There was something to be said for what emotions could be invoked when returning to places that were familiar, the ones that flared to life with every little thing that was involved, down to the simplicity of breathing, being different in a way that both could and couldn't be explained. How did one put into words the way it felt much more... intimate, more compelling than any other? How did you convey that each piece of history that was stirred up and dragged back into the light was the sort that couldn't be ignored or shoved to the back of your mind no matter how hard you tried?

As far as Ve was concerned, you didn't. You kept your words in check, you kept your reactions hidden behind a mask of intrigue and a body that drew out questions in others, and you spoke of everything that didn't address feeling as though you were moments from drowning, your arms and legs weak from that... part of yourself returning to you even if it was your steps that brought you here, to begin with.

Their thoughts and memories tied to Moonglade were their own, after all, and the balance they found themselves being torn between and struggling to maintain as they couldn't quite define all that swept through them as neither positive nor negative was one they attempted to manage in silence. It may have left them tapped somewhere in between both, recalling something fond, something gentle that teased at what was—what had been good and those that reminded him of why they needed to leave to begin with, why they had taken so long to come back to the continent after first fleeing it, but it was far better than admitting anything... to the people that weren't around but had been for so much of their life.

Gods knew that Ve didn't have any sort of answer or explanation for Em, and it was them that deserved it more than most. Needing to find oneself had been enough in the beginning, but then why had they never visited their dearest kin? Why were their interactions limited to infrequent letters and a few trinkets tucked away safely inside packages without a means of them sending anything in return? The years could be easily accounted for. It was impossible to say how long it would take to... figure out the sorts of things Ve aspired to understand of themselves, but everything else? The distance that they created beyond the miles, cities, and nations? They didn't have an answer. At least, not any that could satisfy.

Apologies, though? Ve was quite good and generous with those. It was quite difficult to get very far in their lifestyle, in the give and take of bodies and favors without knowing all the ways to ask—and sometimes beg—for forgiveness.

Not that he wouldn't be offering Em an apology as a breathy little moan that also whispered to wanting a hint of punishment amidst pleasure's embrace. That would be highly inappropriate considering their relation, and they, to their adorable credit, might very well throw themselves out the nearest window rather than be on the receiving end of such forms of attention for any length of time.

...or they would have. In truth, Ve couldn't claim that with certainty any longer, which is what hurt the most, wasn't it? They had been inseparable as children, nearly the same person despite their strangeness of being, and while it hadn't been something Ve feared, at first, now... now he worried that all the time and distance—the separation Ve created by leaving might have made them different instead of their own form of same.

It was that worry that had forced them to return to Moonglade. They still had yet to discover who they were or find some version of it that finally fit them the way they had been searching for and viewed themselves as, but the notion of losing what they had been and what they had defined themselves for so long was enough to drive them back home. They didn't know who they were, they were still looking for it, but if they lost what they had been, where would that leave them?

Ve didn't know, and so, they found themselves in the Lantern Light Wood searching for a portion of their apology to Em. Glowing plants were something of a rarity on the Crescent Isle, and their properties were curious enough that their dearest sibling could like craft into something both wonderful and peculiar in equal measure. They had always been good with tinkering, after all, and from their various sources and contacts, Ve had learned that that hadn't changed, at least.

A small thread of hope that tugged them along as they walked with grace through the forest, emerald eyes scanning the shadows for a bit of light that didn't belong in the ethereal and eternally gloomy Wood.

Ve would indeed find something that was out of place as they looked about the Lantern Light Wood. A void of darkness hanging from the branch of a tree with gleaming golden eyes piercing through the darkness.^[1] The charcoal skinned tiefling dressed in dark clothing and somehow standing on the underside of a tree branch, watches Ve as they approach.^[2]

In the shadows, he looks like a giant hanging bat. The fabric of his cape draped off his shoulders and making him look even stranger. Usually the tiefling chooses to stay invisible, but given that he was getting used to running into random strangers in this part of the world, he has since forgone any subtlety. 

This would be Zarius' third venture into the Lantern Light Wood in response to an insect infestation. It seemed that many other adventurers had received the call to action over the past few months, but even with their best efforts, there were still some lingering about. It was ridiculous. How many times would he have to come back here to act as an exterminator. The lengths he goes to in order to strengthen his partnerships with those who call Moonglade home. The Witch better appreciate his efforts. 

"Good evening." He calls out to Ve before they can get too close or react aggressively. "Are you out here to hunt bugs or are you lost?"

