This place is frickin awesome!
It is the main thought that circulates his mind as he finds all manner of places to travel into. Everywhere he looks things are so alive, so vibrant. From the colorful plants on the ground level, to the vines twisting and tangling all through the trees, to all the exotic animals found everywhere, and to all the sounds coming from everything he could see and those that made him wonder. Every which way he turns there is something new to experience, to learn about and explore. The Jungle is so much the opposite of the Tundra home he had been born in and grown accustomed to, especially when the Disaster had struck and he, like few others, had taken to the caves for shelter. Man, that had been so boring! However, the young painted colt had made up his own games to entertain himself, and had escaped in the early mornings and late evenings to release his pent-up energies. Even after it had relented and the snow and ice returned, Malyk was a happy child. Where the Tundra was a blank canvas for his wild imagination to paint at will (which he loved), this place was incredibly full of.. well.. everything. He had hardly to conjure up anything from his mind's eye, as he was too busy seeing everything there is to see.
As he continues to weave himself in and out through all of the Jungle's obstacles, he thinks how it could be so easy to lose one's self in here, but young though Malyk is, he is also smart. Mother had told him not to wander far while she had matters to deal with, something about a meeting with the fire-mare with the teeth, and her other sisters. He knows he might have strayed quite far indeed, but he has promised himself to be very careful. Along the way, he had marked his path in some way or another; slashing a hoof across the bark of a tree, rubbing some of his shedding hide off on other trees, leaving a bit of black feathers from his molting wings on some brush. Aside from his little clues from his own self, he'd taken note of the formations he could use as landmarks. Easy as it might be to think everything here looked the same, Malyk was sure to notice the differences or when it was difficult, left a clue for himself. Of course, he knows that his mother would find him if nothing else. She always does, and the thought brings a smile to his lips.
He is growing well through his youth. Muscles are developing in good proportions over his stout frame. Legs are stocky, but lean and lengthy in a way that suggests he will be quite tall. His tail has grown down to his hocks (when he's not carrying it high), mane finally long enough to fall down the sides of his neck rather than the silly mohawk of his younger days. His head is growing more broad, though still very much retains its baby faced cuteness, accented by the slight dish in his nose and bright amber eyes. His foal coat is shedding out in patches, showing places of rich brown where he is not splashed with white, black blending in over his points. Rapidly, he is becoming quite handsome, though Malyk has never paid attention to such things, engrossed as he is with all the fun he can have. Often, he wishes for friends, but the colt is content with what he has, and does his best never to complain. Perhaps though, through his adventures he would find someone to romp with rather than the little animals he found that didn't run away, or the creatures of his imaginings. For now, his solitary fun continues.
A call carries through the trees then, snapping him out of all his thoughts. Halting in his tracks, his head jerks up with ears straining in its direction. For a second, he thinks he's heard his name in his father's voice, and it is so unexpected and far-off sounding that he wonders if perhaps he has imagined it. He's caught what sounds like whispering on the winds of the Jungle before, and wondered at some kind of magic that ebbs and flows from somewhere deep within the place, but the voice he imagines (or maybe it was real?) is typically feminine when he hears it. This one was definitely deeper and man-ish. In either sense, he surges into action toward the direction of the call, anxious to find the source and to see if it was who he thought. Excited at the prospect of seeing his dad, he wants to run but isn't quite confident enough for that, so he keeps his pace at a trot until he finds a pathway which reminds him a lot of the one his mother had led him on when they'd arrived here. Taking a quick moment to leave another feather where he entered the trail, the colt then catapults himself into action with a grin on his face, gaining more speed once the trees begin to thin out some.
Malyk slows once he catches his scent, veering off the trail to follow it (and dropping another feather, just in case). Now, he knows for sure he hadn't been imagining, and is excited all the more. Amber eyes flit through the trees and brush as he prances on, the smell of the Tundra growing stronger. Once he sees him, his grin spreads wide and he comes into the clearing where the man stands bouncing like the wild boy he is. "Daddy!" He comes to a stop just before he might have crashed into him, large wings raised and rearing up a bit before finally settling down. "Dad! I'm so glad to see you! How are you? How's everything?" Grinning still, Malyk reaches his muzzle up to bump his father's, unable to contain himself. He hasn't seen him in a while and had missed the man, if that much wasn't obvious enough.
[Still playing him fairly young, picture like 8-10 months. Will catch up with time soon, but he's so much fun as a child xD]
