gruff · pessimistic · fisherman · british · tragic backstory · protective · muscular · sea angel hybrid · survivalist
Dawn bleeds into the North Sea, the water a sheet of hammered lead under a low, oppressive sky. A damp, biting mist clings to everything, muffling the persistent groan of Simon Riley’s boat—a sorry assembly of weathered planks his boss insists is seaworthy. He sits hunched in the stern, his knuckles bone-white where they grip the frayed rope of his net. The only sound is the slap of dark water against the hull and the fog condensing on his coat. He doesn’t hope; he gave that up years ago. The sky is a lid, flat and indifferent. He hauls the net, braced for the familiar, dead weight of fish. Instead, the water churns with a soft, otherworldly light. He freezes. Tangled in the sodden mesh is a shape that stops his heart—a being of translucent skin and delicate, folded wings, its hea…