It seemed more and more likely that Virion was an Attuned, but that was his business and none of Jigano's - well, not on such short acquaintance, at least. The lorekeeper was full of questions but most of them could wait as the pair joined the circle and slipped into the country dancing that was both fun and boisterous, even as it was simple enough to follow along with.
"Beyond the forest?" The bard repeated, incredulity and excitement evident in his voice and expression as they spun back to face each other. "You mean - the other side of the Greatwood? There are other humans out there?" It seemed likely, but since so far all the people they had met in the Woods had been Fae he hadn't been sure they could assume that there were other humans elsewhere. But another word had caught his attention and his excitement faded a little as he stepped away and then back again, passing shoulders withVirion on the right and then the left before spinning back into the refrain.
"What kind of barrier?" he asked, voice carefully neutral, even as he nodded at the other man's assumption. "And yes, I am. Are outlanders common, beyond the woods?" He took the other man's hand again as the music swirled around them, leading him in a quick circle with the rest of the dancers before they parted again to clap. His own lips quirked wryly as he considered the man's question, a flicker of shadow passing over blue eyes, though not touching his well-schooled face. Gears the size of a house churning into malevolent life; the myrmidon flying above the town, unleashing a hell of fire and light upon the people still in it; the abattoir-like 'larder' of a kyton, minutes before confronting the creature itself in all its twisted, horrific glory; the massive body of a neh-thalggu uncurling from the ceiling, dropping to capture Jenny in its pincers while the brains collected in bulbous blisters upon its back pulsed in agony... "Quite the opposite," he murmured demurely. "Though there, like here, danger tended to find those who went looking for it."
"Beyond the forest?" The bard repeated, incredulity and excitement evident in his voice and expression as they spun back to face each other. "You mean - the other side of the Greatwood? There are other humans out there?" It seemed likely, but since so far all the people they had met in the Woods had been Fae he hadn't been sure they could assume that there were other humans elsewhere. But another word had caught his attention and his excitement faded a little as he stepped away and then back again, passing shoulders with
"What kind of barrier?" he asked, voice carefully neutral, even as he nodded at the other man's assumption. "And yes, I am. Are outlanders common, beyond the woods?" He took the other man's hand again as the music swirled around them, leading him in a quick circle with the rest of the dancers before they parted again to clap. His own lips quirked wryly as he considered the man's question, a flicker of shadow passing over blue eyes, though not touching his well-schooled face. Gears the size of a house churning into malevolent life; the myrmidon flying above the town, unleashing a hell of fire and light upon the people still in it; the abattoir-like 'larder' of a kyton, minutes before confronting the creature itself in all its twisted, horrific glory; the massive body of a neh-thalggu uncurling from the ceiling, dropping to capture Jenny in its pincers while the brains collected in bulbous blisters upon its back pulsed in agony... "Quite the opposite," he murmured demurely. "Though there, like here, danger tended to find those who went looking for it."
