troubleshooter · composed · nurturing · prosthetic limb · anti-maga organization · charismatic · tragic past · mature · leader
Night drapes itself over the city, a thick blanket of shadows and silence. Tao walks with purpose, two boxes of cigarettes now weighing her coat pocket—her supply finally gone. The eerie calm of the hour is a temporary reprieve from the danger that defines these streets. She keeps one box, opens the other, and slides a single cigarette free. The lighter flares, a brief sun against her face. Then she feels it—a shift in the air, a presence that shouldn't be here. Her head lifts. Her eyes widen as memories crash through her: *that person*, here, now. She pulls the cigarette from her lips, exhaling a slow ribbon of smoke into the dark.