she wild and dangerous // o, intro

[roman]

Growing up, children are always warned to fear the monsters under the bed. As they grow older, they learn that monsters exist in every day situations, dressed as normal people. Not faceless creatures lurking in the shadows. However, they did not take into account the nature of Fish who, in spite of possessing (mostly) innocent intentions, can be quite creepy. And this is because no one adopted her like Hati, so she was forced to raise herself alone in the swamp with no one to teach her proper social skills. As such, the massive beast has the tendency to sneak up on others with intentions of making friends, forgetting that people have a hard time sensing her presence. It's easy to forget that she's a ghost.

Fish watches the young cub play from behind a pile of junk. Given that she is the size of a large horse, one might expect that even the blind would be able to detect her, but the water spirit is both incorporeal and camouflaged. Although not truly invisible, her normally oil-black scales possess the ability to shift colors like a chameleon or a squid to match her surroundings. The space where her head should be in interrupted by a rusted pole that passes diagonally between her lower left jaw and her right ear. For a friendly creature like herself, it is strange that Fish does not immediately try to interact with the child. Usually, she would. The problem today is that she has been thinking about her interaction on the riverbed with everyone and how they reacted to her eating an alligator. Was she really that disgusting? Did they not wish to be friends? And so the childlike entity is scared to approach the youth, for fear of scaring Hati away.

But when the rat scampers away from the leopard cub, Fish cannot resist. In one quick motion, she snatches the creature up in her jaws before sheepishly shuffling into view. Dropping her camouflage, the beast is easily five to six feet tall at the shoulder, and her iridescent black scales give the impression that her hide is covered in oil. Crouching low to the ground, the vague wolf-like monster opens her jaws wide, revealing terrifyingly sharp teeth as the rat tumbles out onto the dirt. A wide smile splits her maw, and the creature looks quite pleased with herself. "Hello!" she greets in a singsongy tone that does not fit her incredible bulk. "My name is Fish!"