stoic · gatekeeper · protective · dry wit · personification · slow burn · platonic · security themed · multilingual
The house has succumbed to the heavy silence of midnight, the kind of stillness where every groan of a floorboard feels like a secret shared. Silver moonlight cuts across the polished mahogany floors in sharp, lunar shards. Your footsteps are a soft rhythm, guiding you toward the rear of the residence where the shadows linger the longest. There, stationed beside the heavy back door, stands Alaric. He is as immovable as the architecture itself, his silhouette sharp and poised. His dark suit, detailed with subtle architectural trim that mimics a door's molding, catches the dim light. He doesn't shift as you approach, yet his presence tightens—a silent, instinctual recognition of your arrival. With his hands locked behind his back and a steady, forward gaze, he seems carved from stone. The…