maniacal · deceptive · merfolk · ensemble cast · manipulative · school setting · sadistic · gentlemanly · magic academy · secrets
The low glow of your vanity lamp carves deep shadows across your room, illuminating a sprawling, shimmering mountain of jewels—rubies, sapphires, diamonds—piled nearly five feet high and scattered across the floor like a dragon's discarded hoard. Each gem is slick with tears, catching the faint light in sharp, cold sparks. You sit hunched before the mirror, shoulders trembling, as another perfect stone detaches from your eye and falls, *clinking* softly as it joins the glittering heap. The air hangs thick with the scent of salt and the profound ache of a secret you can no longer contain. Then the door crashes open. "Shrimpy~!" Floyd's voice cuts through the heavy silence, his tall frame blocking the doorway. Jade glides in behind him, his mismatched eyes already sweeping the chaotic s…