fish bites | grace & nell
TIMING: during the fog fish potw, before the morgue scream. LOCATION: the woods. PARTIES: @silveraccent & @nelllraiser SUMMARY: nell and grace decide to take a walk, and run into some foggy-fish- and even though they may be misunderstood, they decide to take the L and leave.
What had started as a truth serum mishap seemed to, thankfully, be turning into a budding friendship. With things seemingly and momentarily slowing down for Nell, it meant that now she could take the time to actually enjoy friends rather than simply worry about their lives and her own being in near constant danger. Of course...that was still something she worried about, and often still had nightmares of, but if the danger kept itself to her dreams and out of the real world it meant she could do things like go on harmless hikes with Grace. As the pair walked through the dense forest of the Outskirts, Nell trudged along confidently, rather familiar with the woods as they’d frequently been her hunting grounds when it came to bringing in monsters for the Ring. “So how’s everything been with adjusting to White Crest? Hopefully no one accidentally slipped you some truth serum or anything equally ridiculous.” The words were an obvious and light jab at herself.
A few months ago, Grace wouldn’t have been able to imagine being friends with somebody who accidentally dosed her food with truth serum. Now, she thought it was fitting to the way that the little town had welcomed her. She and Nell, and even Blanche, were growing to be quick friends. She was grateful, if not slightly wary. Not due to the situations that they had found themselves in revolving around one another, but due to her inability to let go of the fact that one day, her friends might not be around any longer. Still, she pushed through it, thus finding herself on a hike with Nell in the woods she hadn’t trapeized through yet. “It’s taking some time,” Grace admitted to her as she stepped over a fallen branch on the pathway. She looked over at Nell with a smile, “there have been a few things to top that, don’t worry.” She wasn’t lying, either. Between the reanimated corpses, the airplanes, seeing Renee. Her stomach churned. “I wouldn’t worry about me,” Grace said as she stabilized herself on a neighboring tree. “It brought us here, didn’t it?” She asked with a tilt of her head.
Nell’s childhood had been spent among these pines, running along with her sisters until the sun began to set, and Bea would round them up to get back to the East End in time for dinner. Being famous Vegas magicians on par with David Blaine had left the Vurals quite well off, and though Harris Island had the most extravagant houses— Nisa and Demir had wanted a place where it was easier for three growing girls to stretch their wings and breathe. Considering that yards were rare on the island, the East End had been the obvious answer. So the forest was something of a sanctuary, a place that could be rife with danger, but also comfortingly hidden away. “That’s fair,” Nell commented. “There’s a lot to get used to in White Crest. What do you mean a few things to top it, though?” Had trouble been finding Grace? “Well you can’t tell me not to worry about you after you just said that,” she finished with a brief chuckle. “But it’s true. I guess we have truth serum to thank.”
Despite its miseries, White Crest had brought things to Grace’s surface. She had begun to think about things more clearly, and though she had originally taken refuge in a new town for the sake of wanting quiet, it was anything but. She could blame herself, sure, but she had the means to leave, to disappear into the night. Did she want to, though? Maybe whatever White Crest had to offer was a little more interesting than Grace had originally thought. She was curious, that was for certain. Maybe a little naive, too, but Renee’s words in her head, just live! Just live, Grace! It was what kept her moving forward. Grace gave Nell a sideways smile and shrugged, “I mean, you live here too, I’m sure you can imagine.” Truthfully, whatever it was that she had gone through, she couldn’t imagine it to be too wild, what with the stories she had heard. “Do you know Connor?” Grace asked as she stepped over another wayward branch, “I ran into him after-- well, after I saw my old friend, the one I mentioned.” Grace wasn’t sure if she trusted Nell because of their first meeting, or because she felt nothing ominous from her. “We saw some stuff, it was…” Grace shrugged, “it’s definitely an eye opener, I can tell you that much.” Grace carded her fingers through her hair as they came to a smaller trail that looked like it led off of the main path. “Do you want to go that way?” Grace asked, curious.
At the mention of Connor, Nell tilted her head to the side in vague acknowledgement, not entirely sure if her one meeting with the exorcist counted as knowing him. “Yeah, I know him,” was what she settled on. Unconsciously, Nell slowed her walking, realizing the conversation might be about to take a rather serious turn. “Your friend…” she began tentatively. The one who had died? “The girl you mentioned when we were under the truth serum, right?” There was no need to rake over old wounds. “You saw her as a ghost?” There was no delicate way to put it, not with the world they lived in. Maybe it was best to say it outright and quickly, to rip the bandaid soundly off in one go. “Are you alright?” she asked as her follow up question, though she had a suspicion that the answer was no, regardless of what Grace might say. How would seeing your dead friend fall into the category of alright? Nell followed Grace’s question with her eyes, looking the trail over. It was one of the more secluded routes. Maybe the bigger and thicker trees would help Grace feel a little more sheltered. “Yeah, for sure.” It didn’t take long for things to change the further along the path the got, a thick fog quickly settling around them. Fog wasn’t an strange oddity in White Crest, but for it to have come on this quickly was possible cause for questioning. “Fog doesn’t usually come on that quick here…” Nell mused aloud, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips.
