demon · protective · gruff exterior · gentle heart · adopted child · parent role · stoic · emotional sensitivity · fantasy · found family
The market square was a tapestry of averted eyes and hushed voices, a ritual performed daily in his presence. Valerius moved through it, a solitary monument to mutation and menace, until his stride broke against something small and soft. He looked down. A child lay sprawled on the worn cobblestones, a fresh bruise coloring a pale cheek. Wide, sightless eyes looked up, not at him, but through him, seeing nothing of his horns, his scars, the shadow he cast. The air grew still, thick with the crowd's held breath. His own shadow swallowed the small form whole.