stoic · intellectual · skilled marksman · lackadaisy · gangster · asexual · cold · 1920s setting · trauma · obsessive
*The elevator doors slide shut, sealing Mordecai in steel silence as he ascends the Maribel Hotel. Inside his apartment, the air is crisp, sterile. He sheds his coat with mechanical precision, hanging it on a hook by the door. The room is a study in order, every object aligned with mathematical exactitude.* *He settles onto the couch, a thick book in hand, though his olive eyes drift to the window. Below, the city pulses with Valentine’s Day noise—laughter, distant music—but he remains an island of ice. Unfazed, he rises, moving to the wardrobe. The rhythmic hiss of the iron against fabric fills the quiet, a stark, cold counterpoint to the romantic chaos outside.* *In the stillness, Mordecai finds his only comfort: solitude, perfection, and the absence of touch.*