Either answer would be believable enough. As they were moving through the forest they seemed to be distracted or lost in thought. Perhaps they were a local out for the midnight stroll, though that was quite risky with the bugs still raging across the forest.

He eyes the stranger, making mental notes of their features and how they're dressed. They appeared to be human. Quite tall and thin. Zarius can't quite discern if they are a man or woman, but that detail wasn't particularly of interest to the tiefling. 

The tiefling steps off from the branch and flips around to land on his feet.^[3] He keeps a respectful distance as he tucks his hands into his pockets. He wasn't out to spook the stranger, but he was ready to defend himself if needed. You never knew if someone would suddenly cast a spell in one's face or try to throw a knife. Wouldn't be the first time either had happened to him upon 'meeting' someone for the first time. 

---

[1] Dark Vision
[2] Spider Silk Boots
[3] Cats Grace

While they enjoyed feigning aloofness and used the shroud of its misdirection often to excuse away the things they were attempting to mask as accidental or unwittingly ignorant, Ve was quite the observant creature. Not in terms of anything beyond careful awareness of their surroundings or being able to notice the person who had spied them from the shadows contained beneath the boughs of the towering trees, of course, he was not nearly skilled enough for that, but he had heard of various... escapades into the Lantern Light Wood as of late.

'Infestations,' the various guards and locals had complained about, and in truth, Ve hadn't been able to determine if it was the large insects that had found the weather favorable and surged in number of the adventurers that came through in the name of finding a solution they were talking about. By tone and levels of exasperation they were originally met with before they relaid that, no, they weren't here for the hopes of fulfilling a bounty, they had reason to suspect that it was the latter. Perhaps more so, as it seemed that the problem had yet to be resolved despite the swath of volunteers that came to so dutifully aid the people.

As they hear a voice call out to them, turning to find a... tiefling in a rather curious position, they couldn't help but wonder if this person, one that had nearly startled them half to death, was one such adventurer. The stranger certainly had the theatrics for it, and whether it was intentional or not, the blatant show of magic either innate, cast, or imbued to maintain that position was quite fitting of the other adventurers they had met in the past. All so terribly eager to show off what they could do and reveal a few of their cards as pride walked hand-in-hand with foolishness.

They were welcome to being proved wrong, though. As always. And because they were quite used to the many ways they had been proven wrong, Ve also tapped into their power, the tattoos that adorned their body bleeding together and converging at certain points, receding from his extremities and gathering towards their core. Subtlely, of course. It wouldn't do to tip his hand too much, but thankfully, details were often lost with distance.

"Good evening to you, as well, dear stranger," Ve replied candidly, emerald eyes not quite able to pierce the darkness of both descending night and from the canopy, but their guess as to where the other's face was, was rather accurate. "Though, in truth? I'm neither lost nor on the hunt. For insects, at least."

Ve didn't go into further detail. Not immediately, at least. There was no need just as there wasn't truly an invitation for them to continue. Or there wasn't until the other dropped down from their interesting choice of perch.

"I'm actually in search of aforementioned victims of this... infestation that seems to be troubling the forest, and, seeing as you don't seem like a man who's lost, perhaps, as a hunter, you might be able to tell me if I'm headed in the correct direction?" They offered a smile and remained where they were, self-preservation something they had been practicing for many years now.

"If you are headed in the right direction then you are headed towards a fight," the tiefling points out.

He eyes the stranger a bit. Not a weapon on him. Perhaps a spellcaster of some description then, or a very dumb civilian. Keeping a friendly smile on his face, he takes a few casual steps towards Ve. 

"You are aware of the insect issue yet you are out here alone without any weaponry. What has driven you to risk your own safety for mere plants? Are you a herbalist?"

Zarius knew a few individuals who would do something silly like risk their life for a rare plant. But Kvasir at least had a bow and arrows when he first ran into the healer on the side of Mount Drakolt. Compared to the researchers who kept getting themselves into trouble on that accursed volcano, the foxman had been armed to the teeth.

This wasn't some active volcano home to jackals, elementals, and opportunistic thugs though. Still, it seemed odd to wander about on one's own in an area that has an active issue requiring the attention of adventurers on a regular basis.

The other two times he found random people out in the Lantern Light Wood, one was looking for a fight while the other seemed drunkenly lost. This person didn't seem to fit into either of those categories as far as he could tell on initial impressions. 

"I can certainly be a guide, but there is quite a risk to your safety if you insist on going further into the wood." He tilts his head a bit to the side curiously. "I cannot guarantee you will not get hurt though."

