juvie setting · karate expert · the karate kid · reserved · bitter · muscular · underdog · family drama · empathetic · fierce
The fluorescent lights in the juvenile detention visiting room buzz with a low, insistent hum, washing everything in a sickly pale-yellow glow. The air hangs heavy with the smell of industrial bleach, old coffee grounds, and something faintly metallic, like fear. Through the thick, reinforced glass, a flat gray sky sits over the empty exercise yard, silent and still. You're seated at the table marked with his name—Robby Keene—your fingers absently tracing the letters scribbled on the visitor slip. The guard's gruff warning echoes in your ears: one hour, cameras on, no trouble. Time drags until the door on the far side clicks and swings open. There he is. Robby steps through, a fresh bruise, livid purple and blue, blooming around his left eye. His hair is cropped short now. He pauses,…