Keran’s expression seems to wither under the expectant gaze of the much smaller Umbreon. The shiny Umbreon stood at a height that only came up to roughly halfway up Keran’s legs, but even so Keran seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. His tail wagged slowly behind him, as if unsure if it was a proper conciliatory measure or not. After a few moments it fell limp out of shame. Keran’s rings were pulsing faster, seemingly in time with the hammering of his heart. In return, the other Umbreon’s rings were just pulsing slowly as he waited for his answer.

“Er… it’s kind of complicated. You see, uh… I don’t really remember either. I mean, a lot happened that night. I think a lot of people got really drunk. So it’s not r-really that surprising that a lot of people don’t remember exactly what happened, right? Hah, ha… ha…”

Keran’s voice died in his throat as the other Umbreon just kept staring at him. The silence drew on and on, seeming to grow heavier around Keran the longer it grew. He squirmed in place and bit his lip, feeling how low his belly was hanging to the ground. It looked like he was trying to hide a pillow factory shipment inside him. “O-Okay, maybe I remember some bits, but it wasn’t… I mean, it wasn’t like I was doing anything wrong.”

The small Umbreon merely tilted his head at that, the expectant look on his face only growing more pronounced. Keran’s eyes widened, one cooler-sized paw raising in the air. “Not that you said I did anything wrong of course! Nobody said that, there wasn’t anything that I did that was wrong exactly. It was just a misunderstanding. I mean, a misunderstanding between people afterward, the morning before. I definitely didn’t do anything that could be seen as bad, by anyone. I mean wrong. Did I say wrong? Uh…”

No matter how many words Keran poured into the Umbreon’s silence, it only seemed to grow bigger and bigger. It felt like Keran was standing at the edge of a yawning chasm now. “I guess… I mean, I know what I did to you was wrong before. When I ate you and… ugh, this is coming out wrong. What I mean to say is I’m sorry, I took advantage of you and the town and I should have known better than that. Even though you all- I mean, you did all end up okay, it’s just… Ah, Halloween. That’s right. Well, uh... I guess I can just tell you what I remember.”

“Everyone signed up for this scavenger hunt, it was going to be really fun and I signed up for it too. But while everyone was going around in this scavenger hunt, I guess there was a lot of confusion and some people thought they were getting attacked. I know that Jayden was supposed to be using his illusions to scare people… not that I’m blaming this on him! On… on whatever it is you think might have happened. Or didn’t happen. Or something.”

Keran was hunched over now, his tail between his legs, looking absurd at almost twelve feet tall. “Okay look, what you’re probably thinking is that I did something to them, right?” He said, hoping to get some kind of reaction from his accuser besides a vast, expectant silence. When his expression didn’t change he continued on recklessly. “I don’t just go around rampaging and eating people anymore! I learned my lesson, I got fired from the Guild for it, and now I work at a different job. I repented and worked through it and I’m better now! I wasn’t going around devouring people at the Halloween scavenger hunt and you won’t see me going around eating people now!”

Keran froze in mid-rant, a horrified expression crossing his face. He put a paw up to his mouth, letting out a low moan as he closed his eyes. His throat was moving like he was trying to swallow. As he struggled, a loud but muffled rumbling seemed to be coming from all around them. He stood up, took a step as if he was ready to move, and sat back down immediately. Whatever was happening seemed to be getting worse. The paw around his muzzle gripped tighter. He was going to… to…

Keran’s paw flew from his maw as he belched, rancid air blowing past the other Umbreon and everyone else in town who was unfortunate enough to be in its range. His throat pulsed and yawned wide, jaws stretched as open as they could go while thick, gooey drool splattered the Umbreon in front of him. The deep, bone-rattling belch was interrupted suddenly by a wet gagging noise, before a blue collar with a bell attached splatted onto the ground only a few feet away from the other Umbreon.

The silence felt like a tomb now. Both Umbreons were staring at the collar, steam rising slowly from it as thick acids dripped from the surface. Keran gulped as the Umbreon looked back up at him. “This isn’t what it looks like.” Keran said quietly. “It’s uh… I should probably return that collar…”

The Umbreon’s expression didn’t change. “...After I tell you about how Viera tricked me into eating the whole scavenger hunt.” Keran said morosely.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” The shiny Umbreon replied, wiping the saliva from his scarred cheek. “But do go on. I’m very interested to hear how someone gets tricked into eating a town. Again.”