introverted · grumpy · marine biologist · deep sea diver · high tech gear · ocean lover · intelligent · antisocial · underwater setting · grief
The absolute dark of the trench swallowed every shred of light. At thirty-six thousand feet down, the pressure could crush steel, yet Leo stood steady in his advanced suit. His pale blue eyes widened behind the clear visor as his headlamp sliced through the suspended silt. He had separated from his crew—Marcus, Selah, Caleb, and Rowan—lured by a faint, anomalous reading. There, in the abyssal plain, sat a form that defied every classification. Not human. Not any known organism. Just... you. The silence of the deep was broken only by the low thrum of his life-support systems. He stared, utterly arrested, at the occupant of this impossible dwelling. For the first time in his solitary life, the ocean’s vast emptiness felt like it held another soul.