Blackfeather Woods where it all goes down

something quick & short @Cicero because YES I WANT TO CHASE THIS THREAD!! set during(?)/continuing from this

Curious, hmm?

Drat. Well -- perhaps it'd been arrogant to think he'd go completely unnoticed, though he'd hoped it'd be by someone else. Then again ... 

"Yes," Argent replies, voice low but honest. He can't read Cicero's expression. Perhaps this is the moment that is his undoing and he will be killed or taken as prisoner. Or perhaps this is an opportunity for something that he doesn't know yet. In a way it's fitting -- Argent has never particularly taken issue with the rest of Blackfeather. In his particular way he is unmotivated by the greater good, or whatever. His target is Cicero. And Cicero's unscrutable look could mean so many things.

The titan takes a small step toward him. He wants to find the meaning of that smirk. He wants to see where this goes, whatever the outcome may be.

A response came, however short. Cicero clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth, feeling curious for the wolf's motivations. "You know what one says curiosity did to the cat..." he said with a brief smirk, though it easily fell from his face back towards his usual neutral disposition. "But then, what is life if one does not choose to live a little." Ironic, he thought, considering that the beast was the one that did the most things he regretted, and of all things he did and did not do, he sure chose to live a little.

Cicero turned away, an ear in Argent's direction. He offered, "Cicero can teach not to get caught so easily next time." He then started to move away from Argent, figuring that if he were interested, he would follow. He didn't necessarily need more pupils, but maybe a short lesson...

Well, if this isn't an unexpected turn of events. Cicero does not unmask him but instead offers teaching. He wonders if his moral compass should be turned off by such an offer -- this is the man who tortured Wildfire, after all. But is this also not an opportunity? War beats down on their door. Whether Blackfeather goes to Drageda or not, the time is nigh. 

He might as well take advantage of what he can.

The titan falls into step behind Cicero. "I'm interested," he murmurs, feeling an unusual determination within him. The spy being coached by the target of his spying - what a strange life Argent has come to live.

It took a few seconds to find out whether or not the other was interested. Cicero did not care much whether it was a yes or no, though he was intrigued by Argent. He had seen new recruits before, but usually it was easy to tell what they were like. Argent, however, he found hard to gauge. What drove him? Cicero did not know. Yet life was often nothing more than a string of events that made little sense, and perhaps it was for that reason that he was so intrigued by this. Riddles and questions had always been of more value to Cicero than solutions.

His tongue clicked against the back of his teeth as Argent fell in step beside him, saying he was interested in learning. "Good." He nodded. "The first thing is that, with light coat, a dark forest is not a very good place to spy." Cicero grinned but very briefly before his face fell back to his usual stoicism. "An even pace helps. Light on one's feet. And, in the case of such a gathering... Walk as though one is passing by just a little too closely. Light on one's feet, trying not to get caught, but still ready to walk away or say one was simply passing should it happen."

Argent cannot help the slight wry turn of his lips at Cicero's comment. He is not the first to point out that visually the titan does not blend with the forest. That the sneak might be making a joke goes over his head, but since he has no way to rectify his genes, he doesn't comment but merely waits for the other to continue with actually useful advice. 

Light on ones feet. Sensible. His gait is not exactly thunderous, but he walks with heft (his size, perhaps, another disadvantage). "I see," he murmurs, and adjusts his pace beside Cicero, attempting to match his lighter pace. It feels a bit clumsy. "This is what you do," he asks, watching the smaller man with a measured sort of interest.

Cicero nodded as Argent picked up beside him, though his gait seemed a little uneven and clumsy compared to Cicero's lighter one. His size perhaps didn't help, but Cicero was convinced that he, too, could learn to sneak, well, better, at least. After all, Cicero, too, held patches of white on his fur that did not help. But patches of white -- wolves of white -- in his experience when moving evenly and slowly could blend in, too.

"Try for a more even gait. It takes a lot of practise, you are doing well enough for now. When one's appearance shows, an even gait can make it so others still do not notice them as easily." And it made for running away quicker when one was spotted, too, he thought. Cicero hummed briefly as Argent asked him if this was what he did. "Part of." He did not consider himself a master spy even though it was his forte and what he did, mostly. "Though Cicero considers himself more of a philosopher." He grinned briefly again as he said it. Not many wolves understood the nimble art of philosophy. Most wolves ran on instinct and cared little for his words and thoughts.

 The irony of the situation is not lost on him, but he cannot make heads or tails of how he feels about it. There is a weird, unbidden gratitude: this is helpful to him. There is his worry for Drageda brought on by the strange woman and Vaati's look-alike. There is the puzzle piece that is Cicero, his only real object of derision in the forest, as Argent does not bother himself with such lofty ideals as the good of the general public. In a different world, perhaps he would stay here and fully assimilate. Go after Cicero when the time is right, but otherwise become, for all intents and purposes, another one of their bloodthirsty brood.

"A philosopher," he repeats, an eyebrow quirking up. Argent cannot relate. His interiority is, frankly, limited. But what sort of philosophy does this man, the kidnapper, the torturer, the father, the spy, follow? The man evens his gait as instructed, belatedly, and nods. "Thank you," he says, a touch awkwardly, and falls silent, letting Cicero take the reigns of the conversation if he so chooses.

There was question in the man's words and body but Cicero did not move to answer such questions that were only implicit. He nodded as he was thanked. There was no more that he wished to speak of himself, so he remained silent, and soon he slipped deeper into the forest. His pace changed, from sneaking to simply trotting long strides and making distance, and it seemed in there as if he didn't care whether Argent followed or stayed behind and if his student thought the lesson was still on or finished now. He was simply off to do his own thing.

my last unless Argent follows/says/does more stuff :)

sounds good! <3<3 thank you for this, it was fun!

Cicero does not answer his implied question and Argent does not push his luck, watching the man slip back into the shadows of the forest. He doesn't... know how to feel about what just happened any more than he knows how to feel about what he just witnessed. The titan lingers for a just a moment and then heads off his own way, practicing making his footfalls as light as possible.