Around noon, Daniel waits by the door as Anne finishes the first layer of her portrait. Scooting her chair away, she rushes to her son's side and hooks his arm, squealing. "Yes, we're finally going out! Fresh air! Mama is so happy!"
The artist's lips lift for a moment before clearing his throat. "Just don't get too carried away, okay? Even if you look human, you're also undocumented in this city, so let's not attract attention. Also, that speech..."
Anne cocks her head. "Huh?"
"You can't refer to yourself as 'mama' in public or around others."
Gasping, Anne takes a step back before lowering her gaze. "Oh...Is it embarrassing?"
"Partly," Daniel admits. "But that's not the main reason. First, you don't look old enough to be my mother. Second, I also have a few friends who knows that she died, so it would also be suspicious for you to call yourself that."
"Urgh..."
Despite knowing her son is right, she struggles. Being his mother is something she's proud of! How could she even pretend to-
"Anne, do you understand?"
Daniel's firm voice, along with his close, darkened face, scares the slime mother out of her thoughts. Sulking for a bit before straightening up, she sighs. "Yes, I understand...pumpkin."
...
Daniel does a double-take. "P-pumpkin?"
Anne huffs, not backing down this time. "That's right! I heard lovers call each other different names and pumpkin sounds cute!"
She pauses before leaning forward and furrowing her brows. "Wait, we are considered lovers, right? Mama won't take anything less, you hear!"
Daniel sweats and rubs his neck, more embarrassed about the new endearing term. "I mean, yes...but, pumpkin sounds..."
"Then, sweetie-pie?" she sings, smirking.
Daniel does a quick turn-around as he nudges the slime mother forward. "Actually, pumpkin is fine! Let's go!"
XXXXXXXXXXXX
As Daniel drives within Keystone, Anne immerses herself in the city changes that differ from Amy's memories. Businesses come and go naturally, but the slime is relieved to see that not too much has changed since Amy's death. Throughout the drive, Daniel answers his slime mother's curiosity over the various interesting events within the area since Amy departed.
Eventually, they stop for lunch at an Italian restaurant which the artist goes to often when he's not in the mood for cooking. After being seated without suspicion from the staff, the artist looks around. He figures everything would be fine, but seeing how nobody catches anything unusual with his slime mother, the small worry in the back of his mind disappears. He takes a deep breath, then glances at the menu to see if there's anything new. On the other hand, Anne explores the items with greater scrutiny.
Seeing such concentration, Daniel smiles and drops the menu, leaning forward with a hand supporting his chin. "Does it really matter what you eat if you can't taste anything?"
The slime girl lifts her head from the menu and growls, her eyes flaring with determination. "Even so, I still need to find something that might spark something in me!"
Daniel raises one brow. "Really? You think it'll work like that?"
"Maybe? What's something you recommend that's spicy?"
"Well, I wouldn't say Italian dishes are known for their spiciness. You could try the 'Bucatini all'Amatriciana'."
Pointing to it on her menu, Anne slumps when she reads the description, then clicks her tongue. "Oh, who am I kidding! Ma-I mean, I know it won't do anything for me. After all, I'm sure I ate all your peppers! If those doesn't ignite me, nothing will!"
"You can't know for sure. What if you just need something sweet?"
"I'm pretty sure I ate your bag of sugar too. It can't get any sweeter than that, right?"
Daniel rubs a finger across his chin, whistling. "That's right. Wow, what a glutton."
"S-stop!" Anne wails weakly, crumbling onto the table. "Don't tease me! Besides, it...it won't happen again, I swear!"
Daniel chuckles, closing his eyes reassuringly. "Sorry, my bad. Although, why are you more upset on losing taste than touch?"
"Because I want to cook new stuff for you, plus relive some of Amy's favorite dishes! Seriously, do you know why this is agonizing for me, pumpkin?"
Daniel's smile falters. "Again, there's really no need to call me-"
"It's knowing how things are supposed to taste and being unable to taste them!" she cuts him off with evident frustration, "It feels like I'm being suffocating! I'd rather get my sense of taste back first before touch."
At that moment, a server comes up to the table to ask what they want. Daniel changes his prior dish in mind to the Bucatini, given their conversation, while Anne requests the same. Just as they're about to continue their conversation about her limitations, the artist's ears perk up.
"Oh? Hey there, love!"
