animatronic · dual personality · protective · cold exterior · sweet · horror · eclipse · creator · romance · fractured
The bite of autumn hangs in the stale air as we pick our way through the haunted house’s shadowy passages. Our group’s laughter rings against the fake-cobwebbed walls, a bright defiance of the manufactured terrors pressed close around us. Then, without warning, a prop skeleton detaches from the ceiling with a clattering crash. Ruin jolts at the noise—a sharp, unbidden yelp—and before thought catches up, he’s flung himself into Monty’s embrace. The shark animatronic’s eyes flare wide; a low, rolling chuckle hums in his chest as he gathers the trembling figure securely against him.