Becharmed

Apathy

Asmodeus gritted her teeth in concentration as she focused on thethatched roof of her den. The big storm from two days ago had gottenthrough her roof. Her teal and black tail moved lazily while shefocused on the press of the thatch to the roof. It didn't matchconsidering that she had made the roof in a different season but toher she didn't want to go all the way to her parents home to getleaves that would match her home.

"Asda." She stopped what she was doing, making sure the patch upwas finished. She wasn't worried, not only did she know the voice butthe fact that the man knew her family nickname. Poking her head overthe edge of the roof she saw Theseus, her brother-in-law. "Thereyou are," the water naga said and when she slithered down he pattedher red head. He was over ten years older than her and actedsimilarly to an older brother to her the entire time that she hadstarted hunting. "Come, it's time to hunt, aren't you hungry?"

"I guess," Asmodeus was once again listless, Theseus looked ather worriedly, he only ever knew her as that but he still worriedabout that. Even if that was the only way he had ever known her andit wasn't as if he spent that much time since once they left theirhome they didn't rejoin, nor did they spend a lot of time. His ownbrother had a strange fascination with them and spent their neonatedevelopment watching humans. He found it shocking that even when thehumans left their home they would regularly go back to theirchildhood nests. Some never even left the nest, bringing their mateinto the nest and taking it over.

Still her lethargic way even for food worried him, it worried hismate as well. He knew the little bit they were able to speak, theyonly saw each other when they hunted and didn't speak when she wasaround. Still they had all pretty much agreed that they'd send herhome with more than enough food to feed her. He held out hope onceshe found her mate she'd at least care more about her health and findsome kind of spark of life.

Together they slithered to their party's hunting meeting, Asmodeusalways liked Theseus, he had known her since she was a neonate. Shemet up with two of Theseus's siblings, Basil, Leaf, Oak's mateGorgon, he was bringing their oldest child, Bloom, to get ready to dosome of her first hunts. She should have been a hunter a good twoseasons, two at least, but during that crucial time was when she andher younger sibling had lost their parents, taken in by Gorgon andOak and though they still remembered their birth parents they saw thetwo men as their papas as well.

They spoke for a few moments, getting used to each other. Basil andLeaf were talking to Theseus's sister and asking about her experiencewhen she had her child, their mate was expecting and they were surethat soon she would lay the egg and then could not be moved norpulled away from the egg and so she was could not leave the nest forsafety. Asmodeus was confused, it was nearly unheard of for a mate tobe shared between two but there was legend that it was possible tohappen, she had always loved the twins as they were closest in age toher and she could be around them without being jealous of their deepconnection more than she as their sister but even how close theyalways were she couldn't imagine living forever with any sibling,even one she was so close to, she was happier being alone.

It wasn't long after that Asmodeus's mother joined them. "Mother.Where's father?" Asmodeus looked around for her dad, he normallywas there and she couldn't think of a reason he wouldn't be.

"He's over at the North Bay." That got her attention, theywere in the south of the island and they stuck to the south, theirhunting part met towards the west. Asmodeus rarely went to the east,only for certain plants. In their advancing ages his parents wererare to go far from their nests, they were not yet to the point thatthey couldn't hunt themselves, but they weren't really in the pointof their life that they would go on adventures anymore.