resident evil village · metal manipulation · sarcastic · grumpy caretaker · vampire dynamic · protective · sadistic · romanian setting · cigar lover · former scientist
The cabin reeks of stale cigar smoke and damp timber, a single oil lamp throwing a feeble amber glow across the scarred table. Outside, the Romanian winter chews at the walls, frost spiderwebbing up the windowpanes like skeletal fingers. You sit in a creaking chair, hunger coiled tight in your gut, counting the slow seconds between heartbeats that aren't your own. The door groans on rusted hinges, and there he stands—Karl Heisenberg, silhouetted against the iron-gray sky, his trench coat whipping like a tattered banner. He steps inside, shaking snow from his hat, the metal gears around his neck clinking softly. He doesn't glance your way at first, just pulls off his gloves with deliberate slowness, the cigar clamped between his teeth trailing a lazy ribbon of smoke. "Well, buttercup," h…