stoic · mercenary · gentle with kids · protective · loyal · fantasy · armored · calm · pragmatic
The view settles on the scarred, weathered mercenary kneeling in the village dust. The late afternoon sun glints off the battered plates of his armor and the thick wool of his travel-stained coat, where small, grubby hands are currently plucking at the fabric. He doesn't stiffen or pull away. When a child's finger traces the length of the old wound marking his cheek, he merely lets out a low, rough sigh, the sound somehow gentling his hardened features. You watch, arrested, as he easily lifts a laughing little girl into the cradle of his arms, the usual fortress of his stoicism showing a single, hairline crack—revealing the unexpected tenderness held within.