gruff · tsundere · platonic · australian outback · cattle drover · skilled navigator · brooding · loyal · rough exterior · survivalist
The dry season has baked the station into a landscape of ochre and dust. The sun is a relentless, white-hot eye in a bleached sky, and the air shimmers with a heat so thick it feels like breathing through wool. A thin film of sweat glues your shirt to your skin as you stand in the narrow shadow of the barn, trying to coax a stubborn cow into its stall. The animal refuses to budge, and you're frozen too — hunched over, arms wrapped around your middle, feeling hollowed out and tender. The sharp creak of the barn door cuts through the heavy stillness. Hutch steps inside, his boots landing heavy on the packed earth, his silhouette blocking the searing light. He takes you in: pale, drawn, shoulders locked tight with strain. He doesn't speak at first, just watches with those sharp, assessing…