"Oh, boy ..." His tone was not one of elation, tumbling off the side-quirked lips of a boy fully displaced by the situation he was put in. He had told Vesper to go on ahead, he'd meet up with him later, 'cause he was a big boy too and he could handle this kinda thing - Ves already had, after all, with that cool lady friend of his! - but ... "Awh, geez." It hadn't quite dawned on him that he was taking a bounty request until after the papers were squared away and his friend nervously left him to his devices. He was palming around the length of his oak staff, squeezing until his knuckles whitened, and teetering between his feet in the corner of Hosenka's business clearing.

The stars had already begun to greet him, mocking him with their spotlights on his poor decisions, and he'd roll his head back while closing his eyes to sigh tentatively. "Okay," he could begin, mulling over the beating in his heart until he had adequately squished down his nerves. He had transitioning to hugging his mage's armament, head bobbling back into place with a little sway left for his body in the breeze. He stared down across the way at the target building and the tape that had been put up around it until the Mage's Association - him, in this instance - handled the trouble.

Briar wasn't unknown to combat. He wasn't scared or even that bothered by fighting, as long as he did his job right. He had worked with the Rune Knights on numerous occasions in quelling the pirating in his hometown, for one, not to mention his other various adventuring activities. The problem came in this being his first time approaching fighting from this angle ... it wasn't a simple arrest job, or some kind of plant monster he needed to trim in the garden ... he was expected to ... there was a squiggly guy in there and it was his job to ... urf ...

"You just gotta kill it, Bri old boy." He mumbled to himself, his eyes downcasting on the voice of it aloud. He'd stamp his feet a few times, revving up, and then scamper to the destination. At least he wouldn't be alone ... he just didn't think he could saddle someone else with that responsibility, either.

False pretenses in the acceptance of such a meager task. No, Mona was looking for something a bit more riveting in her nightly escapade. Another freak, another monster that went bump in the night to become acquainted with. Her favorite hobby; the depraved voyeuristic tendency to glimpse the butcher's trade. She was erratic, giddy to endear herself to her partner for the evening, dolling herself up in a way that made it abundantly clear she was not here to participate in the hunt, merely a cheerleader in the endeavor. She didn't care about the prey, only the predator. Hunter meets the huntress. She'd pop her lips, tidy the fringes of her wild mane, and curl the lilac-tinged vines with the flutter of her eyelashes.  She'd prowl the empty halls with an exaggerated sway of her hips, and crack open the doors to the meeting place for the the quest, eyes brimming a garish scarlet mirroring the loudness of her attire.

The stars shone a vivid spotlight on what Mona could only consider prey. A small boy, fidgeting in place with a concerned expression creasing his otherwise dainty complexion. Mona tilts her head, grazing her nails against the contours of glossy lips. Her eyes dim to normalcy, and she talks forward cautiously, a careful rhythm to the tap of heels as a mischievous smirk creases the edges of her mouth. Nobody else was supposed to be here and it would have been way past this boy's bedtime otherwise, judging from the look of him. He was beyond her expectations in every way, but that doesn't mean the experience has to be tarnished with a lackluster sentiment. On the contrary, there was a uniqueness in his vibrancy, tamping about like a scared woodland critter, or perhaps working up the nerve to gnash his teeth. Either scenario would do well for the serpent.

"Hello, little one~ Did you wander off and get lost from mommy and daddy? Or-"A condescending tone in her Minstreli accent that flickers into a shrill pitch, mocking, but just as intrigued. She wouldn't tease the little boy too much now. She'd hunch over, and meet him at eye level, a jolt of triumph that resonates in her eyes from the rare dominance of height. He was so precious; so adorable up close. Mona's fangs ache with a craving to eat him up, a purr before her next choice of words that rumbles in deep within her throat. "Might you be my dance partner for the evening, darling? I'd be shocked! Truly~! But, it makes me all the more curious about what you'll show me." She'd hop back, giggling frantically while she twirls into a curtsy, an overdramatic flourish, but necessary in the moment.

"My name is Desdemona Lafayatte~ But you-" She'd skip forward, face mere centimeters away from the tiny rabbit, with a blooming of carnations that spill venom from her eyelids. A breathless smile as she wobbles backward to boop the boy's nose. "May call me, Mona~"

Something unnerving in a way that felt callous of him to think or feel - he had to correct himself, straightening both his frame and the way his hands played across his collar. It fans out, creased beneath his fingers, and he stifles a squeak of surprise in the midst of his refocus. "O-oh!" He startles, easily as always, but just as easily: respectful. His footing comes with a natural bow, a bend at his waist and a presentation of that fluffy mop cascading down his head with the motion. For a moment it's all she could see of him, blue-white and nervous twitches.

