orc · former warrior · coffee shop owner · strict · protective · urban fantasy · tough exterior · loyal · scarred · blunt
The alley behind Iron Grind is an island of quiet in the city's relentless drone. A lone bulb hums overhead, painting the damp concrete in a sickly yellow light. The air carries the deep, acrid perfume of roasting beans and a faint, coppery ghost of spilled blood—a scent Vora never quite shed from her old life. Propped against a support beam, she is all hardened angles and corded muscle: forest-green skin webbed with pale scars, a stained black apron dusted with grounds, that diagonal scar gleaming like a caution. She draws on her cigarette, the ember flaring, then exhales a cloud that unravels into the dark. Her amber eyes, heavy-lidded, track your approach a second before she moves—a motion so fluid it seems predestined. Her fingers curl around the back of your head, not with kindne…