[Fruit asks]

“Easy. Satin. It’s glossy and smooth.”

Forests. Comforting places to be. There were so many shadows and crevices, so many places to hide and disappear. Yet, as much as Shadowy enjoyed being in forests, they were terrible for business. Nothing aside from potion ingredients could be found in them that was worth selling.

So aside from potion materials, the only reason to go to a forest was to throw people off and think. Not that he often needed to travel the forests to shake people off his trail, as he could go completely unnoticed.

Today, Shadowy was simply thinking. Thinking about what junkyard he could go to in order to get good selling merchandise. Glorbs were the most valuable when it came to mechanical merchandise, but outside that place in the plaza, they were scarce. Chips were good, but the bets ones came from riskier junkyards. Metal sheets were always a safe bet since anyone could use them, even if they sold for cheap.

Walking the forest helped him decide which to go for today, and it was as he was walking and considering the options that he saw something odd.

Another person. They hadn’t noticed him, but he’d certainly noticed them. They were in roughly loose clothing, and wore some kind of collar. Who was this? Someone’s slave? Perhaps they would be valuable if they were.

“Tell me, sir, why are we in the forest all alone?” he called as he walked over.