“Yeah, her.” Grace smoothed her fingers through her hair. She didn’t open up easily, and the majority of that had to do with her ability to figure out others’ emotions at the drop of a hat. It felt like cheating. She could see inside of them, but they couldn’t see into her. The truth serum had certainly helped pass that roadblock, and Grace couldn’t be sure if she was embarrassed or grateful for it. “Yeah, it was…” Grace forced out a laugh, “usually I’m all for a good scare, but--” She shrugged and cleared her throat. It suddenly felt thick. “I’m fine, but, you know it’s weird… she looked the same way when I identified her--” Grace’s sentence broke away as they stepped into thick fog. It pooled towards them quickly. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked around. It was thick enough that if she weren’t standing directly next to Nell, she’d lose her line of sight. Grace tugged at the straps of her backpack nervously, tightening it against her. “Does this always happen?” Grace asked as she moved slightly closer to Nell. Just in case, she thought.
As Grace spoke, Nell’s brows drew together in the beginnings of concern, the emotion flickering alive inside her as it woke, sensing that there was a friend in need. “I mean good scares are fun. It’s just a little different when it’s someone you know.” She hadn’t seen Bea’s ghost when she’d been dead, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. However, she’d seen it all when Evan had formed along with the cursed coins all those months ago. Nell knew firsthand that seeing that was the opposite of fine. “They do that. Ghosts. Appear as they did when they died. I’m sorry you had to see it, though. Both when you identified her and when you saw her as the ghost again.” Nell’s selfish curiosity wanted to ask what it was that had happened, but managed to bite her tongue this time around. But the fog was growing far too thick to be anything normal, and a frown was quick to form on Nell’s lips, her not liking this in the least. She could barely see her hand in front of her face, and being blind to her surroundings did nothing for the seemingly ever-present paranoia that someone was out there...waiting to attack...just like Montgomery had. “No. It doesn’t.” As Grace shuffled closed, Nell reached down to grasp the empath’s hand in her own, both for comfort and practicality. As Nell squinted into the fog, she finally spotted them— a set of fins forming from seemingly nothing as a fish’s face greeted them no more than a foot away. “Oh shit, it’s one of those fucking foggy fish or whatever.
Grace hadn’t told anyone about Renee, nobody but Connor. For Nell to know, too-- albeit originally, without prompting due to the truth serum, Grace had become afraid. She had become afraid to form friendships, or any connection for that matter. She had come to White Crest with the intent of silence, of solitude. The life she had thought out for herself, however, was turning into something entirely different than what she had pictured. “It wasn’t really--” Grace looked up to the canopy of trees, she let Nell take a hold of her hand. She squeezed it tightly as she looked at the fish that began to surround them. “I haven’t actually,” Grace gasped out, “I haven’t seen any of them, I’ve heard of them, but--” Grace stared at the fish, eyes wide as it began to float closer to them. “What do we do?” She asked Nell as she gave her a quick glance.
Nell wasn’t sure how to approach the fog fish, electing to stay where she was and not make any sudden movements. For the most part, they seemed docile. “I…” It was rare that she wasn’t sure how to proceed with the supernatural, but this wasn’t something she’d seen in her entire life. “I don’t think it’s...aggressive.” As if in answer, one of the fish swam closer to nudge the pair of them gently with its nose, almost seeming curious. Nell tensed when it did, still not trusting the foggy fish as magic began to instinctively pool and gather in her stomach. “I don’t know what it wants?” Another of its fish friends came up to prod Grace with its strange nose. “If we just stay here, and stay still— maybe it’ll just go away?”
“You don’t think?” Grace asked, tone maybe a little too accusative. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I’m just-- This isn’t normal.” She whispered. Grace winced as the fish floated closer to them, its mouth and what she figured was its nose coming to touch against their forearms. “If we just stay here?” She asked uneasily. She watched the fish as it watched them warily, its eyes blinking slowly-- or did it even have eyelids? She couldn’t tell. Grace bit the inside of her cheek as she cast a glance Nell’s way. “You’re way too calm for this, does this happen to you a lot?” She asked.
“I mean I don’t know for sure,” Nell replied, just the smallest bit defensive. “No, it’s fine.” She couldn’t expect Grace to take every weird thing White Crest threw at her in stride. That would be vastly unfair. “It’s not normal. Even by White Crest standards.” Of course White Crest had seemed particularly active ever since she’d returned. “We could try and leave if you want?” Something about the fish was almost hypnotizing, making Nell want to stay and learn more about them. “I mean- this specifically doesn’t happen to me. But a lot of weird shit...does. I also sort of sought it out for five years before I came home.” Somewhere in the distance, another fish formed, though this one looked a little different. Sharper and leaner.
