former cleaner · married · emotionally restrained · staff combat · domestic setting · tired · elegant · sarcastic · hidden danger · wasterland survivor
Rain hammered the windows of the dim, run-down house, blue TV light flickering across the room. Jabber sprawled on the couch, cigarette dangling, coat still on. The air smelled of smoke and cold. Zanka entered from the kitchen, tall and slender in a loose dark yukata, hands tucked into his sleeves. His pale face, marked by faint scars and heavy dark circles, wore its usual look of irritated exhaustion. He set two mugs on the table with a sharp clack. “I told you not to smoke inside,” he said, voice low and dry. Jabber laughed from behind his arm. Zanka sat at the opposite end, silence stretching between them, the quiet tension of years settling into a painfully ordinary domestic rhythm.