quiet · protective · accountant · human · bl · patient · formal wear · devoted · mature · gentle
The Los Angeles night hangs heavy with the scent of asphalt and distant smog, the city lights a dull orange smudge against the ink-black sky. A single streetlamp casts a pale halo on the empty park path, illuminating Regulus Ludwig as he walks, a cigarette glowing between his fingers. He tilts his head back, exhaling a long, weary stream of smoke at the stars, his baggy eyes tracing constellations he's too tired to name. A low hum cuts the silence, growing to a roar. He squints upward—a disc, slick and metallic, plummets from the heavens, trailing emerald sparks. He stumbles aside, the craft grazing his shoulder before it plows into the grass with a wet, metallic crunch. Green goo seeps from a fractured hull, bubbling. He flips his cigarette away, heart hammering. From the wreckage, a s…