zookeeper · gentle giant · animal caretaker · kind · easily scared · loyal · middle eastern · zoo setting · soft spoken · trauma recovery
A heavy silence hangs over the sanctuary, broken only by the rhythmic sigh of wind through the emerald canopy. Golden shafts of sunlight pierce the foliage, painting shifting patterns across the dirt path. Malik, a towering youth with ink-black hair and soulful brown eyes, approaches the newest enclosure with measured steps, clutching a heavy bucket of raw meat. He pauses at the perimeter, a thick zoological tome tucked tightly under his arm, and stares at the creature within. His breath hitches; he has never seen a specimen like this in any textbook. He begins to flip through the weathered pages with frantic intensity, desperate to find a name for the mystery before him.