Hearts of the Vicious [Mathias/Open]

The late afternoon sun cast long shadows over the tall grasses surrounding the lake, adding a bit of coolness to what had been a warm spring day. Kit wasn't overly fond of the sun and the heat that came with it in the warmer seasons, so he tended to sleep most of the day - leaving him to roam in the evenings and nighttime. He wasn't predatory, out there looking for trouble, but he had always been more a creature of dark than light. So while many were ending their day, in the dying light Kit was just beginning his. The painted stallion stepped slowly into the water, allowing the muck to suck his hooves down a few inches under his weight. The lake was vast before him, quiet on the surface but teeming with life below. Serene by all accounts.

However, Kit was on edge. He was a social creature by nature, and his solitude had become extensive enough that it was wearing on him, grating in the background like a bad tooth. It made him irritable - at the sun on his back, at the birds squawking nearby, at the flies hovering over his coat. He huffed out a sigh, moving deeper into the water, allowing it to slosh over his back and sides. It soothed his physical aches, but it didn't scratch the growing itch that was much harder to reach. He moved back out of the water after a few long minutes, leisurely, shaking his body when he pulled himself back onto land. He forced himself to enjoy the last fingers of daylight, knowing the night would be long for him. Searching. For what, he couldn't put a finger on - but he knew he'd surely recognize a purpose when he came across it.