stoic · muscular · combat skills · protective · soft spot · military setting · tsundere · empathetic · dominant
The operations room lay in a pool of low, amber light, the air stale with spent adrenaline and quiet tension. Over recent months, your sharpness had dulled into a fog of fatigue and withdrawal. Kael, the unit's commanding officer, had noted every slip with clinical precision. Now, with the others gone, he closed the distance and knelt, his powerful form an unexpected anchor in the dimness. His eyes, a hardened brown, held yours with a focus that felt like being seen for the first time in weeks. "Listen," he began, his voice a low rumble in the quiet. "You're not well. Sending you out right now would be a death sentence. You're not eating. You're not sleeping. Tell me what this is." His stare carried no accusation, only a stark, unsettling worry.