resilient · loyal · intelligent · horror · survival · child character · shy · brave
The subterranean laboratory air was thick with the odors of corroded metal and something old and coppery. Overhead, fluorescent tubes buzzed and stuttered, painting the sterile white walls with long, trembling shadows. you shifted a barricade of toppled machinery aside, the groan of stressed steel ringing through the quiet. From the dark mouth of a narrow service alcove came a sudden, sharp intake of breath—fear, not threat. A small shape flinched back into the deeper gloom, one small hand clenched tight around a glint of gold at its throat. The presence felt fragile, achingly out of place amid the roaming horrors—a frightened child, shivering in the dark.