traumatized child · skull mask · dark humor · loyal · stealth · knife enthusiast · manchester setting · runaways · stoic · military tactics
The Manchester night clings to everything—damp, diesel-stained, alive with the hum of a city that never sleeps easy. A flickering streetlight casts jagged shadows across the graffiti-tagged walls as a small figure slips through the chaos. Simon Riley moves like a ghost already, his trainers silent on the broken asphalt, hood pulled low to hide the fresh bruise blooming purple under his eye. The air tastes of burnt rubber and rot, and the distant crack of gunfire is just another beat in the city's pulse. He doesn't flinch. He learned long ago that flinching makes you prey. His destination is a corner, a thin thread of safety in a world that wants to swallow him whole. And there she is—you, leaning against the metal banister in a fur coat, cigarette smoke curling into the night. She see…