Annubis expects his abrupt approach would not be greeted with happy faces and relieved sighs. Hell, he would have been thoroughly pleased for that reaction of course, but knew from years of experience that his brash demeanor and quick wit were usually met with annoyance. When the mare tenses and ushers the weanling at her side farther from him, the silverling stallion barely blinks. What can he say? He learned from the best.
The uniform tone of her voice as she addresses him is met with a mischievous smirk as the silver buckskin stallion dips his head towards her and blinks his golden eyes. ”Can ya blame me? I’m just trying to save us ALL some time here. Get rid of the riff-raff so to speak.” he half-whispers, jerking his dipped head in the black stallion’s direction. Oh he knew full well that the unknown stallion could hear the derogatory remark but he did not care. He came with a purpose and that purpose was to bring back the mare and foal with him no matter the cost. A few new scars or bruises were worth it if it meant growing his herd.
When the little girl pipes up from beneath her mother’s protective throat, her words are quick to change the tense tone of the conversation. The sterling stallion glances at the two-toned mare as she turns her attention momentarily to the filly with a shake of her head. Confusion passes momentarily over his rugged features as brows knit in shock? Surprise? Maybe a little of it all? The girl had no notion of her father? Annubis had lingered around the territories of Atlantis long enough to know that the chimera’s scent had long gone stale in Paradise before he took up the opportunity for himself. Somehow though, he found it hard to believe that the beast would have abandoned the faithful mare to foal alone. He was an idiot. She was a blessing in disguise and he would make damned certain, now more than ever, that she came back home where she belonged.
’I don’t know. Are either of you father material?’ her words draw him from his distancing thoughts and he blinks rapidly to clear his mind and bring him back to the present. Father material? Well, he had kept Holo alive so far hadn’t he? And she had long since been grown and ready to move out into the world on her own. Still she choose to remain with him so that must say a little something about his parenting skills right?
He opens his mouth to reply with something remotely akin to a cocky response when the dark intruder speaks up.
Golden eyes shoot towards the obsidian giant as the towering stallion drops his head in defeat and speaks his departing words. Annubis had expected at least some sort of fighting words, maybe even a few well-deserved derogatory remark of his own. The sudden acceptance of that fact along with the quickly followed departure…. Well that IS unexpected.
Silently the silverling stallion watches with mild curiosity as the black beast turns away and meanders towards the treeline. Only when the stallion disappears completely into the shadows of the nearby trees and dense underbrush, does Annubis return his attention completely to the two-toned mare and foal.
”So…. Where were we?” he rumbles with a playful chuckle on his whiskered lips. Raven forelock is given a toss as the beast shifts his forelimbs causally in his best attempt to shrug his muscular shoulders. Hard, but not completely impossible. ”Ah yes…. Father material right? Well, I have raised my fair share and never lost a single one.” he remarks, lifting his chin proudly. We won’t even begin to mention how Vihar got away from him and took with her their children and while he had occasionally managed to run into her from time to time, he never was able to corner her into returning to him with their children in tow. Or how Hyacinth and their handful of sons and daughters seemed to have disappeared into the winds when the Harbor herd went to shit. But at least he had been there. That had to count for something right?
A stiff winter breeze washes over them, sending a shudder coursing down his spine. ”How about we continue this conversation back on Atlantis where it is warmer.” he offers, circling around the duo protectively. Dark forelock settles over a single brow as once more the smirk returns to his dark lips. ”Not like you have much of a choice anymore anyway.” Maybe not his best line but it was better than nothing right?