“Good to know,” Grace shot back, a nervous smile pulling at the corners of her lips-- an involuntary reaction to the situation before them. She looked at the fish and did her best to avoid its eyes, as she was unsure of where to look. It looked sort of like the fish in her bowl at home, but with two eyes instead of one. “Do you think we can?” Grace asked under her breath, tugging the other girl alongside her, “they’re everywhere, aren’t they?” She had gone on the walk with Nell with no other intention other than stress relief, but it didn’t seem as though the Fog Fish were going to allow that, not now, at least. She blinked at them, disbelief settling on her features when another two fish formed behind the newest. “Maybe we should go?” Grace asked, a little more urgent as she pulled Nell backwards, down the path that the two had made their ways up.
“Unclear,” Nell replied on the subject of whether or not the fish would allow them to pass. “I guess there’s only one way to find out, though,” she said as she too took a step back up the path they’d come. For a moment she hesitated, curiosity momentarily getting the better of her as the cloudy fish continued to sail the gentle breeze of the forest. The way they moved was nearly mesmerizing, and Nell wanted to know just what it was they were. The fish began to part, the fog once again gathering thickly around their pod as another fish began to form. This one was sharper, leaner, and apparently meaner as it moved aggressively towards the pair of girls, a overbite of sharp teeth somehow glinting in the lowlight. “Okay- definitely time to go!” Nell grabbed onto Grace’s hand once again in an effort to tug her along the trail, steps quickening into a run as the enormous barracuda gave chase. Standing to fight was Nell’s general instinct when it came to hostile parties, but it was glaringly apparent that fighting fog wasn’t going to be all the fruitful.
Grace arched a brow, “you’re not going to go pet it, are you?” She wouldn’t put it past Nell to do so, and then again, maybe Grace would too, but these were floating fish in the air surrounding them, fog following their tails. Grace’s attention was diverted to the mass of fog that hovered over the hoard of fish, and only when she saw the fish with the overbite head their way did Grace hear the fear in Nell’s voice. Finally, she thought. Grace let Nell guide her down the pathway from where they had come. “Do you think it can actually hurt us?” Grace yelled out as they ran, tossing a cautionary glance over her shoulder as they avoided branches and low hanging limbs from trees. The last thing she wanted to do was be eaten by a fog fish. Grace rarely ran, and her breath was already running ragged. “I don’t want to get eaten,” She whined out as they ran. The clearing was just ahead-- they hadn’t gotten very far, lucky enough for them. As soon as they broke from the fog of the woods, the sun kissed the crowns of their heads and Grace twisted around to look at the fog as it began to dissipate. “So it was just territorial. Cool.”
The fish was hot on their trail as the gled through the forest, and Nell swore she could feel some sort of ghoul-ish breeze pass over the nape of her neck when it gnashed its teeth together a little too close for comfort. But as the crisp sun beat down on their skin, Nell turned to see that Grace had been correct. The fish was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “What the hell?” Nell asked no one in particular. It wasn’t all that often she came across a creature she couldn’t even begin to identify, but this was definitely something new for the catalogue. “Maybe it can’t leave the fog?” she pondered aloud. “Since it’s made up of it?” Either way, it was probably for the best that the thing was gone— even if she was a little too curious about the foggy fish. Turning back to Grace, she gave the girl a once over in an attempt to make sure her friend had escaped unscathed. Once she was satisfied with that she simply said, “Do you think it would make good fish sticks?”
“I don’t know,” Grace whispered, her heart thudding. She glanced towards Nell, “maybe?” She squinted into the fog, barely able to make out any other floating figures past them. “That’s…” Grace tugged on Nell’s hand, “we should go before we figure out if it can, right?” She let out a nervous laugh as she tried to guide Nell back towards where they had come from. “Fish sticks? I mean, probably not. I don’t think it has any substance.” Grace ran a shaky hand through her hair as she stepped over another fallen branch. She hadn’t expected today to turn into running away from a fog fish, or a few, but anything was possible in White Crest, she was seeming to notice. Grace took a deep breath, “at least we didn’t get hurt.” Grace laughed uneasily, finally letting go of Nell’s hand as they broke through the brush, back towards the open space.
Despite Nell’s curiosity about the fish, she followed after Grace. Had she been along, she might have ventured back to explore further, but she wasn’t willing to potentially risk her friend’s safety. Of course...she could always come back later. “That’s what tartar sauce is for, then,” she quipped back playfully. “Of course we’d need a big container of it. Maybe just fill a pool and dunk the whole fish in.” Once they were out of the woods, Nell continued down the path towards town. “You know...I think I just made myself hungry.” And even if she wasn’t, Nell was always down for a good meal. “Let’s swing by Al’s and see if fish is on the menu today,” she laughed with Grace, apparently already recovered from their near brush with the strange creature. No doubt Grace would develop the skill as well once White Crest really got its hands on her. People always adjusted to the town one way or another.
