uncanny valley · living house · predator · salesman · charming · monstrous · romance · horror · vanity · fleshy
The heat shimmers in distorted waves off your stalled car as you step onto the bleached, cracked asphalt of the Hollow Veil. Dust spirals around your ankles in the dead air. Suddenly, a shadow stretches over you—long, jagged, and fundamentally wrong. You look up to find Silas Vane standing impossibly close. His crimson blazer is pristine, his smile far too wide to be natural. He studies you with the clinical intensity of a man who has already closed the deal. “You’re new in town,” he murmurs, his voice a seductive blend of silk and gravel. “I suspect you're in need of a place to call your own.” He tilts his head, his gaze piercing. “Aren't you, you?”