(2018-02-09) Something Fishy
Something Fishy
Summary: Scorse meets Bea and Audgrim to confer about the mysterious dinner at the Pacific Grill
Date: IC Date (2018-02-09)
Related: Fish dinner
Player Characters: Audgrim, Bea, Scorse

Kitchen - Hippy Homestead - Rural Forks
In the center of the maze of hallways is a huge, round kitchen that is clearly the center of this home. Rustic in design, it's all dark wood furniture and whitewashed stucco walls. A hybrid gas-wood cooking stove chugs away almost constantly, baking or simmering something. An old fashioned ice box squats next to a newer high-efficiency model refrigerator, both seeming to be in use. In the center of the room, a long wood butcherblock makes an island, around which a number of high-backed barstools have been placed. An abundance of fresh fruit, veggies, baked goods, dried meats, and sweets are left out constantly for anyone who might be feeling peckish.

The walls are lined with counters and cupboards, covered with an esoteric mix of kitchen tools, spices, and things in the process of being peserved or fermenting. Smelling of good home cooking, and full of constant work, even when unoccupied, the kitchen breathes a warm life through the hallways that lead away from it.


Things at the homestead are busy, as usual. It may be early in the day, but a farm starts moving early. There are (mortal) workers busy feeding animals, tending to plants and maintaining equipment all around the outdoors. Inside is quieter, the morning rush of breakfast has been finished, and Bea is, for the moment, alone in the kitchen, humming as she puts away leftovers, cleans dishes and begins to put together the beginnings of the next meal.

Seated at the table is Audgrim, half asleep still; he's not a morning person. He nurses a big mug of coffee like a life line.

Scorse comes into the kitchen after one of the workers outside told him where to find Bea. He lugs a small Yeti cooler in his right hand, calling out as he enters. "Hey there, Bea, darlin'. I hope you don't mind me droppin' by on you all unannounced, but I have a bit of a quandary and I'm hopin' your expertise might be of use?" His words stop as he sees the savage looking man at the table, an eyebrow raising as he offers them both a wide, ingratiating smile.

Bea turns to Scorse with a big smile, heading over to give him a friendly hug. "Hi Scorse! Oh sure, and always you are welcome, and anyone is, except like The Man, because he is just rude and comes uninivited, not that I would invite him, after he put me in that hive for so long in the first place, but other than /him/, everyone is welcome, really. And anyway, do you want some coffee or some breakfast or anything? This is Audgrim, who is from Norway, and The Duke, and swam here, since he's a really good swimmer, and plays the violin even better." As she sort of leads Scorse toward the kitchen island, eyeing his cooler curiously, she notes to Audgrim, "Scorse is like a really good, old friend, from before we put ourselves in this silly trap, and he is super smart, and the best around with finding things, and knowing all the right hobs in the market." Without missing a beat, she is placing coffee and food in front of Scorse as she continues the quick-paced stream of chatter, "And anyway, what was it you have a problem with, Scorse, since I am always happy to help, of course, except probably you will want to ask one of the smart people, I am guessing, since they are usually better for questions, sometimes."

Audgrim's tail, which was slowly swinging back and forth behind him, stops dead and quivers as he regards Scorse intently. Like animals do when meeting someone new. The wide smile is met with a broad toothy grin of his own, and eyes never really open fully as he peers over the rim of the mug at the other man. As he and Scorse are introduced, he stands up and offers a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you," he offers in a raspy sort of voice, but not unpleasant. "Bea is good friend, nice to meet friend of hers."

Scorse reaches out instinctively to take Audgrim's hand, pumping it like a politician looking for votes or a user car salesman making promises. "The pleasure is all mine, Audgrim. You take what ol' Bea says about me with a grain of salt or two. But she ain't wrong. I do excel at finding things. Especially exactly what it is a person is looking for. I grew up in the goblin market, so I learned a few tricks, you see?" He releases the man's hand and turns to find coffee and food, not unexpectedly. He knows Bea well enough by now to never be surprised by magically appearing vittles. "Bea, it ain't so much of thinking or smarts on this one, I don't think. He swigs at the mug of coffee absently then sets it down and his hands rest on the top of the cooler. "I went to go eat at a restaurant last night in town. Called Pacific Grill, I think, yeah? There's something strange goin' on there. Some oddities that I couldn't quite place my finger on, but.." He digs into his back pocket for his pre-paid smart phone, which he has learned is called a 'burner'. Turning on the display, he fidgets with the screen like Bea taught him and pulls up a picture. It is a napkin and scrawled on it as best as you can read is: 'Don not eat the fish. Help!'. "Now, I'd already ordered some red snapper, but I never took a bite for fear of what the note meant. I brought it with me and I figgered, since you know about food? Maybe you might could take a look at it?"

