♜ open grasslands

@lee soohyuk "Yes! Ethically sourced! My squirrels are employed with fair pay and access to health care," she describes as if it's to be ever so obvious for anyone. It was more proof of the little fantasy world she lived in. "And I can most certainly promise you that it is edible. And delicious. Deer certified." The menu was already planned in her head. A layer of boiled cabbage, some green beans plucked from the garden, and a side of mashed potatoes. And roasted nuts on the side! Mm! Mm! Mmf! - "No horse."

The thought of riding atop the back of those beasts is too much to bear. Especially one tainted by the loss of their rider. "No, thank you, fellow Nighttrain, I will continue on foot. This way." With a flourish of her skirts, she sets off back from whence she came. Towards the mouth of the forest, and into the trampled brush that created an easy pathway for her to walk along with slippers missing. "Hurry along, Nightwalker! We've a walk to the shack!"

And indeed, it takes them just shy of Sunset bell that chimed from the distant village. The wear of the day was growling her own stomach, prompting her forward more quickly until her shy little shed, nestled in the midst of the forest. Her little vegetable garden stood untouched, with the tree stump that served as her bench and table outside. "Nightfellow?" Seulgi shouts over her shoulder, having continued to call bastardizations of the man's name throughout the walk to make sure he was following. "We've arrived!"

@kang seulgi Her childish demeanor elicits a scoff from his tiers. Clearly, she lost a screw or two from the scuffle earlier. Soohyuk deliberates riding her to the nearest village so she could have her head checked but he doubts any herb or magic would be enough remedy. Be that as it may, he already helped her enough. Just a token of gratitude and he’ll be off her hair— which he honestly could’ve done without had it not been for her question of what he wanted in exchange for the aid. Anyway, that’s something she doesn’t have to know.

“Ethically sourced? That’s no different from gathering them in the forest,” he rebuts with a tilt of his head. He might not be the brightest in identifying fruits but unlike others, he could spend all the time he needs to gather and distinguish them apart. And for him, though it’s time consuming, it’s an easy job. Gratefully, amidst her insanity (to say the least), she brings up a better deal. “As long as it’s edible and delicious, I’d take it over the nuts,” he responds rather grumpily with a sigh, obviously not appreciating the slap on his side. She really needs to keep her hands to herself before he yanks her hand to Leur’s mouth.

With a quick pat on the spot she touched, he removes the crease she left and he shakes his head to inhibit the devilish thoughts of feeding her to Leur. “Let’s get going. You lead the way,” he speaks up after a few seconds of recomposing himself then adds, “Do you need a horse by chance?” Soohyuk looks at the loose horses a few meters away from them. He can certainly lasso one if needed, though considering they’re quite calm by now, they could make do with just pushing the dead body off and her hopping up.

@lee soohyuk Oblivious to subtle gestures as she was, Seulgi embraced her new nickname in silent victory, thinking to have fooled her saviour-murderer. And his cloth was so interesting in texture - smooth but coarse - that she could hardly tangle herself out of it until he so rudely dismissed her from it. She would have protested were it not for the brute he rode, the horse eyeing her with a threatening whinny, to which she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, keep it to yourself, Lulu," she chips to the horse.

"I can promise you my hazelnuts are ethically sourced, Master Nightshade or other." Her hand waves around her head as she speaks, patience for the disruption in her peaceful day long worn thin. There was still a sour taste in from having seen the men die. Regardless of their intentions, their gagging, wide-eyed expressions loitered the maze of voices and images in her mind. "Fine," Seulgi eventually caves.

Her hands clasp behind her back while she paces one way, then the other, with no more than three steps each way. She speaks quietly to herself, mulling with the "counsel" of voices to see what else they could offer. "We have walnuts... Or perhaps he'd be more fancied by the cacao beans? Oh, but then we'd have to ask Lina for a favour. No. No. That will not do. Aha!" A snap of a finger, and she whirls around, hands flying to slap on the man's side (maybe just an excuse to feel up his fabric again). "I can cook. Do you fancy a meal Nightrain?"

@kang seulgi Soohyuk isn't sure if she meant to belittle his nom de guerre but whichever it is, he hardly finds offense at the remark, even going as far as to take the female's words literally. “T'is a displeasure meeting you, Peat Moss,” he exhales with a subtle tip of his head, finding no need to disguise his dismay with their meeting. After all, his warm and pleasant day took a turn when she and her captors arrived in the area.

As soon as Peat(?) reaches out to grab the fabric of his cloth, he gives her a few moments to realize her act and back away; however, when she doesn't, Soohyuk roughly pulls his hand from her hold then rests his palm again on the saddle horn. “Keep your limbs to yourself lest Leur bites it off.” His threat comes to fruition when the horse suddenly shakes his head, and at that, a proud smirk spills from his lips before he rewards the animal with a pat.

“As for your offer, hazelnuts— they'll barely do. How is it that you think a few nuts would compensate your life? Is that all you are worth?” Soohyuk straightens his posture if any more possible as he awaits her answer. In that regard, he honestly could make do with the nuts considering he's close to running on an empty but he feels he could strike a better deal from this woman so he presses for more.

