taxonomites | [location: Taxon Forest, mainly, but even the Woodsman goes into town for acquiring Stuff]

Once upon a time, there was a man, who was so pained by grief that one day he simply stopped feeling. Not the pain of his own, not that of others; there was nothing that could move him to the point of pangs or aches of any kind. What had once been the most expressive face and bright blue eyes, was no more. Lack luster orbs and too little skin stretched too tight over bone had taken their place.

Some said he was blessed for no matter what hurt or wound might befall him, he couldn't feel a thing. Others said the opposite: that he was cursed never to feel even a knife stabbed into his back. Some said he had once loved so deeply that his heart shattered. Unable to repair it, he could never love again.

For as long as he could remember, he had been a guardian of the woods, the Woodsman, and what ever name he once had, no one could remember. The loss of his name, like so many other things of his past, didn't pain him. It was just a name, after all, and he'd found himself neither lacking nor wanting. 'Woodsman' would do, for that was his nature. The forest was his dwelling and his workplace, and protecting it was his life. Though he had broken too many bones within its borders than he could recall, and though it had paid him in countless scars, all was well. He was alive to tend the woods.

((ooc: No hat for Cain! Rumplestiltsglitch stole it as per the backstory posted in

hamsterball. No one glitched knows that the hat belonged to Cain in real life, but if your character isn't glitched, well... Ask him about it, and you might just get an affirmative. Or not. <3))

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The pixie pursed his lips and made the appropriate noises of interest and sympathy as the Woodsman spoke. He was much more fascinated than concerned, but knew mortals - most mortals - appreciated the show.

"It is possible," he replied with a shrug and stepped closer. "Or a wound gone to fester, or perhaps your own ax will be the end of you." And, because every once in a great while he needed to ask: "If you feel your time is wasted then you could barter for more, or perhaps change your circumstances once again."

The great thing was, from a pixie's perspective, that such tokens (mimicked or otherwise) tricked mortals into believing they mattered. Even one such as the Woodsman, who had been ageless for so long he didn't even remember his own name, whose first trade with the pixie had rendered him numb where empathy were concerned.

Nonetheless, it warmed his heart, or so he liked to imagine. "You wouldn't tempt me if I had nothing to trade. Yet, I fail to see what I've left to tempt you."

The smallest smile lit the pixie's face, and he blinked slowly.

"You live and you breathe and you think, you see, hear, smell, touch, taste." He pointed a long, alabaster finger at the center of the Woodsmand's chest. "That heart I let you keep is still thudding away, you've that to surrender. I know of a tinsmith who could fashion you a new form, so you needn't worry about any ailments aside from rust."

All speculation and fancy, of course, not really a true offer but the chance of one.

[location: Taxon Forest, mainly, but even the Woodsman goes into town for acquiring Stuff]

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[location] tralala old timey canon + XTC lyrics XD