to her more, but John was always so assertive about keeping a schedule on everything, sleep schedule included. It also dawned on you just how cold it was. The talking must’ve distracted you. You say your goodbye and start to walk towards your clearly drunken peers. The two ramble on about nonsensical topics, completely ignoring your presence. You’re surprised John even remembered to call for you in the first place. The walk back was largely uneventful. Your mind was filled with thoughts of Ayla. It was strange, she went out of her way to follow the ship and try to talk to you. You wanted to talk to her more. You check your watch, only about thirty minutes had passed since you left for the bar and to the shore. It was short, but it felt even shorter. You hoped she would stay. You wanted another chance to talk to her sometime. As you and the others got back onto the boat and into the bedroom, John fell asleep almost immediately. Laura decided to acknowledge your presence and start a small conversation, “so, Anon, what were you doing by the beach?” A hint of drunkenness present in her voice. You take a few moments to think about your response. Should you tell her the truth? Is there any repercussions for telling the truth? For lying? Why are you even thinking about this, mom always told you to tell the truth, but still. How would the two react if you told them? You decide to tell a little white lie, just to avoid any chances of problems coming. “I was just, staring up at the stars and doing some deep thinking.” “Ah, sounds so serene. It was cold as fuck though. I dunno how you managed.” “I guess I was just too deep in my thoughts to be bothered by the cold.” That part wasn’t a lie, it took until the walk back to figure just how cold you really were. “I can see that. Sometimes I do that too. Like you just get so held up in the moment that you forget everything about around you.” You’re surprised of how composed she was. Must’ve drank less. You acknowledge her statement with a “yeah”, but fail to respond to her beyond that single word. Laura nodded and turned the lights off and laid down in her bed. You did the same. The rest of the night was spent thinking about your experience with the shark, much like the walk back. You just couldn’t get her out of your head. You (once again) lie awake on your back, unable to fall asleep. Covered in blankets on the floor of the ship. Your mind floods with questions, along with a constant replay of the events from tonight. A feeling of deja vu rushes over you as you roll onto your side in an attempt to dream away your inner voice. You don’t know what’s keeping you awake more, your thoughts, the ship rocking back and fourth, John’s astoundingly loud drunken snoring, or all three equally. You remain awake. It feels like you’ve been in this state for ten hours. You quickly take a glance at your phone. As the painfully blinding light of your home screen subsides, you see the time right in front of your Team Fortress 2 home screen wallpaper; 3:01 in the morning. Fuck, bro. - Your eyes open to the same ceiling you’ve been opening your eyes to for the past week. Laura and John seem to still be fast asleep. You’re not completely sure what to do in this situation, John usually gets everyone up very early and starts the morning routine. You check the time, 9:30. It’s much later then when you three usually get up, so you decide to just lie down and wait until one of the other two wake up. It’s pretty boring. Browsing your phone provides very limited entertainment without WiFi and you already finished every book on the ship, including those shitty romance “novels” Laura brought. You contemplate rereading that so-bad-it’s-good romance fanfiction Laura bought just before we left about some space robots, a human, and an anthro military. Even Laura, who’s loves those type of shitty novels, conceded that the novel upheld its status of so-bad-it’s-good. What was it called? You can’t remember, but it was hilarious. Where was it? You can’t remember that either. You’re too tired to make an effort to find it so you decide to just lay there. You then remember one of the (many) things that kept you up last night: Ayla. You wonder if she’s still around. Maybe you could try going outside to see if she’s there. You shuffle into the tiny bathroom to wash away your tiredness and clean up. Afterwards, you dress up into your thick outside clothing as quietly as possible, trying your best not to wake the other two. It wasn’t all that hard, even with the very limited space you’re provided. As you walk out, you feel the familiar rush of cold air and see morning sky. Grey clouds cover the sky as far as they eye can see and the cold air punches at your skin, even past the heavy coat you’re wearing. The sky casts a dull shade over the whole arctic. You walk down to towards the same beach as last night. The waters of the arctic just short of feeling your thick boots as you sit down and hope she returns. The cold air continues to nip at your face, becoming more and more unbearable as each minute passes. Ten minutes turns into an hour. You sit there, patiently waiting in the freezing cold. Your phone is almost dead, and you’re starving. You let out a sigh of disappointment and slowly get up. “AYE! ANON WHAT TH’ FUCK’RE YOU DOING