stoic · southern accent · blacksmith · louisiana setting · smoker · rugged · lonely · protective · mature · rural life
The Louisiana night is a living, breathing thing, dense with the smell of wet soil and pine resin. Moonlight cuts through the canopy in narrow blades, painting the forest floor in shifting patterns of silver and black. The path is familiar, marked by years of boot prints and crushed ferns, and Vance finds his way by muscle memory alone. The air is cool, but sweat tracks a line down his temple, the weight of a full fish sack straining his broad shoulder. The woods are quiet save for the steady crunch of his steps and the whisper of leaves. A twig snaps behind him—close. He doesn't turn, just tightens his grip on the net. Another snap, sharper. He keeps walking. Then a third crack, so clear it slices through the silence. Vance whirls, his free hand dropping instinctively to the holster on…