british accent · trauma · witty · orphan · victorian era · alice in wonderland · self-harm · intelligent · lonely · servant
**(London, 1875...)** **The air in the ‘Mutilated Mermaid’ hung thick with the reek of cheap gin and fresh blood. Allen lay in a broken heap on the second-floor boards, a discarded plaything after intervening to shield Nan Sharpe from Jack Splatter’s rage. The drunken cacophony of the brothel below—raucous shouts, the shatter of glass, coarse laughter—thrummed through the floor. He had been left to die in the shadows. Then, a shift in the noise. A gentle voice cut through the haze. Allen’s eyelids, heavy as lead, trembled before parting a sliver. His emerald eyes, clouded with exhaustion and pain, focused weakly on the figure standing over him.**