In an unmistakable British accent with a habitual term of endearment, Daniel turns his head to see his ex-girlfriend, Mary Lin. She's a thin, brown, twenty-six-year-old girl with straight hair cut to her shoulder and neatly layered around her head until it splits apart as part of her bangs. She stares at him with her usual brown eyes and smiles as she approaches their table.
'Oh, great...' Daniel thinks with an internal sigh before forcing his own smile, "Hey there, Mary!"
"It's been a bit, love," she says, "We haven't spoken in a while since I referred that client to you."
Clearly raised in the U.K., Mary's mellow English accent naturally has curious patrons turning their heads as they hear British folk within the vicinity. She eventually moved to the U.S., where the two met in the art college in their fourth year.
Daniel's eye twitches. "Ah, you mean that client that wanted a painting of his hand?"
It was an...odd client, for sure.
"That's the one," Mary answers, lifting her hand up to cover up her smirk, "It's very...handy of me to refer you some interesting projects every now and then, isn't it?"
"Ha. Ha. Yes, you were just waiting for that one, weren't you?" Daniel replies monotonously while his ex struggles to keep in her laughter.
Seeing that Mary is as weird as ever, he can't be too annoyed at his friend as he relaxes and shakes his head. Not to become too distracted by her antics, he motions to Anne, who stares blankly at the woman.
"By the way, this is Anne, my girlfriend," he casually introduces, then back to the slime girl, "Anne, this is my ex, Mary."
"A-ah, nice to meet you!" Anne greets hastily, breaking away from her stupor. Between it all, she fidgets with glee. Somehow hearing her son introduce her as his girlfriend makes her feel incredibly warm.
Mary whistles.
"Nice to meet you! What a cutie!" she praises before facing her fellow artist. "Look, I won't intrude any longer as I was just on my way out. I'll give you a call later to catch up. I might have another client that would better suit you for a commission."
"Again? No weird clients, please."
Mary winks. "No promises~"
As she takes her leave, Anne quickly snaps her head to her son. "Who was that?!"
"I already told you, she's my ex."
"No, more details please! I thought I heard you say you had no luck finding anyone!"
Daniel's forehead creases. "When did you hear me say that?"
It's hazy, but Anne recalls hearing Daniel speaking to Amy's grave while she was underground. When realizing she has to reveal this point, she lowers her head.
"Um...around before I tailed you at the cemetery. It's still muddy for me then, but I can still remember you talking about your luck with dates."
Daniel smiles reassuringly when the slime girl displays guilt about her source of existence. "Anne, it's okay. You don't have to feel bad about that anymore. As for what I said, that's basically since I broke up with Mary, which was a year after graduating with my art degree."
"Oh...why did you break up?"
"Mainly because we wanted to run our own individual business instead of sharing one, The second being...well, we saw our passion for art weaken when we were together."
"Weaken?"
Daniel hums, trying to come up with a proper explanation. "You see, we have our own preferences. She enjoys doing more abstract and conceptual drawings while I enjoy more realistic, grounded paintings. On top of that, we each wanted to impress the other, but...I couldn't fully appreciate the higher imagination she had. That said, she's an amazing person! If it wasn't for our interest in our art...well, anyways."
"So...you were more boring?" Anne questions cheekily.
Daniel snorts sadly. "Probably, yeah."
Anne reclines back a little and taps the table. "But...you still liked her, right?"
"Of course, but I sometimes wonder if it was more admiration than anything. Further, she wanted to...explore herself more, and I was not game to follow her on that path."
"Artistically?"
Daniel coughs. "No, sexually."
"Ah."
The artist leans back, closing his arms together and shrugging. "Point being, we were chaining ourselves together and we decided it was affecting our creativity. I suggested to stop our relationship there before it soured and she agreed."
Anne hums, unsure how to feel. "Well, I guess it's good that you and her at least came to that conclusion and broke it off before really getting into your careers. I'm proud of you."
Daniel grins and takes her hand, causing her to flinch. "Speaking of exploration, I think it's time that I start to branch off more. With such a backlog though, it helps that I have an assistant, right?"
It takes a moment for the slime girl to register her son's words before her eyes widen. With a breath, she leans forward, nearly shaking the table in her excitement. "Do you mean that? I passed?!"
The artist nods, unable to deny it now that he's seen her color most of her self-portrait without any issues. "I mean, you offered, didn't you? After seeing your self-portrait and how you paint, I'd be a fool not to accept your help."
