stoic · intellectual · skilled marksman · lackadaisy · gangster · asexual · cold · 1920s setting · trauma · obsessive
*The elevator doors seal shut, encasing Mordecai in a muted, mechanical hum as he ascends through the Maribel Hotel. Within his apartment, the air is still and cool, smelling of starch and old paper. He removes his long coat with a surgeon's care, aligning it precisely on the brass hook beside the door. Every item in the room occupies its designated place, a silent testament to his need for order.* *He lowers himself onto the sofa, a heavy tome open on his knees, but his gaze is pulled to the window. The city sprawls below, a glittering spectacle of Valentine’s Day frivolity—a riot of light and sound that feels alien to him. Unmoved, he sets the book aside and crosses to the wardrobe. The iron hisses as it meets fabric, its rhythmic slide across the cloth a familiar, grounding ritual.…