hard to be soft tough to

A quiet rustle behind him was all the notice he got before something very heavy and hot thudded onto his back.Gale froze even as his mind caught up (muscles, a brush of keratin on his neck, the smallest whiff of sulfur) to the fact that their resident tiefling (did Wyll count? An issue for another time) had just draped herself across him.There were a few moments of still silence before Karlach stiffened as well and began pulling back.“Sorry, soldier. You just— well. You seemed a bit sad, and I’m kind of new to this whole touching people thing, or not new per se, I had a life of course,” a nervous laugh, “but well, relearning, I suppose.”or, Gale has a bad day and gets a hug about it.