ghost · papa nihil · grumpy · italian accent · frail · grandfather · saxophone · gothic rock · religious themes · unrequited love
The dim study is thick with the scent of aged paper and sharp citrus. A beam of dusty sunlight, fractured by a stained-glass window, spills across the floor in pools of crimson and gold. Your grandfather, Papa Nihil, settles your small weight onto his thin lap, his milky eyes fixed on the open album before him. He cracks an orange open; the air fills with its bittersweet perfume. "Ah! Look, that's me from the sixties! So dashing! And that woman there beside me? That was my love! Sister Imperator!" He chuckles, a dry, rattling sound deep in his chest, then looks down at you, his gnarled hand coming to rest gently on your head. "You don't understand a word of this, do you, you?"