Of Dolls, Dishes and a bit of Soap

[Nedoral]

He stared idly at the oven in the corner, a crude pipe almost slipping from his lower lip. His Pop taught him quite a handful of heuristics and, whilst many of them were overly simple, Matteo couldn't deny they were good enough to get by. He kept an eye on the boiling pot in observance to one of these tricks: "when it's soft, kill the fire", Pop would tell him. Worked well enough for most stuff that fit within a cooking pot, though it'd hardly measure up to anything Fields put his hands on.

By no means an accomplished cook, his everyday grub would cower in shame from his neighbor's stellar creativity when filling a plate. Nevertheless, he hasn't run into Fields for a few weeks, and said plates gathering dust on display called for some sort of action. Another batch of boiled and extra salty beets was all but done, Matteo sure hoped Milton wouldn't mind him offering some nourishment to weary travelers in his stead. He was sure it'd only aggrandize the impact of the farmer's menu when his food would again hit its due recipients.

However, food was hardly the former sailor's main concern as of late: thankfully he couldn't peek at it from his own cabin, but he knew it was there. Or rather had been there just the night before. The damn eerie dolls scattered just about everywhere people crossed paths with each other. And inconstant they were too! Some folks' houses simply vanished just a few days the blasted toy appeared right beside it, on other instances the place was gone along with their doll...yet the most unsettling event Matteo witnessed with his own eyes, regardless of intent.

He rocked gently back and forth on his chair, watching shadowy figures dance on his walls as the embers agonized within the oven. Surely it was the same night of the expedition, a foolhardy commotion which attracted all sorts of fame-hungry folk and generally mislead adventurers willing to die inside a musty newly-discovered cave. Regardless of the museum being able to retrieve their damn book, Matteo just couldn't piece together the desire to seek trouble elsewhere instead of addressing it when it settled upon your very doorstep!

Puffing the pipe lightly, he still remembered exactly what he saw, as if he couldn't forget even if he made an effort. There was a slight gurgling noise, not akin to the customary fauna that inhabited the woods. He maintained a healthy distance from the Foundry road lest a wild coyote or those nasty two-legged scaly things could corner him in more heavily forested ranges. It was then that his eyes locked on the doll, which was...changing. He had to cover some distance to get closer, the eerie toy had been laid beside the tavern with the gorgeous barmaids who garbed themselves just with what Nature had bestowed upon them. When he finally conquered the small mound which blocked his vision, the doll was no more.

In its stead was a bubbling puddle of something thick and hoary. Matteo couldn't tell whether the thing simply dissolved or there was something inside of it that managed to break free. In any case he decided to scrub not only his cabin and the Commoner Hall clean, but also Fields' porch as well. Perhaps neglect ultimately took the missing dwellings, and he wouldn't take any chances regardless of how much his hands throbbed afterwards. He whole-heartedly hoped fancy folk, with better heads and means, were on to these developments. He would drop a word on Aster, or maybe Constantine, should he ever cross paths with either of them.