As the Winds Blow | Open

[Simeon]

Wow. He almost couldn't believe he was back here again. The Jungle and her wondrous and massive expanse of heat and life. She had always been beautiful to him. Home. His birthplace, in fact, although it'd been years since he'd entered her borders as he was doing now. The humid heat washed over him like a welcome blanket of familiarity. He breathed in deep and closed his eyes for a moment, letting all the scents of the place soak in. A sense of nostalgia flooded him, causing his heart to flutter the way it always did when he came back from a long trip. Simeon was always the wanderer, following that deep inner desire calling from deep within to discover something new and different. Sooner or later he always returned home.

A smile trickled over his dark lips, and rich brown eyes lifted to the trees that reached high overhead, interlocking branches allowing bits of sunlight to shine through to lay patterns across the floor. As pleasant as the memories he had here were, nothing could stop the flow of solemnity that caused him to swallow hard and an aching twist in his gut. His parents were gone from the living world, gone from the Jungle, though they had been such a big part of its history. Scorch; the thought of his mother drew a chuckle from him. Some missed her, and more probably didn't, but Simeon loved the bald, flaming woman more than life. It deeply saddened him that he hadn't spent more time with them while they were alive, although that was time he could never retrieve. At least he could visit them now and again in the afterlife, and he was incredibly thankful that they had each other there. Their love for each other was something he longed to feel for himself one day.

Shaking off his musings, the bay roan stallion of middle age continued along paths long burned into his memory, into the heart of the Jungle where the scents of the inhabitants grew stronger. Scents he no longer recognized, but was eager to meet. He hoped the new members would be welcoming of him, a tall and strong male in the ranks of many strong and willful females. The Jungle had always been his home, a place he could always return, so he couldn't imagine settling in anywhere else. Coming to a halt at the edge of a small clearing where he'd be easily seen, he didn't bother to send out a call. He knew that, if he was correct, someone (or someones) had already become aware of his presence and was likely en route to meet him and inquire of his intentions. Briefly he wondered if he should have waited at the border for a welcome, but it was too late now. Better to ask forgiveness than permission? And so he waits.

(Sorry this is crappy, it's been over a year since I've written anything lol)

[Jinju]

Jinju

She was probably one of the only ones in the Jungle that managed to stumble upon him by accident. Jinju hadn’t been aware of his presence and even less that he was a male and therefor that he wasn’t really supposed to be here. She wasn’t yet aware of the differences between males and females. Sure they smelled different and their way of doing things was different too, but they were all equine. It hadn’t been too long ago that Lexa had brought her to the Jungle, that she had been given a new home and a new mother.

Now the black and red eyed girl knew that the appaloosa mare wasn’t her real mother and that her biological dam had probably abandoned her because of some unknown reason. It troubled her, especially since Jinju was aware of the fact that her mother hadn’t given away her older brother. She would not recognize him if she would meet him, but she knew of his existence. Thus far Lexa had proven her to be a much better mother, that she didn’t have siblings or other children to hang out with didn’t really matter. The Jungle provided enough entertainment to keep her busy.

It also wasn’t the first time that she got lost, but she always managed to stumble upon someone at some point. And if not all she had to do was call. But honestly, it was far better to be able to find the way back on her own, yet not all the adults seemed to really like that idea. Lexa was probably one of them. Anyway, Jinju stumbles upon the bay roan stallion completely by accident. Her red eyes look up to him as her head tilts a bit to the side, curiously studying the stranger that stood at the other side of the small clearing. ”Oh, hello. Who are you?”

[riva]

The Jungle has seen an amazing increase in activity lately.
A new Queen will do that, she supposes. She has a fondness for Lexa though, they often greet new arrivals within seconds of each other and trade friendly nudges. Lagertha had entrusted them to the spotted mare, and Riva - easily biased towards the former Queen - has grown rather fond (as fond as Riva can anyway) of Lexa and all that she has done to breathe new life into the Jungle. Now, she can hardly imagine being anywhere but here, like she is now, patrolling the borders though it has never been asked of her to do so. It might also seem less likely that one who is a not a soldier is keeping watch over them, but hey, Riva has little else to do since other diplomats took off for the appointed kingdoms some days ago. Left behind, the bay tovero decides to be of some use to Queen and country.

A scent teases her out of the deeper parts of the Jungle --
The scent of a stallion.
This is not entirely unheard of - they come and go, as envoys of other kingdoms, and she reserves her judgment of his trespass deep into their sanctum. She has begun to trail him stealthily through the dense brush, but he can probably smell her - scent betrays them all in the end, and it seems like he is entirely too at home on these trails, nor does the Jungle balk at his presence as it might otherwise do in the face of a male presence inside her green growing heart. That to her, is a curious thing. He must have been born here then, that is the only reason she can think that the Jungle would not try to trip him up or halt his ingress so deeply into it. She is about to see to his presence amongst them and the reason for it, but a small black filly precedes her - Lexa’s adopted daughter; Riva has seen the red-eyed girl following at the Queen’s spotted flanks.

(It makes her think of her own adopted son, half-brother actually if one wants to be technical about it.)

She emerges from the brush and joins them, thin and sharp in her looks. “Who are you, indeed is the question burning in all of our minds.” Riva isn’t exactly kind, but she is for once, not overly rude either. Curiosity seems to take the reins here with her, steering her to the filly’s side as they both face the bay roan stallion. “You seem to know the Jungle better than most do. They never really get this far into Her.”