He pops back up, all smiles, his eyes crest to a close and shining despite their shutteredness. "Hello there, miss!" He had met - and he had to allow himself this one, deep in his thoughts and in that anxious, prey-like beat to his heart that was much harder to deny - animals similar to this woman in the past, among his gardening and studies of exotic flora. There was a snakelike quality, slithering with a tongue that tastes both the sweet scent of pollen and the fear of the things it hunts. Truth be told, however, this first impression was regrettable in more than one way. He liked snakes. He came to realize, as she spoke and he moved past the surprise of the other in his company, that it was only a matter of course that he likes her as well. He almost giggled at himself, silly and boyish and breaking through the gloom which he had entered the scene with to instead meet her with an energy she deserved. He swayed, hands clasped. "Oh, no, miss, Ma and Pa are back in Hargeon! I'm here on guild business, I am!"

Earnest and only brightening by the second, his eyes open for a tide of eager blue to wash by and over her. They glitter. "Speakin' plainly, miss Layafette, I know I'm not much'a what you'd expect from a legal mage 'n all ... but I am, I am, promise, and golly I'll make sure not to let you down! Please count on me, okay? Briar Caidh, Mage of Blue Pegasus, at your service! You can rely on me for support a-and ... and anything else, that, uhm, may come up!...?"

He stumbled a bit in an attempt at another bow, bobbing along when he starts back to straight legs; almost careening off to the side, meeting her with a nervous - abashed - smile and red, dimpled cheeks. A finger lifts to scratch at the side of his face, the boy himself knowing how dorky he must come across. He'd just have to do what he could to avail her of these worries. He had enough of his own -- why put those on a new partner, a new friend? He'd watch her with those kind eyes, following her eccentricities and finding only his own joy in her theatrics.

Kin alike to kin, it didn't take long for him to fall into step, his staff unlatched to spin in his hand. He gave a two-step and a flourish of the aged oak, grinning a bit more assured in her direction. If this was their connection ... "Miss Mona," he speaks in his current of playing laughter, pitching as she pokes his nose. "Would you allow this old boy t'be your dutiful assistant this eve?~"

A floral scent breezes across them.

Less beast and more critter. A pop that echoed within tepid marble and hollow bones alike. The steady beat of her silent heart swells up into a squeal that escapes her lips. Mona immediately understood the type of creature she was dealing with upon his first giddy utterance. Unbridled purity. An innocence that she had long since forgotten the taste of. She almost envied him - hated that he could be standing here bright-eyed, staring up at a carnivorous monster with a sanguine smile. Hopeful and optimistic. Oblivious perhaps? The opposite of the stained smirk that creased the serpent's lips. Her tongue clicks audibly, clashing with the roof of her mouth, and then drags along the sharpened tips of her fangs.

Her eyes fell upon his docile bow, half-lidded and flashing a reddish hue that desired nothing more than to devour him here and now. The intrusive urge dims and scarlet fades away to the pale green of nature, an arm lifting to swipe away drooping locks and suspend in the air, turning upward, nonchalantly gazing upon her garishly long nails. Truthfully there was a hint of delight that permeated within the confines of the young girl's heart. He was positively adorable - impossibly so. She slithers, circling with eyes that curiously probe the boy as he spouts his introduction and courageous declarations, hateful and enraptured, teetering on the edge of such conflicting and extreme emotions, coiling around his meager frame to lean in once he'd finished.

"My~ My~ I think I'm smitten! you little devil, you~" She'd giggle sarcastically, screech in the unrestrained excitement, and hop backward with the clap of her hand. "I. Think. You. pass~ Congratulations~! I was a little worried you'd be boring, but now- Hmmm.. My curiosity has been piqued!" A hand flits, lifting towards her mouth to conceal the foulness that mangles her pristine facade. The extremes of her emotions are clashing once more, pulling her towards fantasies, horrible delights, and the phantom image of a butterfly having its wings torn off. Would she witness such a thing, if she stuck with this creature called Briar Caidh? Would she be happy to? Even still, he's peeking up with that same dewy-eyed expression, sinless and pure... Only time could tell. But, even so...

A heavy exhale and her hand drops away, revealing a brilliant smile, calm and as tranquil as a waning tide. Her hands flutter into abrupt applause at his little swing and dance of his staff, and the giggle that vividly fills the open space. "Oh~ Bravo, bravo. Could it be that you are a performer of sorts, darling? A jester perhaps?" Her tongue sticks out after the quip and she returns his giggle with one of her own, restrained in the effort she puts to sound less shrill - less herself, a wholehearted attempt at glee.

The serpent stalks forward again, nestling into a new garden, warmer than any she's known before. She leans forward, a shiver in the hand that lifts and steadies to ruffle the boy's hair. "Don't be silly." She tuts, waving her finger with a lamblike gleam resonating in a glimpse of olive. "We're dance partners tonight, even if I find you a bit too... precious for the excitement I find myself drawn to. Miss Mona still wants to see~ Won't you show me?" Mona twirls, lifting the hem of her skirt and bending her knees to curtsy before extending a hand out in invitation, vibrating with brimming excitement. "Shall we be off, mon lapin? I'll allow you the first step~"