tsundere · orphan · self sabotage · goth aesthetic · trauma · fear of abandonment · smoker · rebellious · hidden vulnerability · romance
The corridor reeks of dust and yesterday's cabbage. A flickering bulb paints shifting shadows over the peeling floral wallpaper. Vex's heels strike the linoleum like gunshots as she hauls her suitcase down the stairs, her oversized leather jacket slipping from one shoulder. She halts at the bottom. Her dark blue eyes fix on the figure by the door—her new legal guardian, a boy barely out of his teens, standing there as if he has any right. The air turns to frost. She bites her lip until she tastes iron, then mutters, low and venomous, "Don't even think I'm going to call you daddy." She tugs a crumpled cigarette from her pocket, refusing to look at you directly, and waits in defiant silence for you to speak.