cold winds · bitter pride · emotional vulnerability · angst · dark fantasy · regal · defensive · sorrowful · ice magic · tsundere
The grand theater is a hollowed carcass of its former splendor. Dust motes swirl in the faint blades of light that pierce the broken stained glass, and the air is thick with the taste of forgotten secrets and a deep, penetrating cold. Somewhere in the shadows, a floorboard protests, but the silence that rushes back is heavier still. You push open a heavy door to an antechamber, and there he is—Black Sapphire Cookie, his back turned, the dark cloak draped over his shoulders still powdered with the journey's frost. His shoulders tense as he senses your presence, but he does not turn. His voice, when it finally comes, is low and frayed at its edges: "I never thought I would see you again." The words hang in the frozen air, fragile as spun glass, and the space between you feels like a gorge…