Cold Northern Waters

Chapter 3: Don't Stop Me Now

Chapter theme: Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

When Junjie awoke, it took him a few moments to remember where he was. He was surprised at first at not being able to see the vivid orange bedcovers he usually slept under, or the pale greyish-blue of the walls he usually faced.

Instead he was met with a large, somewhat dimly-lit room that appeared to be an entire house in one, with the blinds still drawn over both the windows.

He rubbed his forehead. He still felt sore from yesterday.

The woman he was accompanying was nowhere in sight, but he could hear - from what was apparently a very short distance away - splattering of water and faint humming of a tune he hadn't heard before.

He sat up, yawned and stretched his back, wincing a little. His bones weren't what they used to be.

"You up then, mate?"

He froze. She genuinely sounded like she was right next to him.

"Yes," he replied, and he stood up. "Yes, I'm awake."

"Well, you're going to have to wait if you want the shower," said Perry. "I don't know if you can tell, but it's a bit occupied right now."

Junjie had been in the process of looking around the building and it was only as he was turning to his left that he realised what (and who) was there, and he quickly looked away again.

"So I see," he commented. "And there's no way of making it a little more private?"

"There were only s'posed to be about two people here at a time," Perry explained, "and they could stay here for months on end, so there weren't much need for a great deal of privacy."

"Ah," Junjie said simply, unable to distract himself from the fact that a woman was showering mere feet from where he stood. "Could you... you said that this place was a hideout for slug wranglers?"

"Yep!" She squirted something out of a bottle with a bizarre slurping noise.

"Yet you don't explain what a slug wrangler is." He approached one of the windows and tried to untangle the cord on the blinds.

"Well, surely you must know 'bout mail order slugs, right?"

Junjie gave up and just tugged on the cord, and the blinds released a cloud of dust as they slid upwards. Luckily he waved it away before it had a chance to go down his throat or up his nostrils.

"I believe I heard it mentioned at some point," he said, and tried to wipe some dirt off the grimy windows.

"You ever wonder where they come from?" asked Perry.

"The thought hasn't exactly crossed my mind." The dirt appeared to be on the other side of the glass.

"They come from slug wranglers." The water was turned off. "Bunch of lads and lasses and ladsies and what have you who catch slugs so they can be sold on the market. You know I said we're meeting up with someone? Her brother's a slug wrangler. He's down in Symphogna Cavern right now. He sends us the rejects."

Junjie breathed on the glass and it squeaked as he tried to wipe it.

"Rejects?" he said curiously.

"Not all slugs get sold, lad," Perry replied, and there was another squeak - this time of hinges - as she stepped out of the shower. "Most do, but then you get the ones what're mutated or got attacked by something. Ain't you taken an actual look at me arsenal yet?"