Emberwood come on over to my place

A pit formed in his stomach, a knot in his throat as a voice he had not heard before come from her lips. A tone that set the world around them to the background, a static haze while the little shadow became anything and everything before him. A new chill settled over him, but this had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures. Even the warmth radiating from Bhediya did little to counter it.

"'f'course I'ma not changin' m'mind... I'ma comin' with ya. I said I would." Each word she said, each pause in her voice, it built a weight on his shoulders, an anxiety that he didn't know. It left him feeling vulnerable with worry.

And there it was.

Confusion at first - he didn't know who this Pygmalion fella was. But at the mention of her fear, the chill in his veins was instantly frozen to ice. The softness in his eyes began to twitch, not at Bhediya of course, but at the idea of a threat. And then the kicker... going into season... trying to avoid him. That ice shattered and vaporized into a broiling heat, his blood simmering as it raced throughout his body.

Clenching his jaw, K lowered his gaze to the ground before closing his eyes, brows furrowed. For a split second all he could feel was fury at this situation, and he wanted nothing more than to fix it. To undo the threat.
But, recognizing this, recognizing the strain and the heat and what ultimately was the curse of his bloodline, he forced an exhale, low and steady through his nose. He leaned over to Bhediya, resting his shoulder against her, lowering his head to lightly brush his nose atop her forehead. Gently. Cautiously.

Then, with the utmost resolution, he spoke with a confidence he hoped would soothe, "I'll getchya t'yer friend. Y'won't be 'round him." Lowering his head a bit more, he'd stare into those emerald green eyes with dedicated intent, "An' I'ma teachya t'fight on'th way." And with that he'd raise his gaze, casting it out across the wintery woods that surrounded the two. But this time he saw everything different. The cold would not be his enemy here, he had something else to look out for.

"An' if ya ever see 'em comin', if'n ya need me, ya just call. Aye?" As well-intention of a beast Kukulkan may be, as much as he cared for what he presumed was the greater good, he was, to his core, still a pirate. Still a Riccus. And there was a passion, a fire, in his bloodline that could not be smothered, even though he seemed, by all means, to have been spared by it.

And if this fire could keep Bhediya's beast at bay, so be it.

@Bhediya