Out and About

It feels almost wrong inspecting an eye-less, partially-damaged teddy bear.

Still, the trabble already has the eye charm on a short chain, and something about the room - the house - tells him it's a good idea to have something else on hand for whatever compartment in the cemetery. Suds feels his flipper graze what he thinks is an eye bead for a stuffed doll, and he shudders slightly. Swallowing his fear, he grabs it to see that it is, in fact, the bear's missing eye. Switching the bead to the same flipper with the charm and giving the miew one final pet, he rushes from the manor as fast as he possibly can.

Going back into the cemetery is not an easy task. Sure, it's not a lot of walking and the entrance is an open walkway, the entrance itself is easy - it's staying that's difficult, what with the creepy-looking statue and the graves that each have an eye on them that bore directly into his soul, everything about it tells him to leave now, right now, and never look back, but he still has a job to do. Anything to help, he tells himself.

Farther in the back are two graves with their eyes sunken in, rather than painted or imprinted on them. The eye charm, with the one he sits in front of, seems to fit perfectly as a key of sorts, and he pulls on the compartment when a faint click sounds from it. Without really looking, he grabs the small, item from in the compartment, and only then does he really get a good look at it.

Suds shudders at the red, crystal-like object in his hands - The Abyssal Eye, if he recalls the name properly. He feels like he's taking something he shouldn't be, or like this will be something he'll regret in the morning. Anything to help, he reminds himself with a deep breath.

Quickly, he flees from the cemetery in order to bring the eye back to Aeolian. Even out of the cemetery, something about the object just feels wrong in all kinds of ways. As long as it helps, he tells himself again, doing his very best not to think of it. Every so often, he finds himself looking over his shoulder - there's a constant feeling of being watched; followed, even. The chilled breeze on the spookiest night of the year is a perfect aid to the already eerie atmosphere, only increasing Suds' nerves.

He practically runs toward Aeolian when they come into view, collapsing when he reaches them and pants to catch his breath. When properly breathing again, he presents the gem to the drajin, whose concerned look turns delighted at the sight of it.

"You found it!" he cheers, taking it in his paws. "You really found it!"

Suds smiles, then stands again. Aeolian examines the gem a bit more, smiling all the while.

"Oh, thank you," they say with a sigh. "This is such a relief. I've been afraid of them returning for it for two years."

He looks back at the gem in contemplation, their smile slowly turning to a frown. Noticing this, Suds gives them a look of confusion, despite knowing he's not going to see it. He opens his mouth to ask if something is wrong, and then the drajin speaks again with another sigh.

"I can't destroy it," they say, sounding defeated, "and I don't know if it would be safe to even if I could."

Aeolian stares at the gem some more, brow line seeming to furrow in further contemplation.

"But I can seal it away with a spell," they continue, "to ensure that only those with selfless intentions can retrieve it."

"Why couldn't you go get it yourself?" Suds asks suddenly, startling himself a little as the question slips. "To be honest, it wasn't very hard to find."

He hopes, more than anything, that he doesn't sound rude. Aeolian smiles at him, and he releases a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Ah," says he, "well, you see," and as they say it, they start to turn transparent, "it's difficult to get the energy to manifest."

Suds gapes at the drajin that seems to be turning into a ghost before his eyes. The other seems to make no reaction to this.

"I can only do it during the week of Hattoween when the veil is thinnest," he continues. "I never could have stayed solid long enough, but I hid this at the mansion hastily before I faded entirely. I'm not sure what became of the teddy bear drajin - perhaps they had other unfinished business."

The trabble has no idea what's going on or how he should be feeling, and all he can find himself doing is gaping in confusion and astonishment as their smile turns somehow softer, still ignoring his shocked reaction.

"You have freed me of a great burden. Thank you." By now, he's just about faded entirely. "Thank you, my friend."

As they vanish, Suds notices a tear he hadn't realized slipped, and he wipes it away, hoping no one saw it. He stands still a while, allowing himself to process, well, everything tonight for a moment or two. With a shaky inhale, he's about the begin his journey home, wishing to go to bed and hope this is the weirdest - maybe scariest - fever dream he's ever had in his life. Before he can even take the first step, he notices a small slip of paper on the ground.

"Hey," he says aloud to himself, opening his shell to examine closer, "it looks like he left something behind."

On it, there's a drawing of the gem he picked up mere minutes ago, along with the words Abyssal Eye Token taking up about the entire slip. Maybe it wasn't left behind, he thinks to himself, but meant for me.

An instinct of sorts tells him to turn it around, which reveals something of a note.

"A token of my gratitude," he reads aloud. "I owe you one." It's signed off with Aeolian's signature.

Well, he thinks to himself, I guess a ghost owes me a favor now.