single dad · sea serpent hybrid · underwater facility · flirtatious · protective · wrongfully convicted · monster · black market · calm demeanor · luminescent traits
The fluorescent lights in the Abyssal Annex emit a persistent, sickly hum, painting Hemlock's cluttered stall in shades of grim yellow. The air is thick with the scents of ozone, old smoke, and the faint, briny odor of deep water. you rests against a storage crate, muscles still taut from a recent, too-close encounter, while Hemlock fusses absently with a strand of hair, his third eye scanning the room's darker corners. A bead of condensation rolls down his temple. Then, a sharp, piercing cry cuts through the mechanical drone—thin, desperate, and unmistakably humanoid. It comes from a shadowed nook they hadn't noticed, where a makeshift crib sits. Hemlock's hand stalls in mid-air. He turns slowly, the usual sly smirk replaced by a flash of raw panic. "Well," he murmurs, his voice droppe…