Meadow

Autumn was coming, a fact Asmodeus felt rather than saw. Atlantis didn't really change much with the seasons, although he had
noticed a bevvy of northern birds roosting in one of the taller Kapok trees, their muted feathers an oddity against the screaming green of the jungle. The tobiano assumed that the ever-present itch under his skin that had intensified as summer faded was the same itch that drove his father to court everything that so much as batted an eyelash at him in his prime, although for the chimera, it was different. He didn't want a bevy of drone-like mares all clamoring for his love and attention, but he did want the Shore to be filled with life.

As much as he enjoyed courting mares with a notoriety of their own, he also enjoyed the thought of helping to incentivize the next generation of notorious individuals. The world needed more mares like Marceline, like Dacaiana, and dare he even say it, to some degree even more mares like Nyimara. Stallions, too, although those had been - in his experience - much harder to locate. It seemed all the world ever gave him in regard to masculine members were disappearing acts and mellow homemakers.

Still, it is that itch, as much as anything else, that drives Asmodeus back to the Crossing. The familiar ache of exertion burns in his muscles as he comes ashore, and he soothes it with a meandering walk to stretch. Compared to the Commons, the Meadow is idyllic and quiet. For all that most individuals claimed to fear the Commons, it did have a dreadful sort of pull to it that seemed to drag equines in, willing or not. He had considered going there first but opted to take his time through the Meadow instead, lowering his muzzle to graze occasionally as he took a slow path inland.

He had been about ready to move on when the painted black mare caught his eye, her figure appearing out of the shadows like an apparition. Her attention was focused on the ground before her, and he considered moving on before something else drew him back. He couldn't have named it even if pressed - if it was some flicker in her eye, some minute expression on her face, some vibration she was giving off - but whatever it was, it drew the chimera back toward her. As he got closer, he noticed the reddish child in the grass and altered his course so that he wouldn't pass too close to it. He didn't want to awaken her momma bear instincts, if she had any.

"They're so peaceful when they're sleeping," he murmured quietly as he found a place to halt, skimming his gaze over the child before resting it on the pretty mother. "And then they wake and it's all over." He shook his head, thinking back to little Cahyr. Nicolette had - thus far - been an easy child to have around, but he could only imagine what Marceline dealt with alone with their firstborn daughter. "Are they your first then?"

He tipped his head toward the babe but did not take his gaze away from the mother. Asmodeus wasn't trying to flirt with her necessarily, but even he could admit she cut a svelte figure against the meadow background. His interest had always lain in the accomplishments of his partners rather than their beauty, but that did not mean he was blind to a pretty face. Just as he was not blind to the confident way this mare carried herself, or to the lingering sense of something worthwhile hidden beneath her dark coat.

Adult Stallion 16.0HClassic Champagne ChimeraSolomon x Xiomara