Askan roamed the land surrounding the springs, the yellow of his eyes the brightest part of his ghostly form. He knew the Hallows had moved on long ago, the castle was now their home, but for some reason he felt as though this place suited him best. That everything had been good and manageable here, the best times he'd had in Boreas till it all got too much. He faintly remembered hanging out with Resin, how she'd just...gotten him like no one else bothered too. Maybe they were kindred spirits, birds of a feather flocking together. How was she even doing these days? Surely she'd have to be getting on in years, more of an old crone than she used to be at the very least.

His lips quirked up as he thought about it, pawing at the wet mud as though he expected to leave smears in his wake. And what of her kids? He guessed they'd grown up too now, not so runty and annoying now. Probably. Maybe.

He had been following the scent of the water, eager to quench his thirst, and maybe go for a quick dip to cleanse his fur of the light dusting of dirt it had accumulated. While he was not overly worried about his appearance, it was always nice to feel clean now and then. As he got closer, the scent changed slightly, and it was only when he breached the edge of the treeline that he realised. It was warm spring water. Laith frowned, gnashing his jaws together in annoyance with a resounding snap. This was undrinkable. Well, at least it would be nice to bathe in, even if that had only been his secondary reason to seek it out. Laith had just splashed a paw into the water to test the temperature when he caught movement from the corner of his eye, and balked at the sight of another wolf there. His paws slipped slightly in the muddy soil, but luckily he managed to stay up on all fours. How had he not noticed another wolf was right there? Maybe he was going blind, or deaf, that must be the reason why. He glared at the other wolf, as if it was their fault for him getting scared and nearly jumping out of his skin, but said nothing, probably for once in his entire damn life.

Askan faintly caught the sound of sloshing water, as though noises were harder to catch unless he meant to hear them. He hadn't really thought about it, didn't care to, but it was probably a result of him not really being here. Like he was straddling the border, half in and out of the doorway. He turned, his lip curling in a tsk as he noticed a wolf glowering in his direction. As though he was the source for all his strife and woes. Well fuck him, Askan was just minding his business. Why'd he need to get so assy?

Turning, his motions all ghostly and slow, he regarded the stranger with a piercing look. The only alive thing about him was the disdain in his eyes, like feelings from his lifetime were all to eager to rush to the surface.

"What?" He asked with no preamble. "What are you looking at?"

Laith could only stare unblinkingly at the way the other wolf moved as it turned to face him, he hesitaed ro think that it looked almost ghost-like. There was something not right here, and he glanced momentarily back at the water. There must be something in the spring that was making him lose his goddamn mind, some kind of psychedelic or something that was bubling up from underground. It was the only way he could make sense of what was happening. His glowering intensified as the other wolf spoke, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in his own skin. Things were too weird here, and he felt his hackles begin to fluff up a bit, whether it was in nervousness or annoyance, even he could not tell. "I'm looking at your dumb face, that's what," he said childishly in response, ears twisting back as he considered just getting the fuck away from the spring and the strange wolf.

It had been a while since he'd met someone of his grumpy calibre and though Askan was as dead as could be, it made him feel sort of alive. Like a breath of life had been wooshed his way. His ears flitted to the sides as his eyes narrowed further, thin strips of sunlight amongst the darkness of the living world. The dots of his whiskers twitched as his muzzle crinkled, snaggletooth poking out from beneath his lip, this guy was a real piece of work huh?

It should have made him sad to see a living counterpart to himself, to know this guy would likely die the same way Askan had. Alone, and forgotten like he'd never set a foot upon Boreas to start with. But it didn't. If anything he felt old emotions surge up, old habits dying harder than he ever did.

"Oh you're one to fucking talk." Askan sneered. "Imagine being uglier than a dead guy."

Note: not a formal attack as ghosts can't fight living wolves, Laith is just doing Laith things :p

He smirked at the other wolf, internally glad that his insult had had some effect, evident by the narrowed eyes and curled lips thrown his way. He lifted back his own lips in a silent snarl of a sneer, eager to dish out some insults in a verbal sparring match with this guy. It had been too long since he had someone so readily wanting to fight back with words of their own, and maybe he could even be tempted to go a round or two with some physical sparring. Wait, what? Laith was momentarily thrown off by the wolf's next words, but after a moment he decided it didn't fucking matter if what the other male said made sense or not. Some of his own insults weren't particularly well thought out either, and so he chalked it up to poor word choice. "Well at least I'm not wider than I am tall." He scoffed loudly, a half-chuckle escaping from his maw. "Maybe you should lay off the late night snacks, you're looking a little pudgy." In a spur of the moment decision, Laith sprung forward in a dash, being careful not to slip on the mud as he ran at the other wolf. He just wanted to scare him a little; a quick snap of his jaws in his face, and maybe even a shoulder rammed into his chest. He wasn't looking to deal any damage, he was simply just being a little shit who thought he could get away with it. Provoking the bear, as one would say.

Askan

You smell a scent and remember you can scent mark too! Better do it while you still can.