Acton thrived on unknown dangers. Where was the fun in preparation? Better to throw yourself in whole-hearted and reckless – like sliding down a slope when you weren’t entirely sure of the footing.
Anyway, he knew the kinds of things that walked the Night Court and the Arma Mountains, and the worst of them was gone. (Well, except perhaps Caligo, but he wasn’t sure he was interested in sifting the rumors of her sightings from the truth). And the buckskin stallion knew, too, that in his best moments (or the opposite, maybe), he was among the worst of what was left.
Though he wondered just how much that was.
The buckskin kept an ear turned toward the golden man, and grunted in response to his watermelon comment. Acton was a fairly simple man, even given the varied wonders the Night Markets offered, and culinary pursuits had never been his interest. Not even when it wasn’t just food that was being discussed, as now.
But that grin still caught his eye, and he turned to meet that laughing gaze, away from the charred remnants of what had been a vibrant strip of forest. Strange, to not hear birdsong, nor even the hum of the wind through leaves. Strange and sad – and Acton was ready to move on from it.
For now he’d had his fill of swearing at ghosts. It was time to go home.
“They had a better way to act theirs out, anyway,” he answered the stranger, and this time his grin was a far more genuine thing. If you couldn’t laugh at the fucked-up turns the world took, then what was the point in any of it?
For a moment he considered the golden man once more, and at last he cocked his head, gesturing with his muzzle toward the trail that wound down through ash and blackened trunks – and eventually on to the city of starlight. Maybe it was the city of something else, now, like nightmares or rubble – it was time to find out, either way. “I’ll tell you about it, if you’re headed that way. We’ll have the time.”
Acton only waited a moment before moving forward, continuing the journey to gods knew what. Only after a few steps did he look back over his shoulder with a final smile.
“Name's Acton, by the by.”
@Thranduil eyyy figured I'd wrap it since so much has happened. thread again soon in Denocte??
