Definition: The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable. In other words, being looked in the eye for an unknown reason and it can feel creepy.

AU: Mesmeric Leader (of course I had to lol)

Context: M has a bit of a run-in with somebody.

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[3rd Person POV]

M carefully stepped through the forest. He had been out too late, caught up in the research he was trying to do with the books that were left at the ruins of the Great Library.

He needed to know if this threat was already known, but was forgotten, like some others in history. It may have been the destruction, but he looked through every book that was salvageable and yet still couldn't find any answers. Why did that wretched shadow have to be smart...

And now, since he was out so late, he'll be questioned by everybody if he's caught, since he's the one everyone's looking at to run the Kingdom now. Which is why he has to be careful. No teleporting near the kingdom, and don't make too much noise while sneaking back in through that weakness in the walls of the Professor's force field thing. He still didn't quite know what it was, but it kept outsiders out and did a good job of it. Which made it all the more lucky he found that chink in the armor.

M stayed on his memorized path, having done this a few times. A few minutes more and he could sneak back into the Kingdom, without anyone having noticed he was gone.

However, just as he was getting close, he stopped. Something had snapped nearby. An animal? ...A threat?

Moving slowly and carefully, M turned his head to see what had made the noise. He expected to see whatever it was had fled already, or if not that a deer or other woodland creature. But as it came into his view, he was filled with horror as he realized what was standing there, smiling at him.

A monster.

A strange mostly red being covered in splotches of magenta, wearing regal clothing and jewelry. It just stood there, still as stone, grinning like a madman. Its eyes, focused on his. Its expression was manic.

It looked like a person, but something... something was wrong. His instincts were screaming that there was something off about the mysterious "person" standing across the forest. Yet he couldn't tell what.

It continued to stare into M's eyes, still smiling. It didn't move a muscle, and neither did he, out of fear that any movement would make it strike. He didn't want to find out what would happen to him if it decided to attack, but he had a hunch.

This must be the thing taking people. It had to be. But then... this was also the intruder that left him a note in his house. Has it been stalking him...?

After a long, long while of staring, the being simply smiled wider for a moment, then... vanished. One second there, the next it was as if the tense minutes that the staredown lasted never happened. M finally blinked and quickly looked around, seeing if it was sneaking up on him. It wasn't thankfully, but it still left him wondering where in the Realm it went.

M decided to quickly yet quietly run the rest of the way home.

As he passed by trees, bushes, and other foliage, he wondered about what just happened. Was it even real? Was it all a hallucination, caused by the entity simply messing with him?

And then there was it just... staring. Why is that all it had done? And why did it feel so uncanny, so unsettling, so otherworldly, crazed, threatening, mocking, just so wrong? Why did it feel so...

...Familiar?