05-10-2018, 10:32 PM
hold me in this wild, wild world
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
Brennen is a formidable warrior. He has the fighting experience to back up every threat he has ever made, and the scars across his hide to prove it. The scars that speak to every time he has clashed with the hooves and teeth and magics of another, whether for practice or for real. Some are quite recent, war wounds from the ongoing Alliance battles that have been given cursory healing, but will be flesh-pink until they take on the dark or silvery tones of old scars. When he chooses to be, he can make himself threatening in stance without ever opening his mouth, despite his relatively modest stature. All good traits for a King in such uncertain times as these, and all excellent traits for the General he was until quite recently.
But Brennen is also a father, and a brother, and a grandfather many times over, and he can be the opposite of all of that. Despite the scars and the overlarge black wings, he knows how to speak gently and walk quietly and soften his honey-brown gaze to soothe the nightmares of frightened littles, and somehow he knows that Kylin will need to see more of Brennen-the-patriarch than Brennen-the-King, and he holds himself accordingly as she turns away from the seascape at his approach, and offers him a greeting with marked reservation.
Honestly, Brennen can’t blame her for a little apprehension. Her family had left, and with the way Klaudius and the other one - the brown one - had carried on, it would have been easy for her to get the impression that only men were to be welcome in Ischia henceforth. And their quiet island is now quite full - which is how it should be, how Brennen wants it to be, but it’s still quite a sudden change. And with her family gone, has anyone been checking on her? Certainly this is the first time he’s had a chance. “I just wanted to see how you were faring,” he answers, and there’s nothing but honesty in his voice. “It’s a big change, for everyone.”
Be careful, a cynical voice in the back of his mind says. Word of things like this will get out and they’ll stop thinking of you as Brennen-the-warrior-King, and starting thinking of you as Brennen-who-is-swayed-by-any-pitiful-expression. There’s a grain of truth in that, just enough to sting at him, but he doesn’t allow even a hint of it to cross his patient face. It’s true that they have decided all who dwell in Ischia must pledge themselves to the Brotherhood, but the part of him that considers how he’d want some future ruler to treat his children acknowledges that she’s lived her longer than any of them, and honestly is she any threat to them? Unlikely. He would not be so cruel as to force her to leave unless she was a threat to them, but he hopes she might be willing to join them fully rather than dwell in the strange gray area of semi-permanent-visitor.
But Brennen is also a father, and a brother, and a grandfather many times over, and he can be the opposite of all of that. Despite the scars and the overlarge black wings, he knows how to speak gently and walk quietly and soften his honey-brown gaze to soothe the nightmares of frightened littles, and somehow he knows that Kylin will need to see more of Brennen-the-patriarch than Brennen-the-King, and he holds himself accordingly as she turns away from the seascape at his approach, and offers him a greeting with marked reservation.
Honestly, Brennen can’t blame her for a little apprehension. Her family had left, and with the way Klaudius and the other one - the brown one - had carried on, it would have been easy for her to get the impression that only men were to be welcome in Ischia henceforth. And their quiet island is now quite full - which is how it should be, how Brennen wants it to be, but it’s still quite a sudden change. And with her family gone, has anyone been checking on her? Certainly this is the first time he’s had a chance. “I just wanted to see how you were faring,” he answers, and there’s nothing but honesty in his voice. “It’s a big change, for everyone.”
Be careful, a cynical voice in the back of his mind says. Word of things like this will get out and they’ll stop thinking of you as Brennen-the-warrior-King, and starting thinking of you as Brennen-who-is-swayed-by-any-pitiful-expression. There’s a grain of truth in that, just enough to sting at him, but he doesn’t allow even a hint of it to cross his patient face. It’s true that they have decided all who dwell in Ischia must pledge themselves to the Brotherhood, but the part of him that considers how he’d want some future ruler to treat his children acknowledges that she’s lived her longer than any of them, and honestly is she any threat to them? Unlikely. He would not be so cruel as to force her to leave unless she was a threat to them, but he hopes she might be willing to join them fully rather than dwell in the strange gray area of semi-permanent-visitor.
hold me in this wild, wild world
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
BRENNEN