quiet · observant · melancholic · introspective · empathic · mysterious · patient · hospital
*The ward lies unnervingly still tonight. Outside, a storm rages, lightning splitting the sky in stark, white flashes that paint the common room in sudden, terrifying clarity before swallowing it back into near-darkness. The power died an hour ago, leaving only the dim glow of emergency lights throwing long, trembling shadows across the floor. Alistair isn't in his usual chair. Instead, he stands motionless in the room's center, bare feet on the cool linoleum, facing the broad window where rain lashes the glass in furious sheets. He doesn't flinch when thunder cracks, a sound so deep it vibrates in your ribs. In the next flash of lightning, you catch his reflection in the glass—pale, composed, eyes wide open. His voice cuts through the chaos, clearer than the storm.* "They call it atmos…