OVER THERE?” John yells, even louder than last night. “WE’RE ALREADY RUNNIN’ LATE, GET OVER HERE!” Not wanting to anger him further, you jog over to where he was. Laura was also there. Both of them look very tired. John walks up to you and tries his best to be intimidating, which kind of works, actually. “Do you know how long we’ve been lookin’ for you? We’ve spend all morning lookin’ everywhere on the boat.” You somewhat doubt that as you contemplate what to say that won’t make him angrier. You glance over to Laura, who maintains her emotionless expression. “We didn’t actually. We’ve only been out of the bunker for about twenty minutes. We were looking for you, though, and we were worried. We couldn’t text you cause we don’t have your phone number. At least tell us where you’re going next time.” You feel guilty for making them worry so much. You were sitting there waiting for a shark that you hoped would show up. You have a job, and something like this is getting in the way. You’re finally composed enough to answer John. “I was just looking for some fresh air and a scenic view. Sorry for not telling you guys, but you were both still asleep.” “Just a scenic view, yeah? Well, don’t pull this bullshit again. We have a job to do, and we have a schedule. Don’t fuck this up for us.” You find that statement hilariously ironic. As both John and Laura slept WAY past the usual time, completely deleting any hint of a routine. You keep your mouth shut though, in an attempt to not anger him any more than he is right now. Laura spoke again, “We’re taking another day off before we depart again. Me and John drank a little too hard last night, so we’re recuperating. So feel free to spend he rest of your day at the beach. Just make sure to not freeze to death.” You snickered slightly at her comment, and nod in acknowledgement. You feel a little giddy over the fact that you have another day to talk to her, maybe. “Alright well how about I go back to the beach tonight? Afterwards, I won’t go back.” If she didn’t come tonight she probably wouldn’t be back anyways. “I don’t give a shit where you durin’ the day. Just make sure you’re here in the morning and night and not off fuckin’ around in town.” You nodded, but kept quiet. “Now git outta here. I don’t wanna look at ya anymore.” John waved you off as he retreated back to the boat, likely to sleep more. Laura took a few steps closer to you. “He’s just being a grump, like he usually is. Hey, wanna get breakfast at a local restaurant. Well, lunch I guess. Or would it be brunch?” Laura said as she put a finger up to her chin. Laura’s humor(?) completely falls flat, but you let out a small chuckle in order to prevent any awkward silence as you thought about her offer. You wanted to see Ayla again, but you also think you’re rushing things. You’ve only properly met her last night. She likely isn’t expecting a meet-up so soon, so you shouldn’t either. So you accept Laura’s offer. You’ve never really talked to her anyways. “Great, let’s walk around. John mentioned a good cafe just north of the bar. We could go there.” She said. You nodded and you both start off to the restaurant. You both walk in silence for a few minutes, before she eventually breaks it. “Y’know, I’m glad we’re doing this. We’ve known each other for what, two weeks at this point? And we’ve never really did much. It’s always been work.” “Yeah, well, John’s never given any time to rest up until yesterday. We arrived, and left to search for sharks.” “It’s a bit annoying. Never letting us do anything. Although, I suppose that’s just how old people are like. Work was the status quo back then.” “Mmhm.” You responded flatly. Laura’s phone suddenly rang. “Oh, hold on. Lemme get this.” You nod as Laura places the one at her ear and converses with whoever was on the other line. Based on how she talked, it’s likely her mom. The rest of the walk was fairly boring. You didn’t have Laura to talk to, because she decided to be on the phone for a whole thirty four minutes, you didn’t have your phone because it was almost dead, and you frequently checking your phone led to the walk feeling like hours. Along the walk, you reflect on where you are. The Greenland coast, where the vast majority of the people here live. You’ve been eating almost exclusively seafood for the past two weeks and you’ve been out at sea the whole time. You’ve been out tagging an extremely endangered species of shark, to which you’ve only successfully encountered and tagged one. You met that same one, and she’s actually nice and now you want to talk to her more. Greenland as a whole has gotten much more modernized post-World War III. It’s no longer just a bunch of fishing towns owned by Denmark. It’s now a bunch of fishing towns in an independent country with a few gaudy hotels and restaurants peppered throughout it. You’re snapped out of your thoughts as the two of you eventually arrive at the restaurant. It seems to be a small restaurant that serves seafood. Not like you were expecting much, considering this is Greenland, but you’ve had nothing but seafood here and you’re getting a bit sick of it. The restaurant is, of course, in Danish and Greenlandic. You suppose you’re lucky Laura speaks one of them (you can’t remember) fluently, otherwise the whole group would be unable