Bea beams happily as the two get aquainted. She goes back to cleaning things up as Scorse explains his problem to her, and she gets a puzzled frown on her face, pausing to look at the napkin picture, staring at it long and hard for a moment. "Oh, you…brought the fish?" She considers and asks with a little laugh, "Maybe it is not the fish that is really the problem, but whoever is cooking it, and they were in trouble, and hopiung you would like go back to complain to the chef about the food, since you weren't eating it, and then see what it is that they need help with." She gets caught up in her own manufactured drama, gasping as she says, "Maybe it is like some kind of fishmonger smuggling ring, illigal fugu platters and stuff." She looks between the two to see what they think of this rather outlandish idea, even as she pulls out a large platter, handing it over to Scorse so he can put the fish onto it for proper examination.

Audgrim's expression suggests he only has a faint idea of what Scorse is even talking about. He is mostly interested in Scorse's phone. "I need phone," he says and points at it. "Do you have phone I can buy?" He seem stuck on the "finding things you need"-part, still. He sips coffee, and seem to shake his brain awake, squinting at the picture. "Maybe the cooking person is a fish."

"You can get a phone at the store. I got this one at a gas station because apparently you can't live over here without one or something." Scorse tosses back to Audgrim with a nod to his his phone. Back to Bea, he just kind of stares as he narrative goes in all directions. "Impression I got was that the fish might be a someone and not a something but I am not sure. I thought you might figger something out because you cook a lot?" Scorse opens the cooler and pulled out a large tupperware container and opens it, setting it onto the platter. The fish looks normal enough.

Bea points a wooden spoon at Audgrim, before dipping it into a stock pot full of something brothy. "That too, could be it. Are you sure it wasn't Sid? I haven't seen him yet since we all started waking up, but still, he was always making fish, and is Winter, so might do something silly like a note like that." She smiles and says, "Oh sure, Scorse, and us knights know a lot about fish, and cooking things generally, but still, if it was like a person fish, then…I mean, if it wasn't like a /person/ person, then maybe it would taste pretty good, at least like there is this one story I heard about a salmon that was super smart, and made people smart like him if they ate him, and that might be nice." She eyes the snapper as if appraising its potential as an all-knowing mythological creature, and seems to find it disappointing. "Well, if it was a herring, then I would say it was just some bad joke, but snapper…" She shrugs and leans in to sniff it, and poke at it, glancing at Audgrim, "Does it look like anyone you have met?"

"I can?" Audgrim says, amazed. "Phone come from store? I think they are magic," he says and looks a bit dubious about being able to find them anywhere. "I hope they not cook Sid or any other fish person," he says seriously, leaning in to sniff at the fish meal, and staring intently at it. "No, don't think I see this fish before." He looks back up at Scorse: "Someone must write, how did writing come to you?"

Scorse shrugs his shoulders a little and sighs slowly. "I think the waitress maybe wrote it? I am not sure. She was asking all peculiar. Like, started off all hostess and nice, then started flirting and taking on my accent and mannerisms? And there was another lost one there, a racoon looking man and I have a bad feeling he might not have ending his evening as well, but he did leave the place intact. I don't know a lot, just something feels very, very off and I tend to listen to myself when I get that feeling. You think Doc Lucas might get anything from it?"

Bea considers, giving a little shrug, "Maybe, and only I have ever met one raccoon person around here, but I don't hardly ever see him, and maybe he is still asleep. But still," she eyes the fish in a rather professional way, "Maybe Lucas could help, and he is a doctor, at least, but it sounds like maybe the girl was flirting? Probably you would know, though, at least better than to make a mistake about that. Anyway, maybe, since it's already for sure dead, at least, we could maybe cut it into a couple portions and you can give some to Lucas, and I will do some tests and stuff here on some of it."

"Maybe girl think fish taste bad, and she wanted help to go out of that place," Audgrim figures. "Or maybe she loves fish and wants it to live." He could go on and on with crazy theories. At the suggestions from Bea, he leans closer to the fish again and suggests. "I could eat it. If I get sick we know its bad!"

Scorse raises his hands and takes a step back. "Feel free to take a bite and it's probably just fine and I'm just a little addled lately. I hope, anyway. I do agree with cutting come off for Lucas and between you two, I think we can make sure. And maybe check out the place ourselves if it warrants it?" Scorse paces a few feet, hands behind his back. Whether this is all nothing or not, HE seems very worried about it.

Bea nods, and gives Scorse a sympathetic smile and a pat on the arm, "Sure Scorse, and at least it does seem to be worth it, to check it out, and even if it is just that they are selling bad fish, then at least it would be good to stop that, since it makes people sick and gives us chefs a bad name." She laughs a little at Audgrim and says, "Oh, well you could, and maybe that would not be a bad idea, for someone to taste it, but first lets just chop it up so Lucas can test some, and I will take some and see if there is anything weird, but maybe just it would be better to feed some to a cat or something first, since they are just for the garden mostly anyway, and so there will be no harm if it is like a poisoned fish or something." She pulls out some bread, fresh churned butter and a jar of honey, placing it in front of Scorse. "But it /is/ a little strange, that something like that would worry you so much, Scorse, and always you seem like you are fine, so this is a little different. That waitress must have been acting /real/ weird, for it to make you worry so much."

