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Most of the time, Howth traveled by cart. It was cleaner and quicker than walking, and there was less of a chance he might get lost. But there were large swathes of this continent where renting affordable transportation was unlikely or outright impossible, and so, he walked. He didn't think his destination was much farther, and his pack was light, so he had little to complain about.

Other travelers weren't a rare sight, but most of them paid him little attention after exchanging polite nods. This one, however... He wasn't afraid of random earthlings injuring him for no reason, but he was wary of just about everyone for non-violent reasons. Howth stopped, turning to briefly look behind him even though he knew he was the only person she could be talking to.

"Hello!" He tried to match her enthusiasm, but the attempt fell a little flat. "I'm, um... thank you?" He liked looking polished, even when circumstances didn't call for it. "I'm headed west. To... the city." It wasn't a lie. He was on his way to Tind. But her motivations were vague at best, and he thought it would be wise to keep his business to himself until she proved she wasn't going to cave in his skull with that hammer. Maybe he was a little afraid of people hurting him for no reason after all.

"Might I ask you the same thing?"

"Howth. That's... me. It's nice to meet you as well." He deliberately held very still when she tapped him, though a few of the vials on his belt clinked together in the brief silence. He wondered how much he should say. This wasn't a party where he was expected to brag or a school orientation where he was meant to impress, and he had never been great at talking about himself.

"I have trained," he began. "My father is a non-magical healer and I used to help him with his salves. But now I make ink and I travel, looking for things I can put into it." He looked for shiny things too, and though some part of him always wanted to keep what he found, he liked carts and nice clothes a little too much to hold onto it all. Maybe there would come a day when he liked those things less so he could amass some savings.

"I don't really wander without a destination, so I suppose I'm not a wanderer. Do you just... walk?"

"Oh, well, I never thought to do that." It seemed silly in hindsight, not immediately connecting ink with tattoos, but his ink was made to not be seen which would probably discourage all but the most masochistic customers. "I don't think I could..." He hooked his finger and poked at the air. "...stick someone that many times. I suppose I might try it someday? I could start small." He did have needles on him, though he'd have to go scrounging for nicer colors. But all of that was moot. He was not giving someone he just met on the road a tattoo.

"My ink is normally for correspondence. It disappears after you write, and can only be brought back by the person who is meant to read it."

If any of the things Zumei was saying were true, Howth would be a far more interesting person. A blood pact? Magic? He knew his father secretly continued to hope that he would somehow unlock his hidden magical powers later in life, but any inherent ability seemed to have passed his family by.

"It's a very specific mixture." He had only been of value to the Academy of Steam because he wouldn't share exactly how the base compound was made, though he found he cared less and less the longer he was on the road. But now was not the time nor place to get into ink recipes, even if he wanted to reveal his secrets. "I... I suppose you could paint someone. I haven't tried it. There isn't any, um, licking or blood, or even magic, just an additional ingredient or two in the revealing liquid that matches the ink." How to better explain?

He pulled a small vial out of his pocket and swirled it around. The liquid inside was a faint pink and completely opaque. "Let's say I put capramel hair in this ink. I write a note to my... business associate..." He hadn't intended on continuing her lover example, but the way he paused made it seem like he was doing so anyway. "Then I let it dry and send it off. They receive the note, brush it with the matching capramel hair revealer, and they can read the letter. Not every addition works with the invisibility part, which is why I travel. I'm looking for things that work."

It took far too long for him to realize that she wasn't following, and when he did, he felt an embarrassed flush prickle his neck and ears. He had been rambling, hadn't he? He hated when he did that.

"I'm..." He knew he was intelligent and he was even quietly proud of that fact, but it felt like extremely poor etiquette to say so. "I guess I spend a lot of time thinking," he admitted. "But it did take me years to figure all of this out, so it balances, I guess. I wanted to get into a very selective school, so I made something they couldn't ignore." And then when he had finally been invited to attend, Howth had refused.

"I hadn't thought about it like that. They might have never even seen my work at all." Howth laughed as well, huffs of amusement escaping him as he held his balance under her enthusiastic pats.

"The school is on Belrea, across the water. You have to have a Life Work to get in, something you plan to work on... for the rest of your life. Hence the name. Like, yours might be hammers, though the weapon sector is more focused on keeping the peace than fighting."

His pale eyes widened when met with Zumei's vehemence, and again he tried to contain his flight response as she took hold of him. He had helped to fight raging fires and crawled around in caves by himself, but somehow human enthusiasm was far more daunting.

"I... I won't. I'm not. I was going to, but I decided not to go." He nodded back, hoping he appeared earnest. "I think I should work on thousands of things too." Maybe not quite that many, but the idea was still sound.