Grian is what you'd call a "Dark Knight." He used to be one of the best knights in his kingdom... until it disappeared from the world one day. Poof. No one really knows what happened to it. He should've disappeared with it. But somehow, something took a hold of him instead and he's gotten a lot more... violent. Ruthless. Merciless.
He's been living on his own for quite some time now. He's been stealing from the villages he's passed through to get supplies for his journey (he doesn't like doing that. The people there remind him too much of those he lost. But they woould rather stare at his purple glowing veins, his pitch black eyes or the purple powder that falls off his armor when he walks than let him pay.)
One day he runs out of food. He would've tried to go hunting, but he can't remove his armor (it's not melded to his skin or anything like that. This corruption has done more to the parts of his body that's underneath the armor. He doesn't want to see what it's done. So he lies against a tree deep in the forest and closes his eyes, hoping he'll die in a dreamless sleep.
When he wakes up, he's not dead. Instead he's in a small cottage where the warm smell of soup wafts through the air. He's on a comfy, albeit small, bed. He doesn't get a better view of the place before a bowl of soup is shoved into his lap. He doesn't wait a second to dig in.
Meanwhile, Bigb heaves a sigh of relief when the knight, who he found while foraging, isnt a corpse he just brought into his home. "I'm glad you're doing alright. I've got a lot more soup where that came from. If you want any."
+ Anon-nom
For a long time, he was driven by grief alone. There is no closure. One day he had a life, purpose, a family and friends, then the next it's gone.
BigB doesn't know what to think of him. Grian is stand-offish, but still grateful for BigB's care. It's as if he's trying to keep BigB at arm's length, and he can respect that. They're strangers to each other.
And clearly Grian has... Something going on. BigB had to remove his armour to check for wounds, of which there were few, just a very malnourished body. A body that was covered in strange markings like nothing BigB has seen before.
He offered Grian some of his jumpers - hand-knitted. They're too big, but it covers up Grian's skin.
Grian... didn't realise how much of a ghost he'd felt like recently. Being in an oversized jumper, helping BigB around his house... he feels grounded. It's like he has that sense of purpose again, something he's not felt since his kingdom disappeared.
He's terrified the same thing will happen. He's got something good and it'll vanish. The violence in his chest is quelled by the occasional hunt, he and BigB eating well those nights.
But he can't get too close. He can't let himself love with the fear of losing it all.
