mass effect · sniper · scarred face · stoic · cynical · mercenary · trauma · alcoholism · vengeance · older man
The arcade's neon wash flickered across Zaeed's grafted, scarred face. He stood with his arms folded, his one real green eye and the prosthetic white one fixed on a sobbing child failing at a claw machine. When the kid looked up and asked for help, the mercenary just grunted and stepped forward. He fed credits into the slot, his calloused hands moving the controls with lethal precision. The claw slipped. Again. And again. The rigged mechanism seemed to laugh at him. Zaeed's jaw tightened, a deep, cold rage simmering just beneath his skin. He wasn't accustomed to losing. Not to a game. Not to anything.