It Is Known: The Wayhouse is open to all, and a good place for a new arrival to find others, Freeholder or Non. There's rules of hospitality in play, of course, seen to by the various Waykeepers. There's also room for those without a place to stay. It's a good deal, really.
The living room is darker than it might otherwise be, curtains closed and shadows creeping with minds of their own. The reason for this is fairly obvious, in the current lone occupant of the room. A slice of celestial void, vaguely serpentine, and sipping tea. Zillah's wearing a long black dress, reading what is clearly a bodice ripper, sat on the couch. There's that crown upon her head, the gift of the Wyrd's will, and a half-eaten cookie on her knee.
The first thought he has upon entering the Wayhouse is to brighten this place up. He's about half way to one of the windows before he notices that someone else is in the room. It only takes him a second to figure that it would be rude to let the light in when someone is enjoying the dark so he stops and turns to face the woman, offering a bright smile. "Hey. How you doing? Hi. I'm new. I was gonna ask if this is the wayhouse, but like, obviously, right? Cool. I heard about this place, like, four states over. Like, the freehold I mean. Sounded nice. Been working my way over here." Brody initiates conversation as if the two of them were previously engaged in one, starting immediately and continuing on for a time. The green man gets a little closer and squints in the low light. Eventually, he notices the crown, "Oh, hey. Am I supposed to, like, bow or something? Been a long time since I've been in one place long enough, you know? Cool."
Before he's very far into the room, Zillah's already tracking his movements. Not that it's easy to tell she's doing so - solidly black eyes make it difficult to say where she's looking at any given time. There's a slow blink, a tilt of her head, as the unfamiliar man starts to babble on, not really giving her the chance to answer one question before prattling on to his next one. When he does stop, she holds up one finger in that universal 'hold on a sec' gesture.
"Hey," she begins, marking her place in her book o smut with a small ribbon. "Yes, this is indeed the Wayhouse, and welcome to it. We do get a bit of word-of-mouth in the places around here, don't we?" There's a twist to Zee's grin, before she continues on. "And I never say that someone shouldn't bow, bend the knee, or otherwise grovel in my magnificent majesty. I'm Zillah. Who are you, and are you on speed? Because I'm fairly sure I'm out."
"Ha!" he takes her response to bowing as a joke. She's funny. Brody even waves a hand. Get outta here, you're so funny! "Zillah. Nice to meet you. I'm Brody. I'm not on anything. Just life, man. Glad to be here, you know?" he sounds like some overly stereotypical southern California bro would sound on television or in a movie. Less douchey, at least based on the impression he tends to give off. "I think I heard about Fates Harvest in, like, Ohio?" he tilts his head, face twisting into a thoughtful expression that looks mildly painful, "Indiana? Bro, I don't know. I was helping out this guy. Like, going harvesting and getting his farm up and going, you know?" he doesn't speak quickly, just does so in volume. "I thought, like, Fates Harvest. That sounds hella cool. Maybe that'd be a good place to chill for a while, right? And so far it totally seems like it will be." he nods a few times and then takes a seat a socially respectable distance from Zillah, the few branches in leaves interwoven in his hair rustling as if stirred by a breeze.
"Brody," Zillah repeats, watching him with that tilt to her head still present. There's a clear moment where she looses track (or interest) in what he's saying, but it all refocuses when he mentions farms, and harvesting. "The way you look, I assume you have a certain way with plants," she muses, turned towards him a bit. "And you're welcome to come and chill, if you like. We don't require people to join the Freehold, but of course as the current queen I encourage it. You can even be helpful, if that's the sort of thing that you like to do."