He steps closer again, taking one hand out of his pocket and extending it to the stranger. "My name is Zarius, and you are?"

Ve had always taken the phrase 'looks can be deceiving' as something of a challenge, reveling in it as one might the touch of a lover. There was a certain kind of thrill in seeing just how deceiving they could make themselves appear, begging to know whether or not they could mislead themselves into being an enigma of existence simply by presentation. Toying with assumptions, playing with the worldviews of others, dancing upon the precipice of expectation and reality, it was a test of skill and creativity, of how well they could play the role they chose for themselves.

Never mind the fact that there was nothing more amusing than dismantling assumptions with the subtlest of actions.

Take their cane, as an example, a simple tool of shimmering silver that they needed from time to time but weren't wholly reliant on. They could walk just fine without it... and walked easier with it when the darkness that swirled within them ached to the point where it felt like his joints were snapping and breaking apart with every step as if they had fused themselves into one solid mass of bone, but they could also suffer and be without. It wasn't needed—it was never needed as far as they were concerned—and yet, having it on their person and making use of it conjured an illusion of feebleness or fragility.

It was all the better to catch people off-guard with.

They walked a few steps without the use of it, tapping it against the palm of their hand idly, treating it more as an accessory than a necessity... before stopping abruptly and driving the point of it into the ground. Canting their head, they leaned into it heavily, their knee thankful for the reprieve, though they did not betray the pain that existed nor the relief of a portion of it eased.

"Truly?" Ve asked, curiosity a subtle note in their voice. "I understood that there had been trouble, yes, but surely not all patches of the flower are plagued by... slightly larger pests?" They sighed, shaking their head as if annoyed or frustrated, neither holding any true emotion behind them. "Em better appreciate these when I deliver them," said under their breath, a carefree sort of wistfulness in their demeanor and that barest flicker of fondness only a whisper.

"More to your questions and assumptions, though," they continued, "I'm not an herbalist, and I'm not risking my safety for mere plants."

They could lie. They owed this tiefling nothing. Yet oftentimes, the best lies to maintain were those rooted in truth.

Pun quite intended.

"They are to serve as an apology for someone who is an herbalist—or who dabbles in herbology, as it were." Ah, and there is that pesky affection making itself known in the way sharp edges softened just a touch. "They dabble in a bit of everything truthfully, but there's something a bit more... involved with these in particular, and while it may be foolish to pursue alone, I'm not unarmed."

The urge to dip into sarcasm and offer the stranger their thanks for their concern was tamped down. There was no need to agitate them further than they might have already done so with their... presentation and personality. They would be the first to admit that they could be more than most could handle, after all, and given this unique brand of consideration they were receiving, they decided to play nice. It wouldn't do to have this stranger rescind the role of guide immediately after

"No one can guarantee that you won't get hurt," Ve was swift to comment, "and if they do, they're either liars or unimaginative depending on the situation." Their lips curled ever so slightly, "I do appreciate the sentiment, though, and I'll do my best not to see you harmed on my behalf."

Promises, promises. At least this one was made sober.

Ve straightened as they were approached, tugging the cane up to have a hold of it just above the center. With a twirl, they tucked it behind them as they accepted the hand offered to them. "I am Ve," they answered by means of introduction, "and you have my thanks for your guidance."

The use of the cane doesn't go unnoticed by the fellblood. Though he's not so quick to assume that Ve cannot defend himself with it if needed. It could be magical for all he knows, or have a hidden blade. Such accessories were quite popular these days.

He listens to their explanation of what exactly they were doing out here. Seems this person was a bit on the irritated side. 

“Ah, these pasts are a little bit more than just slightly larger than normal. Last ones I ran across were large enough to pick a person up off the ground.”

As Ve continues, Zarius has to avoid scoffing and instead hides it with a bemused chuckle. “An apology? What did you do?”

A domestic spat, he had to assume. There was little other context to draw any conclusions from and really, it seemed like a private matter and he doubts this stranger would just confide in him out of the blue. Though who knows, he has seen people do stranger things. 

He tilts his head a bit. Something was a little…off about this person. Honestly, their tone and behavior reminds the fellblood of another odd individual they knew. A particularly troublesome brat from Darkveil.

He shakes Ve's hand firmly, but friendly enough. "No need for any thanks. An extra pair of eyes is rarely a bad thing."

Looking around the darkened forest, they were still a ways off from the glowing groves, but that didn't mean they wouldn't run into any bugs before then. 

"If these are the same bugs, they should be resting while it is dark out. That said, if you hear any buzzing, we should keep an eye on the sky."