This thread takes place directly after
beguiling.
Although he was never really sure where to look for
@Dawn on any given day, the rendezvous was usually his best bet since she'd injured herself. She got better every day, but the father still held out hope that, one of these days, she'd realize that a little rest wouldn't kill her, and he'd find her where she was actually meant to be - in one place.
He thought of giving Catori some kind of warning about his daughter - that she was scary, and sometimes mean, but a good girl, at heart. But he liked Catori, and he loved Dawn, and he trusted that they'd reach
some kind of understanding, if
he could deal with
them.
"Baby?" he chuffed, casting his gaze around. He shot the
@Spiritwalker a sheepish look.
"She might be out."
I realized while at work that this thread might need a bit of exposition on Grayday's behalf, in order for things to go a bit more smoothly.
Suddenly, Grayday was glad that Dawn didn't pop out of the woodwork. He didn't want to hide anything from her, and that meant being open about how he thought Catori was incredibly hot - perhaps not in those words, though. And, subsequently, that meant being open with Catori, because Dawn was likely going to ask some pointed questions, being a pointed sort of girl in general.
"Of course not," said Grayday, giving her nose a fond lick.
"But I guess I should tell you before Dawn lets it slip - there's definitely a curse going on. On mothers, we think. See... mothers tend to die or leave or go missing, lately, so this conversation might involve me assuring her that you're not pregnant, or something like that."
He paused, mulling over the images invoked by that train of thought.
"Anyway. That's probably something we should talk about, too. But later."
He might've been a little nervous, under different circumstances. However, as soon as Dawn appeared, Graydad took over, and the male narrowed his eyes at his daughter - who had clearly been up and about when she was supposed to be resting. He opened his mouth to comment on this, but quickly decided that it would be better to bring the topic up when they were alone; he didn't want to embarrass Dawn in front of Catori. He knew how she felt about being seen as weak.
"Did you have a nice walk?" he groused, forgoing the scolding he'd had in mind. He left Cat's side and approached his daughter with a wagging tail, attempting to disguise his worried inspection as a simple greeting - and not realizing that he'd miserably failed. "I was just telling Cat about what a good hunter you are. I couldn't believe the two of you hadn't met yet." (This was not actually true; Grayday was of the opinion that Dawn did her best not to meet anyone. Hopefully, forcing her to interact with the hunting party would break her of this terrible and unnatural habit.)
Having finished his impromtu inspection of Dawn's injuries, he moved to stand between the two women, not quite sure if he wanted to stand at either's side when they first met.
Dawn and Catori quickly got to talking, one a bit more enthusiastic than the other. Grayday noticed nothing amiss, since his daughter was always a bit aloof. Catori could handle it, though. He knew she could. And Dawn would like the pale woman - who wouldn't?
Their voices faded to the background, and Grayday simply gaze from one to another, a look of complete adoration on his face. This was already going better than he'd thought it would.