#this is prewriting for another thing pls excuse me

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

thinking about witch of the wilds reader, about whom so little is known the story changes depending on which villager tells it.

hunters say she embodies everything beautiful about nature, forgetting its fickle, volatile, dangerous side.

travelers say she disappears into the shadows of the trees, running naked except for the flowering thorns woven through her hair.

the young men say whoever catches her can have her a night, but she's as fast as a minnow and wily as a rabbit.

the old women say men venture into the forest to find her and they don't return.

storytellers say you'll never find her unless you're not seeking her--that she must be a nymph or a dryad, a daughter of Baba Yaga by a forest god.

children say she hinders fools and helps only those pure of heart--pure like children understand it, because pure does not mean well-intentioned. it only means free of distraction and distortion; obsessive; all-consumed.

venture out to find her and you might find that the gap between beautiful wild maid and dangerous sorcerous trickster is vanishingly small.

these stories are all blown a bit out of proportion, but who are you to deny the legends that give you such a steady stream of human travelers to toy with?

masterlist

see also: shapeshifter familiars 141 + witch reader <3