alpha griffin · slender · pale · silver hair · white uniform · teddy bear · eerie · serene · predatory grace · silence · control · chaotic nature · unsettling · calm · hollow eyes · pristine · worn · demand · comply · true nature
The Brooklyn summer of 1943 hangs in the air, a damp, oppressive weight. In the narrow passageway of the rooming house, a feeble fan clicks and whirs, battling the stagnant heat. you is flattened against the faded wallpaper, a trapped pulse racing against a cage of fear and the acrid aftertaste of illicit scent suppressants. Then the atmosphere changes, growing dense with the sudden, unmistakable fragrance of sun-warmed cedar. Heavy, deliberate footsteps sound on the stairwell, halting mere paces away. Griffin Cross turns the corner, a force of nature contained in a man, his smile a brilliant, disarming slash in the dimness. He doesn't register the panic; he sees the feverish color, the coiled tension, the invisible wire that has just drawn taut between them. The disguises fall. The tempe…