Verdant Basin made me a believer with the touch of her skin

edited this to make it all welcome

 

The first thing that Ghost noticed was that the lagoon he'd came across in their “stroll” was remarkably blue. The verdant basin was large and there was plenty of green grass and trees. The nearer the pair drew to it the more of the lagoon the wraith could see. There were many scents of large and small game here, almost enough to overwhelm his senses. This was common romping ground for them and this did not strike the assassin as much of a surprise. The lagoon was a temptation. Though he did not imagine it was always so — for hungry predators did tend to come prowling — it had an air of a peaceful place for walks of life to meet, eat and drink their fill. He kept this place in his mind as notable, if for the fact that it appeared to, if nothing else, draw prey.

Curiously, though in his typical quietude he drew up to it's bank and peered into the clear water, brow furrowing just so as his reflection — rippled and distorted as it was — stared back at him. Mercurial eyes set in stark contrast against the dark mahogany of his fur. There was nothing particularly heinous about his face. The Officer had been sure to let his face unmarked. There remained hints of boyishness in his face aged with experience and maturity. He broke the momentary spell he'd put himself in as he tried to assess the face that stared back at him in the water's semi-reflective surface by bending his muzzle towards it and lapping at the fresh, crisp and pleasantly cool water. Fish that had been lazily swimming in it's depths parted and scurried away as he lapped at the water until his thirst was sated. He drew back a few steps from the bank, his head rising as his salmon pink tongue flicked at his black, leathery nostrils before it swiped across his jowls to collect the droplets that had spilled down his chin.

It wasn't freedom that Nico felt when he let loose the howl that told his leaders he'd be gone for a while and stepped beyond the borders of the fledgling pack, but it was definitely something. No longer was he suffocating, no longer was he bound by the metaphorical chains that tied him to the land and the pack and with that, it's inevitable duties that he no longer found any joy in doing. Instead, his mind wandered. Mostly, it drifted back to a particular girl that he'd met and their conversation. Her words rang sharply through his mind, and the soldier found himself going over her words again and again and rethinking his actions everytime. It was the stress that came with the overthinking that soon drove the deWinter to escape the confines of Royal Fire Court and wander the wild world once more.

      And with that in mind, Nico wandered without much of a destination. This journey was not a mission for him; he did not have an objective, which was strange for him as he'd gotten used to the idea that whenever he left the pack, it was for something, to achieve a goal. It was a mindset hammered into him in Winterhail. So there was a sort of freedom in it that Nico enjoyed, and he knew that sooner or later, he would come out again, and with time, he knew there was a possibility he might even get addicted to this...feeling of wandering and exploring and utter fredom. But he pushed it away; now was not the time to ponder his future. 

      As Nico drew closer, he saw another figure. Swarthy, and by his scent, a male. The stranger was a few steps away from the shore and as the veteran padded forward, he chuffed softly in greeting, his posture neutral, meaning no harm but at any sign of aggression, he would be ready. For now though, he was intruiged by this fellow and decided to make some conversation with him, if possible. A smile, the one he used when he wanted a lady to swoon, tugged at the corner of his lips and as he spoke, his green eyes twinkled invitingly, "Hello," he murmured, stopping some feet away from the stranger.

The assassin was not alone for long. The sound of footfalls coming from behind him triggered every hostile instinct the Ghost had: archaic, natural and those forged and created by The Officer. Hyper-vigilant, as always, Ghost's mahogany hackles bristled, his body turned, his muscles pulling taunt as his mercurial, silver gaze analyzed the other male moments after the soft chuff slipped from betwixt the other male's lips. The light grey agouti colored male's posture was neutral. Yet, the assassin did not relax his posture. Not yet. The male had approached from behind whether he had meant to aggravate the Ghost's hyper-vigilance or not. Ghost was violent but not out-rightly so. He gave a single chance and thus far, his companion was on the path of avoiding it.

The muscles beneath Ghost's (incorrectly) tally marked shoulder twitched with anticipation and slowly the assassin relaxed his posture slightly: but the warning remained. Come no closer. He had no qualms about giving into his fight instincts, neither did he care much for the lives that he took. In this way, The Officer had almost desensitized him from feeling pity, and without a master Ghost was little more than a loose cannon: his reaction was unpredictable. He had been reduced back to the basic and oldest of instincts: survival. Survival at all and any cost. His survival did not currently feel threatened but he wasn't the greatest in social interactions.

“Hello.” Ghost responded to the other's greeting, analyzing the odd smile that the other male was giving him but unable to process it or it's (potential?) meaning. Such things — naive as the lethal Ghost was about how the world worked outside of missions, targets and The Officer — went over the assassin's head and thus he did not strive to return the gesture of the other male's lips nor offer anything more than discernible indifference towards it.

