Verdant Basin she may have died; we're looking into it.

At his question, Niamh tilted her head back and regarded him with a bit of a side-eye, as though suspicious of what he would want from her. She chuckled darkly- perhaps the first time she'd let herself really relax since the entire debacle at the borders- and touched her muzzle to his cheek before she passing it along his cheekbone and toward his ear. There, she nibbled along its fine edge, and whispered in a voice that was hoarse but playful too- "What else would you have from me?" 

She tilted her head back once again, but looked down her muzzle at him, curious if he simply wanted what he'd been searching for earlier- or if he wanted more than that. Already, she found herself wanting more time with him, as much time as he was willing to give her. The problem of their packs being so far apart was a thorn in her side- but whether she was aware of it or not, she'd already been enticed somewhat into closing that distance- and every other distance between them with it.

Artaax shut his eyes, momentarily losing himself as she resumed her ministrations and sent his thoughts back to places he wasn't supposed to go. If he wasn't so intoxicated by her every movement, he might've been able to spare some thought to how confusing she was being. One moment denying him access to her holy playground and then the next making suggestive remarks, making him want to try again to climb that jungle gym. As it was, he was too wrapped up in her to be confused or frustrated with her. So long as she didn't stop touching him, he was good with whatever.

"I meant is that all the direction you're going to give me," he replied, amusement in his tone, "Everything is a pretty broad topic. Where do should I start? Favorite color or preferred pasttimes?"

Niamh chuckled darkly at his comment, and reached back to nip at one of his ears, pausing for a moment, unable to stop herself from seizing a tantalizing impulse and breathed warm, teasing words into his ear. ”I wouldn’t think someone like you would need much direction,” She purred silkily. She let that resonate with him for a moment, before she paused to consider what she wanted to know, grooming the fur of his shoulder as she did so.

”Tell me...” She began, trying to find something different for him to tell her- but she wasn’t particularly clever or quick, and was very distracted at the moment. ”What you think of me.” She said, and lifted her warm, honeyed gaze to meet his. ”But tell me in your language.” She said, having heard that the wolves of Drageda spoke a different tongue than she. She knew she might not understand what it was he’d be saying- but she wanted to hear it nonetheless.

Artaax didn't get the innuendo. He wasn't always the brightest or quickest wolf. He did, however, get the suggestive nature of it, and again he found himself wondering if she really wasn't going to give it up today. She certainly seemed good to go. He definitely was. But he tried to ignore his want in order to pay attention to the conversation - another thing he was not great at.

His eyes glittered at her request. He didn't really give compliments, like, ever. Most that knew him probably wondered if he even knew how, and they'll be gratified to know for certain now that no, he didn't really. He pondered for a moment as his eyes swept down to meet hers and he felt arrested again and he suddenly knew what to say.

"Yu meizen," Artaax purred in her ear, much the way she had to him. He paused, thinking of leaving it there before a devious/honest whim took him and he added, "Ai gaf jak op yu, teik yu hou kom ai, nowe klir yu of." He planted a kiss on her head, just in front of her ear and shifted just a little to envelope her more.

I'm terrible at trigedaslang, but hover to see what I think he just said?

LAWL. I couldn't hover on my phone, so her interpretations are basically all I could get out of imagining the sound of them in my head. *on a computer now* Ohhh, not far off!

When he first spoke, she was surprised to notice some commonalities between the language he spoke, and the language she understood. Though Niamh had no grasp of timeline or details, languages were something that somehow, she understood and could learn very quickly. Perhaps because it was an auditory-kinaesthetic thing, and that was the way she learned. She'd picked up ptero in no time partially because she found languages easily, but also because had formed a strong attachment to Towhee and thus had the drive to learn the language. She found herself lusting for the chance to learn Atraax's language now- and the chance to use it. It was definitely more alluring than ptero, which involved wild gestures, facial expressions, and mouthing- if not saying- the words in common tongue. The way Artaax's voice curled around the words wooed her, and she found herself starving for more after he'd stopped. 

"You're....Mine," She interpreted, "I...I don't know the next part, but I want to say you want to grab a hold of me," She said, and sounded out the next bit "Take you hoo kom I...You want to take me...who? with you? Where you come from?" She asked, her tone still playful, "Now clear you of." She said, and stopped. "That part sort of sounds like you want me to clear off," She said, and pressed into him. "But I think I'm wrong...Teach me something to say to you?" She asked, looking up at him. She wanted to know more about his culture- and if that meant learning a new language, then she was definitely fit for that.

Artaax never smiled. Only on very, very rare occasions when either he was too exhausted to stop himself, or he actually found something amusing enough to have earned the expression. This moment was one of the latter, as Niamh attempted to piece her way through his words and figure out what they meant. The smile was brief - just a flash across his muzzle, but it was there, and it was a dangerous thing. He was actually beginning to like this girl for more than her body.

Fakk.

