Willoughby found interesting and fascinating things in the forest. Any forest, be it in Novus or in some other realm... she found something to bring back with her. The saying was to leave footsteps and take nothing, but nobody would miss a few mushrooms or flowers, right? She hoped not.
Selling them had made her able to buy more food at the Night Market. She was loathe to take too much, so she left her own footstep. I am sorry she wanted to say to the flowers, and so she did. She was apologetic when she took mushrooms too. She whispered to them, making sure their pulled brethren would be useful to others who needed them.
Until she found a satchel, or bought one, she took a few trips to deposit them where she could come back and find them. Transporting took a long time but she was happy for the busy work. This fine noon hour was when she happened upon someone she didn't know. He seemed to be passing by, unaware or just avoiding her, but Willoughby... well, she always liked to acknowledge others.
“Greetings” she would call softly to him through the trees.
if you don't want to see me dancing with somebody new
It seemed, to him, that he was supposed to wander forever. Not a bad thing though, right? From one place to another, making up the stories to cover where he’d been. Wild tales, stories of madness sometimes, sometimes of love and hardship. There was those he could tell that made him look like some stereotypical hero, standing on top of a dead monster with a pretty lass clinging to his leg. Or at times, he was the pretty one clinging to the leg of the hero, adorned in a pretty tiara with a horrified look on his face as he was shielded by the hero.
It might have been Lucian. Might have been Namtar. Might have been Naveen. He didn’t mind swapping between them.
He grinned.
Seze at his flank ignored the stream of bizarre thought, finding the train of images to be just… frankly weird. What on earth was going on inside his head right now? The utahraptor craned her head higher and was the one who warned him that he was approaching unknown company and should probably stop daydreaming about being the concubine in need of rescue.
Entia shot Seze a faux irritated look.
“You’re just jealous I have such a wild imagination,” he says to her with the wicked grin crossing his face. She just stared back at him. Entia, in that moment, realised he was actually not alone. He swung his head, deliberately blanking his expression and looking over the stranger with a haughty, prideful look.
“Can I help you?” he says, his tone disdainful. He tried his hardest to keep that look, but he failed. His face cracked. Laughter spilled from his lips at himself, as his head ducked.
Seze huffed.
“Can you imagine being like that, me being like that? It’d be so boring!” he says. Entia laughs again at himself. His teeth flash as he grins. Teeth rather different to hers.
Far better men and women have tried to make slip the smile of Willoughby.
“Oh, no” the maiden would proclaim, shaking her head. She said nothing when he threw rudeness at her, keeping her pleasant albeit curious look. The being with him was unlike anything she had seen, but ah...! She was getting used to such things in Novus. “you did not interrupt anything.”
The stallion would crack an amused grin. “Though I shall say I was not dining” the maiden added, politely dipping her skull “I was merely gathering some things to sell to medics in the courts.” She quietly corrected him, as was her way. She hoped she had gathered enough...
“But... I do like you better when you smile” she gives him, a nod given to the stranger. Her words were innocent and naive “I've met a few who do not. It is a shame; they would look lovely if they did.” A laugh tickled her throat, bursting through gently
if you don't want to see me dancing with somebody new
There was always that moment when he would wait to see if it landed. If his words struck. If they made their way in. Settled inside the brain. Caused a stir. Maybe some heated thoughts. He would only be so lucky.
A moment when Seze might bite his flank for it. One day.
And for a moment Entia’s mind wonders if he might be into that. The utahraptor did not even flinch. No blinking, no response. With a disappointed huff that was just for her, his own attention attaches back to the pegasus girl.
She who was looking curious. Maybe amused too.
“Huh. I forget that’s totally a thing that happens. Looked more like eating. Any of them good for uh… other purposes?” he inquires. Letting her ponder that herself.
And he grins.
“Everyone should do this. Great for the soul. Not to mention, how much better it is to laugh in the face of those who do not,” he adds to her words.
“Name’s Entia. Birdbrain here is Seze.”
The utahraptor snarls. Teeth showing, wicked and shining. Whether the warning was for Entia or the winged one, was left open to interpretation.
“Well” she muses, looking at her little pile “I'm no healer, so most of these are probably useless weeds” admitting it wasn't hard - sometimes when she brought stuff to the merchants, they looked at it in distain. “I don't even know if I picked up anything poisonous.” But she was still careful not to ingest anything.
The man would introduce himself after agreeing with her. She looks back up at him as he flashes her another grin. She smiles politely, looking from his bonded to him in equal turn. “It is very nice to meet you, Entia and Seze” her head bowed somewhat to them “my name is Willoughby.” She expects questions on where she lives too. Everyone has questions about background.
Or why she didn't belong to a court. “Are you both out here for any particular reason?”
if you don't want to see me dancing with somebody new
Entia almost gave a strange smile. The meaning behind his words perhaps was lost. While at times use for bad purposes was good, he had intended… something else. A use that could involve smoking, burning, inhaling and followed by sitting back, relaxing and probably devouring everything in close proximity.
And in the fun way too.
He grins, ever the Cheshire cat.
“There’s poison,” he says with a little shake of his head and a minor frown upon his face, “And then there’s poison,” with his head nodding and the smile returning.
“Fun poison. The type that leaves one unable to move for a bit. Or think. Not that I do that much anyway,” he admits. He giggled.
The utahraptor would sigh, but she remained silent and steady beside him. She did not share in his mirth. She rarely did. Unless it was directed at him.
Entia rolls his head back. White and red eyes slightly lidded, content expression slipping in upon his face. “Pleasure it is then, Willoughby,” he purrs. “We’re wandering. Learning the ways. Finding the fun, seeing what there is out here. Determining the beginning of a path, I guess,” he says. There would have been a shrug there if he could.
“You at least look like you had a purpose. Better than me, at the moment. Where you from, before here?” he ponders.
Enjoyed swapping stories. Beyond the fun, Entia liked to know those around him. Even if they weren’t from the same places as he was.
Yes, sometimes things got lost on her. But she had been responding best she could, giving the truth. She wouldn't know if anything was remarkable that she picked up, so she could not give Entia the information he deserved. “Fun poison?” she echoes, tilting her head "so, like, recreational drugs?" She wasn't as naive as she looked. Willoughby knew what drugs were. She wasn't stupid.
Entia went on to explain he was just wandering, remarking she had more of a goal than he did. The vagabond chuckled, shaking her head. “Learning is a goal” she was opinionated on that statement though “you are not from Novus, Entia? If you aren't, and you want to learn what you can... it is a goal, yes?” because she had the same goal. She wanted to know about her new residence.
“But before Novus, I was wandering places I didn't really pay attention to” she admits softly “some had names. Some did not. I don't exactly know where I was born, since my parents never told me.”
if you don't want to see me dancing with somebody new
