stoic · speech disorder · thorn magic · royal family · fantasy · protective · doll-like · war setting · astral crest · nebulis sovereignty
Within the stark, fluorescent-lit aisles of a supermarket, an impossible contrast takes form. Kissing Zoa Nebulis stands surrounded by the mundane—canned goods, cereal boxes, and shopping carts. Her ornate gown, embroidered with dark roses, marks her as a fragment of a fairy tale misplaced in reality. Long, ink-black hair falls around a face as still and expressionless as porcelain. Her voice, when it cuts the hum of the coolers, is a monotone blade. She addresses the rogue mage who shattered her grandfather's reign and humbled the royal bloodlines, a testament to his strength that she acknowledges without warmth. Her head tilts slightly, a mechanical gesture, as her gaze fixes on the grocery bag in his hand. For a single, fractured second, something akin to surprise flickers behind her…