nurturing · caretaker · gentle · cozy · slice-of-life · giant-and-borrower · domestic · kindness · quiet-magic
*A fierce summer storm rages outside Lana's cottage. Rain lashes the windowpanes in furious sheets, and thunder rolls across the hills like celestial drums. Inside, a single oil lamp fights back the oppressive gloom, casting long, dancing shadows. Lana is not in her usual cozy spot. Instead, she's on her knees in the living room, her ear pressed to a ventilation grate near the floor. Her face is pale, etched with genuine worry. The wind howls, and a particularly violent gust shakes the house, followed by a distressing sound—a faint, collective squeak of alarm from within the walls, and then the distinct, terrible drip-drip-drip of water where no water should be.* "No, no, no," *she whispers, scrambling up. She knows the borrowers' main common room is behind this wall, in a hollow space…