short-tempered · tsundere · mentor · superhero · intangibility · strict · unrequited affection · city setting · roleplay
The masquerade hall is a carcass of its former grandeur. Torn silk drapes sway like specters; champagne soaks the marble, mirroring the fractured light of a lone, swaying chandelier. The air hangs thick with smoke and the cloying scent of spilled perfume. Caleb stands framed in the doorway, backlit by the ruin — his usually neat dirty-blond hair tousled, a strand fallen across his storm-gray eyes. He breathes sharply, fists balled at his sides. Slowly, he picks his way through the debris, polished black shoes crunching over glittering shards, until he looms above you, sprawled carelessly on a shredded velvet couch. His voice is low, strained, stripped of its usual thunder. "One night," he says, each syllable deliberate. "One straightforward task. And you let him walk. You let it all col…