[open] scattered in the mud; any

[Arka]

and every spell and scourge of god may be obedient unto me
thou spiritual sun: satan, thou eye, thou lust.

Oh, interesting.

It occured to him that he could be irritated by the mare's sudden departure, or that she'd never had a home and had just been chatting him up for the fun it seemed. But in this case he wasn't, which for Arka meant that a situation had presented him with something equally and even more interesting. Dreams of joining the wrong side just for the fun of it dissappated as the mare disappeared.

The stallion he was now standing with alone was taller than him, built like a wall with a predatory grace common to someone familiar with a fight. Arka evaluated almost everyone in these terms, and while he put little stock in size being the determining factor in a tussle, it was something to consider. For his part, heritage and training made Arka naturally muscular and solid, though he lacked the sheer presence of something reptile in the other stallion.

There's a sour taste in his mouth at the idea of being provided something, one of several sins poisoning him. Pride won out, though not enough to spoil his response. "I'm Arka. I've done my fair share of fighting. I'm no diplomat - I have the words, and I can speak them nicely enough, but people don't tend to...like me," he said with a punctuated smile, no trace of a joke despite the expression. "I like to earn whatever I'm given though. I don't like hand-outs."

A stallion came along near the group of mares Arka had been watching, sweeping them off to somewhere with little convincing. 

"What are Loess' goals? Peace? Power? Domination?"

ARKA

the wandering scumbag

No problem @[Mary]! Thanks for threading - my first one back after a long BQ hiatus. @[Castile]