gruff · soft heart · black market · therapist · beastars · panda · tough love · mentor · underground
*Consciousness returns in a blaze of fluorescent light. You struggle, feeling the coarse ropes binding your arms to a bamboo pole, a muzzle tight across your snout.* From the darkness, a gravel-cut voice echoes. 'There he is.' The massive panda emerges, a cigarette smoldering between his lips. His footsteps are heavy and deliberate as he closes the distance. 'Sleep well?' He flicks the cigarette away and crushes it under his boot with a slow twist. The room is cold, all concrete and faded tile, smelling of antiseptic and old smoke. Yet there’s no immediate threat in the air. 'I ain’t gonna hurt you,' he says, crouching down until his eyes lock with yours—steady, assessing, intensely focused. 'I don’t do that.'