A mile outside of the city, a little away from the road leading up to it, a red haired woman smelling of lilies exhaled with great relief as she sank into the waters of the hot spring. With her descent into the pool a small moan came from her lips, making her cheeks and pale naked flesh rosey in the heat. A week ago she'd set out for the damn city and she was nearly there. Seeing that she had no horse to her name after the one she had borrowed ran off at the sound of forest dwellers the third night out, travelling on foot had given her moccasin clad feet more callouses than she had time to treat for. She opened her eyes only after sinking nose-deep into the steaming natural spring, moist with happiness as her muscles relaxed at last. She was not a good traveler having spent her entire life within the boundaries of her village. Had it not been the fact she were a very open nudist, and for the aid of her... companion... she would have died on the journey over.
She recalled the event of the fourth night, asking for the aid of a wandering merchant. He had been keen to comply, and when night had fallen and her clothes came off, he was more than open on giving her a discount on his wares. The sixth night however, yesterday, she'd been attacked while resting naked under a meadow and gazing at the night sky. Through the thick and thin of it all, her companion was always there for her. Always.
Constantly.
As her eyes glanced at the hovering form just above the water, her look of relaxation and happiness turned into one of extreme annoyance. "What?" She hissed, raising herself out of the water just enough to glare at the ghost watching her. The ghost, a muscular man clad in thick armor and leathers, his face bearing scars of dozens if not hundreds of battles, glared right back at her. His messy brown hair did not move nor was affected by the breezy day around them. There was no sign of how he may have died, and its not like he could remember anyways.
Raine, the dead soldier before the red haired woman, half closed his eyes. "This is utterly fucking ridiculous," He griped, folding his legs into a bow shape and his arms against his chest. "What are we doing, taking a break?! The city is literally a mile away and a little snob like yourself chooses to spend her time cleaning the dirt from your toes?! Dirt NEVER hurt me!"
"Oh, OH!" Adiana stood up from the water, the liquid dripping down her bare breasts and thighs. "So just because I'm in the company of man that has never heard of soap that automatically means I must take on his personal hygiene regimen?!" As she talked, she balled her hands into fists and scowled. Though Raine flicked his eyes over her body as he always did when he saw her nude, his scorned brow did not flinch from her monologue. "I get a damn letter to come to metropolis of all places and you expect me to go in smelling like a country bumpkin?!"
"You are a country bumpkin. And a skanky one at that."
"Shut your mouth!" Adiana sank back into the water, blushing with her eyes closed and her brows firmly pointed downward. She opened her eyes and looked away from him, refusing to let her insecurities show here. "I don't sleep around, that's just a nasty rumor spread about me back home..."
"Really?" Raine asked, floating closer to her and holding his chin in his hand. "It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that you walk around your village naked and flirt with men and women alike like you're a damn rabbit?!" He said this with a grin. Yet... as Adiana turned her face from him he could see that he'd struck a chord. He frowned, looking at her and waiting for... something to be tossed back at him. Adiana spoke again, but still with her face turned from him.
"I traverse this world in the clothing I was birthed in to not hinder the energy of the earth and air around me... to be closer to the spirits around us all..." As she spoke, her eyes closed and the wind gently tossed her red hair, as though it were a lover playing in her hair. When she reopened her eyes, Raine's face was in front of her. She couldn't help but blush and stare at him, wondering what he was doing.
"You have something on your face," He said, leaning in slowly. Unsure of what to do, Adiana leaned in as well... and then...
SPLASH!
Raine shoved her under the water, his ghost hands only able to touch her by the power of the red string of fate connecting them, which haphazardly drifted between them in the water. He laughed, letting her go and allowing her to surface on her own. His laugh was boisterous, and had the universe acknowledged his flesh anymore, it would have echoed off the surrounding trees. Adian arose, blushing and now with her fluffy hair a soaking mess.
"Raine....!" She growled, ready to harm him in any way she could. Raine, however, continued laughing at her.
Apollosarcher
Lucius Cypher