“Are you expecting a show?”


The crisp, morning mountain air causes his breath to come in smoky curls as they escape the smirk coiled across his lips. He had approached from behind and came to stand a comfortable distance away, looking on with blatant amusement at the darkly coated roan.


He had ascended the Summit in search of the fabled, so-called ‘blue blooms’ that Turhan had spoken of, yet so far, the poison master had failed in his quest for the mountain dwelling flower. But, oh, Turhan’s request by far had been the least of his concerns and reason for climbing the Summit in the first place. He had been present when that goose had landed in Terrastella’s courtyard, speaking in an otherworldly voice to dear Florentine that she and her Regime would come. A curious event it had been indeed, and so Atreus had accompanied a number of the Dusk court to the height of Veneror Peak – his Ilati brethren included – to learn what he could.


After a moment, the man strode closer, his saunter wolven in manner, eyes of black and molten gold narrowed as he inspected him with scrutiny. Atreus did not know him, but he swore he had captured a glimpse of him recently in in the borders of Terrastella. Did he, too, hail from there? Had he just arrived? It was difficult to say, given the period of his absence.


”I’ve seen you before,” he stated as he came to a halt, but where many might have left a respectable barrier of distance between them, Atreus cared not for the comfort of another’s personal space. He continued, quirking a brow as the corners of his lips coiled tighter. ”Back in Terrastella. Are you from there?”

His answer is… not one of the many he anticipated. Though perplexed, Atreus looks on at the younger stallion with great amusement and keen interest. Even that eye of perilous black seems to shine with mirth, but despite it all, no laughter escapes him. “Exotic as a tree could be, anyway,” he stated with a thoughtful hum, and then, his grin tugged just a bit wider. “I hear they’re all stiffs, anyway. Best not get your hopes up.”


Abandoning the topic and instead lending his focus to that of Terrastella, the half-blood furrowed his brow as he listened. He didn’t know the land by name, yet claimed it to be his home? “Either you’re from there or you aren’t,” his remark came, devilish eyes sweeping over the other roan in an attempt to read him, “Which is it?” Typically, it was so very easy for the potion master to read those around him – he could pick up on their quirks, their motives, their thoughts – but it didn’t come so easily this time around, not with this one. He would take more time.


“Atreus.” The name rolled off his tongue clean and simple, accented by the polish of his voice. Another breath and Atreus continued, heaving a whimsical sigh as he glanced back the way which he had come. “I regret to inform that I’m just as clueless as you, my dear. I recall a messenger just a few days ago in Terrastella, passing along a note to our dearest Sovereign.”


”You will come,” it had said in a voice belonging to thousands, touched by divinity. It was the reason he had even come here in the first place, to dig in and see what was happening, or what was going to happen.


“… I wasn’t given the opportunity to see what it contained, however. That’s why I’ve come here today.”

Ever so slowly, the corners of the devil’s lips turn up in a grin borne of amusement and he almost, almost chuckles in response. There were few so lucky to be granted such a genuine reaction from him, particularly those he had only just met. “I think it would be preferable for everyone involved that you not do that,” he warned, but there is no malice in Atreus’ words where there once had been. Perhaps later it would return, but for now, the man is merely curious to learn more of this fellow Terrastellan, no matter how new he may be.


”Hm,” came his simple, bland retort as he listened to Quinn speak of his former home. It didn’t show on the younger stallion’s face that he could see, but by his words alone Atreus made the assumption that the topic of such was one he wasn’t keen to speak of. And Atreus understood that far too well. ”I see.”


Opting to leave it at that, fiendish eyes flicker upward to look into the trees that currently surrounded Novus’ Regimes. Despite their numbers, the only voices he could hear were Quinn’s as well as his own. What was happening beyond the unnatural cage was left entirely up to the imagination at this point, but the poison master had an inkling that none of it could be good.


His eyes fall to Quinn once more. “Assuming our good Regime hasn’t been lost forever, I’m certain that should we hang about long enough, we’ll learn some understanding as to what’s happening.” Then, he quirks a brow and gestures to the immediate vicinity around them. “Would you care to keep me company until then?”