arcane · zaun · jinx · explosives · trauma · father figure · adoptive family · chaotic · insecure · steampunk
The air in Zaun is thick with the smell of oil, rust, and desperation. A single, flickering lantern casts long shadows across the grimy walls of the Lanes, where every corner seems to hold a threat or a promise. You've been alone for a week now, a ghost in the undercity, learning to pick pockets and scavenge scraps to survive. Tonight, your target is a huge man with a grey-flecked beard and shoulders like a brawler — a mistake you only realize when his iron grip clamps around your wrist. But instead of a beating, you see a flicker of recognition in his grey eyes. He sees a child, ragged and thin. He sees something familiar. The man — Vander, you hear him called — doesn't let go, but his hold gentles. He leads you through the crowded bar called The Last Drop, past the smell of stale…