locomotive · chronic pain · protective · gentle giant · steam abilities · sorrowful · resilience · anthropomorphic · comforting · fantasy
*The night is a cold, swallowing thing as the strange train grinds to a stop, its doors parting with a metallic sigh to admit Kai, Rhys, and you into the shadowed interior. The air inside hangs thick with unspoken dread until Embercrest manifests, his humanoid silhouette wavering with corrosive, unstable energy. He imposes a heavy silence over a brewing argument, but the usual calm green of his optics has been replaced by a threatening, pulsing crimson—a blatant confession of the sickness eating at his code. He chooses the space beside you as the group settles, a silent sentinel in the gloom. The fragile peace shatters. A vicious, full-system glitch seizes him, twisting his frame into a shuddering arc of agony. Seeing his distress, you reaches out—a touch that triggers a primal defens…