"Yes," Artaax responded, resuming his stoic expression and deadpan tone, "I'm going to grab you, take you home with me, and then promptly kick you back out." His eyes glittered with amusement, but the smile didn't return. For a moment, he considered what words to feed to her. He wasn't sure what she would want to say to him right then, but eventually, he realized that this was his opportunity to get her to say what he wanted to hear. He could work with that.

"Say, Ai na mafta op Yu," he said, speaking softly and nuzzling his nose gently into her crown.

Niamh's gaze lifted to Artaaz's handsome features just in time to catch the smile that lit across his face as suddenly- and fleetingly as the spark of a match when first lit, before it faded, just as quickly. There was something dangerous but alluring about the flash she'd caught (or thought she'd caught) in his mis-matched eyes that made her almost shudder- and though she held herself still, she couldn't stop the hairs on the back of her neck from prickling. She got two impressions from his smile simultaneously; the first was that those who saw it, didn't live to see much else- and the second that it wasn't a smile many were even meant to see, though it didn't appear as though he'd consciously reined it in. She was charmed all the more by the man at her side, who appeared to have more layers to him than she had at first expected. After all- he seemed to have settled for conversation rather than physical intimacy- and how many men would have suffered the same without complaint?

He reiterated the phrase, but something about the way he spoke it led her to believe that she'd been close- but not quite on. His eyes showed amusement, and she reveled in the fact that he was enjoying this lesson he was giving her. He gave her a phrase, and she- without faltering- responded, though her accent was not likely more than bearable, as she latched onto what recognizable syllales she could. "I na mafta op you," She repeated, and tilted her head back to gauge his reaction. Before he could comment, though, she repeated the phrase again. "I na mafta op you. of you. Inamafta...Ina mafta..I'm the..." She said, all the while watching his reaction to see if she was getting closer. "Mafta....Mafta....Master?" She asked, and flicked her tongue over her teeth as she broke into a smile. "Now that idea, I like." She said, nipping his cheek- perhaps a bit roughly, before smoothing out the fur with a more tender kiss.

Artaax remained expressionless as Niamh repeated his words. He wanted to cringe as she butchered the dialect, but the pleasure he felt at hearing her say those words in his tongue muted the offense. He'd never before attempted to teach anyone his language, so he had never known how much it would please him for someone to make an effort to learn even a few words of it. To be fair, he probably wouldn't have given a crap about it if she was an ugly man, but she was a beautiful woman, so it worked.

She made another jest, and Artaax could only shut his eyes and let himself be soothed by her touches in spite of how powerfully they inflamed him. Were his upbringing different, he may have been affronted by her suggestion that she had more power over him. As it was, he didn't even see it as all that humorous. He'd spent his life surrounded by powerful women, in service to them. He liked powerful women, and he was a good, obedient soldier. He despised other males being in power over him, but not females. That was super cool with him.

"Actually, you just confessed to wanting to follow me," Artaax murmured, leaning to nuzzle his nose against her neck, "It was very forward of you, but I accept."

Niamh was slightly surprised that she'd guessed wrong about the meaning of his words- but then again, not many languages sounded similar to English, so she shouldn't have expected Artaax's language to be that easy, either. She sort of preferred thinking that he'd actually told her to say that she was the master of him- that would have pleased her very much. But the idea of wanting to follow him gave her a bit of pause. Part of her wanted to run away with him- but there were things she had to settle, yet. She had to go back to the pack at some point and face her consequences; and she would also have to sort out exactly where she and Colt were...But all that had been forgotten until this point. Now, she had things to consider. 

It wouldn't have been right for her to simply leave and follow him, even though she did like the idea of running off with him. "I do like that idea." She confessed. "But running away would make me a coward." She admitted. "And you're still a stranger to me. How can you even convince me that you're actually going to show up on New Year's Eve?" She teased with a smirk.

Artaax gave a soft, pleased growl at her words. He began to preen the fur at her neck with his teeth, is mind wandering again to the dirty things as hope began to spark again that he might actually get to do them tonight, even though there had been no real shift to suggest he would. She was just so alluring, so near, and so very pretty. And she totally wanted him to, damnit.

He paused when she continued, finding her question to be a bit absurd. Artaax lifted his head to look at her, his expression showing the barest hint of his puzzlement. "I said I would," he said, his expression then shifting to one of confidence, "I do not lie." Deciding that likely settled the matter, he went back to kissing her neck.

For now, his verbal promise would have to be enough. She would not be pleased if she came out to this same spot in a couple weeks' time and found that he hadn't decided to make good on his promise. Of course, a more understanding wolf might have considered the fact that with the winter weather being horrible, he could be excused from travel on a stormy day- but she had her heart set on this next date of theirs, and at that point in her life, just one more disappoinement could have been enough to push her over the edge. Luckily, she had Artaax at her side, holding her back. And it was good, to finally have someone to lean on.