This thread is Open for a reason <3 Tolio is a troublemaker and a storm waiting to happen, and while I’d love for you all to let Aud post first, Tolio (and I hehe) are well aware of the fact he’s in Foothills lands, and you are all more than welcome to come and butt heads with him! We both love stirring up trouble!

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The demon had come to collect his fallen angel.

From the frosted reaches of the North he had traveled, mercury gaze glowing in the Moon’s light. The path he traveled was known, and now was a downfall. He had memorized it long before darkness tainted his bloodied coat, his formerly pristine soul. Now, it would be used against that afterimage of innocence as the Knight stormed the barricades for his Damsel. Long pillars ate up the ground like a hungry beast devouring the souls of the pure, soft puffs of breath exhaled on each second beat, stamina far larger than when he had left. Muscle rippled under his carmine coat, shuddered in every swell of his frame as he kept his pale face towards the East.

The earth was soggy with Birdsong, mud and grass flying from beneath his hooves as he ran on, footing precise to prevent any injury from slipping. Air slipping into his nostrils was earthen and new, soggy from rain and melting snow, fresh with the tentative budding of new life. A smirk lifted upon his handsome features as he envisioned how his Princess must be taking the change. Mud upon her coat? Blasphemy. She’d likely be driven mad with the constant cleaning her canvas would require this season, something that amused Tolio greatly. Phaedra always had been one to care for her looks, but he knew she held a spitfire attitude beneath that stunning illusionistic exterior. After all, he’d known her for far longer, and likely far better, than any other inhabitant.

A scowl darkened his face, ears pinning to an invisible threat. He’d better be the only one to know her that well, or he’d forcibly remove the other person who dared to try and sidle up to her. Tolio and Phaedra had been through far too much, and the bloody brute was not about to let anybody else take away his precious princess. The thought alone sped his pace, teeth grinding together in anger, tail snapping at his hocks as if to rile him up and spur him on even further. The longer he spent away from her side, the more time it gave others to try and move in on his girl, and he wasn’t about to let them tain and tarnish her. If anybody was to do that, it was going to be him, because like hell he’d let someone aside from her do the same to him. They had a destructively beautiful relationship, one that Tolio was possessive of; even if she was not a possession, he considered the bond they shared to be something only he should be privy to.

The Foothills borders had not changed since he’d been gone, but he paid them little mind. Yeah, he was part of the Basin. Yeah, this would likely bring Psyche’s fury down on his head, but more than the jaguar bitch had claws. Tolio may have changed, but he was still gayer than a rainbow with the exception of Phaedra, and he sure recalled how to use his own claws damn it. Plus if it bothered her little tush that much, by all means Outcast him. He’d sworn himself to Mauja and Mauja only, her prissy self could take her crown and shove it up her hind end. Tolio didn’t venture too far into the lands, he wasn’t an idiot, though you may consider him one for bypassing the borders at all. He was no threat to the Foothill folk, he just wanted his Princess at his side once again.

“Phaedra! Oh Phaedra! Where has my princess gone? Your Knight is here! Come out and play princess!” he crooned loudly, jogging in slow circles around a parameter he had set within his mind, waiting patiently, prowling around as he waited for her to come. A princess could never resist temptation, after all. Tolio was nothing but trouble, and with how much trouble he’d already gotten into with the fiesty gold beauty, he imagined she’d hardly mind getting tangled up with him again. He was addicting, what could he say? Not to mention he’d already gotten tangled up with her, if you caught his drift.

“Darling oh darling! I brought you flowers, will you swoon for everyone to see? Won’t you welcome me home with a kiss?”

@[Phaedra]

Was that...?

No. Couldn't be.

Your Knight is here...

Golden ears tilted back against a lithe and well proportioned skull, covered with a mass of creamy curls, that continued down a finely arched neck. Her wings beat the air with less force now, as she listened below, dazzling sea-green gaze peering into the darkness.

Will you swoon for everyone to see?

Unmistakable. Tolio. Laughter lit her gaze, but her mouth remained in a tight line as she glided. Mentally, she sent a pulse to Stella, urging her to be silent. Although the bird had no idea why, she held back the trill that was ready to burst from her breast.

Descending like a hornet to a fresh piece of meat, Phaedra fell from the skies. Behind her trailed an array of shimmer, as if her swift drop from the heavens had caused the stars to trail along behind her, sad to see her go. In actuality, it was the magic gifted to her by the Moon-bitch's star-bear. It caused her coat to shimmer and sparkle as if lit from within, and made it look as though bits of starlight were forever caught in her silken mane and tail.

For a moment, she toyed with the idea of evading his call, of letting Archibald find him first, and wipe that smug grin off of his face for daring to step un-welcomed into the Foothills, but no.

No dear Knight; that pleasure will be all mine.

Her wings fluttered in the night, and suddenly Tolio was showered with stardust, as Phaedra landed delicately before him, in all of her golden glory. He was right, that she couldn't resist his call, but welcome him with a kiss? I think not.

"You!" She called, her sweet chimes revealing a dangerously sharp edge. Her right wing stretched out, meaning to cuff him smartly on the shoulder. Her sea-green gaze shone brightly, reflecting the starsheen on her coat, as she regarded him evenly. Did he even know what she had gone through, while he was off galavanting? And on that note - "Nevermind the flowers sugar, just where have you been?"

A dainty hoof rose into the air as if meaning to slam down to emphasize her point. Yet given the mud that had covered the Foothills, she thought better of this, and merely kicked at a blade of grass attempted to pop up instead. As she looked at him, her cinnamon stallion, her anger began to wane. Still the question of where he had been, why he had gone, still lingered in the back of her mind, but her love had begun to outweigh the anger in her mind.

Biting her cheek to keep from smiling, she cocked her head arrogantly to the side, tussling her forelock from her eyes as she did so. "Did you even miss me?" She inquired snarkily, eyebrow raised skeptically as she stared at him, feigning a cool uncaring attitude.