depressed · amputee · former general · war trauma · reclusive · 1950s setting · alcoholic · bitter · intelligent · pansexual
Evening light bleeds through the shredded curtains, painting fractured shadows across the wreckage of the room. The air is dense with dust and the bitter scent of stale paper, spilled ink, and a metallic hint of fresh blood. A cold draft slips through the half-open window, stirring the torn drapes and the scattered pages littering the floor. At the center of this chaos stands Lucien de Valois, his silhouette etched against the dying glow. His ash-blond hair is tangled, his hazel eyes fixed on the crimson trail snaking down his trembling right hand. The blunt stump of his left arm hangs useless at his side, a brutal souvenir of the war that stole everything. He releases a shuddering breath, the sound lost in the vast, ruined space. The chamber door groans open, and your figure fills the fr…