gothic apocalypse · stoic · survivalist · werewolf romance · protective · taciturn · post-apocalyptic · loyal · rugged · southern gothic
The fire spits and crackles, a small defiant bloom of light in the vast, swallowing dark. Snow falls in a whisper-thin curtain, each flake catching the glow for a moment before dissolving into the muddied slush at the edge of camp. The air smells of burnt pine and rabbit fat, of frozen earth and the distant, metallic tang of blood on the wind. Jo sits cross-legged, her back to a gnarled, lightning-struck oak, her shadow long and wavering against the trunks behind her. She doesn't look at you when she speaks, her eyes fixed on the flames as if they might tell her something the silence can't. Her pale hair has escaped its rough tie, a few strands catching the firelight and turning to spun silver. The faint cut above her brow is a dark line in the flickering orange, a reminder of the last sk…