[zapdragon555]

[Reigen Arataka (temp form)] | [Mob]

"This looks like the place, Mob," Reigen mused aloud, rolling up the letter he'd been written with coordinates and instructions. The whole thing was a little bit shady, really, sending a letter instead of an email like a normal human being. But some people were just old fashioned. The lady who sent the letter had the handwriting of an old lady.

It was probably rude to make assumptions like that, but Reigen couldn't help but try to profile who would have sent them to such a strange old cottage in the woods.

[zapdragon555]

Mob glanced up at the roof of the cottage, covered in leaves and moss. It clearly hadn't been cleaned or cared for in quite awhile. "Master," he began, curiously stepping closer, "I'm not sensing anything right away." No sign of ghosts or spirits... at least, not from the outside.

Reigen put a thumb to his chin and furrowed his brow. It was easy enough to agree. "No, you're right. Nothing yet. Maybe we should check inside? The spirit could be hiding."

Good enough, at least. Mob seemed convinced, and Reigen readied himself to walk in after the boy, approaching slowly.

[zapdragon555]

Mob jimmied the doorknob, to no avail. Reigen cocked a smile and lightly laid a hand on Mob's shoulder, gently tugging him backwards and away. "One second," he said, reaching into his pocket for the key that the old woman had included in the envelope. It was as rusted as the rest of it, but after some struggling, he got it in the lock and turned.

What was inside was dark, and dustier than the back closet back at Reigen's apartment. Mob covered his nose and mouth with his hand, squinting against the dark, and pulled out the flashlight they'd brought with his free hand. Reigen was busy having a bit of a coughing fit, and Mob clicked on the light, shining it around.

[zapdragon555]

The beam of light fell on what looked like a very ancient oil lamp, but it seemed unbroken. "Master, could you go grab that lantern? It might be useful," Mob suggested, and Reigen squinted into the dark as soon as he got his bearings.

"Eh? Lantern?" Reigen murmured, stepping towards it and immediately catching his shoe on an old rug underfoot. He yelled as he plummeted, and Mob made a startled noise, hurrying over and shining the light down.

"Master?" Mob called, bending down to shake his shoulder gently. "Are you--" He cut off as his eyes darted to the beam of light from the flashlight. The dust particles that it cut through seemed to clump, slowly, and move away from the light as if burned.

[zapdragon555]

"Yeah, yeah-- I'm. I'll be alright. Stupid old rug," Reigen muttered, and Mob's eyes widened as he heard a scuffling off in the opposite corner of the room.

Reigen opened his mouth to say something else, but Mob's finger reached down to press to his lips. Immediately he shut up, and focused on slowly sitting up, his expression guarded. "What is it," he whispered, and Mob shifted to his feet, focused.

"There's a spirit here," he murmured quietly. "I couldn't sense it at first--it was... muddled. Like it was covered in dust. But now..."

His eyes darted to a gleam of light that the flashlight bounced off of, and he slowly walked towards it. "It's not malevolent. At least, not right now. I think it's upset you moved the rug, though."

[zapdragon555]

"Upset I moved the--come on, Mob, it was an accident and you know it," Reigen snapped, and yelped when the sound of something very heavy moved somewhere else in the cottage. Just a short drag against wooden floor, and then nothing.

Mob seemed less bothered. He'd reached a shelf of knick knacks, his eyes falling on the thing that had caught the light. It was a picture frame, coated with dust and cracked, and from the looks of things, a piece of the picture inside was missing. On the left, a rather serious-faced woman. On the right... nothing.

By now Reigen had gotten up and stuck rather close to Mob's six, eyes darting about the dark room in attempts to catch sight of anything even remotely visible, or dangerous.

[zapdragon555]

Mob slowly unlatched the photo frame and took out the photo, quietly observing it in the light. He turned around and showed it to Reigen. "I think... the spirit is just restless. It doesn't want to be here. I think maybe... it could be this woman, or whoever was in the photo beside her."

It was a good hypothesis, Reigen had to admit. He nodded sagely, taking the photo in hand. "Maybe if you exorcize the photograph, the spirit will leave?" Reigen mused, wiggling the old photo around.

Unfortunately, it seemed the photo was so old, that deterioration had set in long ago. With a few sharp flicks of Reigen's wrist, the thing ripped to pieces, and Reigen stared at the tiny piece of it still pressed between his thumb and forefinger with a growing sense of horror.

Mere seconds later, the cabin seemed to come to life. And not in the pleasant way.

[zapdragon555]

"Shoot--Mob! Mob, do something about this!" Reigen exclaimed, covering his head as what felt like an enormous gust of wind sent an old dusty throw pillow flying over his head. It crashed into the opposite wall, taking out a vase with it. Mob's eyes darted every which way, trying to see where the pieces of photo must have ended up in the gale, but he couldn't even hope to catch sight of them.

Instead, he dropped to his knees, and shone the light at the floor. Amazingly enough, the scraps of photograph had remained in a small heap on the floor, untouched by the gusts of wind whipping overhead. He held the flashlight between his jawline and shoulder, and carefully gathered the pieces into his hands, clutching them tight in his fist. And then...

Mob's eyes darted to where the flashlight beam fell, the light traveling in a long line beneath an old sofa-bed. He crawled on his elbows towards it, squinting underneath the gloom, and gasped as he spotted another old piece of photograph.

[zapdragon555]

Sure enough, it was another person--but it seemed it was another old woman, not what Mob had expected. Quietly he stared at it, then adjusted his half-grip on the flashlight, combining the new scraps with the old and pressing it between his palms. He shut his eyes and concentrated, felt energy flowing through his arms, and into the space between his palms. Warmth and light emanated from them--and then, all at once, the objects hurtling through the air dropped like flies to the ground.

The deluge of dust that came up was horrendous, but after the fit of coughing subsided, Mob opened his hands and was surprised to find the photograph had disappeared. "Where..." Mob's voice cut off as Reigen tapped his shoulder and pointed to the doorway.

In it stood a pair of elderly women, their faces obscured by shadow and age, but a faint smile visible on the both of them. Mob stared for a long moment, then drew closer, feeling his breath catch as one of the old women reached out a hand. Reigen drew his shoulders up, and barked out instinctively, "What do you want with him, spirits? He's not for you. If you're gonna hurt my student, I'll have to exorcize the both of you."

"Master," Mob murmured, almost exasperated, and Reigen deflated slightly under the look Mob gave him. The young boy stepped away from Reigen and towards the old women, instead.

[zapdragon555]

As he approached, the old woman turned her hand over, as if she were holding something. Mob held out his hands, and from the woman's hand dropped half of a heart-shaped golden locket. The other woman, a more frail-looking thing, held out her hands as well and deposited the second half into Mob's palm. Mob stared at the object, then at the women, who clasped their hands together at their sides.

"Um... thank you," Mob said quietly, giving a small bow to them. The women smiled, and after a small pause, began to fade from view. Mob straightened up and stared at the locket, turning as Reigen approached. "Is this... important?" he asked, holding it out. "The spirits seem to be gone, now."

Reigen leaned in and stared at the thing, his brows raising. "Oh... wow, yeah. Our client... she said she wanted to come back for this. Apparently her mom owned this old cabin and had some heirlooms here... but our client was too afraid to come in, since it was apparently haunted. Looks like she was right..."

Mob nodded slowly to himself, and found himself venturing a small smile. To help spirits find peace, somehow... even with something so simple... well, that was a far better outcome than any sort of exorcism.

[Wild Pet Found]