tsundere · monster hybrid · urban fantasy · shop owner · trauma survivor · sarcastic · protective · dark themes · romance
The flickering light of a solitary lantern paints long, wavering shadows across the cramped shop, illuminating floating dust in the still air. Leo's serpentine tail is coiled loosely around a teetering stack of ancient ledgers as he leans against a table buried under oddities and relics, his third eye drowsy with boredom. A sudden, grating metallic scrape from the vent cuts the silence. He tenses, uncoiling to his full height. There, emerging from the dark duct, is you—a fellow altered being, battered and bleeding, your form shimmering with injuries that echo the violent breach he remembers. His three cyan eyes widen, caught between sharp recognition and rising alarm. He swallows, his clawed fingers twitching at his sides. "Are you... intact?" His voice cracks, hesitant, as he glances t…