"That's totally racist to assume that." he doesn't even last a second before he's shaking his head, "Nah, not really. But yeah, I guess there's some people that know me for my gardening. That's my pleasure. Nice and simple. Good earth, nice crops. I mean, like, weird Hedge ground and strange crops, but still. I run a good garden and I cook a mean meal. Sometimes. Usually." he shrugs, nonplussed by her inattention or more likely inattentive to her inattention. "I want to join the Freehold. I was in one out west, like, Kansas?" apparently, Brody doesn't keep very good track of where he is or where he's been. "It was cool. I was new back then. Like, only out for a little while. Been maybe five years now, though. Hitting my stride, I think. If you weren't so shadowy, you'd see I'm in the Emerald Court. But yeah. I wanna join. Be helpful. See if anyone wants to get a garden going, maybe get one of my own going. Pretty simple, really."
"I've never been terribly good with plants, myself. I've got a bit of a black thumb." Literally. Her fingers are black, like they've been dipped in an inkwell for a long time. "We don't have a lot of people involved in that side of things - it's something we're sadly lacking right now, and I'll be glad to see someone step into the muck and liven that up. If you like cooking, you should host a little shindig, sometime. I never turn down a good meal." She grins at that, and a heartbeat later, she's rising to her feet. "Are you a healer as well, Brody?" There's a small bit of walking, before she's opening a draw, pulling out a small packet. Paper-sized, not too thick. There's a slither to her walk, as she moves to stand in front of him, and offer him that packet. "If you want to join, you'll need to read the laws of the Freehold. Required reading. Then we'll talk in a night or two, about your pledging and any concerns you have."
Brody accepts the packet but doesn't look it over at the moment. Instead, he grins at Zillah, "I have green everything, so guess that helps." tucking the packet under one arm, he nods at the Queen some more, "Yeah, that'd be good. I'm surprised you don't have a person for the freehold. For goblin fruit. Cool. I mean, yeah, I'm interested. If I wasn't doing that, I'd just be trying to find a good place for my own plot." he seems enthused by the idea if his bobbing head and pleasant smile are any indication. "I can heal too, yeah. It's not, like, my thing necessarily. But if someone's hurt, sure, I can do what I can to put them back together. Totally. And I'll read these. I'll probably crash her for now. Just got into town, like, the other day so I'm not, like, settled in or anything."
The mention of having green everything has Zillah's gaze going up and down Brody. It's obvious, if only because her head moves with it. A soft chuckle, before she shakes her head, starts a bit more walking. It's not pacing, really. Not steady enough to be that. "Good to know, add to the list of useful creatures in the area. Hopefully, none of ours will need too much patching up in the near future." Why does that sound a little ominous? Nevermind that, she's got a bright smile, which is flashed towards him. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need, there's plenty of room for those that want the space. There's even a hot tub out back."
Having no clue as to the current events of the freehold, Brody just shrugs and keeps smiling, "People get hurt, I guess. Not exactly a safe sort of life we lead. That reminds me, I should make friends with some hedge wardens." that aside is mostly for his own benefit, his dark green eyes shifting up and to one side as he attempts to commit that reminder to memory. And...there it is. He refocuses on the queen, "Oh yeah?" he asks, leaning to one side to make a show of looking past her and toward the back of the building, "Cool. I'm not used to, like, cold weather?" he sort of asks rather than states, though that's likely just his accent, "So that sounds good. Maybe I'll take a dip later or something." he looks around the room for a moment, eyes narrowing a bit as it's still a bit dark for him. He remains still as she moves about. He's not a fidgety man. Just stands there like, well...a tree. "So what's going on around here? How do you like being Queen? That seems kinda cool even if it's almost our turn. You got some kinda, like..." he waves a hand at her to indicate her whole look, "Snow White evil queen vibe going on. I dig it. You're spooky. Nice. Almost time for the sunshine, though. The nice kind."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Zillah says with a smirk. "The villains always dress the best, anyways. But there's no such thing as nice sunshine for me, Brody. Even if I do find the company of certain Springs enjoyable." She doesn't answer all of his question, of course. "Being Queen is...rewarding, in it's way. Read the bylaws. Come find me when you're ready to pledge. There are a few waykeepers around, if you have questions." With that, she's slinking on out of the room.
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