The soldier watched him with carefully concealed interest and curiousity. The man was stoic, impassive and while he'd relaxed slightly in comparison to when Nico first saw him, the gray agouti knew that he was still on his guard, and wished for the warrior to come no closer. He obeyed the unspoken words well enough, stopping at the edge of the shore and lapping at the water, making sure there was appropriate distance between the two of them.

The stranger echoed his greeting and as Nico straightened up, he noted that the swarthy man made no move to return the smile that the soldier had sent.  Not that it mattered anyways, not now at least. "You alright?" he canted his head, green eyes narrowing as he analysed the sterling-eyed man. Nico didn't care, not really, his inquiry was no more than an automatic question to strange, unsociable attitudes but he did want to know what was going through the other's mind; curiousity was most likely going to be the end of him.

Docked tail rose, though the Ghost did not give thought to whether it's effect would be lost or not (it occurred to the ghost absently that was perhaps the very reason it had been docked in the first place). Frankly, he didn't care. If the stranger kept his distance and stayed neutral, then there would be no issues, and if he did not then, so be it. Either way made little matter to the assassin. An inquiry left the other male's lips, one that the Ghost might have associated with true concern except the stranger's face was devoid of it. There seemed to be a distinct lack of care — which did not truly surprise the Ghost: for how could a stranger care about another stranger? It was easy for him to scoff at  the notion because it connected to be illogical in the wraith's mind. He didn't know that he was wrong, but he was what he was: a product of The Officer's forging, his teachings. So, then, it begged the question why the male had bothered asking it at all. For the few seconds that had passed between them, the Ghost considered not responding at all. “Yes,” The assassin rasped out in his deep voice eventually, his tone terse and indifferent. As far as the Ghost could see, his semi-hostile reaction to the other male was perfectly natural and nothing to cause the inquiry about his well being.

The swarthy male was silent for a few seconds and for a moment, Nico wondered with a brief flash of amusement if the stranger would answer his question. Just when he was about to turn and depart, the strange fellow uttered a single word of affirmation: 'yes'. His tone was indifferent and his reply was curt. Some wolves, he knew, would take offense at that but Nico simply found amusement in his current predicament and cracked a smile, wondering why he'd even bothered to strike conversation with a man who obviously held no interest in speaking with a complete stranger. Not that Nico did; for him, it was simply pleasantries, used to perhaps gain information.

The male had no use to him though and for a moment, Nico contemplated if he should continue the conversation. He lowered his muzzle into the water for another drink, when he lifted his head, he inquired with a curious cant of his head, "You're from this area?" He guessed that the dark male was not, but it didn't hurt to ask; the deWinter had nothing better to do.

As Nico wondered why he bothered striking the conversation, so did the Ghost. Of course, the other male did not know the Ghost, did not realize that he wasn't really the “talking” or “spill everything” type. The Ghost's business was his own, first and foremost, and beyond that as an assassin, as The Officer's intelligence collector there needed to be the ability to operate in secrecy — not to mention keep them. Admittedly, he had been more open with Phiipa than anyone but that had been a mistaken and one that the Ghost was determined to learn from (never mind that he would later place his trust in Banner). “Yes.” The Ghost spoke simply. It was a lie as he spoke it, but the Ghost was a good liar. The Officer had been cleverly deceptive and for whatever it was worth he had taught his skills to his young peon. After all, the Ghost had to be able to weave a believable tale in order to get close to The Officer's targets. There was something that the Ghost did not inherently trust about this stranger though the assassin could not place it. Perhaps it was a wrong suspicion but either way the Ghost wasn't about to ignore it.

Nico narrowed his eyes and he tilted his head thoughtfully. The swarthy male did not seem to come from this area, yet he claimed to be which meant either the soldier was wrong, or the man was lying. Both were plausible answers, yet both did not help him on his quest for answers. Then he began to wonder, why was he bothering with this man anyways? It wasn't like his little scouting trip expected him to converse with stoic, strange, strangers; he was just exploring the land, if anything else. So why was he still here, talking with a lost cause? Dark ears flicked backwards as he straightened up, fixing his green eyes steadily on the dark man's face, analysing and remembering his features in case it came to use later. Then, with a ghostly crooked smile, he turned to leave, nodding in silent acknowledgement and farewell to the stranger. There, Nico would continue on his little trip if the man said nothing else.

Though the other male had no reason to consider that the Ghost was lying about where he was from and couldn't possibly know that The Ghost wasn't from the Teekon Wilds (even though he wasn't) the wraith got the impression that the other didn't believe him regardless. The stranger did not state such aloud and even if he would have it wasn't of any coincidence to the Ghost. With a crooked sort of smile, the other male turned and the Ghost watched him leave with indifference upon his face. The Ghost waited to ensure that the other male was out of his sight, gave an annoyed twitch of his docked tail, and then he turned back to the river for another drink.