to interact with the rest of the town. Although you guess at least one person in the group needed to speak a spoken language here. The restaurant was unlike the bland and boring buildings you usually see here. Shades of brown and red blend together with the lights peeking through the windows to create a very warm atmosphere. An arctic fox girl stands at the host stand (and a little stool) and gives a warm smile to you and Laura. You’re in no position to attempt to talk to her, or any of the staff here, so you let Laura talk. You’ve never seen an arctic fox before, they’re much smaller than red foxes. If you had to guess, you think she’s about 5’1”. After a few seconds of them conversing, the vixen smiles and hops off the little stool and you two are led to a table next to a window and given water and a menu. Just as the waiter was about to leave, you remembered how low your phone battery was. You aren’t expecting to have any chargers, but now is your best shot. “Uh hey Laura, could you ask if they have any phone chargers?” “No but I have a mobile charger. Do you have an iPhone?” “Nope.” “Oh, well then I can’t help you. And the waiter’s already gone so I can’t ask. Sorry.” She said with a shrug. Well that was rather mean. “Doesn’t matter a whole lot to me anyways. It’s not like anyone really contacts me anymore.” She let out a grunt as you two sit in silence for a while. This silence only makes you think of Ayla more and how much you want to talk to her. A thought that’s hasn’t been able to escape you at all today. You’re starting to sound like a broken record at this point. Eventually, the waiter comes back and according to Laura, is asking us for drinks. It is then you realize you haven’t even looked at the menu, which you can’t read, so you ask Laura for some help. “They have pretty much everything we have in the States, minus some soda brands.” “Uhh, just water then.” Nothing can beat good old water. Laura nodded and relayed the drinks to the waiter, who nodded and responded in a language you can’t understand. Heck, you can’t even guess whether it’s Greenlandic or Danish. “Hey Anon, she’s asking if you’re ready to order your meal.” “Ready? I can’t even read what the menu is saying!” “Okay, okay, calm down man. I’ll read you a few items and you can choose from there. Sound good?” You let out a sigh and nod. “Alright. There’s shrimp dishes, mussel dishes, cod, redfish, whale, salads, and pizza.” Pizza? That seems out of place. Well you’re at a seafood restaurant, so you kind of want to get some fish. But whale? You’ve never had that before. So you relay your order to Laura, and she in turn relays it to the waiter. The vixen jots it down and promptly leaves. While waiting for your order, the two of you talk about your upbringings. You learned that she grew up in suburban Arizona and played flute in high school. Her mother died when she was young and her brother was addicted to drugs. She had to work at fourteen and held three minimum wage jobs by the end of high school. Such a hard life compared to your mundane upper middle class New York life. You also learned she went to the University of Phoenix, which was kind of expected, considering she was Arizonan. While you were continuing to talk about your completely average life, the waiter returned with both your drinks and meals. Laura said what you assumed was a thanks to the waiter and both of you dug in. Eating was rather silent, but it was a quaint silence. It wasn’t awkward like it was beforehand. Eventually the two of you have eaten your food and paid for the check and you were outside and walking faster than the author’s ability to write. The whale didn’t taste like normal seafood. It actually tasted a bit like beef, with a little ocean twang. It was actually good. You’ll need to remember this place. “So your story about how you and a few friends of yours were caught exploring an abandoned circus reminded me of a story of mine.” Laura said, “it was just before my senior year of high school, me and a friend broke into a fenced off area of a theme park. It was a Disneyland knock-off and it had some poorly made rides, and the music sounded creepily far off. Anyways, we got caught like you guys, and we bolted off deeper into the area. It was then when we encountered, well, what we believe was a ghost. It was an abandoned animatronic that came to life out of nowhere! And we were so shocked that we immediately froze. It turned back off just before security came, but we were spooked. Neither of us saw theme parks in the same light again.” “Damn, that’s insane. I’ve never had a ghost encounter before.” You respond, admittedly a bit spooked yourself. Especially since Laura never really stood out as someone who believed in the supernatural. “Yea. Of all the stupid things I’ve done in high school, that’s stuck with me the most.” You both continue to converse about ghosts and whether or not they’re real. Admittedly, you’re starting to feel bad for not internally respecting Laura before. She’s actually a pretty cool person. You guys eventually make it back to the port. Laura left back to the boat after thanking you for the meal. You were about to head back yourself before you spot a figure swimming in the ocean, right where you were last night. It was a little shark named Ayla.