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The Watcher in the Mud (13) : With so much rain lately, it's not surprising to find muddy patches throughout the city. Aside from being very slippery, there's nothing notable about most of them. Most. At first, there's only the strange sensation of being watched--and then, you see why. The eyes. There are eyes in the mud. Two, staring up at you, and nothing else. No face, no form. Sometimes the mud is totally flat, sometimes it's sunken into the ground a bit, sometimes it's built up like a small hill--but the eyes are always the same. Blinking, occasionally. Tracking you. Moving, if they need to--with surprising ease. Kick them, disturb the mud, or try to bury them, and they'll simply roll or swivel back into place to continue watching. Even if you try to leave, they'll move until they run out of mud--and then watch until you disappear from sight. If you linger long enough, the eyes will eventually grow heavy and slowly close before sinking beneath the mud.
Another week gone, another set of books read cover-to-cover! Aquitania grinned as she Powered up and carefully put the completed library books in subspace, preparing to drop them off on another patrol through Destiny City on the way to the library. Her attempt at completing the summer reading program was proceeding quite well, and the chibi wondered if she wanted to try to pick up something longer as a challenge. Not as long as Lord of the Rings, not yet, anyway (though that was a goal sometime in the next few years, maybe as early as next summer), but she was definitely considering something traditionally considered above her reading level.
What to pick, though? Something not too dry, not too...well...adult, she didn't feel ready for those just yet. Maybe a look through the YA section of the library would yield some ideas that she hadn't yet considered.
As she stepped out the door, she considered her luck going on patrol to the library this summer. Honestly, it had been a little cursed. First, that cloudbank, and second, that field of flowers. Sure, she hadn't been measurably harmed by either encounter, and she'd gotten to meet more people, but it was already starting to look like a pattern. Go to the library to work on the summer reading program, get magically derailed. That said, it was also Star Fest, and it seemed like this time of year was an utter magnet for magical weirdness that didn't follow the normal rules of engagement. Nothing Chaos-aligned, nothing Order-aligned. Just weird, random magical events that no one seemed able to explain, but tended to put everyone magically inclined on edge. Not that the chibi blamed them; her cousin and her older brother could both attest to the fact that monsters could appear to potentially prey on the harmless citizenry during a holiday, plus the risk of people being sucked into weird dimensions to play terrifying board games, and then the additional risk of uncategorized magical hazards like the alien plants her cousin had removed from the city center around Christmas.
The spark that seemed to accompany her everywhere this year zipped in front of her eyes, dancing worriedly, and Aquitania had to smile. It wasn't all bad, though. She had wound up with flower crowns for everybody, even her father, and there was the cute little shrines that had popped up out of nowhere last year. Not to mention the multicolored fireflies. No, the wispy spark was right, it wasn't all bad.
As she passed a bit of park nearer to the library than to home, she sensed something. Someone...watching her? What was that? The chibi looked around, trying to figure it out. No animals that she could see, and no people, either. She thought she sensed an energy signature...but whatever it was, she couldn't quite make out details....
No, whatever was watching her didn't seem to be coming from the energy signature, her spark, or any animals. Aquitania stopped, looking around in earnest, until she spotted it. There. In a patch of mud in a low-lying depression that was unlikely to ever dry out this summer, given how rainy it had been. Eyes. Watching her. They blinked once. Nervously, Aquitania tried to edge past it, but the eyes followed her.
So distressing were the eyes in the mud that she took her attention off the other energy signature as she tried to assess whether the mud represented an actual threat, or just another bit of supernatural weirdness.
eldritch stardust
