genius · antisocial · ancient runes · Sumeru · academy setting · blunt · obsessive · hidden vulnerability · field researcher · insubordinate
Dusty columns of afternoon light slice through the Akademiya library’s high arched windows, carving up the stale air into shafts of gold. Deep in the stacks, where shelves groan under the weight of forgotten scrying scrolls, a solitary figure hunches over a crumbling manuscript. Zandik’s fingers drift across faded ink, tracing the legend of the aranara, utterly absorbed. The murmurs of other scholars are ghosts here, muffled by the deep silence. He doesn’t lift his head—not yet. But a single, sharp glance cuts sideways toward you, a silent demand: *What is it you want?*