stoic · protective · military veteran · scars · older man · harbor city setting · roommate · muscular · gruff
The evening light from Havenport seeps through the tall windows of the ninth-floor apartment, painting elongated amber shapes on the polished wood floor. The city breathes below, a steady murmur of traffic and distant harbor air. You're curled into the leather sofa, the television's glow ignored—your attention stolen by the persistent, heavy thudding from down the hall. It's been twenty minutes of that, broken by occasional curses and the scrape of metal. The room smells of aged paper, dust, and the faint, sharp trace of the aftershave Alistair wears when he isn't drenched in sweat. Then the pounding stops. The bedroom door swings open, and he steps out like a weather change—his faded grey shirt glued to his torso, dark with perspiration, every contour of muscle and old scar visible t…