"Yes! I want to paint more with you!" Anne hurriedly agrees and wiggles in delight.
'She's adorable...' Daniel can't help but think with a pleasant smile.
"Plus, that'll give us time to explore other things together, right?" she adds, her lips drawing with ideas.
'...and possibly dangerous,' the artist appends in his mind.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Twenty miles away from the restaurant, a limousine passes through the gates of the Keystone Cemetery. Lecia and Mike step out of the car after the driver parks in the main lot. The Sights Open's president lifts her sunglasses to her forehead as she scans the area.
"Luckily, this isn't very far from our warehouse," she notes, taking her first step in a random section for a start.
Mike sighs as he walks alongside her. "Didn't expect my trip here would involve the dead."
She chuckles. "Right, you have enough of that with your study of human bones. Remind me, you were studying just recently...?"
"Yet another victim of Vesuvius. It'll be detailed in a journal soon."
"Ah yes, thermal shock or suffocation?"
"Actually neither. We believe it was a man who got kicked by a horse going into shock."
"Oof."
Mike curls his lips a little, then watches the various people visiting their loved ones. They aren't here to do the same, though. Instead, they find themselves here thanks to the mysterious creature that came out of the fire pit. Although it took a while to gather data from various camera networks, any leads disappeared at this location.
"Are we sure that nothing came out from this place?" Lecia asks.
The archeologist sighs. "Yes, I had a few try to access cameras in this location, but it was harder to track the creature thanks to the grass."
Lecia hums and narrows her eyes while staring at her feet, annoyed. "Honestly, I doubt we'll be able to learn much just looking around. If something happened, there should be a report, but it's been quiet. Nothing has been amiss as far as normal crime and city activity."
"So then, what are we doing here? Surely, there's we can find something given what we know."
The woman laughs dryly. "And what's that? It's a small creature that can be mistaken for a rat in the dark. We may know better, but that's about it. What I can do is at least talk with the management. There's a possibility that my company might have a way for us to discover why it came here."
"How so?"
Lecia remains silent for a moment. "First, have you read about the article on burial pits found at Stonehenge last year?"
"You think...there's a relation?"
"It's more possible now than before. The creature, a likely product of our ritual, kept going straight until it reached the closest burial land we have in this city. That says a lot, don't you think?"
Mike frowns. "Yet, there hasn't been any noticeable change."
"Exactly, *noticeable*. I'm willing to bet that, even if nothing seems tampered with, there's still information we can gain through the dead around here. Seeing how we're at a literal *dead* end, it only make sense for us to search said dead for clues."
"That...seems risky though."
Lecia giggles. "That's why I was talking about my company. We're currently designing new technologies to help detect what's below the earth. It just so happens we're building a form of X-Ray that can scan across the soil in large areas."
The archeologist widens his eyes. "Like a mass CT scan? Is that possible? How deep?"
The president shakes her head sadly. "Not too deep, but it can probably scan most of this area and through the coffins. The issue is that it's still in development and that we would need permission from the cemetery for testing. Shouldn't be too invasive, but the technology requires drilling a hole around a perimeter."
Mike curls his lips, unsure of the effort. "Are you certain this is worth it?"
Lecia shrugs. "It'll be a good test excuse for the product. In any case, we don't have any other choice. If something strange occurs, we'll be the first to know, but so far, this is the closest thing I can do without it being suspicious."
The archeologist rubs his head, then sighs. "Well, since there's clearly no more tracks to follow, I'll have to trust you on that."
"What, you haven't trusted me before?" Lecia hums playfully.
The archeologist shakes his head silly, not going to even respond to that. Instead, he pulls up his watch, frowning.
"Well, I've already delayed my trip back as long as I can. My flight is set for tomorrow morning, so I'm afraid I won't be able to-"
He stops himself as he feels Lecia tug his collared shirt. The corner of her lips rises a little. "You know, you really don't have an excuse anymore to share a drink with me. Before you leave, I've at least earned that as a friend, no?"
Mike knows what she's going for, and he's not sure if he can resist. "Lecia, I'm...married-"
She pushes a finger to his lips. "Is there really nothing, Mike?"
As her firm pupils reflect his wavering gaze, Mike shuts his eyes for a moment and sighs, pulling back and pressing his hand to his face. "You really are...trouble for me."