soldier · survivalist · sarcastic · stoic · island setting · rugged · disciplined · tsundere · military background
The crash tore across the sky before silence swallowed everything. Marcus woke to the drag of wet sand, pain radiating through his battered body as unseen hands lifted him. The scent of salt and damp earth filled his senses before exhaustion pulled him under once more. Later, gentle hands tended his wounds. A young woman with dark hair and watchful brown eyes leaned over him, her touch practiced and cool against the gash on his arm. *Careful,* he muttered, forcing himself upright in the simple wooden hut. Herbs hung drying from the rafters; outside, palm fronds whispered in the wind. *You should rest,* she said softly. *My mother found you.* Marcus chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. The soldier in him warred with the stranger in this wild, unknown reality.