Short Stuff

With a gentle whirring, the pentagon shape spun around the Eef, too thin to hide the iris anxiously moving around from within the inner cube of his attire. The Witch Queen runes appearing and dispersing from around the ghost did nothing to bolster his confidence. “I don’t like it here,” Eef spoke, quiet and soft, iris flicking to the guardian striding in front of him and quickly floated after as not to get left behind, “Meta.” The ghost insisted once more, his tone more pleading than demanding.

Earning a sigh, the guardian slowed and turned their helmet back towards their ghost. With the raise of a hand, Eef quickly placed himself in her palm. He carefully positioned himself so his outer ring wouldn’t scratch her glove. “If you don’t like it, you can wait.” Eef hated it when she did this, iris darting from the visor back down to her fingers, “Eef, I can handle myself perfectly fine. We’re just looking around.” As the ghost seemed reluctant to respond, Meta only sighed. Slipping a finger between the outer pentagon, Meta gave Eef’s head a rub, “I appreciate your concern. I truly do, but I’m fine. If you’re scared, I can call you back should I need to see.” Green glow reflecting off of Meta’s visor, Eef begrudgingly nudged at Meta’s fingers before floating into the nook of her neck and her coat collar.

“Fine..” Eef didn’t want to leave Meta this time. He got a bad feeling about this place, which maybe was a sign he really should hide, but if Meta insisted on staying, he didn’t want her to be alone. She would never be alone so long as Eef was here, but..He wanted her to know he was there. Once he was comfortably nestled, ring ever so slightly brushing Meta’s neck plates every few intervals, Meta resumed her course. “Why are we here? We…Shouldn’t be here. Can’t we…Can’t we come back some other time? Maybe with someone else?” Eef queried, hopeful but not anticipating much of an answer given Meta’s usual nature; an attempt nonetheless, “This place is so..spooky…And dark.”

The ghost was correct. The Tangled Shore had always been a bit of a wasteland but has since been left to be overrun by various hostile races, given the guardians have little to no reason to come by anymore. With only Meta and Eef to be heard, there seemed to be an eerie quiet enveloping the area. Seemingly untouched yet, almost hauntingly so. Dripping could be heard faintly in the distance, but this far in, it was more of an echo on the breeze. This cave hadn’t had a visitor in a long while – be it guardian or otherwise. They’d been fortunate only to encounter a handful of awakened en route, but Meta made short work of them, and once they’d neared the cave Meta had set her sights on, the number of hostiles had quickly whittled down to no more. Eef wasn’t entirely sure why, but Meta didn’t seem to question it. The Tangled Shore wasn’t exactly a place guardians were allowed to visit, per se, so why Meta had insisted on coming here continued to elude the ghost.

“You are right about that.” Meta hummed, placing a hand on the outer rim of the entrance to one of the many shelters adoring the shore cave and tracing along the sides, “But thankfully, it isn’t as dark here as some of our other visits.” Finally bringing her hand away, she rubbed the dust from her fingertips.

An anxious whir vibrated to the side of her head, “Are you sure you can touch that?”

Meta only chuckled, "Well, it certainly isn't harmful. You're more than welcome to validate my claims with a scan if you so wish." Meta motioned the dusty walls to Eef, but the ghost just shook his head. He'd take Meta at her word.

The duo moved deeper into the cave, only Meta's boots and Eef's faint whir breaking the silence. Meta would pause at each new shelter or base they'd arrive at, peering in before going inside and stepping around the clumps of stone and long-since-covered remains. Eef still couldn't work out why they were there. Everything was empty. Anything left was long since abandoned and coated in sediment and ash. He wasn’t sure why this cave wasn’t housing clusters of enemies, but whatever the reason, it surely couldn’t be good. Meta was careful in her approach, clearly not wanting to disturb the area too much and never a fan of leaving traces of her presence. She only seemed to pick up smaller objects, dusting off some larger piles or boxes. As tempted as Eef was to interrogate Meta further, she appeared quite focused yet... absent-minded. He didn’t want to take her out of her thoughts. If anyone could break down how Meta's mind worked, it was Meta.

