#it's the... flighty bits of him running directly face first into the warm and friendly bits

[lighthouseborn]

Pre-established jumping-off points I think would be fun to have in various verses that you should tell me if any of them sound like a thing you might want or if they give you a different idea! :

Pen pals!! met once and kept contact or a letter went astray and kept contact or (modern verse(s)) originally met online and have only ever emailed/texted/whatever– etc. etc., set up for letter/message threads and the "we've known each other but are meeting in person for the first time" thing down the road(!!!)

Henry saved them from drowning (or some other grand catastrophe, drowning just amuses me lol) once

Henry hustled them/otherwise mildly conned them them, once. it was probably for a good reason. probably.

Henry sought them out for a reason related to their profession once or twice or a few times and left an impression because he always Remembers the things they talk about, in their brief conversations, and asks about them later

FWB because your muse is from one of the port towns/other places Henry passes through somewhat regularly and it just sort of happened the first time, and since then every time he’s there he’s comes knocking & they spend the night and tell stories about the things they’ve done since they saw each other last. And then they go back to their daily lives and it’s understood that one day he might not pass through or when he does they’ll have made a new life with no space for him in it and this is not sad or a point of contention it’s just how they work.

FWB and it's specifically because your muse is dissatisfied with but trapped in their current relationship

Worked together once or several times or once but it was for an extended time (e.g. on a voyage, doing odd jobs in modern verse)

Were once on differing sides of some kind of conflict for some reason and are now meeting under different circumstances and they’re trying to feel out if their past is reconcilable or if they’re going to keep being on differing sides of things

Your muse hid Henry from somebody he was running from (or assisted in another way, he was injured or needed supplies, etc.) and when they cross paths again he remembers(!) them by name

In modern/modern-adjacent verses; they knew each other from school or a social setting or some such when younger, but Henry's family moved around a lot and so he and your muse fell out of contact, and now they are re-meeting

[lighthouseborn]

mentor/mentee in! either direction!! Henry learned to sail via experience there's a lot of room to play with him being on various ships for various amounts of time growing up so then also -> the other way round, when he's older and the more experienced party. sailors learn the same way stories are passed down, person to person. this (obviously?) works best with pirate-y type muses but i think there's wiggle room and also could maybe be set in a different verse somewhere and not be about sailing i just think. mentor/mentee bond is one i don't rly have outside of his family right now and it'd be neat

quest? quest! love a good quest. your muse tasks Henry with helping them find or solve or (etc.) something they can't do on their own, for whatever reason (his practical skills as a sailor, climber, little bit of a linguist; in modern verses he's a folklore studies student, knows lots of history and culture)

Pre-established jumping-off points I think would be fun to have in various verses that you should tell me if any of them sound like a thing you might want or if they give you a different idea! :

Pen pals!! met once and kept contact or a letter went astray and kept contact or (modern verse(s)) originally met online and have only ever emailed/texted/whatever– etc. etc., set up for letter/message threads and the "we've known each other but are meeting in person for the first time" thing down the road(!!!)

Henry saved them from drowning (or some other grand catastrophe, drowning just amuses me lol) once

Henry hustled them/otherwise mildly conned them them, once. it was probably for a good reason. probably.

Henry sought them out for a reason related to their profession once or twice or a few times and left an impression because he always Remembers the things they talk about, in their brief conversations, and asks about them later

FWB because your muse is from one of the port towns/other places Henry passes through somewhat regularly and it just sort of happened the first time, and since then every time he’s there he’s comes knocking & they spend the night and tell stories about the things they’ve done since they saw each other last. And then they go back to their daily lives and it’s understood that one day he might not pass through or when he does they’ll have made a new life with no space for him in it and this is not sad or a point of contention it’s just how they work.

FWB and it's specifically because your muse is dissatisfied with but trapped in their current relationship

Worked together once or several times or once but it was for an extended time (e.g. on a voyage, doing odd jobs in modern verse)

Were once on differing sides of some kind of conflict for some reason and are now meeting under different circumstances and they’re trying to feel out if their past is reconcilable or if they’re going to keep being on differing sides of things

Your muse hid Henry from somebody he was running from (or assisted in another way, he was injured or needed supplies, etc.) and when they cross paths again he remembers(!) them by name

In modern/modern-adjacent verses; they knew each other from school or a social setting or some such when younger, but Henry's family moved around a lot and so he and your muse fell out of contact, and now they are re-meeting