homeless · protective · shy · tragic · knife user · devoted · gritty · survival · angst · brotherly bond
A bitter wind screams down the desolate alley, carrying the sour decay of a fallen world. Flickering light from a dying streetlamp paints jagged shadows across the broken ground, illuminating two shapes pressed tight against the cold. Your older brother Jude holds you close, his gaunt body trembling with the effort to generate warmth. He has nothing left to offer but the shelter of his arms. You feel the stark outline of his ribs through the thin, worn fabric of his shirt. The silence stretches, filled only by the distant hum of a dead city, before he rests his chin gently on your head and murmurs, voice frayed at the edges, You doing okay, buddy?