Before long, they'd already been out for hours. Eef hadn't been checking too often, knowing that the notifications and reminders would be a nuisance to Meta and most times, she was already on top of it. But they took an unprecedented leave, and if they didn’t head back soon, Eef was sure there'd be questions. He wasn't scared something would happen to Meta because of it; no one would dare, but he knew Meta liked things under wraps. She didn’t do things halfway, so if she didn’t want this trip to be known, Eef could only comply as best he could.

"We should leave soon." The ghost finally voiced, iris slowly raising to meet the guardian who was currently looking at some markings on the side of one of the shelters, "Meta." Eef repeated, quickly picking up that Meta wasn't listening. The ghost softly sighed before floating up a little and nudging her neck, sending vibrations along her suit plates to help her focus back on the present, "It's getting late, Meta. We should go."

Meta paused slightly before tilting her helmet down towards Eef. She seemed to ponder for a moment before begrudgingly agreeing, "You're right, I suppose..." Meta seemed reluctant to leave regardless, looking around the cave for a moment longer before finally accepting that their time had run out, "All right, all right. Let's go, Eef." Meta chuckled gently, reaching a hand to her nestled ghost and rubbing his head. The ghost responded by nudging at her fingers, enjoying the closeness to his guardian.

As Meta made her way out of the cave, she noted how much darker it was outside. It had been longer than she'd been anticipating spending. Finally free from the caverns, Eef flew out from Meta's collar. He already missed the feel of her plates against the softness of her coat collar. Having her heartbeat so close was a comforting reassurance that Eef always enjoyed listening to.

"Finally. Free," Eef perked as he flew around a little. Meta didn't warn him against flying around this time, so he assumed it was safe enough for a bit of fun. It wasn't often that he got to float around and was still sticking close to Meta. For obvious reasons, of course, but.. Eef still enjoyed getting some movement in without the echo of bullet shells or explosions.

Meta looked up just as her green-eyeball-adorned ship pulsed into view, starting to make her way back up the path to meet her ship halfway. Eef flew after before lightly bumping a horn of her helmet and flying ahead to the ship. Meta shook her head with a soft laugh but did not attempt to race her ghost this time.

Dust blew out from under the mighty engines adorning their ship, the ship now close enough to transmat into; Eef’s gaze quickly flicked behind him towards Meta, expecting the Exo to have caught up by now. Meta wasn’t looking towards him anymore. In fact, she’d stopped. A few meters from the cave entrance they’d come from. Eef may have been a distance away, but he could already pick up the slight change in her posture and the ever-so-small increase in her heartbeat. Something was off. He quickly tried to scan the area for life forms but couldn’t pick up anything other than Meta, at least not within their local radius. Why was this place so empty? His iris flicked around, and he started to zip back down the path.

“Meta?” The lack of response from the tense guardian only made Eef’s panic rise. If something were awry, Meta would’ve already told him to leave. But she hadn’t. Meta didn’t know what was off. “Meta? Please?” Eef desperately tried to earn a response from his guardian, moving in front of her visor’s gaze only to be pushed gently aside by her hand, “Meta!”

With a sigh, the guardian seemed to concede, relaxing her posture as she shifted her gaze to Eef, “Hmm?”

The ghost was still for a moment before dejectedly turning his iris away slightly. She wasn’t going to tell him. Again. Eef let out a frustrated sigh, “You were spacing out again..” His worry only earnt a light-hearted laugh and a nudge from the guardian’s knuckles, not that it remotely quenched any of his concerns.

He knew he couldn’t aid her in battle but..If he couldn’t even be a reliable ear to Meta, he wondered what purpose he was serving as her ghost. Eef hated that Meta always burdened the responsibility herself. Not even Eef could shine a light on the secrets clouded in the nonchalant demeanour. And..And even more so, he hated that he knew a part of him was too scared to learn the lengths Meta knew. He could never walk into a blaze as blindingly confident as Meta would, and sometimes the distances she goes to ensure Eef feels safe makes him more…Uneasy.

“My bad. Come on Eef, let’s get going. Don’t we have an appointment to keep?” The calm but friendly tone. Light-hearted enough to jokingly jab, but as clear as day, a sure subject change. Eef had known her long enough to detect the faint hesitance in her voice. It was only slightly so, but it was there. Meta would probably be back here. There was a quiet whir as Eef pondered his disapproval. Finally, he accepted defeat. This wouldn’t get anywhere. Not today, at least.

“I’m coming.”