While Date and Jin were enjoying a bit of quality time at the Slaughterhouse, Tani and Naya had went on to the Nature, You Scary! exhibit. The raccoon dogs would catch up to them later, but Tani and Naya were getting a first look at some of the creepier stuff. And there was little question that the cordyceps fungi, parasitic spores that take over the minds and bodies of insects, force them to climb high up, before bursting out to spread more spores.
"Remind me not to stray too far into jungles," said Naya.
"I think you'll be fine," said Tani, "It says that each species of cordyceps is tailored to only infect a specific species of insect, arachnid, or other arthropod."
"Oh, so no chance of getting infected by a killer fungus?" asked Naya.
"Not unless you count things like athlete's foot or yeast infection," said Tani.
==========
Naya and Tani had more of their fill of zombie mushrooms by the time Date and Jin rejoined them. The Sunken Ship was set up like an aquarium, allowing them to look into a dark tank that was dimly lit by the lights of the fish. Of course, these weren't ordinary fish. Most deep-sea fish couldn't survived being taken from their high-pressure habitats. The Abyssus formula is what allowed these kids of Animalians to be able to adapt to the world outside of the darkness. There were also a few displays showing some of the deep-sea invertebrates that couldn't be uplifted. There were giant tube worms that lived near volcanic vents, isopods that grew up to 18 inches in length, and giant squids like the infamous kraken that appeared in Mieni Atoll.
Afterwards, the Quasi-Raccoon Cuties got a chance to meet some of the deep-sea Animalians. They already knew of some, like Allura and Beacon. Gulf was a new addition to their ranks. Like other eel Animalians, he didn't have legs, but an infusion of snake DNA made it possible for him to slither on land. He was also a gulper eel, a pelican eel to be exact. It was quite clear why he was called that as he had a large mouth with an expanding pouch like a pelican. Of course, Gulf was capable of chewing his food now, but old habits are hard to break.
Of most interest to the Quasi-Raccoon cuties were the newest conversions to Aquatica Abyssus. Xena and Ghost were about as different as one might expect. Xena the dragonfish was a black tower of muscle and curves that looked an awful lot like a xenomorph. Ghost the lizardfish was relatively shorter and white, looking a bit like a cross between a lizard and a barracuda. Another big difference was that Ghost was a natural hermaphrodite even before shi was uplifted.
Their choice in mates were quite a bit different as well. Scott showed quite of sexual dimorphism compared to Xena. For one thing, his scales were brown instead of black. He also has smaller teeth, a smaller frame, and he was the one lacking barbels, oddly enough. It was assumed that because the female dragonfish swims 500 meters up to the surface each night while the male dragonfish remains at the bottom, it was reflected by having the female Xena be bigger and more muscular than the dragonfish Scott became.
In contrast, Sofia resembled hir mate quite a lot. Of course, since they were both herms, their bodies matched each other. The biggest different between them was that Sofia still had hir dark hair from when shi was human.
Their reasons for converting were rather different as well. "I was a bit of a horror movie freak," said Scott, "I was way more into horror movies than most people and frankly, girls wouldn't come within 5 feet of me unless they needed something."
"I'm a bit surprised you didn't become a wolfman or something," said Naya.
"I'm more into sci-fi horror than fantasy horror," said Scott, "Besides, just look at her. Who wouldn't want to mate with an obsidian amazon like her."
"You flatterer," said Xena, tickling Scott's chin.
Sofia was a bit more complex. "I've been an actor most of my life," shi said, "I attended the same acting school as Gloria. I've always been considered one of those female actors who resembled a pretty androgynous boy for me to be typecast into male roles."
"We hear about that in anime," said Date, "We call boys with pretty, androgynous features 'bishonen', though I guess it's 'faux bishonen' in your case."
"Well, either way, I've been cast as male leads and female extras. And over time, I realized that reflected the inner me, as I identified as both male and female. So when Gloria invited us to join her in Animalia, I wanted to become one of the herms," said Sofia.
"So why become a lizardfish?" asked Tani.
"A little bit for the mysterious allure," said Sofia, "But Ghost was so lonely before I came along. Shi was so desperate for companionship."
"I'm not sure I would say desperate," said Ghost, defensively.
"Oh, you don't have to put up an act for me," said Sofia, "I'll do the acting for both of us."