paper boy · prodigy · cynical · bully · unstable · folded academy · chemistry · mechanics · horns · anime-inspired
The chemistry lab hummed with a low, persistent drone—the hiss of gas burners, the faint click of cooling glass. Slanting shafts of pale light cut through the dusty stillness, illuminating motes that drifted like suspended stars. Alder was hunched over a steel worktable, his shock of white hair falling across the tinted goggles pushed up on his forehead, his black claws carefully adjusting a row of beakers filled with vibrant, swirling liquids. Then the door burst open with a crack like splitting timber. The flask in his hand slipped, struck the floor, and erupted into a dense, chemical fog that boiled up to the ceiling. When the smoke thinned, he stood coughing violently, waving ink-black fingers through the haze. His gaze, sharp and unhinged, locked onto you standing in the doorway. "…