@lee soohyuk () *collected not connected OTL

@lee soohyuk "Nightfall... What a curious name!" There was still much hesitance as she stepped around him, eyeballing his large horse - one of the only animals she actually feared due to a number of unfortunate circumstances. She paces back, creating more distance despite her curiosity drawing her in. "Not a name," she finally concludes. After all, Seulgi may be a bit lost, but she knew /some/ things to be fact. "That's like calling yourself Peat Moss. Oo! I can be Peat Moss!"

Fear cast aside for the moment - emotions turning as quickly as the conversations she held with herself in her head - she springs up to the saviour murderer, grabbing at his sleeve to feel the material. "A favour?" she muses quietly, fingers pulsing the material in a circle to get a feel of how many stitches it took to get the meter used for his sleeve. "I can do a favour." She'd have no choice, being that she had barely ten gold coins to her name, and even less in terms of rich possessions. "I have some really good hazel nuts I connected this season. I can pay in those."

The horse shakes his head, and it's enough to drop Seulgi back on her bum in startle. "Oh! Be calm beast!"

@kang seulgi Is she not right in the head? A glint of amusement and disbelief shines on his dark orbs that watches the woman’s antics. This isn’t half-bad, he believes, though it would’ve been had he arrived any second later. Nonetheless, empathy has never been his forte and will never be despite meeting her eyes and recognizing the fear within them.

“Nightfall.” It takes him a full second to conjure the answer, settling on giving her his alias based on the fact she’s no more than a stranger, before apathetically continuing, “If not money, jewelries would suffice. Otherwise, you owe me a favor.” Soohyuk doesn’t mean anything ual— no, he would never exploit another’s weaknesses for carnal pleasures and hopefully, it shows when he fishes out a cloak from his horse’s satchel and throws it over her shoulder— rather he just means he wants a favor, one he could claim any time he desires. “So which of which will you provide?” he asks, not caring to know anything about her for the meantime, just the fact if she’s worthy of his sweat.

@lee soohyuk Despite Seulgi's best efforts, she ended up down and surrounded at the end of it. Thankfully for her, the men preferred to torture her before killing her. They spun circles around her on their horses, hooves crunching grass and bugs that screamed for help. Both her palms tucked her ears away, muffling their taunts and silencing the voices in her head just a bit. "Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it," she pleaded in a mutter, rocking slightly.

"You hear that mates? She wants us to - ugh!"

The redheaded man was the first to go. An arrow cut him mid-sentence between the eyes. A splattered burst of blood stained the neck of his horse, and he fell over in his saddle, held only by his boots in the stirrups. Her eyes widen, a short scream escaping her when she feels the physical sap of his energy leak from him. The other panic, spinning to find the source, but it's too late for them. One by one. The last man only escaped from his horse spooking, but an arrow caught him soon later. Instincts told her to run, so she did.

No sooner did her feet his the ground, was she met with another horse. Perched atop, though, was the man with the bow.

'He did it! It's him!' 'Hush! Stay! Don't leave yet!' 'He'll do it to you!'

"Silence!" Seulgi shouts, slamming her hands back to her ears and shaking her head until her braids tangled behind her. When the voices dulled to a roaring whisper, she permitted herself to open her eyes, regarding the man before her with great reservation and fear after seeing what he'd done. "W-who are you and what do you want? I don't have any money!"

@kang seulgi Though it’s been years since Soohyuk left ‘home’ to rejoin society, there’s no doubt the outskirts will always be his haven; and, no amount of bustling crowds nor flavorful wines can change that idea. As he watches the skies weave through his spread out fingers, he burrows his head further into the fur of his trusted horse, Luar, and thinks of the time he shall return to his home. It’s been so long, he wonders if the shack is still up or— his thoughts are cut abrupt by erratic drumming of the ground beneath him.

“Bloody christ,” he grumbles through gritted teeth as he slowly sits up and takes his bow in his hands, counting the men that dared to disrupt his rest. Two, three, four— that’s how many bodies he’ll have to pray for. Honestly, had they been quieter in their pursuit, Soohyuk would’ve looked the other way despite them preying on a little girl but since they’ve incited his ire, he guesses he’ll just take this opportunity to practice his precision. And so, there he goes, riding his horse towards the mess and killing the instigators with headshots one after another. Unfortunately, he misses his last target due to their horse’s fright but the next arrow he sent flying hits right on the dot so he just sighs at the waste of equipment.

Once the area has calmed down, the horses occasionally neighing and grazing despite the dead bodies dangling on their saddles, Soohyuk looks down to check on the girl he previously saw. “You still breathing, young miss?” he nonchalantly starts off as he stashes his bow on Luar’s side.

RUN!

Seulgi ran as fast as she could, belongings scattered behind her, hems of her skirts dripping with mud and grass, and heels of her feet bleeding from how hard they dug into the rough terrain. Behind her, men on horseback hollered with evil intentions, their laughter void of joy and laced with the joy of the hunt. All Seulgi had wanted was to pick her herbs, dip in the river, and be done with it. A splendid day in the peaceful meadow. It was all bad chance. They'd mistaken her for a doe. Or so she convinced herself. The next thing she knew, she had a pack of hunting dogs snarling at her in the river, and she was running for her life. Nothing but her underdress in the nip of the autumn season.

"You'll never run fast enough, girl!" one shrieks with laughter. The blade of his sword, brandished high, glints the reflection of the sun's rays, blinding Seulgi for a second. It's enough to make her stumble, and she falls in a tangle of scraped limbs. Horse hooves are galloping behind her, trembling the grass. She has to keep running. She has to run!