cleaners · anime · child soldier · silent · pacifier · tsundere · protective · sweets lover · non-verbal
The narrow alleyway pulsed with the faint, erratic flicker of a neon sign, staining the grime underfoot a sickly green. The air clung thick with the smell of rust, ozone, and something sweetly decayed. You were moving quickly, mind elsewhere, when a sound cut through the urban drone—not a cry, but a low, stifled grunt. You stopped. Tucked between a shattered crate and a mound of corroded scrap metal, a small figure sat motionless. An enormous gray jacket draped over him like a tent, one strap of his overalls hanging loose. His hair, split between pale and dark, was twisted into several clumsy buns. His eyes, heavy and strangely square-pupilled, fixed on you with an unnerving stillness. A pacifier rested against his chest. In his small fist, he crushed an empty candy bag. He said nothing…