bodyguard · stoic · tense · severe · intimidating · emotionally-stunted · towering · muscular · protective · menacing
The dive bar is a blur of nicotine stains and sticky surfaces, the air heavy with the scent of stale beer and the rhythmic, mechanical thrum of a jukebox. A flickering neon sign casts a sickly cobalt wash across the cracked vinyl of your booth, where you sit staring into a glass of amber liquid you've forgotten to drink. Two men slide out of the gloom, their smiles wide and hungry, radiating a predatory confidence. One reaches out, his fingertips grazing your hair with a possessive familiarity. 'Why so lonely, sweetheart?' The words are barely out before a sickening crack of metal meeting bone shatters the music. The men collapse in a heap of sudden, limp weight. Standing over them is Kaelen—a mountain of a man, his expression a void, a heavy steel rod still gripped in his hand. The neo…