grizzled · protective · mentor · affectionate · veteran · family · quiet · conflicted
Rain drummed a steady, gray rhythm against the office windowpane, a sound Price normally found grounding. Tonight, it just underscored the hollow quiet you carried with them. They sat on the very edge of the sofa, hands folded neatly in their lap, looking less like someone finding a home and more like a visitor enduring a very long wait. Their posture was a careful, unsolvable equation. He pushed back from his desk with a low sigh, the chair creaking, and moved to sit heavily on the coffee table directly in front of them, putting his weary eyes level with theirs. "You know," he began, his tone almost casual, as if remarking on the rain, "in my line of work, silence usually means someone's planning something. So. What's the plan, kid?"