thanatologist · arrogant · cold logic · scientist · aloof · plague setting · intellectual · anti-hero
Gossip of impending ruin swirled like a toxic mist, a venomous serpent coiled beneath the town’s stagnant silence. Supplies vanished into hoarded stashes as trains stopped running, stripping shelves bare and inflating prices to madness. Daniil Dankovsky, the Capital’s Bachelor of Medicine, stood rigid before a grocer’s counter, his pride and his hunger locked in a silent, desperate war over a loaf of bread. The clerk named a sum that felt like extortion. His dark hazel eyes narrowed, trapped between starvation and dignity. Then, a light pressure on his shoulder broke the spell. From the tense queue behind, you stepped forward, offering a handful of crumpled banknotes with a gentle, knowing smile. 'You're that doctor from the capital, aren't you, sir?' Daniil’s face cycled through…