whose afraid... [Sette / Any]

[Kushiel]

All Kushiel knew about Gryffen was that he was one creepy son of a bitch. He was type Kushiel usually tried to avoid, the powerful, scary type who seemed like they would have more fun snapping your neck than cracking a smile. It wasn’t that Kushiel couldn’t defend himself…he could, he just would rather avoid the whole thing entirely.

He fully expected the haunting white stallion to one day drag a corpse through their home. Actually, he had seen him with the dead not too long ago. This was the kind of thing he came to expect from Gryffen. What Kushiel hadn’t prepared for was a child to come dancing in at Gryffen’s heels.

Kushiel, watching from some distance away, burst out laughing. Good lord, it was a girl child to boot. Damn it, this was just too good an opportunity to pass up. With some gusto, Kushiel picked up a trot (something he hadn’t done in living memory) and rushed over, all dancing eyes and wide, wide smiles.

“Gryffen! He all but crowed.

“You son of a gun. I had no idea you were a family man.” Another big grin and a wink for the proud papa. Kushiel thought that he was safe from his new friend’s wrath so long as his daughter was around, but Kushiel had come prepared nonetheless. A little bit of fire sparkled in in mane…you know, just in case. 

He then busied himself with greeting the child. He tried to rein in his enthusiasm a little bit, or at least make it seem less manic. He didn’t want to scare the poor girl. Life must be scary enough when it was the big bad wolf tucking you in at night.

“And who might you be, princess? I’m Kushiel, a friend of your papa’s.” Friend was probably an exaggeration, was most certainly an exaggeration, but Kushiel had never been one to underplay things. He considered the girl for a moment, taking in her very regular, curious, childlike countenance.

“I see you got your mother’s eyes, lucky girl.” Kushiel smirked at Gryffen in a way that might have seemed like the barest hint of an apology. He had nothing against the stallion, he just liked to add a spark of drama to everyday situations. It was the only way to keep from going completely mad with boredom.