"Eddie. Eddie is Good Detective," Audgrim says and sits up straight, grinning widely. "He can do detective things on the eating place… restaurant. Look in papers and ask people questions. I can go look too. Sound like very interesting but strange place, and very odd you told not to eat fish. I like fish very much, I eat it any way - good thing I was not there, I would eat the fish and not worry and would not get a writing from anyone," he says, trying momentarily to outshine Bea in babbling. Put two beasts together and you never knows what happens. "

"Oh, Eddie. Yeah, now there's a thought. I might loop him in if we see any cause." Scorse shakes his head then leans over the lsland to look at the fish, expecting it to jump up and attack him at any second. He pokes at it with his fork experimentally. "Y'all are makin' me think I'm crazy here, but my gut.. it says otherwise."

Bea nods at Audgrim's suggestion, "Eddie is a good detective, for sure. And probably Audgrim is right, and there is no problem with the fish." She seems to have been convinced, which isn't hard when faced with a delicious-looking fish, if we're being honest. Quickly, before anyone can stop her, or she can think too much about it, Bea takes a small piece and pops it into her mouth, then quickly, almost guiltily, pulls off a piece and hands it to Audgrim, in case he wants to brave potential death with her. "Mmm….mmm. This, is that tarragon? And…mmm…Oh, it is really good, and just the right amount of garlic. I think maybe I need to get this recipe for sure." She pauses, waiting for a long moment with uncharacteristic stillness, "And I don't /feel/ like I am dying. Not yet anyway."

Audgrim has been salivating over the fish from the moment he saw it, so when offered a piece he immediately gobbles it up, no compunctions. "Mmmmmmmmm," he says enthusiastically. "Did not think cooked fish could be so good!" he says and is eyeing the rest of the fish, licking his lips. "I feel good. Could eat five of those." He refrains because fish is Important Evidence. "Hope we did not eat a fish person." He shows no signs of being poisoned or magically caught in something, not yet anyway. "Don't think you crazy, many strange things in Port Angeles."

Scorse starts to close up the container with the other half of the fish to bring to Lucas, but seeing them both take a bite and enjoy it.. he wrinkles his face up, now unsure of himself again. "Well, thanks for sufferi' me and my delusions, y'all. It's probably just nothin', then. But we'll make sure." Scorse seems a little let down that they didn't turn green or into fish creatures and sighs a little before turning and remembering coffee.

Bea shakes her head, "Not any delusion, Scorse, and maybe it /is/ a person fish, or maybe it is something else and was just to try to…confuse you or get your attention, or get your attention /away/ from something, or maybe…maybe it was just someone playing a bad joke. And like Audgrim says, there is always something weird happening, so it is not such a silly thing to worry, especially when you get a note like that. But anyway, always it is better to be safe than sorry, and you should not be too worried about that part. But if something bad happens any time soon, then for sure I will let you know, or have Mercedes call you at least."

"Think we need to look at restaurant," Audgrim says and seem certain something is wrong too. "Just be sure. People don't write "help", I don't think, if they don't need help." He yawns again, and goes to refill coffee, filling up for Bea and Scorse too if they want more. "Where is this place? We can go in at night, nobody will know."

Scorse takes a drink from his warmed up coffee mug and looks at them from one to the other. "Audgrim, I think maybe we send a couple in to eat first. See if they see what I saw. No need for a ninja break and enter yet. Someone to confirm my suspicions would be best, I think." Scorse turns his head to Bea and nods to her a she reaches for the container to set it back into the cooler. "Their conch fritters were mazing. Those I did eat, but yeah, just do your stuff on it and keep an eye on you both for any ill effects. I'll get this over to Lucas to examine from his side, just to be certain."

Bea nods, "Sure, and we could go to do that, like Audgrim says. Or go now, and maybe just talk to that waitress, or whoever is running the kitchen. I mean, like I am a chef, and could totally get into that kitchen, I am sure." And not because she wants to grill the chef about his fish recipes…No no no, of course not! She smiles at Scorse and nods as he talks of his next move, "For sure, and just don't let him get you down if he gets grumpy about it, since that is always just the way Lucas is, which I am sure you know anyway. But we will figure out what is the problem, Scorse, and don't worry. We may not be like the hobs, but still we are your friends,and will help you out if we can, to make sure you and everyone around are safe and not getting into any trouble that we don't need to be in."

Audgrim is disappointed he can't just break and enter the place right away, but sees reason and nods at the other two, slurping coffee rather noisily. Somewhere he's found a cookie and eats it, trying to forget how good that fish tasted. "I want to meet Lucas, have not met him yet. Can you tell him I want to meet? I have questions about Autumn."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License