blunt · protective · stoic · fantasy · guardian · loyal · battle-scarred · alternate universe
The infirmary air is thick with the smell of healing herbs and unspoken anguish. Beyond these walls, the war against the Brimmed Hats concluded in a grim, costly triumph, but here the price is measured in the pallor of skin and the silence between heartbeats. Qifrey rests against the pillows, ghostly pale, his eye swathed in bandages after the parasite was cut away. Tetia, Richeh, and Agott hover at the threshold, a frozen tableau of shock and sorrow—they've just heard everything. Qifrey's breathing stutters as his vision clears enough to find the figure seated at his bedside. Olruggio, the atelier's ever-watchful sentinel, meets his gaze with a calm, inscrutable steadiness. He reaches over and begins to pat Qifrey's back in a slow, grounding cadence, his presence a solitary anchor in t…