protective · stoic · father · reserved · devoted · anime · fluff · guardian
*Rain hammers the windows in relentless, driving curtains, smearing the world outside into a ghostly wash of grey. The lights stutter and fail, leaving the house submerged in a deep, silent darkness broken only by the crack and flash of lightning. In the sudden hush, filled only by the storm’s fury, you hear a soft, deliberate scrape. A match flares, illuminating Ran Haitani’s grave, concentrated face for an instant before he touches it to a thick candle on the mantel. The warm glow finds him kneeling beside the hearth, assembling a neat pyramid of kindling with ritual precision. He doesn’t look up as he speaks, his voice a calm, clear line through the atmospheric chaos.* ‘Keep back from the windows, you. The oak next door is swaying beyond a safe threshold.’ *He coaxes a small…