A Gourd-geous Tale

And he's never riled when a cow runs wild As he'll lasso them post haste

"When you said you knew how to get a horse I didn't think you meant stealing,"

"I'M A THIEF WORMWOOD," WX said with more deadpan than usual.  "I'M NOT SURE WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING"

"Fair 'nough," Wormwood said with a sigh "How does one even steal a horse?"

"TIE A LEAD AND WALK OUT, ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE."

"Oh," Wormwood said, sounding almost disappointed. "You have rope?"

"YES, WHY WOULD I SUGGEST A PLAN WITHOUT HAVING WHAT'S NECESSARY TO EXECUTE IT?" They said, pulling out some piggin strings and stretching them out a bit to show Wormwood.  "IT'S NOT MY FIRST RODEO."

"Aren't rodeos usually bulls?"

"IT'S JUST A TURN OF PHRASE," WX said, a tad bewildered by the plant's cluelessness.

Wormwood made a little "Oh" sound before pausing.

He looked the bot up and down, they were moving, but were still holding their head a lot, looking closer he saw dents in the back of the head, probably after they hit it during their fall.

"You okay?"

"YEAH, YEAH, I'M FINE," they said standing up, then shaking their head to clear away lingering dizziness. "LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH." They said, dusting their knees.

"Alrighty!" Wormwood chirped back before making their way calmly to the horse, making sure to stay within their line of sight. They have been kicked in the stomach by a horse enough times to know to keep it calm. WX trailed close behind.

Wormwood went over closer to the horse's face and started to pet it, making hushed noises in a way to soothe it. I mean, it's easier to have a horse come with you if you show it love, catch more flies with honey rather than vinegar ya know? He started to sift through his bag in search of some treats for it. The treats he always had for Magnolia. He felt a pang of melancholy in his heart at the thought of his horse, the one he left behind. He pulled out a sugar cube and started feeding it to the horse.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Huh?" Wormwood spun around, snapped out of his daze

"WHY AREN'T YOU JUST STEALING THE HORSE?"

"Build trust!" They said in response.

"WE CAN DO THAT LATER-" WX said before trying to tie the piggin strings around the horse's neck. At this, the horse loudly grunted with qualm, looking like it was ready to rear-end them.

While Wormwood gaped at them as if they had just spoken in another language before snapping into action, "No no!" Wormwood said, snatching the piggin strings from their hands.

"BUT I THOUGHT YOU AGREED TO THIS COURSE OF ACTON?"

"Not like that!" Wormwood said, snappier than he usually was and/or wanted to be "You can't just pull on an animal that weighs more than a thousand tons! It will just bite and kick and probably not even let you ride it! You gotta build at least a bit of trust, then it will come willingly, and also you know, let us ride it, which is ya know, the whole reason why we need a horse!"

WX looked kinda shocked by the reaction but ended up stepping aside. "OKAY IF YOU KNOW SO MUCH, DO IT YOURSELF." They said, going to sit down. Wormwood felt a tad worse, he didn't mean to irritate them, but they've seen what happens to someone with an angry horse, and they didn't want someone who was already hurt to get even more injured.

As they've been doing better, compared to the last few days, in which they've gotten to know the automaton personally...But that's not much of a contest, considering the majority of those days they spent mostly passed out. They were lying flat on their back and holding their head...Wormwood's heart hurt, knowing that he had caused it.

But this was the first step to finding them actual help.

Wormwood then faded back into the flow of soothing the horse. Stroking and shushing. After a bit, the horse let him tie the lead and wasn't fighting against them. He calmly put it around its neck, making sure it was tight enough that it wouldn't come loose but just loose enough, so as to not choke it.

He looked back at WX, who appeared unsteady, holding onto their head as if their hands were the only thing keeping their head from falling off.

"Want up?" he asked, offering a helping hand.

WX looked at the offer and scoffed, waving it away, before trying to get up themself.

Keyword trying , for they struggled to hold their head up and also hoist themself onto the horse, Wormwood ended up helping them, even though they insisted they could do it themself.

Wormwood climbed up afterward, riding behind them, a tad because they were injured so he wanted to keep an eye on them and a tad because they honestly do not trust WX to know how to handle a horse. He wanted to get out of the field before the owner came back, maybe they could find a town before nightfall, It would be nice to be protected from the elements, especially with a friend in such a bad condition.

However that's just a hope

- - - - -

It was sundown when he began setting up camp. Rolling out bed-rolls and getting some fuel for the fire. WX tried to help, but apparently the pain came back for another round, and was making it hard for them to keep up. After starting up the fire (and not burning themself) they led back the horse they left, to graze back to camp, better to have it close at nightfall, they didn't need anyone stealing the horse they just stole!

Huh..  on the subject of the horse, he realized that they were missing a name. He pulled out a small book that he was given back at the town. It was a book full of flower names and meanings. He used it a lot when deciding on names. It just felt natural. He started flipping through the pages

He already had a Daisy, and a Magnolia,

Hmm...

Zinnia; friendship, endurance, goodness and daily remembrances.

He liked that one, how it rolled off the tongue, the meanings behind it, it was a good fit for them. He gave the horse a small pet.

"Hi Zinnia." He said with a grin.