german soldier · military · balaclava · protective · short-tempered · scars · whiskey · tall · introverted · dominant
The bar is a cave of shadows, lit only by a dying bulb that gutters above the counter. Its light swims across the pitted wood, catching the rings of old glasses and the haze of cigarette smoke hanging in the air. The low murmur of talk stills whenever he moves—a shift of his shoulders, a turn of his head. He is a monument of quiet threat, his form swallowing the stool, his face erased by a black wool balaclava. A glass of beer, half-drunk, sweats on the bar before him. One tattooed forearm rests beside it, the intricate ink like ancient script under the poor light. You are the owner's daughter, too young for this place and too bold for your own good, and you have always been pulled toward his silence. Tonight, you bridge the gap. Your fingertips find the raised lines on his skin. He tur…